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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56707	A sermon preached before the Lords spiritual and temporal, in the Abby-church at Westminster, on the 5th of November, 1696 being the anniversary thanksgiving, for the happy deliverance from the gunpowder treason : and also, for the happy arrival of His Present Majesty on this day, for the deliverance of our church and nation / by ... Symon Lord Bishop of Ely.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1696 (1696)	Wing P855; ESTC R22926	17,117	35

us through thy Name 10 Luke 17. They fled when they did but hear of him they quitted their Possession when his Power approached they were not able to stand before his Authority Which is sufficient to shew how God Rules the Invisible World in every part of it over all the Hosts of Angels and Legions of Devils who cannot resist his Word And now if we lift up our Eyes unto the Visible Heaven we behold there another Army the Sun Moon and Stars run̄ing the Course that God hath appointed them and we read also of their standing still at his Commandment For he bringeth the Sun as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber saith the Psalmist and it rejoyceth as a strong young Man to run a Race XIX 5. But if he pleases he can stop its Course and hinder its Motion as he did in the Days of Joshua when he said Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Vally of Ajalon And the Sun stood still and the Moon stayed until the People had avenged themselves upon their Enemies X. Josh 12 13. The Stars also are said to have fought in their Courses against Sisara V. Judg. 20 by powring out perhaps some violent Storm upon him which discomfited his numerous Army and broke their Ranks and put them into such Disorder that it was apparent Heaven fought against them And accordingly the Thunder which is said also to come out of Heaven is called the Voice of God XXIX Psal 5 7 8. who is said also in the first Lesson appointed for this Day 2 Sam. XXII 14. 15. to shoot out Lightning like Arrows whereby David's Enemies were scattered The Clouds of Heaven likewise he is said in other places to make his Chariot CIV Psal 3. and to walk upon the Wings of the Wind because he hath often employed those in terrible Blasts and furious Tempests of Rain and Hail and stormy Winds which as the Psalmist elsewhere says fulfil his Pleasure II. And now if we bring our Thoughts down from the upper Regions of the World unto these lower wherein we live we have the same devout Acknowledgments of all good Men that he hath an absolute Dominion there and doth according to his Will among the Inhabitants of the Earth as well as in the Army of Heaven For the Earth it self is said to tremble and shake before him 2 Sam. XXII 8. CIV Psal 37. as it did at the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai and at other times He Ruleth also the Raging of the Sea when the Waves thereof arise he stilleth them LXXXIX Psal 9. Nor is his Dominion limited to inanimate Creatures but extends also to every living thing to whom he opens his Hand and satisfies their Desire CXLV Psal 16. But the principal Inhabitants of the Earth are Mankind to whom he hath given Dominion over all other Creatures I. Gen. 28. and Rules over Men as Men Rule over other things For he turneth Man to Destruction and sayeth Return ye Children of Men XC Psal 3. He lifts up and casts down according to his Pleasure He sets up one and puts down another for he is the Judge whose Sentence none can reverse Nor doth he Rule over Mens outward Concernments only but sways their Minds and moves and influences their Hearts For the preparation of the Heart of Man and the answer of the Tongue is from the LORD XVI Prov. 1. Which is true not only of mean Persons Men of low Degree of easie and flexible Minds but of the highest and mightiest Orders of the stoutest and most undaunted Spirits of Kings and Princes of their great Captains and Commanders their wise Counsellers and deep Statesmen whom he frequently infatuates and brings their Councels to nought when they cross his Will For with him is both Strength and Wisdom as Job admirably speaks he leadeth Counsellers away spoiled and maketh the Judges fools He leadeth Princes away spoiled and overthroweth the mighty He removeth away the Speech of the Trusty and taketh away the Vnderstanding of the Aged He powreth Contempt upon Princes and weakneth the Strength of the Mighty XII Job 16 c. This was the Sense of that Holy Man in the most ancient Times and Posterity made the same Observations For many Kings saith the Son of Sirach have set down upon the Ground and one that was never thought of hath worn the Crown Many mighty Men have been greatly disgraced and the Honourable delivered into other mens Hands XI Ecclus 5. 6. Nor Lastly doth he Govern single Persons only but Kingdoms also and the greatest Societies of Men. From whence he is called the God of all the Kingdoms of the Earth 2 Kings XIX 15. and said to Rule over all the Kingdoms of the Heathen as well as over his People Israel with such a Power and Might as none is able to withstand 2 Chron. XX. 6. Thus I have as briefly as I could represented the Extent of God's Dominion and Providence which Rules over the whole World Visible and Invisible reaching to all things in Heaven and to all in Earth to all and every Creature and to all the Concerns of every one of them II. I proceed now to the Second thing I undertook which is to show the Way and Method of this Divine Government whereby it will appear that all this that I have Reported from the Holy Scripture is evidently true and cannot be denied by those who believe God to be the Creator of Heaven and of Earth And here I shall consider only these Four things First That God sees and knows all things throughout the World Secondly That nothing can come to pass but what he either effects or permits Thirdly He effects and permits nothing but for wise and worthy Ends. And Fourthly He certainly accomplishes these Ends and that by such Means as he pleases I. First I say God sees and knows all Things all Persons and whatsoever appertains unto them and that in all possible Measures in Measures Infinite and Incomprehensible by us but which we are sure to be true because he made and formed all Things and therefore must be privy to every Motion which it is possible for them to have and is present to every the smallest Inclination they make to any Motion He knows their Nature he understands the Vertue of every Cause he perfectly comprehends what it can do and how far it can go he discerns its Intentions and what it designs Nothing can be concealed from him but every thing lies naked bare and open before him For the Eyes of the LORD saith his Prophet run to and fro throughout the whole Earth 2 Chron. XVI 9. that is his Knowledge comprehends all things every-where And as for Man his Ways are before the Eyes of the LORD and he pondereth all his goings V. Prov. 21. for his Eyes are in every Place beholding the Evil and the Good XV. Prov. 3. Nor are his outward Actions only exposed to him but all the Thoughts and Designs of his

A SERMON Preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal IN THE ABBY-CHURCH at Westminster On the 5th of November 1696. BEING THE Anniversary Thanksgiving For the happy Deliverance from the Gunpowder Treason AND ALSO For the happy Arrival of His present MAJESTY on this Day for the Deliverance of our CHURCH and NATION By the Right Reverend Father in God SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard M DC XC VI. A SERMON PREACHED Before the LORDS IV. DANIEL 35. And he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou THESE Words are part of a Pious Declaration which King Nebuchadnezzar set forth unto all People Nations and Languages to shew as he saith in his Preface to it ver 2. the signs and the wonders which the high God had wrought toward him Which having profoundly admired and adored in the next words v. 3. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders he proceeds to give the World an account what an amazing turn there had lately been in his Affairs For when he was lifted up to the highest pitch of Princely Power and Glory and had nothing to fear on Earth he was admonished from Heaven in a Dream of his sudden fall into a condition as low as the Beasts In which he was to remain till he should be made sensible That the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whom soever he will v. 17. Accordingly he relates how all this not long after came to pass The effect of which was that it took down his Pride for which so great an abasement was the most proper remedy and brought him to a sober sense that God governs the World and orders all things every where by his Over-ruling Providence with an Absolute Power which none can withstand or 〈◊〉 Which is a Meditation very seasonable at this time when we are met together to commemorate the Wonderful Providence of God over us in this Church and Kingdom upon a double account First In Discovering and Defeating one of the deepest and most desperate Conspiracies against us that ever was hatcht in Hell Secondly In disappointing the same restless Enemies again when by their Fraud and our 〈◊〉 they had contrived themselves into such an height of Power that we had no means left to preserve our Religion and Liberties Had we no other Arguments of the Over-ruling Power of Gods Eternal Providence in the World but these and such as these they might be sufficient to awaken the sense of it in your minds and to make us conclude That He doth according to his will in the army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou In treating of which Words I shall only consider these Two things First The Extent of God's Sovereign Dominion and Government Secondly The Way and Method whereby he governs I. I. For the first of these my Text resolves us that there is nothing exempt from it but it reaches to every Creature throughout the whole World which are comprehended in these Words The army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth By the former of which the Army or Host of Heaven the Holy Scriptures are wont to express both those Beings in the Heaven that are Invisible and those that are Visible Viz. the Angels and the Sun Moon and Stars Both these are called the Host of Heaven and with respect to both God is stiled the LORD of Hosts And First Let us look with our minds into the Invisible World The World of Spirits both good and bad For that there are such Beings hath been the Sense of all Mankind in all Ages as it were easie to shew if this were a place proper for it but the Holy Scriptures have given us the clearest and fullest account of them not only informing us but giving us particular Instances how God rules and Governs them with an absolute Authority The good Angels obeying his Voice and the Devils trembling at his Presence That is he governs the good by his Will and he restrains the evil by his Almighty Power The good chearfully perform his Pleasure and the evil are constrained to do it Being made to serve the ends of his Wise Providence where they design to gratifie their own malice Out of those Sacred Records therefore I shall briefly lay before you the devout sense which the most excellent Persons have had of the extent of God's Providence without entring into the other evident proofs we have of this Doctrine Read then and consider those words of the Royal Psalmist CIII 20. and they will inform you how God governs the Holy Angels Bless the LORD ye Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his words Bless the LORD all ye his Hosts ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure The like you read in the very next Psalm CIV 4. He maketh his Angels Spirits his Minister is a flaming fire For so did the Angels sometimes appear in a glittering and shining manner like a flame of fire And hence it is that they are stiled The Chariots of God because they are an Host or Army to execute his Will and Pleasure Psal LXVIH 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the LORD is among them as in Sinai c. And hence also they are said more particularly to be Ministring Spirits set forth to Minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation 1 Hebr. ult That is they Minister to the Will of God for the preservation and safety of good Christians unto whom God designs a happiness beyond this World in his heavenly Kingdom and therefore will not let them want his care of them while they continue here And in like manner the same Soveraignty of God is represented in Holy Scripture as Governing the Devils also whom he aws and restrains by his Power For when he cast them out of Heaven for their Rebellion against him he delivered them into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment 2 Pet. 11. 4. This Judgment they expect and tremble at the Thoughts of it because they know they cannot avoid it and thence are said to believe and tremble 2 Jam. 19. And they expect it in Chains feel that is the Power of God upon them tying them up and restraining them so that they cannot do what nor go whither they please but are like great Malefactors who till they are brought before the Judge are bound in Chains and cannot stir but whether their Keeper thinks fit to suffer them Thus we find they were perfectly subject to our Blessed Saviour and by him to those whom he sent to Preach the Gospel who at their return came and told him Lord even the Devils are subject to

to appoint such Success as they please to their own Projects and Devices And the more ample we allow the Sphaere of any Creatures Liberty to be in devising and projecting the more Admirable doth the Counsel of the most High appear in directing and ordering its free Courses to such Ends as he appoints Now these Ends God accomplishes sometimes by common and ordinary Means sometimes by Means wholly Miraculous and sometimes by such as not wholly Miraculous but have something Extraordinary in them First Sometimes by common and ordinary Means as when the diligent Hand getteth Riches and Slothfulness and Negligence brings Men to Poverty When the Proud and Ambitions fall into a Snare which intangles them in Destruction and the Meek the Humble and Patient inherit the Earth These Means commonly produce such Ends yet not without Success from God who sometimes is pleased to hinder their Production for Reasons best known to himself So the Son of Sirach hath observed XI Eeclus 14. Prosperity and Adversity Life and Death Poverty and Riches come of the Lord. The last of which he thus Explains in the foregoing Verses 11. 12. There is one that laboureth and taketh pains and maketh haste and is so much the more behind Again there is another that is slow and hath need of help wanting Ability and full of Poverty yet the Eye of the Lord looketh upon him for good and setteth him up from his low estate In these common things particularly in Ploughing Sowing and Harvest c. we do not attribute to God so much as we ought to do and one reason of it is that we either are not conversant in the Holy Scriptures or do not mind them when we read them And the often repetition of the Words of Life as an excellent Man of our own long ago observed without due Reverence and Attention to them breeds an insensibility or deadness in mens Souls II. Which is so true that though God sometimes produces the Ends he designs as I observed in the second place by such Means as are wholly miraculous yet Mens Souls continue benummed and stupified unless they seriously consider and lay them to Heart For thus he often Ruled among the Stubborn Jews whom he seems to have Chosen to be a Theatre of his Providence in them to give a Demonstration unto all the Nations of the World and to all following Generations of his Power Ruling every-where Thus he delivered them out of the Hand of Pharaoh by an out-stretched Arm as Moses speaks Thus he passed them through the Red Sea thus he fed and maintained them in the Wilderness and at last brought them into Canaan by a continued Succession of Wonders wrought by his mighty Power among them that all the Ends of the Earth might fear him III. But sometimes he Works his Ends by a middle sort of Means or Causes such as are not perfectly Miraculous but yet have something extraordinary in them When second Causes are not proportionable to their Effects when they produce things unexpected and which seem altogether improbable when lesser things prevail over greater weaker overthrow the Strength of those that seemed in all humane Judgment to be far Mightier here is something that is very Extraordinary something that is Remarkable a marvellous Hand of God though nothing perhaps perfectly Miraculous Read the Story of Esther and Mordecai and observe how they prevailed against the potent Interest and dreadful Project of Haman in which the whole Empire was engaged and you will find such a Concurrence of strange things as will convince you there was a wonderful Hand of God in it Every one of those Occurrences apart may seem usual and ordinary as that King Ahasuerus could not sleep and that he called for a Book to divert him rather than Instruments of Musick and that they brought the Chronicles of the Kingdom rather than any other Book and that they read there where Mordecai's good Deeds were Recorded but had been forgotten by him and that Haman should just then come into the Court when the King inquired what had been done for Mordecai and should himself unwittingly contrive the greatest Honour to be put upon him and appointed to be the Instrument of it These and all the rest considered severally and singly alone by themselves cannot be called Extraordinary but take them all together in their intire Frame and Composure it is such as cannot be ascribed to any but his Workmanship who Created all things by an astonishing Artifice Thus are things that seem unlikely brought to pass by the secret Counsel of God against the most powerful Interest Contrivances and Combinations that can be raised upon Earth And of this sort were those two great Providences of God for which we bless him this Day and are met here together to celebrate the Remembrance of them publickly with our thankful Acknowledgments First The happy Deliverance of King JAMES the First and the Three Estaes of this Realm from the most Traiterous and Bloody intended Massacre by Gunpowder Secondly The happy Arrival of his present Majesty on this Day for the Deliverance of our Church and Nation The former of these was a Deliverance so wonderful if it be considered in all its Circumstances that it can hardly be parallel'd in any humane Story I will mention but these Two things First The Inevitableness of our Danger according to Humane Reason Secondly The Marvellous Manner of its Discovery and Prevention I. In the former of these there are two Circumstances which show the intended Destruction was Inevitable if God by an extraordinary Providence had not interposed to prevent it They are the Secrecy of its Contrivance and the Persons by whom it was Contrived and Managed 1. As to the Secrecy of the Contrivance it was so great that the Conspirators themselves boasted of it in the Letter which discovered all wherein were these Words They shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who Hurts them For so secret was the Design that though it had been long Working yet it lay Concealed without the least Inkling of it till within XII Hours of its intended Execution It was a Work of Darkness framed under Ground where no Eye but God's could see them They buried their Counsel in the Depth of the Earth and bound themselves likewise by the most Sacred Ties never to disclose Directly or Indirectly by Word or Circumstance the Matter propounded to them to keep Secret Nor desist from the Execution thereof unless the rest should give Leave Thus every Man Swore that entered into this Conspiracy by the Blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament which then they received 2. After this it was not likely they should either Disclose it or Desist from it if we consider Secondly The Persons ingaged in it who were Men of desperate Resolution as well as of desperate Principles They were all Inspired with a false Religious Zeal spurred on by a Fancy that they were about an Action Meritorious

whereby they should highly serve God and his Catholick Church Which so hardned their Hearts that he who was first apprehended was not so much as abasht nor expressed the least sign of Trouble but only for this that he had not done the Execution When the rest also came to Suffer for this Treason they did not repent of it nor beg Pardon unless upon this Condition that the Pope and the Church should declare it a Sin Which I do not find they have done to this Day Now how could Men of such Principles and Resolution relent or think of going back when they certainly believed they were set on Work by God and were warranted by his Will and infallibly guided by his chief Minister to bring the greatest Glory to God and to advance his Religion These and the like Advantages made the Discovery of this Conspiracy so unlikely that they were fully assured in their own Minds of the Success II. And yet now behold how this Work of Darkness was brought to Light even by themselves for it could no other ways be Discovered And that it should be discovered by them is little short of a Miracle For you have heard how they were bound by a solemn Oath not to give the least Intimation of it Directly or Indirectly by Word or by Circumstance And yet so it was that one of them who was willing to work such a Publick Mischief had a desire to secure a private Friend from the Danger And this against his own Intention against his Resolution against his Oath as well as against his Interest Nay and against the Judgment of their Oracle F. Garnet the Jesuite who had setled this Point in a deliberate Answer to this Question proposed to him Whether the Innocent that is those of their Religion might be Destroyed with the Guilty that is with those of ours when the Good that would come thereby would abundantly compensate their Loss Unto which he gave this Resolution That they might Nay That it would be a thing of great Merit if thereby some great Benefit would be procured to the Catholiques Notwithstanding all which contrary Obligations one of them opened a little Crevice whereby there was a way made to look into this Work of Hellish Darkness This most certainly was the extraordinary Hand of God and ought to be so acknowledged by us It was not extraordinary indeed that one of them should Admonish an honourable Friend of a Danger unless it were in this that there should be so much good Nature left in the Breast of a Man who had consented to the Ruine of his Country But without question this was Extraordinary that a Man under such sacred Ties of the strictest Secrecy should give the smallest Notice of a Danger and that he should express his Mind in such Terms as gave Apprehensions of some unusual hidden and unseen Danger and Lastly That the mind of the King should be awakned to apprehend a Danger by some Blast of Gunpowder These things ought to be ascribed to that most watchful Providence of God whereof I have been discoursing which sometimes in an extraordinary manner disappoints the Devices of the Crafty so that their Hands cannot perform their Enterprize To this alone the King and the whole Kingdom ascribe it in that Act of Parliament which is appointed to be read in all Parish-Churches this Day wherein they acknowledge God was pleased by inspiring the King 's most Excellent Majesty with a Divine Spirit to interpret some dark Phrases of a Letter above and beyond all ordinary Construction miraculonsly to discover this hidden Treason not many Hours before the appointed time for the Execution They call it Miraculous in a large Sense because it was Extraordinary Wonderful and Amazing as miraculous Events are And therefore those Protestants who would intitle a great Statesman to the Discovery have justly been thought to have a Spice of Atheism in their Breasts as a great Man observed who lived in those Days They would have nothing saith he imputed to God whose Hand was so visible in this Discovery that it could not be denied but by ascribing it to an Oracle of Ingelligence in those times who they say without any other Authority for it but their own knew of this Conspiracy long before and let it go on because he could catch them when he pleased But as this is for private Men to give the lye to the whole Kingdom King and all so it is to rob God of the Glory of his marvellous Works and therein to be worse then Heathens who ascribed such strange Events to some unknown God or to the Goddess Fortune rather than think there was nothing but humane Contrivance in them Far be it for any of us to entertain such a Thought which can spring from nothing but an unwillingness to believe that Doctrine of Providence which Nebuchadnezzar himself here Proclaims to all the World when he saith He doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth c. Nor is the Providence of God less apparent in that other great Mercy for which this Day is become Memorable as might be shown in all the foregoing Particulars But let it suffice to remember you in general that when the Design of Destroying our Religion and Liberties had been laid with great Secrecy and carried on with such Subtilty for many Years that our Foot was in the Snare before we perceived that it was laid for us when the Nation had been so deluded by fair Promises and by their own Credulity that the Danger wherein we were did not appear till we knew not how to avoid it When our Romish Adversaries had gotten such an absolute Power over us that it imboldned them to break through all Restraints of Law and every other Obligation Then when we were in these Straits God was pleased to raise up the Spirit of our present Soveraign to enterprize our Deliverance and with the hazard of his own Person to endeavour our Preservation And as nothing could Discourage him in this Undertaking but though he was driven back by a Tempest at his first setting out he calmly persued his Resolution trusting in that Almighty Providence unto which he had committed himself So he found all things in the Issue succeed much beyond all Expectation God turned the Hearts of the whole Realm to favour his Design so far as to wish Prosperity to him in his Voyage hither And he turned the Winds also to be so favourable that if they had been absolutely at his own Disposal he could not have commanded them to be more obsequious to him then he found them For when he was brought to our Coast by a strong Gale in a very speedy Course and had over-shot his Port the Wind changed immediately and brought him back to his desired Haven These are but a few of those wonderful things that concurred to his safe Landing here on this Day eight Year without any Opposition And