A SERMON Preached before THEIR MAJESTIES K. JAMES II. and Q. MARY AT Their CORONATION IN VVestminster-Abby April 23. 1685. By Francis Loâ—d Bishop of ELY and Lord Almâ—ner to His Majesty Published by His Majesties special Command DUBLIN Re-printed by Andrew Crook and Samuel Helsham And are to be Sold by Samuel Helsham at the Colledge-Arms in Castle-street A Sermon Preached before their Majesties King James II. and Queen Mary at their Coronation c. 1 CHRON. XXIX 23. Then Solomon sat on the Throne of the Lord as King instead of David his Father and prospered and all Israel obeyed him THen Solomon sate on the throne of the Lord. Then that is to say on the day of his Coronation which is mention'd in the foregoing Verse Then when they anointed him This may suffice to shew my Text is suitable enough to the present royal Solemnity But if I had any mind to parallel all the greatness and solemn glories of this day from the story of that King I should be forc'd as great as King Solomon was to borrow some Illustrious Remarks from several other of his best days besides that of his Coronation For when Solomon was Enthroniz'd no Temple was then built or so much as begun but to day we have seen a spectacle full of all decent splendor in God's House and filling our hearts with joy We have seen a King standing as Solomon on the day when he dedicated the Temple stood before the Altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands Nay we have seen his Majesty in an humbler that is a devouter posture To day we have seen another spectacle of magnificent Piety a Queen for whom it were too low a comparison should I compare her to her that was rais'd immediately to a Throne near to that of K. Solomon then when 't is said his mother crown'd him again in the day of his espousals But a Queen the most faithful companion of her royal Husband's sufferings and hard travels the fitter to be now the Consort of all his Triumphs We have seen her also like her self that is like Humility it self which is the Queen of Vertues The Story of K. Solomon could I bring skill to set it forth would furnish an entertainment for the devotions both of a Royal Audience and a mixt Assembly For the King in my Text made himself his Text He made his own life the subject of an excellent Sermon He was pleased to stile himself the Preacher as well as the King in Jerusalem He once had been instructed by the King his Father the man after God's own heart but afterward he was taught of God on purpose to be set up for an everlasting Guide by the rules and directions he should leave to all other Princes and people To begin then where they began with him in the Text 'T is said they made Solomon the son of David King the second time The first time was then when Adonijah exalted himself and said I will be King when he prepar'd himself Chariots and Horsemen and fifty men to run before him But the race is not always to the swiftest nor to him that sets out soonest for Popularity yet then it was high time for David to declare the Succession for then he was told The eyes of all Israel are upon thee that thou shouldest tell them on supposition as I shall shew anon that God had told him already who should sit upon the Throne of my Lord the King after him Thereupon Solomon was declared and presently anointed to succeed But because the Ceremony then was perform'd in a kind of tumultuary hast 't is now repeated at more leisure with greater state To keep my self within some compass and from wandring in such a world of matter as the Story of K. Solomon would offer me I shall be willingly confin'd to these four Points through which we may see K. Solomon in all his glory 1st That his Title was firm and good 'T is said here He sate on the Throne of the Lord and he sate there as King instead of David his Father And 2dly For his Government that was as good as his Title His management was such as became so wise a King as Solomon And 3dly His people were an obedient people and all Israel obey'd him 4thly The Blessing of God was upon him and his Government 'T is said He prosper'd In the First place for his Title to make that good if this be not Argument enough that 't is said here He sate on the throne of the Lord and that he sate there as King instead of David his Father let me farther observe to you That he was a King of God's own Nomination to prevent dispute among the Sons of David 1. Chron. 22. 9. Behold a Son shall be born to thee his name shall be Solomon and I will establish the throne of his kingdom His Brother Adonijah after his vain Attempt to seize the Crown makes this express acknowledgment of King Solomon's Right to the Kingdom Tho' it were mine from the People yet it was his from the Lord For God's Choice and the People's are not always the same But if this were the Case that he was rais'd to the Throne not properly by the King his Father much less by the People but by God himself how comes it to be said here They made him King They that is all the Congregation Were they the King-makers then Were they the Original of Regal Power Had they it first in themselves Else how could they impart it Towards the clearing of this be pleased to compare the story of another King's Coronation in the Book of Kings with that self same story in the Book of Chronicles And whereas in one place we read the People anointed Joash we find in the other Place that Jehojadah the High Priest and his Sons anointed him so not the people 's Anointed but the Lord 's Anointed Only the People stood by as they do here and express their unanimous good Will with such loud Acclamations as you heard e'ne now not that we imagine our united voices contribute any thing of Right to our Hereditary Prince but to shew that if the Kingdom were Elective we think him most worthy to be King But 't is most plain and most evident that God by his special appointment set over his People the first three succeeding Kings Saul David and Solomon and where ever 't is said the People made them or any other Kings no more is meant but that the People own'd them as Kings of God's making But that immediate Designation of their Kings from Heaven was to cease one day and the Kingdom was to be Hereditary This appears from the Conclusion of those Provisional statutes Deut 17. those precepts for the King that should be set over them that he may prolong his days in the Kingdom he and his Children in the middest of Israel But as Solomon's Right to Empire
Sufficient real happy proof of an Obedient People And as I must vehemently exhort you to perserverance in that which is not only your Duty but your Practice so I do in Effect commend your strict adherence to your former Protestations and to your Oaths of Allegiance Be thankfull to God then for those Blessings you have and to the King under whom they will be continued to you Be satisfied with your condition take heed of overturning or undermining the whole fabrick because you cannot have the room that you would choose in it Take heed of deâ—â—roving your Countrey to build your own house take heed of ruining all because you cannot mend your selves in this or that Particular Destruction and Death is not all you are like to get by it Take heed of that which follows There 's another Death to come after God has warn'd you of it They that Resist shal receive to themselves Damnation As you would avoid this take heed of that which leads to it Do that which is best for you here and hereafter best for the Publick and for your Private Interests best for your selves and for youâ— Children as ever you desire to leave them all these Blessings And for a powerful motive to his Sacred Majesty to act well his Sovereign part for the good of this great people the place it self where he will be presented anon with all the Regalia set in the seat of Empire and made the Anointed of God the place which is the Royal Golgotha the burying place of Kings where we have lately deposited the venerable Remains of Majesty will put him in mind from the Royal Prophet Though Kings are made as Gods they shall dye like men And then I must put you all in mind from the Apostle That as it is appointed to men once to dye so after death the Judgment Mortality Behold consider and stand in awe there 's an acre of ground sown with the richest seed that ever the earth received since the first Adam's transgression occasioned the second Adam like a corn of wheat to fall into the ground and dye Think how much Royal dust and ashes is laid up in yonder Chappel there the Houses of York and Lancaster rest quietly under one roof there does Queen Mary her Sister Q. Elizabeth lye close together their ashes do not part In the story of Polinices and Eteocles two Brothers rivals for a Crown we are told their smoke divided into two Pyramids as it ascended from one Funeral Pile But here these dusts do as kindly mingle as all the old Piques and Aversions are soundly asleep with them And so shall we be ere long most of us in a meaner lodging but all of us in the dust of death A great King upon sight of a vast concourse of his Subjects wept at the very thought that in a few years there would not be left alive so much as one of them And well may we as seriously though not so sadly reflect that when this numerous glorious assâ—mbly shall break up hence we may e'ne adjourn our meeting to the general resurrection But if we put into the Scale that last most weighty consideration that God shall bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it 〈◊〉 good or whether it be evil Then from these Premisses that inference will be forcible indeed which Solomon makes at the end of his Ecclesiastes Let us hear says he the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man This is all that God expects from the greatest King yet less God will not accept from the meanest Subject Let but this one thing necessary be thoroughly done then we may be able to use in our own behalf those words of a King Happy are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God Then may we hope from the Divine Goodness to see with joyful eyes such a miracle of happiness in this World as here we cannot read of but with admiration that God will magnifie the King as he did Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel and bestow upon him such Royal Majesty as has not been on any King before him in Israel And may both their Majesties after the longest possession of all earthly Greatness with as litâ—le uneasiness as ever any Crowns brought along with them at last see God and Reign with Christ in heavenly Serene Glory for ever and ever And let all the people say Amen FINIS
was thus visible so Secondly His other Royal Qualifications were most conspicuous whether his natural Endowments be consider'd or his supernatural Gifts to fit him yet more for Government When God bid him ask what he would he ask of God nothing but Wisdom and he had that he askt with an overplus not only of all other excellent things but also of more Wisdom than he knew how to ask of God before he receiv'd it He is reckon'd about eighteen years of Age when he began to Reign so that he stiles himself a Child tho his dying Father gave him that great Character as no more than his due Thou art a wise Man and do therefore according to thy Wisdom How wisely did he foresee any coming danger How perfectly well skill'd was he in the times and seasons When and upon whom or what sort of men it was fit to shew Justice or Mercy presently he made it appear how true it is that being in a place of Government shews what a man is For instantly he penetrated the ambitious Intrigueing design of Adonijah that was playing an after-game for the Kingdom labouring to set up himself again upon a new Alliance that had a powerful interest in the Court But tho Solomon had Pardon'd his Rebellion yet so as to keep him still on his good Behaviour and had promis'd him a favourable Pretection if he would shew himself a worthy man yet his Justice would spare him no longer when once he made himself unworthy of that Mercy Then his early severity upon Joab whom K. David going out of the world had delivered over not as a Traytor but as a Murderer to the righteous Judgment of K. Solomon That was a most effectual Declaration to all his Subjects that they must expect no more pardons in the case of Murder since neither the greatness of his past services nor his nearness of Blood to the Royal Family could secure Joab from falling under that Law He that sheddeth man's Blood by man shall his Blood be shed But at the same time behold the Clemency of K. Solomon to Abiather because he had been a faithful old Servant to K. David and a Sufferer with him tho he had been a great Offender with Adonijah nevertheless K. Solomon remitted him both his Life and Estate He gave a noble Instance how proper objects of Royal Goodness and Compassion are old Royalists tho some of them may have been mislead to make false Steps and have fallen into fatal Errors On the other side for Shimei that had curst K. David and flung stones at his Head in the day of his distress they do wrong to the dying King who think he retracted his Act of pardoning Shimei's Life when he bid his Son Hold him not guiltless that is Treat him not like an Innocent person And when he spoke what follows there not as a King commanding but foretâ—lling as even his natural Divination might serve him to do his hoar head thou shalt or thou wilt bring down to the Grave with Blood for so it may well be translated on Supposition that such a one as Shimei would offend again Therefore Solomon did like himself to set such a restless implacable Spirit his bounds which he should not Pass and when he transgrest afresh then to call his old Sins to remembrance and to take that Life which such an execrable Wretch had forfeited the second time III But as Solomon was a famous good Governor so thirdly his People were eminently Loyal All Israel obey'd him Of which there follows upon my Text a farther Explication all the princes that is the Sanhedrim or the Senate acknowledg'd his just Soveraignty over them And the mighty men that is the Military men made their Addresses to him as confessing the power of the Militia was solely his And all the sons likewise of K. David submitted themselves to Solomon the King for Adonijah had called them all except Solomon to Countenance his taking upon him to be King but now that cabal was dissolv'd their leader was taken off their faction grew weary of it self and the King no doubt receiv'd their Submission with a Goodness well becoming his own Greatness But tho â—ll his Subjects yielded him such entire Obedience yet still they serv'd him as Freemen not as Slaves It was his greatest Honour as well as the happyness of his People that as Gods Service is perfect Freedom so in Imitation of it was that of God's Vicegerent for we are told in the Book of Kings that of the Children of Israel did Solomon make no Bondmen but as it follows there They were men of War and his Servants and his Princes and his Captains and Rulers of his Chariots and his Horsemen And thus all Israel obey'd him IV But all this had never been so happily Administred had there not been a fourth Concurrent of more Consequence than all the three foregoing Had there not been an extraordinary Blessing of God not only upon that Great Prince but upon all his good Subjects had not he been Religious as well as Politick and had not they been a People capable of that blessing But He and They were duly qualified for it They joyn'd with him to derive it upon His Sacred Head and from thence upon their own like the Oyntment upon Aaron's head which ran down and diffus'd its self over the whole Body He Built the Temple they all Contributed He brought up the Ark of God they attended it Sacrific'd whole Hecatombs they at the same time kept a solemn Feast to the Lord. He made that fervent prayer to God they all said Amen to it He blest the People He blest God God ratifi'd the Kings Blessing upon the People God return'd the Divine Blessing upon the King In the mid'st of all this 't is said He prospered How could it be otherwise than so Great peace and plenty at home with as much honour and interest abroad The Native Wealth of his own Country was improv'd and Commerce increast mightily all foreign good things were imported and made his by the particular care he took of what concern'd Navigation His City the Seat of Empire was then more than ever the joy of the whole Earth What could be added to all this Prosperity except Victory over his Enemies Yes it was a vast addition to his almost unparallel'd felicity that he had no enemies He was able to send this Message to his friend K. Hiram now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side so that there is neither Adversary nor evil Occurrent Thus it was with him till he left off Serving God Then indeed God was angry with him Yet from the fall and rising again of K Solomon may be fetch 't the last perhaps the highest Instance of his Blessedness for as he stands a formidable Example of Human Frailty so we may allow him to be not only a comfortable but also a most admirable Instance of the Divine Omnipotent Mercy As he lost