as we may reasonably believe that God is concern'd for Thirdly When we see there was a great and near danger of losing that which God was concern'd for if this had not happened for its preservation I think these three that I have named are sure tokens by which we may Judge without danger of mistake that any thing that happens in this manner is of God's doing 1. First When we see a thing done that is great and extraordinary in it self or is like to be so in its consequence it sets us presently on thinking whence this should proceed For we know that nothing happens by chance every thing has a Cause wheher we know it or not But if we are so at a loss for it that either we see no Cause at all or none that can reach the effect What then We Judge the Cause to be something that is to us invisible The Heathens as they held every thing which they could not see to be a God so when they saw any thing done which they knew not how any creature should do they ascribed it to God Thus the Magicians of Egypt when they saw Moses turn dust into lice a thing which they could not do with all their Inchantments They confessed that this was the finger of God When the Syrians saw their mighty armies overcome by a handful of Israelites they knew it was not done by humane strength what then It must be a Divine power that assisted them When the Jews that were returned from the Babylonian Captivity had built up the Wall about Jerusalem in fifty two days which was a very unaccountable thing even their Enemies the Moabites and others that saw it confessed that this was the work of God Thus they Judged not from any peculiar notions of their own Nation or Religion but it was the reasoning of humane nature upon that Hypothesis that there is a God that governs the World And therefore much more we that have Revelation for this Wee that have the holy Scriptures which teach us that from him and by him are all things when we see such things done as could be from no other it confirms us that such things must be from God It is that Allwise and Allmighty Being that sheweth himself now by his ordinary Providence in such works as are above our reason and strength no less then he did by works of Miracle to them that lived in Scripture times Secondly Especially we see this in such works as appear to be done for such purposes as wee have all reason to believe God would be most especially concerned for in this World This is the second thing that I proposed among the ways we have to Judge that any great work is of God's doing The Old Romans in judging of Criminal matters when they would knâ—w the author of any thing that was done one of their fiâ—st Questions was that of Cassius Cui bono Who has been or who was like to be the better for this If the benâ—fit of it redounded to any person whether to himself or to his Children or his family that gave a shrewd suspicion that he was the Author of it The same way one may guess at the author of any Action whatsoever the nature of it may be And by this measure God is pleased to give us leave to Judge of him and of his doings This he tells us in the first place that he made all things for his Glory It is that which we are therefore to consider in the first place as being the chief end of all his doings Whatsoever is contrary to that and so is all sin whatsoever we are sure he is not the Author of it And though he suffers such things as far as he sees fit yet he does not even that but so as it may turn to his Gâ—ory But of all things that he has made he loveth those things best that are fittest to set forth his Glory Those are here upon earth the Rational beings whom he Createâ— in his own Image howsoever by Sin they are fallen from it Again among these his chief care is for them whom he has reâ—â—emed to himself Especially he takes care for the Bâ—dy oâ— his redeem'd ones that is for his Church And therefore for those societies of men that are his Church in the several Kingdoms or Nations As this is his chief care for Persons so for Things he is chiefly concerned for those things by which man sheweth forth his Image all those Godlike Qualities of Truth and Righteousness and Peace and Charity and Mercy and the like And above all for true Religion and the true Worship of God These things are directly for his glory therefore these things are his great concernment in the World That Gods greatest care of all is for his Church this is so clear that they that held a multiplicity of Gods the Heathens thought it most reasonable to believe that every God should be most concern'd for his own people They believed the God of Israel would do things for his own people that he would not do for any other And therefore when they saw great things done for Israel they did not doubt that those things were done by Israel's God In like manner whatsoever may be done by any other supernatural power as it cannot be denied that Devils may do great things that may resemble the wonderful works of God yet they are to be distinguisht by this that whereas God's works are for the good of his Church and for the promoting of Religion and Goodness which are his great concernment in the World Whatsoever tends to the destruction of these we may be sure it is not the work of God It is the Enemy that hath done this And yet when the Enemy has done his worst which may go very far towards the Destruction of the Church so far as to bring it into great sufferings by the permission of God for the Chastisement of his People which having obtain'd its effect they will have cause to thank God for their sufferings Yet I say when the Devil has done his worst before it comes to utter destruction God will find a way to deliver his people and that is truly the work of God 3. And the neerer they were to destruction the more visible is his work in their deliverance that 's the third thing I have to shew The greater danger there was of our losing that for which God is concern'd so much the more of his Hand appears in our deliverance from it The greatest dangers are those which as to men appear to be insuperable Therefore the more any danger appears to be such the more it appears to be worthy of God that he should deliver us from it For though as to him all things are easie alike no one work is harder then another to make the World out of nothing no more then making Lice out of Dust Yet as to us there is a great difference for we are most affected with
such works as seem to us to be of the greatest difficulty When all Humane help fails then it is worthy of God to shew himself to be the deliverer of his people And therefore God has chosen such times when his people have been at or near the very brink of destruction then to give them deliverance from it We may see this in many Instances in Scripture The most tamed Instance is that of God's bringing his people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea We read the like of Hezekiah's deliverance from Senacheribs's army The Book of Judges is full of such great works of God for the deliverance of his people Such things as God did then by Miracle he doth now in the course of his Ordinary Providence things which no man can do nor can think how they were done And when he thus delivers his people from such dangers as seemed to be inevitable and especially when at such a pinch of time when nothing but destruction is look'd for that then deliverance cometh in the stead such a work has so many marks of Gods hand upon it that whosoever sees and considers it cannot but say this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes Now for the Application of this I am to shew all those marks of Gods hand that they are in the work of this day I speak plainly in the Restauration of the Royal Family and therewith of our Church and Religion our Government and Laws the most valuable things in this Nation But though that which led in all the rest and that which giveth the title to the day the Restauration of the King that then was and of all the Royal Family tho that I say is and ought to be the chief subject as well of our Sermons as of our Prayers and praises on this day Yet I shall at this time crave leave to insist chiefly upon the restoring of our Church and Religion as being the great concernment of God in this Nation In order to which Kings and Queens are chiefly a blessing to a Nation As to Civil government this is the only promise that God has made to us in Gospel Times that Kings and Queens shall be nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church which he has now Graciously accomplish'd to us And therefore to return to the work of this day I am to prove that this was the Lords doing by shewing these three marks of his hand upon it First that the restoring of the Royal Family was for the benefit of the Church of God and of the true Christian Religion Secondly that it was in a most needful time when Gods true Church and true Religion were in the utmost danger of being extinguisht in this Nation Thirdly that then God was graciously pleased to preserve and restore it by such means as were to men unaccountable These three things being proved it will certainly appear that the work of this day was the Lords doing The same may be said of all our other deliverances since I cannot when I speak of such things I cannot without ingratitude to God but mention that mercy of the late Revolution and those of our deliverances since especially that of this present time All these being so visibly the effects of Gods continued care of us being all for the same Church and Nation all in times of great and near danger and all with the like Evidence of Gods hand in them so that whosoever considers them severally cannot but see reason enough to acknowledge that each of these was the Lords doing as well as the great work of the Kings restauration 1. But first I am to shew that This was the work of God It was certainly so If ours be a true Church of God If it be did I say I said it not as doubting but taking it for granted as we have Just reason to do We have reason to insist upon that which has been sufficiently proved in so many excellent Books as have been written in the Just vindication of our Church I need not say more particularly what has been done of this kind especially in the last reign when the Press was most open and free to all sorts of our Adversaries That more then Liberty that Power they had then gave the world occasion to see how little they had to say against us And therefore after such a tryal as this we ought to take it for granted that ours is a true Church of God as it stands establisht at this day To this we may add the Testimonies of all the Reform'd Churches abroad who not only agree with us in Doctrine but allow of our Orders and Worship and Sacraments and are so far from denying us to be a Reform'd Church that they own us to be the Bulwark of the Reformation They that will not allow of this proof and of these Testimonies that I have mentioned as they cannot expect to be heard in this place so if they have any thing to object against them they will not want an answer elsewhere Only in this place I cannot but mind them If they are Papists how they have used to reckon wordly prosperity among their notes of a true Church and if they are other Dissenters how they used when time was to value themselves by it that God own'd them by Acts of his Providence I hope neither of them will take it amiss if we tell them again that God has not left us altogether without witness of that kind What greater Testimonies could he give to any Church then he has done to ours in those wonderful deliverances he has given us Not to go to Old things such as that of Eighty Eight and at the time of the Gunpowder Treason tho these were as great as ever were given to any Nation yet we need not go so far back we have enough to name of later memory many and great deliverances and those fresh in memory even in the memory of you all that hear me this day 1. But first upon this day I must insist on that Deliverance that we had at the Kings Restauration How great a Deliverance that was they that were not then born can scarce conceive but I shall tell you what they that lived then saw and know We were then as to our Civil Government after many horrible things which I do not love to repeat after many vain Attempts to set up a Commonwealth which stood like a Castle of Cards pray pardon the Comparison we were at last come to be under no Government at all unless I may call that a Government which an Army sets up and pulls down as often as they please It was such a State of a Nation than which worse cannot well be spoke or conceived Not to give you a Detail of the many Mischiefs that are contained in it I will only give you two Examples of the wretchedness of this Estate I could name you many more but these two are the best known that
with their Consciences in the Roman Church And at first we were made to believe it should be as we hoped But Alas we soon found those Dispensers with Conscience were too hard for us Instead of suffering him to let us enjoy our Religion and Laws they made use of their Power quite the contrary way It is as I said a Melancholy thing to speak of or even to think of it But it was too plain They had brought things to that pass that our Laws signified nothing but what they pleased Our Religion was held at the Curtesie of them that were the bloody Enemies of it Our Obedience was made use of as a perfect Snare to us We must not Resist that our Religion would not allow We could not Petition neither but at our peril What should we do then but let things go on in their Course They had us bound Hand and Foot They might do what they pleased with us They had us at their Mercy such as it is And considering the Mercy of Jesuits which in France and in England is much the same I think we have good grounds to judge that if they had held their Power six Months longer France is no worse Kingdom for a Protestant to live in then England would have been at this time But what hinder'd Nothing but the Prince of Orange's coming over nothing else could have hinder'd in all humane appearance He was the onely Prince in the World that could and durst Interpose between us and the last Stroke of our Enemies It was so hazardous an Attempt that I am amazed when I think of it how so wise a Prince could Embark himself in that Expedition much more how he could perswade the wary Dutch to venture with him in so many great Dangers and Difficulties as if he had miscarried would have certainly sunk their whole Nation I can give no other Reason for this but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an irresistible Impulse of God It was that Divine Power that has so often preserved this Church and Nation that now took this way to prevent that Ruine that was coming upon us It was God that Infatuated our Oppressors to joyn the Injuries of a People that could not lawfully Resist with those of a Prince that could not lawfully pass them by without Resistance A Prince whose Fates are so knit to those of the Publick of his Countrey of this Nation and of the Protestant Religion that as it is visible they cannot stand without him so he shew'd by this Proof that he had no mind to live after them Can any one think that thinks at all how these Just and great Interests could have been preserved how any one of these could have stood any otherwise then by his venturing himself as he did or when he had gone so far how he could Retreat afterwards without taking the Government upon him when it was as it were thrown into his Hands when he must either take that or lose all for there never was â—ny Offer of any other Condition But for the Justifying of what he did enough has been said and written I am now to shew only this that it was the great Work of God And of this the Marks are so clear that it cannot be denied even by them that would dispute the Justice of it For what can they say to so many things that God only can do and that all concurr'd together in this matter Was it by chance that things were so prepared Abroad that the French King tho' he had notice of this Expedition yet should be so blinded or benumm'd as to do nothing to hinder it Was it by chance that Winds and Seas which at that time of the year are most intractable were yet so wholly engaged on his Side that they both shut in the English Fleet that would have endanger'd him and brought him safe to the best Haven in England for his purpose Was it by chance that a whole Nation 's Hearts divided before in Religions and Interest should be now so united as they were to wish and pray and long for his coming These are all extraordinary things Yet if only one of these had happen'd That indeed might have been said to be by chance but no one or two would have done his business If all three had not concurr'd as they did the want of any one would have spoil'd his Expedition and such a Concurrence of such three things together any one of which was above the power of Man this I take to have been an extraordinary Providence of God Whosoever denies this I cannot but wonder at him But he that only doubts may soon find wherewith to be confirm'd Let him consult his own memory of things and let him see how every Year since this Revolution has brought forth a fresh Testimony of the care of God's Providence If Ireland had been quite lost the first Year it had involved his Majesty in the greatest Dâ—fficulties and Perplexities But do you remember how and by whom it was preserved even by the incredible Courage and Bravery of a few Men driven to Derry and Iniskellin much unprovided half Armed and wholly unskill'd in Warlike Matters See the next Year if then our Fleet had been lost none can doubt but that would have made a short end of the business But how was it preserved at that time when the Enemies Fleet were coming with full purpose to have burnt it in the Haven of Portsmouth What preserved us from this great Danger nothing but a sudden stop of the Wind that would not let them put this well laid Design in Execution After that when they had got an Advantage in Fight which quite divided and disorder'd our Fleet what hinder'd them so many Tides while they might have destroy'd it nothing could have hinder'd them but the unaccountable Will of God It was about the same time that his Majesty was in that Danger which I even tremble to think of and yet there is some comfort in the thought of it at this time He is sure the only King if not the only Man in the World that had his Skin brusht off with a Cannon Bullet without any other ill Consequence as if it had not come to do any hurt but rather an Honor to his Majesty Go on and remember this last Year when it was of so great moment to his Majesties Affairs that he should finish the Reducing of Ireland that Year what a strange appearance there was of a Divine Conduct over his Majesties Forces at Athlone and Agbrim and especially at Limeric which could not have been Reduced otherwise They are such Marks of Gods Hand in his Majesties Affairs that whosoever is not affected with a sense of it I should think that either he has not heard the truth of these things or he has an ill Memory that do's not retain what he has heard or some worse Defect there is that I would not name Sure I am that upon some of
of the Kingdom of the ten Tribes of Israel and that of the Roman Empire after Commodus's time First of the Kingdom of Israel after the murder of Zechariah the last King of Jehu's Family After his Death there was no King for some years together Then the Army set up a King They kill'd him and set up another There were five such Kings one after another every one coming in by the killing of his Predecessor How the Nation flourisht the mean while you may guess or you may read in the Book of Hosea he Prophesied at that time and he tells us how this People having cast off God he cast off them to utter destruction and this way he brought it upon them In the Roman Empire after Commodus's Death who was the last of the Aelian Family after him the Army set up whom they pleased for above a hundred years together In this time they had about twenty Emperors I mean successively for of Competitors they had near thirty at one time but I do not reckon these Of those successive Emperors there were but two or three that succeeded their own Fathers all the rest came in by Violence and went out by violent Deaths For the People the mean while what Case they were in you may imagine At almost every Change there was Rapine and Oppression and Blood till Diocletian's time He indeed put a stop to these Evils but there was no end of them till Constantine the Great set up a kind of Hereditary Empire From these two Examples we may guess what we were to have expected if the Power had continued in the Army We had some trial of it in the last Year of their Reign when not to say what they had done before they changed the Government for us five or six times in the compass of that One year For Religion the mean while whosoever considers what it was that prevailed in the Army may easily judge to what a miserable pass we were brought There were of all Religions among them but ours and they granted a Liberty to all but ours Yes they joyn'd Popery with it in their Declarations Prelacy and Popery were always Excepted together But as for Popery as it was never more freely Profest so I will be bold to say it never had a greater Harvest then at that time But with Prelacy they were in earnest We found it so in being deprived of all those Rights the Law had given us Our Liturgy our Sacraments our Offices of Worship tho' they were Establisht then as much by Law as they are now yet Men were punisht without and against Law for using them But that which was worst our Body of a Church was dissolved our Discipline was trod under foot our Eyes could not see our Teachers and as for our Bishops the Order was near being extinct it subsisted but in five or six old Men that probably might have died all within one or two years Let others think as light of this as they please they that have a true sense of Religion will grant that these were Wounds in the Vitals of the Church of which our Church had certainly died at that time if he that raises Men from the Dead had not given our Church a new Life at the Kings Restauration But how was that brought about I am coming to shew that it was a most visible Work of God so visible that I know not whether any thing could be more perhaps we may except one thing that hath lately happened but certainly there was no greater in all the Examples of ancient Times The great Instance of old in the Christian Church was that which I mentioned of Constantine the Great It was indeed the Hand of God that brought him into the Government But I do not know whether his coming in was more wonderful then that of the Kings Restauration Here was certainly a greater Force to oppose then any that stood in Constantine's way to keep him out of the Government There were both in England and all over the three Kingdoms great numbers that would have done all they could to have hinder'd the Kings Restauration being engaged so to do not only by their Affections but even by their Judgment and Conscience and few of these but were engaged by their Interest too All these having Swords in their Hands or being backt by an Army that had such a numerous Army of Disciplin'd experienced Men as well paid as ever was Army in the world as absolute in their Power and as unwilling to part with it How was it possible that all those Armed Men should either lay down their Arms or wear them to bring in his Majesty that those others likewise should give up their Interests and smother their Prejudices and Disaffections that all the Kings Enemies should be so charmed that at his coming in not a Dog should stir his Tongue against him A Thing that was certainly done do I ask how it was possible The matter is plain that which is impossible with Men is possible with God It was God that did that which none other but God could do It was God that partly turned their Hearts and partly insatuated their Counsels Their dividing as they did among themselves was an absolute Insatuation And when they were thus divided God turn'd the Hearts of part of them to bring in his Majesty But especially it was God that so united the Hearts of the People not only in this but in all the three Kingdoms as they never were before nor since but upon one Occasion If ever there was an Agreement of the People we know when there was a thing falsly so called but if ever there was truly such it was at the Kings Restauration Other things I might instance wherein God shewed himself wonderfully at that time But if there were no more then these three that I have mentioned I think these are enough to shew it was the Lords doing He did great and unaccountable things he did them for the preservation of his Church he did them at that time when she was at the very brink of destruction Our Church was certainly then at the brink of destruction But was it never so since If we forget we are extreamly unthankful to God It is too true we are an unthankful People but yet none of us can easily forget so great a Dinger as we were in so lately as within these four years I know no Man of the Church of England except a few rotten Members that shewed what they were then and since none besides but what did acknowledge we were in extreme danger at that time It was a Melancholy thing to have our King whom our Religion binds us to obey for Conscience sake come to be of that Religion that obliges him to destroy us for Conscience sake All our hope was that our practising the Duty of our Religion would make him be dispensed with for the Obligation of His. For we know they have them that can dispense