Zeal were so far to be despised as to think that we were able in a moment to blast and overthrow them for the Case in appearance was quite otherwise and to God only must we ascribe the Honour of the Day and give him the just tribute of it If the Lord himself had not been on our side may Israel now say if the Lord himself had not been on our side when Men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick when they were so wrathfully displeased at us But Salvation belongeth unto thee O Lord the Help that is done upon Earth he doth it himself God hath shewed us his Goodness plenteously God hath let ussee our desire upon our Enemies Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be the Praise for thy Mercy and for thy Truth 's sake 2. Which is the second Inference and the Duty peculiar to the Day Let us return our just tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving to our great Sovereign the King of Heaven and Earth for this so signal a Mercy well knowing that such publick Blessings as his Majesty most devoutly words it in his Proclamation are Invitations from Heaven to us to render chearful Expressions of Thankfulness to the Divine Goodness It hath pleased God in his Mercy and Justice too to use various Methods to save us from our Sins and the hands of our Enemies He hath tried us by a series of Mercies and a train of Judgments and this on purpose to make us such a People as he may delight in us to do us good and to save us even against our wills and obstinacy But this last Deliverance is of such a nature as could we see to the bottom of this Rebellious Design as I doubt not but those who sit at the Helm are sufficiently acquainted with it it would at one and the same time strike us with horrour and amazement for the danger we were in and fill our hearts and mouths with joy and gladness for the strangeness of the Deliverance The truth is God hath wonderfully appeared in the Preservation of this King and Nation He hath delivered Him out of six Troubles and out of seven So that those words of the Apostle in his own case may without a tort be in some measure applied unto Him That tho he was in Perils of Waters in Perils by his own Countrymen in Perils in the Sea and in Perils by false Brethren yet the Almighty God still was his God and Refuge And notwithstanding the Counsels of some to debar him of his Right the Consequence of which the greatest part then assembled I charitably suppose did not think of yet God frustrated them and setled him peaceably in his Throne This I mention God knows my heart not to exasperate or satyrically to grate upon any but to excite our Praise and Thankfulness to the God of Peace who out of that Evil hath wrought so great a Good Let us with all Sobriety and Reverence render unto God the Author of our Deliverance and Peace all Praise and Thanksgiving saying in the words of the Psalmist with which I will conclude The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the People under me He delivereth me from mine Enemies yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me Thou hast delivered me from the violent Man Therefore will I give Thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing Praises unto thy Name for great Deliverance giveth He unto his King and sheweth Mercy to his Anointed to David and to his Seed for evermore Now to God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory and Praise now and for evermore Amen FINIS * Vid. Earl of Clarendon's survey of Hobbs's Leviathan p. 8. where he tells my Lord that the reason of his writing that Book was to express it in his own words the truth is I have a mind to return into England
A SERMON PREACHED Before the Hon ble Society of LINCOLNS-INNE Upon the 26th of July 1685 Being the Thanksgiving-Day for His Majesty's Victory over the Rebels By JOHN GOODRICK M. A. Chaplain to that Honourable Society and to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Norwich IMPRIMATUR C. Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sac. Domesticis LONDON Printed by J. D. and to be sold by Israel Harrison at Lincolns-Inn Gate in Chancery-Lane MDCLXXXV To the Worshipful The Masters of the BENCH AND The rest of the Members of the Honorable Society of LINCOLNS-INNE SIRS IT was your pious and devout Recognition of the Divine Favour in giving Victory to our King and an utter Overthrow to those that rose up against him which gave occasion to this Sermon And it being preached by your Command and by the repeated Sollicitations of some who had a just Power over me being desired to print it I resolved upon the Publication of it Now though I am not ignorant how things of this nature will be treated by a malevolent and Censorious Age yet under Your Patronage I hope it may light of such a Construction as my Sincerity then design'd it Of Right the Dedication belongs to You from whom I have received an ample Encouragement for many years of my Pains and Attendance But further that I may give a Testimony to the World of the sense I have of that great Obligation that lies upon me to let all Men know the Respects you have constantly shewn to such as have had the Honour to serve You in the Ministry May Religion Loyalty and the Study of the Law always flourish among You is the sincere Prayer of SIRS Your obliged Servant and Chaplain J. Goodrick PSAL. xlvi 10 11. Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the Heathen I will be exalted in the Earth The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge THis Day being appointed by his Majesty for a solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God for deliverance from intestine Wars and an unnatural Rebellion I shall not bend my Discourse to a bitter Invective or Satyrical Harangue either against the Wickedness of the Persons that were disturbers of our Peace or awaken your Fears by setting forth the Miseries and woful Calamities of a Civil War The effects of one above forty years since are still felt among us consisting in the contempt of God and Religion in the practice of the highest Immoralities Injustice and Debauchery and in a great if not a total disregard of our Superiours and Governours whether Civil or Ecclesiastical And when we know that these are the necessary consequences of Pride and Ambition of Rebellion and intestine Wars methinks no Man endued with Reason enobled by Blood courted by Greatness lov'd by many and envied by few should be so fond of that black Tragedy as not only to bear a principal part in it himself but also to assign others what share they should have in it to the scandal of Religion the shedding of innocent Blood and to the utter undoing of themselves This Subject I shall leave to others whose keener Wits assisted by some necessary Qualifications are more able to decipher this so abhorr'd a Villany That which I shall do at this present time shall be to improve this Blessing of Restored-Peace into expressions of Thankfulness to the Divine Goodness for this Deliverance and to shew what is our Duty consequent upon it That whoever may be the Instruments yet it is God's Prerogative to make Peace and War For he maketh Wars to cease unto the end of the Earth he breaketh the Bow and cutteth the Spear in sunder he burneth the Chariot in the fire ver 9. of this Psalm Wherefore it is our Duty not to repine and murmur with God's dealings with Men in this case but to lay our hands upon our mouths to be still and quiet under his Dispensations To trust and depend upon him for he is God And notwithstanding the Imperious Resolves of Men He will be exalted in the Earth And this is the comfort of all good Men that the Lord of Hosts is their God and Refuge so the Psalmist in the words I have now read Be still and know that I am God c. This Psalm whether of David or some other person is a large profession of trust in and dependance upon God in all times and conditions of Life God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble v. 1. And it seems to be composed in the time of that profound Peace and Tranquillity which David enjoyed when he had wholly vanquished and subdued all Intestine Broils and Foreign Enemies And altho some Jewish Writers would make it to be occasioned by that Deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrians by the Angel in Hezekiah's time recorded in 2 King ch 19. yet seeing nothing of this is mentioned either in the title of the Psalm or in the subject matter of it I rather think it to refer as I before hinted to that Peace which David had when he was fully setled in his Kingdom As you may read 2 Sam. 8. 13 14 15. And David gat him a Name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the Valley of Salt And he put Garisons in Edom and God prospered David whithersoever he went And David reigned over all Israel And David executed Judgment and Justice unto all his People And further it appears from the contexture of the Psalm that there was a strong Conspiracy against him many potent and most cruel Enemies resolvedly bent for his destruction For he compares their Tumults and Combinations to Mountains and the raging of the Sea intimating their strength and malice v. 3 6. yet notwithstanding all this he placing his trust and confidence in God was not at all terrified or disheartned being well assured that upon the performance of his duty by daily and constant Prayer he should meet with that success which he could well hope for or desire Wherefore he summons all good Men duly to weigh and consider of the Goodness Power and Providence of God in these matters Of his Justice to all wicked and rebellious Sinners of his Power in governing of the World and disposing of Events according to his Pleasure and lastly his Mercy and Goodness to all good Men that have a full trust and affiance in him from ver 8. to the end Come behold the Works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth he maketh Wars to cease unto the end of the Earth c. Be still then and know that I am God c. In speaking to which words I shall do these five things 1. Consider the Power and Providence of God in ordering the Events of War and Peace 2. I shall endeavour to shew the necessary consequence of acquiescing in these his dealings without murmuring or repining Be still and know that I am God 3. What reason we have to trust
God in the ordering these Events 4. The comfort encouragement good Men have to depend upon God at all times he is with them and is their refuge 5. Draw some Inferences from the whole pertinent to this solemn Occasion I begin with the first of these To consider the Power and Providence of God in ordering the Events of War and Peace For the Psalmist here speaks of his Enemies combined together with rage and malice for his destruction and also of his deliverance from their designed Mischief Wherefore upon this experience of God's Power and Goodness he in a solemn manner summons all good Men to come and behold i. e. seriously to consider God's Providence in these matters sometimes causing Desolations and at other times making Peace and Tranquillity in the Earth And this appears true both from the Person the Author of these Events and the nature of the thing First from the Author of these Events Know that I am God As he is the Creator so he is the Governour of the World and nothing happens in the course of things but what is ordered by his over-ruling Power The most minute things here below are directed by his alwise Providence how much more the great and weightier Affairs of Kingdoms and Nations His Power is visibly seen in the Mutations and Changes in inanimate Beings and sublunary Bodies and the whole course of Heaven and Earth are manag'd by his Governance But more especially this is apparent in the rise and fall of Kingdoms and Nations For he pulleth down one and setteth up another He scattereth the People that delight in War And when he speaketh Peace who can give Trouble I will not spend time to cite Instances of this nature recorded at large by the Greek and Latin Historians The many Alterations in the Jewish State their Success and Victory their Decay and Overthrow are remarkable proofs of the point in hand Whilst they were obedient to the Law and Commands of God who was their Supream Governour with what few Numbers and almost incredible Success did they overturn and conquer mighty Nations and People strong as the Anakims and all this as Moses tells them not by their might and strength but by the Power of God But when they fell back from his Service they were oppressed by their Neighbour Nations carried captive into strange Countries their Land made miserably desolate by Nebuchadnezzar God's Scourge And in tract of time abandoned to all the Infelicities that Omnipotent Power was pleased to threaten and inflict upon them So true is that which is spoken by Daniel concerning the same Nebuchadnezzar in this very case God doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say unto him What dost thou Dan. 4. 35. But we have a remarkable Instance of this matter of fact nearer home For we cannot but remember the best of Kings once the Darling of his People the delight of their eyes and the breath of their nostrils supported by his own Power possess'd of the whole Strength of the Nation and wanting nothing either of Goodness or Grandeur to make him beloved at home and feared abroad yet after all this by the malice of wicked and turbulent Men given to change by popular Pretences by sly and false Insinuations made the Enemy of his Country the Mark to be shot at the Betrayer of his Peoples Liberties the Patron of Immorality and the Subverter of Religion By which he was hunted like David as a Partridg on the Mountains by Rebellious Arms devested of his Power seiz'd imprisoned under the formality of Justice illegally tried for those very crimes which they themselves were guilty of and at last fell a Sacrifice to that accursed Faction bringing the foulest stain upon our most Holy Religion the Honour of the English Nation and the highest Guilt and Desolation that can be mentioned in any Story On the other hand when God had permitted these sons of Belial to tire and weary themselves with their Iniquities He by his Almighty Providence turn'd all into a profound Peace and without Bloodshed restored our late dread Sovereign and this our now gracious King to their Rights together with our Religion and Liberties En Digitus Dei This is none other but God's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes As the Psalmist expresses it in the like case Psalm 118. 23. 2. The nature of the thing requires that God should order these Events For being infinitely wise he knows how to direct all Affairs and Actions to their best and noblest ends what is most for his Glory the Benefit and Welfare of Mankind When the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong When time and chance happen to all men i. e. that Events are contrary to their Causes and these sublunary things seem to be left to their own governance as it shall happen Then if Men will sit down and consider their own Reason will tell them that there is a Superintendant Power that manages second Causes else these would not fail of their proper Effects For let Men talk never so Captiously or Atheistically rather it will appear an avowed Truth That were it not for the interposition of the Divine Providence Force and Power would always prevail and necessary Causes would produce the designed Fruits For if it be demanded What should hinder They must assign that the Reason of it is either from themselves or from some other more potent Being If the first then they are not necessary Causes and it is to no purpose to speak of their force and energy when they are not able to effect that which is the proper Reason of their being such And if it be from without that they do not attain their end let those Scepticks if they can assign any other Being whatsoever besides Almighty God which can over-rule Events contrary to their Causes The truth is some Men because of their vicious lives and practices are justly afraid of the Dread Majesty of Heaven and therefore endeavour to dispute God out of the world rather taking up with the fantastical Hypothesis of Epicurus whose Contrivance is as silly as it is blasphemous or with the grave Notions of an imposing Leviathan who hath subjected the Supream Deity and his Attributes Vice and Vertue to the over-ruling Power of the Magistrate and these sublunary things to a fatal necessity Rather I say beguiling themselves with these trifles than owning a Providence to govern them or a God to judg them But would Men impartially consult their own Reason that would tell them without the help of Revelation That it is absolutely necessary in order to the solving the Doubts that do and will arise to grant the Being of a God and his Providence and that he does direct the issues and events of things For as the Psalmist says Psal 58. ult so that a Man shall say Verily there is a reward
for the Righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth And thus I have done with the first Observation from the words I proceed to the second 2. To shew the necessary consequence of acquiescing in these his dealings without murmuring or repining Be still and know that I am God And this by a plain connexion follows from the former Position For if God's Power and Providence order all Events of War and Peace then to acquiesce in these dealings is highly reasonable for notwithstanding our petulency we cannot alter the nature and issue of things they being disposed by an Almighty Power which none can resist Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who can say to him What dost thou And if this be true in respect of temporal Princes it is much more so with regard to God by whom Kings reign and Princes decree Justice For on the one hand let Force and Counsel Strength and Policy a good Cause and a wise-formed Prosecution let Numbers and the Sinews of War be all united together to effect the designed Purpose yet all these shall be too little and stand in no stead when God pleaseth to overthrow the Enterprize Nay suppose further that the subject-matter of the Undertaking be just and good and to speak without a cant that it be really the Cause of God the defence of Religion and Liberty of the Subject as was truly the case of the blessed Martyr King Charles I. in that Civil-War and Rebellion and of this late Conspiracy notwithstanding their false Shews and Pretences to the contrary I say supposing all this yet it is God alone that can give Victory and Success and to make the Issue and Event prosperous And again when wicked Achitophels and traiterous Absoloms combine together in Treason and Rebellion when their Strength is united and their Force formidable when their Plots are laid as low as Hell and their breaking out as terrible as that of a mighty Torrent T is God alone that can frustrate these Designs His Counsel shall stand maugre all their Imaginations He bringeth to nought the Counsels of the Wicked and maketh their Devices of none effect In the same Net which they hid is their foot taken The Snare is broken and blessed be God that we see this Day to give Thanks that we are delivered Now the result of our reasoning in these matters comes to this That seeing the Power and Providence of God orders all the Events of Peace and War vve should always be the issue what it will As to refer all things to him so to rest satisfied with what is done vvell knowing that he in his Wisdom best understands what is fittest and most condusive to our Good and Happiness And would we patiently submit to God's Will in all concerns of life especially in such extraordinary cases as Tumults and Insurrections Commotions and Rebellions it would more contribute to the quelling of those and effecting our Peace than any other course whatsoever we could take Let us consider that God governs the world and that vvhatsoever is done in the Earth he doth it himself That his Will shall take place be our Contrivances and Devices what they will And then these Meditations cannot chuse but banish all our Fears of the worser part raise our Hopes fortify our Trust and mightily encourage our Undertakings or at least let the extreamest and sorest happen it will cause us with all humility and patience to acquiesce in God's Dispensations and to say Not my will but thy Will he done Or to expostulate vvith our selves in the words of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God Which brings me to the third Observation from the words vvhat reason we have to trust God in the ordering these Events Now tho I have in a great measure prevented my self by vvhat I have already spoken upon the former Heads viz. from the Power and Providence of God in ordering all Events not to murmur and repine vvhen the issue of things have gone contrary to their causes yet because good and holy Men have made this the matter of their complaint and has proved the ground of great trouble and disquiet to them as I could instance in Job David and Jeremiah I shall therefore consider this Case a little further and shew vvhat reason vve have to trust God in these Events and to rest assured that he vvill be favourable and propitious to us I deny not but that vvicked Men have grown great and prosperous in the World have by their Cunning and Force prevailed to the Overthrow of Righteous Kings and Nations yet it must be acknowledged also that this is a rare Case and seldom happens And vvhen it does besides the secret Reasons which Almighty God reserves in his own Counsel not too narrowly to be pried into by us because not revealed this I may positively affirm that Sin is the moving Cause of such Evils according to that of the Prophet For the Iniquities thereof the Land shall mourn Vertue and Vice Sin Repentance are the standing Reasons of Prosperity and Affliction So the Prophet tell us Jer. 18. 7 8 9. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up pull down and to destroy if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil then I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my Voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them So that this is one Reason why we should trust God with these Events because he has promised that he will deliver us out of Calamities Which Promises are not to be taken too strictly as if it were never otherwise but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. For the most part it will hold true that God will protect and defend such as do their duty and depend upon him We have the highest Reason imaginable to trust God with all our Concerns because if we do so that God who is Truth it self and cannot lye has promised Protection and Deliverance Thus David in that Thanksgiving-Psalm after his Deliverance from Saul and all his Enemies tells us 2 Sam. 22. The Lord is a Buckler to all them that put their trust in him God is my Strength and Power He teacheth my Hands to war so that a Bow of Steel is broken by mine Arms. And Ps 37. 39 40. The Salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their Strength in the time of trouble The Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the Wicked and save them because they put their trust in him And hence it