they know not the secret Practices of Men who love Golden Days who are Buyers and Sellers of Places of Trust and who are so false in their Dealings that their Bribers cannot have their Bargains All Men of Understanding and Business observe and talk of these things where they may There are Caterpillars and Locusts so thick in our Air that they darken the Glory of our Light and leave an ill Savour behind them But though our Lights are not perfect Lights and omniscient yet let us adore and praise the Lord for giving them so much of all Royal Qualifications and for giving them to us to be a Light as it is this day And there are two Blessings of singular Consideration to us as a matter of Praise that they are so and a matter of Prayer that they may continue so 1. Each one is a Light to Israel And 2. Both are united in one Light 3. And both are ours 1. That our King is a great Light and so was from the morning of his appearance in the World He is a Lamp in the illustrious House of Orange See Bishop Burnet's Letter from Nimiguen whose here ick Poogenitors embraced professed and maintained the Light of the glorious Gospel shining forth in the Reformation and none of them were ashamed or afraid to own it It is glorious to be a Light from his early appearance to be a Prince Had he been a Wo to the Land by being a Child or Debauched or Cowardly Fear and Interest and Example had spoil'd him from ever being a Light to any Nation He knew his Religion and kept it when to change Religions was so much in fashion He knew his temporal Rights and Interest and recovered them and hath sacrificed them as he did himself to the Interest of the Protestant Churches whose declining and almost-ruined State would have made many Princes afraid to put forth a hand to preserve them And his appearance for the almost-ruined falling Reformed Churches was so much the more admirable when there was no Queen Elizabeth on the Throne of England to second and assist him and them and a devouring Prince breathing out Destruction and Slaughter so near him a Prince that is called Great truly so from the great Miseries he hath brought even upon his own Kingdom to make all others so that by the Judgment of God fall into his Hand Yet the poverty and weakness of Protestant Churches and the Mightiness of a King who is like Hell and the Grave and the Assistance and Opportunities he had to perfect his Work from England could not make our Light mussie himself in a Cloud and sometimes look out to the Waters of a Floâ—d drowning the World in Miseries and breaking the Ark of the Protestant Churches in pieces and himself at ease making all dishonourable Conditions to save himself from Labour and Hazard O what cause have we to adore the al-wise Providence and Grace of God that wrought Truth upon his Heart inspired his Head with great Thoughts and his great Soul with the most vigorous Spirit of Fortitude and Zeal admirably tempered with Calmness and Peaceableness and after he had been exercised and given great proofs of his Royal Accomplishments to give such a Prince to us at that time one of the unhappiest People in the World and next door to our being the most miserable If his Enemies had but a serious desire of being happy they would choose to be his Subjects and if his Subjects had but wisdom and grace to acknowledg that Goodness Mercy and Power of God who set him over us with as clear a manifestation of Mercy to us as of Justice in making the Throne vacant for him they would never hang off and suspend the Acts of their most chearful Obedience to embolden our Enemies to attempt what we pray they may never perform He is a King rarely prepared and accomplished for Peace or War by his Sword to force to make it and by his Wisdom and Justice to keep it In him there is an immediate Passage from the Fountain of Light and those Rays which are scattered in other great Men are united in him He is a Light to deliver and save from Destruction a Deliverer is a sweeter Name than a Conqueror To be a Saviour is to be like God not in Power only to save but in Mercy and Goodness a Name that is to be a Memorial to admonish a People of past Miseries and restored Mercies and obliges a People to Gratitude and Obedience And according to thy manifold Mercies thou gavest them Saviours Nehem. 9.27 who saved them out of the Hand of their Enemies Other Nations have had but one Light commonly in an Age but God hath bestowed upon us two at once as knowing our need of more than one and to shew these Nations plainly that he hath not at all dealt with us after our Sins for then our present Day and Noonday-Light had been as dark as the darkest Mist terrifying Tempest darker than the darkest Night even as dark as Hell The Creator of the World made two great Lights the one to rule by Day the other by Night but both our Lights appeared and shone upon us out of a Chaos of confused Matter in the Nation which were not like the Epicurean Atoms the matter of the World which affecting one another at first meeting made a Marriage and begat a World of Creatures no in our Chaos there was so much of Hatred and Disaffection so much of mutual Fear and Suspition that we had fallen one upon another as Men in their Drink and Madness sight in the dark We are more and better united tho alas far from being all of one piece as a Staff of Beauty in their Majesties Hands than we should have been unless common Suffering had made us more one by the approach of our Light the Peace and the Union we have by the means of our supreme Rulers But as God hath made nothing in vain so he hath not given us two Lights at once but because one cannot be abroad and at home at once God hath wonderfully provided for us he hath taught us by experience that two are better than one Let no Man affirm that a Woman may not be born for Civil Rule and Government we have been happy now two years in the Queen's Government and happier we had been if all Men had done their Parts in Counsels and Arms as she did by unwearied Diligence Courage and Patience That the Queen should be a Light also and sit to rule the Day of our Mercies is indeed no less than a Wonder she is a Light were she not a Queen but she is a Queen and therefore the greater Light She is an illustrious Light for Knowledg in the Truth not in the Notion and Argument in opposition to Error but in the Practice wherein the Power lieth She is a Light for Wisdom piercing into the Mysteries of State and the difficult parts of her
purpose to kill David The judicious Peter Martyr doth conjecture that he might be girded about in sign of his being made some Officer in the Army and that he must do some great Action and meritorious Exploit which became the greatness of his Family and Strength and the Dignity of his Place This Story is brought in to illustrate the Danger and Deliverance of David and to set forth the Providence of God in great Straits and Dangers and to make God's People and their Enemies also know that let them have all the Advantages they can desire yet they shall not prevail against David and against Israel Let us not go over so large a Text without making some Observations 1. You read David's great Inequality and Disadvantage though when he was young he killed Gâ—liah but now David waxed faint In respect of Strength and stature what was David to him but now here 's David at a Disadvantage he waxed faint There may be sometimes great Disproportions between the Servants of God and the Enemies of God The Servants of God may in Appearance be much the weaker 2. The Assailant was a Man of note among the Philistines a Man of Name as Goliah was from whom some great Action might be expected The Enemies of God and his People may be furnished with Men extraordinarily fitted prepared and resolved Men pick'd out for Designs and Attempts pernicious to the People of God Here was a great Man a noted Man a Man of great Strength and Stature of desperate Designs for he thought of killing David and yet when many Wagers might be laid on the Philistines Head and Party it was so probable if not sure that such a Hand must needs prevail against David yet David comes off safe and his mortal Enemy falls and perisheth the Giant had an Opportunity to attempt and never was David in a worse case to make his Defence and yet the Design failed Such Men as these are not to be trusted to if we had an Army of them on our side nor to be feared See Mr. Jo. Mackenzie's Narrat of the Siege of London-Derry p. 2. col 1. The new levied Souldiers were to be all near six Foot high formidable for their Bulk whatever they were for their Courage though all our Enemies were such God can defeat them all Men cannot perform what Men would have them or hope from them How curious were our Enemies the Philistines in the choice of Regiments of great Stature and Strength what confidence was put in them and yet they proved but like Babes and Lubbars 3. This Ishbi-benob was girded with a new Sword that is as some conjecture he was newly made some great Officer from his being girded a Mark of Honour others that his new Sword was a newly invented Weapon for his turn and others think it might be a new Sword not used before the Edg of it was first to be tried upon David's Persâ—â— How proud might this Man be of his Name his Stature his Strength his Command and his Sword How often might he fancy David's Head upon his Sword 's Point See the Narrative of the French Joy for the Death of King William in the Battel of Boyn and his Body at his Feet and yet his Weapon shall not prosper against Good King David Our Enemies the Philistines have changed the way of fighting invented new Instruments of War to make themselves the more formidable how may their ambitious vain-glorious Ishbi-benobs boast what they will do with David kill him and then drag him in the Streets and Dunghils and yet David is preserved Men and Weapons are alike vain and ineffectual when God is a Shield to David and to Israel 4. This Ishbi-benob had David almost in his Power and within his reach for Abishai succcoured David who waxed faint Hence learn the Enemy of David may be prepared to kill may have a great Advantage over him being weak and faint and he had as fair and open Opportunity to make him think he had him as sure as if he were in his Hand and yet David escapes the Villain tho a Giant David was and our David may be in great Danger and nigh to Death and yet preserved Great Dangers make great Deliverances and the Deliverance is as sure in great Danger as in common and less How near was David many a time to be cut off yet he was delivered from the Hand of Saul and all his Enemies so we pray and trust that God will be a Shield and a Succourer of our David in all his Wars 5. He thought to have slain David or he spake as the word signifies of killing David perhaps by thinking of killing the King he was ambitious to have the Glory of winning the Field and routing Israel perhaps to avenge the Philistines so often beaten and destroyed by David his Spight and Aim was at David not to take him not to maim and hurt him but outright to kill him David had been successful and done great Services for Israel and for that the Philistines might hate him and have particular Designs upon him A victorious and a good King is hateful to Philistines The greater Blessing a good King is to the Israel and Church of God the more aimed at but when his Dangers are greatest God is nearest for his Salvation David was aimed at and he could not choose but know it for they sought him once before in particular yet David's Courage Religion Conscience and Care of Israel 2 Sam. â— 13 did oblige him to go down to the Battel David is faint and when faint the Enemy laid at him to have sped him and yet David is preserved It is extraordinary when God suiteth the Spirit of a King to his Charge and Dangers and that King who turns not his back upon God's Cause Religion and People may humbly expect that God will not turn his back upon him in his greatest Dangers but watch over him and preserve him The King 's wearing the Crown of England makes the Philistines aim the more at his Head His Greatness and Valour do multiply his Perils but God who made him great for this Work is mighty to save him 5. In ver 17. we have these Remarkables 1. A famous Act of Abishai the Son of Zeruiah who succoured David and he smote the Philistine and killed him 2. The Zeal and great Concern of the People for their King Then the Men of David sware unto him saying Thou shalt go no more out with us to Battel 3. The Reason for that Resolution and Zeal That thou quench not the Light of Israel that our Light and Glory may not be put out with thy Life who art the Light of Israel 4. David's Permission of that Oath and Resolution of the People and his Acquiescence in that Act for his own and their Preservation and Comfort In the first of these we have many things to observe 1st Abishai the Son of Zeruiah he was a valiant Man and David's
have always opposed the great and only Redeemer Christ and his Interest in the Nation that care no more for the real Prosperity of the Kingdom than for the turning up of a Dye high or low when they throw for nothing so that they may have but enough to maintain their ungodly fleshly and worldly Lusts These are not for the Pope but yet they are for Antichrist and the Devil for the Kingdom of Darkness and Irreligion These are they whose God is their Belly whose Glory is in their Shame Enemies to the Cross of Christ And to these we must add another Party though in other things far different from them and better Men who plead an Obligation of Conscience for Disloyalty and these do animate and propagate the other though perhaps not directly who are disaffected to Godliness and the Government Nay the worst of Men do not only harden themselves in their Disloyalty and proceed on to trouble Israel or hinder our Settlement by having the Consciences of some upon their side but they have set up a new Title against our Government and that is the Church of England The Church of England against England the Church of England against the Kingdom of England Is Christ divided Is the Church divided The Church of England we know but who are ye And yet let me shew you one other cause of the Slowness of our Motions towards Settlement and Peace and raising up of the Tabernacle of God and the shining forth of the Beauty of Holiness There are loyal Persons to the Government who are not refined from the Impurities of the former Reigns Thousands in the Land that run into Profaneness and Licentiousness out of Cowardice and to avoid some Nick-names given out to disgrace real Godliness and being accustomed to Licentiousness out of Fear And in compliance with most ungodly Rulers have brought such a Custom upon themselves that either they are Temporizers with the worst of Men or sin out of choice and love Some of these would if they could overthrow the Chariot others lay Impediments in its way and these last are like Scotches in our Wheels But our Hope is in God he ruleth in Jacob and hath given out such Manifestations of his Goodness that be it known to us he doth not do what he doth for our sakes but what is more effectual for his own Name sake O then not unto us not unto us but to thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and thy Truth 's sake Psal 115.1 When God sets his Wheel a going it shall go against all Oppositions sometimes it goes visibly at a great rate sometimes more insensibly and when we see not the Motions of it it goes whither the Spirit was to go Ezek. 2.12 Man may lose Time and Opportunities but the Spirit of God never lost and never will lose time 6. The Work of this Generation is God's in an eminent manner and he will carry it on till all be finished but he tieth not himself to Means and Instruments therefore so should not we The Work of God hath been and is a Work for Generations and no one Man is ordained to do all but many Instruments have their several parts None is immortal none invulnerable or impenetrable Let us therefore believe with confidence that this War is God's and it is the Hand of God and our King is one of the greatest Instruments that God hath used he came up like Queen Elizabeth when the Kingdom was weak like a Gustavus Adolphus Let us see God in him follow God and wait upon him and be careful of him and by strong Faith humble Confidence fervent Prayers trust him under the Shadow of the Almighty Object But how can we rejoice and take comfort in Him as the Light of Israel seeing he adventures his Royal Person in very dangerous Voyages and Battels As it would be the greatest Grief of our Souls to be deprived of him so our Hearts are in daily fear of Evil befalling to him What would become of us in our divided and discontented State if our Light should be quenched Answ 1. You should consider that this bright illustrious Lamp is not given to us alone I cannot but adore the safe and hasty dispatch which God Alwise and Almighty made of the mighty Affair of these Kingdoms How soon did the King of Heaven and Earth pull down one and set up another How soon did God make an end of one King's Reign and begin another's The King that then was in Arms a powerful well-prepared and trained Army almost if not above double the number to those our King brought in and yet not as much as the stop of one Day 's march or diversion given by fighting one Battel He had time enough for leisurely and orderly Marches without any cause of Precipitation or losing time by committing Errors What a good Providence was this Things shall be easy when God doth save it shall be as easy as to bid an Army in array to stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord and as soon as to say 2 Chron. 20.17 Neh. 9.27 To morrow ye shall go out against them for the Lord will be with you So when the Lord doth raise a Saviour to his People he will be with him and when he is with him he makes way for him Had our King conquered by winning many Battels and after he had beaten a great Army been constrained to spend much time in long Debates how miserable had this Kingdom been by Fears and Factions And to what Necessities had foreign Nations been pressed Ireland certainly lost Scotland confounded if not ruined But he who ruleth over all was pleased to save us and settle us with great expedition that his Servant David might go forth against the Philistines What Treacheries with Obstructions were used to hinder him from saving Ireland in time may be with trouble remembred that some People who appeared forward to embrace Deliverance withdrew their Help as if they had repented of doing any thing to make themselves happy and save others from utter Ruin How many wished the King might not go to Ireland in Person that the Loss of Ireland might be imputed to him And others were for his going that he might never return again or in his Absence our Enemies might make work in England Some honest Hearts wished he would not go being afraid of Commotions in his Absence and Danger to his Person Others prayed for his going and when gone for his Prosperity and safe Return and we have rejoiced for both out with some trembling for God rebuked us 2. Beside the Interests of many Nations united in him he is led into the best way and method of securing and saving us at home by going to meet the great Enemy abroad and if God be with him there we shall reap the Benefit of it here Balthazaris Ayala De jure Off. bell l. 4. c. 2. It hath been variously adjudged by great Commanders whether it is
Bottles How many of those who seem well affected to the Government are grosly ignorant sensual and profane unreformed unrefined from their Lees What can these do What ill-favoured irreverent what cold and dead what broken Work do many make so that we have cause to fear the Divine abhorrence of our Fasting How far may a Man ride before he can see one Sinner whose Heart and Life is reformed according to the Word of God after our many monthly Days of Fasting If a Poll could be taken of them that are for or against or are wary Neuters whether ever God and Christ or their Enemies should be found in the best side All must be excluded from voting right who do not lift up holy Hands to God in Prayer so that from the Land's End even to the Town of Berwick we can make no more than a Gideon's Army But yet I hope there are enow to make an Army too strong for all the Enemies of our Faith Religion Peace and Government Be therefore of good Courage wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen your Heart all ye that hope in the Lord. Encourage our selves in the Lord our God were our Extremities greater and more than they are And consider 1. Is not God on our Side O let us humbly wrestle with his Majesty to rise for his own Glory for David's sake for Jerusalem's sake what will our Enemies the Heathen say 2. Hath not God prevented us with his loving-Kindness Did we by our Prayers call in our Deliverer Did not God put it into his Heart before we knew of it Have we not seen when we fasted and prayed it went well with us for the Honour of God for the Honour of his Ordinance for Prayer's-sake despised blasphemed Prayers-sake I was glad to hear it was the poor praying People of Ireland that saved London-derry that made the Men of Inniskillin more than Men and not our Gallant Dammees and Hectors Pray on to the last Breath pray to the last drop of Tears Give not up so great and so good a Cause for lost it is all in the Hand of God our God trust him 3. Pray on there are more for us than there be against us Is not God for us Are not Angels for us Do not the Souls under the Altar solicite God and cry How long Lord Holy and True Rev. 6.10 dost thou not avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth I beseech you observe this that they who are our Enemies now are they who have shed the Blood of the Saints We are sure that God will avenge the Blood of his Servants and hear the Prayers of his Saints in Heaven and on Earth The Lord never denied to hear their Prayers he hath only delayed Andit was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow-Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Some have written and others believe this late is the last Persecution of the Churches in France at least and if so that the Number of them that should be Killed is fulfilled then we shall shortly sing as Jehosaphat and the People did For his Mercy endureth for ever 2 Chron. 20.21 4. Pray believing in him to whom you pray and knowing against whom you pray Is he not a bloody merciless Persecutor who can set him out in his Garments dy'd in Blood and hath not God said He hath ordained his Arrows against the Persecutors plead that with God Psal 7.13 5. Who do we pray for Are they not God's own People the Apple of his Eye or hath God not one small Râ—â—nant left Remember the Prayer of Nehemiah Now these are thy Servants and thy People whom thou hast redeemed with thy great Power and by thy strong Hand Nehem. 1.4 to 10. 6. Argue from the very Strength and Greatness of our Enemy O say our Men of Reason and Thoughts Men like the cowardly Spies of the Land of Canaan who discouraged the People How powerful is France How Great that King How wise his Counsel How mighty are his Armies How strong at Sea How well disciplined what an Advantage hath he who is one in united Councils before-hand with his Enemies in the time of Year whereas the Confederates are slow in Resolutions and Preparations He 'll hold them in play he 'll tire them out And what will not this Great Man do Yea Are these things true is this the sense of Men wise Men most Men Be it so Yet for all this hâ—â—l he the Army of Zera the Ethiopian Let us cry to the Lord as Asa did 2 Chron. 14.9 Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no Power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy Name we go against this multitude thou art the Lord our God let not Men prevail against Thee Let us wait upon God and take an Argument from the strength of our Enemies Psal 59.9 Because of his Strength let us wait on thee for God is my Defence We have a God hearing Prayer to pray unto we have a good Cause all is in Danger we have great Encouragements O let us say He hath delivered and we trust be will not only deliver but prosper O then let us pray for a praying Heart And pray every Day without ceasing And that first for our King and Queen that they may have the whole Armour of God to put on the Testimony of a good Conscience that in the Vprightness of their Hearts they do all they do that they may never fall into the slippery and pernitious Steps of evil Kings Let us pray for them that they may inherit an Everlasting Kingdom that endeavour to make ours so happy Many do labour to fright us more with the King's Successes than with the return of their idolized Image as if he would be as absolute as high for Prerogatives as any of his Predecessors What Confusions he will make say others in the best Church in the World and much more Whereas the great fear is that he will do more for God than most of his Predecessors Men are mightily afraid of losing their Pluralities their Ceremonies their Sins Let us pray for the preservation of our Lamps the free Progress of the Gospel the Advancement of Religion and Godliness into High Places for a painful Preaching exemplary Ministry for the saving and sanctifying Protestant Churches for healing of Breaches in a word for Grace Mercy Peace And when we have pray'd to the pouring out of our Hearts let us not trust to our Prayers beyond God's Promises but stay our selves upon the Rock of our Salvation To whom be Might and Dominion for ever Salvation to our God Hallelujah The Great Concern and Zeal of a Loyal People for a Good Warlike KING c. 2 Sam. 21.15 16 17. Moreover the Philistines had yet War again with Israel and David went down and his Servants
not do such an Act Would he be such an Enemy unto them now as to turn their Day into Night Surely no therefore they oblige him not to expose himself for if Evil should befal him Evil would befal them and they should impute it to him it would be the worst of Acts and it would be his own he felt the Zeal of a loyal People which melted him into a compliance with their Desires APPLICATION Vse 1. This is not a Day to dissemble nor slatter God nor Man I shall speak nothing in the Use but according to the Truth in the Doctrines raised from this Text I shall speak because I do believe and nothing but what I believe I speak my Judgment and my Conscience and therefore I will speak freely and boldly I would not be deceived nor misinformed my self nor would I mislead you into any Error nor now forbear to instruct you in Duty in a great Duty in a needful time Was David a Light to Israel Did Israel account him so Were they tender of him Were they concerned and zealous for him as the greatest Blessing of their Age and Nation O what cause have we to bless God for that singular Blessing God hath bestowed upon us of these Nations in our King and Queen who are both but one great resplendent Light of our Israel Give me leave to speak freely for your Profit and Information 1. As they are both Lights 2. As they are both joined in one Light 3. As they are both our Light the Light of Israel 1. As they are both Light and as they are both one Light one in concord of Judgment and Affection one in consort of Government Are they not both Light by Illumination in the same Faith and Religion Are they not Light for Wisdom and Knowledg able to direct and order the great and manifold Affairs of Government both Military and Civil Are they not Light by the conspicuity of their eminent Qualities and Example Are they not Light diffusing the blessed Influences of their Royal Goodness and Authority to all the Corners of their Dominions Who but obstinate Rebels or sullen Male-contents will not acknowledg this And was more Clemency ever shewed towards open Rebels or offered and declared to Murmurers than by our gracious King and Queen Let disaffected Persons speak like Men of Sense and Reason much more like Men of Conscience and they must by speaking Truth reprove their own Murmuring and Discontents Are they not Lights who have set up Stars and Angels burning Lights in the Church and restored them to light who for many years were under Clouds and the lowring Aspect of the Rulers of the Kingdom and given them liberty to take their several Candlesticks to give out their Light and spend their Oil Is it not by their Light that Popish and Antichristian Darkness and thick Darkness is fled away or constrained to keep up close not in Holes and Caverns of the Earth nor into Prisons and Dungeons indeed but into Coverts and Shelters How is Westminster-Hall enlightned by learned and able Judges excellent in opening and deciding Cases and Controversies clearing and summing up Evidences pronouncing righteous Judgment even to the conviction of the obstinate and deeply-engaged Enemies of our Peace Mr. Ashton in his Trial. that their Proceedings were fair and equal What Iniquity was to be found in the Seats of Judgment before is yet felt by all Conditions in the Land and above all by the best of Men What a Set was there of Judges Juries and Evidences for the Designs of Kings What Discoveries have been made of the Secrets Plots and Contrivances hatch'd in Cabals and hidden Counsels of our Confederate Enemies for the Ruin of Church and State by the appearing of this great Light By this Light we see the Pathes of our Destroyers and the stupendious Providences of God in countermining their pernicious Endeavours By this Light we know where we were bought and sold and whither some of us were gone and others going The Apostle speaks of the nature and benefit of Light Whatsoever maketh manifest is Light Ephes 5.15 It is from this Light we have such full discoveries of the secret Counsels of Conspirators and by this Light we have the things that belong to our Peace laid open to our Election and the way of Peace pointed out if we have but Wisdom and Hearts to walk therein What a Light and Joy did their Ascent into the Throne God making them way to it bring to the Oppressed in these Kingdoms and to our persecuted Brethren from abroad It was the springing of their Light that gave cause to the Reformed Churches to sing The Winter is past or passing away that the Rain is over and gone O what a cold Winter was it in Ireland and France and the Valleys in Scotland and to them who by a Christian Sympathy felt their Cold How hungry and cold naked and miserable were our persecuted Brethren that were driven from their Houses stripp'd naked without as much as the shortest or thinnest covering of their Nakedness cruel Impudence of the most inhumane degenerate part of Mankind worse than Brutes as bad as Devils could make them or desire them to be See the History of the Persecution in France Savoy and Orange And Mous Jurieu's Letters How miserable a Sight was it to see Death sit upon their Faces and worse than Death about them their worse than barbarous Heathenish Enemies How miserable was their Bondage under them worse than Egypt for in Egypt the People of God had Flesh-pots and Onions such as the Earth did yield such they did eat But these persecuted Fellow-members of the same Body had scarce Morsels of Bread knodden with dirty Water Dirt and Gravel to keep them from utter starving when not any of this impenitent stupid carnal Generation who live after the Flesh and mind the things of the Flesh felt the Cold the Nakedness and pinching Bitterness of that Winter Our Protestant Brethren of France Savoy Ireland and Scotland do rejoice in this Light to feel so much of the Winter past over as they have done and to see so much of the Rain the Tribulation that beats upon the House and tries whether it be built on the Rock or the Sand blown over and gone It is because of this Light that the Flowers appear on the Earth the time of the Singing of Birds is come and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land Cantic 2.11 12. O that the blindest and perversest among us had Eyes to see this great Light that now shines upon our Land 'T is true indeed our Lights come short of Omniscience all things are not naked and bare unto them they cannot see in secret and know not what is in Man as our Saviour did when he did not commit himself to them who came in unto him They are as far from Infallibility as they are from Popery the Darkness and the Light are not alike to them
Office She is made for the Rule of a Palace for the Retirement of a Closet for exemplary Reverence in the Worship and House of God She is a glorious Beam of Majesty in her Person she shines as she moves she is made for a Throne and long may she sit upon it She is a diffusive Light as she is a joint Cause of the true Light of the Gospel and the Laws of Holiness and Righteousness All People may be as holy and as righteous as they can desire and if they are not it is their own fault they have no Discouragement but Encouragement from above She is a great Light See her gracious Answ to the Address of the Dissenting Ministers even to a Zeal in her own Way and is to be an Example of Moderation towards others Her Light shines before Men that others seeing her good Works may glorify God Thus each one is a singular Light But yet further what is the greater Mercy 2. They both make one Light Through God's infinite Mercy to themselves and us that they are so much one they are one Blood one Flesh and what is more of one Heart and one Soul What a Light are both in one to their whole Dominion to all their Subjects It is a vulgar but a great Observation When had we a King and Queen of one Religion and both of ours We have known the lamentable effects and issues of contrary Religions and of one and the same Religion in our former Kings and Queens The Light of the one never did convince or convert the other of Darkness The Articles of Marriage between Pr. Charles the Infanta and the Queen the Daughter of France nay the Light was so bound sometimes as not to endeavour to work upon the Darkness but the Night had power to tempt the Light and then was one Hour and Power of Darkness and from that time to this most blessed Conjunction of both our Lights in one the Darkness overcame the true Light O the Calamities and Confusions Convulsions and Breaches which followed after the prevailing Power of Darkness The Darkness brought forth Thunder and Lightning and rained Blood it brought forth Wars and Fires it cooled the zeal of many and made the Nation too hot for others O what Matter is this for a Fast to make Prayers and Supplications to deprecate those great Evils And the noisom Vapours of that Darkness make us a sickly diseased People to this time O that the diseased distempered People of these Nations would come to our Light O that God would prosper our Light to bring us to a better Constitution and State of a Body united and compacted together Do not we see the excellency of our Light in respect of Union Do not both walk in the same Spirit O what a Mercy is that to us and to other Nations confederate with us By this we have a Concord in Counsels we are delivered from the Plague of Jesuitical Agitators and Satanical Dividers Court-Faction have no countenance nor Whisperers secret Audience and innumerable other Mischiefs are prevented for now the Devil hath less to do in Court and hath fewer Pupils to instruct in mischievous Arts and Practices between King and Queen Court and Court The dividing of the King and Queen in Interests in Affection according to that Interest the dividing of Counsels to promote those different Interests and these to be managed by contrary Factions and Parties and for these to love the one and hate the other should be as dreadful as if the Stars divided the Heavens into two Fields and sought one against another This is one of the Mercies of this great Revolution that our Lights are so intirely one and that the Constitution of the Government is made so strong that our Dividers cannot divide but they must break and dissolve many would have it otherwise but God wrought such a Temper in the Spirit of the Queen as to submit the Precedence given her by Nature for the publick Benefit And that the Memories of both be blessed for ever and whatever Breaches remain unhealed among a sinful People many of whom know not the things of their own Peace O Lord shine into the Hearts of these two great Lights that they may reign as one 3. And yet the Matter grows higher still These two illustrious Lamps made one Light are both the Light of Israel The Light of David's Life as I noted before was the Light of Israel David was to Israel as Israel was to himself and Israel was to David as David was to himself The Light of David was their Light That thou quench not the Light of Israel So is our David ours And without flattery which I abhor especially on a solemn Day of Confession and Humiliation but to convince you of your Mercy and Duty I speak to you these Words of Truth and Soberness What clearer Evidence can any People have whose Reasons are not perverted against Sense to be in the untoward Party of Murmurers and Complainers than our David hath given us of his appearance coming forth and goings on but for Israel for our Israel and for the scattered Tribes of Israel scattered by Persecutors into many Nations What hath he done in all he hath done for himself What hath he not done that could be done for us Obj. O but Murmurers and Papists and their old dear Friends say He sought the Throne and is come unto it by Vsurpation Ans This is such an Imagination as could never enter into the Heart of Man that believes a Providence and that all the Actions of Princes as well as other Men are subject to it and that Kings and Princes cannot do and have what they will How many apparent Hazards by Sea and Land did he necessarily foresee and every step might present him with Death which was enough to quench the Spark of Ambition and deter him from an Usurpation It would have been the most irrational Project that could ever come into a wise Man's Head and visibly improbable if not impossible as I would undertake to demonstrate if time would give leave God sent him in as a Deliverer of Israel in England Scotland Ireland and so he was acknowledged even by them who will not swear Fidelity to him now their only King by Law and Right But if I might ask those Men these few Questions what could they say 1. What hath he asked for himself what hath he employed for or spent upon himself since his happy Arrival Hath he got half what one half Year's Revenue by Hearths would have brought him in Was there ever a Free-holder in the Kingdom before he restored them Nay to silence some of these Male-contents Do not they some of them to discourage the Nation and encourage Enemies give out that he will not be able to manage the War for want of Money and for the vast Debt that is upon the Nation So then this was a hopeful Project to invade the Throne to want
some one Parliament as we have had We thankfully acknowledg the Settlement of their Royal Majesties in the Throne and the Succession of the Crown and the Liberties of the People We gratefully acknowledg the Wisdom and Clemency of God in their Majesties choice of great Men of Temper for the Candle-sticks of their Sees We hope these will not think their Eyes so full of sight as to use others as if they had none but must resign their Consciences to their Conduct and drive them by force if they will not follow We hope and pray that as one Light hath brought forth more so all these Lights will find out and shew us the true Path of Church-Peace and Concord Let us hope that that Observation may not be a Proverb any more in Israel That Bishops always hindred the Progress of the Reformation As God made way for their Majesties Coming to the Throne of the Kingdom by a Vacancy so he hath made way for their coming to their Thrones in their Churches How many Vacancies hath God made by Death and how many Vacancies have others made by themselves And will they do nothing for God more than they who have always done too little one way and too much another Enough hath been said and written to file off the Asperity and Roughness of the temper of their Predecessors and every Succession exceeded the former in Impositions for which they pleaded Obedience more from the Supremacy of our Kings and Obedience to the Laws than the Nature of the things themselves or their Expediency but we have seen gracious Offers from our supream Governours at a temper therefore we fear no Obstruction from them and they have seen who they were that opposed it and have retarded it and know how they stand affected And surely now once again we may hope that they will not love their Enemies and hate their Friends God hath made way for it and the best in the Nation expect it Walk in the Light while you have the Light said Christ take the Opportunity while you have it In our Prayers for our Monthly-Fasts we do acknowledg there are Dregs in the Reformed Churches which we pray God to purge away Are not we one of those Reformed Churches and are these Dregs only in Foreign Churches and none in ours O see them and purge them out while we have Light to help us 5. Are our Lights but Lamps that may be quenched or if not quenched by Violence will go out of Course then this is one reason of the Mutability of the best State of a Kingdom and therefore good Kings do mightily oblige their Subjects and Posterity also When they spend their Days and Abilities in a holy religious righteous active and diligent course of Government when they lay out themselves continually from a Principle of sincere Love to God and his Glory and their Peoples Happiness for they know not how soon their Light may be quenched and then they are for ever laid aside and can do no good to themselves nor their Subjects 6. May our Lights be quenched O then when Kings prepare for War and Battel how piously should they prepare for Death and bless God for Life when they come off with it They who carry their Lives in their Hands who fear not the Face of an Enemy not of an Ishbi-benob should therefore fear God who can kill the Body and the Soul and cast both into Hell O fear him It will be an everlasting Shame and Dishonour to fall under the Power of Death as an Enemy to God When they carry the Weapons of War how careful should they be to put on the whole Armour of God! What wise King will ingage in a War and make no Preparation for it that designs not to conquer What inexcusable Rashness and Madness is it for a King that is wise and valiant in the Eyes of Man to be unprovided for the last Enemy True he shall be destroyed but by whom Christ and he who doth savingly believe in him And Death destroys all that are not the living Members of Christ that are not saved by Grace and with what Shame and Contempt shall they rise out of their Graves which vain Men call a Bed of Honour though they come to it by dishonouring God that died in their Sin and not in Christ or in the Faith as Abraham and the Patriarchs did Heb. 11.13 c. 7. May the Lamps of Israel be quenched O then as truly as we love and honour them let us not idolize them nor think of them above what we ought to think Cursed is the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm and whose Heart departeth from the Lord i. e. by trusting in Man and making the Flesh his Arm that is his Confidence and Strength Jer. 17.5 This is the way to bring a Curse upon our selves and Death upon the Arm we trust upon It was a Presage of an approaching Death to that great Deliverer that died in his Glory Gustavus King of Sweden he thought God would e're long take him away because the People did over-value and deify him I beseech you let us pray and study for a true Christian Temper of Spirit towards the Lord of Hosts our King and the Cause of God 1. Let us assuredly look upon our King as a great Instrument in the Hand of the Lord of Hosts 2. The number of his Years are with God 3. His Work is measured out to him by God 4. Our Light sprang out of great Obscurity and from very small Beginnings See Bishop Burnet's Lett. from Nimiguen it was a great sign of following Successes and that he was singled out for great Actions when he was not afraid to encounter the most potent King of his Age growing greater daily by Successes and in his full Strength when the Condition of the States was desperate and irrecoverable if the then young Prince of Orange had but despaired also but even then he gave a check to that overgrowing Oppressor and is by the great Power of God being with him grown to be formidable to him and may the Sound of his Name by the Terror of the Almighty make his Sleep to depart from him and his Heart tremble when he thinks and consulteth what to do 5. What would we have God to do for us that he hath not done or is not ready to do Some considering true hearted wise Observers have faithfully declared what they thought to be the cause of many Miscarriages in England and Ireland by Sea and Land and in particular since our Monthly-Fasts were laid down and intermitted God hath not gone on to do us good though he hath not utterly departed from us But though our Sins have with-held good things from us we are in a better State both at home and abroad than we were when God sent us a Deliverer There is a Generation among us who have cast off the Fear of God a profane carnal sensual debauched Multitude that
to Israel than the God of Israel goes before him and bears him up in his Hand 5. Trust God in all Dangers to preserve him and succour him in case of fainting God has succoured him by one of his Nobles in a former Battel against France Let us pray and trust that Help shall not be far from him when Dangers are nigh O let all that fear the Lord trust in the Lord Now let our Eyes be towards the Lord and trust him over all trust him I say again with our Light and Lamp And O that we could trust God not with a humane Trust as far as we see great Armies and early Successes but trust God with the Trust of humble penitent believing sincere praying Hearts The 2d Duty is Prayer and this is one part of the whole Armour of God without which who can expect to be saved Great and many were David's Extremities and therefore we find so many of his Prayers and Thanksgivings for their Success They who pray most and best are God's best Servants and the King 's truest Subjects O let us pray by Faith with Hope with Contrition Humiliation Sincerity Fervency Continuance and Perseverance by the Spirit in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ to the Lord of Hosts to God mighty in Battel When David spake of the peaceable and prosperous Reign of Solomon he saith Psal 72.15 and for him shall Prayer be made continually O all you that can pray pray heartily pray daily pray abundantly Prayer has been most prophanely derided in this Age But if we would have God do what we will let us believe and pray according to the Will of God Let not a day pass over you without effectual Prayers for God's Glory in the prosperity of the Gospel and redeeming Israel out of all his Troubles And that God would guide assist preserve and prosper our King and Queen and strengthen them by his Spirit in the inner Man take these following Considerations to satisfy and encourage your Hearts 1. The King must go to these Wars It is not Vanity to see the young Men play before him as Abner said to Joab 2 Sam. 2.14 Hest 4.14 no but necessity A necessity in respect of Duty and Obedience to God who hath prepared and called him to it He is obliged to assist in a Common Cause against a Common Destroyer of Countries and Cities And who knoweth but he is come to the Kingdom for such a Time for such a Service as this He doth not only add Strength by his Armies but puts Life into the Armies of other Princes as well as his own There is the same Necessity for our King to go forth to Battel as it was for David's going when he went it may be so that there may not be hereafter a like Necessity as there was not when the Men of David obliged him not to go for then he was much disabled and there were many others fit for the Service that were forward to go Men fit to be trusted Wendeline Doctrin Politicae lib. 2. c. 42. Ayala l. 2. c. 2. Sect. 19. Men that were true to the Happiness of Israel And as Cesar was wont to say Not go but Come along So many other great Captains have not only been present but performed the parts of Souldiers as well as Generals But the greatest Valour must do this with great Caution and remember he is a General and not a Commander posted to maintain his assigned Ground lest he become a Mark for an Ishbi-benob or give cause to an Enemy to say as he did who killed the most renowned King of Sweden That is the true Bird and so shot him dead Let us not forget to ask of God always to govern the King 's great Mind and guide him with his Eye 2. Here is sufficient Encouragement for us all not to be faint-hearted and dismayed but to pray with an awful humble Confidence and Expectation that God will favour this Righteous Cause For 1. this War is a lawful War and that gives us encouragement to seek God for the Success of it and our good King's Prosperity and Preservation The Lawfulness of this War will appear in all the Causes of a lawful War if you 1. Consider our Selves 2. Our Enemies 3. Our Allies 1. If you consider our Selves It is lawful because undertaken by Supream Authority by the King and Consent of the Parliament The King hath just cause to maintain his own just Title to the Crown and Government of these Kingdoms And it is the Peoples Duty to serve him in the Wars according to their utmost Ability as Judah did adhere to David 2 Sam. 2.4 whom they received and anointed him to be their King You know that I have not made State-Matters the Subject of my Preaching but now it is necessary to say something to inform you in what I believe is true and then engage and perswade you to your Duties The King's Title and Right to the Crown is scrupled by some who own him as King de facto in Possession these do seem rather to temporize than to obey upon a full Principle of Obedience and speak not fully to the Point and the Case of the King and Queen And others refuse to swear Allegiance to them though settled upon the Throne by a free Convention of Peers and People and their Title ratified by a Parliament and acknowledged by all Princes and States abroad except One who would have the Kingdom for himself if he could Which of all the Heads of the several Families and Lines of our English Kings could shew a better Title or near so good than our King and Queen antecedent to their Coronation But since it should be held undoubted and therefore this War is lawful if it were for nothing but to maintain his just Title against his Enemies The Reasons which Abner and the Men of Israel gave for their submission were good to prove David's Title and every one of them might be applied to prove our Soveraign's Title see 2 Sam. 3.12 17 18. Chap. 5.2 3. And though God hath not spoken by audible Words to them You shall feed my People Israel and thou shalt be Captain over Israel he hath spoken aloud by convincing Providences 2. It is lawful if you respect our Enemies The French have declared War against us attempted an Invasion Do not we know him too well to let him in If we resist him who shall be our King He that hath saved us and doth still endeavour it or he who when he had declined and refused to satisfy the just Petitions of his Subjects and contrary to Law and his Duty went about to change our Government and not daring to meet a Free Parliament ventured his Cause to the determination of God by the Sword and lost it in that Court of Judgment and deserted the Government and Kingdom and withdrew to an open Enemy's Country and hath made use of that Enemy's Power against us and