Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A56369
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A sermon preached at Christ-Church, Dublin, before both Houses of Parliament, May the 29th, 1661 being the anniversary of His Majesty King Charles the Second, his most memorable and happy restauration / by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Lord Bishop of Elphin.
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Parker, John, d. 1681.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing P434; ESTC R11730
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18,948
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52
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the Ring that 's required of all as here done by all vvhich is the next particular the generality of the operation and effect All the men of Judah and he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah All the men of Judah Iudah of all the Tribes vvas the last that paid the tender of their duty and obedience but being vvrought upon by those kinde messages and endearing svveetnelfes of the Ring their conversion becomes more full more universall than the rest of the Tribes 't is of all the men of Iudah Nullus mansit qui non inclinaretur not one dissenting Brother among them Sheba the Son of Bichri may blovv a trumpet of sedition and being angry at the departure of the Scepter from the house of Saul and Tribe of Benjamin may to gratify his ovvn spleen engage the People in a nevv Rebellion though it cost him his head but the men of Iudah cleave unto their King 2. Sam. 20.2 So that me thinks this Tribe is like that Son in the Parable Mat. 21.28 vvho being commanded by his Father to go and work in the Vineyard said he would not but afterwards repented and went Those whom the spirit of God and the prudence and mildeness of reprovers have wrought to a true sight of their sins commonly prove most zealous and constant in the exercise of the contrary graces a converted siner is usually most punctual and intense in the acts of devotion and a reclaimed Subject in the acts of loyalty and obedience and good reason for such must make amends as I may say for their former deviations and justifie to the world the sincerity of their conversion by future acts of severe obedience to those Laws to which they had been formerly rebellious See what restitution is proffer'd by Zacheus Luke 19.8 Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him four fold What love manifested by Mary Magdalen Mark 16.1 she who had sinned by unlawful embraces you may find kissing the feet of our Saviour washing them with her tears Luke 23.56 and wiping them with the hairs of her head her love is stronger than death and follows Christ to the grave with prepared spices and oyntments John 20.1 her love prevents the day and is more early than it at the Sepulchre Oh let us not then despise those that have sinned but if they repent forgive them God does so and the King does so neither let us unworthily cast any man's former sin in his teeth or revile him for doing ill heretofore when as he does well now but rather by all acts of kindeness and sweetness encourage his present obedience without any unhandsome reflections upon his former disloyalty To this purpose let us lay aside all markes and names of difference and distinction this his sacred Majesty was pleased as well to desire as command in his gracious Declaration Dated from Breda Aprill 14. 1660. Alas we have enemies enough both to our Religion interest at home and abroad let us not then by weakening our selves give the enemy an advantage against us which certainly we shall doe if we splitt again into factions and revive any thing of our old animosities but let us all endeavour to walk by one and the same Rule to minde the same things the glory of God the peace and settlement of the Church the honour of his Majesty the interest of the true Protestant Religion and the right of every honest and innocent person in the Land and let us doe this not in word and in tongue onely but in deed and in truth in this let us cry One and All be as unanimous in this as Iudah for David's return let our hearts be as the heart of one man which is the next particular the consent unity and harmony which appears in this generality of operation and effect quasi viri unius as the heart of one man When the spirit of God descended upon the Multitude of believers Acts 4.32 't is said they vvere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one heart and of one soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some Copies adde and there was no difference among them the holy spirit of unity knit their hearts in the unity of faith and affections and vvhen the pacifick message of the King as the spirit of an earthly and delegated Deity was sent to his rebellious Subjects the sweet influence thereof fell upon their hearts not onely as the small rain upon the tender hearb but as the showers upon the grass Deut. 32.2 and not onely softned the hard and reduced the obstinate but allso joyned the heterogeneall and united disunited hearts in the one point of love and obedience and that tanquam viri unius as the heart of one man Whil'st the People continued in their Rebellion they could not but suffer under many a sharp throw and pang of conscience which oftentimes like that hand writing upon the wall before Belshazzar Dan. 5.5 changed their very countenances and loosened their joynts their midnight-thoughts startling their black souls with the frightfull remembrance of their guilt and the operation of their sin like Hector unto Aeneas In somnis ecce ante oculos moestissimus Hector visus adesse mihi left such a damp and horror upon their spirits as was equal to that of those visions of the night recorded Iob. 4.13.14 Stung with these sharp apprehensions both of sin and punishment they were many times ready to have cryed out with that Jaylor Acts 16.30 VVhat must we doe to be saved but those better motions were suddainly expell'd in some by desperate thoughts like those of Cain that their sin was greater than could be forgiven in others by pleasing reflections upon their nevv purchased vvealth they had bought much Land no matter though it vvere vvith the price of blood and therefore they cannot they vvill not come but vvhen God interposes his povver and brings home the Ring 's gracious message and proffer of peace unto their hearts they melt like ice before the Noon-day Sun and smoothly glide into the ancient Channell of their vvonted Loyalty and obedience And as the King invited them to the performance of their dutie so they invite him to the repossession of his Royall Crovvn and Dignity they sent this word unto the King which is the next thing considerable the happy consequent of this bovving of their hearts vvhich is the calling of the King home to the exercise of his Regall povver and authority vvhich is the very summe of this Text and the great business of this day return thou The People vvearyed vvith oppression and confusion vvhich are the undoubted consequents of Rebellion and convinced of their sin by their happy unhappy success and the no common death of the Usurper call back their King they sent this word unto the King return thou And sure I am this was an happy
primarily instrumentall to give him title The reason of this backwardness in the Tribe of Iudah is variously conjectured some think it was because Absolom's men had still a guard in the Fort of Zion and therefore they durst not call the King back least by an unseasonable discovery of their affections they might incense the rebellious partie and so provoking their enemies rage might hasten their own ruine others apprehend the cause of this backwardness to be onely the consciousness of their own guilt and fear of the King 's future revenge but for this you may see David passing an Act of Oblivion in his first overture of Peace not calling them Rebells or using any reproachful or reviling speeches but mildely my brethren my bones and my flesh And truly I am apt to believe that the consciousness of their own guilt was the greatest obstacle they thought they had sinned beyond the King's mercy and so durst not trust him and indeed when men once apprehend themselves past pardon they grow desperate and labour to maintain and justify their former wickedness by continued acts of violence Iudah of all the Tribes had the nearest relation to the King and the Inhabitants of Hierusalem the greatest benefit by his presence and personal abode among them and therefore to be the first countenancers of the Rebellion must needs be an aggravation of their sin above that of others but as there is no sin so great but God's mercy can forgive so there is no offence so eminent but the clemency of a good Prince can pass by which is plainly evidenced in David for Iudah's offence had aggravation from their nearness of relation to the King from their ingratitude for great benefits received by the King but none of these are mentioned onely proposalls of peace and love which makes that Tribe overlook all difficulties and so mollifies their obdurate hearts that they are presently melted into an happy complyance with their Prince testifyed by the unanimous inclination of all their hearts unto him which is the next particular the operation or effect he bowed VVhere the word of a King is there is power says the Preacher Eccl. 8.4 and surely 't is from that Majesty that God has stamped upon them as the largest and livelyest images and representations of himself that their words are so operative so powerful David vvhen he was but in election to be King and before the Crown of Iudah or Israel had kissed his sacred temples is yet said to have stayed his Servants with his words when they would have cutt off Saul in the Cave 1. Sam. 24.7 Confregit viros so the vulgar Latine renders the word he brake them with his words and the word in the originall signifies as much to break or to divide and if his words were so povverful vvhen onely the private unction had marked him out to be God's much more povverful surely must they be vvhen he vvas knovvn by all Israel to be their King and actually instated in the Throne of Sovereignty to vvhich that Royal Character and sacred signature had formerly given him title The Latine translations generally read inclinavit he inclined the heart of all the men of Iudah and that inclination implyes a bend of the mind or heart the people began to lean to their King and their bovvels to yearne upon the sufferings of their Prince and indeed vvhere God's povver goes along there can be no resistance there vvas an ero in ore tuo to David here as formerly to Moses Exod. 4.12 and so the voice of the King is the voice of God and then vvell may it bovv and incline and subdue all before it for the voice of the Lord is powerful saith the Psalmist Psalm 29.4 or mighty in operation and so is the voice of the King too for whatsoever he commandeth them they do said he vvho vvrote the King vvas strongest 1. Ezdr. 4.3 vvhich is true here for the King does no sooner intimate his desire but they yield a ready and vvilling obedience verbum Regis ornatum est potestate and indeed the povver vvas such that it vvas not to be resisted vvhich is plain in the event for they sent this word unto the King return thou c and it vvill not be unvvorthy of our observation as vve pass along if vve take notice of the part here specified upon which this povver had it's principal operation effect the Text tells us 't is the heart he bowed the heart of all the men of Iudah Kings may govern the bodies of their Subjects and by their proper power subdue them nevertheless their hearts may be as rebellious as obstinate as ever but David's is a more Noble victory than so the Captives he takes are not the bodies but the hearts of his People Tertullian said most true inde potestas unde spiritus for such operations as these flow from no less a fountain than that of the Deity and so that of S. Paul's Rom. 13. is true in this sense likewise the powers that be are ordained of God and 't is plain this was of God when God-like it bowed and inclined the heart so that David's Throne now findes a surer foundation than ever being in some similitude and proportion like that of David's Lord and God's own Christ seated in the hearts of his people Many can bestow upon their Prince the outward formalities of the cap and the knee the voice and the tongue bow before him or say God save the King but all this while there is a nolumus hune regnare in their hearts they would not have the King Reigne over them perhaps worse they would had they power destroy him whereas their Loyalty should be invvard as vvell as outvvard true and fincere in the heart and affections as vvell as in the tongue and outvvard actions For as we should give our hearts first unto God in entire love and obedience so next unto the King the first is express'd the second often implyed my son give me thine heart Prov. 23.26 De Civitate Dei Liber 15. Cap. 7. This is in vvhich S. * Augustine observes vvas vvanting in Cain's Sacrifice dans Deo aliquid suum sibi au tem seipsum giving to God somewhat that was his but giveing his heart himself unto himself so doe too many give something of theirs unto God something perhaps unto the Ring but give their hearts to themselves to their lusts and rebellious corruptions nothing of it either to God or the Ring whereas I say they should give their hearts to God first and next unto the King mistake not the expression I mean in being really within vvhat they are seemingly vvithout curse not the King no not in thy thought sayes the Preacher Eccl. â—0 20 and the vvord in the originall signifies any disrespect or disesteem and vvhere the vice is forbidden the contrary virtue is commanded all blessing respect esteem love loyalty in our thoughts in our hearts unto