THE Dean of Ripon's Thanksgiving-Sermon UPON THE Taking of NAMUR A SERMON Preach'd in the Collegiate-Church of Ripon ON Sunday the 22 d of September 1695. Being the Day appointed for A Publick Thanksgiving FOR THE Reduction of the Town and Castle of Namur And the Preservation of his Majesties Person By Christopher Wyvill D. D. And Dean of Ripon Publish'd at the Request of some Friends LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. TO THE Right Worshipful THE Mayor Recorder and Aldermen And other The Inhabitants of the Town of RIPON Gentlemen THE reason of this Sermon 's appearing in Print so long after the day on which you heard it Preach'd was my unwillingness to publish it till I was prevail'd with to do it by some who thought it might be serviceable to the Present Government and if it can obtain that end I think it comes not out too late And I Dedicate it to you as an Acknowledgment of the many great Civilities and Respects which I have had from you who am Gentlemen Your most Obliged and Faithful Servant Christ. Wyvill A SERMON Preach'd in the Collegiate-Church of Ripon 2 Sam. iii. I. Now there was long War between the House of Saul and the House of David but David waxed stronger and stronger and the House of Saul waxed weaker and weaker THese words do give us a short account of a long War betwixt two great Families and the different event it had in reference to each of them tending to the exaltation of the one and the depression of the other David a Man after God's own Heart was by God's express Declaration sufficiently made known to all the People appointed to be King after the Death of Saul over all the Tribes of Israel and accordingly upon Saul's Death he was forthwith Anointed into the Regal Office at Hebron and acknowledged as King by the Tribe of Judah but the other Tribes who did sometimes bear the name of Israel in distinction from that of Judah even before the division of the Kingdom in the days of Jereboam I say the other Tribes followed Ishbosheth the Son of Saul whom Abner the Son of Ner had set up in opposition to David notwithstanding that he could not but know he derived his Title to the Crown from the immediate nomination of God himself upon which there began a civil War betwixt the House of David and the House of Saul But God was pleased so far to assert the cause of David as to grant him Success over his Enemies for David as the Text tells us waxed stronger and stronger but the House of Saul waxed weaker and weaker How far we may judge of the righteousness of a Cause by the Success it hath I shall take upon me to determine Certain it is that good Success is not always an Argument of a good Cause How often have we known wicked Attempts and the most horrid Villainies to thrive and prosper whilst Just and righteous Undertakings have met with great Miscarriages and have had improsperous Events but when the Cause is apparently Just and Right and then good Success attends it we cannot but acknowledge that the hand of God is concern'd in it we cannot but discern his Favour to it and his Approbation of it and yet from hence we must not conclude either that God disallows of a good Cause when he permits it to suffer or that he approves of a wrong Cause when he grants it good Success For as to the first Case be the Cause of a People never so just and right on which they are engaged in War yet he may permit them to suffer for their manifold Sins and Offences and as to the other Case he sometimes grants Prosperity to men engaged in a wrong cause on purpose to make them the Instruments of his just Wrath in executing his Judgments on a sinful People But now the Cause of David was undeniably just and right for he sate on the Throne by God's own express Appointment and God so far prosper'd his Arms as that he waxed stronger and stronger whilst his Enemies waxed weaker and weaker I shall not make a parallel betwixt the War in my Text and the War in which we of this Nation are engaged for the Parallel will not hold good in every particular for the War in which we are engaged is not God be praised a Civil War not a War betwixt two Families or two Houses within the same Land or Dominion but betwixt two distinct and independent Kingdoms betwixt Us and France betwixt the Defender of the Faith join'd in Confederacy with other Christian Princes and States of Europe on one side and the Most Christian King join'd with the Great Turk on the other The Parallel therefore not exactly holding true I shall wave it nor shall I any farther take notice of the story in my Text than as it affords occasion to speak upon these four heads of Discourse I. Concerning the lawfulness of War in general II. Concerning the War in which we of this Nation are now engaged III. Concerning the Success we have had which gives occasion to this days Thanksgiving IV. And lastly Concerning the effect which that Success should in reason have upon us Of these I shall speak in their order through God's Blessing with as much plainness and brevity as I can I. I shall speak concerning the lawfulness of War in general Now it must be confess'd that it is a great unhappiness for any People to be engaged in War for the Miseries attending it are great and the event of it uncertain and whether side soever gets the better yet much blood may be spilt many a brave Man may lose his Life in the quarrel much of the Nations Treasure may be exhausted many unforeseen Losses and Calamities may be the issue of the Victory But yet it is as certain that War is sometimes unavoidably necessary in many cases and upon certain occasions it may be very lawful and not repugnant to the profession of Christianity We cannot indeed with truth admit of that Principle which some of late Years have so greedily imbibed and spread abroad viz. That the state of Nature is a state of War as if Men were naturally Enemies unto Men or as if one Man were become by nature a kind of a Wolf or a Tyger to another Man For Man by original Creation was made a sociable Creature and all Mankind by nature are inclin'd to Peace Unity and Concord and mutual Love and Kindness one with another Some Men indeed may have by evil custom so far debauched and corrupted their nature as that they may have contracted an habit of doing wrong and injury to others and perhaps take some delight in quarrellings and fightings but to say or believe that a disposition to such evil practices is originally implanted in humane nature is not only to disparage and vilifie the noblest piece of God's Creation but to do despite
therefore be God who hath given prosperity unto his King and hath delivered David his Servant from the peril of the Sword IV. And this leads me to the Fourth and last head of my present Discourse and that is concerning the effect which our Success in this War should have upon us 1. And first it should fill our hearts with an holy Joy in the remembrance of the loving-kindness of Almighty God towards us for should we not rejoice and exult when we consider that God is still mindful of us that he hath not yet left off to do us good and that he gives us every year fresh instances of his concern on our accounts Is it not a ground of exceeding great comfort to receive so clear and so many pledges of his love and favour exprest in such watchful care over us such Protection in times of danger such Success over our Enemies such deliverance from their Spight and Malice Such publick Benefits as these cannot I am sure they ought not to be received without great chearfulness and gladsomness of heart We are all of us or at least should be concern'd for the Publick Good as being living and sensible Members of the State and are like to partake both of the good and ill sare thereof And therefore how can we look upon or hear of any prosperous Issue of God's Providence over our Nation of any happy Success with which God hath blessed our Publick Undertakings without great delight and complacency 2. The Success with which God hath blessed us should also excite us to praise and bless God for it For God's Favour towards us will not have its due effect unless it fill our Mouth with Praise as well as our Heart with Joy We should look beyond the Hills from whence cometh our help beyond the efficacy of second Causes and search out the Primum Mobile that secret sacred Wheel of Providence which winds and turns about humane affairs as it pleaseth Then shall we be ready to acknowledge with David that it is not our own arm that helpeth us but the right hand of God and his arm and the light of his countenance because he hath a favour unto us It is necessary indeed that towards the atchievements of great Exploits or the encountring of formidable Enemies great Preparations should be made Arms and Money the strength and Sinews of War should be provided and considerable Forces raised For God who makes use of second Causes to produce his own wise designs works by these towards the defence and safeguard of his People and we can no more reasonably expect that God will help a Nation or Kingdom without their own concurrent endeavours than that he will recover a Man out of a dangerous Sickness without the application and use of proper Remedies or relieve a Man in distress and want without his own Industry and Care But then we must not impure our Victory and Success purely to any Prowess or Conduct or Wisdom of our own but to the great God who teacheth our arms to war and our fingerâ—â—o fight who guides our Councellors and teacheth our Senators Wisdom who presides over Baâ—â—les and gives not always Victory to the strong and crafty but oftentimes to â—he weak and seeble who pulleth down the mighty from their sâ—at and exalleth the humble and meek who alone giveth Victory unto Kings and delivereth his Servants from the hurtful Sword Upon the consideration therefore of the good Success we have hitherto had as we cannot but ascribe the accomplishment thereof to God's good hand of Providence so we are bound to make a grateful acknowledgment of it by our hearty Thanksgiving unto him saying with the Royal Psalmist Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the Praise for thy loving-kindness and for thy truths sake for we know that no King or People can be saved by the multitude of an host and that no mighty Man is delivered by much strength And we have great reason to praise and bless All-mighty God for our late Success if we either look upon it as the â—â—â—â—ious return of our Prayers and Fasting or if we reflect upon our unworthiness of it First If we look upon it as the gracious return of our Prayers and Fasting For we prayed and humbled our selves by fasting and implored the Blessing of God upon our Forces and upon our King throughout his Expedition and he hath been graciously pleas'd to hear our Prayers and hath granted our desires by giving us good Success and protecting the King in the day of Battle Blessed therefore be God who hath not withholden the request of our lips Blessed be God who hath not cast out our Prayer nor turned his Mercy from us Secondly let us reflect upon our unworthiness of it when we consider our many great and high Provocations of All-mighty God our unthankfulness for former Mercies our Incorrigibleness under all the Judgments which God at several times hath brought upon us and when we withal reflect upon the goodness of God in having thus blessed and prosper'd us notwithstanding such our unworthiness of it can we forbear to praise God saying with the Holy Psalmist Thou Lord hast forgiven the offences of thy people and covered all their sins thou Lord hast dealt graciously with thy servants be thou therefore exalted in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power 3. Moreover the Success we have had should engage us to trust in God for the future and never to doubt that God who hath appear'd so much and so signally stretched forth his arm on our accounts will now leave us but to hope with humble confidence that he will still continue to do great things for us 4. It should also oblige us to newness of Life and better Obedience towards God For fresh instances of his goodness do call aloud upon us to shew forth his praise not only with our Lips but in our Lives by giving up our selves to his Service and walking before him in holiness and righteousness all our days 5. Lastly The Success we have had against our temporal Enemies should put us in mind of the contest we have with our Spiritual and that as we are Christians we are engaged in a War far more dangerous and of far greater consequence than any we can have with our most inveterate Foes upon Earth in which if we are overcome we shall be reduced to a worse condition than all our other Enemies can ever bring us into in which if we get the Victory we shall gain Immâ—â—tal Life and Glory in the Regions above in comparison with which all the Trophies and Spoils all the Riches and advantages we can obtain over our Enemies here are but inconsiderable trifles When we were baptized into the Faith of Christ we took upon us to fight manfully against Sin the World and the Devil these are our most formidable Enemies with which we must have no Peace so long as we live upon Earth with these we must not so much as enter into a Truce or think of doing so nay 't is extreamly dangerous even but to parly with them We carry a War continually about with us the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary the one to the other we have a law in our members warring against the law of our mind endeavouring to bring us into captivity to the law of sin We have Lusts and Passions which War in our Members and there are fleshly lusts which war against the Soul A Christian Man's Life therefore in this World is a state of continual Warfare and the Church of Christ it self is but Militant here upon Earth Let therefore our Success against our temporal Enemies encourage us to get the better of our Spiritual What a shame will it be for us to conquer those and to suffer our selves to be led Captive by these What disgrace is it to let Sin reign in our Mortal Bodies when we can so easily subdue our other Enemies What a sad exchange of a Victory would it be to beat our Enemies so as that they wax weaker and weaker and yet to suffer our Lusts and Passions to wax stronger and stronger O therefore let us watch and stand fast in our Faith let us quit our selves like Men like Christians and be strong Let us take unto our selves the whole Armour of God that we may be able to withstand all the assaults of our Spiritual Enemies Let us gird our loins with truth and put on the Breast-plate of righteousness let our feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace and let us take the shield of Faith and the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God And let us withal humbly beg the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit and Grace which then will not fail to strike in with us and then we need not doubt but that we shall overcome all our Enemies of what nature soever they be Then when we have fought a good fight and finished our course and Successfully ended our Warfare here we shall enjoy an Eternal Jubilee of Peace Rest and Glory in the happy Regions of Immortality Which God of his infinite mercy grant to you and to me and to all Mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost Three Persons and one most Glorious God be ascribed by you and by me and by all our Fellow-Creatures all Honour Praise and Glory now and for evermore Amen FINIS Sermons Written by the same Author AN Assize-Sermon Preached in the Cathedral-Church of St. Peter's in York March the 8th 1685. on Judgess xvii 6. The Duty and Obligations of serving God A Sermon Preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall July xxix 1694. on Joshua xxiv 15. 1 Sam. 11. 8. 2 Sam. 24. 9. Jam. 4. 1. Rom. 13. 4. Gen. 14. 19 20. Exod. 17. 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. Luke 3. 14. Is. 2. 4. Mich. 4. 3. Jud. 8. 34 35. 2 Kings 19. 28.
2. That it is not only lawful but necessary for those who are able and whose occasions and manner of Life will permit them may perhaps it may be their duty too actually to assist the King in this just War with their own Persons and to endeavour by their Prowess and Courage to lay his Enemies prostrate at his Feet For it is not imaginable that any King whatsoever can withstand the insults of his Enemies or protect his Subjects without their assistance and presence with him 3. That we should pay a just deference and an honourable respect to the memory of those worthy Persons whom the hand of the Enemy hath unfortunately slain in this War particularly in the Reduction of that City and Castle for which we now give thanks that we should speak well of them and thank God for them for that they spent their Blood in the defence of their Country lost their Lives in a just Cause and dyed upon the Bed of Honour 4. Lastly that we should thankfully acknowledge our selves obliged as to all those in general who actually fight for us so particularly to the King himself who hath exposed his own Person to all the Fatigues and hazards of the War who like David himself doth fight the Lords Battles whose vigour in action is more quick than the Lightning of his own Cannon whose Magnanimity and Conduct whose Prudence and undaunted Courage have gain'd him Immortal Renown in the Annals of Fame and made him to become a terrour to his Enemies To Him especially who hath hazarded his Royal Person and Life in the Defence and for the Honour of our Church and Nation we should pay our thankful acknowledgment in a dutiful return of Honour and Faithfulness towards him which if we should fail to do we might justly be reproached for our ingratitude like as were the Children of Israel who shewed no kindness to the house of Jerubbabel namely Gideon according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel His very Presence in the Camp animates our Forces with new Life and Vigour and therefore when he is pleased to be at the head of our Armies unless by our Sins and Rebellion against God unless by our ingratitude to him and the King we provoke God to disappoint our hopes and blast our Undertakings we need not doubt but that through God's Blessing we shall do Valiantly and tread them under that rise up against us To his Matchless Valour and wise Conduct next to the Mercy and Goodness of God we owe our Preservation from the direful effects of our Enemies Rage and Malice And therefore returns of Gratitude are due first to God as the Author of all our Successes and then to him as the glorious Instrument whereby he works them III. And thus I come in the third place to consider the Success we have had in this War particularly this last Summers Expedition which gives occasion to this Days Thanksgiving We cannot indeed as yet truly say that we have totally vanquished and overcome our Enemies but I hope I may say truly in the words of my Text that through God's Blessing we are waxed stronger and stronger and they wax weaker and weaker For what places have they gain'd of us this or the last Years Campaign as they have formerly done at the beginning of others Nay have they not lost much ground this Summer and is there not a plain stop put to the Enemies Career Have we not by the bravery and resolution of our Forces and our Allies Retaken that strong that most Important City and Castle which our Enemies two Years ago did take and could no otherwise take from us than by Fraud and Treachery Have we not retaken them in the face and under the sight of a numerous Army of the adverse Party who came to be the inglorious Lookers on of the loss they sustain'd thereby Where is that Bravading-Navy that once or twice appeared upon our Coasts and threatned us with an Invasion 'T is plain that they sculk and shelter and hide themselves in their lurking-holes out of which they dare not they cannot with safety look forth But as for our Navy hath not part of it Victoriously danced on the British Ocean stopping upon the Avenues of the Enemies Ports and Havens and with considerable Success attacking the chiefest of their Sea-Coast-Towns and doth not part of it ride triumphantly at this Day in the Mediterranean putting thereby a check to all their Pride and Glory God at present seems to have put his Hook as he once threatned to do to Sennacherib into the Nostrils of the great Leviathan that for so long a time hath taken his pastime in the deep He hath given a terrible Rebuke to the aspiring Fortune and Fury of the Enemy by the Success of ours and our Confederate Forces both by Sea and Land So that now we may hope be will in a little time begin to hearken to a Peace nay that he will be brought to such a condition as to be forced to seek and desire it to which he hath hitherto been as deaf as the Adder that stoppeth her Ears For the Lord hath now pulled down the high looks of the Proud and levell'd the haughty Stomach he hath clipt his Wings in his towring-flight and brought him nearer to the ground he hath put the Heathen in fear and made them to know themselves to be but men But that which Crowns our Success and is the glory of our Triumphs and the chief cause of this Days-Thanksgiving is that it hath pleased God to preserve our King from the many dangers to which his Royal Person was expos'd during the late Siege and in all his publick Expeditions for our Safety and for the deliverance of our Suffering Brethren that he hath kept him under the shadow of his Wings from falling into the hands of his Enemies that he hath covered his Head in the Day of Battle and been a Wall of Defence to him on every side What a deplorable and fatal blow would it have been not only to this Nation but to the most considerable part of Europe if He the Head of the Confederate Allies had by any means been cut off If He the Prop and Stay of the Protestant Religion had any ways suffer'd by the hands of those that hate him How would they have rejoiced to have been made Masters of His Life whose Death would be their greatest advantage how would they have triumph'd in His ruine which only could have given Life to their dying Cause But now how will they be astonished and amazed how will they shake and tremble when they shall see him once more besieging some of their strongest Towns or at the Head of a Gallant Army in the open Field Him whose very name is enough to strike them into a Panick Fear when they shall see him once more arm'd not so much with his own Forces as with the strength and right hand of the Almighty Blessed