pleasant an Echo as is enough to refresh a Devout and Pious Soul meditating upon the Mercies of God So that an Excellent Pattern of a great Solemnity in this kind we have here and many more there are in the holy Records of the Jewish Church Exod 15. Such is the Song of Moses and the Children of Israel after the Overthrow of Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea and their own safe passage through the same from their hard Servitude and Bondage in Egypt Such is the Song of Deborah and Barak Jude 5. for their great Victory over Sisera Captain or General of the Host of Jabin King of Canaan and Israel's Deliverance from his Master's Oppression Such is the Celebration of King Jehoshaphat's and his People's Praise 2 Chro. 20. and Joy and Triumph for a mighty Victory over and Salvation from a numerous Heathenish Host besides many others which deserve our Observation When Godly Princes and Rulers have excited themselves and their People to be thankful as our Most Gracious King has commanded us now to be as His Royal Ancestors and many other Kings and Potentates have upon the like Occasions sent out their Mandates and Decrees requiring their People to give Glory and Praise unto the God of their Salvation And a good Principle it is of the Church of England readily to obey from time to time the Defenders of Her Faith in commanding that which she owns an Indispensible Duty and Tribute to the King of Kings from which may not any of her Members swerve at this time But may every one with joint consent heartily say Amen this Day to these words blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation and that upon the account of our present Grounds for Thanksgiving Which Metaphor of a Rock is of frequent use in Holy Writ and hath divers significations So that this thankful Expression blessed be my Rock carries the sence and authority of Blessed be my sure and immoveable Foundation Blessed be my Help and mighty Defence Blessed be my Refuge and Salvation And so Blessed be my God Himself who is all these to His Faithful Servants As to illustrate this by other Examples he is also an Horn and Tower or Fortress of Salvation unto them For a Horn denotes Glory and Strength great Power and Might all which are Infinite in Him And a Tower is the Emblem of Succour and Safeguard and as such well applied unto God Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe Wherefore holy David aptly resembles God to a Rock For what in Nature is stronger than a Rock And therefore what could be a more proper Hieroglyphick than it to express God in His Attribute of Omnipotency by which He is able to deliver His Servants when void of all Hope and who is not only above Nature but infinitely transcends all other Supernatural Beings whether they be Thrones Principalities Powers or any other Order and Degree of the whole Celestial Hierarchy it self And whereas it follows in the Text exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation The meaning is obvious and easie with this Comment or Gloss unto it naturally drawn from the aforesaid Interpretation of the Trope by which the Lord is likened to a Rock for by it this Clause doth ascribe Exaltation and Praise to the God strong and able to save As if the Royal Prophet had magnified him thus exalted or praised be the God of the Strength or of the Power of my Salvation by whose irresistible Might I was preserved from the Violence of my Cruel Enemies Not that Man can add any thing to God in all this whereby to make Him greater in any respect than He is in Himself but it is by way of an humble and thankful Declaration of His Glory His Greatness His Immense Power and Goodness It is a telling out of His Praise and Wondrous Acts a shewing forth the Mercy and Loving-kindness of the Lord with Gratitude and Joy When Men are not hardned against Mercy but are sensible that they have seen and tasted the abundant Goodness of the Lord after His Countenance hath of His Free Grace shined with unspeakable Favour upon them And now Deut. 32.1 Give ear O ye Heavens and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my Mouth For I will publish mighty things that the Lord hath done for us And I will ascribe the Glory and Greatness of all unto our God For many and great are the wondrous Works which the Lord our God hath done like as be also his Thoughts which are to us-ward O how great is the Sum of them Who can reckon them up in order to Him If I should declare them and speak of them they should be more than I am able to express Wherefore I shall not pretend to enumerate and publish the whole Series and Catalogue of His Mercies from time to time conferred upon us for if I could bring them all within the reach of my Discourse which is next to impossibility yet my present Task does not oblige me to run through so large a Province but more especially binds me to the Business of this Day of the Great and Auspicious Deliverance for which we Celebrate the Solemnity of a Publick Thanksgiving for God's late unspeakable Mercies to the King and these Realms And therefore we will in silence admire His Marvellous Preservations that are past and employ our Thoughts on his present Salvation We will only think how Famous the Two last Eighty Eights are The former by a Successful Deliverance of this Nation from the threatned Destruction when her Enemies sent against it their Invincible Armada as they then in the height of Pride and Ostentation named it and which perished with Shame and Confusion And the last Eighty Eight is Glorious for our Memorable and Blessed Preservation from Apparent Dangers at Home from Evil and Destruction growing up in the midst of us the Flames of which were quenched and the Rage and Fury stopt by the most Happy Coming of our Good and Gracious KING WILLIAM to our Relief making thereby another Fifth Day of November as great an Ensign of God's special Providence to us as that Fifth of November still is by the Discovery of that Horrid that most Trayterous and Bloody-intended Massacre by Gunpowder These things let us think on with the Praises of God in our Mouths and with all Humility Devotion and Gratitude in our Hearts And for His unspeakable Goodness for which we Solemnize this Day set apart by Royal Authority for the Holy Exercise of Praise and Adoration unto the Supreme Governour of the Universe from whom cometh Salvation at all times let us believe in the Lord with Joy and Thanksgiving and Triumphantly say That the Lord liveth that He seeth and ordereth all things that his Presence fills all places and his Providence is busie and active every where that He
they would not The words of the Wise Man Prov. 19.21 There are many Devices in a Man's Heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand And so long as that stands his Church shall stand firm And if at any time she groans by reason of the Fury and Oppressions of her Adversaries he will hear her Cry and help her She shall stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord which he will shew unto her She shall be assured that he will deliver her in Six Troubles yea in Seven and then shall she rest satisfied that although many are the Troubles of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth them out of them all when she hath seen so much of the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living But if at any time her Sins which to be sure are frequently the sad and woful Cause of her Sorrows for they merit Punishments do give her Adversaries both time and power to insult over her and her Faith and Hope begin to fail so that she becomes dubious and mistrusts the veracity of that Promise made in particular to Joshua but by the Author to the Hebrews applied unto all the Faithful as a general and standing Rule of Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy and Protection which is this I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 In such Affliction and Anxiety of Mind let her amend and not despair of God's Love and Mercy And if at the first appearance of help and notice of God's especial Presence with her after many Evils of Punishment from the Enemy she should despond like Gideon when almost in Despair an Angel appear'd unto him with this Sign in his Mouth from the Lord of the Israelites Deliverance from the Oppression of Midian the Lord is with thee who with a sort of diffidence of the Divine Message return'd this Answer to the Angel's Errand as it were with Sorrow in his Heart Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us And where be all his Miracles which our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt But now the Lord bath forsaken us and delivered us into the Hands of the Midianites Judg. 6.13 We shall endeavour presently to give Comfort and some Satisfaction Should the Church and People of God in Times of Affliction answer after the same manner If the Lord be with us why doth the Enemy rejoice and the Adversary triumph over us If it be an Infallible Aphorism that his Church shall stand always firm against the Opposition and Fury of all her Enemies how is it that from the beginning of the World unto this Day Persecution hath been a large share of her Portion Her Tears have been often poured into the Cup of trembling to add the greater Bitterness unto every drop she hath been forced to drink and the Bread of Sorrow hath been her daily Food Her Children have been stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword and a Thousand sorts of Deaths and Tortures have been inflicted upon them so that no Sorrow was ever like unto her Sorrow At one time Righteous Abel was Murder'd by his own Impious Brother Cain here the Bloody Tragedy began and successively was acted on with various Troubles and Torments unto the People of God even to the Days of holy Elijah who also then found himself grievously persecuted by wicked Jezebel and that so sharply that he preferred Death before Life when he requested for himself that he might Die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my Life 1 King 19.4 And twice in the same Chapter we find him sadly complaining of those who had deserted the true Worship of God for that which was false and idolatrous and did persecute those who would not depart with them from serving the Living and True God as these words of that holy Man do infer The Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the Sword and I even I only am left and they seek my Life to take it away So sharp and general it seems was the Persecution that Elijah thought that all the Prophets and Faithful People of God were quite swept away thereby for he had some time since fled for his own Life and as the words seem to intimate when he came again no true Israelite was to be seen or did not dare to shew his Face and venture to stand before the heat and fury of Jezebel's inveterate Malice and Hatred to the Professors of True Religion But yet God be thanked for the Comfort of good Elijah Wickedness had not sate so long in the place of Judgment and Righteousness to Triumph so far as to bring the Church in those Days to so low an Ebb as to have the Tears of but one true Member only to run down for her and by the Destruction of whose Life she should have been quite cut off For in the 18th Verse of the aforecited Chapter we find the Lord comforting Elijah thus with a goodly number of truly Religious Persons still remaining Yet saith he I have left me Seven Thousand in Israel all the Knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every Mouth which hath not kissed him But now further may we find the Church clad in Sackcloth with Dust and Ashes upon her Head mourning in her Travail and bringing forth Children with great Lamentation weeping and wailing for that reckoning from the Days of Elijah forward her Afflictions were from time to time renewed Once a whole Seventy Years Captivity in a strange Land besides many Wars and Troubles from the Enemy before and after that unto the time that Messiah the Prince the Glory and Head of the Church came when also He was cut off not for himself but for the Transgression of his People This was most Amazing and full of Wo the cutting off of Members was not enough but the Head must suffer as much too This caused the Sun that great Luminary to put on mourning Apparel of the deepest Dye a black and thick Darkness It forced the Earth into a Convulsion to shake and tremble and the Temple to rend its Vail in twain Then did Nature suffer a Dissolution for a time and needs must the whole Creation groan and be in pain when Christ himself cried out with a loud and lamentable Voice and suffer'd the deepest pangs of Body and Soul This was the Child of God and Heir of all things that poured out his Soul unto Death whom the great Red Dragon mentioned in the Revelations of St. John thought wholly to devour but yet did he revive on the Third Day and was afterwards caught up unto God I mean he ascended into Heaven where he Reigns King and Head of the Church in Triumph over all his Enemies And now the great Red Dragon that Old Serpent called the Devil and Satan being cast out into the Earth as he made an Attempt against
and Appellations as the (c) 2 Chro. 35. holy Ark the (d) 1 Sam. 7.1 Ark of the Lord the (e) 1 Sam. 14.18 Ark of God the (f) Psal 132.8 Heb. 9.4 Ark of his Strength It was kept in the Sanctum Sanctorum or Holy of Holiest in the Tabernacle and afterwards brought into the Oracle of the House to the most Holy Place of Solomon's Temple The Author to the Hebrews seems positive that it had in it the Pot The Golden Pot says he of Manna and Aaron 's Rod that budded as well as the Twe Tables of the Covenant And therefore because 't is said 1 Kings 8.9 to which is consonant 2 Chron. 5.10 that there was nothing in the Ark save the Two Tables of Stone which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a Covenant with the Children of Israel when they came out of the Land of Egypt because of this saying some think the Apostle's meaning is rather that the Golden Pot of Manna and Aaons Famons Rod that brought forth buds and bloomed Blossoms and yielded Almonds were only put into the Tabernacle meaning that part of the Tabernacle after the second Vail called The Holiest of all according to that of Exod. 16.34 As the Lord commanded Moses so Aaron laid it i. e. the Pot of Manna up before the Testimony to the end it was that it might be kept for their Generations And Numb 17.10 The Lord said unto Moses bring Aaron 's Rod again before the Testimony to be kept for a Token against the Rebels So that both were to be preserved before the Testimony or the Two Tables of the Law but whether in the Ark with them or out of it before the Ark and so before the Testimony which was included therein is the question If we think both were put into the Ark before the Testimony we must judge they were taken out by some means before Solomon sent for the Ark Or else that these words There was nothing in the Ark save the Two Tables of Stone which Moses put there at Horeb are to be interpreted that only those Two Tables were placed then alone in the Ark when the Priests brought it into his place into the Oracle of the House i. e. the Temple to the most holy place under the Wings of the Cherubims 1 King 8.6 Or else because it seems plain by the Apostle's words well observed in the Original that both the Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod were in the Ark as well as the Two Tables of the Covenant It may be satisfactory for reconciling the whole to suppose according to Theophylact that though in Solomon's time there was nothing in the Ark but the Two Tables yet in some time afterwards the Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod were put therein also But to proced the Ark was Glory chiefly because of the Glorious Presence and Majesty of God on the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims that his Name was called on it that at it they enquired or asked Counsel For there was the Divine Oracle from thence God himself did vouchsafe to speak as he told Moses There I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy-seat from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Testimony of all things which I will give thee in Commandment unto the Children of Israel Exod 25.22 And it was a sign of God's Especial Presence among his People a signal instance whereof was that in Joshua's time at the Israelites pasage through the River Jordan when the Ark passing before the People into that River as soon as the Feet of the Priests that bare it were dipped in the brim of the Water at the time of its overflowing in Harvest the Waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap and those that came down failed and were cut off the Priests that supported the Ark standing firm on dry ground in the midst of the River until all the People were passed clean over on dry ground also Jos 3. And Moses before at the Ark's setting forward as certain of God's Presence used this form of Speech Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many Thousands of Israel Numb 10.35 36. And so Glorious was the Ark and so Wonderfully was God's Presence with it though in Captivity by the Philistines and brought into the House or Temple of their god Dagon that their Dagon could not stand before it his place could not contain and hold him fast from prostration for down he fell upon his Face to the Earth as it were saluting it with the greatest reverence as one would think if Dagon had been endued with any the least Life or Sense And when he was re-established in his place and fastened perhaps with much Art down again he fell upon his Face to the ground before the Ark with a worse Fate than before for now total Destruction came upon the Insensible god he was dashed to pieces his Head and Hands cut off upon the Threshold and no more than his Stump left to him Next after this defeat of their Idol the Philistines themselves very sorely smarted and felt the Mighty Power and Presence of God with the Ark for the Hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod destroying them and smiting them with Emerods their very Coasts not exempted from the sad Calamity And when upon Consultation with their Lords how they should remove the Evil from them they carried it about to Gath then Wo to all of that City small and great an heavy Destruction upon them by the Hand of the Lord And when sent to Ekron the Ekronites cried out as sensible of the Fate of others and what was falling upon them Saying They have brought about the Ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our People as it came to pass for there was a deadly Destruction throughout all the City the Hand of God was very heavy there also making the Cry of the City go up to Heaven 1 Sam. 5. So that better it had been for the Philistimes never to have touched the Holy Ark of the Covenant of the Lord for it was the worst Captive to them that ever they took it made such work and woful slaughter amongst them and forced they were to send it away and ask Counsel of their Priests and Diviners with what they should send it to its place whose Advice was not to send it empty but in any wise to return the God of Israel a Trespass-Offering And that they should moreover give Glory unto the God of Israel giving them some Hope 's thereby of a Release from the present Punishment thus Peradventure he will lighten his Hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your Land 1 Sam. 6. So that from hence we may conclude also that Eli's Daughter-in-law
and with him sit down in the Ashes And we may mourn with the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon as all Judah and Jerusalem did for Josiah Zech. 12.11 2 Chron. 35.25 And as the Prophet Jeremiah lamented for him so have we cause to do the like for our Deceased Gracious QUEEN Our Singing-men and Singing-women may as theirs did a long time for that good King speak of her in their Lamentations We have too sad Cause to Transcribe a Copy from them to make it an Ordinance in our Israel and from their Original to write us a Book of Lamentations and therein The Joy of our Heart is ceased our Dance is turned into Mourning Lam. 5.15 16. The Crown is fallen from our Head wo unto us that we have sinned Thus let us humble and afflict our Souls before God who is justly displeased for our manifold Iniquities and Contempt of his Mercies and in the midst of our Sorrows pray we him to remember Mercy And when we have poured out our Souls with the bitterest Grief and Sorrow of Heart for our inexpressible Loss in such a deep sense as so sad an Occasion requires let us say Ver. 19. Thou O Lord remainest for ever thy Throne from Generation to Generation Ver. 21. Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and so shall we be turned renew our Days as of old renew them O Lord and continue them unto us in our Gracious KING WILLIAM And God be praised that we Enjoy him together with our Religion our Laws our Liberties and Properties What a Mercy is it that we have His Majesty still In whose Preservation not only the Welfare of his own Subjects but of all Christendom is so nearly concerned See the Addresses of both Houses to His Majesty Dec. 31. 1694. As the Right Honourable the House of Peers and agreeably thereto the Honourable Commons have in their great Wisdom pronounced Let us then turn from the Evil of our Ways and lift up our Hands and Hearts to Heaven that God may be Gracious to us in granting Him a long and happy Reign over us And pray we that God will Support and Comfort His Majesty and Us under the Burden of His and Our Great Loss (a) In His Majesty's Gracious Answer to the Address of the House of Peers Dec. 31. 1694. which He was pleased to declare is above what he can express And that he was able to think of nothing but it (b) Answer to the House of Commons Address So sharply did his Grief thereupon assail and pierce his Royal Heart Tho' always known to be of such Heroick and Invincible Courage that nothing could dismay him this sad Affliction alone Conquered him has been of such weight as to over-burden and sink his Spirits the like to which no Difficulties no Dangers could ever before effect not Ten Thousand Messengers of Death flying about him Behold how he loved Her Pray we then to God to be His Majesty's Comforter in this great Trial and to make us all most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects unto him paying him double Homage and Fealty that we may not once waver in our Fidelity but multiply in our Hearts Zealous Prayers and all good Desires for his Long Life and Prosperity and then we may expect to Enjoy a large share of Her Late Majesty in Him He will not only Defend us as He hath done but also will be unto us in her stead by His more abundant Favours to us if an addition can be made to His former because Virtue and Goodness were conjunctive in Their Majesties what One did was generally the Act of Both. And as they by Marriage were one Flesh so they seem'd by an Happy Unity and Concord in every thing to have one and the same Mind as if they had had but one Soul Therefore I say we may trust He will take all the Care of us upon himself and be unto us both as KING and QUEEN to do us all the Good that lies in His Royal Power Wherefore to conclude as we mourn for Her Majesty and desire to Consecrate her Memory to be for Ever Blessed thus paying our last Tribute unto Her in Tears So let us with the highest Deference Honour and Obey His Majesty the Great Patron and Assertor of the Liberties of Europe of Ours chiefly And let us always Pray GOD Save KING WILLIAM Amen The Living Lord a Rock of Salvation SERMON III. Preached in Mortlake Church in SVRREY April the 16th 1696. Being the Day of a General Thanksgiving for the Preservation of the KING from the Intended Assassination of His Royal Person c. 2 SAM xxii 47. The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation THat the Merciful and Gracious Eye of God's Wonderful Providence hath in a most Signal manner watched over this Nation for good especially since the Blessed Reformation is beyond all possibility of Contradiction That he hath been sundry times and in divers manners a Rock of Salvation unto it by many powerful Deliverances thereof from Evil is as certain as if it were a thing proved by Mathematical Demonstration To recount and inlarge upon all which time would fail me But for a full Testimony unto my Assertion let us look back into the Annals and Histories of Times past but of One Century of Years and part of another and by those lasting Monuments of the Dead let us ask our Fathers and they will shew us our Elders and they will tell us what great and marvellous Things God did in the Days of Old for them and us their Posterity They were Eye-witnesses in times past and Partakers of the Goodness of the Lord unto the Sons of Men in this sinful Land And are not we in this respect the like to the full in our Generation as they were in theirs Or rather hath not God superadded to us and made his present measure of Grace and Favour to overflow amongst us by his great Salvation given unto us Of which every one who will not close his Eyes hath ocular and sensible demonstration laid before him in view in such large and legible Characters that he that runs may read it And this we may all read in the Book of our own Remembrance that when our Consciences were in apparent danger to be Inslaved with Erroneous Doctrines Superstition and a False Way of Worshipping God or else our Lives must be Sacrificed to the merciless Fury of our Implacable Enemies that when our Laws our Liberties and Properties were to be swallowed up by such a Power as would know no Limits Then God that heareth Prayer the Prayer of the Humble and Afflicted heard our Petitions and when we could not imagine which way the Salvation should come or by whom under him it should be effected then he appeared to be a God who judgeth the Earth and bowed the Heavens and came down sending to our Aid with the Arm of Power and
Crowning with Glorious Success His Present Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty our Most Gracious Sovereign and Rightful Lord KING WILLIAM For whom all Praise Adoration and Thanksgivings which the Finite and Weak Understandings and Faculties of Mortal Men can give unto an Infinite Being an Immortal and Omnipotent God are a Tribute due unto Him But though God be always Merciful there are Sons of Belial who will be most Wicked will Murmur and Repine and even Despise and Cross the Divine Goodness and will not have Him to Reign over us whom God hath appointed to be our King and hath made next to Himself our Mighty Deliverer Against whom nevertheless that there should be Men Living under the Benign Influences of His Merciful and Happy Government who Conspire with Gall and Bitterness of Spirit not only to Dethrone Him but Insidiously and Basely in a most Barbarous and Inhuman manner to take away His Sacred Life by the Assassination and Murder of His Royal Person notwithstanding all his Clemency and thereby to make way for a Foreign and Arbitrary Power to rush in upon these Nations of Great Britain and Ireland to the Destruction of our Religion Laws and Liberties It would seem incredible to Men of Reason and Ingenuity be to them more than a Paradox but that it is no longer in the dark being now clearly discovered and the Good God be Blessed and Praised therefore the Mischief most providentially prevented Wherefore Sing we every one with holy David in the front of this Divine Canticle Ver. 2 3. or Psalm The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer The God of my Rock in Him will I trust He is my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation my high Tower and my Refuge my Saviour Thou savest thine Anointed and Us from Violence And again join we with the Royal Psalmist in a joyful Hope and Confidence in God in Acclamations of Benedictions and Praises unto Him evermore rejoicing and saying The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation Which words are part of holy David's Song of Deliverance this Chapter and the 18th Psalm being of one and the same substance but run with a little variation of reading in some parts wherein that great Saint then but Militant did Celebrate the Solemnities of an holy Triumph and Praise to the God of his Salvation who had preserved his Person from the great Dangers that had threatned him from the violent Hands of Saul and other his Inveterate Enemies who had by various Snares and Stratagems sought his Life for thus we find the Preface or Inscription to this Thanksgiving Hymn of the sweet Psalmist of Israel And David spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the Day that the Lord had delivered him out of the Hand of all his Enemies and out of the Hand of Saul And with such a lofty strain of Melody and delightful Harmony has he run through this his Noble Anthem as must needs Charm his chief Musician both in setting and playing the Tune proper to it And also with a Ravishing Delight raise and exhilarate the Spirits of the whole Choir those concern'd therein either with Vocal or Instrumental Musick those that sang or those that play'd on the Organ Harp or Cymbal c. chearing and refreshing even the Hearts and Souls of all then present And most grateful are his Acknowledgments of God's Gracious Benefits unto him flowing from many of his Holy and Essential Attributes from his Free and Immense Goodness and Mercy his Incomprehensible Wisdom Infinite Justice and Power and that great Providence which attended him through so many various Scenes of Troubles in the most difficult Stages of his Life Very expressive also is he of the Sense he had of the Dangers he escaped Such like as those out of which God Blessed be his Holy Name for it lately deliver'd our Most Gracious King even the Waves and Snares of Death the Floods of ungodly Men their deep and subtil Plots and Conspiracies their violent Stratagems and Devices as unavoidable as Floods and Inundations of Water are till God puts a stop to them by his Omnipotent Command Hitherto shalt thou come and no further When after such a wondrous and special manner he is pleased to be present as holy David hath set him forth with the highest flights of Divine Rhetorick using many exalted Metaphors to express the same as of the Earth trembling and shaking as also the Foundations of Heaven it self being put into the like terrible Commotions with such Thunders and Lightnings Storms and Tempests of his Wrath as aforetime had really destroy'd the Enemies of his People And then after many Blessed Eulogies and Seraphical Raptures of Holy and Eloquent Dictates from that Spirit which taught him how to pray unto as well as to praise his Mighty Deliverer he closes the whole Encomium with glorying in the God of his Salvation and yet further Returns of Blessing and Thanksgiving to him part whereof the Text doth especially denote unto us The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation For the Interpretation and Explanation of which and for our present Edification on this Day of a General Thanksgiving throughout this Nation for His Majesty's Blessed Deliverance and our Happiness thereby I shall observe these Two following Particulars First Holy David's Joyful and Triumphant Acknowledgment of God and his Providence in the former words The Lord liveth Secondly His grateful Return to God of Benediction and Praise or Exaltation for his Wondrous and Powerful Deliverances of him from the Mischiefs formed against him Emphatically expressed in the following parts of the Text and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God of the Rock of my Salvation First The Lord liveth is a Recognition of God and His Providence even with an Extasie of Joy The Royal Saint being Transported thereby into Triumphant Acclamations in consideration of God's Potent Deliverances and Manifold Benefits through abundance of various and critical Circumstances of his Race under the Sun frequently rescuing him out of the very Jaws of Destruction as they were ready to tear him in pieces as from Saul's Javelin at one time his and other wicked Mens Instigations their Combining Plots and Snates and Conspiracies to snatch away his Life at other times For all which he might with great Reason pronounce The Lord liveth As for Deliverances from great and apparent Dangers especially from the intended Mischief of Bitter Enemies it is very proper for Men to express their grateful Sentiments in these or words of like consonance and import There is a God a God that Ruleth all a God that helpeth in time of need yea and when we are Poor and Naked Blind and Lame that without him we should be remediless being our selves neither able to see the approaching Destruction nor to ward off the Blow if we have time to see it
Pleasure O therefore great is the Deliverance beyond the Comprehensions of our Understandings And praised be the Lord who hath not given us over for a prey unto their Teeth for our Soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler the Snare is broken and we are delivered For which may all that are or would have been sensible of the Black Device if it had taken its Dismal Effect Bless and Exalt God's holy Name May all the good People of this Nation Obey their Sovereign Lord the KING's Commands in such manner as may be acceptable to God And as His Majesty doth so may they acknowledge the singular Mercy and Goodness of God See His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament Feb. 24. 1695. May all His Subjects Piously and Joyfully keep this Day and ponder the Occasion of it in their Hearts with a Perpetual Thanksgiving to the utmost extent of their Lives for so great a Salvation May it make such deep and lasting Impressions in their Souls Yea let them tell it to their Childrens Children that the Generations to come may Bless God for it And may no Rank or Quality Sex Order or Degree think themselves exempted from their Duty on this Day which the KING with the Advice of his Nobles hath thought fit to apply to so Solemn and Sacred a Use But praise the Lord ye House of our Israel praise the Lord ye House of Aaron praise the Lord ye House of Levi ye Clergy of this Land Ye that fear the Lord praise the Lord and confess he is Gracious and his Mercy endureth for ever Kings of the Earth and all People Princes and all Judges of the World Young Men and Maidens Old Men and Children praise the Name of the Lord for his Name only is Excellent and his Praise above Heaven and Earth He shall exalt the Horn of his People all his Saints shall praise him And now pray we unto God to open Mens Eyes that they may see and know those things that belong unto their Peace that they may not be Credulous of Dreams and Fancies nor give heed unto Fables As if that Monarch who has Troubled Christendom a long time has Cruelly Persecuted and Tormented Protestants and has laid waste Defenced Cities into Ruinous heaps as if he would shew all Clemency and Kindness to us as if he would make every one Happy and Great with large Donatives of Riches and Honour Fields and Vineyards and all the Delights of the Sons of Men which to think is very incongruous to Reason and dissonant to the Sentiments of common Prudence unless he and all his Admirers and Favourites loved the People of this Nation better than they do and except we would abandon our Religion which may we never so much as think of doing nor fear his Menaces or any high and lofty Looks But keep we stedfast to our God and our Faith to our Duty and Allegiance unto our Sovereign Lord the KING's Majesty to our Laws our Liberties and our Country and to one another in Love and Unity And may god shower down His Blessings upon us and make His great Salvation for which we now offer unto Him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving a Pledge of more His abundant Favours to His Anointed and His Subjects And let us always therefore have somewhat of a Divine and Holy Song or Eulogy in our Mouths Plenteously may we be furnished in the Song of Moses and the Children of Israel of Deborah and Barak and in that great Magazine of Praises and Benedictions the Book of Psalms together with many other places of the Sacred Canon of Scripture Let us often think of God's Mercies to us and make Melody in our Hearts unto Him with such Excellent and Proper Lessons as may be taken out of those Breathings of the Holy Ghost Let Lute and Harp awake and let us awake right early with the high Praises of God in our Mouth Let this be the Badge of our Honour and Gratitude Praise ye the Lord. Let us bind it as Signs upon our Hands and Frontlets between our Eyes together with the Te Deum the Benedictus the Magnificat and like Joyous and Devout Trophies of God's Salvation Evermore with the Choir of Saints and Angels above Chanting forth the Trishagion Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord Most High Finally As we praise God this Day for His Admired Mercy so let us Beg His Continuance of it to us and pray heartily that the now ensuing Campaign may be Victorious both against Fâ—ance and the Ottoman Empire and that an Honourable and Lasting Peace to England and Her Allies and Friends may succeed thereupon and that God will be pleased to Bless with Length of Days and Riches and Honour in His Throne here and to Crown afterwards with a far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory in the highest Heavens His Anointed Servant our Dread Sovereign Lord and Lawful and Rightful KING WILLIAM Amen FINIS
Heaven hath with all Choler and Wrath vomited out of his Mouth whole Floods of Persecutions one rolling incessantly upon the back of another to overwhelm the Church in final Ruin and Destruction And to make the Ocean of her Miseries as it were incomprehensible and beyond thought how have many of the Roman Emperors and greatest Potentates of the Earth added a Red Sea thereto by shedding the Blood of the Saints without end or measure The Primitive Christians felt the smart first and their Fellow-servants have been partakers of their Sufferings frequently unto these Days And those who would come out of Babylon that they might not be partakers of her Sins nor receive of her Plagues have had a restraint put upon them that they should not so that when persecuted in one City or Kingdom they could not enjoy the Priviledge given them by Christ in his Gospel to flee into another Now if we hear Zion bemoaning her self thus over all the Evils and Calamnities brought upon her for all the hurt and havock that the Church of God hath suffer'd from the beginning of the World unto this Day besides what she fears may yet happen and by some diffidence arising thereby she should question whether her Basis or Foundation be so strong that it shall remain perpetually firm for the time to come against the force and fury of her implacable and restless Foes For her Comfort and to resolve her Doubts herein let her know that all her Loss is Gain Those that die for their good Faith go from Warring and Fighting here in the Church Militant unto the Mother Church of all Triumphant in Heaven Those that amidst a World of Miseries below were Faithful unto Death ascend into Regions of Bliss above to receive Crowns of Eternal Life Neither is the number of her Members extenuated or diminished on Earth by their departure from us for the Testimony of Christ according to that common saying Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae the bare Letter whereof is That the Blood of Martyrs is the Seed of the Church which the sence and meaning construes thus That the more the Church of God is persecuted the more at last she multiplies Like good Seed cast into good Ground it brings forth Thirty Sixty and an Hundred sold And often not only is the number augmented but their Faith is the more vigorous and active too for Marcet sine adversario virtus sed crescit sub pondere their Faith doth fade and fail and is not so lively and brisk as when quickened by the Power and Trials of the Enemy as Rome when Carthage was destroyed fell to Luxury But under the pressure and weight of Sufferings it gets ground and becomes of a more diffusive Nature and therefore the Exercise and Trials of the Faith of the Best Men are meant of God for good And furthermore the Church is to remember that her Sins are the cause of all her Sorrows without which she would have neither Pain nor Grief nor any Enemy could Molest or Trouble her For it is still with her as it was in the Days of the Judges of Israel And we read in the second Chapter of their Book that the People feared the Lord all the Days of Joshua and all the Days of the Elders that out-lived Joshua and so long it was well with them but afterwards it is said The Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim And they forfook the Lord God of their Fathers c. The ill Consequence whereof was this The Anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of Spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the Hands of their Enemies round about So that they could not any longer stand before their Enemies Whithersoever they went out the Hand of the Lord was against them for Evil as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed Now Sin was the cause of all this Trouble and so it hath been and will be the Origin and Fountain of all Misery And therefore it is the Duty of the Church and People of God to submit unto his Chastisements without complaint or murmuring because they deserve them and it may be want Correction to make them better And then also we are to bear the Cross patiently as did Christ the Author of our Salvation that so having our share with him in Sufferings we may be partakers of his Glory But yet could not all these Enemies nor all the mighty numbers of them since the World began root out the true Church of God from having a Being in the face of the Earth neither shall they so prevail so long as the Sun and Moon endure but when they have done all they can they shall themselves bear the Punishment They shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and be at their Wits-end when the Mischief intended by them to others shall fall on their own Heads And therefore though they should seek to destroy Jacob by Inchantments and Israel by Divination and also to that end should use Pious Frauds and Religious Stratagems against the Church with many fair and specious pretences outwardly build Altars and offer Sacrifices even whole Hecatombs without number on them Though they should present Heaven with never so many Gifts and Dedicate all the Gold of Ophir unto it and pray Night and Day unto God unto Angels and Saints and join thereto never so many Ave Maries unto the Blessed Virgin and Court her with never so many Titles of the greatest Honour and Power in Heaven creating her Queen Regent there with full Authority over her Son to make him do whatsoever she shall command him Yet not all this nor much more that they can do shall any whit prevail Nothing thereof shall serve their turn against that Holy Church they would destroy but she shall stand firm against all the Attempts of her Enemies whatsoever they be though their Folly that is so great be Converted into Fury and their Malice be thereby the deeper yet in their fiercest Rage shall they be weak and like Water spilt on the ground or as the Dust before the Wind so shall the Angel of the Lord scatter them For surely there is no Enchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel which introduceth my Second Proposition That the Church hath been and shall be enabled to abide in safety by the Protection and good Providence of God For it is He that keeps her as the Apple of his Eye It is the Eternal God that is her Refuge It is he that beateth down all her Enemies and beareth her on Eagles Wings above them all and brings her unto himself And it is God that maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers Flames of Fire in their order to attend on every good Member of his Church and surround them all with Horses and Chariots of