all dying all Projects and endeavours failing enemies rejoycing flourishing triumphing friends scatter'd impoverish'd imprison'd all disponding the Conquerors sitting downe securely and dividing the spoyle and crying with David's enemies Ah so would we have it persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him even then God throws in the Apple of dissention and in pieces they fall and a sudden storme from the North scatters them An Army marches up not knowing whither all Sects and Factions meet it and congratulate and know not for what Well the all-knowing God brings all this to an happy Issue the LORD 's Anointed is restored his dying friends revived all barking Shimeies silenced Sectaries and Schismaticks confounded Rome and her Children troubled and amazed This surely was the LORD's doing and therefore marvailous in our Eyes What Praises therefore do we now owe unto God for all these his Marvailous workes This is the Day which God hath thus as you have heard re-made for England a bright and clear Sunshine after black clouds and thick darknesse The Day of our Redemption from a more then Aegyptian bondage and slavery the Day of our freedome from Tyranny and Oppression the Day wherein our gracious King was at first usher'd into the world with a new miraculous light from Heaven and the Day wherein he was welcomed into his Kingdome by all the lights of the Nation Starres of all Magnitudes with all the lustre and Glory they could cloath themselves withall A Day by the light whereof we begin to see our late Follies God grant we may truly repent us of them And our present happinesse Oh that we could be heartily thankfull for it A Day wherein Religion begins to appear again in her own dresse and all those maskes and vizors too freequently worne in the darke night of Ignorance begin to fall off frō her face All the Night-birds of prey and rapine begin to betake themselves to their Holes the doors of God's house are set wide open that we his servāts may freely enter in and worship the God of our Fathers after the manner of our Fathers solemnly and decently 'T were an endlesse task to recount half the blessings of this Day the summe of all is this The Anointed of the LORD whom we fear'd to have been taken in their nets is return'd in peace Let us therefore be Glad and Rejoyce be Glad inwardly and Rejoyce outwardly be so glad that God may accept of our Joy as an acceptable sacrifice of praise and thansgiving for his great and provident mercy in having reguard unto his holy One and so rejoyce that the world may see we are glad indeed acknowledg him the Author of our Happinesse It is most fit that as the world hath seen us sad yea perhaps too sinfully dejected in the Day of our Afflictions so it should now behold us cheerfull and full of joy but still without sinfulnesse in this Day which the LORD hath made Onely let us here beware lest we so rejoyce as to forfeit againe the ground of our joyes In vain do we observe this Day as a Thanksgiving-day except we labour to keep every Day of our life henceforward Holy-day It is not enough to say LORD we thanke thee but we are to Sacrifice our Persons and our endeavours to his honour and glory returning him not onely the Calves of our lips but the Affections of our hearts and the labours of our hands and the obedience of the whole man for the abundance of his mercies Our King our Church our Land have all too long groaned under our Sinfull rejoy cings and let us take heed lest all these suffer over again by our confident and presumptuous re-assuming of such carnall Joyes Why should it be any longer said and that with so much colour of truth that Loyalty and Piety cannot dwel together in the same brest Why should it be any longer said to our shame that swearing drinking and deriding Religion and making a mock of Holinesse are the Principall badges of such as call themselves Royallists We know who and what they are who have long agoe publikely boasted that they have been the King's best Subjects and Friends the way to confute them is not to swear they are not so but to prove by our actions that we indeed are so and to do this there 's no way left us but to be as sincerely Religious as they hypocrytically We may safely give leave to the Covenanter the Engager and the rest of a Schismaticall people to pretend as high as they can whil'st we are sure we are as much as they can pretend to Let us but once out-doe and out live them 't is no great matter who out-talks and out-braves us but let us by no meanes give occasion to the enemies of God to Blaspheme but whilst we endeavour to expresse our Loyalty in our Ioy let our joy be most clearly manifested in our Obedience to His just commands and in our Conformity to his good example whose first Proclamation was to condemne and prohibit and whose whole course of life is to shame all manner of Profanenesse and debauchery Let but our good and righteous actions first stop the mouthes of our Enemies and then our Righteous God will undoubtedly bind their hands and turne their hearts and make us all at last charitably and unanimously to joyne in the Praises of that great God who hath miraculously restored our Corner-stone and rebuilt our Hierusalem and made her once more a Citty in a fair way to be at unity within herself He will then make our King a glorious Prince and us happy Subjects and all of us at last more happy Saints when we shall all obtain Crownes and Kingdomes and be built up together one triumphant Church on our Head Corner-stone Christ IESVS full of all Gladnesse and Rejoycing and perpetuall singings to the Honour and Glory of him that sitteth upon the everlasting Throne who is LORD of Lords and KING of Kings to whom for his unspeakable mercy to our Gracious King and to us his Subjects in his happy Restauration let us ascribe all Honour and Glory Praise and Thanksgiving now and for ever AMEN
best could discerne the worth of it and therefore should first in all reason have begun to use it was this Gift proffer'd lest afterwards they should goe about to excuse themselves with a Non novimus we knew is not The fittest Blessing to the fittest persons the stone to the builders 3. Lett 's now see what 's it's welcome Indeed very course and more strange considering the persons to whom it was proffer'd so foolish were they or so selfish or both they refused it 1. David is thrust out from the presence of Saul bannish'd the Land driven into Caves and Dens to lead a sad melancholly life with Bears and Tygres or at best amongst strangers too frequently more inhumane and barbarous then those beasts of prey He is hunted like a silly partridge upon the Mountains and no means that a cruell and jealous Saul could invent left unattempted to rid him of his Kingdome and the world at once 2. And in this particular too was our Blessed JESVS very truly the Son of David He is refused of his own People and Nation rejected by the chief Rulers and High-priests with a No King but Caesar Not this man but Barabbas Any murtherer rather then the Lord of life a bloody Tyrant rather then the God of mercies away to the Crosse with him This is the very voyce of the builders No stone of God's squaring for our building out with it amongst the rubbish Give us rather a Nero any lump of clay kneeded up in Christian blood Give us such stones as will admit of no Cement but what 's made of the blood of us and of our Children that blood which Caesar sheds be it on the heads of us and ours but this stone which God would in mercy bestow upon us be it thrown out into the streets and trampled under our feet forever This is the language of these prudent builders Thus even thus doe the builders too often prove the unhappy demolishers and when they should strengthen rase to the ground the walls of Hierusalem whilest they lay their own ambition their Humors and their Interests the onely Foundations of all their actions they are sure to refuse that stone which is sent down from Heaven Here 's the Wisedome of the Wise this is the Counsaile of the Prudent when they have not God before their Eyes The stone is refused which yet in spite of all their little Policies and petty devices shall most certainly return the Head-stone of the building Which brings us from the Folly and Basenesse of the builders to the unerring Wisedome and Constant Goodnesse of God Almighty They cast out the stone God brings it in again They reject it with scorn He sets it in with advantage They refuse it as uselesse and unfit for any thing He restores it the Beuty the strength of the whole Fabrick David after his long and tedious exile is call'd home again even by those same persons who at first were as ready as any to reject him with the shouts and acclamations of Israal he is welcomed and made the Glory of that people and their bulwark by whom he had been so much sleighted And thus was it with the great Rock of our Salvation after his numerous and grievous sufferings hardly ending in a bitter and a shamefull death He rose again and ascended into Heaven in Glory and Triumph and is become the Head of the Universall Church and the onely Sanctuary those very Enemies who refused him can confide in God will have his designe let man do his worst he will make all those in his due time to understand their own folly who would not when they ought embrace his Counsaile The stones which He sends are more precious in his eyes then to lye always unreguarded on a Dunghill David's Palace and Kingdome shall not forever be a Cave and a wildernesse Christ's Crown shall not alwaies be made of Thornes Those Cruell hammerings and rougher usages which the despised stone at present undergoes shall not break and Crush it but on the Contrary Square and smooth and polish it and make it the more serviceable and fitter for the building His Enemies at length shall know that those many torments they barbarously inflicted on him shall reflect with doubled force upon themselves and by a seasonable and unexpected restauration they shall be made to acknowledge that the undeserved exile of their David was not the punishment of his Sins but the greatest curse could be lay'd upon his very Persecutors And here on the one hand we may clearly behold the folly and blindnesse of worldly men even of those who would fain be esteem'd the wisest and skilfull'st builders repairers of a broaken state on the other hand the Infinite Wisedome and Providence of God even in those actions which seem lest considerable to the dim eyes of men Here we see man's Unworthynesse and perversnesse in slighting and refusing the very choisest of God's blessings there God's Infinite mercy and unalterable Goodnesse in redoubling his blessings after they have been refused In short here 's man's impiety in rejecting the stone which God had design'd and by proffering it Commended there 's God's Justice in making that despised stone to become at last all that he intended it for at first even the Head-stone of the Corner 2. Thus are we from the wonderfull mercy come to the cheerfull reception thereof It is received as so great a blessing ought to be with an humble acknowledgement of the Author with an high admiration of the Mercy 1. This is the Lord 's doing There King David acknowledgeth and there he would have all those that joyne with him to acknowledge the Divine Author of this great blessing To the Honour Glory of his gratious GOD to the Comfort and Iustification of the late suffering David to the shame confusion of his once insulting persecutors he utters it aloud It is the Lord 's doing The Restauration of this Royall person and in him of Israel's happines was a work more peculiarly properly the Lord's whereby he was wōderfully pleased to exhibit to the world as it were under his hand and seal a most signall testimoniall of David's Just and Righteous cause Most things He brings to passe by such ordinary common Instruments and after so plain and easie a manner and method that though they be the Lord's doings too yet the homelinesse of the visible Instrument together with the frequency of such operations keep us from taking so much notice of them as we ought to doe But such rare and remarkable passages of providence as this was cannot goe by us without a due observation a seasonable wonder and an humble reflection upon the glorious and Omnipotent agent If David had yet had any visible meanes left him of ridding himselfe out of Danger and attaining unto that Crown which was fitted by God for his head they would have been lesse apt through the multitude of humane means to eye the hand of
of a tenderly compassionate Father and they onely swell the more and extend the wider towards the miserable wretch even so wide till they reach a Miracle such a miracle as forceth Stupidity it self into wonder and Admiration yea such a wonder as cannot contain it self but suddenly breaks forth into a signall joy and a solemne thanks-giving This and more then all this we read in the Text. 1. A blessing proffer'd no sooner proffer'd but rejected and though rejected yet sent againe and that with advantage The stone which the builders refused is become the Head stone of the Corner 2. This great mercy thus rejected and thus returning is as it ought to bee humbly acknowledged highly admired This is the LORD 's doing and it is marvailous in our Eyes 3. This great wonder and Humility are seasonably seconded with an Hearty Joy and Solemne Thangs-giving This is the day which the LORD hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Thus the Text wants nothing that 's fit for the day presenting us with a Wonderfull Blessing an Humble Reception and a Ioyfull Thanks-giving In all which we shall briefly consider first the History and the Doctrine next the Parallel and the Use. 1. We begin with the great Blessing concerning which let us enquire 1. What it was 2. To whom it was proffer'd 3. What welcome it found 1. This Blessing in the Metaphor is a Stone in the History David in the Prophecy Christ and whether David the Type of Christ or Christ the Seed of David still wee shall find it a Precious Stone and a great Blessing 1. The Stone in the History is David thatholy King in whose Royall Person most of the Happinesse of the Old in whose Heavenly Seed all the Happinesse of the New Israel of GOD did consist David the Author and the Subject of this Gratulatory hymne an Hymne composed and set for the Solemne Quire of Israel to be sung by them in their joyfull commemoration of the happy return of God's Anointed and their long exiled King He is the stone A stone hewen out of the rock by God's own hand consecrated with the Holy Oyle by God's own Prophet set apart by God's appointment to smite down the great Goliah of the Philistines to dash in pieces the Tyranny of a wicked Saul to crush to nothing the Enemies of God and of his chosen Israel A stone fitted and squared to be the foundation and pillar of his Hierusalem his Sion solid and firme such as the hottest fires of Persecution could not crack nor all the stormes and tempests of Affliction impaire of that weight and so well fixable that all the strength and art of Sathan and his Instruments could not remove or shake it but still he stood fast the Foundation the Pillar the sure stay and support of God's Church and People committed to his Charge Hee is the stone in the History which in the Prophecy is 2. Christ IESVS our Lord the everlasting seed of David The sure rock of our Salvation So He himself applies the text to himselfe Math 21. and after him his Apostle S t Peter 1 Pet 2. He who was a stone of stumbling and a Rock of Offence to the Iew first and then to the Gentile is a most sure hold and a strong Tower of defence to all those that stedfastly believe in him the firme and everlasting Foundation of the New Hierusalem the chief corner-stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord. Ephes 2. 20. 21. This is the living stone of which that former was no more but the bare shadow the stone whereon our Hopes our Comforts our present priviledges and our future Inheritance all are surely founded the Rock on which if we be once well bottomed let the winds blow and the waves beat and all these with all the violence they can yet shall we stand sure and unshaken to all eternity These be the stones here proffer'd in the Text David first and afterwards Christ and what I would desire you to note both these Kings A good King is indeed a most precious stone the most solid foundation of the Church's peace and the Peopl's happynes remove this stone and the whole house comes down upon your head touch but the Lord's anointed and you disjoint all the whole Kingdome shatters into confusion all falls into pieces and all the wit of man is not able to bind it up again Proofs and instances of this sad truth we have too many our own lamentable experience still fresh in our memories renders all citations of them at present needlesse Hereby we have found that whosoever wildly pushes at these sacred stones he onely runs his head against an hard Rock which though he should have the unhappy strength to shake a little yet he shall be sure withall to dash out his own brains at lest he must expect to receive such a wound as cannot easily be healed but he is like to bleed into a too late repentance He that fights against the powers set up by God can onely beat the skin off his own fingers It will be therefore our Prudence as well as our duty not to strike with too much violence upon these holy stones left like men hammering too boldly on a good flint wee thence produce such a fire as will not again be quenched Saint Paul dares not warrant so strange a Confidence when he tels us Rom. 13. They that resist the power shall receive to themselves Damnation Rather pray we that we may never come to want such a Stone as God here profer'd in the Text. but 2. To whom did he proffer it Even to those who wanted not eyes to see it nor experience to understand the worth and value of it nor skill sufficient to make a right use of it David was profer'd not to the poor rude Israelites that could not distinguish their right hand from their left but to the Grandees of Israel to Saul and his Councellours whose businesse and Profession it was to deal in such Stones Our Blessed IESVS was profer'd not onely to a few blind Gentiles who had all their knowledg but at the second hand the wonder had not been great if these had refused what they so little understood but he was proffer'd to the VVise men and Rulers of the Iews to the great Maister-builders of that Church Scribes and Pharisees Lawyers and Doctors those that knew the Law and had read the Prophets and understood what was foretold and prefigured concerning him whose bare acceptance of him had been precedent and warrant enough for the Peoples Faith as appears by that question Iohn 7 48. have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him So would they doubtlesly have said Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees received this stone If they have then so will we This is God's method he so proffers his great Blessings as to leave the refuser without excuse to those who