in Company with a Chyrurgeon who most audaciously and peremptorily vaunted That he could never cure the King 's Evil till he had possessed himself with some of His Majesties Lands It was an Article in His Atheistical Creed That this virtue went along with them though in his undue possessions I am yet to learn of any that ever yet adventured upon it upon this Account or that ever he experimentally found that success never any yet prospered in Rebellion God alwayes will withdraw his Blessing from the bloody Hand From the Influence of a good King distils the Balm that cures the Kings Evil how many thousand in a year does he invite to draw neer to him amongst whom probably some are admitted that he might most justly have commanded rather a distance who when time was would have laid their hands heavy upon him had not God prevented it Nevertheless he is pleas'd to forget it and lay his more tenderly upon them Oh! may he in a more peculiar manner be successful unto them had he the Spirit of distinguishing yet his goodness is such that he would not withdraw his helping hand from them like a true Angel of God he does Good for Evil he freely accepts them and relieves them in their necessities is kind to his worst foes and remits like an Excellent Prince and a good Christian the wrong they have at any time done him Nay those that would not do him so much right as to afford him their Assistance to help him to his do not blush to claim an inherent right to this Priviledge nay they suppose themselves born to it though him not long since to nothing Me thinks they should be diffident of a blessing yet since they have so much esteem for their King and that through his good fortunes he is credulous may he be fortunate in the highest degree they may rest satisfied that God has endued him with so much power as to effect this so great and eminent a work may they live to have just Cause to repent them that they have so evilly entreated him May they shew their Contrition by living as becomes Loyal Subjects then they shall not want my prayers that God may wipe away that bloud which lies upon them Beneficium postulat Officium Every benefit that we receive from our King doth challenge a duty at our hands Not long since all humane Learning was trampled under feet His Return has bless'd us with the Resurrection of it Before we had many Lords that vaunted much of Religion but they divided it into so many Sects and Errours nay Blasphemies according as the necessity of their Evil designs and policy led them that one might well have asked what the Religion of England was But blessed be God that has restor'd our Princes as at the first and our Counsellors as at the Beginning Novares nova cantica for new mercies we must find new praises God has restor'd us to the Life of our Life our Liberties and our Possessions before there were great pretences of Laws and a free born people and what not and these were 't is true necessary to those that had no Title We stand before God this day the Subjects of many Blessings being under the Power and Jurisdiction of an imparallel'd Prince Carendo magis quà m habendo by the want of a King we should know the better how to value him not to be thankful for him and Gods mercies to us in it is the death and destruction of mercies not to acknowledge them is as it were to make them our Adversaries I would have them well husbanded that they might be Reservations to greater mercies As our thankfulness must appear in our Obedience towards God so it must in our Obedience towards our King Great Britain's Oake had an immature untimely fall and yet there was one Royal one preserv'd to be Protector to Him Regis Regni Robor Robur may we be loving to the Branch though we were unfaithful to the Root A Day of Special Deliverance calls for a Day of Thanksgiving His Majesty took too long a Progress in other Princes Dominions but that the great Divinity thought good to have it so now he may take one in His Own Kingdom And 't was once supposed that after His great and miraculous Conquest of Restauration He would have visited that place of Worcester God would have been pleased with such a Sacrifice But alas he has scarce yet had a Vacation from Persecution The first thing that Theseus did after the Victories over his Enemies was to sacrifice the Spoils to the Tutelar Gods As Hercules wore the Lyon's Skin as a Memorandum of his Victories so may His Majesty as an Addition to His Royal Coat though never wear it out of His Memory nor we neither as an Emblem of that great and wonderful deliverance The Royal-Oke To perpetuate the remembrance of which I wish in that very place an Hospital or Chappel were erected and Demeasnes for the maintenance of it where there might be an Annual solemn Procession I would not have this done by His Majesties Own Hand but to His Hand by the publique Stock as an acknowledgement to the King of Kings for that unspeakable mercy in the preservation of Ours Perhaps I may have the Return of a severe censure for offering thus far yet it cannot be said that I interpose in a businesse wherein I am not concern'd for I conjecture my self as much as any and could His Majesty but be sensible of the thousandth part of the Passion which I have ever had I bless God for it and solely for Him I should have Pardon from Him for taking this Freedom He is the Ocean from whence flows those Rivulets of good Will which in Gratitude like them would oblige us to make our Returns Gratitudo est Gratiarum Actio not a bare Thanks-saying but a Thanks-giving we cannot do too much for him that has done so much for us he has stanched that Issue of Blood under which we so long groan'd and has made it his work to bring us into acquaintance with Peace and Prosperity will we be thankfull for these and why not for health Prayers and Praises ought to be alwayes like the Angels of Jacob's Ladder ascending and descending When you approach His Majesties presence in tendency to the work in hand go the right way and you 'l be sure not to fail of your end Say with holy David ' his thy work O Lord not mans power Thy sacred Institution not mans Invention It has been a question in the Scholes An liceat uti verbis ad morbos pellendos It shall now be put out of dispute for God has promised that what soever we shall ask in his name by Divine ejaculations shall be done unto us Behold the modesty of His Sacred Majesty in the very Act express'd Deus sanat omnes infirmitates nostras I Touch and God heals No charm like this Divine Sentence in the Lips of the King
the Evil small pieces of Silver was his gift for alas he could not arrive to others 't was not the golden Age with him I shall rehearse a Story and a very true one not long before he Acted his last on that horrid and execrable Theatre A Great Anti-Royalist and Committee-man had one only Child a Daughter about ten years of Age which was so blind for a year and a half together with her Fathers Evil I may rather tearm it then any one 's else that she could not see at all non minus morborum quà m possessionum haeredes Naturae sequitur semina quisque suae She was brought to Kings-Hatfield in Hertford-shire to the Right Honourable the Earl of Salisburie's house where His Majesty then was and desired a Touch from His Sacred hand which was done by Special Grace and Favour in one of the Gardens towards the Evening the next morning she began to perceive a glimmering of light that could not before distinguish the day from the night but was constrained to be led constantly about the house by a Maid Servant The Father finding so much benefit and seeing relief at hand became an earnest Petitioner for another Touch which His Majesty that he might complete the Miracle presently vouchsafed by the next morning she was restored to her perfect sight The Good man I give him now that Epithete her Father because he proved so after finding so much efficacy so much of God in His Anointed he forthwith began to burst out into tears and accurse himself and own him that he had disowned so long The truth of all which is to be made out by persons of quality with divers of inferiour degree which ought to be credited being of good Life and Conversation One remarkable story more I shall trespass upon your patience to repeat being more concise then the last A Child of a Gentlewomans of no mean worth about Seven years old being very infirm and evilly dispos'd having received a Touch in the morning in the Afternoon one of the Serjeant Chyrurgeons having a Regard for the Mother came to give it a Visit The Child he found leaning against a Couch in the Room casually taking a few Pease out of his Pocket which he used to employ in Fontanels he troll'd them along the Floor whereupon the Child taking them to be Plums immediately made a shift to go after them and took them up which for some years before was seldome out of Arms and in a very short time grew a great Commander of his Legs This I aver and from as good hands as the former And should I go to perticulars and summe up all those Miracles for I dare not call them lesse that have been wrought by that Pattern of true Piety A Prince whereof the World was not worthy the best of all Christian Kings now undoubtedly in Heaven their number would be as admirable as their nature But alas Envy too oft attends upon a shining merit yet virtue will still be virtue in despite of Fate though they surreptitiously took away his earthly emoluments and his Life into the bargain they could not take the honour of this from him that gave it nor the right thereof from him that received it the Heavens would not so much blaspheme their Maker As the Fire of their wrath was too severe so that of their Zeal was much more They were Divels certainly that breathed in no other Element then that of unheard of and barbarous Immanities they ran headlong in a gracelesse method their Union was nought but Conspiracy their Strength Outrage their Hearts were too obdurate forgetting all Pity and Justice too He became a Martyr for the Peoples offences having few of his own which he was not so much guilty of as his Nature Here fell a matchless peice of Innocency meerly crucified to the transgression of the times we were too remiss in our duties to Him for which we have as much cause to request God's Pardon as now his Son 's our Dread and Dear Soveraign Lord the King 't is far better to be subject to our true born Prince rather than to Tyranny and Oppression God be blessed for it he is Rex hominum His People will I hope obey him in any reasonable moderation being sufficiently convinced that he will not require that at their hands but what may become the Spirit of amost Excellent Prince to demand and Loyal Subjects to grant may we be readier to give than He is to ask at least to yeild due Allegiance to Him whereby to gratifie the Candour and Goodness of a too too much injur'd Patience This Treatise is writ with an Intention to undeceive the World and that Wise men may decline those vulgar Errours not follow after meer shadowes and lose the Substance those stroaking Undertakers being warranted neither by Holy Writ nor awful Authority of Antiquity or Probability of Reason they are in the Judgment of the World like our New lights which like an Ignis fatuus or Will with a Wisp makes men run into such a Labyrinth that they run themselves both out of what they have and their Wits to boot Truth does not alwayes receive a just tryal by casual Events Hap is a meer Paralogisme a Fallacy and grand Delusion taking that for a true Cause which is no cause indeed Ease may sometimes be given and the credit of it to those that do not deserve it Opinion weighs much 't is true and Kings are great Rarities Seventh Sons are not That which God doth bestow upon Kings should be that which both for the Rarenesse and Singularity of the Priviledge might more manifest his Glory which would not be if he should attribute the same thing and that by right of birth to any other But to deal candidly and ingenuously with you 't is thus This Disease of the Evil is more proper to children than any other which by succession of years by reason of heat is many times dissipated and hereupon islues a spontaneous ceslation thereof which is usual with many of those that are incident to Children and if thus it is effected 't is not to be attributed to the uncertain virtue and power of those kind of men that Touch who have no Religion at all in them yet entitle themselves to it But to Nature it self whom Hippocrates styles Morborum Medicatrix The Lady Physician of all Diseases Me thinks true Loyalists should set a considerable estimate upon the Bequest of a dead Soveraign Let not a Jewel of so much worth be bangled away should we 't would be an evident signe we want that love for him which we truly ought to have and that we cast an Eye of Contempt as well upon him as his Gift 'T is a Talent intrusted with our now Soveraign for an Improvement such reputation were his virtues of even in forein parts and amongst those with whom he was by some deemed as I may say I hope without offence an Heretick that Strangers could not
most deformed the poorest wretch in the world may receive Grace from him gratis Being not long since persuaded by some of his Chyrurgeons to confine himself to Touch such a certain number at a time and being informed that more were at the Palace gates crying out for his succour and help he told the Chyrurgeon who was to attend the service that month That his hand was in and that all that were there should then be received And may it ever be in may Gods hand guide it here 's a true generous and Religious care Piety is his Practice Acts of Charity his daily exercise Observe but with what alacrity he do's ye good being sensible that after he has design'd relief for you 't would be in some degree a horrible cruelty to deferr conferring of it This Divine Priviledge being granted to him how unwilling is he to intercept the endowment of the King of Kings His Compassion becomes a debt and to his evil Subjects which he duely payes As his Arms are alwayes open to embrace us so let our hearts and souls be alwayes wide open in fervent supplications for him Détque Deus coeptis vela secunda suis Whatever you have observed in him that might raise love and admiration is hourly augmented every minute discovers in him new Treasures of true goodness and Princely magnanimity Be gentle to him he is so to you certain and innumerable cares attend a Crown Frown not upon him your cordial smiles will be restorative do not discompose so noble and so sweet a disposition whose chiefest care it is to do ye all good to do you honour Behold him without prejudice and as one on whom God has been pleased to stamp much of his own power and Authority if we pour out our prayers for him we shall reap the fruits of them they will return into our own bosoms We are obliged both by the Laws of God and Nature to be subject to our King we may see he has more than ordinary of God in him he has a shrewd in-sight into the event of things and to foresee futurities there was not one Arrow in all the Quiver of malice which was not shot at him you that are disloyal spend your venome if you do not the sooner spit it forth you 'l grow to such a bulk you 'l burst before your indefatigable charms temper'd so much with gall can take effect be as bold as bitter That Prince is truely great that is as great in Loyalty as in Advice being potent in Parliament he is so insconsed in the affections of his people that he is beyond the Trains of Treason at home and I hope forein hostility cannot pierce him You see he is not in love with that which generally most men are what he has done without a Parliament and upon the score of his own reputation This Expedition against the Dutch may fully convince you he lays it up in store for you he parts with it freely to you 't is for your safety and peace aswell as his own England was never till now in such an Equipage we may boast of it and of a Navy worthy of such a master which strikes terrour into all Nations and begets the greatest admiration for which his friends may well love him his foes may well fear him He is one that knows not how to do otherwise than truly like himself His incomparâ—ble endowments and excellencies have hitherto preserv'd him but not you see from some commotions yet Divine Wisdome may think it requisite in this life to temper the felicity of humane Majesty with some Distempers I cannot but call to mind the Prediction of that most Religious Prince in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That none would be more loyal to his Son if God was pleased but to restore him than those who sensible of their errours felt in their souls vehement motives to repentance with desires to make reparation where they have done amiss and that he would send them truly zealous to repay with interest that obedience and love to him which was due to him The King is now graciously pleased to look upon them he receives them with all favour and kindness he has put a great trust into their hands they have an opportunity and I may say a blessed one too to make the words good of that blessed Diviner and do good to themselves in it if they do not improve it they were bad very bad before but now they will be thought ten times worse I hope his Majesties Lenity has brought them into their right minds and that they are come to themselves again in good earnest 't is high time they should by their Action now the prints of their former Revolts may be quite obliterated Victory 't is true is in the power of the Almighty and not in the hands of the insolent those High and Mighty Hogin Mogins who owe an Obligation to England for their first being but all our good neighborhood hath bin perverted better fruit uses to spring from the tree of Gratitude theirs is turn'd into Presumption as for Incouragement these Commanders have enough being the very same and having success under Usurpation 't is impossible for them to want it under their lawful Soveraign further to animate them they have Scripture to back them Gods promises the haughty he will humble he will most certainly destroy the proud to qualifie the ranknesse of their pride and to cure them of the Plurisie of it I question not but God will give them strength and success to be their Physicians to make them bleed for it A good cause does wonders those Ships cannot miscarry that are driven with the breath of good Prayers and with wisdome good conduct and courage If we shelter our selves under the shadow of the Omnipotent we are sure to be possess'd of a most impregnable Fortress a Hold that will certainly hold we cannot be deluded in our Trusts A Common-wealth's too neer us I hope that the State of Affairs there their States General and their general State too may in a short time admit of a better form of Government if not I wish with all my heart that I might but live to see them reduc'd to their first Principles to be once more styl'd The poor distressed States They have an old Proverb amongst them which has none of the best Omens Those that bring themselves into needless dangers Dye the Divel's Martyrs And I doubt not but we shall bring their Spirits down even as low as their Country Here are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amulets Golden Engines to draw and incline the affections of the People to their King ad Arcendas noxas alicui corporis parti collo alligantur ye are secure enough and when ye have so much kindness hang'd about your necks me thinks ye should be hang'd before ye leave him Having made Digression rem ipsam jam aggrediar Not long before His Majesties Restauration it was my fortune casually to be