by that very invocation The Lord then is He whom we are to direct our Prayers unto the Living God and not Dead Idols the Lord of all and not any of his Creatures not the best of them Saints or Angels As for Idols you may remember what Elijah said to Baal's Priests 1 King 18.24 Call ye on the Name of your Gods and I will call on the Name of the Lord. Verse 26. Accordingly they called on the Name of Baal we read from morning even until noon saying O Baal hear or answer us But there was no voice neither any that answered And Elijah mocks them upon it Verse 20. Cry aloud for he is a God he is talking or meditateth that is in a deep study or be is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked Their Idols Psal 115. saith the Psalmist of the Heathen are Silver and Gold the work of mens bands They have mouths Psal 135. but they speak not eyes have they but they see not ears but they hear not c. They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them O Israel trust thou in the Lord He is their Help and their Shield c. q. d. Aid and Defence is to be had from Him and from him only We must renounce all Confidence and Dependence upon any other thing whatsoever Psal 20.7 8. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God They are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong-Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe God is offended when we seek other Refuges Hos 7.10 11. The Pride of Israel saith the Prophet testifieth to his Face and they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek Him for all this Ephraim also is like a silly Dove without heart They call to Egypt They go to Assyria c. Jer. 17.5 6 7 8. Thus saith the the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the Heath in the Desert c. Blessed be the man who trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is For he shall be as a Tree planted by the Waters c. It is the Character of the Ungodly Lo Psal 52.8 This is the man that took not God for his Strength but trusted unto the multitude of his Riches †See Psal 62.8 9 10. Neither may we call upon Saints or Angels to help us Rev. 19.10 22.9 for they are all God's Creatures and Servants as well as we they refuse this Worship at our hands and bid us give it unto God only whom they together with us adore I may here use the words of Eliphaz which yet some of the Romish Church have been so absurd Chamier Panstrat Vol. 2. l. 2. c. 2. as to quote for the invocation of Angels Call now Job 5.1 if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn Secondly As to the person invocating he must be Righteous at least in the Gospel acceptation that is a sincere and hearty Penitent For God heareth not Sinners John 9.31 viz. Such as continue in a course of Sin Prov. 15 8-29 The Prayer or Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him Unto the wicked saith God Psal 50. What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Prov. 1.28 c. 28.9 To such he threatens They shall call upon me but I will not answer He that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer shall be an abomination To such he saith again Isa 1.15 c. When ye spread forth your Hands I will hide mine Eyes from you Yea when ye make many Prayers I will not hear Your Hands are full of Blood Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil learn to do Well seek Judgment relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord. That is upon these terms and no other Vers 19 20. we may meet as Friends If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse and Rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Seek the Lord Ch. 55.6 7. while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near but to that end let the Wicked forsake his way and the Unrighteous man his thoughts Ch. 58. ◠c. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt cry and he shall say Here I am If thou takest from the midst of thee the Yoak Verse 6. c. the bands of Wickedness before spoken of Jam. 5.16 'T is the Prayer of a Righteous man that availeth This our Psalmist was very sensible of Therefore saith he I will wash mine hands in Innocence so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. Psal 26.6 The Eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous 34.15 and his Ears are open to their Prayers 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear me And in this very Psalm Psal 18.20 c. The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God or not departed from my God as the wicked doth for all his judgments are before me and I did not put his Statutes from me I was also upright before him and kept my self from mine Iniquity Eschewed mine own wickedness Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my Righteousness according to the cleanness of my Hands in his Eye-sight And yet this Psalm was most probably indited if we keep to the series of the History See Dr. H. in Loc. where 't is first recorded 2 Sam. 22. after the Commission of those great Sins of Adultery with Uriah's Wife making him Drunk contriving his Death and Living for some considerable time before Nathan came to him from God under this guilt These many expressions therefore of his Universal Uprightness must be Interpreted and Understood as the Scripture elsewhere speaks with the exception of that matter of Uriah 1 Kings 15.5 David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite And we are farther to remember That for that too he had Repented before the Composure of this Psalm And Repentance when sincere restores to God's
who hath already done so great things for us wherein we rejoice and for which we praise him That he would yet continue to be Merciful and Gracious unto us and to our Land That He would shelter our most Religious and Gracious King Charles under the wings of his Good Providence and by the Guard of his Angels from the bloody hands of Ishmael Jer. 41. from the Sons of Violence from the Approach of all manner of Evil That he would manifest and bring to light the hidden works of Darkness that They and Their Religion and who are Abetters of them may be brought unto open shame and infamy That He who is never at a loss for ways and methods of bringing his counsel to pass and can make the most despised and contemptible means effectual to humble the proud and mighty would in This time of our need perplexity and trouble stand up and appear for our Rescue and Deliverance That He would disappoint the Devices of the Crafty Job 5. so that their hands may not be able to perform their enterprise That he would take the wise in their own Craftiness and carry the Counsel of the froward headlong Psal 64. That he would shoot at them with his arrows and make their own Tongue to fall upon themselves so that all who see them may fear and declare the work of God wisely considering of his doing That he would cause them to be ensnared in those very Traps they have laid for others and make them either the Executioners of their own Ruine as he did the Seditious and Rebellious Absalom or bring them to the Gibbets 2 Sam. 18. designed by them for the Innocent as he did the powerful and revengefull Haman That Esther 7. as of his preventing Grace and Goodness he hath mercifully begun to Discover and make them to Fall so he would vouchsafe to perfect This work of Mercy to us in their hearty Conversion and Repentance if it may be or in their utter Confusion And that we may succeed in these our Prayers unto God let us I beseech you Humble our selves deeply and sincerely in his presence for all our former Sins whereby we have provoked him to Anger and Displeasure against us Let us turn unto him with Fasting and Weeping and Supplication turning from all our Transgressions which we this Day make Confession of in particular our monstrous Ingratitude unto God Almighty for all the Miracles of his Mercy and Goodness towards us our ill Returns and Requitals of all his signal Benefits from time to time conferr'd upon us Unless we are thus truly Penitent for our Sins past and reconcil'd to Gods Favour we are not fit Mediators for our selves or others in this Trouble and Distress Nay instead of Atoning God Almighty and procuring Mercy from him we partake with the Enemy in bringing down his Curse upon us and the Society whereof we are Members They are therefore Rebels and Traitors so farr to their King and Country who refuse this Day to Humble themselves under God's mighty Hand and so to turn unto him and to seek his Face or who allow themselves in the Practice of that Wickedness whereby they may farther provoke Heaven against us or who Ahaz-like 2 Chron. 28.22 In the time of this Distress Trespass yet more against the Lord. But if we Confess and Forsake our Sins we are in the certain way to obtain Mercy Mercy for our selves and Mercy for the Land of our Nativity Mercy for this present Generation and Mercy for that which is to follow We may then be admitted to call upon God with grounded hopes of his grace and favour towards us We have then Encouragement to depend upon Him and expect a Blessing from Him as the success of this Days performance For all things are naked and open to his All-seeing Eye and none can dig so deep as to hide their Counsels from him and his Hand can reach them too wheresoever they are his Power is infinite He is never to seek for waies and means to blast and defeat the most Malitious and Politick and Secret and Combined Machinations of any in order to our Destruction Nay we may confidently rely upon his Word of Promise for it that He will Hear and Answer us and so we shall be safe from all our Enemies Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant for Christ his sake c. Amen THE END
A SERMON PREACHED ON THE Fast-Day NOVEMBER the xiii th 1678. Being appointed for Fasting and Prayer BY BENJAMIN CAMFIELD Rector of Aylston near Leicester LONDON Printed by J. Macock for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St Pauls MDCLXXVIII Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis A SERMON ON PSALM xviii v. 2. but in the last Translation v. 3. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine Enemies IT is not long since we were Assembled on the fifth of this Month to Bless and Praise God for his wonderful Mercies to this Kingdom in the seasonable Discovery and Defeating of our Romish Enemies most wicked and accursed Powder-Plot which had it taken effect all had been Entomb'd on a suddain in one common Ruine And now upon notice publickly given That the same kind of Agents are at work again in another way to Destroy both His Sacred Majesty and with Him our Liberties and Religion we are by the warrant of Authority met together here this day to call upon that God who alone is able to protect and save us and whose undeserved goodness we have had so much experience of hitherto that he would be pleased graciously to continue yet to defend both our King and Country and bring to light still more and more all secret machinations against his Majesty and the whole Kingdom To which purpose therefore I could not think of any thing more pertinent and agreeable both to Direct us in our present Duty and Encourage us to the same than the words I have read from the Royal Psalmist I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine Enemies This Psalm was a Publick Form of Devotion Composed and appointed by King David for the solemn seasons set apart to Commemorate his manifold Deliverances and Victories for all the dayes wherein God had delivered him as the Chaldee Paraphrast hath it And it hath the Honour to be twice Registred in Holy Writ with very little variation in the words of it For you may read it in the 22d Chap. of the 2d Book of Samuel as well as here in the Book of Psalms From whence we may plainly collect That however some of This Generation quarrel and except against set Forms of Divine Worship and Service to cast dirt upon the established Religion and make way for New-fangled Devices of their own rather than Godly Edifying in Love and Unity yet it was not so in the Church of God from the Beginning but both a publick Form was wont to be prescribed and upon like occasions one and the same Form was without scruple made use of And that by the Counsel and Countenance of no meaner a Person than King David himself who is recommended to us as an eminent Servant of God both in his private and Regal Capacity Acts 13.22 a man after Gods own heart as he himself hath testified of him So much we have sufficiently intimated in the very Title of this Psalm which was inscrib'd to the chief Musician or Prefect of Musick the Master of the Choire to be sung upon publick Solemnities To the chief Musician A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the Day that the Lord deliver'd him from the hand of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul And he said See Dr. H. in loc Viz. as followeth that is A Publick Form of Worship or Religious Acknowledgment indited by David that eminent Servant of the Lord in Commemoration of those many Preservations and Victories which God had vouchsafed him and his now quiet settlement in the Kingdom of Israel and Judah by the interposure of the Divine Providence in subduing the Philistines Syrians Moabites and Ammonites that rose up against him in quieting the Rebellion of Absalom his son Absalom soon after which it is recorded 2 Sam. 22. but especially in rescuing him out of the malicious bloody hands of Saul This he composed and committed to the chief Musician as a suitable service for those solemn Dayes wherein there should be occasion to commemorate his Deliverances and Victories And to that purpose it continues registred in the Book of Psalms among many other as a Pattern and Example unto all Posterities and a Justification as I said beyond all contradiction both of the lawfulness and expediencie of Publick Forms of Devotion and the use or Repetition of the same Forms upon like occasion I shall not now go about to unravel the Contexture of the whole Psalm because I would not divert your attention from that plenty of good and proper Meditations which the Text alone suggests unto us Wherein we have these two principal parts 1. David's holy Resolution or Practice I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised And 2. The Motive he had thereunto from the assured success of it So shall I be saved or safe from mine enemies Of which therefore now by God's help I shall treat in order as they lie And First of the Psalmist's holy Resolution or Practice I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised Wherein we may consider yet more distinctly these three Particulars 1. The Person whose Example we have before our eyes together with the Circumstances of his Condition I King David the Servant of the Lord preserved and deliver'd by him from many potent Enemies already and yet not without the Fear and prospect of others succeeding afresh and growing up in the room of them 2. The Act or Practice it self resolved upon Calling upon the Lord which as I shall take occasion to shew you was all along his most Religious Custom as well as Resolution in like Cases for the Future And then 3. The special Character here annexed unto the Object of his Invocation Worship and Devotion The Lord who is worthy to be praised I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised First The Person here spoken of the I in the Text. That is David a pious and Religious King styled in the Title of the Psalm The Servant of the Lord as I told you Religion we see is not a vile or mean Performance is not a thing below the Highest and most eminent Monarchs of the World no disparagement at all unto their Greatness but that which is indeed the chiefest Ornament in their Diadem and Crown of Glory They have the same Essential Dependence upon God with other men and He the same Right and Title of Soveraignty and Dominion over Them being King of Kings and Lord of Lords Nay They have an Obligation above others to serve and Honour God Almighty not only as his Reasonable Creatures and Dependents like unto others but as his peculiar Ministers and Servants in their Sacred Office as Kings exalted and upheld by him in that their Dignity Again Their Necessity as well as
place engageth them hereunto for they are surrounded with those Dangers and Troubles which none but God alone the Supreme Potentate can preserve or deliver them in and from No sooner have they escaped one Plot and Contrivance of mischief but another Snare is laying for them The Hydra of Treason and Rebellion hath many Heads and when one is cut off another perks up in its stead Such was David's Condition And we need not to look further than This Psalm for an ample proof of it Here we read of the sorrows of Death and Hell compassing him Verses 4 5. The snares of Death preventing him The Floods of ungodly men making him afraid The Sons of Belial men impatient of the Yoke of Government and Restraint coming like a mighty Torrent upon him Verse 16. Many waters threatning to overflow and drown him Blood-thirsty powerful and malicious Enemies such as hated him Verse 17. and were too strong for him Verse 39. rising up against him And those not only of Forraign Nations but amongst his own People Verse 43. The strivings of the people nor only making open Insurrections but endeavouring private Assassinations by men of violence Verse 48. and those too secret and unknown Dissembling and False-hearted Subjects Verse 44. such as yielded feigned Obedience such as lied unto him in all their fair professions and dissembled with him as the old Translation hath it Verse 6. No wonder therefore that we find him in his Distresse and in a Day of Calamity and as it were in Prison and Confinement Verse 18 19. in great straits sometimes in a state of War and at other times in great Perils Such is the condition of all Kings especially of Pious and Religious Kings For the King is the head of Order and the very life and soul of Laws both Civil and Sacred So many Enemies therefore as there are abroad to a State or Kingdom their level is chiefly neither at small or great but at the Head and Soul of all the rest The Devil and his Agents are all Adversaries to Order and Quiet and Peace with Piety and Virtue and therefore must necessarily impugn and strike at the grand Conservator of all these And then in his own Dominions if we reckon up how many there alwayes be that are in ill Circumstances themselves and have their hopes only in a Change in fishing as we say in troubled Waters in disturbing all that they may scramble for somewhat How many Ambitious of Rule and Power themselves that would fain be uppermost How many envious at all above them who therefore are ready to pull them down or undermine them How many thirsting for Liberty unbounded Liberty to do whatsoever is good in their own Eyes How many cross'd in their undue Desires and Lusts by the severity of good and wholesome Laws How many whose Faith and Allegiance is easily corrupted by the popular insinuations and pretences of wheedling Demagogues or to be bought and sold with Bribes and Pensions How very few of Courage and Honesty enough to stick by a Prince in his low Condition How many Powers and Policies and Devices he hath continually to watch over and to struggle with How many he must of necessity trust and imploy whom he hath but little or slender assurance of If we consider I say but these and the like obvious Circumstances we cannot but see the manifold Troubles and Miseries and Calamities that every Prince every good and Religious Prince especially is beset withal As David we read was But the greatest comfort is He hath a Refuge and Sanctuary near at hand notwithstanding all this to betake himself unto namely that of the Text. I will call upon the Lord. This we find upon all occasions was our Royal Psalmists stay and security When He knew not what to do nor whither to betake himself his Eyes were still unto God God Psal 46. saith he is our refuge and strength a very present help in Trouble Therefore will we not fear c. Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Thus at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 David saith the text was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning of him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his Sons and for his Daughters and when any thing goes amiss or succeeds ill in Government the blame and complaints usually fix and center on the chief Governour but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God He becalmed himself as we read elsewhere with such like expostulations as These Psal 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God Psal 43. for I shall yet praise him who is the Health of my countenance and my God Observe therefore by how many different Names and Attributes of security he calls God in the Verse before our Text on purpose as it were to declare That he was All in All in his account My Strength saith he and my Rock Psal 18.1 and my Fortress and my Deliverer my Buckler and the Horn of my Salvation that is according to the Hebrew Idiom wherein Horn is used for Power and Plenty my most Powerful and All-sufficient Saviour and my High-Tower In weakness my Strength against the Storm and Billows of Adversity and that Ocean of Calamity which beats at any time upon me my Rock impregnable against all manner of Violence or Assaults my Fortress or Bul-work my Shield and Buckler invulnerable whatever Hosts or Armies invade me my High-Tower and Castle at all Times and in all Cases a most mighty and abundant Saviour and Deliverer They are excellent words of the Prophet Habakkuk Hab. 3.17 18 19. which I the rather mention because the later part of them is taken out of this Psalm Psal 18.32 33. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls that is all visible help and relief shall fail Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like Hinds feet and He will make me to walk on my High-places There can be no possible want of provisions to this High-Tower or Garrison We see by the way what an utter Enemy the profess'd Atheist is to all publick Governments and the best security of Kings and Princes †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Chrysost in Psal 143.2 10. who by denying God and Providence takes away this most Comfortable Refuge and Sanctuary which amidst all Perils and Dangers they are to betake themselves unto It is the Character of such profane ones That they call not upon God themselves Psal 14. and that is not all