A SERMON To bring to Remembrance GOD's Wonderful Mercies at the BOYN PREACH'D On the Second Day of July 1699 At St. Nicholas within DUBLIN By Iohn Stearne D. D. DUBLIN Printed by Joseph Ray and are to be Sold at his Shop in Skinner-Row over against the Tholsel 1699. To Their EXCELLENCIES CHARLES Duke of Bolton HENRY Earl of Gallway And NARCISSUS Lord Archbishop of Dublin LORDS JUSTICES OF IRELAND This SERMON Preach'd and Publish'd in Remembrance of God's Wonderful Mercies at the Boyn Is humbly Dedicated by Their Excellencies Most obedient Servant John Stearne A SERMON Preach'd the Second Day of July 1699 ON The 24th and 25th Verses of the XXXVI Chap. of Job Remember that thou magnifie his Work which Men behold Every Man may see It Man may behold It a far off THrough the merciful Providence of Almighty God We are All this Day to the great Disappointment of our Enemies in the Land of the Living and this very Day nine Years are compleated since We were assur'd of our Deliverance from the threatning Pow'rs of France and the bloody Hopes of Rome for thô the First of July will be long observable in Story for that Glorious Victory with which Heaven was pleas'd to bless the Forces of our Mighty Deliverer KING WILLIAM at the Boyn yet in what Melancholy Thoughts what fearful Expectations and what restless Distraction that doubtful Day was spent many of this City cannot easily forget But on the Second of this Month on this memorable Day did We joyfully behold the prevailing Fears of our Enemies prevent the Execution of their own cruel Designs This Day instead of being buri'd in the Ruines of our City or of seeing it in Flames and Ashes round about Us did We thô still with some Remainder of our Fears as the Sea continues disturb'd and rough for some time after the stormy Winds are laid this Day I say did We look out from our Consinement and see our Enemies in their disorderly Flight as if they cou'd not make too much Haste from an advancing Army whose Hearts and Hands they had lately known to their Loss and Sorrow For thô they are a sort of Men that allow their Senses to be Dull and Deceitful in the Church yet in the Field they are very Quick and Faithful and in Our Great Day of Battel all their Catholick Faith cou'd not hinder their Senses from doing their proper Office they soon felt the Blows and Shot of our Army and believ'd them Real They saw their own Party Substantially beaten and did not conceit that they were knock'd down by Accidents In short they were too sensible that Our Army was a Body of Men too Brave and Daring for them to rally against and engage and therefore with all the Expedition of Fear they turn'd their Backs ran away and spurr'd on as if a wing'd commission'd Angel had pursu'd their dismay'd flying Camp to execute the Vengeance of the Lord of Hosts And since on this Day We saw Our Enemies scatter'd and those that hated us like well disciplin'd Souldiers following their Leader flie before Us shall not We this Day shall not Our Posterity for ever magnifie this marvellous Work of God which We beheld that God may never upbraid Us as He did his People with this heavy Charge They remember'd not God's Hand nor the Day when He deliver'd them from the Enemy We must not only magnifie God for his Eminent Works of Mercy while they are New and can hardly be forgotten but allow them a constant Place in our Remembrance and that vast Debt of Gratitude which We our selves cannot wholly discharge must be entail'd upon our late Posterity In a due Sense of this did the Jews upon the sudden Disappointment of Haman's bloody Conspiracy set a part the Days of Purim as Days of Feasting and Gladness in Commemoration of so signal a Deliverance They ordain'd that those Days should be kept through ev'ry Generation ev'ry Province ev'ry City and ev'ry Family that the Memory of them might not perish from the Jews nor from their Seed for ever This their Religious Decree must condemn us all unless We faithfully record Our Deliverances for the Generations to come that the Children which are yet unborn may praise the Lord. If the Deliverance of any People upon the Face of the Earth has deserv'd a stated Day of Anniversary Thanksgiving surely Ours as at this Time may justly expect It and I wish that the want of an Act of Parliament for celebrating the First of July as well as the Twenty Ninth of May or the Twenty Third of October may not be number'd among those National Sins which provoke the Jealous God to visit Us again with a more heavy Hand Shou'd We or Our Posterity ever suffer God's Great and Compendious Mercy at the Boyn to grow into neglect the Astonish'd World may justly tell us in the Psalmist's Words that We have sinn'd with our Fathers who regarded not God's Wonders in Egypt neither kept his great Goodness in Remembrance but were disobedient at the Sea even at the Red Sea Even the most important Blessings We are too prone to forget and therefore wise and grateful Antiquity contriv'd various Ways to renew and strengthen our Memories And our Blessed Saviour considering how often the thronging Concerns of this present Life thrust Him and All his Benefits out of our Minds very kindly left us a most indispensible Command for the frequent Celebration of the Holy Eucharist saying Do this in Remembrance or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a Memorial of Me. And that the People of God might never want an Evidence of His exceeding Goodness towards them in destroying Amalek with the Sword of Joshua God enjoyn'd Moses to write It in a Book and for a standing Monument of so glorious a Defeat Moses built an Altar and call'd the Name of It JEHOUA-nissi The Lord my Banner And surely We are not less oblig'd to convey by ev'ry kind of Tradition the wonderful Works of Divine Mercy to the coming Generations that God's Name may be exalted in ev'ry succeding Age to the Consummation of all Things when all Holy Souls shall joyn with the coelestial Choir in more refin'd and sprightly Hallelujahs and keep one great Day of Thanksgiving that shall never know a Night And if this be our Duty as most certainly It is Wonder and Pity must by Turns employ a serious Person when He Duly reflects on our National Mercies and our general Ingratitude For How can He but be fill'd with Admiration to consider the many and great Deliverances which a most gracious Providence has vouchsas'd to give Us notwithstanding all our provoking Impieties And how can He but look down with a sorrowful Eye upon the unhappy Condition of such Men as by their continu'd Course of Wickedness seem obstinately resolv'd to disappoint all the obliging Methods of Divine Goodness and Love Thô the Lord hath done great Things for Us already and so done them that they ought to be
had in Remembrance Yet so unanswerable is our Return We hourly magnifie our own Ingratitude more than his marvellous Works Our numerous Transgressions have made our Unthankfulness so prodigiously Great that in this one Respect It is like the Wonderful Work of God in the seasonable Deliverance of our Church and State ev'ry One may see It Man may behold It a far off It was thought very unreasonable by our Blessed LORD that of the Ten that were cleans'd but One return'd to give Glory unto GOD for his saving Mercy and yet our Unthankfulness is more unequal for of the many Thousands in this Populous City which was surpriz'd with a Deliverance from a consuming Fire and an undistinguishing Sword not One in an Hundred daily offers unto GOD the Publick Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving for so desireable a Mercy The Devotions of our Church are generally so neglected that many may be thought to be sorry for GOD's Goodness towards them in restoring our Temples abus'd by Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship to their Pure and Reasonable Service because this Religious Turn of Providence dos take away all Excuse for their Ingratitude in not constantly Magnifying GOD in His House of Prayer Ev'ry slighted Opportunity of Thanksgiving dos but heighten their Guilt So that it had been better for them to have suffer'd the utmost Severities of Popery than to live ungrateful for such an exceeding Blessing as the Continuation of the Protestant Religion And it wou'd be a very Just Judgment shou'd GOD in His Anger once more and for ever give our Churches into the Hands of our Enemies who wou'd make them Dens of Thieves that rob the silly People of their Money and their Souls together since We our selves too seldom make any Good or Religious use of such Holy Places One Special Reason why GOD dos often delay the granting of choicest temporal Mercies to a People is their own unpreparedness for them and when He has at length answer'd the earnest desire of Their Hearts Their not Magnifying in a becoming manner His Signal Providential Dispensations or not faithfully improving them to the Glory of His Name and the Salvation of Their own Souls dos frequently provoke Him to vindicate His Honour and to bring Them unto a better understanding both of Him and of Themselves by a Sensible Abatement or a Total Removal of His abused Favours To prevent such an heavy Fate let us come unto a closer and more distinct Consideration of Four weighty Duties which this compendious Term MAGNIFIE dos impart and enjoyn as the special solemn Business of ev'ry grateful Soul in reference to the Eminent Merciful Providential Works of GOD. For 1 st In order to our Magnifying such Works of GOD We must freely own His over-ruling Hand in all acknowledging Him for the Fountain from which all our Blessings like so many refreshing and wholsom Streams are deriv'd unto us 2 dly We must carefully observe those more Material and Signal Circumstances which render any national Work of Divine Providence more considerable and obliging 3 dly To the utmost of our Pow'r and with the profoundest Humility must We pay all that Honour Reverence and Adoration unto GOD for His extraordinary Works of Providence which They most justly challenge from Us. And Lastly It must be our constant Endeavour to answer by a sincere Practical Reformation the just Expectation of GOD in His merciful Works of Providence The First Duty requir'd in our Method unto a more respectful Magnifying of GOD's Eminent Works of Mercy is a free owning of His over-ruling Hand in All and acknowledging Him for the Fountain of all our Blessings ' Thô We were bless'd with a King of such Undaunted Courage such Prudent Conduct and such Constant Devotion that He seem'd at the Boyn to design at once the Conquest of Heaven and Earth or taking them Both by the united Force of Arms and Prayer thô We were favour'd with a General deservedly fam'd thrô more than the Christian World for His glorious Exploits in War and who as if with such a King He had been too great a Blessing for us like another Moses only saw that Good and Promis'd Land which He was not suffer'd to go over the River and possess ' Thô Our dreadful Host was On the First of July led forth to Battel by so Experienc'd and so Wary a Commander and ' thô such a King be yet ' thrô all the long Toils and bold hazardous Attempts of War thrô many treacherous Plots both at Home and Abroad mercifully continu'd to Us yet all the Success of Our Armies all the Glory of Our Campagnes and all Our present Blessings under His gentle and easie Scepter must be ascrib'd unto the Supream Governour of all Things whose Power no Creature is able to resist He and He only gives Salvation unto Kings He and He only at the Immortal Boyn deliver'd William His Servant from the hurtful Cannon An Horse is counted but a vain Thing to save a Man nor shall He deliver any by his great Strength It may be prepar'd for the Day of Battel but still Victory is of the LORD Cou'd a Man be sav'd by the Multitude of an Host The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Great Schomberg might have enjoy'd as well as promoted Our Deliverance But how is the Mighty Man fall'n He expir'd as He had liv'd in the Arms of Victory For ' thô He lost His Life He won The Day There may be and often is a lucky Hit of second Causes very observable in compassing the general Happiness of a Nation in delivering the Inhabitants from the complicated Designs of Romish Agents from Superstion and Idolatry from Oppression and Slavery from Fire and Sword from the most cruel Tortures Jesuitical Racks and Inquisition yet such a grateful Deliverance is the Work of that Alwise and Almighty GOD who for the Honour of His Name in the Defence of His injur'd Cause goes forth with the Armies of His Anointed He only can at His Pleasure scatter the People that delight in Blood and Strike Their Hearts with such a distracting Fear that They Flie when no Man Pursues and taking ev'ry Leaf that is mov'd with the Wind for the shaking of a Spear run with a Strong natural Biass unto Their own Boggs and Woods as to a more sure Defence against the Strange Engines of War than all the Auxiliaries of France and Rome with the long implor'd Assistance of Their Queen of Heaven I do not much wonder at the Inglorious Flight of a vast Army upon the close Advance of Our Jehoshaphat at the Brook when I remember and He must be very unworthy of a Deliverance that forgets those Instruments of GOD those Men of War whose Names might have been as dreadful to our Enemies as Epaminondas was unto the Lacedaemonians and Scanderbeg unto the Turks Hannibal unto the Romans and the Black-Prince unto the French and who shou'd therefore live among the Sons of Fame in something more lasting than
must to the utmost of Our Power and with the profoundest Humility pay all that Honour Reverence and Adoration unto God for His more Eminent and Extraordinary Works of Providence which they most justly challenge from Us. God is known by the Mercies He bestows as well as by the Judgmeâ—… which He executes upon a Nation Sometimes the merciful Work of Providence comes so recommended to Us by the Image and Superscription of a God bearing such clear and legible Characters of the Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness that upon the First serious View We cannot but conclude that It is the Lord 's Doing And the more conspicuous and remarkable the Appearances of a God are in any of His Works of Providence in raising a Nation that was almost as much without Hope thô not so free from Misery and Sorrow as those that lie in the Grave with the Speed of a Resurrection unto a comfortable State of Affairs the more signal I say the Hand of an Omnipotent God is in any such Providential Dispensations still the more Publick and Extraordinary Expressions of Respect and Gratitude do they justly command from all that share in such gracious Manifestations of His Goodness And shou'd not Man spread abroad the Praises of His Great Creator and Preserver his very fellow-creatures that want not only Reason but Sense wou'd condemn his ungrateful Silence Even The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth His handy-Work As constantly as Day and Night do follow one another they instruct the World concerning the Wisdom and other Attributes of God which most illustriously appear in their appointed Course and orderly Succession and their Voice is understood by ev'ry Nation under Heaven as if ev'ry Man heard them speak in his own Tongue the Wonderful Works of God And as ev'ry Return of Day renews the bright demonstrations of God's Glory so Day by Day our Souls shou'd magnifie the Lord. When sensless Creatures do thus according to Ability manifest unto the World the Glory of their Maker surely a much greater Obligation must lie upon Man to joyn in that universal Work and to perform It in a more noble Manner in a way most suitable to the Excellency of his own Rational and Immortal Soul Since the Glory of Gods eminent Works of Mercy is so conspicuously Great that Man may behold It a far off and yet can never come near their surpassing Excellency in the most sublime Acknowledgments of a grateful Spirit since the Dignity of any Person dos command a proportionable Respect and We greatly honour Kings for their Transcendent Majesty how can We sufficiently reverence and admire the infinitely Glorious Lord GOD whose Perfections have been so wonderfully display'd in the Works of Wisdom Pow'r and Love to this undeserving Nation Or in the wise Ben-Sirach's full Expression Who can magnifie Him as He is Admiration is the Gazing or Fixing of the Understanding upon an Object that is too big for It and since there is such a Discovery of God's Excellencies in His late signal Providences towards Us that We cannot comprehend all the Glory which shineth in them well may We in an humble and awful Respect joyn with the Saints in the Revelation saying Great and Marvellous are Thy Works Lord GOD Almighty Just and true are Thy Ways Thou King of Saints who shall not fear Thee O Lord and magnifie Thy Name And for your better Instruction in this important Duty you may at your Leisure consult Moses's Song of Thanksgiving in the 15th Chap. of Exodus In that you hear him solemnly blessing the Lord for the dreadful Overthrow of Pharaoh and his mighty Host at the Red Sea in that you may easily observe with what Affection and Reverence he magnifieth the Hand of God in compleating that Wonderful Deliverance of His People So far is Moses from letting the Merciful Works of God pass by unregarded and from concealing them in his own Breast that in the most lofty Strain he openly declares his noble Deeds and labours in provoking others unto a joynt acknowledgment of Gods Glorious Attributes in so strange a Dispensation of his ever-watchful Providence And following so fair a Pattern after such a Manner must We celebrate and record the adorable Perfections of our God most illustriously appearing in His Special Providences towards Us as may most excite not only the present Generation but future Ages of the World unto all possible Returns of Gratitude for the seasonable Preservation of Our Liberties Our Lives Our King and Our Religion to the Almighty Defender of them All. God dos often permit the Enemies of His People to oppress and triumph over them with the most intolerable Insolency as the Protestants in this City were abus'd plunder'd crush'd and trampled on by the Jacobite Party before the Arm of God and Man restrain'd their fierce Malice at the Boyn He frequently sees his Own brought into extream Distress into a Strait like that of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness having Rocks and Mountains on the right Hand and on the left a strong Garrison of the Egyptians an unpassable Sea before and behind a mighty pursuing Host He suffers This before His Hand is stretched out in any appointed Instrument which like Moses's Rod must open a Way for their Deliverance And this Method He is pleas'd to take not only for an Improvement of their Graces which come more pure and bright out of the fiery Tryal but also to magnifie the more His own Attributes in the Strangeness and Seasonableness of their Salvation His own Glory is the End of all His Actions And That is in a more visible manner display'd in such opportune Acts of Providence And shall not a Deliver'd People answer GOD's Great Design by exalting in the most publick way His Glorious Name for such well-tim'd Expressions of His Care and Goodness If when the LORD turn'd Our Captivity They said even among Our Enemies as before them the Egyptians once did in the Day of Their Distress Let Us Flie for the LORD Fighteth for them if Our Enemies said then as the Babylonians did on another great Deliverance of GOD's People The LORD hath done Great Things for Them surely it wou'd be very base and unworthy in Us not to take up and thus gratefully improve Their Acknowledgment Yea the LORD hath done Great Things for Us already O that Men wou'd therefore Praise the LORD for His Goodness and Declare the Wonders He hath done for Us the Children of Men That They wou'd offer unto Him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and tell out His Works with Gladness And if by performing These and the foregoing Duties We expect any Advantage it must be In the Fourth and last Place our constant Endeavour to answer by a sincere practical Reformation the just Expectation of GOD in His Merciful Works of Providence Thô GOD cannot receive any Addition to His own Essential Perfections from Our most exact Performances yet it must be highly reasonable to
Brass or Marble Let not Envy or Ingratitude rob those Heroes that have slain their Thousands or put Ten Thousand to Flight of the Honour due unto Their worthy Atchievements but let not us so wholly fix Our Thoughts and Admiration upon the Happiness We enjoy or the great Instruments of GOD in effecting It as to render our selves careless in acknowledging the uncontrouled Hand of that GOD whose Battles They Fought with so much Bravery and so great Success David cou'd not believe that Joab His General and all His Host cou'd answer His Desires with Victory thus therefore dos He Question and thus Pray Who will lead Me into the Strong City Who will bring Me into Edom Wilt not Thou O GOD Give Us Help from Trouble for vain is the Help of Man Thrô GOD We shall do valiantly for it is He that shall tread down Our Enemies The Battel is not always to the Strong but GOD in His Infinite Wisdom and by His Almighty Arm putteth down One King and setteth up Another that the Living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and that he giveth It to whomsoever He will In such a surprizing wonderful manner dos GOD often deliver His People that They must be very Blind if They do not see or very ungrateful if They do not own that They are sav'd by the LORD Their GOD. Such is HIs Might that He can according to His own Will make the most inconsiderable Instrument One no bigger than Davids Pebble Powerful enough to over-match the Strength of a Weaver's Beam and to lay the most Insulting Enemy in the Dust His Command is as wide as his Creation so that He can at any time summon Heaven and Earth Angels and Men Sun Moon and Stars the Sea and all that is therein to joyn in Battel and execute His Just and Heavy Vengeance upon all such as worship Deaf and Helpless Gods and to give Salvation unto those that sincerely call upon His Name Let not us then be guilty of so much Atheism as not to acknowledge a Supream Being in all the Great Changes of the World When We behold Lightnings or Inundations a sudden Earthquake or a devouring Pestilence depopulating the most delightful spacious and frequented Cities let us employ Our selves not so much in curiously searching out Natural Causes as in eyeing the Hand of God in such general Calamities And when We see a Kingdom by the destructive Principles and prodigious Unskilfulness of One almost shaken in Pieces and at length thrô the Care of Another more wise Master-builder setling upon its Old Firm and Lasting Foundation let Us in a thankful Acknowledgement of such a Providential Work say with the Psalmist not unto Us O Lord not unto Us but unto Thy Name be all the Glory And that We may be the more dispos'd to do so We must In the Second Place carefully observe those more Material and Signal Circumstances which render any National Work of Divine Providence more considerable and obliging So curious a Thing is the Work of Providence that to a diligent Observer ev'ry Part of It will appear full of Wisdom and Beauty and the more heedfully We survey Its various Circumstances the more will It excite Our Praise and Admiration As therefore true Penitents pathetically charge and load their Confessions with all those Aggravations which may heighten their Detestation and Sorrow so the grateful Soul dos critically remark those many and great Circumstances which set off Gods Work and more advantagiously recommend It to Us. Several Acts of Providence at the first transient view may seem to offer but little Matter of Importance yet upon a repeated Observation We find them very considerable In our Present Reformation or Deliverance from Popery many Circumstances might be taken notice of to raise our Acknowledgements but several Pens having oblig'd the Nation with a full Account of the most Remarkable Ones I shall briefly observe at this time only some few Particulars that well dispos'd Our Neighbouring Kingdom for that Blessed Change and the Seasonableness of such a Revolution to the miserable Inhabitants of this All the late Fears and Jealousies in England all the solemnly made and as often solemnly broken Promises of a King all the Intrigues manag'd with an Old Prince abroad to set up a pretended Young Prince at Home all the base mercenary Compliances of many Civil and Ecclesiastical Ministers dissolving Charters and authorizing Mass in Colledges advising a general Toleration and advancing an unlimited dispensing Power labouring to repeal the Penal Laws and Test setting up a New High Commission and Committing the Right Reverend Bishops to the Tower for not acting against Law and Conscience turning out good Protestants and promoting profess'd Papists to the most considerable Civil and Military Places of Profit and Honour All these Things and many more too many either to have been done by any King that wou'd not follow Dioclesian or to be repeated by me now did strongly incline the Nation to a quicker Apprehension of the growing Evils of Popery and bring them to a more easie Compliance with the Methods of God's Wonderful Work And how seasonable the happy Consequences of all such Proceedings were to Us of this Kingdom our whole Lives will be too short duly to consider If the well timing of a Mercy dos make It the more valuable surely Our Deliverance must be highly recommended to Us by the Seasonableness of It. To what shall I for This compare so great a Mercy The Coming of our King was like that of the Angel of God to Isaac when the Hand was lifted up for the Fatal Stroke Poor Ireland's Relief was like the refreshing Well of Water to the disconsolate Hagar when she had given up Her self to Sorrow and Her Son to Death in a Word the Generous Resolution of King WILLIAM to visit this distressed Nation was as Opportune as the Night-thoughts of King Ahasuerus kept awake by the special Providence of God to reward the Good recorded service of Mordecai just at a time when the Ambitious and Revengeful Haman's Plot for an utter Exterpation of the Jews was ripe for Execution And what shall we render unto the Lord for all the Benefits comprehended in so seasonable a Mercy I will magnifie thee O Lord because Thou hast set me up and not made my Foes to triumph over me O praise the Lord with me and let Us magnifie His Name together The Dead praise not Thee O Lord neither All they that go down into silence The Living the Living they shall praise Thee as We do this Day the Father to the Children shall make known thy Work Thou Lord wast ready to save therefore will We sing of Thy Praise without ceasing O my God! I will give thanks unto Thee for ever The grateful Resolution of Two Pious Princes David and Hezekiah in these Words which I have apply'd unto Our own case cannot but mind you of The Third propounded Particular viz. That We
answer the Expectation of such an infinite Being in conferring any special Favours on Us by conforming our Lives unto His Holy Commandments 'T is a Damnable Hypocrisie to own GOD with our Lips by the most solemn Returns of Praise in His Holy House and to deny Him by an unsuitable Conversation And yet there is too much Reason to believe that GOD is not so much Magnify'd by all the Time many allow unto Their publick Devotions as dishonour'd by Their spending losely and in the most abominable Impieties the Remainder and much greater Portion of Their Days But how unbecoming is such an Abuse of God's Favours How provoking must it be to sin thus against the Mercies of Heaven What can We considently depend upon either for Eternal or Temporal Salvation but the infinite Mercies of God the Father and the equal Merits of His Son Christ Jesus But a Course of Life unanswerable to those Deliverances God has been pleas'd to give Us cuts off all reasonable claim to Both and if Mercy It self be disoblig'd what can save Us Seeing that our GOD has given Us such a Deliverance as this which We this Day and which We for ever ought to magnifie shou'd We again break His Commandments wou'd He not be angry with Us till He has consum'd Us so that there shou'd be no Remnant nor Escaping Thou art inexcusable O Man whosoever thou art that despisest the Riches of God's Goodness Forbearance and Long-suffering not considering that the Goodness of GOD shou'd lead thee to Repentance God seems to have repented of those threatning Evils which We had long fear'd because We most righteously had deserv'd and by His own Example in an Ancient Writer's if not Tertullian's Phrase dedicavit Poenitentiam has consecrated Repentance for our Imitation And if this His Goodness dos not so far prevail as to make Us repent too notwithstanding all that has been done for Us We are miserable for He will repent at last even of His own Kindnesses to such an ungrateful People And what Revenge more hot than that of abused Love Because the Children of Israel whom God by a mighty Hand and a stretoh'dout Arm brought up from the Land of Egypt had forgotten GOD their Saviour and lightly esteem'd the Rock of their Salvation therefore thus said the Lord unto them by the Prophet Amos You only have I known or favour'd in a more signal Manner of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish more severely punish you for all your Iniquities And the Psalmist assures Us that when GOD brought forth His People with Joy and His Chosen with Gladness His Great and Just Expectation was That they might keep His Statutes and observe His Laws And do not the extraordinary Mercies We enjoy oblige Us unto a like answerable Return Did you not make large Promises unto God in the Day of Trouble Did you not then pray and resolve with David Deliver me O Lord from the Oppression of Men and so will I keep thy Precepts And are all our Promises all our Resolutions like the hasty Vows of some endanger'd Passengers at Sea Are they all forgotten now the Storm is in a great Measure rebuk'd and laid To be freed from out late Oppressions of which too many that took timely shelter in another Kingdom from that violent Tempest which almost overturn'd all in This are not truly sensible what wou'd We have done for Our Deliverer And yet how strangely how unworthily do too many now requite a most Generous Monarch for all his Royal Favours by provoking God with their bold Impieties to infatuate his Councils and to destroy his Armies that have so successfully advanc'd in Our Preservation Let not any wicked Man be so vain as to boast of his great Affection to the Church of England and Loyalty to his Prince or of what mighty Things he wou'd attempt for the Honour and Safety of a King that is the Dread of France the Delight of the Protestant World and the Special Favourite of Heaven that appear'd at once a Moses and a Joshua boldly charging his Enemy in the Field and boldly praying unto Heaven for Success Let not I say any Man whose Life is not answerable to those great Blessings which such a King has under God convey'd unto Us talk at so extravagant a Rate for He that unsheaths his Sword against our King in Battel dos not so much shake his Throne as a debauch'd WILLIAMITE and after all is consider'd that can be fear'd from the Dissenters He will be found to be the most dangerous Non-conformist whose persevering wicked Life contradict's Our establish'd Liturgy in calling for Plague Pestilence and Famine Battel and Murder and sudden Death If there be any Gentlemen of the Sword present let them know that it nearly concern's them to remember and duly ponder these Things and more particularly I leave unto their sober Meditations that pertinent Injunction in the 23. Chap. of Deut. When the Host goeth forth against thine Enemy then keep thee from ev'ry wicked Thing Observing diligently this Law of God thô they fall in the day of Battel they may at last stand in Glory with those renowned Worthies of God Joshua Gedeon Barak Samson and David who through Faith so much prevail'd with Heav'n that they subdu'd Kingdoms escap'd the Edge of the Sword were made strong wax'd valiant in Fight and turn'd to flight the Armes of the Aliens And such Persons as are favour'd with a more easy worldly Fortune and are not engag'd in the Fatigues of War must be told that being deliver'd from the Hands of their Enemies who had by the most illegal Methods seiz'd their Purchases and Inheritances if they reasonably expect to keep their Estates they must keep the Commandments of their God too Without such Obedience never let them hope to enjoy them with the Blessing of Heaven In a Word let all such as through the common Calamities of War are fal'n from a plentiful to a mean Condition in the World gratefully remember that God has already and lately as on this very Morning made Our Day of Light and Joy break when the Night was darkest that His Arm never casts down His People lower than It can reach to lift them up that thô Enemies as bad as the Chaldaean Bands have destroy'd their Substance in the Land fal'n upon their Cattel and driven them away and slain their Servants with the Edge of the Sword Yet God can be as bountiful unto them as he was to Job and bless their latter End more than their Beginning Many out of the Abundance of their thankful Hearts will readily acknowledge that Providence has restor'd them in a very considerable Measure unto that flourishing State which they enjoy'd before and which they were depriv'd of in the last Reign And the Consideration of this shou'd encourage such as have not yet recover'd their former Prosperity to apply unto themselves those Words of the Temanite in the 22th Chap. of Job according to the usual Limitations of Temporal Promises under the Gospel If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up The Almighty shall be thy Defence and thou shalt deliver the Island of the Innocent And when We are all from the Highest to the Lowest Rich and Poor even in Gratitude to God for his past Mercies thus sincerely reform'd We may boldly address unto the Throne of Grace for a continu'd for a more compleat Deliverance that ev'ry day may be as the First of July unto our King and as the Second unto Us All. On this Day particularly for a Close of the whole Discourse let all true-hearted Protestants that love their Country and their Religion jointly petition for Him in that joyful and comprehensive Acclamation of the Clergy and People at the splendid Inauguration of Charles the Great Emperour of the West GULIELMO Magno Piissimo Augusto à DEO Coronato Vita Victoria To WILLIAM the Great most Pious August and crown'd by GOD long Life and Victory Amen FINIS