in obliging them at least to the Decencies of Vertue and Religion Go on and prosper in these noble Designs What are Conquests and Triumphs the wasting and dispeopling of Cities and Provinces which make such a Figure in the false Estimate of the World compared to the more real and solid Honours of reforming vitious Courts luxurious Cities and degenerated Countries This is so hard and will be such a decried Undertaking especially by those who need it most and who ought to promote it chiefly that no small Degree of Courage and Resolution is necessary to support those that set about it Suffer me to repeat to you the Words with which God himself animated Joshua on the like occasion Be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayst observe to do according to all the Law which Moses my Servant commanded thee Turn not from it to the right Hand or to the left that thou mayst prosper whither-soever thou goest This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy Mouth but thou shalt meditate therein Day and Night that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy Way prosperous and then thou shalt have good Success Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of a good Courage be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest These Words were said to Joshua after he had shewed his military Courage upon great Occasions and import that besides the Magnanimity of affronting Danger there is a Courage in the Mind necessary to repress Sin and to maintain Vertue and Religion that must compleat and perfect the other Happy you that have it in your Power to be such Blessings to Mankind May your Will equal your Power and may all things bend to your Authority May it be ever imployed in advancing the Honour of God and the Kingdom of his dear Son May your Persons be ever safe under his Protection and your Government happy under his Influence And may we at the Conclusion of every Year have fresh matter to rejoice in God both on your Account and on our own who hath done great things for you and for us all both in you and by you And let us all study that our Thankfulness to God may at least bear some Proportion to his Goodness to us Let us pay the Vows that we made to him in our Days of Fasting and Prayer and as we desire another happy Year to conclude what is so far carried on in this let us make such a right Use of our present Advantages and such decent Returns for the Blessings that we have in hand as may give us a Title to expect the compleating them in another Season We are now almost in Sight of Land and the Prospect is so fair that nothing but our Sins and our Divisions can stop a Course of Success and Glory that is near its last and highest Point May no corrupt nor misguided Humours no unjust Jealousies nor peevish Resentments no Faction nor Animosity in our Councils retard or defeat those great Designs which have been hitherto under such a visible Conduct and Blessing from above Suffer me to sum up all in the Words of Samuel upon an occasion not much unlike this Now therefore this is the King and Queen that you have desired and behold the Lord hath set them over you if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his Voice and not rebel against the Commandment of the Lord then shall both you and the Kings that reign over you continue following the Lord your God And a little after he redoubles the Exhortation Only fear the Lord and serve him in Truth with all your Heart for consider how great things he hath done for you May they be compleated May they be lasting and may they produce amongst us all that for which they are intended May our Princes still triumph May their Councils be always wise and their Forces ever prosperous And may we and our Posterity after us rejoice long in our Kings May they live long and may their Names live for ever and may all Nations call them blessed May Religion and Vertue prevail and flourish and the Church be established under them May they ever preserve Mercy and Truth that so they may be ever preserved and their Throne always upheld by them May Justice and Righteousness ever flow from them and such an Abundance of Peace as may make us both safe and rich great and happy under their Protection so that both we and all round about us when we reflect on the 88 of this Age may almost forget the 88 of the former and that our second 5 th of November may wear out the Remembrance of the 1 st And to conclude all for I can rise no higher May the Happy and Glorious Days of Queen Elizabeth be darkned and eclipsed by the more Happy and more Glorious Reign of KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell SOME Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the A â—olent Churches of PIEDMONT By PETER ALLIX D. D. A Vindication of their Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of the deprived Bishops in a letter out of the Country occasioned by Dr. B 's Refund of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4to V. CL. GVLIELMICAMDENI Illustrium Vi â—erum ad G. Gamutnum EPISTOLAE Cum Appendice varii Argumenti Accesseruit A â—ndli â—â— Regni Regis Jacobi I. Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescalli Angliae Praemittitur G. Camdeni vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho S.T.D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672 to the Peace concluded 1679. 8vo Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum 4to ADVERTISEMENT PROPOSALS will be shortly published by Richard Chiswell for Subscription to a Book now finished intituled ANGLIAE SACRAE PARS SECVNDA sive Collectio Historiarum antiquitus Scriptarum de Archiepiscopis Episcopis Angliae à prima Fidei Christianae Susceptione ad annum MDXL. Plures antiquas de Vitis Regni gestis Praesulum Anglicorum Historius sine certo ordine congestas complexa In Arts â—â—de Plin â—inlr â—â— Quod enim pr â—â—stabilius aut pulchrius munus Deorum quam cistus sanctus dii â— simillimus Princeps qui nec minus hominem se quam hominibus prae â—â—se meminit sid â—lissuna custo â—li â— Principis ipsius â—ano â—â—ncia Jul. Capit. Nemo illum plaugendum censuit oertis omnibus quod a Diis comodatus ad Deos Rediisset 2. Sam. 18. 3. 4. Dan. 27. Luke 6.35 Psalm 55. 12 13. Rev. 2. 9. 1 Sam. 10.9 10. 1 Sam. 10.1 Chap. 1 â— 24 26. Verse 27. 1 Sam. 17.3 Verse 12. V. 13. V. 14. 2 Sam. 19 22. Non est tami Vita ut si ego non periam cum mul â—i perdendi sunt Lib. de Clem Regibuscertior est ex mansuetudine securitas quia frequens vindicta paucorum odium reprimit omnium irritat Voluntas oportet ante saeviendi quam causa deficiat Liberi mei pereant si magis amari merebitur Avidius quaÌ„illi si magis Reipublicae expediat Cassium vivere quam liberos Marci Oro atque obsecro ut censura vestra deposita meam pietatem clementiamque servetis Vivant igirur securi scientes sub Marco se vivere Scis enim ubi vera Principis ubi sempiterna sit Gloria ubi sint honores in quos nihilflammis nihil senectuti nihil successoribus liceat 1 Sam. 3.11 1 Sam. 8.5 Josh. 1. 7 8 9. 1 Sam. 12 13 14 24.
THE Bishop of SALISBURY'S THANKSGIVING SERMON Before the KING and QUEEN PRINTED By His Majesty's Special Command A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL On the 26 th of NOVEMB 1691. BEING THE Thanksgiving-Day FOR THE Preservation of the KING AND THE Reduction of IRELAND By the Right Reverend Father in God GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCI A SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN At WHITE-HALL c. PROV XX. 28. Mercy and Truth preserve the King and his Throne is upheld by Mercy THERE is no properer nor usefuller way of praising God for the repeated Blessings with which â—he Crowns every Year and by which he is establishing and perfecting that great Deliverance which he wrought for us Three Years ago than to observe the dependance of these blessings upon the following of those Rules which he himself has prescribed By this we are preserved from the false opinion of a partiality of the Divine Providence towards our selves or others or the supposing that it will still favour us let us be or do what we please And by this we are taught that we ought not to expect the continuance of Gods Favour to us any longer than we continue true to those Laws and Rules that he has given us And therefore in Psal. 107. where the blessings that God grants to those who in their extremities call upon him are set forth with much Variety and in a very Poetical Strain the Conclusion of all is Who is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the kindness of the Lord. If we are full of the sense of the Goodness of God both to our King and to our selves in the preserving the King's Person and in the maintaining the Throne which are the two subjects of the present Thanksgiving it is fit and proper for this occasion to observe what may be supposed to be the conditions upon which such Blessings are granted and upon the continuance in which we may hope for the continuance and encrease of them Since then Solomon was the wisest of Men as well as of Kings and that his Wisdom was without doubt chiefly applied to that which was his proper Business we may very certainly depend upon his Observation tho' there had not been a special Inspiration accompanying it He in the Words of my Text makes the preservation of Kings to depend upon their Mercy and Truth But he plainly insinuates that Mercy had in this the largest share and therefore in the redoubling of the Period Mercy is only named so that the weight and stress of his observation and by consequence of this Discourse must lye upon Mercy tho Truth and Fidelity must likewise have its share The chief glory of Princes and the chief of their Titles tho they should swell them up with all the loftiness of the Eastern Courts is That they are God's Deputies and Vicegerents here on earth that they represent him and by consequence that they ought to resemble him The outward respect paid them carries a proportion to that Character of Divinity which is on them and that supposes an imitation of the Divine Perfections in them Every Man is made after the Image of God and in the right of that he hath a Dominion over this earth and all its productions over all the Beasts of the Field the Fowls of the Air the Fishes of the Sea But as much as men are preferable to all these so much ought Those who have Dominion over them to excel all others in this Resemblance It is a noble Thought in Plutarch That there are three things for which we adore the Deity and in which we desire to resemble it Eternity Power and Goodness for Eternity we all know we are Mortal and cannot live for ever the Elements and Frame of things last much longer Power is a gift of Fortune nor is it in it self any great matter Storms and Thunders have more force than the most mighty Potentates But Virtue and Goodness which lye within all mens reach are the resemblances of the Supream Being which make every man shine and render those that are in Power and Authority truly Divine The famous Panegerick has exprest this not more nobly than truly What greater or usefuller gift can the Divinity bestow upon Mortals than a Prince that is Virtuous and Holy and that resembles the Gods themselves Pardon this ill-sounding expression of his Heathenism who governs so as to remember both that he himself is a Man and that they are also Men over whom he is set and that considers that his own Innocence is his best Defence and his surest Guard Crowns and Scepters when ill-placed discover the defects of those whose Minds are not equal to their Fortunes and make them more conspicuous and sensible But when those whom they adorn have the Inward Ornaments of real Worth and Goodness they give them all possible advantages and set them in a true Light For the brightness of Majesty when not tempered with the softness of Mercy is like a scorching Sun who destroys every thing upon which his Beams do fall The simplest Notions which all men have of God as well as the discoveries which inspired Writings give us of him represent him as a Being in which Truth and Goodness do dwell in perfection which are the Attributes that we need the most and to which we trust chiefly in which we rejoyce daily and for which we offer up our most solemn Adorations Therefore whatever other Characters of Glory may appear upon Princes be they ever so wise and vigilant so brave and generous let them have all the Arts of Government all the Oeconomy and Conduct all the Magnificence and Lustre possible the vastest Treasures the strongest Frontiers and the most victorious Armies yet where Mercy and Truth are wanting where they are Perfidious and Cruel they are rather the Representatives of him that was a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning than of that God who is just and true in all his ways and merciful and gracious towards all his works If these are wanting the greater they are in all other respects they are the juster Resemblances of those Apostate Spirits the Princes of the power of the Air who have great Dominions and a vast activity but it is all imployed to mischief and ruine and as their Worshippers in some barbarous Nations reckon that nothing works so powerfully for appeasing their anger or procuring their favour as Rivers of Gore and that they are then best pleased when their Altars swim in humane Blood so those who delight in Blood in innocent Blood and especially in the Blood of their own Subjects shew what is the Original after which they Copy and the Pattern upon which they form themselves A true picture of the Deity is a Prince that loves his people and is tender of them that renders them safe by his Protection and happy by his
beheld those Scenes of horrour and spectacles of misery that must have followed and have seen Europe divided between its Eastern and Western devourers But that a train so dextrously laid and so successful in its first Operations should have no farther effect but to shew at once both the greatness of the danger and the yet greater care of Heaven to teach more precaution and to discover the blackness of our Enemies looks as if every Year were to produce a new and unlookt for wonder and that the Cannon Ball upon the Boyne and the Bombs upon the Eure are instances vying one with another both in the nearness of the danger and in the greater nearness of that favour which compasses the King about as with a Shield Such an extraordinary preservation may justly swallow up ones thoughts so entirely that other things may be forgot by the transport it raises Yet upon due recollection tho this is enough to fill us with deep acknowledgments we have another Scene of wonders before us Our Neighbouring Island had been long in a most terrible Convulsion the Seat of War and Rapine the Fire and the Sword had gone over the breadth and the length of it and had turned it to a heap of Ruines and Ashes The Inhabitants reduced on the sudden from a full Plenty to the Extremities of Misery multitudes of all Ranks and Ages and of both Sexes were forced to fly hither and sink under the heavy Load of Want It is true they found Relief both from the Royal Bounty and the Charity of this Nation but after all as Charity is a Word of hard digestion to a generous Mind so their Numbers made that every ones share must be small where so many wanted Our Enemy had created to us a vast distraction on that side which supported the Spirits and Hopes of our secret and perhaps our most malicious Enemies here at home The slow motions at the beginning of the Summer together with some other accidents made all people apprehend that the miseries of that Kingdom were like to lie upon it yet one year longer But the unexampled Courage of our Army and the great Zeal and Fidelity of those that commanded it broke through all Obstacles in a series of Actions every one of which will pass down to Posterity among the Wonders of Military Valour and the Prodigies of Gallantry and Success and in conclusion when relief was so near when they were pressed with no necessities but those which their own fears or disorders threw them into so that there was all possible reason to fear another cruel Winter as well as a fourth bloody Summer That Kingdom is intirely reduced and in that the Civil War is at an end and our Kings are possessed of the Love and Duty or at least of the fear and dread of all their Subjects Here we have all that can work either on our Compassion for our Brethren or our care of our selves to raise and fill our Hearts with Joy and Gladness Our miserable Brethren who for a great while never lay down without looking for a dreadful Alarm of flames about them or of Enemies no less merciless than these and next to the fury of their cruel Enemies were most affraid of some of their unruly Friends they do now lie down and sleep in Peace and are setting about the Cultivating of their wasted Fields and the Re-building their ruinated Cities We are delivered from the danger as well as the charge of that devouring War and being now quiet at home we are more at leisure and in a better capacity to look abroad into the World and to reassume that which is the true Honour as well as the Interest of this Government how much and how fatally soever it may have been not only neglected but betrayed for almost a whole Age of adjusting the Scales and maintaining the Ballance of Europe These are such signal Blessings that it may seem a diminution of them to bring lesser matters into the Account which yet deserve well to be remembred Every one of them carries shining Characters upon it of Gods care of us and his goodness to us All that related either to our selves or our Allies has been visibly under that Protection our concerns have been every where safe and in many places Glorious and Triumphant Our Enemies have failed in their Undertakings and most of ours have succeeded Our Wealth and Trade has been preserved and our Fleets have returned with this Glory That no Enemy durst look upon them We are now in Peace and Safety in Plenty and Abundance and let us look abroad and see if there is any Nation under Heaven that has half the Blessings to answer for that we have Thus it is plain that our King has been wonderfully preserved and his Throne no less wonderfully upheld Our next enquiry must be what share Mercy and Truth but more eminently Mercy may have in this Mercy is that Divine temper that makes us both pity the miserable and forgive the injurious the former of these is more Universal and Natural to Mankind the second is more Heroical and Divine it works in opposition to the sense of Injuries and the resentment which arises out of that which if not check'd by better thoughts and a nobleness of Soul raises a ferment that works strongly in ungoverned Nature The elevation of Princes as it raises them above the common miseries of Mankind so it very often makes them Insensible of those Calamities which their Subjects suffer often by their means they are so accustomed to be slattered by others that by degrees they come to slatter themselves as if they ought to take no share in other mens troubles But as the Divine Goodness extends to all and his tender mercies are over all his Works so Princes that pity the miserable and provide for them that give both access and redress to their Complaints that protect them by their Justice and relieve them by their Mercy and that with the Roman Emperour reckon that day lost in which no occasion has been given them of doing good of making a sad Heart glad and a miserable Family easie Such Princes I say by imitating the Supream Being in one of its fairest and lovliest Perfections come under its particular care They have also instead of other Taxes the Praises and Prayers of great Multitudes ascending up continually as Incense before God These according to Daniels Advice to a very bad King are a redeeming their Iniquiries and do procure a lengthning of their Tranquillity And if they could have such effects in favour of an Idolatrous Tyrant what may PRINCES that are Good and Religious expect from them What may they not expect from them They by such Acts of Mercy procure to themselves many Affectionate and Zealous Subjects even those who do not need this Instance of their Mercy yet must love them for it they know they may need it so they have that reserve for misfortune In a word
a compass of Mercy far beyond their measure and tho it is not to be denied but that too great an easiness to forgive may have some Mischiefs attending it yet happy is the Nation that is under Princes who may be too good on some occasions but can be cruel on none especially when that flows not from a feeble Easiness but from true Principles and a real firmness and strength of Mind But after all Mercy hath its Bounds and it is often fit and sometimes necessary that those who have long abused it and have presumed much upon it should feel the Weight of the Law and the Burden of their own Crimes If Mercy has its Limits the next Fence in my Text has none at all Truth does also preserve the King and that does at all times and upon all Occasions bind equally The Notion of Truth is so plain and the Necessity of it is so visible that all Mankind seem to agree almost equally both in commending and in neglecting it all Men claim it from the rest of Mankind but almost every Man pretends here to a dispensing Power for himself The common Notion of Truth is an Opposition to all manner of Falshood Doubleness or Deceit This is the Foundation of all Confidence and the Cement of all Society and it is not only the Honour but both the chief Strength and the best Treasure of Princes This makes their Subjects depend upon them and their Allies trust to them the Pressures and the Fears of Men of low Degree force them sometimes to make Lies their Refuge they escape to it from a present Mischief which to them is more sensible than a lasting Inconvenience that a Discovery which often comes and is always to be feared will bring upon them But Princes are exalted far above all those Occasions that poorer Men may have for a Lie as long as their Designs are noble and good when these grow bad they must indeed betake themselves to as bad shifts but those will soon be found out and then though their Condition will free them from the Injuriousness of a Discovery yet the Inconveniencies of it will hang upon them as long as they live and therefore Solomon reckoned lying Lips in a Prince one of the greatest Incongruities that could be thought on Happy those who how hard soever it may be to have the Word or obtain the Promise of a Prince yet when they have it know that they can trust to it and depend upon it Truth stands sometimes for Integrity in Opposition to Corruption and Bribery this is that to which Princes in their own Persons are little subject unless it be to betray a Confederate or sell an Alliance Accidents that happen but seldom but the best Courts and the worthiest Princes are subject to Corruption by Proxy to have their Favour and often their Justice too and the Protection and Security of their People set to sale and that sometimes so grosly as if an Auction were proclaimed to him that bids most Men of Vanity Avarice and Luxury that design both to live profusely and to raise vast Fortunes cannot compass all this with regular Appointments and fair Purchase but rather than fail in it they will prostitute themselves and as much as in them lies the Honour of the Prince likewise by this means a King suffers not only in the Esteem and Love of his People but all his Affairs do likewise suffer sensibly especially in critical Times No Man thinks so much how to serve him as how to rob the Publick and every one reckons that he owes neither Gratitude nor Duty when he comes in as a Purchaser the first Duty he thinks is to himself and his Family to recover once what he laid out that so he may live afterwards on clear Gains One Emperor nailed to the Bench the Skin of a Judg that sold Justice and another ordered a Favourite to be smoaked to Death for selling the Credit he had with him and said It was fit that he should die by Air who had sold it If this Death was too witty yet certainly it was not too severe Corruption is so apt to return to Courts as a Plant that grows in its proper Soil that many and great Examples will be necessary to root it out Even Samuel's Sons took Bribes and neither the Vertues of their Father nor the Fall of Eli's Family which was ruined for the sake of two bad Sons could keep them from Corruption and so indulgent are even good Governours to those they love that Samuel who had good Reason to know how dear Eli's Indulgence to his Sons stood him was yet too remiss himself in looking narrowly to his own Sons which brought on him that publick Affront that the People did openly reproach him with it and for that very Reason desired a Change of Government This Evil is so common and so natural to Men of Power and the Poison of it is so pernicious that Princes who desire to preserve themselves and their People cannot use Care enough to watch over it There is yet a third Sense in which Truth stands frequently in Scripture we find it often both in the Psalms and in this Book signifies true Religion and not only the Profession but the Practice of it Of all Men Princes are those who owe most to God for as he has raised them to high Degrees of earthly Glory and Happiness so he has put it in their Power to do the greatest Good to Mankind and to make the World happy both in them and in one another And as their Zeal for Truth in this highest and noblest Sense is that which gives them the clearest Title to the Favour and Blessing of God so true and unaffected Piety has a Beauty in it that strikes the greater as well as the better Part of Mankind even Men that are resolved to be bad themselves are sorry to see their Prince so for they do clearly perceive the ill Effects which that may have upon the Community and that it may end in their own Ruin at last And all considering Princes will have many Occasions to observe that Impiety and Vice are as hurtful to their Affairs as to the greater the vastly greater Concerns of Religion What Fidelity or Zeal what Duty or Affection can be expected from Men who will be always truer to their Interests and Lusts than to their own Honour or their Masters Service that are Slaves to Pleasure and whose Spirits are enervated and their Hours as well as Fortunes devoured by Luxury It is an Observation so obvious that none can scape it which gives one much Regret but yet with it some Satisfaction that our chief Misfortunes are owing to those Vices and Excesses which have not been yet severely enough repressed and punished But as you Great Princes have begun to shew your Dislike and Hatred at these and not contented to teach your Court and Subjects by your Example are resolved to imploy your Authority