A SERMON Preached at St. CATHARINE CREE-CHURCH On the 26th of November 1691. BEING THE Thanksgiving-day FOR THE Preservation of the KING and the Reduction of Ireland By Nicholas Brady M. A. Minister of St Catharine Cree-Church and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Ormond Printed at the Request of his Parishioners LONDON Printed for Samuel Crouch at the Corner of Popes-Head-Alley over against the Royal Exchange 1692. To my Worthy Friends The Parishioners of St. C. Cree-Church Gentlemen I Am so many ways indebted to you both for your obliging Election of me to be your Minister and for the several Civilities which I have received since my living amongst you that I could not refuse so small an acknowledgment as that of publishing the following Discourse at your Request tho I am not ignorant that besides its own defects the very subject matter of it will expose it to the Censure of some who will not allow others the liberty to speak well of the Government whilst they assume to themselves the priviledge of Railing at it and speaking evil of Dignities But since I proposed to my self no other end in it when I delivered it from the Pulpit than the instruction of my Congregation and the discharging of a good Conscience I am little concerned what Reception it may meet with abroad being abundantly satisfied by the desire you have testified to have it made publick that it has had its wish'd effect upon You who heard it and for whose use and advantage it was primarily designed As therefore I have consented to the Publication of it for no other reason but because I could not deny you the absolute disposal of that which is so justly your own so the only return that I expect or desire is that you will go on to exemplifie it in your practice and approve your selves in all things else as true Friends to the Government as you have done in your favourable acceptation of the following Discourse That it may please God to give you frequent occasions of Praises and Thanksgivings and to perfect the Deliverance which he has so happily begun shall be the constant Prayer of Decem. 4th 1691. Your Hearty Well-Wisher Obliged Friend and Servant in the Lord N. Brady A SERMON Preached on the Thanksgiving-day PSAL. XVIII The former part of the last Verse Great deliverance giveth he to his King GOD having rejected Saul from being King over Israel and having raised up his chosen Servant David to govern in his stead many were the Attempts against him of his potent and designing Enemies both by open Violence and by secret Practices But the Lord whose right hand has the preheminence and brings mighty things to pass whose Counsel shall stand let there be never so many devices in the heart of man gave Victory unto his King and shewed Mercy unto his Anointed and by signal and frequent manifestations of his Power established and quietly setled him in that Throne to which his good Providence had so remarkably conducted him In grateful Commemoration of these wonderful Deliverances the Royal Prophet composed this Psalm of Thanksgiving as we may clearly gather from the Preface of it where it is intitled A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his Enemies and out of the hand of Saul In it he gives us a large and eloquent description of Almighty Power and unbounded Goodness and shews us how eminently they had both been exerted in his own favour and being rapt up into a holy extasie upon a due contemplation of the Mercies which he had received he breaks forth into this passionate Acknowledgment in the words of my Text Great deliverance giveth he to his King In my following Discourse upon which words I shall insist upon these four particulars The two former of which are contained in my Text The two later are naturally deducible from it and fitly accommodated to the present occasion First I shall examine what it is to be Gods King and what qualifications are generally found in such a Prince as may justly deserve that Denomination Secondly I shall shew that to such a Prince as is God's King God will give great deliverance Thirdly I shall prove both from the qualifications generally found and from the deliverance given that his present Majesty does justly deserve the denomination of God's King Fourthly and lastly I shall enquire what Returns are due from us to God for the great deliverance which he has given to his King First then I shall examine what it is to be Gods King and what Qualifications are generally found in such a Prince as may justly deserve that denomination Great deliverance giveth he to His King It is indeed most undeniably true that in a large and unlimited sense every Sovereign Prince may be styled God's King since the most Arbitrary Tyrants and most forcible Usurpers are without question ordained by God according as he testifies of himself Is there any evil in the City and I have not done it But what we here mean by His King is such a King as is designed by God to be the instrument of signal Mercies and an extraordinary Blessing to the people which he governs And in such a Prince as we now speak of these three following Qualifications are generally found 1. A visible and more than common designation of him to the Government 2. A Course of Government advantagious to his People and tending to the Advancement of True Religion 3. A Life Exemplary and Unblameable in his private Actions and Conversation 1. Then in order to denominating a Prince God's King there is generally found a visible and more than common designation of him to the Government God in his ordinary Dispensation of common Mercies generally proceeds in a setled course he makes his Sun to rise daily his Rain to fall at its appointed Season and thus he dispenses his usual Blessings after a familiar manner in a regular way and ties himself up as it were to Rule and Method But when he designs to bless remarkably and to give extraordinary Instances of his good Will and Favour he then has no other bounds but his own Omnipotency and constrains us to confess that it is the Lord 's doing by making his proceedings appear marvellous in our eyes Thus if a Nation be to be rescued from Slavery a Moses shall be sent in the power of Miracles if a tottering Government be to be settled and confirmed a David shall be conducted to the Helm by a constant Series of most especial Providences if Idolatry be to be rooted out a Jehu shall be Anointed to it in a particular and solemn manner that so at the same time that we are sensible of the Mercy we may also perceive from whose hand it comes that God may not only give Blessings unto his People but may make unto himself also a glorious Name
For indeed we are all too apt to sacrifice to our Net as the Prophet words it to ascribe our successes to our own endeavours than which we cannot offer a greater affront to the Almighty Author of them God therefore being willing to assert and vindicate his own Honour and being jealous of his Glory which he will not give to another interposes visibly in such remarkable occurrences and by so doing extorts a Confession that we were not delivered by our own strength neither did our own arm save us but his right hand and his arm and the light of his countenance because he had a favour for us When we find things go on in the common road and proceed forward in an unbroken course if any alteration happens for the better we are apt to impute it to Chance or Accident or the uncertain Vicissitude of Worldly affairs and seldom do we look up to a higher Cause But when in order to that end we see the current of Affairs unaccountably diverted from its proper Channel Ancient Constitutions abolished and new ones introduced and all this done as suddenly and surprizingly as a Scene is shifted in the Theatre when when we see the mighty against all manner of probability brought down from his seat and the humble and meek against all human appearance exalted to it we cannot then but discover his hand in it who raises up one and casts down another we cannot but acknowledg that our Salvation is of the Lord. This therefore is the first Qualification generally found in such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a visible and more then common designation of him to the Government But because this may be as well applied to Tyrants who are sent by God for Scourges to a Rebellious Nation as to those who are designed Protectors and Deliverers therefore A second Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King is a Course of Government advantageous to his People and tending to the Advancement of True Religion The two great Ends which God proposes to himself by sending a Blessing of so high a Nature are the benefit of those to whom he sends it and the Glory of his own great Name The former of these cannot be attained but by such a Course of Government as is advantageous to the People nor the later unless it tend to the advancement of God's Worship in its Purity and to the furtherance of true Religion But God neither lays his designs so shallowly nor executes them so weakly as to run any hazard of a disappointment and consequently his ends will assuredly be compleated and that probably by such means as I have already assigned And indeed this is the truest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or touchstone by which we may at any time be able to distinguish whether God sends us a Prince in Mercy or whether he gives us a King in his Anger since those who are designed for the Executioners of his Vengeance are as discernably advanced by the Divine Assistance as those who are intended for the Instruments of his Favour It is not therefore the bare Accession to a Crown by an unbeaten Path that can denominate any one in the sense of my Text Gods King but such a management of Affairs during his Administration as may answer the intentions of unbounded Goodness God sometimes conducts one to the Throne and seats him in it and when he has so done abandons him to himself and then how different is the man from what he was before all the expectation that was raised by his unusual promotion is most unhappily disappointed his Lusts and his Passions hurry him to extremities Neither Law nor Conscience can set bounds to his Extravagancies and his Exit is generally as shameful and as miserable as his coming in was honourable and hopeful But when God has appointed one to be his King he does not only lead him to it by the hand and establish him in it but upholds him also with his Power and directs him with his Wisdom that he may be able to go in and out before so great a People Then the expectation which was at first raised by his signal advancement is happily kept up by his worthy performances then does Justice run down like waters and Righteousness like a mighty stream because God has given his Judgments unto his King and has poured out his spirit upon his Anointed This therefore is the second Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a course of Government advantageous to his People and tending to the advancement of true Religion A Third Qualification by which a Prince may justly be denominated God's King is a Life exemplary and unblamable in his private Actions and Conversation A Prince that is designed for a Scourge and an Avenger is generally as ill a Man as he is a King since it is the usual method of God's Providence to burn the Rod after he has made use of it and Executioners we know are seldom chosen out of the best of men the basest and the worst are commonly thought good enough for such an Employment But where Blessings are dispensed they are always transmitted through the hands of Favourites The Mercy of God is his darling Attribute nor will he ever prostitute it so far as to impart it by the means of such who have themselves no title to it The greatest of all mercies the Covenant of Grace was conveyed to mankind by his best-beloved and so it is proportionably with subordinate Blessings Now we know without holiness it is impossible to please God and how shall he convey the refreshings of his goodness by such a One as is the object of his displeasure We cannot therefore look upon any one to be God's King where we do not see some Rays of the Divine Perfection breaking forth in his Life and Conversation And hence it is that the Royal Prophet who names himself his King in the words of my Text stiles himself in the Preface of this Psalm the Servant of the Lord. And certainly it is the greatest advantage imaginable towards drawing down Blessings of the first magnitude upon a Nation to have a Prince whose Actions are exemplary and unblamable since he is not only qualified thereby to be a fit Instrument for the conveyance of them but by the strength and power of so eminent an Example will probably influence his Subjects also and fit them for the reception and improvement of them This therefore is the third Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a Life Exemplary and Unblamable in his private Actions and Conversation And indeed the Royal Author of this Psalm of Thanksgiving might justly apply that title to himself since he was signally qualified in these three particulars Through what an amazing labyrinth of Dangers and of Difficulties did the clue of Divine Providence direct him to the Throne How studiously did he consult the good
to us That he is God's King A Third Qualification as you have been informed is a Life Exemplary and Unblamable in his private Actions and Conversation And here we ought to bless God that we can now commend a Prince's Morals without the odious Imputation of Servile Flattery that we can extol in him the practice of such or such Vertues without being thought to Ridicule him thereby for the Commission of the contrary Vices That God has been graciously pleased to set one over us who is not only a good King but a good Man too and makes Greatness and Virtue no longer incompatible And O! that the Influence of good Example were as strong and prevalent as the Contagion of an ill one And that both Sexes would be as ready to take Lessons from the Throne of Modesty and Sobriety as they are generally prone to follow great Examples of Licesitiousness and Intemperance I chuse to speak less than I ought upon this Head lest I might be thought by some to say too much and shall only add that as well by this as by the two former qualifications his present Majesty may justly challenge the denomination of God's King Another Branch of the proof proposed was to be taken from the Deliverances which have been given him by which also God has approved him to be his King If ever the Providence of God watched over any single person in so eminent a manner as to make him seem to be the whole care of Heaven his present Majesty has been blessed with that advantage Not to insist upon the wonderful Deliverances he has experienced in his former years being inured to Hardships and Difficulties being bred up from a Child in the midst of Dangers and having been a Man of War from his Youth We shall find sufficient Instances of the Divine Favour and Protection since his Auspicious Entrance upon the Government of these Kingdoms How did the Weapons of his Enemies drop out of their Hands upon his first Appearance within this Nation as if a Voice from Heaven had given Command Touch not mine Anointed and do my King no barm How has he beeen surrounded with a Wall of Brass in the midst of Horror and Destruction How has the Lord covered his Head in the day of Battle and when Thousands have fallen on his side and ten Thousands on his Right Hand yet has not suffered it to come nigh him How industriously has he pursued and sought out Danger and how constantly has that avoided him and fled before him How has God rebuked in his Favour the Winds and the Seas and brought him forth safe from the horrours of the deep and set his Feet upon a Rock and ordered his goings How has he discovered and laid open to him the secret Machinations of his Treacherous Adversaries and made themselves to fall into the Trap which they had laid for him In a word How has God protected him from perils by Land and perils by Water perils from his own Country-men and perils from the Heathen as St. Paul expresses himself in his Catalogue of Distresses Well may we then conclude with the Royal Psalmist That many and grievous have been his Troubles but the Lord has delivered him out of them all and both by the qualifications required in such a Person and by the great Deliverances which he has given to him has undeniably demonstrated that he is His King But as if it were a small thing in the Eye of the Lord to rescue and relieve him out of all his Distresses and to give great deliverance unto This His King He has done yet more for him and us he has added to his Deliverance Success and Triumph witness the happy Reduction of the Neighbouring Nation So that he has not only saved his life from destruction but has crowned him also with mercy and loving-kindness as for his Enemies he has clothed them with shame but upon himself he has made his Crown to flourish Certainly the consideration of such extraordinary advantages should powerfully induce us to give praise unto God who has given such great deliverance to his King and communicated by Him such Benefits to us all And this leads me to the consideration of the Fourth and last General being the second Proposition deducible from the words of my Text namely To enquire what Returns are due from us to God for the great deliverance which he has given to his King Ingratitude is not only the basest but the most dangerous too of all Vices and draws after it a Train of Consequences no less fatal and destructive than they are shameful and dishonourable Even amongst Men themselves he forfeits all Title to future Favours that is unthankful for those which he has already received and nothing makes a Man less befriended in his necessity or more unpitied in his adversity than the black Imputation and Character of an ungrateful person But when the Case is stated between God and Man the woful effects of so degenerate a temper are vastly greater and more pernicious for then we do not only cut off our own expectations and render our selves uncapable of future mercies but we lose the advantage also of all our former Blessings and by an unhappy kind of Alchymy convert them into Curses How signally and remarkably we have lately felt the comfortable Refreshings of the Divine Goodness none can be so stupid as to be ignorant none so impudent as to deny If we look upon the Preservation and Establishment of our tottering Religion the happy Union of our selves at home and the successful progress of our Arms abroad we cannot but acknowledge that God has compassed us about with Songs of deliverance if we consider the many Dangers and Distresses from which it has pleased the good Providence of God to protect his present Majesty both as to open Violence and secret Practices so that no weapon no design formed against him has prospered and how he has been pleased to bring him back to his longing People in Health and Safety we cannot but confess that great deliverance has he given to his King And from both considerations we must necessarily infer that vast Returns of Gratitude are due upon our side which we are obliged to pay after the following manner First By Praises and Thanksgivings to Almighty God the Author and Fountain of them all So many visible appearances of the Divine Providence have intitled God to the sole Honour of our signal Deliverances that it would be a direct robbing him of his Glory to pretend to ascribe it to any other he having acted upon these occasions as he expresses himself by the Prophet Isaiah And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold then my own Arm brought Salvation Thus God arose and his and our Enemies were scattered and they that hated both him and us fled before him Therefore not unto us O Lord neither to King nor People not unto us but
unto thy Name give praise for thy loving mercy and for thy truths sake Nor must we think it sufficient to draw near thus unto God with our mouths and to honour him with our lips to give him only a verbal acknowledgment no we must demonstrate our gratitude to be real and substantial by making that return which he chiefly expects in the amendment of our Lives and Conversations according to the instruction of the Prophet Micah He hath shewn thee O man such things as be good and now what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God But Secondly We must testifie our gratitude for these Deliverances by Loyalty and Obedience to their present Majesties the blessed Objects of some of these Mercies and the happy Instruments of all the others and having rendered unto God the things that are God's we must also render unto Coesar the things which be Coesars Nor indeed can we without the highest dis-respect to God himself be wanting in our Duty to two such Princes whom he has so signally declared to be His King and Queen Now this Obedience must be expressed by a due Recognition of their just Authority by Prayers and Supplications offered up in their behalf by a decent and respectful Behaviour towards them and by Reverent Expressions in relation to them but chiefly and especially by a hearty and vigorous Assistance of them both with our Lives and Fortunes for the compleating those great Deliverances which God through them has so happily begun Thirdly We must testifie our Gratitude for these Deliverances by Love and Assection one towards another the mutual sharers and partakers of them Behold how good and joyful a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Let us in the name of God lay aside all manner of rancour and malice all unseemly heats and animosities all odious names of Parties and of Factions Let brotherly love continue and the only Contention amongst us be who shall most Zealously serve his God who shall most Vigorously assist his Prince and who shall most Cordially affect each other Thus as St. Peter advises Let us add to our godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity And therefore Fourthly and Lastly We must testifie our gratitude for these Deliverances by shewing Charity to our distressed Brethren It is the most natural Return of Thankfulness to Almighty God for rescuing us from our Distresses when we endeavour to Copy out that great Original by relieving as far as we can the necessities of others For can we be truly thankful for Mercies and not love that God from whom we have received them And he that says he loves God and hates that is relieves not his brother is a liar says the Apostle and the truth is not in him In a word a grateful Return must be made in such a manner as we know is well-pleasing and acceptable to God and therefore to do good and to distribute we must not forget for with such Sacrifices God is well-pleased To him the Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons but One God of Mercy be ascribed all Honour Glory and Thanksgiving for the manifold Blessings which he has conferred upon us all and for the great Deliverance which he has given to his King FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by Samuel Crouch at the Corner of Popes-Head Ally next Cornhil FOLIO RVshworth's Collections The Life Reign and Death of Edward II. King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers VVritten by E. F. in the year 1627 and Prented verbatim from the Original QVARTO A Sermon Preach'd before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-Hall-Chappel upon Good-Friday March 29 1689. A Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen at White-Hall on the 28th of December 1690. A Sermon preached before the King at Belfast in Ireland on the 14th day of June 1690. All three by George Royse D. D. Provost of Oriel Colledge in Oxford and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties The true Interest of the Princes of Europe in the present State of Affairs OCTAVO The Ingenious and diverting Letters of the Lady Travels into Spain Describing the Devotions Nunneries Humours Customs Laws Militia Trade Diet and Recreations of that People Intermixt with great Variety of Modern Adventures and surprising Accidents being the truest and best Remarks extant on that Court and Country The first and second Part. * ⎠* The third and last Part of the Lady Travels will be published with all speed Materot Redivivus the Italian Master shewing the great Variety and Beauty of the Italian Hand being a Royal Sheet of Paper Containing about 950 Letters By John Ayres Master of the Writing-School near St. Pauls Sold by him and Samuel Crouch