pleasant an Echo as is enough to refresh a Devout and Pious Soul meditating upon the Mercies of God So that an Excellent Pattern of a great Solemnity in this kind we have here and many more there are in the holy Records of the Jewish Church Exod 15. Such is the Song of Moses and the Children of Israel after the Overthrow of Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea and their own safe passage through the same from their hard Servitude and Bondage in Egypt Such is the Song of Deborah and Barak Jude 5. for their great Victory over Sisera Captain or General of the Host of Jabin King of Canaan and Israel's Deliverance from his Master's Oppression Such is the Celebration of King Jehoshaphat's and his People's Praise 2 Chro. 20. and Joy and Triumph for a mighty Victory over and Salvation from a numerous Heathenish Host besides many others which deserve our Observation When Godly Princes and Rulers have excited themselves and their People to be thankful as our Most Gracious King has commanded us now to be as His Royal Ancestors and many other Kings and Potentates have upon the like Occasions sent out their Mandates and Decrees requiring their People to give Glory and Praise unto the God of their Salvation And a good Principle it is of the Church of England readily to obey from time to time the Defenders of Her Faith in commanding that which she owns an Indispensible Duty and Tribute to the King of Kings from which may not any of her Members swerve at this time But may every one with joint consent heartily say Amen this Day to these words blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation and that upon the account of our present Grounds for Thanksgiving Which Metaphor of a Rock is of frequent use in Holy Writ and hath divers significations So that this thankful Expression blessed be my Rock carries the sence and authority of Blessed be my sure and immoveable Foundation Blessed be my Help and mighty Defence Blessed be my Refuge and Salvation And so Blessed be my God Himself who is all these to His Faithful Servants As to illustrate this by other Examples he is also an Horn and Tower or Fortress of Salvation unto them For a Horn denotes Glory and Strength great Power and Might all which are Infinite in Him And a Tower is the Emblem of Succour and Safeguard and as such well applied unto God Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe Wherefore holy David aptly resembles God to a Rock For what in Nature is stronger than a Rock And therefore what could be a more proper Hieroglyphick than it to express God in His Attribute of Omnipotency by which He is able to deliver His Servants when void of all Hope and who is not only above Nature but infinitely transcends all other Supernatural Beings whether they be Thrones Principalities Powers or any other Order and Degree of the whole Celestial Hierarchy it self And whereas it follows in the Text exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation The meaning is obvious and easie with this Comment or Gloss unto it naturally drawn from the aforesaid Interpretation of the Trope by which the Lord is likened to a Rock for by it this Clause doth ascribe Exaltation and Praise to the God strong and able to save As if the Royal Prophet had magnified him thus exalted or praised be the God of the Strength or of the Power of my Salvation by whose irresistible Might I was preserved from the Violence of my Cruel Enemies Not that Man can add any thing to God in all this whereby to make Him greater in any respect than He is in Himself but it is by way of an humble and thankful Declaration of His Glory His Greatness His Immense Power and Goodness It is a telling out of His Praise and Wondrous Acts a shewing forth the Mercy and Loving-kindness of the Lord with Gratitude and Joy When Men are not hardned against Mercy but are sensible that they have seen and tasted the abundant Goodness of the Lord after His Countenance hath of His Free Grace shined with unspeakable Favour upon them And now Deut. 32.1 Give ear O ye Heavens and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my Mouth For I will publish mighty things that the Lord hath done for us And I will ascribe the Glory and Greatness of all unto our God For many and great are the wondrous Works which the Lord our God hath done like as be also his Thoughts which are to us-ward O how great is the Sum of them Who can reckon them up in order to Him If I should declare them and speak of them they should be more than I am able to express Wherefore I shall not pretend to enumerate and publish the whole Series and Catalogue of His Mercies from time to time conferred upon us for if I could bring them all within the reach of my Discourse which is next to impossibility yet my present Task does not oblige me to run through so large a Province but more especially binds me to the Business of this Day of the Great and Auspicious Deliverance for which we Celebrate the Solemnity of a Publick Thanksgiving for God's late unspeakable Mercies to the King and these Realms And therefore we will in silence admire His Marvellous Preservations that are past and employ our Thoughts on his present Salvation We will only think how Famous the Two last Eighty Eights are The former by a Successful Deliverance of this Nation from the threatned Destruction when her Enemies sent against it their Invincible Armada as they then in the height of Pride and Ostentation named it and which perished with Shame and Confusion And the last Eighty Eight is Glorious for our Memorable and Blessed Preservation from Apparent Dangers at Home from Evil and Destruction growing up in the midst of us the Flames of which were quenched and the Rage and Fury stopt by the most Happy Coming of our Good and Gracious KING WILLIAM to our Relief making thereby another Fifth Day of November as great an Ensign of God's special Providence to us as that Fifth of November still is by the Discovery of that Horrid that most Trayterous and Bloody-intended Massacre by Gunpowder These things let us think on with the Praises of God in our Mouths and with all Humility Devotion and Gratitude in our Hearts And for His unspeakable Goodness for which we Solemnize this Day set apart by Royal Authority for the Holy Exercise of Praise and Adoration unto the Supreme Governour of the Universe from whom cometh Salvation at all times let us believe in the Lord with Joy and Thanksgiving and Triumphantly say That the Lord liveth that He seeth and ordereth all things that his Presence fills all places and his Providence is busie and active every where that He
hath done great things for us whereof we rejoice And this affirm we in defiance of all who deny Him or his Providence whether in Thought or in Act or be it by both And for all this may we fear Him may we love Him above all things in Heaven and in Earth May all our Hearts all our Souls our Minds and our Strength have a full share in this Affection towards God and so by the Operation of every Faculty and Power in us proper thereto may we take our fill in loving Him that as He hath loved us so the love of Him may dwell plenteously in us To excite us the more to our Duty of Love and Praise Adoration and Thanksgiving it is requisite that we consider what and how great the Blessing is wherein consists the Salvation wrought so lately in our Land And of the Blessing of God now upon us and His Salvation vouchsafed unto us none can be ignorant forasmuch as all know that God Almighty has manifested his Providence his Power and Mercy towards His Most Excellent Majesty and His People by laying open the Depths of Satan and the secret Intentions of wicked Men that He has Discovered and Delivered the King from an Horrid and Barbarous Conspiracy of Papists and other Trayterous Persons to Assassinate and Murder His Royal Person and the Kingdom from an Intended Invasion by the greatest Enemies to its and all Europe's Repose the French By which great Deliverance the King 's Royal Person is saved from Destruction His Government Secured and this Realm Freed from that Total Subversion of its Religion Laws and Liberties which if God had not thus mercifully interposed would have been the Fate of it Lo this is the Blessing and it is very great this is the Salvation we now give thanks for and it is wonderful Here is repeated Mercy and Goodness to an unwise and foolish People who have ill requited God with Ingratitude for His former Loving-kindnesses But as we now meditate on His Mercy so may we with Rivers of Tears in our Eyes think of the other Method God so lately used to reduce us unto a right Sense of our selves by the Deplorable Loss of that most Virtuous and Pious Princess the Queen of Blessed Memory who fell by a heavy stroke alas To us it was God punishing us for our many Provocations our Incorrigible and Undutiful Behaviour to Him that He might melt us thereby into Sorrow and Repentance that He might force us to humble our selves with Weeping and Fasting and to cloath our Souls with Mourning Attire when the thick Cloud of his Anger overspread these Nations by Her Death And now again He invites us to Him in love for lo the Bright Beams of His Mercy shining every where He hath called us this Day out of the Houses of Mourning into those of Joy He hath put a new Song into our Mouths even a Thanksgiving unto our God for the Safety of our Most Serene and Illustrious Monarch KING WILLIAM the Father of our Country the Great Joy and Hope and Support of many Nations the most Heroick and Noble Patron and Assertor of ours and all Europe's Liberties by whose Crown falling from His Head and so the Glory departing again from us God might have laid us with Bleeding Hearts in Dust and Ashes have heaped upon us all the Mischiefs that the Rage and Madness of our Incensed Enemies could bring who would have number'd their Merits by the quantities of our Blood they should have caused to run in our Streets when the more of us they had killed the more Service to God they would have boasted that they had done like that Duke D'Alva who assumed much Glory and Honour to himself for the Slaughter he made of many Thousand Protestants or Hereticks by such Men of Blood falsly so called But O that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare the Wonders he doeth for us the Children of Men when by a Miracle of Mercy we are saved from that Wo and Destruction which otherwise would at this time have been raging by Fire and Sword in these Islands with Apparent Danger of Ruin and Desolation upon all the Confederate Countries by that Ambitious Prince who has hunted after the Precious Life of our KING that he might Subdue the Nations to the Rod of his Power and tread them under his Feet But behold the Justice of the Lord as well as his Mercy in the King's Salvation For what had Men to do to take God's Prerogative out of His Hands and to number the King's Moments of Life by the time they should set a Fatal period thereto So long as God hath bound up his Soul in the Bundle of Life and may it be I pray God for many Years even to a good Old Age those who have to do with the Stool of Wickedness may sit thereon long enough Plotting and Contriving his Death thus imagining or framing Mischief by their own Wicked Counsels as a Law or Decree written like but more Cruel than those of Draco said to be in Blood and yet shall not be able to prevail with all the Powers of Hell on their side For no Sorcery no Divination no Inchantment no Conspiracy or Weapon form'd against this Mighty Defender of our Faith and of the Liberties of Europe can prosper so long as the Lord is on our side so long as He is the Rock of our Salvation and He will not leave us nor forsake us if we do not leave Him first O therefore draw we near unto Him in Faith and full Assurance of His continual Favour and keep we from every wicked thing from Atheism of the Mind from Atheism of the Will and the Act From Profaneness in our Hearts in our Words and in our Deeds Let us Religiously observe this Day with an holy Joy that it may be acceptable unto the Lord. Let no vain Oaths cause the Land to mourn nor any other Sin of our Souls or Bodies pollute this Day And let us observe every Lord's Day with greater distinction from other Days than we have hitherto done And so may we now turn unto the Lord and prosper May we wash off all Stains and Blemishes of past Ingratitude and be thankful for evermore hereafter And then will we say unto the Grand Enemy of Europe The Virgin Isa 37.22 the Daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the Daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her Head at thee Then the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church of England for her Faith is Built on a Rock and He who is truly the Defender thereof shall stand by Her with Power from God to preserve Her as He hath promised to do to His utmost To our Consolation then be it spoken That Great Deliverance giveth God unto His King that he is a Tower of Salvation unto him and sheweth Mercy unto His Anointed Wherefore will we rejoice and sing triumphantly The Lord liveth and blessed be
they would not The words of the Wise Man Prov. 19.21 There are many Devices in a Man's Heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand And so long as that stands his Church shall stand firm And if at any time she groans by reason of the Fury and Oppressions of her Adversaries he will hear her Cry and help her She shall stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord which he will shew unto her She shall be assured that he will deliver her in Six Troubles yea in Seven and then shall she rest satisfied that although many are the Troubles of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth them out of them all when she hath seen so much of the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living But if at any time her Sins which to be sure are frequently the sad and woful Cause of her Sorrows for they merit Punishments do give her Adversaries both time and power to insult over her and her Faith and Hope begin to fail so that she becomes dubious and mistrusts the veracity of that Promise made in particular to Joshua but by the Author to the Hebrews applied unto all the Faithful as a general and standing Rule of Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy and Protection which is this I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 In such Affliction and Anxiety of Mind let her amend and not despair of God's Love and Mercy And if at the first appearance of help and notice of God's especial Presence with her after many Evils of Punishment from the Enemy she should despond like Gideon when almost in Despair an Angel appear'd unto him with this Sign in his Mouth from the Lord of the Israelites Deliverance from the Oppression of Midian the Lord is with thee who with a sort of diffidence of the Divine Message return'd this Answer to the Angel's Errand as it were with Sorrow in his Heart Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us And where be all his Miracles which our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt But now the Lord bath forsaken us and delivered us into the Hands of the Midianites Judg. 6.13 We shall endeavour presently to give Comfort and some Satisfaction Should the Church and People of God in Times of Affliction answer after the same manner If the Lord be with us why doth the Enemy rejoice and the Adversary triumph over us If it be an Infallible Aphorism that his Church shall stand always firm against the Opposition and Fury of all her Enemies how is it that from the beginning of the World unto this Day Persecution hath been a large share of her Portion Her Tears have been often poured into the Cup of trembling to add the greater Bitterness unto every drop she hath been forced to drink and the Bread of Sorrow hath been her daily Food Her Children have been stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword and a Thousand sorts of Deaths and Tortures have been inflicted upon them so that no Sorrow was ever like unto her Sorrow At one time Righteous Abel was Murder'd by his own Impious Brother Cain here the Bloody Tragedy began and successively was acted on with various Troubles and Torments unto the People of God even to the Days of holy Elijah who also then found himself grievously persecuted by wicked Jezebel and that so sharply that he preferred Death before Life when he requested for himself that he might Die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my Life 1 King 19.4 And twice in the same Chapter we find him sadly complaining of those who had deserted the true Worship of God for that which was false and idolatrous and did persecute those who would not depart with them from serving the Living and True God as these words of that holy Man do infer The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the Sword and I even I only am left and they seek my Life to take it away So sharp and general it seems was the Persecution that Elijah thought that all the Prophets and Faithful People of God were quite swept away thereby for he had some time since fled for his own Life and as the words seem to intimate when he came again no true Israelite was to be seen or did not dare to shew his Face and venture to stand before the heat and fury of Jezebel's inveterate Malice and Hatred to the Professors of True Religion But yet God be thanked for the Comfort of good Elijah Wickedness had not sate so long in the place of Judgment and Righteousness to Triumph so far as to bring the Church in those Days to so low an Ebb as to have the Tears of but one true Member only to run down for her and by the Destruction of whose Life she should have been quite cut off For in the 18th Verse of the aforecited Chapter we find the Lord comforting Elijah thus with a goodly number of truly Religious Persons still remaining Yet saith he I have left me Seven Thousand in Israel all the Knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every Mouth which hath not kissed him But now further may we find the Church clad in Sackcloth with Dust and Ashes upon her Head mourning in her Travail and bringing forth Children with great Lamentation weeping and wailing for that reckoning from the Days of Elijah forward her Afflictions were from time to time renewed Once a whole Seventy Years Captivity in a strange Land besides many Wars and Troubles from the Enemy before and after that unto the time that Messiah the Prince the Glory and Head of the Church came when also He was cut off not for himself but for the Transgression of his People This was most Amazing and full of Wo the cutting off of Members was not enough but the Head must suffer as much too This caused the Sun that great Luminary to put on mourning Apparel of the deepest Dye a black and thick Darkness It forced the Earth into a Convulsion to shake and tremble and the Temple to rend its Vail in twain Then did Nature suffer a Dissolution for a time and needs must the whole Creation groan and be in pain when Christ himself cried out with a loud and lamentable Voice and suffer'd the deepest pangs of Body and Soul This was the Child of God and Heir of all things that poured out his Soul unto Death whom the great Red Dragon mentioned in the Revelations of St. John thought wholly to devour but yet did he revive on the Third Day and was afterwards caught up unto God I mean he ascended into Heaven where he Reigns King and Head of the Church in Triumph over all his Enemies And now the great Red Dragon that Old Serpent called the Devil and Satan being cast out into the Earth as he made an Attempt against
on the good and sendeth Rain on the just and on the unjust After such Charity 't is impossible for us to doubt of her Faith and Hope but we may rest assured that both were very great And in short that she might finish her Course with Joy she left not the great Work of Repentance to the last Call but with the Wise Virgins had her Lamp ready trimmed with Oyl in it when the Bridegroom came requiring her to come away So did she watch that when her Lord came expecting immediate Attendance she was not found Sleeping nor Trifling or wasting away her precious time but in the Exercise of all those Christian Graces which with her humble Submission and Resignation to God's Will through Christ translated her from the Corruptible Crowns here below to an Eternal and Glorious Diadem above when being Faithful to her Death God gave her a Crown of Life O to her most Happy and Glorious Second Coronation in the highest Heavens while we Mortals here below lament our Loss which is her Gain Thus have I Coasted upon the Sea-shore of those Graces and Virtues which did shine on Earth in God's Anointed and the Nursing-Mother of our Church And to launch out farther into the unfathomable Ocean of them would require more time with a stronger and larger Vessel than my poor Talent can equip and send out into so vast a Deep An Ocean of them I mention because her Brook became a River and her River became a Sea a main Sea Ecclus 24.31 encompassing that whole Globe of Goodness which was inherent in Her Majesty while she acted in that great Sphere of Glory and Honour here to save our Church and these Nations and the sinking Parts of Europe out of the Hands of their Potent and Common Enemy which was purely Her Majesty's Design and is the Intent of the Mighty NASSAU our Most Gracious King And so to prevent a Rushing Destruction at Hand and be the Deliverers of many Nations and People from Ruin by the Power put into their Hands through God's Merciful Providence when the Nobles and Patriots of this Nation made their Requests to Their Majesties and the Peoples Cries and humble Prayers and Solicitations by their Representatives wrought upon them to fill the Empty Throne therefore This did not I hope infrinnge or trespass against the Fifth Commandment when the People of the Land took them and made them KING and QUEEN their Crowns were even forced upon their Heads for the Salvation of our Church and an Universal Deliverance from the approaching Thraldom of a Foreign but yet too Near and too Potent an Enemy I Challenge the World then to find out any Blemish or Spot in that Bright and most Clear Luminary which now the Curtain being drawn by the interposition of the great Vail and Canopy of the Heavens between her and us suffers an Eclipse in respect of our selves but not of her who enjoys a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory And yet Her Just Title here was Glorious too MARY the Second by the Grace of God QUEEN of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. But she added thereto the Choicest Ornaments and most precious Rubies in her Crowns the Transcendent Virtues of her most Comely and Graceful Person with great Majesty outwardly and all Mercy within So that as our Loss is more than we can express so are her due Praises beyond all the Flowers of Rhetorick and Art of Elocution To Enumerate whose Virtues as the Honourable House of Commons said were to aggravate our Sorrow Address to the King Dec. 31.1694 Wherefore a mighty Glory is departed from us from the Christian World from all true Protestants chiefly whose great Hope and Joy and Comfort she was And France it self tho' different in Religion from us is not free from that Cloud of Darkness whether sensible of it or no that covers us by the Decease of Her Most Excellent Majesty That such an Unparallel'd Good Princess had so Just a Title to that Crown from Her Royal Ancestors For not to insist upon all that we might we will only mention that our Valiant King Edward the Third but for the unjust Salique Law was Heir to France after the Death of Philip the Fair * Philip Duke De Valois the other See Sir R. Baker's Chron. Life of Edw. 3. being then according to some Histories the nearer in Blood of the Two Competitors but drawing his Pedigree by a Female Our Victorious King Henry the Fifth was Proclaim'd in France as well as in England to be the only Regent of that Realm and Heir Apparent to that Crown Whose Son the Devout King Henry the Sixth was not only Proclaim'd but with all usual Ceremonies Crown'd in Paris King of France And now consider we what profound Veneration and Love had this our Great Princess gain'd in the Minds and Affections of those beyond the Sea What Universal Affliction is in those Countries she lived in What huge Expressions of Sorrow for her Death do they give Blessed be they of the Lord for the great Honour and Kindness they bare to her when she was in a strange Country But O the unexcuseable Ingratitude of those who did not the like to Her Majesty in the Land of her Nativity When in other Parts of the World she so drew the Eyes and Hearts of all People after her that she was Beloved to Admiration and was their great Desire But now she is taken from us as well as from them Of whom the World was not worthy she being too Good and Virtuous for this Wicked and Adulterous Generation And so like another Astraea she is fled to Heaven for a Resting-place And what Vows would we make What Prayers would we offer up to Enjoy her again What Returns of Praises and Thanksgivings would we present to God in imitation of David and all Israel when they brought home the Ark But alas she is gone and shall not return to us Which sad Affliction is enough to damp and weigh down the greatest Spirits and to strike us all Dumb that we open not our Mouths only by the way of Mourning and Humiliation because it is God's doing who in the Flower of her Days as well as of our Hopes sent forth his Decree to call her hence To reverse which if it had been the Blessed Will of the Lord what Prayers what Sighs and Tears were poured forth and Means used that the Distemper might not prevail over her nor the King of Terrors Conquer by to us such a bitter Destiny cutting so early the Thread of so Precious a Life so universally desired long to remain But Oh! the Hand of the Lord hath been very heavy upon us for our Sins and to the utmost period of her Race here she hath suddenly and unexpectedly run So that with Job we may now say Our Harp is turned to Mourning Job 30.31 and our Organ into the Voice of them that weep
Crowning with Glorious Success His Present Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty our Most Gracious Sovereign and Rightful Lord KING WILLIAM For whom all Praise Adoration and Thanksgivings which the Finite and Weak Understandings and Faculties of Mortal Men can give unto an Infinite Being an Immortal and Omnipotent God are a Tribute due unto Him But though God be always Merciful there are Sons of Belial who will be most Wicked will Murmur and Repine and even Despise and Cross the Divine Goodness and will not have Him to Reign over us whom God hath appointed to be our King and hath made next to Himself our Mighty Deliverer Against whom nevertheless that there should be Men Living under the Benign Influences of His Merciful and Happy Government who Conspire with Gall and Bitterness of Spirit not only to Dethrone Him but Insidiously and Basely in a most Barbarous and Inhuman manner to take away His Sacred Life by the Assassination and Murder of His Royal Person notwithstanding all his Clemency and thereby to make way for a Foreign and Arbitrary Power to rush in upon these Nations of Great Britain and Ireland to the Destruction of our Religion Laws and Liberties It would seem incredible to Men of Reason and Ingenuity be to them more than a Paradox but that it is no longer in the dark being now clearly discovered and the Good God be Blessed and Praised therefore the Mischief most providentially prevented Wherefore Sing we every one with holy David in the front of this Divine Canticle Ver. 2 3. or Psalm The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer The God of my Rock in Him will I trust He is my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation my high Tower and my Refuge my Saviour Thou savest thine Anointed and Us from Violence And again join we with the Royal Psalmist in a joyful Hope and Confidence in God in Acclamations of Benedictions and Praises unto Him evermore rejoicing and saying The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation Which words are part of holy David's Song of Deliverance this Chapter and the 18th Psalm being of one and the same substance but run with a little variation of reading in some parts wherein that great Saint then but Militant did Celebrate the Solemnities of an holy Triumph and Praise to the God of his Salvation who had preserved his Person from the great Dangers that had threatned him from the violent Hands of Saul and other his Inveterate Enemies who had by various Snares and Stratagems sought his Life for thus we find the Preface or Inscription to this Thanksgiving Hymn of the sweet Psalmist of Israel And David spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the Day that the Lord had delivered him out of the Hand of all his Enemies and out of the Hand of Saul And with such a lofty strain of Melody and delightful Harmony has he run through this his Noble Anthem as must needs Charm his chief Musician both in setting and playing the Tune proper to it And also with a Ravishing Delight raise and exhilarate the Spirits of the whole Choir those concern'd therein either with Vocal or Instrumental Musick those that sang or those that play'd on the Organ Harp or Cymbal c. chearing and refreshing even the Hearts and Souls of all then present And most grateful are his Acknowledgments of God's Gracious Benefits unto him flowing from many of his Holy and Essential Attributes from his Free and Immense Goodness and Mercy his Incomprehensible Wisdom Infinite Justice and Power and that great Providence which attended him through so many various Scenes of Troubles in the most difficult Stages of his Life Very expressive also is he of the Sense he had of the Dangers he escaped Such like as those out of which God Blessed be his Holy Name for it lately deliver'd our Most Gracious King even the Waves and Snares of Death the Floods of ungodly Men their deep and subtil Plots and Conspiracies their violent Stratagems and Devices as unavoidable as Floods and Inundations of Water are till God puts a stop to them by his Omnipotent Command Hitherto shalt thou come and no further When after such a wondrous and special manner he is pleased to be present as holy David hath set him forth with the highest flights of Divine Rhetorick using many exalted Metaphors to express the same as of the Earth trembling and shaking as also the Foundations of Heaven it self being put into the like terrible Commotions with such Thunders and Lightnings Storms and Tempests of his Wrath as aforetime had really destroy'd the Enemies of his People And then after many Blessed Eulogies and Seraphical Raptures of Holy and Eloquent Dictates from that Spirit which taught him how to pray unto as well as to praise his Mighty Deliverer he closes the whole Encomium with glorying in the God of his Salvation and yet further Returns of Blessing and Thanksgiving to him part whereof the Text doth especially denote unto us The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation For the Interpretation and Explanation of which and for our present Edification on this Day of a General Thanksgiving throughout this Nation for His Majesty's Blessed Deliverance and our Happiness thereby I shall observe these Two following Particulars First Holy David's Joyful and Triumphant Acknowledgment of God and his Providence in the former words The Lord liveth Secondly His grateful Return to God of Benediction and Praise or Exaltation for his Wondrous and Powerful Deliverances of him from the Mischiefs formed against him Emphatically expressed in the following parts of the Text and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation First The Lord liveth is a Recognition of God and His Providence even with an Extasie of Joy The Royal Saint being Transported thereby into Triumphant Acclamations in consideration of God's Potent Deliverances and Manifold Benefits through abundance of various and critical Circumstances of his Race under the Sun frequently rescuing him out of the very Jaws of Destruction as they were ready to tear him in pieces as from Saul's Javelin at one time his and other wicked Mens Instigations their Combining Plots and Snates and Conspiracies to snatch away his Life at other times For all which he might with great Reason pronounce The Lord liveth As for Deliverances from great and apparent Dangers especially from the intended Mischief of Bitter Enemies it is very proper for Men to express their grateful Sentiments in these or words of like consonance and import There is a God a God that Ruleth all a God that helpeth in time of need yea and when we are Poor and Naked Blind and Lame that without him we should be remediless being our selves neither able to see the approaching Destruction nor to ward off the Blow if we have time to see it
our Rock and exalted be the god of the Rock of our Salvation We will magnifie His Name by declaring what He hath done for us We will trust upon Him that He will grant the King a Long Life and not deny Him the Request of his Lips but that he will give Him His Heart's Desire the firm Settlement of our Church and State and the Peace and Tranquility of Europe To this end we will pray That God will keep Him from every Evil Man and preserve Him from all those Wicked and Violent Men who lay Snares for Him That He will set His Feet upon a Rock and establish His Goings And then unto thee O God will we give Thanks unto thee will we give thanks as we do this Day for smiting the Hearts of some of the Conspirators forcing them thereby to disclose the wicked Devices of Ungodly Men to bring the most Secret Deeds of Darkness to Light and prevent the Execrable Attempt And Blessed be thy holy Name O Lord for giving the August and most Honourable Senate of this Land a true Sence of the Danger we have escaped Wisdom to consult for the King's Safety the Welfare and Happiness of these Islands and the Utility and Repose of Europe with Brave and Heroick Courage and Resolution to knit together as one Man for the Defence of the KING and Support of His Government And Blessed be God the generality of these Kingdoms such vast numbers of Men of all Orders and Degrees States and Conditions do follow their Example in shewing their Resentments and Abhorrence of the Hellish and Villanous Design and in Associating for the Defence of the King and His People which let us all do with our Hearts as well as our Hands and so have the Honour of Associating with the King Himself and His Parliament with Foreign Princes and Potentates as well as with the numerous Armies of our Fellow-Subjects And the more to stir us up to our Duty observe we farther the Abhorrence and Detestation with which Foreign Princes States and People express themselves in this matter How they rejoice at the Happy Discovery for which we hear some sing the Te Deum some appoint publick Thanksgivings in their Churches throughout their Dominions and others give ample Proof unto the World that their Souls rejoice at the King's Deliverance And Blessed of God be all that are thankful and do rejoice for His unspeakable Mercies whether they be the King's Subjects at Home or His Friends and Allies Abroad Now as it highly Concerns all to be thankful so likewise to turn from the evil of their Ways that the Lord may continue his watchful Providence over them and either melt the Hearts of the Stubborn and Rebellious into Softness into Quiet and Peaceable Tempers or else if they continue Obdurate and Mischievous in their Principles that He will Infatuate their Counsels and Defeat their Malignant Purposes that they may not quench the light of our Israel To raise our Thoughts then unto a just Exercise of our Duty let us consider how Black and Extensive the Cloud lately hanging over our Heads was how general and fierce the Storm would have been if it had fallen upon us by the King's Death and a sudden Invasion from France We know not what would have become of us by this time how we should have rolled in Blood e're this whether any distinction of Age or Sex Order or Degree would have deliver'd any from weltering in Blood It is likely High and Low Young and Old the Mother and her Sucking-Infant should have equally suffered in the Common Calamity Some perhaps who can make Shipwrack of their Faith would have flatter'd themselves with Vain Hopes of their Airy Imaginations that the Mountains of Idle Thoughts heaped up confusedly in their Heads should have brought forth Wonderful Matters a Mighty and Blessed Off-spring whereas the Birth would have made them so Ridiculous as to Merit Shame and Hissing and as Miserable as they were fond of their Babel by which they would mount on high and get a Name And a Name they have gotten but 't is of Shame and Reproach 't is a Name that stinks 't is one that shall rot and their Memorial shall perish with them or else a Curse and Infamy will attend both if they are not forgotten But why so Bloody and Base as to Assassinate His Most Sacred Majesty Is Regicide become no Sin Is the Murder of a Great Prince Meritorious at last And that by way-laying Him to Circumvent and Trappan Him out of His Life O horrid Crime But know ye wretched Souls and Blood-thirsty Spirits and know it to your Terror and Confusion that our KING is ready often enough to present Himself in Battel-Array to His Enemies if they would accept of a Challenge But they know His Valour and Conduct too well to venture upon that which is wont to Cost them so Dear by over-warm Receptions for such their Cowardize and Fear which have Betray'd them to Unnatural and Savage Methods for which may Shame and Reproach cleave unto them as the Leprosie of Naaman did upon Gehazi for his Lie 2 Kings 5. and Prevarication For wicked Men they are Instruments of Cruelty Weapons of Violence are in their Habitations O my Soul come not thou into their Secret Gen. 49.5 6 7. unto their Assembly mine Honour be thou not united Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce and their Wrath for it was cruel May God divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel that Confusion may cover them and may their Practices be abhorr'd of all Men. But now further what a Change of Religion should we have had with a fiery Trial to bear Witness unto it And as for Laws what help could we have expected from them when the Sword should have supplied their room and superseded their Authority And as for Liberty they would have taken all that from us and assumed it to themselves that they might have done with us as they had pleased And as for Property that should have vanished with our other Felicities or else have been transferr'd wholly to them for nothing must we have called ours when all should have been in their Possession And how strangely would the Face of Affairs Abroad have been changed for the worse to all Europe How would the Edge of the now Victorious Sword of all the Confederate Princes have been turned and blunted How would the Two Great Enemies of Christendom the Gallick and Mahometan have Triumphed and with all Fury imaginable set upon the Nations thereof When they would not have been aware of the Blow until it had put them into much Consternation and Disorder And it would have been Sad and Lamentable indeed if the Stroke should have forced them as too soon it might to submit unto the Inglorious and Servile Terms which Two such Ambitious and Cruel Enemies should have imposed upon them if any thing would have contented them besides absolnte Conquest Will and
Heaven hath with all Choler and Wrath vomited out of his Mouth whole Floods of Persecutions one rolling incessantly upon the back of another to overwhelm the Church in final Ruin and Destruction And to make the Ocean of her Miseries as it were incomprehensible and beyond thought how have many of the Roman Emperors and greatest Potentates of the Earth added a Red Sea thereto by shedding the Blood of the Saints without end or measure The Primitive Christians felt the smart first and their Fellow-servants have been partakers of their Sufferings frequently unto these Days And those who would come out of Babylon that they might not be partakers of her Sins nor receive of her Plagues have had a restraint put upon them that they should not so that when persecuted in one City or Kingdom they could not enjoy the Priviledge given them by Christ in his Gospel to flee into another Now if we hear Zion bemoaning her self thus over all the Evils and Calamnities brought upon her for all the hurt and havock that the Church of God hath suffer'd from the beginning of the World unto this Day besides what she fears may yet happen and by some diffidence arising thereby she should question whether her Basis or Foundation be so strong that it shall remain perpetually firm for the time to come against the force and fury of her implacable and restless Foes For her Comfort and to resolve her Doubts herein let her know that all her Loss is Gain Those that die for their good Faith go from Warring and Fighting here in the Church Militant unto the Mother Church of all Triumphant in Heaven Those that amidst a World of Miseries below were Faithful unto Death ascend into Regions of Bliss above to receive Crowns of Eternal Life Neither is the number of her Members extenuated or diminished on Earth by their departure from us for the Testimony of Christ according to that common saying Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae the bare Letter whereof is That the Blood of Martyrs is the Seed of the Church which the sence and meaning construes thus That the more the Church of God is persecuted the more at last she multiplies Like good Seed cast into good Ground it brings forth Thirty Sixty and an Hundred sold And often not only is the number augmented but their Faith is the more vigorous and active too for Marcet sine adversario virtus sed crescit sub pondere their Faith doth fade and fail and is not so lively and brisk as when quickened by the Power and Trials of the Enemy as Rome when Carthage was destroyed fell to Luxury But under the pressure and weight of Sufferings it gets ground and becomes of a more diffusive Nature and therefore the Exercise and Trials of the Faith of the Best Men are meant of God for good And furthermore the Church is to remember that her Sins are the cause of all her Sorrows without which she would have neither Pain nor Grief nor any Enemy could Molest or Trouble her For it is still with her as it was in the Days of the Judges of Israel And we read in the second Chapter of their Book that the People feared the Lord all the Days of Joshua and all the Days of the Elders that out-lived Joshua and so long it was well with them but afterwards it is said The Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim And they forfook the Lord God of their Fathers c. The ill Consequence whereof was this The Anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of Spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the Hands of their Enemies round about So that they could not any longer stand before their Enemies Whithersoever they went out the Hand of the Lord was against them for Evil as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed Now Sin was the cause of all this Trouble and so it hath been and will be the Origin and Fountain of all Misery And therefore it is the Duty of the Church and People of God to submit unto his Chastisements without complaint or murmuring because they deserve them and it may be want Correction to make them better And then also we are to bear the Cross patiently as did Christ the Author of our Salvation that so having our share with him in Sufferings we may be partakers of his Glory But yet could not all these Enemies nor all the mighty numbers of them since the World began root out the true Church of God from having a Being in the face of the Earth neither shall they so prevail so long as the Sun and Moon endure but when they have done all they can they shall themselves bear the Punishment They shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and be at their Wits-end when the Mischief intended by them to others shall fall on their own Heads And therefore though they should seek to destroy Jacob by Inchantments and Israel by Divination and also to that end should use Pious Frauds and Religious Stratagems against the Church with many fair and specious pretences outwardly build Altars and offer Sacrifices even whole Hecatombs without number on them Though they should present Heaven with never so many Gifts and Dedicate all the Gold of Ophir unto it and pray Night and Day unto God unto Angels and Saints and join thereto never so many Ave Maries unto the Blessed Virgin and Court her with never so many Titles of the greatest Honour and Power in Heaven creating her Queen Regent there with full Authority over her Son to make him do whatsoever she shall command him Yet not all this nor much more that they can do shall any whit prevail Nothing thereof shall serve their turn against that Holy Church they would destroy but she shall stand firm against all the Attempts of her Enemies whatsoever they be though their Folly that is so great be Converted into Fury and their Malice be thereby the deeper yet in their fiercest Rage shall they be weak and like Water spilt on the ground or as the Dust before the Wind so shall the Angel of the Lord scatter them For surely there is no Enchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel which introduceth my Second Proposition That the Church hath been and shall be enabled to abide in safety by the Protection and good Providence of God For it is He that keeps her as the Apple of his Eye It is the Eternal God that is her Refuge It is he that beateth down all her Enemies and beareth her on Eagles Wings above them all and brings her unto himself And it is God that maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers Flames of Fire in their order to attend on every good Member of his Church and surround them all with Horses and Chariots of
might with strength of Reason on her side say The Glory is departed from Israel because the Ark of God was taken which when present with them was Salvation to them if Sin did not bar out the Blessing and 't was Death and great Destruction to their grand Enemies when amongst them tho' in Captivity plaguing and slaying them in a very large measure Furthermore so glorious was the Ark and holy that altho' the Bethshemites rejoiced at the sight thereof upon its arrival out of the Philistine's Country into their own and offered Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Sacrifices unto the Lord the same Day yet because they presumed to pry and look into it he smote of the People Fifty Thousand Threescore and Ten Men to their great Lamentation with Astonishment saying Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. But on the other hand we find it procured a Blessing to Obed-Edom and all he had when Three Months in his House 2 Sam. 6. from whence David brought it into the City of David with gladness and great solemnity his own Royal Person Dancing before the Lord with all his might with Sacrifices and Offerings shouting and the sound of the Trampet Very glorious also was the Ark in a farther prospect than yet we have mention'd or either perhaps Old Eli and Phinehas's Wife or any of the Israelites did perceive or think of when 't was captivated that is in its mighty Symbols and Prefigurations its Noble Type and Representation of Christ and his Church in the Evangelical Oeconomy its glorious Figures thereof as to it self and all that belong'd to it or was preserv'd and contain'd in it of which we have not time now to speak So that Glory it was to Israel in their then present honourable Thoughts and Conceptions of it according to what they did know and far greater Glory in what they did not understand or conceive Sad then that the Heathen their Enemies should both overcome them in Battel and take it Captive their great Hope be suddenly gone with Terrour and Amazement It was enough for a deep and general Mourning in all Israel enough to make all Disconsolate and some to bid Adieu to all Comforts here to take leave of the World and like Old Eli and his Daughter-in-law yield up the Ghost And now to return from one sad Scene to another from Israel's Loss to our own Their Sins had provoked God to afflict them with a terrible stroke And so have ours caused him in his Displeasure to take from us that great undeserved Blessing which in his Mercy he gave unto us in the Royal Person of his Anointed that Wise and Incomparable Princess for whom the Mourners do now go about the Streets our Late Gracious Soveraign Lady the Queen whose Princely and Sublime Virtues were so numerous and of such a large size and substance by the growth and perfection she gave them through her Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty's daily Increase in all Goodness that we may easier form a Galaxy or Bright Circle of them in our Noblest and Loftiest Conceptions or fix them in the Orbs of our Minds as whole Constellations of Stars of the first Magnitude than speak clearly and fully of all those shining Graces which in her Living were visible to the Eye of the World but now are hid from our Eyes But let the Memory of her Majesty and those her Rich Ornaments be kept Sacred to Posterity that the Generations to come may bless the Age she lived in and withal reprove the wilful Blindness and blackest Ingratitude of those who did not observe her Virtues nor Honour and Esteem her Royal Person with that Duty and Veneration as became Men who by her Enjoy'd the Blessings of Heaven above and of the Earth beneath Spiritual good things and Temporal She who was the Glory of her Age and Sex of our Church and these Nations to her own Greatness and all her Royalties giving Lustre to the Throne by her most Eminent Virtues in great Wisdom and Prudence Crown'd all her self So that I may make Application upon her great Fame 1 King 10. as the Queen of Sheba did to Solomon Happy were her Men happy were those her Servants which did stand continually before her Majesty hearing her Wisdom her good and gracious Words and observing her Piety and Religious Ways a lively Pattern and Example to all about her and who of both Sexes and all Qualities in Sorrow and Bitterness of Heart have caused a Voice to be heard like that of Rachel in Rama Lamentation and Weeping and great Mourning Weeping for her Most Excellent Majesty and would not be comforted because she is not she is not in the Land of the Living And because the Glory is thereby departed from them And from us all of her Majesty's Realms and Dominions and many more parts of the World is The Glory departed So that we in great multitudes Domestick and Foreign may join with the Royal Palace and take up a wailing for us all that our Eyes may run down with Tears and our Eye-lids gush out with Waters But while we mourn let us not forget to make Honourable mention of her Majesty yet further and tho' we cannot paint out to the Life those many Graces which did constantly attend her or rather were implanted in her yet let us Celebrate her Obsequies and Revere her Ashes those Sacred Remains by so just a Commemoration of her Excellent Endowments as the Confusion of Grief and Wo in our Minds will permit Now Virtue in general seem'd innate or connatural to her Majesty by that firmness of Root it had gain'd in her Royal Breast and therefore those many Species thereof which Philosophers for some Thousands of Years have Disputed and Reasoned about and Divines have much preached and written of were Eminently conspicuous and demonstrative in her When she was but a Child they appear'd like Aurora before the Sun as an happy Omen of what her Riper Years would produce She was then a bright Morning-star and like good King Josiah began when she was young to seek after God Dedicated her self unto him and never desisted to the Day of her Death Not forsaking God when she felt the Thorns of her Crowns and the multitude of Business throng'd her or the Baits and Allurements of Recreations might tempt her aside And as she was stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord so she required her People and Servants to wait upon God with a Vigilant Care her Self over all who ought to repair unto the Chappel-Royal to attend on him in his Worship imitating Faithful Abraham Gen. 18.19 in commanding her Houshold after her to keep the way of the Lord retrieving thereby the long lost Honour of the Court by Converting the Reigning Sins thereof through her Great Example and Pious Authority into Religious Services Sitting therein a Queen to do the Will of the Lord and not of Men. And in all respects
and with him sit down in the Ashes And we may mourn with the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon as all Judah and Jerusalem did for Josiah Zech. 12.11 2 Chron. 35.25 And as the Prophet Jeremiah lamented for him so have we cause to do the like for our Deceased Gracious QUEEN Our Singing-men and Singing-women may as theirs did a long time for that good King speak of her in their Lamentations We have too sad Cause to Transcribe a Copy from them to make it an Ordinance in our Israel and from their Original to write us a Book of Lamentations and therein The Joy of our Heart is ceased our Dance is turned into Mourning Lam. 5.15 16. The Crown is fallen from our Head wo unto us that we have sinned Thus let us humble and afflict our Souls before God who is justly displeased for our manifold Iniquities and Contempt of his Mercies and in the midst of our Sorrows pray we him to remember Mercy And when we have poured out our Souls with the bitterest Grief and Sorrow of Heart for our inexpressible Loss in such a deep sense as so sad an Occasion requires let us say Ver. 19. Thou O Lord remainest for ever thy Throne from Generation to Generation Ver. 21. Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and so shall we be turned renew our Days as of old renew them O Lord and continue them unto us in our Gracious KING WILLIAM And God be praised that we Enjoy him together with our Religion our Laws our Liberties and Properties What a Mercy is it that we have His Majesty still In whose Preservation not only the Welfare of his own Subjects but of all Christendom is so nearly concerned See the Addresses of both Houses to His Majesty Dec. 31. 1694. As the Right Honourable the House of Peers and agreeably thereto the Honourable Commons have in their great Wisdom pronounced Let us then turn from the Evil of our Ways and lift up our Hands and Hearts to Heaven that God may be Gracious to us in granting Him a long and happy Reign over us And pray we that God will Support and Comfort His Majesty and Us under the Burden of His and Our Great Loss (a) In His Majesty's Gracious Answer to the Address of the House of Peers Dec. 31. 1694. which He was pleased to declare is above what he can express And that he was able to think of nothing but it (b) Answer to the House of Commons Address So sharply did his Grief thereupon assail and pierce his Royal Heart Tho' always known to be of such Heroick and Invincible Courage that nothing could dismay him this sad Affliction alone Conquered him has been of such weight as to over-burden and sink his Spirits the like to which no Difficulties no Dangers could ever before effect not Ten Thousand Messengers of Death flying about him Behold how he loved Her Pray we then to God to be His Majesty's Comforter in this great Trial and to make us all most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects unto him paying him double Homage and Fealty that we may not once waver in our Fidelity but multiply in our Hearts Zealous Prayers and all good Desires for his Long Life and Prosperity and then we may expect to Enjoy a large share of Her Late Majesty in Him He will not only Defend us as He hath done but also will be unto us in her stead by His more abundant Favours to us if an addition can be made to His former because Virtue and Goodness were conjunctive in Their Majesties what One did was generally the Act of Both. And as they by Marriage were one Flesh so they seem'd by an Happy Unity and Concord in every thing to have one and the same Mind as if they had had but one Soul Therefore I say we may trust He will take all the Care of us upon himself and be unto us both as KING and QUEEN to do us all the Good that lies in His Royal Power Wherefore to conclude as we mourn for Her Majesty and desire to Consecrate her Memory to be for Ever Blessed thus paying our last Tribute unto Her in Tears So let us with the highest Deference Honour and Obey His Majesty the Great Patron and Assertor of the Liberties of Europe of Ours chiefly And let us always Pray GOD Save KING WILLIAM Amen The Living Lord a Rock of Salvation SERMON III. Preached in Mortlake Church in SVRREY April the 16th 1696. Being the Day of a General Thanksgiving for the Preservation of the KING from the Intended Assassination of His Royal Person c. 2 SAM xxii 47. The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation THat the Merciful and Gracious Eye of God's Wonderful Providence hath in a most Signal manner watched over this Nation for good especially since the Blessed Reformation is beyond all possibility of Contradiction That he hath been sundry times and in divers manners a Rock of Salvation unto it by many powerful Deliverances thereof from Evil is as certain as if it were a thing proved by Mathematical Demonstration To recount and inlarge upon all which time would fail me But for a full Testimony unto my Assertion let us look back into the Annals and Histories of Times past but of One Century of Years and part of another and by those lasting Monuments of the Dead let us ask our Fathers and they will shew us our Elders and they will tell us what great and marvellous Things God did in the Days of Old for them and us their Posterity They were Eye-witnesses in times past and Partakers of the Goodness of the Lord unto the Sons of Men in this sinful Land And are not we in this respect the like to the full in our Generation as they were in theirs Or rather hath not God superadded to us and made his present measure of Grace and Favour to overflow amongst us by his great Salvation given unto us Of which every one who will not close his Eyes hath ocular and sensible demonstration laid before him in view in such large and legible Characters that he that runs may read it And this we may all read in the Book of our own Remembrance that when our Consciences were in apparent danger to be Inslaved with Erroneous Doctrines Superstition and a False Way of Worshipping God or else our Lives must be Sacrificed to the merciless Fury of our Implacable Enemies that when our Laws our Liberties and Properties were to be swallowed up by such a Power as would know no Limits Then God that heareth Prayer the Prayer of the Humble and Afflicted heard our Petitions and when we could not imagine which way the Salvation should come or by whom under him it should be effected then he appeared to be a God who judgeth the Earth and bowed the Heavens and came down sending to our Aid with the Arm of Power and
But the Comfort of all is The Lord liveth who seeth what we cannot so much as think of and saves us when we are ignorant of our Danger and of our Help and Salvation ready at the same time the one to devour and the other to rescue and protect us Wherefore again and again we will with great Joy say The Lord liveth Or Let the Lord live if any will have it Translated so in way of Triumph also As the Hebrews were wont to express their Joy and good Wishes for their Kings Let the King live which we turning into an Anglicism or form of Speech agreeable to our own Idiom and Language do express by saying God save the King and so we have Translated it in several parts of Scripture as that God save King Solomon at his Inauguration when he was Anointed King Which both in the Hebraism and our Mode or Way of speaking implies Zeal and a joyful Acclamation of Triumph and Delight for the King and also a Prayer for his Life in which last sence it is improper to Translate this part of the Text Let the Lord live but not so in the former for with an holy Zeal and Joy and Triumph Delight and Pleasure for his Gracious Goodness it may without any Solecism be said Let the Lord live as well as Let God arise Psal 68.1 that is Let the Lord appear and manifest himself to the World that He is the only Living God the Almighty and Merciful Johovah in saving his own People by putting his Hook into the Noses and his Bridle into the Lips of their Enemies and thus checking their malignant Rage and Fury But to return as we have most fitly render'd it The Lord liveth we may farther take this weighty Clause to have been directed by holy David's Eye against a set of Ungodly and Atheistical Men against such as was the Patron of all Fools the Fool that said in his Heart Psal 14.1 there is no God a Fool 's saying indeed for who but a Fool would ever have said so And therefore they thought it impossible their Devices should prove Abortive for if there had been no God by his Omniscience and Providence to disclose their Secret Cabals and the Arrows of Death prepared by them to let fly against the Lord 's Anointed the stroke would have been unavoidable and fatal for it is not in Man to discover the Secrets of the Hearts of other Men It is a peculiar Prerogative of the Great Searcher of Hearts to do it who knows the Thoughts thereof long before their Conception What a miserable Condition then had holy David been involved in amidst all his Enemies Plotting and Devising his Ruin if there had been no God He must then have fallen into their Pit Well then might he Joy in the God of his Salvation and Congratulate his own Safety with these words expressing his Assurance of Omnipotency on his side against his Enemies to their Confusion The Lord liveth baffling all hereby who in his Days denied the Omnipotent Being or lived and acted as if there were none And the words have the same force against the Atheists and Wicked Men of our Times who deny the Existence of a Deity or else surely never have him in their Thoughts but Plot on and imagine Vain Things in their ungodly Counsels until they fall into the Pit which they make for the Lord 's Anointed and for the Destruction of his People But further this Clause seems also to be levell'd against a second sort of Fools who it 's true might have such a Grain of true Faith as to make a Confession of the Godhead but received false Articles into their Creed in respect of his Providence and Government as that having his Throne so high in the Heavens he would not humble himself to behold the things done on the Earth and so never took any Care of Sublunary Affairs neither of setting up or pulling down of right nor wrong of oppression or injustice or any sore evil under the San So that wicked Men might live in Robbery Spoil and Oppression committing Outrage and Violence and brave it along saying Who is Lord over us And spurning at Omniscience say Tush How should God perceive it Is there Knowledge in the Most High And how shall we think better Principles have governed or influenced those amongst us who so lately meditated upon Regicide Rebellion Invasion and a Total Subversion of these Three Kingdoms besides all the Evil Consequences that would necessarily like a mighty Deluge have flowed in upon many other Nations and People For their Barbarous Practices seem to be the Interpreters of their Minds so that if any will deny the Hypothesis that they were such the sequel drawn from their Bitter Designs infers a Conclusion proving as much against them in deed and reality let them plead for their Thoughts and their Faith or Belief as they please at most their Arguments can be of no force on their side any otherwise than those of Rank Practical Atheists are against them we call speculative And certainly they are the worst of Men who profess to believe well and practice most ill and such justly incur the Divine Abhorrence are frequently forsaken of God being Vessels of his Wrath and left alone to themselves working out their own Destruction That burden of the Lord in the 23d Chapter of the Prophet Jeremiah v. 33. being their Portion I will even forsake you saith the Lord with that direful Catastrophe as an Appendix to the Curse subjoin'd in the end of the Chapter And I will bring an Everlasting Reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten This was to be the Fate of some Prophets and Priests with the People who were untoward and dissatisfied with God's Ways in those Days And let them who find themselves alike grieved in our Age make Application hereof to themselves whilst we who are sensible of God's great and undeserved Blessings to us in our Most Gracious King and this Deliverance and are thankful for them will sing Hallelujahs unto His Infinite Holiness and with Glory and Triumph express the gladness of our Souls in saying every one of us with the Royal Psalmist The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation Which introduces the Second Proposition comprehending King David's grateful Return to God of Benediction and Praise or Exaltation for his Marvellous and Powerful Deliverances of him from the Mischiess formed against him Emphatically expressed in these words and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation Agreeable to the Dutiful and Pious Custom of God's Church in all Ages of blessing and praising Him for His particular Providence in great Deliverances besides the Acts of His Universal Goodness is this Hymn of holy David And of the whole Composure these words last recited have a sound which seems the most Harmonious because they rebound with so
Pleasure O therefore great is the Deliverance beyond the Comprehensions of our Understandings And praised be the Lord who hath not given us over for a prey unto their Teeth for our Soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler the Snare is broken and we are delivered For which may all that are or would have been sensible of the Black Device if it had taken its Dismal Effect Bless and Exalt God's holy Name May all the good People of this Nation Obey their Sovereign Lord the KING's Commands in such manner as may be acceptable to God And as His Majesty doth so may they acknowledge the singular Mercy and Goodness of God See His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament Feb. 24. 1695. May all His Subjects Piously and Joyfully keep this Day and ponder the Occasion of it in their Hearts with a Perpetual Thanksgiving to the utmost extent of their Lives for so great a Salvation May it make such deep and lasting Impressions in their Souls Yea let them tell it to their Childrens Children that the Generations to come may Bless God for it And may no Rank or Quality Sex Order or Degree think themselves exempted from their Duty on this Day which the KING with the Advice of his Nobles hath thought fit to apply to so Solemn and Sacred a Use But praise the Lord ye House of our Israel praise the Lord ye House of Aaron praise the Lord ye House of Levi ye Clergy of this Land Ye that fear the Lord praise the Lord and confess he is Gracious and his Mercy endureth for ever Kings of the Earth and all People Princes and all Judges of the World Young Men and Maidens Old Men and Children praise the Name of the Lord for his Name only is Excellent and his Praise above Heaven and Earth He shall exalt the Horn of his People all his Saints shall praise him And now pray we unto God to open Mens Eyes that they may see and know those things that belong unto their Peace that they may not be Credulous of Dreams and Fancies nor give heed unto Fables As if that Monarch who has Troubled Christendom a long time has Cruelly Persecuted and Tormented Protestants and has laid waste Defenced Cities into Ruinous heaps as if he would shew all Clemency and Kindness to us as if he would make every one Happy and Great with large Donatives of Riches and Honour Fields and Vineyards and all the Delights of the Sons of Men which to think is very incongruous to Reason and dissonant to the Sentiments of common Prudence unless he and all his Admirers and Favourites loved the People of this Nation better than they do and except we would abandon our Religion which may we never so much as think of doing nor fear his Menaces or any high and lofty Looks But keep we stedfast to our God and our Faith to our Duty and Allegiance unto our Sovereign Lord the KING's Majesty to our Laws our Liberties and our Country and to one another in Love and Unity And may god shower down His Blessings upon us and make His great Salvation for which we now offer unto Him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving a Pledge of more His abundant Favours to His Anointed and His Subjects And let us always therefore have somewhat of a Divine and Holy Song or Eulogy in our Mouths Plenteously may we be furnished in the Song of Moses and the Children of Israel of Deborah and Barak and in that great Magazine of Praises and Benedictions the Book of Psalms together with many other places of the Sacred Canon of Scripture Let us often think of God's Mercies to us and make Melody in our Hearts unto Him with such Excellent and Proper Lessons as may be taken out of those Breathings of the Holy Ghost Let Lute and Harp awake and let us awake right early with the high Praises of God in our Mouth Let this be the Badge of our Honour and Gratitude Praise ye the Lord. Let us bind it as Signs upon our Hands and Frontlets between our Eyes together with the Te Deum the Benedictus the Magnificat and like Joyous and Devout Trophies of God's Salvation Evermore with the Choir of Saints and Angels above Chanting forth the Trishagion Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord Most High Finally As we praise God this Day for His Admired Mercy so let us Beg His Continuance of it to us and pray heartily that the now ensuing Campaign may be Victorious both against Fâ—ance and the Ottoman Empire and that an Honourable and Lasting Peace to England and Her Allies and Friends may succeed thereupon and that God will be pleased to Bless with Length of Days and Riches and Honour in His Throne here and to Crown afterwards with a far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory in the highest Heavens His Anointed Servant our Dread Sovereign Lord and Lawful and Rightful KING WILLIAM Amen FINIS