Duke of York and the rest of that Royal Family And may there never want a Man of that Race to sway the Scepter of these Kingdoms so long as the Sun and the Moon endureth Pray we for the Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments for the most Reverend the Archbishops the Right Reverend the Bishops and other inferior Priests and Deacons For the Lords of His Majesties most Honorable Privy Council for the whole Nobility for the Judges and Magistracy that All and every of these in their several places and callings may serve truly and painfully to the honor and glory of God the edifying and well governing of his people committed to their charge the setling and securing the interest of his Church and the establishing of Peace with Truth and Righteousness in these Kingdoms remembring the severe accompt which they must all one day make Pray we for all Schools of Religion and good Learning for the two famous Vniversities of this Land Cambridge and Oxford For all the Commons of these Realms that they may live in the true Faith and Fear of God in humble and loyal Obedience to His Majesty and in Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Finally Bless and Praise we God for all his Mercies and Blessings National and Personal Temporal and Spiritual for the happy Restoration of our Dread Soveraign to His Kingdoms and therein of the Kingdoms to themselves to their Religion Laws Liberties Proprieties again For all those that have departed this life in Gods holy Faith and Fear beseeching God to give us grace so to direct our life after their good example that we together with them may be made partakers of his everlasting Kingdom For these and all needful Mercies and Blessings pray and praise we God in the Name and Words of his dear Son our alone Saviour and Intercessor saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. The first Prospect of the Words is as they relate immediately to David and his advancement to the Kingdom wherein not one Iota or title of them failed And 1 For the Person exalting David to the Kingdom it was God and God with his right hand Psa lxxviii 71. He took him from following the Ews great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance Not the diffusive not the collective Body of the people could pretend an interest to whom God left nothing but to admit and accept him â— Sam. i. 10. Lest any Man of Israel should put in for a share he brought Sauls Crown and Bracelet the Ensigns of his Majesty to him by the hand of an Amalekite And as he was Gods King not theirs so of Gods making not his own He might once and again have made way for himself by dispatching Saul out of it and necessity and providence the late great pleas and pretences amongst us might seem to lead him to it as it were by the hand Yet David would neither do it himself nor suffer those whose fingers itched to be doing The Kingdom of Heaven may suffer violence from him but this earthly one never shall May Saul live long and enjoy it to himself he will be content with the reversion Then 2 For the Exaltation it self God by these steps carried him up to the height of of it First he ordained and appointed him to it when there was no intention no imagination of him otherwise Psa lxxxix 19. till God spake of it in vision to his Prophet Having thus appointed Psa lxxxix 20. God anointed him in token of it anointed him with his own holy Oyl and that far above his fellows When he had thus prevented him with the Blessings of Goodness Psal xxi 3. he at length put a Crown of pure Gold upon his head And he that had been hunted as a Partridge upon the Mountains is in the end set and settled upon Gods holy Hill of Sion Set I say and setled also as fast as Gods own hand and arm could settle him Psa lxxxix 21. and this not in his person onely but in his posterity too God as if he would exalt exaltation it self speaketh of his House for a great while to come His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the Sun before me Psal lxxxix 36. Thus also 3 For the state of Exaltation it was that of a King A King of a rich and populous Kingdom in which above Thirty Kings were accompted at the first conquest of it Josh xii and yet this as if too little eeked out with other Nations 2 Sam. lviii 11. whom the Lord made tributary to him A King with all his Royal Complements A Throne set up over Israel and Judah 2 Sam. iii. 10. from Dan to Beersheba Psal cxxxii 18. A Crown a flourishing Crown yea 2 Sam. xii 30. Crown upon Crown that of Ammon which weighed a Talent of Gold being added to that of Israel A Sword for suppressing Rebels at home Psal xviii 39. and subduing enemies abroad even all those that rose up against him Gen. xlix 10. A Scepter which should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came In short whatever might contribute to glory or safety make him venerable at home and terrible abroad met together in him as one whom God had made his First born Psal lxxxix 27. high above the Kings of the Earth That nothing might be wanting now followeth 4 The Seat of his Kingdom Sion the Mountain of Gods Holiness or Gods holy Hill of Sion And here we have two Suns shining in one Firmament The same sphere for God and the King In that very place Psal cxxxii 13 17. which God had chosen as an habitation for himself even there he maketh the Horn of David to bud Beds and Thrones we say admit no rivals yet in Mount Sion Psal cxxii 5. where God had pitched his own Throne upon Earth there are set Thrones of Judgment the Thrones of the House of David Psal cxxxv 2. and where God keeps his Courts Psal cxxxii 14. the King keeps his also This is my rest for ever here will I dwell saith God for I have desired it Howbeit he will not dwell alone but will have his King dwell there too as if he could not rest without him And though God of old had devoted this Hill for himself to set his Name there yet he reserveth the conquest of it for David that he and his King might take possession together and become as it were Joynt-tenants to it And now they are in peaceable possession of the Seat we will leave them there and go on to the last considerable 5 The irresistible Power of God in all this who notwithstanding all the resistances that were made and rubs that were laid in the way yet setteth his King upon his holy Hill of Sion To behold David one while cooped up in such a Cave another while lurking in such a Wood anon
settled amongst men in and from the beginning What was Adam in the designs of his Creation but an Universal Monarch Polarchy came in with sin and the curse And yet it got not footing immediately neither Cic. lib. 3. de Logibu Cicero reckoneth it Inter certiora notiora amongst the most certain and known truths that Omnes antiquae gentes regibus quondam paruerunt All the Nations of old were subject to Kings and the rest were but encroachments and such as most Nations cast in again finding one Tyrant take Kings at the worst better then a great many Moses the first that God set over his own people was King in Jesurun Deut. xxxiii 5 And when they had a long time experienced the miseries and mischiefs of having no King in Israel God for the remedy and redress of them setteth his King up and setleth a successive Royalty amongst them And having settled this which was of prime intendment changeth no more but reckoneth it as the highest pitch of honor and happiness which they could attain that they had prospered into a Kingdom Ezek. xvi 13. I do not absolutely condemn other Forms of Government but I prefer the first Model That is the Head of Gold these the dwindlings of it into Feet part Iron part Clay These represent God as so many small Eidylia taken but to the shoulders onely that in full proportion One of the greatest Beauties and Glories of the Creation is Prov. xxx 31. A King against whom there is no rising up Prov. xxviii 2. For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof not for the honor and safety of it Prov. xxx 27. The Locusts have no King saith Solomon but the Bees have The very Trees in Jothams parable Judg. 9. will anoint them a King and chuse the Bramble rather then have none Briefly of whose setting up soever other Governors and Governments are God setteth his Kings up and those that of late have whet their Tongues and Pens against them have through their sides struck at God himself and impeached the Wisdom of his Institution Such is the State of Exaltation And now Fourthly The Seat fitteth all Christian Kings as well God upon a Moral account setteth each of them upon his holy Hill of Sion 1 They are set upon an Hill not upon the common level which speaketh their Sovereignty Rom. xiii 1. In S. Pauls Dialect they are the higher powers 1 Pet. ii 13. in S. Peters the highest King as Supream There was somewhat of signification in it that Saul was higher by the head then any of the people And in his politick capacity he was higher then them all together The people themselves say Erit super nos A King shall be over us 1 Sam. viii 19. And God setteth him accordingly Super populum suum over his people Israel 1 Sam. ix 16. This is the place which all good Christians have evermore set Kings in not subter but super not under or on eaven ground with them as in the Modern Heraldry of some amongst us but over and above them The first and best Christians recognized them as such Tanquam a Deo secundos Tertul. ad Scapulam solo Deo minores as Second to God and onely less then God himself Optat. lib. 3. and owned none above the Emperor but God alone that made and made him Emperor Vniversis Minor was not heard of in those days that the King though greater then every single person should be less then the collective body of the people But Tertul. Ubi supra Omnibus Major dum solo Deo Minor was the accompt then that he is greater then all whilest onely lesser then God Hereupon he is liable to no Tribunal but Gods because none else is above him The Hill God setteth his Kings upon is above Mars his Hill Serviunt utilitari non potestati They are servants in a sort for the good and benefit of their people not subject to their power The order which God hath set and settled in the World and the process would be infinite otherwise is this That if private men offend there is the Magistrate to punish them if Magistrates the Sovereign Prince if the Sovereign Prince there is a Tribunal in Heaven on Earth he is not accomptable to any who may say unto him What doest thou Eccles viii 4. A piece of Divinity so generally received and approved amongst the Jews that it passed into a Proverb Nulla creatura judicat Regem sed Benedictus No Creature judgeth or can judge the King but he that is over all God blessed for ever And that is the first step the Hill 〈◊〉 their Sovereignty But that is 〈…〉 2 Kings are set up 〈…〉 which speaks the Sacred 〈…〉 and Office This Hill is or at least ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from all violences or insolencies whatsoever It is bounded with not onely Ne perdas Destroy them not but Ne tangas Touch them not You may no more touch one of them then you might have touched Gods Ark or may touch the Apple of his Eye David stretched but forth his hand and that no further then the skirt of Sauls Garment 1 Sam. xxiv â— yet it went to his own heart This holy ground they stand upon renders vestigia sacra so was the stile of the ancient Councils and Fathers their very footsteps sacred and inviolable and it is one of Davids impeachments of his enemies That they slandered the footsteps â—o Gods Anointed Psal lxxxix 51. Nor is this inviolableness annexed to their sanctity but to their Sovereignty not to their Christianity but to their Crown Saul was set upon this holy Hill as well as David and the Heathen Cyrus as well as either of them Hereby the Person of Kings becometh sacred Ratione Imperii si non Religionis by vertue of their Empire though not of their Religion in respect of the dignity of their Place and Office though not the integrity of their Faith and Life Thus Saul as S. Austin saith Non habebat innocentiam tamen habebat sanctitatem Aug. Cant. Lit. Petil. lib. 2. c. 48. had not innocence yet he had holiness not of life but of unction This made David revere him when alive and revenge him when dead Optat. lib. 2. Timuit oleum servavit inimicum He feared the anointing of God upon him and therefore spared his blood-thirsty enemy And spared all such must be upon this very accompt To Solomons Cor Regis The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord I may add Caput Regis The Kings head I mean his Life his Crown and all the Royalties annexed to it is in the hand of the Lord too and none else can lay an hand upon him and be guiltless And that is the second step The holy Hill speaketh the Sacredness of their Person and Office once more 3 God setteth his Kings upon his
proud Rebellious Enemies had fortify'd themselves with the Wealth and Strength of three Kingdoms and had now begun to Sing soft Requiems as if the bitterness of death had been past when that Old Usurper with such mischievous Policy backed with Tyrannical Power had endeavoured to confirm the Kingdom to his posterity and such an Army of Criminal valours was engaged in their defence when all the People by a Cursed Engagement had been made to cry out 2 Sam. xx 2. We have no part in David neither have we inheritance in the son of Jess when many Attempts some hopeful and probable enough had miscarried already and the whole Nation in one great Gasp not long before seemed to have given up the Ghost when there were Men Moneys and all Means on the one hand and the want of all on the other that a Banish'd Prince I say under these Circumstances should be brought back to His Kingdoms again and with such Peace Honour and Safety set and setled there this might well puzzle the Faith of a Solifidian It was beyond expectation beyond imagination strange to a miracle Strange for the matter that ever such a thing should be brought about at all He that had seen our Dread Sovereign look through the Royal Oak that had seen him again in his strange disguise when like his Saviour he put on the form of a servant that had seen the eager pursuits after him that had seen Sea and Land laid for him that had heard the price which was set upon his head and therewithal the Privy Contracts which that lump of Clay mingled with Blood made with his Assassinates that had thenceforth followed him through his Royal Pilgrimage and seen the necessities and dangers which he conflicted with there His panting Zeal would have susspected some other event then to have seen him set up as King Yet thus God hath set him and our eyes have seen it and our hearts rejoyce in it this day crying to the praise of the glory of his Grace The right hand of the Lord hath done marvellously the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass Strange again for the manner that it should be brought about in such a way It might have been expected that if ever he came to his Kingdoms at all he must swim to them in Blood and be set upon Mount Sinai rather then Mount Sion That we must have bought so rich a Mercy with the Miseries of a new War and it had been a good purchase after all Yet lo God taketh his King and with the turning of an hand sets him where he would have him and none to say unto him what doest thou In all this there was no breaking out no breaking in no complaining in our streets No spoils of War no Trophies of Victory to adorn or rather to sully his Triumphs The Hill whereon God set his King was a Mount of Olives nothing but Peace and all possible expressions of joy upon it Strange once more for the Means and this above all that it should be brought about by those men and their means who had engaged Bodies and Souls to oppose it One part of them he maketh to cast young Ishbosheth down another part to set his King up and carrieth him into his Throne upon their shoulders That renowned Person never to be mentioned without glory to God and honor to himself who through the conducts of a secret but wise Providence had long served as Captain General to Saul the Father and Ishbosheth the Son is Abner-like though upon a better principle that of his former loyalty which he still kept alive in him the very man to make our David King over his English Israel Thus strange for the Matter strange for the Manner strange above all for the Means this transaction was Yet for all this God hath set his King upon his holy Hill of Sion And now what remaineth but that the Kings loyal Friends rejoyce in the mercy of this day and his disloyal Enemies tremble to oppose it Somewhat must be said to either of them and I have done First To the Kings loyal Friends Do you with joy and praise to God admire and adore that unconceivable Power and Providence which hath set his and your King upon his holy Hill of Sion Let not such a miracle of Mercy be lost upon you Think what you would have done what you would have suffered to have seen such a day as this How unlikely it was that ever you should have seen it How many sad days you had seen before Seen the Father barbarously murthered the Son defeated in danger to be destroyed your lawful Sovereign wandering as an exile in Foreign Countreys and Bloody Tyrants domineering in his own Seen the Church become a Babel of Confusion the Land an Accldama or Field of Blood the Lusts of lawless men set up for Laws your Lives Liberties Proprieties meerly precarious and at the pleasure of Usurpers one puff of loyal breath as much as they were all worth And in all this no hopes or means of better to be seen Your present evils seemed impossible to expire but by dying into greater And there was nothing now left but Prayers and Tears and sad expectations of worse This was your Case and State when the sons of Belial had cast Gods King down Now therefore that God hath set him up again and set him upon his holy Hill of Sion and by this means we see both Crown and Miter shining with their wonted beauty and glory see Religion setled Liberty secured Propriety restored and the Laws by which we hold them all maintained O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our salvation Rejoyce after an hearty but withal an holy manner For such the holy Hill whereupon God hath set his King calleth for at your hands See that you celebrate not Tert. Apol. cap. 35. Publicum gaudium per publicum dedecus publick joy by publick disgrace Let not disloyal spight say to your reproach Majestas violatur Divinitas constupratur laudantibus vobis That whilest you pretend to honor God and the King you dishonor both When you should contend in loyal service and duty to God and the King play not prizes in wickedness and seek who shall outvie and vaunt of most supererogatory merits for Hell as if you were delivered to do all these abominations Let not this celestial Mannah breed Worms nor because God hath been more gracious be you less Affect not such a perverse emulation of your Maker as to bring Darkness out of Light and to curse your Blessings To make your Returns as unparallel'd as Gods Mercies and this your onely use of them to pervert their nature and defeat their design Let not this holy Hill bring forth such wilde Grapes and so rich a Soyl minister onely to corruption Let not that of the ungrateful Israelites Exod. xv 24. What shall we drink be the product of your