The happiness of this Reign is that in it all those Attempts made on Law and Liberty have been stigmatiz'd as they well deserv'd to be but with such mildness towards those who had offended hurried on in the Croud or betray'd by their Fears that those who understand not how boundless a thing Royal Clemency ought to be have from thence pretended to infer That the not punishing Offenders was a Confession that their actings were Legal and Innocent But a Government that was Merciful as well as Just was as gentle in punishing past Offences as it intended to be exact to provide against the like for the future The Laws have been fortified by new Explanations which assure us of their true meaning These have deliver'd us for the future from the Practices of those Corrupters of Justice and Enemies to Liberty nor is this all but where our Ancient Constitution seem'd defective and had not guarded enough against the Fraud of Sycophants it has been fortify'd by the addition of further Securities which as Buttresses were judged necessary to support the Fabrick The bringing matters on the other side of the Sea to juster proportions the raising of some depressed Princes and the limiting others that were over-grown has laid the Fears that the World had fall'n under of being overpower'd by a New Monarchy and has provided for our own quiet by stopping the progress that was made upon our Neighbours by which we have secured to our selves all the returns of gratitude acknowledgment and dependence that can be expected in such cases Both Ancient and Modern Writers have thought that Theodosius Conquering Maximus and Restoring Valentinian the Second not only his own share of the Empire but to Gratian's likewise was a Subject fit for Rhetorick Yet that cost him but one Campaign and in it there were only two days of Action neither the Charge nor the Danger were extraordinary Besides that it was a just gratitude to Gratian's Memory who had raised him to a Partnership with him in the Empire to revenge his Death and to Restore his Brother How much juster is the Panegyrick when we see a Prince in a course of many Years carry on a War thro' infinite Dangers and at an inestimable Charge and that only to preserve the States of Neighbouring Princes without any other Advantage but the Pleasure of having Protected the Oppressed and of having secured the Neighbourhood not reserving any one Place either as a Pledge upon his Allies or an encrease of Dominion to himself In all Ages Princes have been ready to assist their Neighbours with Auxiliary Troops and sometimes with hired Armies but it is the peculiar glory of this Age that we see a King who has maintain'd a long War led the Armies and exposed himself to innumerable hazards only to maintain others in their Right If this adds nothing to his Crown yet as it makes it fit the firmer so it must be acknowledged that it makes it shine the brighter The Gems of it have a peculiar Lustre a Glory of which former Ages cannot boast This is indeed to answer that Character to which all Princes pretend how few soever of them study to deserve it of being God's Representatives and Vicegerents who takes pleasure in delivering the Oppressed setting him at liberty from him that puffeth at him Thus we see what are the two great Ends of Government as they are set forth by this Southern Queen Next let us view the Measures to be kept in the Administration to do Judgment and Justice The Generosities as well as the Severities of Government are believed to be implyed in these two The rigour of Punishment being the harder part not so natural to Minds of the best Mold is to be left to the Persons of that Robe who ought to be so chosen that they be Men fearing God hating Gifts and eschewing Covetousness They minister in the less acceptable part and to them it ought to be left except when the interposition of a just Mercy softens the rigour of strict Justice I say a just Mercy for there are Mercies that are cruel When upon false suggestions Blood is cover'd or encouragement is given to enormous Criminals when they have the hopes of Favour especially when they see that it may be purchased this will soon dissolve the Strength as well as the Order of Societies Princes by so doing render themselves in some sort accessary to all the Crimes that happen to be committed afterwards by those whom thro' a feebleness of Grace they have rescued from deserved Punishment Judgment is the more acceptable part The Branches of this are the distributing of Trusts and Rewards the delivering the Oppressed and the relieving the Necessitous beginning at those who are brought low by a heavy share in common Calamities especially those of War which entitle them to more special degrees of the Prince's Favour and Bounty There is in all this such a shadow of Divinity that in it lies the Noblest part of a King's Prerogative It is not he but the Law that punishes the Bad but the distinguishing the employing the honouring and rewarding of those who deserve well of him and the Publick is singly in him All must owe this only to the Bounty of the Prince yet the whole is a Trust from Heaven and those who Rule for God and the good of their People will manage this as knowing that they must answer it to the King of Kings This Subject is too tender to be enlarged on by any Person below that High Dignity let us then hear the Resolutions of a Good as well as a Warlike King when he found himself setled on the Throne to which his Son had no doubt a particular regard I will behave my self Wisely in a perfect Way I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart I will set no wicked Thing before mine Eyes a froward Heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked Person Who so privily slandereth his Neighbour him will I cut off him that hath a high Look and a proud Heart will I not suffer Mine Eyes shall be upon the Faithful in the Land that they may dwell with me He that walketh in a perfect Way he shall serve me He that worketh Deceit shall not dwell in my House He that telleth Lies shall not tarry in my sight I add not the words that follow for they seem too severe for the milder State of the Gospel I will early destroy all the Wicked of the Land There would be little occasion for this if the former Resolutions were exactly maintain'd Kings have a Dialect peculiar to themselves they will understand one anothers Language and penetrate into their Thoughts therefore I will not presume to add to these Words either Paraphrase or Inferences But now having looked over all that compass of Thoughts to which this Noble Devotion of the Royal Traveller led us It remains that we conclude in turning the whole to Solemn Adorations and to
PUBLISHED By His MAJESTY'S Special Command A SERMON Preached before the KING At WHITEHALL On the Second of DECEMBER 1697. BEING The Day of Thanksgiving For the PEACE By the Right Reverend Father in God GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCVIII THE Bishop of SALISBURY'S THANKSGIVING-SERMON For the PEACE 2 CHRON. IX 8. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne to be King for the Lord thy God because thy God loved Israel to establish them for ever therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice THESE are the words of an Arabian Queen who was so moved with a Noble Curiosity raised by the same of Solomon's Wisdom that she undertook a Journey from the utmost parts of the earth furnished her self both with an Equipage and Presents suitable to her Rank and also with Questions by which she might judge whether Fame had not too much heightned this great King's Character She could not believe the half of what she had heard and having probably a good opinion of her own Understanding she resolved to try His with those Questions that puzzled her self But when she came and found that Report instead of magnifying matters had been very defective when she observed the compass of his Knowledge with the depth of his Mind and that he applied his Speculations to the Arts of Government as well as to the Contemplations of Nature when she saw his vast Designs of Buildings his own as well as God's House so wonderfully executed the Treasures he was heaping up and the Methods of Trade he was setting on for procuring constant and fresh Supplies and that he could join the Magnificence that belonged to his Character with the more Real Greatness of his own Comprehensive Mind So that while he employed his Thoughts in the Sublimest Enquiries he did not neglect even those Lesser ones of External Grandeur which how inconsiderable soever they may seem to a Soul capable of vaster things yet are necessary to maintain those Impressions of Awe and Respect which give Authority to Government When she saw the State in which he was served the Pomp of his Retinue and his glorious Processions to the Temple she was overcome with Wonder she despised her own Dignity and Kingdom And thought that the Subjects and Servants of such a Prince were happier than the Sovereigns of other Nations Her admiration of this being above all ordinary Expressions she vents it in those Raptures that I have read She adores the Great Jehovah of the Jews who had taken pleasure in advancing One who so well deserved it and who imployed it so worthily in raising the Honour of that God who had so eminently exalted him From hence she concluded That certainly God loved that Nation whom he had blessed with such a Prince by whose Wisdom and Conduct they were in all probability to be established on the firmest Basis The best Principles and Measures of Government which would make them Sure and Lasting Establish them for ever For she could not think but that so extraordinary a Blessing must be designed for great Ends. Such a King would certainly govern them both with Judgment and Justice Two words that seem to signify the same thing yet the Masters of that Language put this difference That the former relates to the Rewarding and the latter to the Punishing part of Justice So wise a King would maintain a severe Execution of Law against Offenders and be no less careful to find out the Men of Merit and to trust advance and reward these Certainly such a Prince and such an Administration are so great Blessings and so much the greater because so little Common so few Instances of them occurring either in the Observation of the present Age or the Records of past times that wheresoever we meet them we ought to acknowledge they are the special Favours of Heaven and the most distinguishing Marks of God's loving a Nation The Blessings we now enjoy and that great One which at this time we do particularly Acknowledge do so naturally carry us to Devotions like those in my Text that all my Hearers must be beforehand with me in the Application But in our Case there are some Specialties that give it a peculiar Exaltation Solomon had his Crown his Treasures and Armies transmitted down to him Conquests were made for him he himself had gone through none of those Scenes of Horror but had an easy Inheritance conveyed from his Father without Battels or Blood Fatigue or Danger He was Bred up to the Maxims of Government and acquainted with all his Father's Secrets his Designs as well as his Conduct so that he began upon great Advantages David's Long and Glorious Reign before him had prepared Peoples Hearts to Love and Obey him who was God's Choice as well as his Father's The Building so Magnificent a Temple in the beginnings of his Quiet and Auspicious Reign made him the Delight and Wonder of his People Thus the Causes of his being so Great and Prosperous were very visible If then the Queen of Sheba was so struck with seeing Solomon in all his glory with how much louder Accents ought we to carry on the Hallelujahs of This Day who see a Prince Raised and Conducted by such a special train of Amazing Providences without any of those Supports that every Step he has made carries in it Characters of a particular Direction from Heaven He has indeed the Blood of Sovereigns in him but his Crowns are the Gifts of Heaven The Two Great Heroes of the last Age the Defenders of Religion and the Patrons of Liberty were proper Sources to give Life and Descent to One in whom their Characters were to be Exalted as well as their Dignity was to be Raised They were Both of a Race of Sovereigns One was of the First Form but what might be wanting in the Extent of their Territories and the Lustre of their Coronets was fully made up in those truly Royal Accomplishments of their Minds They were Capable of the greatest things and Acted in a Sphere suited to their Capacity They Talked little but did Wonders They had all the Gravity as well as all the Virtues of Religion in them without the Affectations of Shew or Hypocrisy They had none of the Arts of Flattery or Insinuation yet could bring vast Multitudes to Depend on them to Trust to them and to Obey them They had Souls of so peculiar a Make that they seemed Born to Animate whole Nations to a pitch of their own Courage to a like Zeal for Religion and a like Love of Liberty They lived Great but died Greater the greater for the conjunction of their Descent the mixing those Noble Qualities of their Minds as well as their Blood The Issue of such a Union was designed to Perfect the Work which they had begun That seemed Buried with them but was to
made strong for himself whom he has delighted to set on his Throne It is his doing and it is wonderful in our eyes The Characters of God's Care of his Affairs have been no less Signal than those relating to his Person Good Seasons and favourable Winds have attended constantly upon him The critical Turns of those Winds that brought him first hither were so amazing that those who observed them can never reflect on it without a constant freshness of Admiration All the many Passages that he and his Forces have since that time made on the Seas have been not only successful but smooth and quick On two great Occasions Nature seemed to go out of its Course to cover us from Invasion In the first the calmest Month in the Year was a continued Storm till we were ready to make use of fairer Weather and then we had it and by a great variety of Circumstances as happy to us as cross to our Enemies we had the most glorious Day that ever the Channel saw Beacons of a new form Fires from the Sea carried the dismal Tidings to the adverse Shores and scattered the Army lying ready to invade us That seemed to put an end to all Dangers from that Element we were restored to our Empire on this Sea which recovered and established our then sinking Reputation We found at another time a no less unusual reversing of Seasons we had a Winter that seemed to anticipate the Spring the Wind stood all the while in the warm Corner and broke the designs of sending a great part of our Naval Strength from us We little knew our danger and that all this was stopt by a watchful Interposition to cover us from a second Design of Invasion we were uneasy to see the Season so obstinately good so contrary to our Intentions and to what was to be expected at that time but we afterwards had large opportunities to observe the kind Direction of Heaven that made the Seasons wait on us and as it were conspire to break their own Laws rather than suffer a Breach to be made upon Us. Other favourable Circumstances shewed us also how God delighted to maintain him on the Throne under whose Shadow we are all to sit safe Plenty at home made us easy under all the Charge of the War and while our Neighbours for we have now no more any Enemies were much pressed with even the extremities of Want under those vast Impositions that lay on them we had enough and to spare to furnish the rest of the World and to supply that great waste of Treasure which came back in some Years faster then it went out And after all the unconceivable Expence of the War with all the Losses we made in it yet if it had not been for the wicked Practises of those Corrupters of our Coin at home with all the Train of mischievous Consequences that have followed upon them which was an Evil of our own growth and that had no relation to the Affairs abroad we had gone through it without feeling any uneasy pressure by it But that we have been able to provide effectual Remedies to the one while at the same time we have so gloriously maintained and now so happily finished the other is a secret Indication of the Power and Riches of the Nation in this Reign of which perhaps the most Sanguine could not have been convinced if they had not seen it Add to all this the noble Triumphs of Liberty One of the Common Topicks of the Enemies of Publick Liberty is That upon great occasions the Divisions in Councils and the length of Debates that do naturally arise in Free Assemblies bring such a backwardness and slowness on their Deliberations that the best Opportunities of acting are lost while they are consulting Here the Publick Interest was so visible that a concurrence beyond all former Examples has appeared in supporting Undertakings that seemed above the Strength and Wealth of the Nation Nor could such a Treasure have been raised by all the Efforts of Arbitrariness for nothing but the Certainties of the Faith given by the Body of the Nation could have created the Credit that was necessary in such unusual Supplies These went on with that Unanimity and Heartiness that we have reason to put this among the great Articles of that over-ruling Providence that has watched over us If at any time insuperable Difficulties made the Publick Consultations go heavily the Season was stopt the Course of Nature seem'd to stand still till we were ready for it So wonderful a Conduct has appeared both at home and abroad and in all the Elements as if every thing had been set at Work either to do us Good or at least to shelter us from Evil. I reckon not among the happy Instances of God's Care of us our being preserved from the restless Attempts of some wretched Incendiaries among our selves those Betrayers of Religion and their Country They are too inconsiderable to be ranked among the Occasions for which we do now celebrate the Blessings of Heaven If their Power and Skill had been equal to their Malice we should indeed have had great reason to rejoice that we have been preserved from a Race of Men whose Tongues have been set on Fire while the Poyson of Asps seemed to lie under their Lips but the one has proved as contemptible as the other was odious They ought not to be mentioned in a time of rejoycing in which Objects that give Horror ought to be kept out of sight yet how little reason soever we may have either to value or to love them we ought still to pity them and to pray for them that if possible they may be recovered out of the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity Let us turn to Nobler Objects and rejoice in the Glory of God and in our own Happiness while we see who is the Man whom God delights to honour whom by a concurrence of many Providences he first led to his Throne and whom he has hitherto maintain'd on it by as many more and has now given him as full an Establishment upon it as Humane things are capable of He has made his Enemies to be at Peace with him and while the much greater half of Europe own him to be its Recoverer and Restorer the rest do now unanimously call him that which He is Independent on all Foreign Acknowledgments THE RIGHTFVL AND LAWFVL KING OF THESE REALMS And to make the Parallel to my Text run exactly a much greater King lying at a vaster Distance leaves his Throne and Dominions in the midst of War struck with the Fame and amazed at the Actions of this Prince Instead of a little Southern Queen a mighty Northern Emperour cover'd with Laurels and us'd to Victories resolving to raise his Nation and enlarge his Empire comes to learn the best Methods of doing it and goes away full of Wonder possessed with truer Notions of Government But while we humbly adore those Instances
cruelly to death tho' they had let him live when he was in their Power Next he gave scope to his Rage against all those who had been concern'd in the Revolution both they and their Children were destroy'd without either Mercy or the Forms of Justice And because he had been ill used in the place of his Exile the Country now Inhabited by the Crim-Tartars he resolved to destroy or to use a Modern word to execute the whole Country His Army thought they had obeyed his Cruel Commands when they had Murdered all both Men and Women They indeed spared the Children they thought they could not be within their Orders they might be sold for Slaves or trained up to War They were bloody enough but not to the pitch of a Tyrant's Cruelty He resolv'd to satiate his Revenge even with the blood of Innocents and ordered them all to be shipt and brought to him They were upwards of Seventy Thousand A Storm fell upon them they all perished in the Euxine where they found a milder Fate than was prepared for them This gave him great joy because they had all perished it had been greater if he had glutted his own Eyes with so inhumane a sight but the Pleasure lasted not long he had now raised all Mankind against him his own Army abhorr'd him The second Revolt ended more Tragically they were not then contented to stigmatize him as before both he and his Son were cruelly put to death This Meditation may seem to go too far from the joyfulness of the present Occasion but perhaps nothing can make us feel it so sensibly as the remembring that we have been deliver'd from and the considering what might have been the Consequences of a fatal Relapse It remains that we look at the Ends of Government as they are express'd by the Queen in my Text. The two great ones are in these words with relation to God to be King for the Lord thy God and with relation to the People to establish them for ever Then follows the standing Maxims of a good King in the course of his Administration to do Judgment and Justice to execute Law to punish and reward leaving the severer part to Just and Impartial Judges and taking the Nobler one of Rewarding under his own Care and management To be King for the Lord his God is plainly to Govern in God's stead To consider Power and Authority as a derivation from him which will be then best applied when the first and chief of the Princes cares is to Maintain and raise the Honour of Religion Solomon began his Reign with the Executing David's Designs and the employing his Treasures in building a Temple of that Glory and Magnificence that it may be justly reckoned among the Wonders of the World This was suitable to Natural Religion and more particularly to that Dispensation then Instituted by God which was to have its last Finishing in this great Structure and in the exact Observance of all those Rules and Orders that had been settled by David In all this he was to Reign for the Lord his God to reduce the People that was so fond of outward State and Solemnity that they were thereby much disposed to Idolatry and to make them delight the more in the Worship of God by such a compliance with their Inclinations But the chief Instances in which he was to Rule for the Lord his God were the recommending Piety and Holiness by his own Example and the encouraging it by his Authority His Prayer in Dedicating the Temple gives a Noble Instance of the Impressions that Religion had made upon his own Mind Certainly those who reckon the Title of Defender of the Faith one of the peculiar Glories of the Crown will apply their Thoughts with a particular Zeal to every thing that may promote Religion both in their own Dominions and out of them The Decencies as well as the Solemnities of the Worship of God will not be thought below their Care But above all things the Contempt and Scorn of Sacred matters is that against which they will turn their indignation with the warmest Zeal and against those who do as it were attack Heaven and make War upon it who Study to render Religion as Contemptible to others as they have made it look to themselves What Prince cou'd suffer a subordinate Magistrate under him who should bear with all the Affronts put on Majesty as long as the lower respects due to himself were observed This may teach them with how just a Zeal they should punish those bold Attempts against Heaven tho' made by some who pretend to Zeal and Affection to themselves Such Persons instead of Supporting the Throne pull it down by engaging Heaven against all that they undertake It is a degree of Compliance with theiâ— wickedness to be pleased with them to trust them or to shew them favour But it is not enough not tâ— seem to be of the side of those who fight against God or to abett them Princes who Rule for God enter into all the true Concerns of Religion tho' not indeed into the Passions and Violences of those who espouse it While they check these they will promote the other in the most effectual manner An unblemish't Pattern set by themselves in the Purity and Probity of their own Deportment will give the fullest Authority to all their other Designs Next to their Persons their chief Care will be the reforming of their Court and Houshold and the letting it appear that Vertue and Religion are reckoned among the first and most indispensible Qualities of those who may pretend to Favour And that Vice and Impiety are insuperable barrs in the way to it Princes who Govern so that they Rule for God may justly expect that he will Watch over them and Protect them That he will make their Crown sit sure and easie and their Thrones safe and fix'd under them The Second Design for which such Kings are raised up is because God loves their People that by their means they may be established for ever that is in the Jewish Phrase for a long time A Happy tempering of Government at Home a subduing of Enemies abroad and a ballancing of Neighbours so equally that none of them may grow beyond their pitch are the surest Methods for arriving at a fixed Establishment We were so shaken at Home that the Foundations of our Government seem'd to be undermined not only by open and violent Attacks upon Liberty and Property but likewise by the more cover'd tho' no less dangerous Invasions made under the pretences of Law but against the plainest Intentions of it Colours were oft given to excuse that which in it self carried such a Face of Injustice that without those Masks it could not have passed upon a free People Success in some of these Attempts encouraged the Contrivers to a further prosecuting of them so that there was scarce any part of our Law left which those Harpies had not touch'd and by touching defil'd