and right Worship defacing Idolatry and of worthy Joshua who lived before them it is said Josh 24.31 That all the dayes of Joshua the people served the Lord. Now in all these respects it is that a good King is compared to the Light whose rising makes a day unto a people whose setting and obscuring makes their night as the Ancients expound that 24. verse of the 118 Psalm that was sung at the inauguration of David This is the day which the Lord hath made we will be glad and rejoyce in it It is called a day because of the Occurrents of the time that David had risen upon them like a Sun to make a lightsom day The 104. Psalm tels you what difference there is betwixt the day and the night The night is the time when the savage beasts range abroad Wolves Lions and Serpents creep out from their dens and holes But when the day appears these beasts retire to their caves and man goeth forth to his labour So it is in times of confusion when Government is cast loose all sorts of beastly men filthy as Swine greedy as Wolves cruel as Tygers deceitfull as Crocodiles they come abroad boldly to satisfie their lusts But in time of lawfull Authority when a King is on the Throne these vermine are chased to their holes and dens as is declared at large Psal 101. and honest men come forth appear and lift up their heads Application Thus you have seen the Doctrine Let us apply it to our Case We are assembled this day to blesse God for restoring our Kings Majesty to his Dominions Now if any people ever had cause to rejoyce upon such an occasion we much more Considering the unparallel'd circumstances of this our great mercy I desire you to consider of them in these five 1. What is the blessing restored to us 2. When the circumstance of time 3. How the manner 4. Who for a King is set over us 5. To Whom all this goodnesse is manifested a very undeserving people What. 1. What is the blessing restored to us Even our ancient fundamental Government under which these Kingdoms have enjoyed both the Gospel and Peace under which our progenitors have enjoyed many happy and good dayes by the Royal protection of our Kings It hath unhappily come in debate in these late times of confusion what kind of Government is the best But whoever might have disputed such a case it did no wayes become these Nations to do it Kingly Government being of so old and firm and undubitable possession amongst us In this Nation some hundred years before Christs incarnation it was established And if we go to the Scripture with it sure I am there is none will vye with it the very history of the lives of the Kings of the people of God taking up a great part of the Bible and Kingly Government being such a fair Image of God Almighties Government in the world and Christs Kingdom in the Church that the whole dispensations of providence the whole dispensations of grace in the Gospel are set forth to us under the expressions of King and Kingdom Every other word of the Gospel soundeth forth a King and Kingdom to us And why doth the New Testament in many places where duty to the Magistrate is pressed expresly and particularly mention Kings 1 Pet. 2.13 and v. 17. 1 Tim. 2.2 if not to set the seal and approbation of the holy Ghost upon Kingly Government in special And though it be said in Scripture of Saul that God gave Israel a King in His wrath and took him away in His displeasure Yet this can no manner of wayes rub upon Kingly Government seing it is most clear from these two that Kingly Government was not given them in wrath but in much mercy 1. That in Moses time the Lord had appointed that they should be ruled by Kings Deut. 17. and Moses himself was King in Jesurum 2. That after Saul God gave them a David in great love and we may easily perceive that the times of David and Solomon were the best times that ever Israel saw for Religion Peace and Prosperity they were never so godly never so wealthy and well every way as under them I remember when that prevailing Faction in England made their Act rejecting Kingly Government they put in this as a reason because it had been burdensome and troublesome to the Nations But I appeal to all who have considered whether their little finger hath not been more burdensom than the loyns of an hundred of our Kings And I cannot forget what an English Divine hath truly printed of their Commonwealth That we had saith he never so much common poverty as since we became a Commonwealth When. The second circumstance is the time When God hath restored this blessing to us After a dark night of Confusion a sad Interruption that hath been for many years I told you what the Persians did in policy to make the people esteem more highly of Government being established But God in his wisdom hath so disposed of us that we have seen not only a few dayes confusion but have been under sad distractions for many years that we might learn more highly to prize the blessing of lawfull Government when restored In King James the sixth his time we had a very clear and fair day a day like Joshua's day that continued for a long time In King Charles the first his time we had a fair day for the blessings of Government continued with us till the sins of all ranks coming to a great height our day was turned into a very black night and now in respect of the comfortable blessings of Kingly Government we have had a sad interruption for many years Yea and when after the detestable and execrable Murder committed upon Him We in this Nation expected a dawning of our day by calling home our present Kings Majesty to Scotland and crowning him here Behold it fell out to us as it is Isa 21.12 The morning cometh and the night also Our morning was soon turned into a night of captivity for ten years And as it is with the natural night that it is darkest just before day So before this appearing of light there was the greatest darknesse of confusion and reeling The righteous Lord overturning overturning one thing after another till he should come whose right it was And now that the Lord hath made light to arise after so long so black and dismal confusions How should it make us rejoyce Psal 118.27 God is the Lord who hath shewed us light binde the sacrifice with cords even unto the horus of the Altar How A third Circumstance is How There is a book in Scripture that hath its name ECHAH the book of How 's and there are many dolefull How 's in it the book of the Lamentations How doth the City sit solitary How is the Gold become dim But in this our mercy there are so many joyfull How 's that I cannot reckon all
to you look upon these four 1. How unexpectedly 2. How suddenly 3. How sweetly 4. How wonderfully 1. How unexpectedly Were not all doors of hope shut upon us Especially two things seemed to have barred the door upon this blessing 1. The great alienation of heart found in many of the Nations from the King and his Family It was said of David Psal 118.22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner The Master-builders had rejected him yet was he advanced they who had formerly rejected him coming to him 2 Sam. 5.1 and saying we are thy bone and thy flesh So God hath wrought for our Soveraigne 2. Another impediment that stood betwixt us and all hope of this blessing was that the power and strength of all Armies within these Lands stood against the King all Armies were on the contrair part There was an Abner for Saul but not a Joab these many years to appear for David Now this makes the change miraculous that the very Armies that stood against are now turned for him And that a more noble and generous person than Abner did send unto our King and with better successe then he 2 Sam. 3.12 saying Whose is the Land my hand shall be with thee to bring about all Israel to thee God who doth in the Armies of the heaven and earth what pleaseth him Dan. 4.35 He hath turned all the power of Armies by sea and land for him 2. How suddenly was this done Isa 66.8 Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a Nation be born at once in so short a space that the Lord hath created a new face of affairs and made the hearts of three Nations to bow to their King at one time This is the Lords doing and may be marvellous in our eyes 3. How sweetly is this done sine sudore sine sanguine without sweat or toyl without bloud-shed No man lost his goods no man lost his life in this late revolution Every one were not long since prognosticating sad things if ever we got a setled Government again we can look for it no otherwise than through a sea of bloud But Behold God hath disappointed all these fears and the hopes also of the enemies of our peace who fret and rage and gnash their teeth seeing their expectation frustrated 4. How wonderfully Deut. 4.32 we may apply that passage Ask now of the dayes that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from the one side of heaven to the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it No history hath the parallel of it a King thrust away with the hight of contempt the same King returned in the highest glory honour respect and observance Who. A Fourth Circumstance in this mercie and a main one is Who For a King is restored to us It is true that I read in Eusebius his Eccles Hist That it was laid to a Ministers charge as a challenge Ausus est Imperatorem in ore beatum dicere a small praise before a Kings face may be interpreted adulation but a great praise behind his back may be no more than a just debt This one thing I am sure of from the Word of God That next to the honour of Christ his Gospel and his Grace nothing is more a Ministers duty than to advance the honour and due esteem of lawfull Authority in peoples hearts For next to Fear God is Honour the King And the Apostle Paul presseth upon Titus and all Ministers as a speciall part of their work Tit. 3.1 Put people in minde to be Subject unto Principalities and Powers He himself presseth it to purpose Rom. 13.1 Let every soul be Subject c. The Apostle Peter runs in the same straine 1 Pet. 2.13 And truly a Minister cannot do a worse turn in his station than to diminish the due credit of the lawfull Magistrate by any speech in publick before the people The Apostle Jude v. 8. stands not to call them filthy dreamers who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities But now what I have to say of the Kings Person shall be summed up in these six 1. We have cause to rejoyce that the righteous Heir of the Kingdom is restored to his Throne This is the great joynt that God hath put in for the healing of those broken Nations usually you see in Pieces of work that are joyned by Mortises and Tenons when the principal tenon is made fast all the rest of the parts clap together easily David experienced it to be so Psal 75.3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved but I uphold the pillars of it all was out of joynt till he who had Gods right and mans to Govern came to the Throne then proved he a healer to their broken and disjoynted parts 2. There is cause of joy in this that he is a King of so good expectation Hiram King of Tyrus was a prudent man and a godly prosolyte and when he saw Solomon's Letters wherein he discovered his prudence and affection to the house of God though Solomon had not as yet given many other proofs of his wife Government he congratulats the happiness of the land saying because God loved Israel therefore hath be made Solomon King 2 Chron. 2.11 And what may we say of the Gracious Letters and Messages our King did send before himself came to his people They found themselves bound at London to keep a Solemn Thanksgiving even for these Gracious Letters and Messages 3. Let me adde a King of so generall approbation that hath the good testimony of all that know him for Prudence Clemency Moderation Sobriety and Piety Great is his renown among the Reformed abroad for his constancie in the Protestant Faith in the midst of many assaults and tentations 4. A King tryed by many afflictions he cometh out of the furnace of tryall It was all the better for Israel that David came by the cross to the Crown all the better for England that Queen Elizabeth came out of a Prison to reign Though we ought to be grieved for his long and sad afflictions Yet may we not hope that it shall come to passe as Joseph spoke to his brethren Gen. 50.20 You intended it for evil but God hath turned it into good for the saving of much people alive Though men intended his down-bearing for evill Yet we may hope God will turn it into good unto these Nations that he may be fitter to Govern these Nations being so long in the school of hard affliction 5. A King glorious by many deliverances Psal 18.50 Great deliverances giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his anointed even to David As many Countries as he hath been in with as many great deliverances hath God compassed him from dangers both spirituall and
God save the King OR The loyal and joyfull Acclamation of Subjects to their King As it was opened in a SERMON preached in one of the Congregations of the City of Edinburgh upon the day of Solemn Thanksgiving for the King's Majesty his happy Return and Restauration to his Dominions Kept June 19. 1660. At the Appointment of the Presbyterie of Edinburgh By R. L. One of the Ministers of the City 1 Chron. 29.20 And all the Congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers and bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord and the King Solennis haec acclamatio profectò non adulantis est sed optimum suo Regi statum precantis ac fideli servo digna oratio quando Principes Apostoli Christianos homines ad id sedulò hortantur ut etiam alienis à Religione rectâ— Magistratibus optima quaeque divinitùs precentur Job Wolphius in Nehem. cap. 2. v. 13. Multi futiliter ita salutant Reges suos Sed minimè dubium est quin Daniel ex animo optaverit Regi longam vitam faelicem Johan Calvin in Dan. 6.24 EDINBVRGH Printed by Christopher Higgins in Harts Close over against the Trone-Church 1660. 2 King 11. v. 12. And they clapt their hands and said God save the King THere are three expressions of a great joy in Scripture 1. The joy of a woman after her travel her sore pangs and bitter showers Joh. 16.21 our Saviour saith That she remembreth no more her anguish for joy that a man is born into the world 2. The joy of the harvest that the husbandman hath after his labours Psal 126.6 He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtlesse come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him 3. The joy of them that divide the spoil Isa 9.3 They joy before thee as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil All three arise from a sad ground and this maketh their joy the sweeter their bypast sorrows pangs and labours do feed and encrease their present joyes their present joyes do compense and soften their bygone sorrows The joy of this day is neither the joy of a woman after travel nor the joy of the harvest nor the joy of them that divide the spoil Yet is it a joy upon this account rendred most sweet unto us that it cometh after many sore pangs labour and toil bloud and wounds and sad captivity to poor Scotland Had we enjoyed our King in peace when he was first proclaimed and crowned King amongst us it would have been matter of great joy to us But to have him now returned to reign over us after many a bloudy battel and long and sore bondage to us ten years sad exile to him it doth exceedingly heighten our joy The wisdom of God's providence maketh both his and our losse and suffering an advantage in the end I have read to you for the solemnity of this day a passage that setteth forth the expressions of the joy of God's people in Judah upon the restoring of their rightfull Soveraign and lawfull Authority to them The history you have in the preceeding part of the Chapter After that Abaziah King of Judah was cruelly murdered by the Captain of the host Jehu Athaliah his mother usurped the Kingdom slew all the Kings seed and reigned tyrannically over Judah the space of six years Yet Jehosheba the Kings sister the wife of Jehojada the High Priest having hid Joash the Prince and saved him from usurping Athaliah her cruelty Jehojada in a convenient time bringeth forth the Kings Son crowneth him and investeth him in the Government Upon which all the people Clapt their hands and said God save the King in token of their joy and approbation The first sign and expression of their joy is Clapping of hands This though sometimes we find it used as an expression of grief yet most frequently it is an expression of joy Psal 47.1 and it is an expression of vehement and greatest joy The second sign is an Acclamation the ordinary salutation people gave to their Kings In the Original it is Let the King live Vive le Roy well translated to us according to the customary word of our Nation God save the King The life of a King is more precious and of more value than of many others 2 Sam. 18.3 the people said to David Thou art worth ten thousand of us Many mens lives depend upon his and the safety of thousands upon his safety Therefore this was wont to be a common Salutation used towards Princes good Nehemiah spoke it to Artaxerxes Nehem. 2.3 and holy Dantel Dan. 6.21 to Darius when he came to visite him in the Lions den the Prophet so soon as he heard him said O King live for ever And there is more in it than many that commonly have it in their mouthes do consider of for 1. Hereby they signified their cordial respect to the King 2. Their serious apprehension of their own happinesse as being bound up in the Kings safety 3. Their prayer and heart-wishes to God for the Kings life happinesse and welfare I have the rather pitched upon it for the ground of our Doctrine that whilst this word is in our mouths at such a solemn occasion we may be advertised how to use it religiously and to purpose and whilst this word rings amongst us we may minde what is imported thereby The first Doctrine then I shall present you with from the words they clapt their hands for joy is That when God is so favourable to a people as to establish lawfull Authority their rightfull King over them it is their duty to rejoyce and be glad 1 Kings 1.4 at the inauguration of Solomon they blew the Trumpets and said God save King Solomon and all the people piped with pipes and rejoyced with great joy so that the earth rent with the sound of them And when Solomon was anointed a second time 1 Chron. â—9 22 all the people did eat and drink before the Lord with great gladness The Scripture speaks of such a joy with approbation and allowance because indeed there is good reason for it Lawfull Government setled among a people being both a singular blessing of God in it self and the bond of all other blessings a people enjoy it being like the girdle that maketh fast a mans armour and his garments about him the binding blessing that ensures to a people their Peace their Liberty their Lives their Religion and what else they enjoy as you shall hear In the want of it all things are loose as you may read Isa 3.2 5. Where the Lord threatneth 1. to take away the stay and staff of their natural life Then he addeth as no leste judgment that he will break the stay and staff of their civil life by taking away the Judge the Prudent the Ancient and what followes in the fifth verse The people shall be oppressed every one by another the childe shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against
can drink to him And that you may know what particulars to minde in using these words on this solemn day I shall give you the descant of this short word of prayer in these few particulars 1. In the Original Hebrew as you have heard it is Let the King live Then 1. minde his natural life to pray God that it may be precious in the Lords sight Ezr. 6.10 Darius renewed Cyrus Decree in favour of the Jews with many additional benefits That they might offer sacrifices unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the King 2. Minde his civil life that he may live in Honour Freedom and Safety that is a main thing in the King's life he is no living King without his Honour Pray for that which God gave to David Psal 21.5 That Honour and Majesty may be laid upon him It is a great mercy from God to Kings when he maintains their esteem in the hearts of their people much of God is seen in this 3. Minde his spiritual life that he may live a most Christian King a sure partaker of the Faith whereof he is a defender David begins the Psalm of prayer for the King to wit Psal 72. with this Give the King thy judgments O God and thy righteousness all that is good all grace is called by the name of righteousness and Gods Laws and Judgments are the Rules of all Righteousnesse And it is a most excellent word to remember at this time when the King hath to do with men of several judgments and wayes and some will be ready to say this is my counsel and judgment and this is mine Now Lord give Thy judgments to the King Thy counsels hold forth these clearly to him 4. Minde his eternal life Good Kings have a two-fold eternall life 1. An eternal life in this world in the long duration of their race and progeny Let us minde this to pray God that we may never want one of the Line to sway the Scepter as long as the world standeth Psal 89.36 37. That his seed may endure for ever and his throne may be as the Sun before God and be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven 2. There is a life eternal properly so called Remember this also that our King may be an heir of eternal life in heaven after he hath lived many happy dayes here All Christian Kings since the dayes of Constantine have born a Cross upon the top of their Crowns there is no Poperie in it But to teach them that they must bear the cross of Christ as well as other Christians And if they do so and exalt the cross of Christ above their Crown God will give them a Crown of glory above their cross according to Gods promise James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life Our King hath born the cross before the Crown and when he hath got the crown there is no crown without a heavie cross But let our Prayer to God for him be That he may so bear the earthly Crown and the crosses of it that he may assuredly possesse the Crown of life Will you a little take the words as we have them translated and as we use them We say God save the King and there is a twofold Saving we should minde 1. One positively when God blesseth prospereth guideth governeth and endueth a King with graces and gifts needfull for his place this is the Lord's Salvation wherein the Kings glory is great Psal 21.5 Let it be our prayer to God then as it is Psal 80.17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand that God may make him strong for himself giving to him wisdom courage and zeal to the honour and glory of God justice temperance and every other Royall endument 2. Another Saving privativly to wit when God delivereth from all evills and dangers both bodily and spiritual Minde this also Pray God save the King from conspiracies and treasons from all enemies and false friends David himself a King hath a terrible prayer against the Kings enemies Psal 21.9 10. Make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger That their fruit may be destroyea from the earth and their seed from the children of men Abigail a Subject she hath a notable prayer against the enemies of David 1 Sam. 25.29 Let the soul of my Lord be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord his God and the souls of thine enemies slung out as out of the midle of a sling But pray that he may be delivered from spiritual evils and dangers much more God save the King from all wickednesse Prov. 16.4 It is abomination to Kings to commit wickednesse above all others for the Throne is established by righteousnesse and God save him from evill counsellers Take away the wicked from the King and his throne shall be established and from lyars and flatterers that are a very Pest in the Courts of Kings Prov. 29.12 If a Ruler hearken to lies all his servants are wicked Pray God to save him from wronging the precious Interests of Christs Kingdom But that be may employ all the interests of his Kingdom in subordination to Christ using for the Lord all the honour and authority he hath received from the Lord. And now for conclusion of all I shall say but this word That same God who hath saved our King hithertils even from the womb who saved him when he was hid in the Oak That gracious God who put his vail about him in his disguise That God who helped him when his nearest relations proved but unkind to him He who provided for him in his wants comforted him in his straits strengthened him in his temptations in France Holland Flanders Germany and Spain Even that gracious God who hath seen and numbred all his Troubles and delivered him continue his Salvation with him for evermore Amen FINIS