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A44934
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Two sermons preach'd on the ninth of September 1683 (being the Thanksgiving Day) at St. Thomas Hospital, in Southwark by William Hughes ... ; together with a candid plea to a cruel charge, by the same author.
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Hughes, William, b. 1624 or 5.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing H3348; ESTC R16292
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22,415
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42
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The Practical Reflections on the Whole Practical Reflections which are but these Two For 1. Obedience to Man For 2. Thankfulness to God 1. For Obedience to Man the Magistrate 1 Reflect that is the King as Supreme and Governours as sent by him as St. Peter Expresseth it And I need do little else than pray you to remember What plentiful Testimony you have already had from the Holy Scriptures for this great Duty So that the Refusers hereof must needs be Rebellious against God disobedient unto and contemners of his Word Whoever will prove faithful Servants of the Lord must also be found Loyal Subjects to their Prince He can never be true unto God that is false to his Minister which the Magistrate is Be dutiful therefore in chearful complying with all good Laws And if any be suspected you must be paâ—…ent in submitting where you cannot be active in fulfilling Joyn also highest Veneration for your Governours and the Chief especially Having heard before That the best thoughts of them should always fill your Minds And let your Discourse be sparing about Publick Matters and still most reverend thereof and of those that manage them Is it fit to say unto a King Thou art wicked And to Princes ye are ungodly Job 34.18 Beware of speaking evil of the Rulers of the people Act. 23.5 The best Constructions and best Expressions of all Publick Managements do best become us and are due from us Our distance will not allow a due Judgment and our duty binds us to the fairest Interpretation of them The Covering very nakedness of Superiours gat the Blessing when the contrary method of divulging it brought the Curse Gen. 9. Private Men's Work doth lye at home within their own Sphear and such a Person should check his aptness to extravagate with Who makes Me a Judge as our Saviour once rebuked a Pragmatick Spirit Luk. 12.14 Why will any be so busie then in Affairs of State which are not their Province Would we consult the Spirit of the Gospel and tread his Steps the Prince of Peace and Lamb for Meekness that did send it and theirs the Sons of Peace of Patience and Submission who did bring it how easie would this business be and how effectual would the Counsel to it prove with All Let us therefore study to be quiet and do our own business as St. Paul Commands 1 Thess 4.11 And according to St. Peter make a full proof that we Fear God by Honour paid unto the King 2. For Thankfulness unto God 2 Reflect The just occasion for it hath so fully been already manifested that nothing else is wanting but the Practice of it whereto so many Motives press us How should our Hearts be now enlarged how should our Mouthes be open'd to Bless and Praise the Lord to Exalt and Magnifie his Name for this so great Salvation he hath wrought 'T was not our Strength and Power no Wisdome and Fore sight of ours nay nor our Care and Diligence that was contributary to the Deliverance But it was God's right Hand and his own Arm and the light of his Countenance that did All because he had a favour to us Shall we not say then and say it from our Hearts Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things and blessed be his Glorious Name for Ever and Ever Do we love our King Who ought to be the Delight of our Eyes the joy of our Hearts and the breath of our Nostrils Let us Magnifie then the Almighty and most Merciful God That his Anointed was not taken in their pits Have we a value for our Country Acquaintance Friends and near Relations are they dear unto us Let us Exalt his Name that is most High that they are not wallowing in their own goar nor it become a New Akeldama a Field of Blood again Is our Religion and the Gospel more than our very Lives with us Let us give thanks and praise to God that still he doth preserve them For had that wickedness prosper'd when Irreligion like a Deluge must have overwhelm'd us what had become of the Word and Ordinances of all true Piety and Devotion Can we forbear the Psalmists Language now Bless the Lord O our Souls and all within us magnifie his holy Name How should we from our Hearts as I said declare God's praises with our Mouths And let me add thereto before we part How should our Lives and Conversations Eccho hereunto For I must tell you That Thanksgiving unto God is not matter of meer Complement Nor are his Praises the labour of our Lips onely No man can be truly thankful unless he will be really holy To speak well of God and spurn his Laws the while is like to Joab's kind saluting of Amasa when he stab'd him Whilst the Life Dishonours God the praises of the Mouth are no better then Dung Sacrificed which will be thrown back with indignation into his Face that offers it Will the most Holy and Alseeing God account That Tongue doth bless his Name as it ought with Thanks and Praise whose daily trade it is to Blaspheme the same with horrid Oathes and Execrations Or can he reckon those Persons thankful for his Mercies whatever they say that abuse those very Mercies to the Service of their Lusts and Satan What Atheism and Prophaneness pay God the Tribute of his Praises Can drunken Healths or wanton Embraces open Violences or secret frauds or any irreligious Courses give him Glory to whom they bid Defyance Assure your selves That ungodly Lives and holy Praises are like the Ark and Dagon they never stand together in the sight of God You must therefore either necessarily leave your Sins or loose your Thanks how fair soever they may seem If we would then be truly Thankful and to God's Acceptance Let us praise him with our Lips and please him in our Lives Let 's being deliver'd from our Enemies serve him that hath deliver'd us in righteousness and holiness before him all our days Luke 1.75 This is that Thanksgiving which is alone thank-worthy All other is not Current Coyn indeed Reprobate Silver or meer Dross Let us be renewed and reformed therefore Let us Renounce the works of darkness and walk as Children of the light Let us cleanse our selves from filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to the perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Without a sincere endeavour after which as our Praise is lost so are our Persons too for ever For God hateth all the workers of iniquity And take this further Motive hereunto You would be surely counted Loyal to your Prince but give me leave to tell you a debauch'd vicious and sinful Life is so far from being any proof thereof that it gives great cause to fear the contrary 'T is somewhat hard to think How that Man should be truly Loyal to his King that is an open Rebel against God So such Sinners are Whatever Obligation they may stand in to their Prince those on them unto God are infinitely greater And what security is there that he that breaks the stronger Bond should not likewise snap the weaker This we are sure of That Prophane and Ungodly Subjects may by their wicked Lives work great mischief to their Soveraign though they may not mean it in their Minds And so we are urged unto Holiness on the account of Loyalty also 'T was the Prophets Counsel unto Subjects 1 Sam. 12.24 25. Fear the Lord and serve him in Truth with all your heart for consider how great things he hath done for you And it follows But if ye still do wickedly ye shall be destroyed both ye and your King See here the Publick Mischief that may be done by Private Persons continuing in their wickedness Even Majesty it self is not secure from it And 't is strange Loyalty that over-turns Soveraignty Whereto 't is manifest That Subject's Sins have an apparent tendency For a Conclusion of all If we love our King our Country our Friends our Selves both Souls and Bodies let it be our care and business with highest Praises for all God's mercies and This signal One to joyn the Holy Practice of all God's Commandments Then Whoso offereth praise glorifyeth me saith the Scripture and to him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God Psal 50.23 FINIS
O ye Righteous for praise is comely for the upright Where you see That rejoycing in the Lord is nothing else than joyfully praising of him So in the New Testament When the Blessed Virgin magnified the Lord her Spirit rejoyced in God her Saviour Luk. 1.47 And to give no more instances when our Saviour rejoyced in spirit he giveth God thanks saying I thank thee O Father And now the Words thus opened plainly teach us this Lesson That A Kings Salvation doth both oblige Himself Lesson and his People also to the joyful praise of God that gives it The Church you see doth undertake on both sides in my Text and by her word and practice shews That as the Soveraign so the Subjects are alike engaged And 't is no marvel since the Gospel plainly lays it as a Duty on all Christians as to make earnest Supplications unto God for their Soveraigns welfare safety and happiness so likewise to return most hearty thanksgiving when such mercy is vouchsafed St. Paul himself doth teach us this as plain as words can speak it in 1 Tim 2.1 2. saying I exhort therefore that first of all that is as one of the chiefest duties lying on you supplications prayers intercessions meaning thereby all manner and kind of petitions unto God that Christians use on the behalf of themselves or for their Brethren and giving of thanks also be made for all men of what Profession Order Rank or Quality soever they be but it follows there that in a more especial and particular manner this is to be done for Kings and all that are in Authority So that the Prayers and Praises of Christians are due apparently on the behalf of Magistrates Supreme and subordinate likewise Kings and all that are in Authority And the practice of this double duty is not onely enforced by the Exhortation of the Holy Apostle which might have abundantly suffic'd for the Obligation I Exhort But there is a further Motive and Encouragement thereunto subjoyn'd from the benefit and advantage likely to arise from thence unto our selves it hath a tendency to our leading of a quiet and peaceable life in allgodliness and honesty also Now if Christians were bound in duty thus towards Soveraigns and Superiors which were but Heathens strangers to and Enemies of the Gospel as was the Case when this was Written and a great while after how much closer and stronger is the Tye on Vs who by God's merciful Providence enjoy a Prince that is a Professed Christian a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of them that own it Doubtless as our continual Prayers should be poured forth for his Protection and Prosperity so when the Arm of God is made bare for his defence and safety our most Solemn Praises are doubly due to the God of His of Our and All Salvation But that the important Duty of joyful Praising God which we are engaged in This Day may be discharged to the best advantage my purpose is to lend you mine assistance such as it is in clearing these Four Propositions unto you and concluding with some Practical Reflections on the whole The Propositions are 1. All Salvation is from the Hand of God 4 Propositions 2. Gods Salvation useth to be exercised towards Kings in an Especial manner 3. Our present Soveraign is a signal Instance of the care God takes of Princes 4. This is just occasion of His Majesties and his Peoples great Joy and Thankfulness unto God On which follow short Reflections The First Proposition is 1. Propos That all Salvation is from the hand of God And methinks my Text implyes plainly The King shall joy in Thy strength O Lord and in Thy salvation c. Not in his own Courage or Conduct not in the Power and Policy whereof he was the Master nor in any thing else though he wanted none of those accomplishments that were found in the Greatest Prince and Bravest General of the World but in the strength of the Lord and in the Salvation of God So that whatsoever Dangers are escaped whatsoever Evils are prevented or removed nay whatsoever Good shall be obtained though the most proper means that could be found or thought on or were in Nature had been made use of with all the advantages that power art and industry could possibly improve them by yet at the last the success must be acknowledged entirely unto God as without whose hand there had been no help Salvation belongeth unto the Lord Psal 3.8 And against his Claim not Any nor All the Creatures can set up any honest Title at all Strong holds and places of defence cannot preserve us from our Enemies hands much less deliver us out of them Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of Mountains as likely a refuge as they are truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel Jer. 3.23 Horses are a generous kind of Animals both swift and strong and stout those especially that are bred up prepared and managed for the Wars Iron Chariots of old were a grear Terror to the Enemy and a good security to those that had them But yet an horse is a vain thing to save a man Psal 33.17 And though some trust in Chariots and some in Horses the Royal Psalmist and his friends would not take that course but trust in the name of the Lord. And what was the issue Those were brought down and fell but these arose and stood upright Psal 20.7 8. But Men you 'l say out-do all other Creatures And what great things have been done by them the Great Ones especially and with Great Armies under their Conduct Yet vain is the help of man Psal 60.11 And we must not put our trust in Princes nor in the son of Man whosoever he be in whom there is no help Psal 146.3 Nay no King himself is saved by the multitude of an Host nor a mighty man by much strength Psal 33.16 In short the Holy Scriptures teach us That no Design can prosper how rationally soever it be laid none Affair succeed how likely soever in it self to speed and with whatsoever prudence and diligence it be managed without the Lord. Except the Lord build the house they labour but in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain 'T is in vain without God to rise up early sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows Psal 127.1 2. Our very Food cannot nourish nor sleep refresh nor Clothes warm nor Medicines heal nor any Endeavours profit us unless God vouchsafe a blessing therewith to us And when he intendeth any Relief to any of his Creatures it shall be effected although the means made use of shall be mean indeed and most contemptible although improper and contrary unto Humane Judgment nay though there be none at all in the case The holy Scriptures do abound with Instances unto all these purposes and 't is needless to