Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A44484
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A sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields to the natives of that parish upon the 29th of May, 1676 being the anniversary of His Majesties birth and happy return to his kingdoms : as also the day appointed for their yearly meeting and feasting together / by John Horden.
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Horden, John, 17th cent.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing H2788; ESTC R28693
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12,280
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32
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to replant it in its proper place where we hope through his blessing it hath taken such root that no storms nor tempests shall ever again be able to unfix it but underneath its branches for many many years we may yet sit and sing how much soever the sons of discord are offended at the harmony And these indeed are the great and essential happinesses of this day that have imprinted Gods especial character upon it that justly do denominate it the day which the Lord hath made and consequently the day on which we may rejoyce To which it is not nor let it seem to any so small and inconsiderable a mercy as to be thought unworthy to be added that this day doth annually renew this solemn and great convention of persons so cordial and unanimous who marching all under the same colours shew that they are brethren who dwell together in unity who are of one mind and have the same designs and making choice of these do farther evidence that their designs are good that they do meet and will meet in honour of him whose are the Colours which they were and that as chearfully as now they do sit down to eat and drink so when his Service shall require they will as heartily rise up to play I do not mean as did the bruitish Israelites Exod. vi 32. but as the young men did at the request of Abner unto Joab 2 Sam. ii 14. even to catch them by the heads and thrust their Swords into the sides of all that dare rebelliously lift up their hands against our Lord the King Only to see the first of these must unto every eye be good and pleasant as was Aaron's oyntment or the dew of Hermon-hill but to understand the latter cannot but infinitely rejoyce every good and loyal heart Nor is this blessing of the Day less glorious in its Author or effects it being the Lord who maketh men to be of one mind who causeth us to be at peace and unity among our selves by making up our breaches and healing our divisions by composing our differences and quieting our strifes works great as it is to still the raging of the Sea and turn the storm into a calm And as it is excellent in its author so is it lovely in its effects it being to this love and friendship this concord and unanimity of which this present meeting is an happy instrument and representation that we owe very great and many advantages but to make us set that due value and price upon it which we ought I shall need to instance only in that one which deservedly hath the greatest share in the gladness and solemnity of this day which the Text that I have now read unto you reckons up as the immediate consequent of Judah's unity and agreement and that is the recalling and restauration of their King an effect so happy and desirable that there needs no other to recommend it to our love and engage us in its preservation And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah even as the heart of one man so that they sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants So the King returned and came to Jordan and Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the King to conduct the King over Jordan In which words you may be pleased to take notice of these four things considerable First The then state and condition of the men of Judah And he bowed the heart of the men of Judah even as the heart of one man Secondly What they did in this condition They sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants Thirdly We have the Kings condescension to their embassy and request The King returned and came to Jordan And fourthly We have those returns of gratitude and respect which Judah made unto this kind condescension of their King Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the King and to conduct the King over Jordan I begin with the first in which we have again more particularly observable the state it self the persons in it and the person who brought them to it First The state it self a state of amity and friendship unity and agreement all the hearts of the men of Judah stood bent the same way they had all the same inclinations and desires not any the least appearance of any variance or repugnancy but they all together moved the same way the thoughts of their hearts as we may guess by the agreement of the tongues that spake from them were in all the same and there was in every one a like and equal readiness to put them in execution so that those many bodies seemed as they ought to be but so many members of the same body which one soul did animate and influence with ease So we find the phrase often used in Holy Writ with the import of an extraordinary agreement and unanimous consent Thus when the people so universally conspir'd to avenge the indignity offered by the men of Gibeah to the Levites concubine it is said that all the people arose as one man Judges viii 20. And again when they so unanimously made their address to Ezra that he would bring forth and read the Book of the Law that all the people gathered themselves together as one man This is that which the policy of Heathens did recommend and the Religion of Christians hath since more powerfully enjoyned So St. Paul in 1 Cor. i. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no division among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and the same judgment Nay the Devil himself who by dividing chiefly doth maintain his Empire upon earth preserveth and supports his Kingdom by unity at home whilst Devil with Devil is in league and all are ready as one Belzebub their Prince to go about seeking whom they may devour I could heartily wish that a greater plenty of Christian patterns did wholly supersede the necessity of proposing Hell as an example unto imitation but alas so is every Church rent by Schism so is every State torn by Division that I know not where on earth to find a parallel union The Text indeed gives us the instance of a tribe so closely cemented and joyned together that all the men of it are but as one and here within these walls I see a smaller body but I hope united by the firmest ties of true affection O may it still grow on every year still add unto our numbers and increase our love till Neighbours grow enamour'd of the fair Example every Parish wish that she had sons agreeing and affectionate as you and the whole Nation study to become so So much for the first particular the state or condition they who were in it were the men of Judah a Tribe of which though there are many things I might remark yet I shall at
A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields To the NATIVES of that Parish Upon the 29 th of May 1676. BEING THE ANNIVERSARY OF His Majesties Birth and happy Return to His Kingdoms AS ALSO The Day appointed for their Yearly Meeting and Feasting together By JOHN HORDEN Rector of St. Michael Queen-hithe London LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1676. Imprimatur G. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã sacris domesticis Jun. 6. 1676. TO Mr. John Clayton Mr. Charles Palmer Mr. Charles Titford Mr. John Heames Mr. Thomas Nicholas Mr. John Steel Stewards for the Day Gentlemen WHAT it was that should make you so earnest for the Printing of a Discourse which was only designed for that particular Audience unto which it was preached I cannot possibly imagine unless it were thereby to make your Meeting more publickly known in hopes that your good Example might prevail upon others and stir up a forgetful People to celebrate the Day with that Solemnity which is due unto it If so I must confess your Design is necessary and good and I am content thus at the expence of my own Reputation to become serviceable unto it though I could wish you had made choice of some better Pen for that purpose and laid your commands on such a person as was able to have spread abroad your Fame without the imminution of his own However you see I have obeyed and which is all I do pretend to shew'd in that how much you have at your command Gentlemen Your most affectionate Countryman and very faithful Servant John Horden II. SAM xix 14 15. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah even as the heart of one man so that they sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants So the King returned and came to Jordan and Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the King to conduct the King over Jordan THAT on those days which as the Psalmist speaks Psal cxviii 24. the Lord hath made we may rejoyce and be glad that at such times as God hath made more especially remarkable by the then vouchsafement of great and signal favours we ought to manifest our joyous acceptance to evidence our grateful resentments of them by the most full and demonstrative expressions there are none I think who will deny but such as are professed enemies to Gratitude avowedly against all returns unto the mercies of their God and do for being so deserve to have their choice become their punishment as they delighted not in joy so to have it far from them as they have sullenly chosen a sinful and unseasonable melancholy here so to have their future portion where there is weeping and wailing for evermore If then the present day be such if it appear that the Lord hath been pleased to signalize it by Kindnesses of such note Mercies of such a rank and quality as the revolution of many years hath seldom been crowned with the solemnity of this present Meeting is sufficiently justified and Reason will warrant so righteous an indulgence of our Joy And though to entitle any day unto so great an honour as is that of being the day which the Lord hath more particularly made it be enough that on it we have received any single instance of his extraordinary Goodness yet here to ascertain the claim of this beyond the questioning of the most scrupulous and doubtful for greater sureness the thing is doubled and a succession of Mercies hath confirm'd this Glory to the Day For first It is the Birth-day of our King a Name which methinks it self affects and cannot be mentioned without emotion The morn which did first give light to him who is the breath of our nostrils and the light of our eyes the day which brought forth an universal blessing to the Land but did confer particular honours on this place such as should reach unto its after off-spring such as doth give to us the Natives of this Parish such a more especial relation to our King as doth I 'm sure ennoble us and will I hope for ever endear him make him precious as our eyes and more desirable than life unto us And certainly if we think fit to observe the time of our own Nativities and gladly keep the day on which we wept out the first beginnings of life as an omen of those future miseries unto which then we were born with much greater reason we ought to celebrate the Birth-day of our King to the prudence of whose Government under God we owe the correction of our evil fate to whose care we are indebted that under it we may live peaceable and quiet lives to whose Authority it must thankfully be referr'd that we are restrained from that violence and evil whereby we are naturally prone to ruinate our own and our Neighbours felicity to make our selves and others miserable And upon this very account have all good Subjects in all ages solemnized the Birth-day of their King with far greater Religion than they have done their own thought themselves more obliged then to enlarge their Praises and Thanksgivings unto God Nor was it ever otherwise till over this latter Age Impiety and Rebellion together did prevail when men began to lay aside all Respect both to the Lord and his Anointed and thought it equally superstition to celebrate the Nativity of their Saviour and Birth of their King But secondly As it is the day of his Birth so is it also the day of his Restauration the day whereon he was Restor'd a second time to breath that Native Air unto which he had been so long a stranger and bless our eyes which too long had wanted their dear delight And here we cannot make enquiry into this other happiness of the day without bringing our faults to mind we cannot reflect upon our present joy without calling also to our remembrance a foregoing sorrow the darkness of that long and gloomy night which clouded the former Glories of this Day and rob'd us of all the Joy that his Nativity had given us He was indeed born with us but like the greater prodigies of goodness which the Heavens for a shew do only drop on Earth and soon again resume unto themselves he quickly disappear'd so much still the more for our guilt and shame that the hand which gave him took him not away that the Heavens which shew'd him to us did not him withdraw but when God who gave it was willing still to have continued the favour to us we wilfully forsook our own mercies would be wicked that we might be unhappy and did what we could to evacuate the blessing of his Birth That Royal Oak which with us Gods own right hand had planted we forcibly transplanted into a strange Land suffered it there to grow up in an unnatural Soil and might for ever have wanted the defence and comforts of its shade but that it pleased Almighty God this day again