of a tenderly compassionate Father and they onely swell the more and extend the wider towards the miserable wretch even so wide till they reach a Miracle such a miracle as forceth Stupidity it self into wonder and Admiration yea such a wonder as cannot contain it self but suddenly breaks forth into a signall joy and a solemne thanks-giving This and more then all this we read in the Text. 1. A blessing proffer'd no sooner proffer'd but rejected and though rejected yet sent againe and that with advantage The stone which the builders refused is become the Head stone of the Corner 2. This great mercy thus rejected and thus returning is as it ought to bee humbly acknowledged highly admired This is the LORD 's doing and it is marvailous in our Eyes 3. This great wonder and Humility are seasonably seconded with an Hearty Joy and Solemne Thangs-giving This is the day which the LORD hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Thus the Text wants nothing that 's fit for the day presenting us with a Wonderfull Blessing an Humble Reception and a Ioyfull Thanks-giving In all which we shall briefly consider first the History and the Doctrine next the Parallel and the Use. 1. We begin with the great Blessing concerning which let us enquire 1. What it was 2. To whom it was proffer'd 3. What welcome it found 1. This Blessing in the Metaphor is a Stone in the History David in the Prophecy Christ and whether David the Type of Christ or Christ the Seed of David still wee shall find it a Precious Stone and a great Blessing 1. The Stone in the History is David thatholy King in whose Royall Person most of the Happinesse of the Old in whose Heavenly Seed all the Happinesse of the New Israel of GOD did consist David the Author and the Subject of this Gratulatory hymne an Hymne composed and set for the Solemne Quire of Israel to be sung by them in their joyfull commemoration of the happy return of God's Anointed and their long exiled King He is the stone A stone hewen out of the rock by God's own hand consecrated with the Holy Oyle by God's own Prophet set apart by God's appointment to smite down the great Goliah of the Philistines to dash in pieces the Tyranny of a wicked Saul to crush to nothing the Enemies of God and of his chosen Israel A stone fitted and squared to be the foundation and pillar of his Hierusalem his Sion solid and firme such as the hottest fires of Persecution could not crack nor all the stormes and tempests of Affliction impaire of that weight and so well fixable that all the strength and art of Sathan and his Instruments could not remove or shake it but still he stood fast the Foundation the Pillar the sure stay and support of God's Church and People committed to his Charge Hee is the stone in the History which in the Prophecy is 2. Christ IESVS our Lord the everlasting seed of David The sure rock of our Salvation So He himself applies the text to himselfe Math 21. and after him his Apostle S t Peter 1 Pet 2. He who was a stone of stumbling and a Rock of Offence to the Iew first and then to the Gentile is a most sure hold and a strong Tower of defence to all those that stedfastly believe in him the firme and everlasting Foundation of the New Hierusalem the chief corner-stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord. Ephes 2. 20. 21. This is the living stone of which that former was no more but the bare shadow the stone whereon our Hopes our Comforts our present priviledges and our future Inheritance all are surely founded the Rock on which if we be once well bottomed let the winds blow and the waves beat and all these with all the violence they can yet shall we stand sure and unshaken to all eternity These be the stones here proffer'd in the Text David first and afterwards Christ and what I would desire you to note both these Kings A good King is indeed a most precious stone the most solid foundation of the Church's peace and the Peopl's happynes remove this stone and the whole house comes down upon your head touch but the Lord's anointed and you disjoint all the whole Kingdome shatters into confusion all falls into pieces and all the wit of man is not able to bind it up again Proofs and instances of this sad truth we have too many our own lamentable experience still fresh in our memories renders all citations of them at present needlesse Hereby we have found that whosoever wildly pushes at these sacred stones he onely runs his head against an hard Rock which though he should have the unhappy strength to shake a little yet he shall be sure withall to dash out his own brains at lest he must expect to receive such a wound as cannot easily be healed but he is like to bleed into a too late repentance He that fights against the powers set up by God can onely beat the skin off his own fingers It will be therefore our Prudence as well as our duty not to strike with too much violence upon these holy stones left like men hammering too boldly on a good flint wee thence produce such a fire as will not again be quenched Saint Paul dares not warrant so strange a Confidence when he tels us Rom. 13. They that resist the power shall receive to themselves Damnation Rather pray we that we may never come to want such a Stone as God here profer'd in the Text. but 2. To whom did he proffer it Even to those who wanted not eyes to see it nor experience to understand the worth and value of it nor skill sufficient to make a right use of it David was profer'd not to the poor rude Israelites that could not distinguish their right hand from their left but to the Grandees of Israel to Saul and his Councellours whose businesse and Profession it was to deal in such Stones Our Blessed IESVS was profer'd not onely to a few blind Gentiles who had all their knowledg but at the second hand the wonder had not been great if these had refused what they so little understood but he was proffer'd to the VVise men and Rulers of the Iews to the great Maister-builders of that Church Scribes and Pharisees Lawyers and Doctors those that knew the Law and had read the Prophets and understood what was foretold and prefigured concerning him whose bare acceptance of him had been precedent and warrant enough for the Peoples Faith as appears by that question Iohn 7 48. have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him So would they doubtlesly have said Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees received this stone If they have then so will we This is God's method he so proffers his great Blessings as to leave the refuser without excuse to those who
Summons unto all Israel in the second verse particularly to the house of Aaron verse the third and in short to all that feare the LORD at the fourth verse and all the reason in the world they should comply with his will who would share in his happinesse And yet behold a greater authority then David's is here for Secondly 'T is the Day which the LORD hath made He that made every Day is pleased to make some dayes over againe and againe and so hath he new-made by some extraordinary mercy or other all those dayes which Holy Church has commanded us in commemoration of the same to keep Holy such was this Day made againe by a new Sun shine of his Speciall favour overthe Land a Day by a most glorious mercy so guilded and dignified that it were a profanenesse to fully it with the low drudgeryes of our common employments Graced it must be with hearts and countenances as glad and cheerfull as the day it self is bright and glorious There must be gladnesse in the heart not only in the mouth and in the cloathes such new-made dayes are to be celebrated with all inward cheerfulnesse and alacrity of soul proceeding from a sweet and pleasing sense of his favour who made them for us away wich that grudging and Irksomenesse of spirit we meet with Amos 8. 5. which is ever crying out when will the Sabboth be gone that we may set◠forth wheat except wee please our selves in the observation of these Daies we cannot please the LORD that made them And as Gladnesse is required so is 2. Rejoycing a signification of that gladnesse to the world an externall expression and profession ought always to be the inseparable attendant of that internall affection which GOD delights in thus were the feasts of old celebrated with shoutings and soundings of trumpetts and distributing gifts c all sober manifestations of Joy become that day whereon GOD vouchsafes to manifest his Favour Onely men are to take heed how instead of be glad and rejoyce they read be drunk and Prophane that were not to sanctifie but pollute the Day David and his Subjects expresse their joy by entring into the Gates of Righteousnesse into the Courts of GOD's house provoking mutually each other cheerfully to acknowledg and heartily to sing aloud to his Honour and Glory who had done such great things for them whereof they are glad with an O give thanks unto the GOD of all GOD's for his mercy endureth forever We have heard of the Day which the LORD once made for Israel let us now descend to consider the Day the LORD hath lately made for England where it would be very easie would it not be too tedious almost in every particular to shew you how King David and his Day is paralell'd by King CHARLES the Second to whom God make many long and happy Dayes and his Day How much of England's happinesse is bound up in the Prudence and Fortune of England's Kings How long this famous Nation may possibly continue one Body without one Head How long those two great sides of this glorious Fabrick the Church and State may stand firme and unshaken as they ought to be the beauty the strength and support of each other if not well knit together by these Corner-stones Our ancient flourishing and out late miserable and never sufficiently deplored condition when compared together will too manifestly evidence We have known what it is to have Kings our Nursing Fathers and Queenes our nursing Mothers and how happily those two Twins the Church and Commonwealth did thrive and grow and flourish when fed and cherished at such brests and alas we have to our sorrow found what sad Daies those were wherein there was no King in our Israel dayes full of nothing but black clouds raging winds and fat all stormes in which both God's house and Cesar's were blowne downe to the ground all honest and Loyall men driven out of the Land or dispersed and scatter'd and hurled into the little narrow Corners of the earth making privacy and poverty their sanctuary nothing appear'd for many yeares together but the horrid face of Rebellion and confusion no Religion no Law no Justice no Charity no Order nay nothing but the bare name of that a meer pretence wherof was craftily imposed upon a deluded multitude as a sufficient warrant for their disobedience a sure basis for Anarchy or what 's neerest of Kin to it a Democracy indeed nothing but the bare name of Liberty Was it ever thus so long as England willingly embraced the Corner-stones which GOD proffer'd her and did she ever want such praecious stones till her State-Architects became altogether as wise as the foolish builders in the text refusing the stone which GOD had prepared They rejected a stone such as England never saw before and therefore could never know how to prize sufficiently and I would to GOD that it might truly be said in diminution of their guilt that through Ignorance they did it The singular worth and use of that Head-stone they first rejected alas so altogether brutish were we nothing could teach us to understand but the succeeding ruine of three most flourishing Kingdomes A stone indeed he was so truly precious in himselfe and for those many signall excellencies which never shone brightes to the eye of the Christian world then as such true starres and Diamonds use to do in the darkest night of his persecution that he vvas highly and deservedly valued of all that knew him is still cabinetted up in the hearts and affections of those that loved him and shall I doubt not be found in the first row in that great day when GOD shall make up his Iewells And as our Corner-stone he was so exactly squared so solidly laid by the great author of all piety and Justice that nothing but Sathan and Envy could find a fault His Pious reign had left us nothing but a superfluity of happinesse to be sick of and his exemplarȳ Clemency nothing but too much mercy to coplain of the noted softnesse and freedome of his nature gave those rude flints that came against him too great an advantage over him so good a man and so gracious a King that his most inveterate enemies had nothing else to fear hardly to pretend but that God's house vvould by the help of such a stone in a very short time become more strong glorious then their own Late Posterity may indeed very well believe that God removed this stone so early as too rich a Pearl to be thrown away upō such unworthy svvine but what faith will be so daring as to believe that the very Master builders did reject this stone as uselesse and cumbersome Oh! that it might be however forgotten in Gath silently bury'd in the streets of Askalon how that a Christian Nation an English Subject rejected a King that vvas as a Saint such a Saint as CHARLES the First Oh the desperate tementy of a blinded
best could discerne the worth of it and therefore should first in all reason have begun to use it was this Gift proffer'd lest afterwards they should goe about to excuse themselves with a Non novimus we knew is not The fittest Blessing to the fittest persons the stone to the builders 3. Lett 's now see what 's it's welcome Indeed very course and more strange considering the persons to whom it was proffer'd so foolish were they or so selfish or both they refused it 1. David is thrust out from the presence of Saul bannish'd the Land driven into Caves and Dens to lead a sad melancholly life with Bears and Tygres or at best amongst strangers too frequently more inhumane and barbarous then those beasts of prey He is hunted like a silly partridge upon the Mountains and no means that a cruell and jealous Saul could invent left unattempted to rid him of his Kingdome and the world at once 2. And in this particular too was our Blessed JESVS very truly the Son of David He is refused of his own People and Nation rejected by the chief Rulers and High-priests with a No King but Caesar Not this man but Barabbas Any murtherer rather then the Lord of life a bloody Tyrant rather then the God of mercies away to the Crosse with him This is the very voyce of the builders No stone of God's squaring for our building out with it amongst the rubbish Give us rather a Nero any lump of clay kneeded up in Christian blood Give us such stones as will admit of no Cement but what 's made of the blood of us and of our Children that blood which Caesar sheds be it on the heads of us and ours but this stone which God would in mercy bestow upon us be it thrown out into the streets and trampled under our feet forever This is the language of these prudent builders Thus even thus doe the builders too often prove the unhappy demolishers and when they should strengthen rase to the ground the walls of Hierusalem whilest they lay their own ambition their Humors and their Interests the onely Foundations of all their actions they are sure to refuse that stone which is sent down from Heaven Here 's the Wisedome of the Wise this is the Counsaile of the Prudent when they have not God before their Eyes The stone is refused which yet in spite of all their little Policies and petty devices shall most certainly return the Head-stone of the building Which brings us from the Folly and Basenesse of the builders to the unerring Wisedome and Constant Goodnesse of God Almighty They cast out the stone God brings it in again They reject it with scorn He sets it in with advantage They refuse it as uselesse and unfit for any thing He restores it the Beuty the strength of the whole Fabrick David after his long and tedious exile is call'd home again even by those same persons who at first were as ready as any to reject him with the shouts and acclamations of Israal he is welcomed and made the Glory of that people and their bulwark by whom he had been so much sleighted And thus was it with the great Rock of our Salvation after his numerous and grievous sufferings hardly ending in a bitter and a shamefull death He rose again and ascended into Heaven in Glory and Triumph and is become the Head of the Universall Church and the onely Sanctuary those very Enemies who refused him can confide in God will have his designe let man do his worst he will make all those in his due time to understand their own folly who would not when they ought embrace his Counsaile The stones which He sends are more precious in his eyes then to lye always unreguarded on a Dunghill David's Palace and Kingdome shall not forever be a Cave and a wildernesse Christ's Crown shall not alwaies be made of Thornes Those Cruell hammerings and rougher usages which the despised stone at present undergoes shall not break and Crush it but on the Contrary Square and smooth and polish it and make it the more serviceable and fitter for the building His Enemies at length shall know that those many torments they barbarously inflicted on him shall reflect with doubled force upon themselves and by a seasonable and unexpected restauration they shall be made to acknowledge that the undeserved exile of their David was not the punishment of his Sins but the greatest curse could be lay'd upon his very Persecutors And here on the one hand we may clearly behold the folly and blindnesse of worldly men even of those who would fain be esteem'd the wisest and skilfull'st builders repairers of a broaken state on the other hand the Infinite Wisedome and Providence of God even in those actions which seem lest considerable to the dim eyes of men Here we see man's Unworthynesse and perversnesse in slighting and refusing the very choisest of God's blessings there God's Infinite mercy and unalterable Goodnesse in redoubling his blessings after they have been refused In short here 's man's impiety in rejecting the stone which God had design'd and by proffering it Commended there 's God's Justice in making that despised stone to become at last all that he intended it for at first even the Head-stone of the Corner 2. Thus are we from the wonderfull mercy come to the cheerfull reception thereof It is received as so great a blessing ought to be with an humble acknowledgement of the Author with an high admiration of the Mercy 1. This is the Lord 's doing There King David acknowledgeth and there he would have all those that joyne with him to acknowledge the Divine Author of this great blessing To the Honour Glory of his gratious GOD to the Comfort and Iustification of the late suffering David to the shame confusion of his once insulting persecutors he utters it aloud It is the Lord 's doing The Restauration of this Royall person and in him of Israel's happines was a work more peculiarly properly the Lord's whereby he was wōderfully pleased to exhibit to the world as it were under his hand and seal a most signall testimoniall of David's Just and Righteous cause Most things He brings to passe by such ordinary common Instruments and after so plain and easie a manner and method that though they be the Lord's doings too yet the homelinesse of the visible Instrument together with the frequency of such operations keep us from taking so much notice of them as we ought to doe But such rare and remarkable passages of providence as this was cannot goe by us without a due observation a seasonable wonder and an humble reflection upon the glorious and Omnipotent agent If David had yet had any visible meanes left him of ridding himselfe out of Danger and attaining unto that Crown which was fitted by God for his head they would have been lesse apt through the multitude of humane means to eye the hand of
God in his advancement But that he should be restored even now and thus whose doing should this be but the LORD ' s for 1. Behold the poor exiled Prince wandering to and fro in a rude wildernesse as destitute of all hopes to man's thinking as of companions his strength failing him his lovers and his friends standing aloof from his Soul many enemies on all sides and perhaps some few well wishers but alas no helpers 2. Behold the sweetnesse of his generous Princely Soul abhorring to be cruell more then desiring to be King more delighting in Mercy and contented in his sufferings and confiding in his GOD and reverencing a King though a Saul a Tyrant then to revenge himself when GOD had put the life of his Enemies into his hand 3. Behold his Enemies for multitude innumerable for malice implacable for Interest insatiable no force could subdue no Reasons perswade no condescensions mollifie no hopes of a reconciliation or agreement upon terms or articles so that in the first place to the Glory of the Author we must confes It was the LORD's doing And again for the Justifying of David's righteous cause and for the abatement of his adversaries confidence and boasting he shewes it was the LORD's doing Prosperity and Success accompany'd with Oppression and Violence make but a slender argument for the Honesty and Innocence of a thriving Tyranny but a sudden promotion out of the dust by an unexpected hand from Heaven conducting a poore rejected David through the fury of his Enemies into the embraces of his friends frō a Cave to a Throne may beget a very strong perswasion of a Righteous cause when the mouth of the fierce Lyons are closed by a naked Daniel when the extreame raging of a fiery Furnace is still'd and cool'd at the approach of three fetter'd Innocents when the Bolts fall off and the doors fly open without a Key or a File to set the shakled Apostles at Liberty who will not presently say that GOD's favour is Sanctuary enough for an Injured Innocence his purpose to save armour enough against man's endeavours to destroy that there is no Policy against Providence no stratagem against Heaven Had David by force of armes with a great Hoste of men enter'd the Land and so made havock of his Enemies the residue of them might still have cbeer'd themselv's up with such hopes as these that seeing there were yet more men in the world they might yet come to regain all as they got it a first or lost it now by an arme of flesh But now when they behold the LORD making bare his own arme from Heaven shewing himself mindfull of David in his lowest condition bringing all the subtile devices of the long prosperous sinner to none effect without the help of man even against all the projects of man restoring his Anointed to his own how can they chuse but seeing be amazed wonder be silenced and condemning themselves and their own Folly with all humility at least with shame and confusion of face acknowledg that it is the LORD ' s doing and therefore 2. Truly Marveilous in our eyes Indeed all the works of GOD when consider'd as they ought to be are wonders but such works as this was the more immediate doings of the LORD are to be acknowledged above measure wonderfull Considering 1. The rarity of them such blessings come not every day the LORD makes a Day for them and by them He is not altogether prodigall of his Miracles but reserveth them for speciall occasions and for great Ends that he may thereby manifest his power in the weaknesse of his servant David and his adversary's weaknesse and folly in the very height of their policy and Confidence and the equity of David's cause in the midst of his Enemies triumph Ordinarily GOD works by common and known methods but when such a singular act of Providence as unusuall and new as true and effectuall discovers it selfe to our view must it not be marveilous in our eyes 2. Again when such deliverances are wrought by methods so farre above all both expectations and Inventions of friends and not onely so but above all fears too and preventions of Enemies when so many means formerly in the eyes of man more likely had proved utterly ineffectuall so many endeavours and projects in the opinion of most men strong and sure had been altogether quash'd and frustrated and yet notwithstanding all this the blessing when even almost despair'd of comes at last and that with interest it must needs be truly marvellous 3. Once more When GOD so works that man doth not see it yea even secretly in the hearts of those who do not yet understand it directing their actions to those very ends which it may be they least intended strangely and secretly charming the Disobedient into Duty the Rebellious into Loyalty when the promoters of David's exile are made the main Instruments of his restauration and all those fretting Shimeies which would still fain curse can or dare do nothing but blesse and congratulate certainly This must needs be the LORD 's doing and altogether marvailous in our eyes And as it was the LORD's doing thus graciously to re-establish what man had so stubboruly and scornfully rejected so must it too be acknowledged his doing to make these foolish men embrace what the second time he profer'd them However without all doubt it is man's duty in receiving the many and great blessings which GOD of his infinite bounty conferres upon him to look upon them as GOD's doings not as the rewards purchases of his own merits and endeavours withall to admire therein the Goodnesse the Power the Wisdome and Justice of the Author and Donor all which if we do but see as clearly as we ought and may we shall not rest'till we break out into an holy Ioy and thanksgiving after such a mercy and such a wonder 't were a greater wonder yet if Israel should not be Glad and Rejoyce 3. Which is the third branch of the Text. And truly David was never backwards nor David's followers to answer God's miracles of Meroy with holy returnes of Praise Whilest the Blessings of GOD descend upon the wicked as the dew of Heaven on a dung-hill begetting nothing but a nauceous stench unwholsome weeds when they meet with a David like the same dew upon a good and pleasant Garden they produce first a fair Spring-tide of sweet and lovely flowers and afterwards as full an harvest of sound and wholsome fruits Good words of Praise and better workes of Righteousnesse And as private mercies challenge our private praises so publike and Nationall blessings call for publike and Solemne thansgivings when the Crowne is restored to David and David to his People 't is very fit that all Israel should keepe Holy-day And thus they did and for this they have a double warrant First David's command or if any will rather have it so his invitation He sends forth a Generall
zeale The infatiable fury of a coveâ—ous Sanctity The horrible attempts of a malicious Hypocricy What execrable villanies barbarisme may execute when is walke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vizard of purity and Reformation for The LORD ' s Anointed was murther'd And can it be so much as thought that those very Builders who were call'd together to make up the breaches and repair the decayes in the walls of Sion should thus rashly pull out and dash in pieces in the open street the Corner-stone thereof and afterwards contrive and labour to fill up it's room with such Rubbish as a Common-wealth or such a rough and unhewen Flint as that late prodigious Tyrant which whilest with all their Art and skill they strove to fit and pollish they could never hope to produce anything but a fire to consume at once both the builders and the building But will it not yet seem more strange and incredble that even our Spirituall builders too those that pretended to be joynt labourers with Christ for the aedification of his heavenly kingdome upon earth should make it their Pulpit and their Lecture trade to mete out to their auditors such large measure of factions and seditious doctrine each Market day and like the Jewish High-priests move and incense the People to run raging up and down the streets with a Crucifie him Crucifie him and never cease watching at the doors with their trayterous Petitions in their hands till they had obtain'd their request the Murder of their King and the ruine of his Kingdom And yet such unskilfull builders had unfortunate England on all sides set on work who had a farre greater longing to grow rich upon the ruines then famous by the repairs of Hierusalem Yet as if this had amounted but to some light matter and were a thing excusable or as they would have it very commendable Observe how bravely and resolutely they go on It had pleas'd our Indulgent GOD to hew us out a Second most excellent stone out of the same Royall rock exactly squared and fitted for the same place and dignity too and this again the Builders reject and throw as farre out of their sight as out of their affections saying within themselves as those honest servants we know where This is the Heir come let us kill him and the Inheritance shall be ours thus stoutly resolve they that neither they themselves who had been so long sools would ever again grow wise nor that Church which they had so Sacrilegiously ruined glorious But there is no fighting against Heaven the same wise hand which fitted this Second stone is an Omnipotent hand too and hath fixed it Even that same Royall stone which with shame we may speak it for so many years together had layen in the dust neglected by the People Hated by the Builders beat upon by stormes and Tempests and hath felt the heavy hammers of his implacable Enemies is now sent home again more solid and firme for all that Hammering more sound and undecayed by reason of that long obscurity more welcome and acceptable after so long an absence With whom is restored a lost Justice a long time smoother'd amongst numberlesse Interests and Factions a lost Liberty so long shackled by a most intollerable Tyranny and Usurpation a lost Religion so long buried in grossest Atheisme onely with a fair flourish of Hypocricy and an inscription of Holinesse over her grave This stone the Basis of our Laws the Pillar of our Church the Bulwork of our Peace and I may truly adde the Landmark of our Estates for whilest he was removed no man knew what to call his own even this stone uncrack'd by the blows of his Enemies unmollified by the flatteries of his false friends which the builders for so many years have shamefully refused is now become Blessed be our good GOD the Head-stone of the Corner And now Whose doing is this Whos 's but his who is the great King of Kings Protector of the Fatherlesse Wise Mighty and lust who putteth down one and lifteth up another and makes the most prosperous sinners to know themselves to be but men He alone it is that could do these mighty things for us whereof we are Glad he that hath so strangly turned againe the Captivity of Sion that we seem yet like men that dream Novv vve see vvhat that is whereof our adversaries so boasted themselves Divine Providence and in whose power it is to still the raging of the waves and in whose hands are the Hearts of the Mighty and by whom it is that Kings do reign This is a work which the LORD hath all this while reserved to make his own Doing that all the Earth might see and be afraid because there is a reward for the Righteous there is a GOD that judgeth in the Earth This cannot be the work of any hand but GOD's for 1. If we cast an eye back upon our gracious David whilest under the cloud an Exile what can we see but the LORD alone he had to confide in How was he round about begirt with miseries It is hard to say in which he was most unfortunate his many inhumane Enemies or his more cowardly friends They of his own Religion If they vvere of any thought it more prudence to comply with a prosperous Tyrant then to succour a banish'd Prince The sons of Rome grudged him their friendship who was afraid to share in their slavery Nay such is the naturall sweetnesse wherewith GOD hath blest our Prince and such a gracious Prince hath GOD designed for us that he was afraid to become a King by Conquest and chose rather to wait for the Affections then to triumph over the Lives of his rebellious Subjects 2. Again amongst his enemies here at home we saw nothing could befriend him A Power seemingly invincible a malice utterly implacable a Confidence built upon a long and wonderfull successe and yet certainly a conscience full of guilt and consequently full of jealousies and therefore most vigilant Interests espoused in Rebellion and therefore onely to be maintained by Injustice and Cruelty Besides all these a Confederacy of Oaches Covenants and Engagements though these 't is true made little opposition to any thing but honesty and Loyalty being onely set up as meer engines of Policy which might easily be scrued into all postures to serve the Swearer's Interest Adde now unto all this on the one hand that grand and Master-craft of Hypocricy whereby their enemies did their best endeavours to cozen even God himselfe as well as men into a false beliofe of their integrity and Innocence and on the other hand the Irreligion profanenesse of pretended friends whereby too many were throughly perswaded that a King could have no favourite but wickednesse no friend but the profane considering this lewd temper of spirit in too many and a coldnesse an indifferency a cowardise in more we must needs confesse it was the LORD's doing And certainly a very wonderfull Doing in our eyes Hopes and expectations
all dying all Projects and endeavours failing enemies rejoycing flourishing triumphing friends scatter'd impoverish'd imprison'd all disponding the Conquerors sitting downe securely and dividing the spoyle and crying with David's enemies Ah so would we have it persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him even then God throws in the Apple of dissention and in pieces they fall and a sudden storme from the North scatters them An Army marches up not knowing whither all Sects and Factions meet it and congratulate and know not for what Well the all-knowing God brings all this to an happy Issue the LORD 's Anointed is restored his dying friends revived all barking Shimeies silenced Sectaries and Schismaticks confounded Rome and her Children troubled and amazed This surely was the LORD's doing and therefore marvailous in our Eyes What Praises therefore do we now owe unto God for all these his Marvailous workes This is the Day which God hath thus as you have heard re-made for England a bright and clear Sunshine after black clouds and thick darknesse The Day of our Redemption from a more then Aegyptian bondage and slavery the Day of our freedome from Tyranny and Oppression the Day wherein our gracious King was at first usher'd into the world with a new miraculous light from Heaven and the Day wherein he was welcomed into his Kingdome by all the lights of the Nation Starres of all Magnitudes with all the lustre and Glory they could cloath themselves withall A Day by the light whereof we begin to see our late Follies God grant we may truly repent us of them And our present happinesse Oh that we could be heartily thankfull for it A Day wherein Religion begins to appear again in her own dresse and all those maskes and vizors too freequently worne in the darke night of Ignorance begin to fall off frō her face All the Night-birds of prey and rapine begin to betake themselves to their Holes the doors of God's house are set wide open that we his servāts may freely enter in and worship the God of our Fathers after the manner of our Fathers solemnly and decently 'T were an endlesse task to recount half the blessings of this Day the summe of all is this The Anointed of the LORD whom we fear'd to have been taken in their nets is return'd in peace Let us therefore be Glad and Rejoyce be Glad inwardly and Rejoyce outwardly be so glad that God may accept of our Joy as an acceptable sacrifice of praise and thansgiving for his great and provident mercy in having reguard unto his holy One and so rejoyce that the world may see we are glad indeed acknowledg him the Author of our Happinesse It is most fit that as the world hath seen us sad yea perhaps too sinfully dejected in the Day of our Afflictions so it should now behold us cheerfull and full of joy but still without sinfulnesse in this Day which the LORD hath made Onely let us here beware lest we so rejoyce as to forfeit againe the ground of our joyes In vain do we observe this Day as a Thanksgiving-day except we labour to keep every Day of our life henceforward Holy-day It is not enough to say LORD we thanke thee but we are to Sacrifice our Persons and our endeavours to his honour and glory returning him not onely the Calves of our lips but the Affections of our hearts and the labours of our hands and the obedience of the whole man for the abundance of his mercies Our King our Church our Land have all too long groaned under our Sinfull rejoy cings and let us take heed lest all these suffer over again by our confident and presumptuous re-assuming of such carnall Joyes Why should it be any longer said and that with so much colour of truth that Loyalty and Piety cannot dwel together in the same brest Why should it be any longer said to our shame that swearing drinking and deriding Religion and making a mock of Holinesse are the Principall badges of such as call themselves Royallists We know who and what they are who have long agoe publikely boasted that they have been the King's best Subjects and Friends the way to confute them is not to swear they are not so but to prove by our actions that we indeed are so and to do this there 's no way left us but to be as sincerely Religious as they hypocrytically We may safely give leave to the Covenanter the Engager and the rest of a Schismaticall people to pretend as high as they can whil'st we are sure we are as much as they can pretend to Let us but once out-doe and out live them 't is no great matter who out-talks and out-braves us but let us by no meanes give occasion to the enemies of God to Blaspheme but whilst we endeavour to expresse our Loyalty in our Ioy let our joy be most clearly manifested in our Obedience to His just commands and in our Conformity to his good example whose first Proclamation was to condemne and prohibit and whose whole course of life is to shame all manner of Profanenesse and debauchery Let but our good and righteous actions first stop the mouthes of our Enemies and then our Righteous God will undoubtedly bind their hands and turne their hearts and make us all at last charitably and unanimously to joyne in the Praises of that great God who hath miraculously restored our Corner-stone and rebuilt our Hierusalem and made her once more a Citty in a fair way to be at unity within herself He will then make our King a glorious Prince and us happy Subjects and all of us at last more happy Saints when we shall all obtain Crownes and Kingdomes and be built up together one triumphant Church on our Head Corner-stone Christ IESVS full of all Gladnesse and Rejoycing and perpetuall singings to the Honour and Glory of him that sitteth upon the everlasting Throne who is LORD of Lords and KING of Kings to whom for his unspeakable mercy to our Gracious King and to us his Subjects in his happy Restauration let us ascribe all Honour and Glory Praise and Thanksgiving now and for ever AMEN