THE Bishop of SALISBURY'S THANKSGIVING SERMON Before the KING and QUEEN PRINTED By His Majesty's Special Command A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL On the 26 th of NOVEMB 1691. BEING THE thanksgiving-Thanksgiving-Day FOR THE Preservation of the KING AND THE Reduction of IRELAND By the Right Reverend Father in God GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCI A SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN At WHITE-HALL c. PROV XX. 28. Mercy and Truth preserve the King and his Throne is upheld by Mercy THERE is no properer nor usefuller way of praising God for the repeated Blessings with which â—he Crowns every Year and by which he is establishing and perfecting that great Deliverance which he wrought for us Three Years ago than to observe the dependance of these blessings upon the following of those Rules which he himself has prescribed By this we are preserved from the false opinion of a partiality of the Divine Providence towards our selves or others or the supposing that it will still favour us let us be or do what we please And by this we are taught that we ought not to expect the continuance of Gods Favour to us any longer than we continue true to those Laws and Rules that he has given us And therefore in Psal. 107. where the blessings that God grants to those who in their extremities call upon him are set forth with much Variety and in a very Poetical Strain the Conclusion of all is Who is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the kindness of the Lord. If we are full of the sense of the Goodness of God both to our King and to our selves in the preserving the King's Person and in the maintaining the Throne which are the two subjects of the present Thanksgiving it is fit and proper for this occasion to observe what may be supposed to be the conditions upon which such Blessings are granted and upon the continuance in which we may hope for the continuance and encrease of them Since then Solomon was the wisest of Men as well as of Kings and that his Wisdom was without doubt chiefly applied to that which was his proper Business we may very certainly depend upon his Observation tho' there had not been a special Inspiration accompanying it He in the Words of my Text makes the preservation of Kings to depend upon their Mercy and Truth But he plainly insinuates that Mercy had in this the largest share and therefore in the redoubling of the Period Mercy is only named so that the weight and stress of his observation and by consequence of this Discourse must lye upon Mercy tho Truth and Fidelity must likewise have its share The chief glory of Princes and the chief of their Titles tho they should swell them up with all the loftiness of the Eastern Courts is That they are God's Deputies and Vicegerents here on earth that they represent him and by consequence that they ought to resemble him The outward respect paid them carries a proportion to that Character of Divinity which is on them and that supposes an imitation of the Divine Perfections in them Every Man is made after the Image of God and in the right of that he hath a Dominion over this earth and all its productions over all the Beasts of the Field the Fowls of the Air the Fishes of the Sea But as much as men are preferable to all these so much ought Those who have Dominion over them to excel all others in this Resemblance It is a noble Thought in Plutarch That there are three things for which we adore the Deity and in which we desire to resemble it Eternity Power and Goodness for Eternity we all know we are Mortal and cannot live for ever the Elements and Frame of things last much longer Power is a gift of Fortune nor is it in it self any great matter Storms and Thunders have more force than the most mighty Potentates But Virtue and Goodness which lye within all mens reach are the resemblances of the Supream Being which make every man shine and render those that are in Power and Authority truly Divine The famous Panegerick has exprest this not more nobly than truly What greater or usefuller gift can the Divinity bestow upon Mortals than a Prince that is Virtuous and Holy and that resembles the Gods themselves Pardon this ill-sounding expression of his Heathenism who governs so as to remember both that he himself is a Man and that they are also Men over whom he is set and that considers that his own Innocence is his best Defence and his surest Guard Crowns and Scepters when ill-placed discover the defects of those whose Minds are not equal to their Fortunes and make them more conspicuous and sensible But when those whom they adorn have the Inward Ornaments of real Worth and Goodness they give them all possible advantages and set them in a true Light For the brightness of Majesty when not tempered with the softness of Mercy is like a scorching Sun who destroys every thing upon which his Beams do fall The simplest Notions which all men have of God as well as the discoveries which inspired Writings give us of him represent him as a Being in which Truth and Goodness do dwell in perfection which are the Attributes that we need the most and to which we trust chiefly in which we rejoyce daily and for which we offer up our most solemn Adorations Therefore whatever other Characters of Glory may appear upon Princes be they ever so wise and vigilant so brave and generous let them have all the Arts of Government all the Oeconomy and Conduct all the Magnificence and Lustre possible the vastest Treasures the strongest Frontiers and the most victorious Armies yet where Mercy and Truth are wanting where they are Perfidious and Cruel they are rather the Representatives of him that was a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning than of that God who is just and true in all his ways and merciful and gracious towards all his works If these are wanting the greater they are in all other respects they are the juster Resemblances of those Apostate Spirits the Princes of the power of the Air who have great Dominions and a vast activity but it is all imployed to mischief and ruine and as their Worshippers in some barbarous Nations reckon that nothing works so powerfully for appeasing their anger or procuring their favour as Rivers of Gore and that they are then best pleased when their Altars swim in humane Blood so those who delight in Blood in innocent Blood and especially in the Blood of their own Subjects shew what is the Original after which they Copy and the Pattern upon which they form themselves A true picture of the Deity is a Prince that loves his people and is tender of them that renders them safe by his Protection and happy by his
Infancy of Kingship among the Jews the Crown had no other Revenue but the free gift of the People Not given in a body for every one brought his Benevolence apart And then some of those ungovernable Men who perhaps had been among the first and hottest of those who desired a King when they had one intended to keep him low and not to furnish him with that which was necessary to support the Government Upon all this Saul held his peace he not only overcame but quite supprest his resentments And tho' he resolved that his Mercy should triumph over their Perverseness yet he staid till he might do that with Advantage Some perhaps imputed his silence to coldness and insensibility others to a sense of his seebleness but no doubt they thought that he laid up in all his Mind and resolved to take severe Revenges as soon as he durst adventure on it but very few could imagine that he resolved to connive at all till some great occasion should be offered him to shew his Care of his People and his Zeal for the Publick after which he might with a better grace extend his Clemency to those who deserved it so little This was so great a thought that few could suspect it because few were capable of it But a Prince whose Soul is raised to a level with his Fortunes has a nobler sence of things far above the fretful peevishness of little and angry Minds A remarkable Occasion gave Saul the advantage that he looked for Nahash King of Ammon a Cruel and an Idolatrous Tyrant pushed on with a desire of Glory and of enlarging his Frontier did against the Faith of Treaties Invade the Country and besiege Jabesh Gilead the poor Inhabitants struck with terrour offered to Capitulate he who was sincere though brutal not like those who offer any Conditions that they may be once possessed of a Place though they do not intend to observe them told them he must make sure of them and since the way of War in those days was chiefly in Archery in which nothing can be done without the direction of the right Eye he told them he must thrust out all their right Eyes To this Condition hard as it was the besieged agreed if they should not be relieved within Seven days They gave notice of their Extremities to their Country-men on the other side of the Water who upon that wept they broke out into feeble Mournings and Complaints Saul was then looking after his Cattel and perhaps some thought him capable of no higher Cares But upon the News he gathered together as great an Army as was possible on the sudden and in great Marches came to Jabesh in time and did so entirely defeat the Ammonites that two of them were not left together And then it appeared that Saul for all his coldness and silence had all the Flame in him that became his great Post and that urgent Occasion Upon this the Men of Belial looked a little out of countenance and began to be afraid for themselves if the People had seen them probably they would not have staid for the forms of Justice but in the first Rages of their Fury have taken the shorter way and have run upon them without Order The Body of the Nation full of Resentment move Samuel that a search might be made for those that had said Shall Saul Reign over us that they might be brought out and then they would put them to death They would ease their King both of the trouble of Prosecuting and of the reproach of a severe Execution they would both Impeach and Execute But the hitherto well kept silence was now broke through Saul would not be so much as Passive when so much Blood was in danger to be shed and since his People had not Temper and Union enough to sue to him for an Indemnity he prevents the Applications of the Guilty and the Intercession of their Friends by an Act of Grace prononunced in these words There shall not a man be put to death this day for to day the Lord hath wrought Salvation in Israel Samuel saw well how this must needs end and that so Eminent an Act of Mercy would both settle and uphold his Throne therefore he diverts the People from their zealous but ill-governed heat and directs them to go to Gilgall the Place of their Publick Assemblies and to renew the Kingdom there which was done with that Solemnity that both Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly Upon all this I shall make no other remark but that the thing which hath been is that which shall be and there is no new thing under the Sun Another Eminent Act of Mercy meets us in David's Story who when he was in one of the lowest Ebbs of Fortune was affronted by Shimei who followed him with the Insolence of flinging Stones as well as Curses at him but neither at that time when the freshness as well as the unusualness of the Injury might have justified the utmost rigour nor afterwards upon his re-establishment on the Throne would he give way to the demands of Justice against him He bore the Injury decently at first and forgave it graciously at last The reason that he gave for it agrees with the Maxims in my Text Do not I know that I am this day King over Israel There was no need of Acts of Severity to bring him to the Throne but of Acts of Mercy to uphold him in it and therefore he reckons those that called for Justice in so unseasonable a time his Adversaries Augustus began his Reign with great Severities which were extorted from him by Mark Anthony who no doubt had often pressed Caesar tho' in vain to the same courses and could not fail to persuade the Nephew from his Uncle's Fate that there was but one sure way to be safe from his Enemies Such Counsels well became a Creature of Vice and Pleasure who intending to abandon himself to his Luxury knew he could not be secure as long as so many brave Romans were left alive But as soon as Augustus got out of his Conduct he shewed how well he deserved Power that could use it as he did A remarkable Instance of this is related by Seneca Cinna that was descended from the Great Pompey as well as from the Famous Roman whose Name he carried conspired against him after he had received large Accessions both of Wealth and Honour from him and was in high Favour with him All was discovered and in the first emotions of Anger Augustus resolved on extreme Severities His Friends were brought together to Consult about it for he honoured some of his Court with that familiar Title but his Heart Nobler than theirs turned him to softer Councils He broke out into those memorable words Life is not worth all this that it should be preserved by the destruction of so many Persons He communicated the matter to the Empress Livia who was
in obliging them at least to the Decencies of Vertue and Religion Go on and prosper in these noble Designs What are Conquests and Triumphs the wasting and dispeopling of Cities and Provinces which make such a Figure in the false Estimate of the World compared to the more real and solid Honours of reforming vitious Courts luxurious Cities and degenerated Countries This is so hard and will be such a decried Undertaking especially by those who need it most and who ought to promote it chiefly that no small Degree of Courage and Resolution is necessary to support those that set about it Suffer me to repeat to you the Words with which God himself animated Joshua on the like occasion Be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayst observe to do according to all the Law which Moses my Servant commanded thee Turn not from it to the right Hand or to the left that thou mayst prosper whither-soever thou goest This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy Mouth but thou shalt meditate therein Day and Night that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy Way prosperous and then thou shalt have good Success Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of a good Courage be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest These Words were said to Joshua after he had shewed his military Courage upon great Occasions and import that besides the Magnanimity of affronting Danger there is a Courage in the Mind necessary to repress Sin and to maintain Vertue and Religion that must compleat and perfect the other Happy you that have it in your Power to be such Blessings to Mankind May your Will equal your Power and may all things bend to your Authority May it be ever imployed in advancing the Honour of God and the Kingdom of his dear Son May your Persons be ever safe under his Protection and your Government happy under his Influence And may we at the Conclusion of every Year have fresh matter to rejoice in God both on your Account and on our own who hath done great things for you and for us all both in you and by you And let us all study that our Thankfulness to God may at least bear some Proportion to his Goodness to us Let us pay the Vows that we made to him in our Days of Fasting and Prayer and as we desire another happy Year to conclude what is so far carried on in this let us make such a right Use of our present Advantages and such decent Returns for the Blessings that we have in hand as may give us a Title to expect the compleating them in another Season We are now almost in Sight of Land and the Prospect is so fair that nothing but our Sins and our Divisions can stop a Course of Success and Glory that is near its last and highest Point May no corrupt nor misguided Humours no unjust Jealousies nor peevish Resentments no Faction nor Animosity in our Councils retard or defeat those great Designs which have been hitherto under such a visible Conduct and Blessing from above Suffer me to sum up all in the Words of Samuel upon an occasion not much unlike this Now therefore this is the King and Queen that you have desired and behold the Lord hath set them over you if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his Voice and not rebel against the Commandment of the Lord then shall both you and the Kings that reign over you continue following the Lord your God And a little after he redoubles the Exhortation Only fear the Lord and serve him in Truth with all your Heart for consider how great things he hath done for you May they be compleated May they be lasting and may they produce amongst us all that for which they are intended May our Princes still triumph May their Councils be always wise and their Forces ever prosperous And may we and our Posterity after us rejoice long in our Kings May they live long and may their Names live for ever and may all Nations call them blessed May Religion and Vertue prevail and flourish and the Church be established under them May they ever preserve Mercy and Truth that so they may be ever preserved and their Throne always upheld by them May Justice and Righteousness ever flow from them and such an Abundance of Peace as may make us both safe and rich great and happy under their Protection so that both we and all round about us when we reflect on the 88 of this Age may almost forget the 88 of the former and that our second 5 th of November may wear out the Remembrance of the 1 st And to conclude all for I can rise no higher May the Happy and Glorious Days of Queen Elizabeth be darkned and eclipsed by the more Happy and more Glorious Reign of KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell SOME Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the A â—olent Churches of PIEDMONT By PETER ALLIX D. D. A Vindication of their Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of the deprived Bishops in a letter out of the Country occasioned by Dr. B 's Refund of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4to V. CL. GVLIELMICAMDENI Illustrium Vi â—erum ad G. Gamutnum EPISTOLAE Cum Appendice varii Argumenti Accesseruit A â—ndli â—â— Regni Regis Jacobi I. Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescalli Angliae Praemittitur G. Camdeni vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho S.T.D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672 to the Peace concluded 1679. 8vo Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum 4to ADVERTISEMENT PROPOSALS will be shortly published by Richard Chiswell for Subscription to a Book now finished intituled ANGLIAE SACRAE PARS SECVNDA sive Collectio Historiarum antiquitus Scriptarum de Archiepiscopis Episcopis Angliae à prima Fidei Christianae Susceptione ad annum MDXL. Plures antiquas de Vitis Regni gestis Praesulum Anglicorum Historius sine certo ordine congestas complexa In Arts â—â—de Plin â—inlr â—â— Quod enim pr â—â—stabilius aut pulchrius munus Deorum quam cistus sanctus dii â— simillimus Princeps qui nec minus hominem se quam hominibus prae â—â—se meminit sid â—lissuna custo â—li â— Principis ipsius â—ano â—â—ncia Jul. Capit. Nemo illum plaugendum censuit oertis omnibus quod a Diis comodatus ad Deos Rediisset 2. Sam. 18. 3. 4. Dan. 27. Luke 6.35 Psalm 55. 12 13. Rev. 2. 9. 1 Sam. 10.9 10. 1 Sam. 10.1 Chap. 1 â— 24 26. Verse 27. 1 Sam. 17.3 Verse 12. V. 13. V. 14. 2 Sam. 19 22. Non est tami Vita ut si ego non periam cum mul â—i perdendi sunt Lib. de Clem Regibuscertior est ex mansuetudine securitas quia frequens vindicta paucorum odium reprimit omnium irritat Voluntas oportet ante saeviendi quam causa deficiat Liberi mei pereant si magis amari merebitur Avidius quaÌ„illi si magis Reipublicae expediat Cassium vivere quam liberos Marci Oro atque obsecro ut censura vestra deposita meam pietatem clementiamque servetis Vivant igirur securi scientes sub Marco se vivere Scis enim ubi vera Principis ubi sempiterna sit Gloria ubi sint honores in quos nihilflammis nihil senectuti nihil successoribus liceat 1 Sam. 3.11 1 Sam. 8.5 Josh. 1. 7 8 9. 1 Sam. 12 13 14 24.