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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89577	A sacred panegyrick, or A sermon of thanks-giving, preached to the two Houses of Parliament, His Excellency the Earl of Essex, the Lord Major, court of alderman, and common councell of the city of London, the reverend Assembly of Divines, and commissioners from the Church of Scotland. Vpon occasion of their solemn feasting, to testifie their thankfullnes to God, and union and concord one with another, after so many designes to divide them, and thereby ruine the Kingdome, Ianuary 18. 1643. By Stephen Marshall, B.D. minister of Gods Word at Finching-field in Essex. Published by order of the Lords and Commons.	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1644 (1644)	Wing M772; Thomason E30_2; ESTC R9118	32,433	40

David and his adherents in the defence of his innocent righteous Cause were oftentimes brought very low to a dead low ebbe yet in the end God brought all about againe and Davids party grew stronger and stronger and their malignant Enemies grew weaker and weaker You will find also in this Chapter That such as did adhere to David in his low condition when the Lord had tryed and humbled them all found to their comfort in the end that they were no losers by it They afterwards being made his Worthies his Counsellors and Princes And this That in the end God open'd the eyes of many of those who were most malignant and opposite not only to see the righteousnesse of Davids Cause but their hearts came cordially to joyne with him And this also that among all the Nobles Princes Rulers and Leaders the more godly the more wise the more cordiall any were to Davids Cause the greater power they had and the more their brethren were at their command This also you will find that no cost danger pains or difficulties were ever stuck at by them whose hearts were rightly affected to Davids Cause And this also you may observe That God gave to Davids helpers such courage and strength that oftentimes ten of them could chase a thousand an hundred put ten thousand to flight These many more such things as these which would be very profitable for our meditation in these our distressed times you may find in reading this Chapter but I am resolved to confine my selfe to two Observations the one shall be from that which was the matter of their joy at this time the other from the manner of expressing their joy The matter of their joy you have in these words that they were of one heart and one mind to set David to be their King The manner of expressing their joy was this they were eating and drinking and feasting at the cost of all the Tribes in whose precincts their meeting was Those of Zebulon and Napthali and Issachar did in abundance expend their Oxen and Sheepe and Wine and Oile and all the delicates to refresh their Brethren for the Army was I thinke no lesse then two or three hundred thousand of them who upon this occasion were come together from these two I shall endeavour to handle these two Lessons The first is That it is the greatest matter and cause of joy that can bee to any People to find a concurrence of Nobles and Commons and Souldiers and Citizens and Divines to set up David for their King such an union and concurrence is a matter of the greatest joy in all the World Secondly That this joy springing from such a concurrence to set up David to bee their King may very lawfully and comely be express'd in feasting eating and drinking I begin with the first of these That it is a matter of the greatest joy in all the World that can bee to any people to finde such a concurrence as there was in this Chapter to set up David to be their King Where first we must inquire what is here intended by setting up David to bee their King Know therfore beloved that David is to be considered two wayes he stands in a two-fold relation even in this his Coronation The first is Typicall the second is Politicall Typicall and so David is Christ Politicall and so David is intended by God to be the pattern of a good King the patterne and the Copy that all true Kings should write after and both these are so plaine I dare say I might give you twenty severall places of Scripture for proof of both the branches First David was a type of Christ Christ is ordinarily called David you will not find any one person who was a type of Christ by whose name Christ is expresly called in his kingly office but only David I will give them David their King upon the throne of David he shall sit so David in the typicall relation is Christ Then in the politicall relation the Lord in tended him the patterne of a good King and therefore you shall finde that all the Kings that for foure or five hundred yeares did succeed in Israel and Judah when the Lord came to give any one their testimony who they were how neare they came to the Standard this is the rule by which hee judged of them Such an one walked in the way of David such an one did that which was right in Gods sight as David such an one did well but not with such a heart as David such an one walked not in the wayes of David such an ones heart was not like unto Davids so that David was in all intended by God to be the patterne o● a good King Now this first Lesson thus opened I must therefore divide into two branches the first is That there can be no greater matter of joy and rejoicing to any people in the world then to finde a concurrence of heart in the Nobles and Princes and Souldiers and Ministers and the heads of their Tribes to set up the Lord Jesus Christ to bee the King of the Church among them that shall bee the first The second is this That there can be no greater ioy to a nation for aniething that concernes this present life then to finde concurrence of hearts in these Nobles and those that are named in the chapter to set up a David that it to have the Prince that should rule over them like into David In these two things God willing I shall spend the most of this time the other part of the Text I shall only point at For the first That to finde such a concurrence to set up the Lord Christ to be King is a matter of the greatest joy and rejoicing in the world You may see it first in the 〈◊〉 Secondly in Gods promise Thirdly in the Church●s performance First you shall see it in the Type in David bringing up the Arke 2 Sam. 6. 12 first he called all his Parliament together and the Convocation of the Ministers also and there they consulted to goe and bring up the Arke of God from Kiriath-jearim which Arke of God was a Type of the Lord Jesus Christ they all agree to bring it up to set it in his owne place in a better state then formerly it had been for the glory of it and the welfare of the Church Now when they concurred in this action you shall finde that David and all the house of Israel plaied before the Lord on all manner of instrument on Harps and Psalteries on Timbrels and on Cornets and on Cimbals with shouting and sound of Trumpets and the King himselfe being cloathed with a linne Ephod danced with all his might and gloried in his dancing though we know Michal his wife despiled him for it as if he had played the foole and all this because they so well agreed in bringing

let God arise speaking of Christ Psal. 68. let God arise and his enemies shall be scattered they fly as the dust before the wind as the wax before the fire as stubble before the flame so doe his enemies fall if Christ will but appeare against them In one word by him were all things Created by him they are upheld and subject and all things disposed of according to his pleasure and therefore under his shadow under his protection they may quietly rest and none can hurt them And lastly adde one more that this King lives for ever and reignes for ever make him once a King over a people and hee will ever bee a King They who are once his Subjects will ever be his Subiects yea and while they are under his government his government shall grow more glorious more vict●●ious of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end be shall sit upon the Throne of David his Father to order it and establish it the Lord hath spoken it and it must be so I hope this is now cleere that the setting up of Christ to bee Lord and King is the greatest happinesse that can beside any Nation The second is that such a concurrence to find Princes Nobles Captaines c. for all these are in my Text to find the heads of all the Tribes thus concurring to doe it is the most glorious amiable and desirable meanes for effecting this work which to make plaine I beseech you to consider it two wayes First looke upon it as it is signum what this concurrence holdeth forth as its a signe Secondly as causa look upon in that which it worketh for the effecting of it First as it is a signe and so it expresseth first the greatest love and favour of God to that people never did the Lord from Heaven expresse to any Nation a greater token of his owning that Nation and People then when he maketh such a concurrence in their Princes and Nobles and Leaders to set up the Lord Christ to be their King of God in the Prophesie of Ieremiah and Zephaniah that he would them one heart and one way all of them should agree in one to serve him subiect to him with one consent This made David so ravished in his spirit when there was such a union and unanimity in his Princes and Nobles to joine with in preparing for the Temple Who am I Lord and what i● my people that wee should be able to offer thus willingly after this sort now therfore O Lord we thank and blesse thy glorious Name for it and argues it there as one of the greatest pledges of Gods accepting them that there should bee such a concurrence in such a worke Secondly it 's also the greatest signe that can be of a peoples love to Christ and of the greatest glory which they can possibly put upon him to be such a willing people to set him up upon his Throne This was promised as the great glory of Christs Kingdom that Kings and Princes should bring his Children upon their shoulders that they should bring their own glory and lay it and then Scepters at his feet be nursing Fathers unto his Church that whole Nations should flow in unto him and certainly its the greatest expression they can make and the greatest glory which the Lord can receive from poore men to have the Heads of a people thus oind to set up Christ upon his Throne It was much more glorious to David to be crowned after this manner then to have conquerred them by his Sword and for Salomon to have all the Kings about him to offer themselves to be his Servants out of that inward reverence and love they bore unto him then to have subdued them as Ioshua did the Kings of Canaan and even so is it here it 's a great exaltation of Christs glory to find whole States thus willing to submit unto him Thus it doth it as signum 2 Book upon it ut causa as it works towards the effecting of it Nothing which men can doe carryes such an energie as this joynt consent doth and that 3. severall wayes First such a publique concurrence of all these is a marvellous engagement of that people to adhere to the Lord without sliding back When David had sworne unto the Lord to find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob he would give no sleepe to his eyes nor slumber to his eye lids untill hee had done what he could to effect it So when they have sworne a Covenant and their Princes and Rulers and all of them joyne together with such an vnanimous consent it averreth holdeth out to the world their full and unchanged resolution to spend and to be spent and to do all that ever they are able for the promoting of this worke Now this ingageing of a Nation to the Lord is an infinite meanes of effecting it and ingaeth the Lord to sware to them as he did to David in the like case Secondly this concurrence in the Princes and Leaders of the people is a marvelous meanes to draw all the people on as one man without any opposition when they that are their Leaders doe thus goe before them there is a notable example in this Text of the Tirbe of Issachar v. 32. of the rest of the tribes it 's said how many there came of some Tribes 10 thousand of some 20. thousand of some 40. thousand but of the Tribe of Issachar it is not said how many came but only 200. that were the Leaders and Lords of that Tribe with perfect heart and the Text addeth all their Bretheren were at their command all the whole Tribe If the Tribe of Issachar were 40. 50. 100. thousand set but the 200. Leaders right and they cary all the rest right infallibly whether they will or no And you all know by experience the infinite power Leaders have to cary the people to any thing be it good or evill Jeroboam and his Princes may lead the people to worship golden calves Joash and his Princes may draw the people to forsake God And againe Jehosaphat Hezechiel Iosiah and their Princes and Rulers may draw the people of the Lord into a Covenant to serve the Lord That is the second way to effect it by leading the people to submit unto Christ also Thirdly this vnity and concurrence of heart and spirit doth infinitely daunt and dampe the spirit of their Enemies who would hinder the worke neither is any thing such a terrour to those that would destroy and hinder the setting up of Christ as to see an vnity and concurrence of heart and hand of those that are the prime Leading men to carie on the worke This is notably set forth in the Booke of Nehemiah when Tobias and Sanballat and the rest of them had tried all their wits to devide and scare them and yet saw they went on with

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 you be perfectly ioyned together in the same minde and in the same iudgement and whereto we have attained let us walk by the same Rule let us minde the same thing And so much for the first Branch of the matter of their joy they met together to set up David to be King that is David as he was a Type of our Lord Iesus Christ whom we are endeavouring to Exalt upon his Throne The time commands me to be very short in the other Branch and I may very well for if the Lord should not prosper us in this that we should not Ioyn togethee to set up Christ in vaine shall we attempt the other and if the Lord blesse this work in our hands this will either in due time bring about the other or infallibly supply the defect of it and make us happie without it Briefly the Lesson from it is this That such a concurrence as is aforementioned to set up a Prince in this Common-weal like to David is a matter of great ioy and reioycing I shall according to promise be very brief in it had not the time prevented I would have produced opened unto you divers examples out of the Scripture of the great content joy which hath bin where there hath met a concurrence of the Nobles Leaders of the people to set up a good Magistrate over them viz. in David in Solomon in Ioash in Nehemiahs and divers others where when good Governours and Governments have been set up the people have infinitly rejoyced But you 'l understand it fully by that time I have but a little shewed you the relation betwixt a Prince and his people he is their Head their Lord their Father they are his children he is so the Scripture cals it to be the light of their eyes the breath of their nostrils a kind of Fountaine to derive all good to them this he is ex Officio and therefore it follows that the goodnesse or ilnesse of Princes is not to themselves alone but all their people do share with them either in blessednesse or in misery according as the Prince is in goodnesse or in badnesse Let the Prince be a good man a David he is then like unto Nebuchadnezzars tree which he saw in his vision that had meat for all the fruit thereof much and boughs for birds to make their nests in and shelter for all beasts that they might dwell under it that is affording reliefe and comfort to all Hee is the light of the eyes to his people the breath of their nostrils he is worth 10000. of them And to such an one the people do most joyfully as they ought to do yeeld reverence even the greatest next unto God and allegiance to their person and authority subiection and obedience to their Laws maintenance out of their own estates and furnish them with counsell and all manner of Prayer cheerfully as they ought to do because under such a Prince religion is preserved if it be corrupt it is purged reformed iustice is administred without partiality good men are incouraged Peace is procured and preserved Trades are likewise enriched Learning and all such like promoted the Poor are relieved all made happy can you wonder then that where there is a concurrence to have such an one set up there is great Ioy on the other side let the Prince be either weak and foolish or wicked and ungodly riotous and luxurious let him be cruell and tyrannicall O how miserable are that people under him how great is the darknesse where the light is turned into darknesse how miserable is the body where the very Organs of their breathing the breath of their nostrils comes to be corrupted or taken from them how miserable are they when the very Fountain that should afford them comfort is Poysoned such a Prince is like to Ieroboam that compels the people to sin and misery like unto the Dragon who when he fell from heaven drew the very Starres from heaven to the ground with him like to great Cedars which when they fall break all the woods that are round about them thus by their Prince are a people made happy or miserable and so Solomon expresses it in his Ecclesiastes Happy art thou O Land if they Prince be thus Miserable art thou O Land if thy Prince be thus must you not then count it a matter of great joy to have a good King set up to rule over you I adde secondly that this is a greater matter of joy when the Nobles the Parliament the leading men of the Citie and Tribes concur to have such a one both because that is the most likely meanes to obtaine it God promising his blessings to such indeavours and they likewise having some beames of Gods authority put upon them may by their Councell and Example make the Prince to be good and inable him to carry out the publike good or if that cannot be attained through Gods mercy by their meanes there may be a supply of what is wanting in him to make the people happie though they faile of it in the other I shall make a brief application of this second Branch and so passe over it First if to have a David to be our King is such a blessednesse then how cursed and ten thousand times cursed are they who endeavour for ever to rob us of that happinesse who as they would rob us of Christ the greatest happinesse for our souls so they would for ever deprive us of having any hope to be blessed under a Prince that should be like unto David who have rent off the person and the affection of our Soveraign from us who endeavour to instill principles of crueltie into his breast against us and foment them in him who have provoked him to raise Armes to destroy his Nobles and Commons and Divines and this most honoured City and even all who have beene most faithfull have put him into Armes to ruin us and when we but stand up for our own defence represent us to him as Traytors and Rebells because we will not give up our Throates to be cut by them at their pleasure and our goods to be wholly possessed by them If I had all Rhetorick it would yet be short of speaking of these men what they do deserve I can more fitly compare them to none then to the Iewes long since in England who before they were banished hence threw bags of poison into the fountains and wells that the people were to drink of and so indeavoured to poison them all Accursed men there are who labour to make the breach so wide that we should never hope to sit under the shadow of our Prince with any hope and confidence who would rather have our streetes run with our blood and venture

the Arke and setting it up in his place in the Tabernacle that David had pitched for it which was nothing in effect but the setting up the Lord Iesus Christ both God and man to be acknowledged as Lord and King in the midst of the Church So likewise when Solomon had builded the Temple in 1 King 8. when the Arke was to be set upon the Table in the holy of holiest which was properly the type of setting the Lord Iesus Christ upon the throne of Maiestie on high at the right hand of God and so to be Lord and Ruler over the Church when there was a concurrence of the Princes and Nobles who joined with him to doe this there was such a holy feast made that Solomon for his share spent twenty thousand Oxen and a matter of an hundred and twenty thousand sheep in sacrifices and after all this holy feasting upon sacrifices hee and all Israel with him held a feast from the entring in of Hamath unto the river of Egipt before the Lord seven daies and seven daies even fourteen daies and then all the people departed home to their houses joifull and glad of heart for all this goodnesse of the Lord Iehovah in giving them the Lord Iesus Christ to reigne over them See this likewise promised that it should and ought to be so and for this though I might name many Scriptures I will satisfie my selfe with two the one is in the ninth of Esay and the beginning of it The Lord there spake of a very sad affliction which the church should lie under very uncomfortable times they should live in but yet hee saith that there should be joy they should joy before him like the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce who divide a spoile You all know that Souldiers when they are sacking a rich Town every one filling not onely their Knapsacks but loading their horses and waggons with rich spoile and countrey-men when they have gathered-in all their harvest if ever they are merry it is then Now the Lord promiseth such a joy to his afflicted Church which should bee like the joy of harvest and the dividing the the spoile upon what occasion was that thinke you You shall find at the 6. verse or unto us a Child is borne to us a Son is given on whose shoulders the Government shall bee laid who shall be set upon the Throne of David his Father to order and rule it that is the Lord Jesus Christ shall be exalted to be their King and then shall the People joy before him like the joy in harvest so likewise in the 9. of Zachary ver. 9. rejoice greatly O Daughters of Zion shout for joy O Daughter of Jerusalem what is the matter Behold thy King commeth to thee and if you marke it when Christ first came to them in that place he came poore and meeke riding upon an Asse yea to be hang'd upon the Crosse to be crucified but yet afterward it followes that his Dominion should be from Sea to Sea and from the River to the end of the Earth This entertaining of Christ their King should make them reioyce greatly and shout for joy See also one or two evidences for the performance of it what infinite joy there hath bin at the setting of Christ on his throne In Act. 8 when the City of Samaria which before had been besotted with superstition and Idolatry and all kind of beastlines of that kind upon Philips preaching Jesus Christ among them had submitted to him and received him for Lord and King it is said there was great joy throughout the City but especially out of the book of Revelation I could give you many evidences be pleased to turne to one only Chapter 19. from the first verse to the eight where you will find a Panegyrick celebrated with great joy by a great multitude of people a great voice from the throne calling upon them to praising and rejoicing and all this great multitude cryed Halelujah Salvation glory and honour unto the Lord our God let us reioice and be glad and again they said Halelujah and again again Halelujah making it the foot of the Song what was the occasions wherby the Lamb was to be married and his wife had made her selfe ready the new Ierusalem was comming down from Heaven Jew and Gentile to be made one Church Antichrist the Beast and fals-Prophet to be destroyed and Christ Jesus to bee gladly received as Lord and King For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth But to make it yet more plaine you know that joy is acquiescentia voluntatis in bono sibi congruenti a pleasure or delight from some good thing we possesse or certainly expect which breeds satisfaction in the will and pleasure in the sensitive soule upon the delating the heart in the breast when the object and faculty-suits one another as the Cup and Cover which while it is onely comtemplated or meditated upon is after a sort made perfect and accordingly the soule united unto it or while expected upon strong and unerring grounds the soule comtortably and cheerfully works for the accomplishment of our desire but when it s possessed the good really present and united to us when we have it face to face then is the heart satisfied indeed Now I shall fhew you God willing that the setting up of Jesus Christ after their manner is the most excellent suitable congruous good that which will and may most satisfie and dilate the heart of any thing else whatever And to this I shall demonstrate these two things First that the setting up of Christ to bee King is the greatest the most desirable good that ever can betide any Nation Secondly that the Concurrence of the Nobles and Commons and Souldiers and Ministers and Citizens to this work their concurrence I say in this worke is the most glorious the most aimiable the most desirable means of attaining this great good that any soule can wish and if both these be manifested that the one is the greatest and the other the most desirable meanes to attain it where these two things meet there must needs bee matter of great joy For proofe of the first I desire you but to compare it with all those things which make any Nation happy in their Prince or Government and I doubt not but you will see that the sitting up of Christ to bee King doth infinitely goe beyond them all And in this comparison I will confine my selfe to foure things The glory and honour that commeth to that Nation where Christ is set up to be their Lord and King the glory that thereby by comes to a Nation you know is the thing w●ich maketh a people rejoice in their King when their King is an Ornament to them The Kingdomes and Princes who liv'd round about Solomon accounted it no dishonour to them to be Solomons Tributaries and Servants because he was such an accomplish't excellent man Hyram the

wealthy King of Tyrus wrote a Letter to him wherein he calls himself his Servant and saith because the Lord loved his People he set up thee to bee King over them To have a King who is such a glory to a Nation that when any of the People shall bee named in any forraine place the strangers shall say O they are happy in their Prince Or as the Queene of Sheba or 〈◊〉 and his People Happy are thy men happy are these thy Subiects and Servants which 〈…〉 continually before thee because God loven Israel to establesh him for ever therefore made he thee King over them this is a glory to a Nation Now thinke I beseech you whether there can bee any glory like to this to have the Sonne of God the second person in the Trinity made man now exalted to the Throne of Majesties on high to whom the Angels and Archangels and all the most of Heaven doe stoope and all the Creatures did bow the knee before him whether I say can there be any glory to a people like unto this to have this Lord Christ set up to bee their King 2. Consider the advantage that commeth to a State and people governed by him the infinite gaine and happinesse of all his Subjects under him David bid them all weepe for Saul because hee cloathed them all in scariet with other delights and put Ornaments of gold upon them they might grow rich under him But let mee tell you it is onely the Lord Jesus Christ and his Government that maketh a Nation or a People furnished with an all-sufficiency of all things As First in the things of this life Christ hath all things delivered into his hands the Father hath given them all up unto him and H●e giveth them to whom he pleaseth and his Kingdom hath the promise of this life as well as that which is to come So that if Gold or Silver or Wealth or ease or pleasure or liberty or any of these things bee good for them the Subjects of Christ must needs injoy it from their beloved King but these are scarce worth the naming The Glory of Christs Government to his People stands in this that the maketh their souls their best part their Spirituall-part their Eternall part he maketh their soules I say infinitly happy in being a King over them which no other Government reacheth to no not in any degree further then it is in subordination to Christ and endeth in him but now where Christ is set up to be King he giveth his Subjects such things as these The pardon and forgivenesse of all their sinnes the blood of Jesus Christ their King wherein they are all washed cleanseth them from all their sinnes so that not a man of them shall ever be called to an account before God for any thing they have done against him He maketh all of them righteous the Lord saith to him thy people shall be all righteous He doth adopt them all to be His children all His subjects are His children yea coheires yea they are all His brethren they may all enjoy communion with his Father and with himselfe and with his holy Spirit all his Kingdome is his Court all his subjects his Courtiers they may all as his Favourites stand before him and see his face they may all present their supplications to him for themselves and others with assurance to be heard and answered in all things according to his will in one word he is such a King who maketh all his Subjects to be Kings there is not one of all those where he is set up to be Lord and King over but he maketh them all to be Kings and Priests to God his Father It is in fiers in beginning and degree here in this world but afterwards shall to all eternity bee manifested and made good of them all in the highest heavens where when they have overcome they shall fit down with him on his throne as hee hath sat down upon his Fathers Throne Now brethren so farre as the soule is more excellent then the body so farre as heaven is above earth as grace is above gold and silver or drosse as eternity is above a moment so much more excellent are the advantages that Christ Jesus giveth to his subjects then any that can be received from any other Prince in the world now the happinesse of the soule is so excellent and so desirable to all men that you know that the very heathen by the light of nature did account this the greatest happinesse of all to any state to have Religion on set up which was for their soules happinesse as they conceived It is observable that you can hardly meet with one Philosopher or any one Law-giver among all the Heathen who did not make Religion which was for the worship of their gods and the welfare of their souls to be the prime worke of all yea so sacred a thing it was among them that cul●us deorum the worship of their gods was the principall care and charge of their Princes who therefore were their chiefe Priests and that so universally as Tullie saith there is no Nation so barbarous but you will finde Religion chiefly regarded and Plutarch writing to an Atheist tells him that possibly he may finde some Cities without learning and some without wealth and some without a well framed Government but should never finde any without Temples Altars the worship of their gods and consequently of the care of their soules welfare True it is indeed these poore blind wretches groped after the welfare of their soules to no purpose because they knew not God but worship't Devills instead of God but yet thus much wee learne from it that in their judgments which c●n procure the eternall happinesse of mans immortall soule is the greatest gaine the greatest advantage of all other and therfore because the setting up of Jesus Christ to be Lord King is alsufficient for this what greater good can come to any people A third priviledge of Christs being set up as King is the safety of his people let a Prince be never so wise so good loving to his subjects let them be never so happy in him yet if they want power to defend his Kingdome from violence of other States both he and they may soon prove miserable as we see in all the flourishing Empires of the World in times past another Prince hath violently come and spoiled all But now where the Lord Christ is set up to bee a King I need not in this Assembly tell you what strength they have Salvation is prepared for walls and Bulwarks he himselfe is a wall of fire round about so that no enemies shall dare come nigh to them there enemies have none of them any power but what Christ himselfe hath given them All power is his both in heaven and in the earth if he speake but the word all his enemies are overthrown

A Sacred Panegyrick OR A SERMON OF THANKS-GIVING Preached to the two Houses of Parliament His Excellency the Earl of Essex the Lord Major Court of Aldermen and Common Councell o● the City of LONDON the Reverend Assembly of Divines and Commissioners from the Church of Scotland Vpon occasion of their Solemn Feasting to testifie their thankfullnes to God and union and concord one with another after so many Designes to divide them and thereby ruine the Kingdome Ianuary 18. 1643. By Stephen Marshall B. D. Minister of Gods Word at Finching-field in Essex Published by Order of the Lords and Commons PSALME 133. 1. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity Psalme 144. 15 Happy is that People that is in such a case Yea happy is that People whose God is the Lord London Printed for Stephen Bowtell and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the Bible in Popes-head-alley 1644. TO THE ●●IGHT HONOVRABLE he Lords and Commons Assembled ●n Parliament His Excellency the Earle of Essex with the rest of the Noble and Worthy Commanders The Right Honourable the Lord Major the Court of Aldermen and Common Councell of the City of London The Reverend Assembly of Divines The Honourable and Reverend Commissioners from the Church of SCOTLAND THis worke was too high for me but as it s now done by so weake an hand is too low for so many judicious eyes with any favourable respect to look down to But 〈◊〉 own Children though lesse beautifull we can behold with ●●ve and even stoope to take them by the hand that wee may hold and lead them that cannot goe or stand by themselves ●●ch a weakling is this that is now before you the defects ●●d weaknesses whereof I acknowledge are mine but the ●●rth is Gods and yours to him I humbly present it for 〈◊〉 blessing and to you for your acceptance and helpe that may better goe abroad whilst all shall know that it is ●●rs more then mine and therefore to bee disposed of rather by you then by my selfe By your Command for so I interpret all your requests to me it was Preached and is now Published and this with the more boldnesse because with some confidence that it will passe the better without others censure because it hath already passed your scrutiny with allowance and acceptance But whatever the lot of it in that kind shall be it will be abundant satisfaction to me if the main end be attained by it which by you and me was intended in it viz the help of our selves and all the more to adore the infinite wisdome and power and goodnesse of our God who can make light to shine out of darknesse discords intended by enemies to make up our more harmonious consent and divisions of tongues that scatter the builders of Babel to help up the more compact building of his Church Hee once turned the day of his peoples griefes and feares to the quite contrary so that they had then joy and gladnesse a Feast and a good day insomuch that many of the people of the Land became Jewes for the feare of the Iewes fell upon them Now hee that hath wrought for us the like turne of things be pleased in mercy to worke a greater turne in all our Enemies hearts that so now and ever our Lord Iesus may appeare to be the wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father whilst thus the Prince of his Peoples Peace So prayeth His and Your most Unworthy Servant STEPHEN MARSHALL THE PREFACE to the Sermon RIght Honourable and Beloved in the Lord this day is a day purposely set apart for feasting and it is like one of the Lords feasts where you have a feast and a holy Convocation And you are first met here to feast your soules with the fat things of Gods house with a feast of fat things full of marrow and wine on the lees well refined and afterward to feast your bodies with the fat things of the land and the sea both plenty and dainty But if you please you may first feast your eyes doe but behold the face of this Assembly I dare say it will be one of the excellentest feasts that ever your eyes were refreshed with Here in this Assembly you may first see the two Houses of Parliament the Honourable Lords and Commons after thus many yeares wrastling with extreme difficulties in their endevouring to preserve an undone Kingdome and to purge and reforme a back-sliding and a polluted Church you may behold them still not only preserved from so many treacherous designes secret treasons and open violences but as resolved as ever cheerfully to goe on with this great worke which God hath put into their hands Here you may also see his Excellency my most honoured Lord the Generall of all our forces by land and neare him that other noble Lord the Commander of our forces by Sea and with them abundance of noble and resolute Commanders al of them with their faces like unto Lions who after so many terrible battells and abundance of difficulties and charging in the face of so many thousand deaths are all of them still preserved and not a haire of their heads fallen to the ground Here also you may behold the Representative body of the City of London the Lord Mayor the Court of Aldermen the Common Councell the Militia and in them the face and affection of this glorious City This City which under God hath hitherto had the honour of being the greatest meanes of the salvation of the whole kingdome and after the expence of millions of treasure and thousands of their lives still as faithfull and resolute to live and die in the cause of God as ever heretofore Here you may likewise see a Reverend Assembly of grave and learned Divines who daily wait upon the Angel in the Mount to receive from him the lively Oracles and the patterne of Gods house to present unto you All these are of our owne Nation and with them you may see the Honourable reverend and learned Commissioners of the Church of Scotland and in them behold the wisdome and affection of their whole Church and Nation willing to live and dye with us All these you may behold in one view and which is more you may behold them all of one heart and one minde after so many plots and conspiracies to divide them one from another and thereby to ruine them all And which is yet more you may see them all met together this day on purpose both to praise God for this union and to rejoice in it and to hold it out to all the world and thereby to testifie that as one man they will live and dye together in this common cause of God of our Lord Iesus Christ his Church and these three Kingdomes O beloved how beautifull is the face of this Assembly Verily I may say of it as it was said of Solomons throne That

the like was not to be seene in any other Nation I question where ever the like Assembly was seene this thousand yeeres upon the face of the earth Me thinkes I may call this Assembly The hoste of God I could call this place Mahanaim and I beleeve there are many in the Assembly who could say as old Jacob did when he had seene his son Josephs face Let me now dye because I have seene this Assembly and that it is yet thus with our unworthy England and for my owne part I professe I am almost like the Queene of Sheba when she had seen the Court of Solomon that she had no spirit left in her and could presently send you away and command all of you not to weepe to day nor to mourne but to goe home and eat the fat and drinke the sweet and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared I should in the joy of my heart say this presently but that I have first some banqueting stuffe for your soules such as God hath brought to my hand to set before you for your inward refreshing the ground whereof you shall finde if you please to turne to the first of the Chronicles the twelfth Chapt and the three last verses 1 Chron. 12. 38 39 40. All these came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David King And there they were with David three dayes eating and drinking for their brethren had prepared for them Moreover they that were nigh them even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali brought bread on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen and meat meale cakes of figges and bunches of raisins and wine and oyle and sheep abundantly for there was joyin Israel I Laboured to finde out a Text which might every way be suitable to the occasion of this our present meeting because a word spoken in season is like apples of gold in pictures of silver a Sermon suited to the circumstance of time place persons and occasion is not onely more acceptable but more usefull And truly I thinke the Lord hath brought to hand one of the most paralell portions in the whole Bible for if you please but to looke into it and into the whole Chapter upon which this depends you shall finde First they were doing the same thing that is rejoicing abundantly Secondly expressing their joy the same way in feasting eating and drinking Thirdly you shall finde the same manner of persons that is the heads of all their Tribes the Nobles the Commons the Souldiery the Ministry you shall find them fourthly met on the like occasion because their hearts were united in one and that in the way to obtaine a blessed peace to a kingdome which had been long wasted with a Civill warre Fifthly you shall find also that the persons who met here were the same which had adhered to the right side to the cause which God did own blesse and sixtly who the longer their wars continued grew stronger stronger their enemies grew weaker and weaker you shall finde all these met upon the same occasion upon a businesse of the highest consequence all of them feasting and seventhly at the charge of their brothren in whose precincts their solemn meeting was Looke but into the chapter and you 'll see all these Looke but into this Assembly and you may behold them all in this Church But it may bee you will say We want a David to make the paralell full we want a David to bee with us a King who might concurre with us and we with him in the same busines I confesse indeed that in the literall sense God hath not yet made us so blessed the Sonnes of Belial have stollen away both his Majesties Person and affection from us but even that is the thing which we contend for that we might recover him out of their hands the expence of all our treasure and all our blood hath bin to that end that he might have the wicked removed from his throne that as another David hee might rule over us in the feare of God that hee might be as the light of the morning when the Sun ariseth even a morning without clouds And as we have in our Covenant solemnly sworne so much as in us lies to preserve and maintain his person and authority in the defence of Libertie and Religion so if God have any delight in him and to doe us good by him hee will in the end incline his heart unto such Counsels that hee shall come home and make this paralell full and even bee the light of our Israel and the breath of our Nostrills But in the meane time wee doe not want a David to suit this David in the Text we have here the true David of whom that David was in this very thing a Type that is the Lord Jesus Christ whom wee are endeavouring to set upon his throne that hee might bee Lord and King in his Israel over his Church amongst us And as Davids person and Kingdome were but types of our Lord Christ and his Kingdome so this great joy and unanimity of heart which met in all these at Davids Coronation in Hebron was but a type of that rejoycing and gladnesse of heart which should be among the Nations when there should bee the like concurrence of the Nobles and Commons and Princes and Ministers and Citizens with one heart to set up the Lord Christ to be Lord and King over them All Learned Men know this to be true and therefore by this time I beleeve you see that my Text is most suitable to our Meeting and withall the scope of it so plaine before you that I need not spend any more time in the clearing of it but shall hasten to some matter of Instruction Because though I conceive your Feast for your bodies will bee long I would not willingly make the Sermon so long as to have it tedious to you and before I come to the maine Lesson which I shall insist upon I would intreat you to looke a little back into the whole Chapter where you will find Davids case and our present condition in many things to be exceedingly alike and in it find much to incourage and comfort you in your saddest exigence be pleased when you are at home to read over this Chapter seriously you will find such observations as these First That David when hee was persecuted by Saul unjustly did not onely take up Armes for his owne defence but many of the choisest men of the Tribes did joyne with him and adventure their lives in his defence yea and his Adherents increased till his Army grew to be like an Host of God and all this while King Saul was alive and David but a private man and one that had sworne Allegiance to him You will in this Chapter find also that although

their own too then that we should have a Prince like unto David that is Iust ruling in the feare of the Lord to be like the morning light and the morning without clouds when the sun ariseth I suppose none of these men are here present and I love not to speak much of absent men but onely tell you what cause we have as to curse them so to blesse the Lord God who hitherto hath delivered us out of their hands and let the Lord the righteous Lord be iudge between us and them The other use of it is to you Honourable Reverend and beloved who next unto the setting up of Christ have hitherto indeavored by your Petitions your Remonstrances your Supplications and by all means possible so rescue our Soveraign out of their hands that not only there might be a right understanding betwixt us and Him but that He might in truth raign over us as David and His Throne made like unto Davids I humbly pray you go on in these indeavours that if the Lord see it good it may be so if He will have it otherwise we shall have the more comfort what ever betides us in the unfeignednesse of our desires and indeavours after it If you demand what hope is there of it or what further means may we use for the attaining of it I shall speak only as a Divine in commending these three things The first is Be all of you humbled before God for your own sins and for all the sins that England lies guilty of for though we are ready enough to impute it to such and such that are about Him or it may be to some Principles of His own believe it Beloved what Salomon saies of the change of Princes For the iniquity of a Land many are the Princes of it so for the iniquity of the Land it is thus with us this day and that is in truth the greatest cause of it the Lord could blow all this over presently and certainly would if hee were but reconciled to England David did one Act which cost a matter of three score and ten thousand mens lives in a few dayes a vain-glorious act in numbring the people but if you mark the Text it saith That Israel had provoked God to wrath and then God let Satan loose upon David to move him to that vile act and the Lord did but take that as an occasion and so when the Lord had an intent to destroy the men of Shichem who had set up Abimelech to be their King is said The Lord sent an evill spirit between Abimelech and them that they might devoure and tear one another Why was it even for the wickednesse that the people as well as their King had been guilty of so then if ever you would have your Prince restored as a David to be a blessing to you labour all to be humbled every one for the iniquity of his own heart and life and for all the prodigious wickednesses that this Kingdome stands guiltie of Secondly Commend him to the Lords working upon his heart by your daily prayers The Kings heart saith Salomon is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water hee turns it which way he pleaseth meaning plainly there is no way in the world to alter the spirit of a Prince but only by the work of God and God can do it in a moment Esau came against his Brother with four hundred armed men full of deadly rage resolving to destroy him Iacob spent a night in prayer on a sudden God turned Esau's heart that hee fell upon his brothers neck and kissed him as if hee had been the dearest brother in the world to him And had the King forty thousand of the bravest souldiers under heaven were all our Armies dissolved were our Gates opened were they marching in with a resolution to plunder our Cities to ravish our wives and make our City flow with blood if the Lord did but speak the word their hearts would be turned presently therefore do as Nehemiah did when hee was to deal with a King that was of a nature rugged enough when he was to goe to him he first made his prayer to God and the Lord turned the heart of the King toward him do as the good people did in the Psalme beg of God that the King might heare Save Lord Let the King heare us when we call commend it to the Lord and the Lord can bring it about easily Thirdly especially you that are in great place that are the Lords and Commons our Senators if ever you would have it well you must do your utmost to remove all the wicked from his Throne and in stead of them you must indeavour to have men of wisdome and godlinesse placed about him this must be done if you will hope for a blessing in Gods way Take away saith Salomon the drosse from the silver then there shall come forth a vessell for the refiner a choyce vessel fit for an honourable use but otherwise let him make up a vessell of drosse and silver together who will regard it So saith he Take away the wicked from the King and his Throne is established in righteousnesse And certainly if wicked men be pests and plagues in what part of the Land soever they are found they are much more so when they are found in the Courts of Princes Labour therefore to remove them and to set others in their room Salomon saith excellently in that place of the Proverbs For the iniquity of the Land many are the Princes of it then it followes But by a man of understanding and knowledge the State thereof shall be prolonged I think he means it not only of a wise Prince but he means this that as the wicked men corrupts their Princes drawes them to dissolutenesse tyranny c. and so to ruine them and the Land So grave and good Counsellors prudent men about him are great means to prolong the tranquillity of it I could shew you by examples how not only wise and good Princes wise and good States-men but even women as some of them have been the ruine of many Princes so by the seasonable advice of women Princes and Cities have been preserved you know the wise advice of Abigail kept David from shedding innocent blood And there was a poor woman in the City of Abel who by speaking to Ioab delivered all the City and Solomon tels you in the ninth of Ecclesiastes of a poor wise good man who delivered a small City when a great King came against it with a great Army I beseech you therefore let it be in your indeavours to get such about him I hope you imagine not that I would have such set about Him for their own preferments or gain no no the man that aims at such things will never be good for any thing hee who once sets up Mammon to be his God is not fit to serve either God or