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A49704
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A commemoration of King Charles his inauguration, or, A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse by William Laud ...
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Laud, William, 1573-1645.
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1645
(1645)
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Wing L579; ESTC R200020
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20,473
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38
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God and to God alone Therfore Damascene puts God into the very definition of prayer prayer saith that Father is petitio decensi a deo the asking of those things that are fit to be asked of God For prayer is one of the greatest parts of divine worship so great that Parmatius disputing against Sermonian takes prayer for the whole entire worship of God No Pope can dispense with King or people either not to pray or not to pray to God but Saints or Angels As for their distinctions they are all new the ancient Church knew them not though these have their use sometimes yet they are a great deal too nice to be used in prayer that is so essentiall a part of divine worship And you have gâ—eat cause againe to blesse magnifie God for a King so constant in religion so devout in praier so direct in his devotion to God alone as he hath ever shewed himselfe to be and God for his mercy sake ever hold him there And indeed to whom should he or any of you go in praier but to God for none can give but he nor none can blesse or preserve that that is given but he If the King look to have his Throne established to himselfe or his Son after him he must go to God for the setling of it or else it will shake then when he thinks it surest And since God hath proclaimed it himselfe By me Kings reign Prov. 8. Princes have reason to look up to him that they may reign by him since against him nay without him they cannot reigne To God then the King goes by prayer But all this is lost except we know for what And that follows next in the text It is for Iudgement It is indeed for all that a kingdome is but principally for jndgement First because under God that is the establishing of the Kings Throne Prov. 25 Secondly because that is one of the Kings maine vertues for the ordering of his people for they cannot have their well being but by justice and judgement Therefore iâ— the Common Law of this kingdome justice is rightly styled the supporter of the Common-wealth J will not fill your ears with curiosities nor trouble you with disputes wherein this judgement desired for the King and this justice and righteousnesse for the Kings Son differ one from another I know they differ in schoole learning Iudgement standing usually for the habite and Iustice for the sentence or execution accordingly But here Rufinus and Austin and other Divines tell me that judgement and righteousnesse in this place stand for that justice and judgement that the King is indifferently and equally to administer to his people and so for one vertue Here is the vertue and the power both from the King and both from God The benefit of both are the peoples but from God by the King Therefore David prayes here not for one vertue for himselfe and another for his son but for one and the same vertue for both For the Sonne had as much need of this vertue as the Father the one being a King and the other to be one they both needed this great comprising kingly vertue without which there can bee no religious peaceable government over a people So justice and judgement in this place as usually when they attend the King containe the vertue it selfe and the power that brings this vertue to act The execution is as justice and the power to give sentence moderation and equity to smooth over the rigour of justice and all other vertues as far as they serve to strengthen or direct and keepe even the hands of justice prudence especially Then it is a wondrous necessary prayer here for if justice should not be in the Kings will which God forbid it must needs grow apt to turne to sourenesse And if judgement and execution follow not upon the sentence of justice the Kings hand must needs shake into remisnesse And one of these sournesse will make judgement it selfe or the pretext of it a scourge â—or the people And the other remisnesse will make the people a worse scourge to themselves for want of discipline to keepe them in order For of all scourges there is none answerable to the unrulinesse of the people Now this vertue as large as it is when it fâ—ls the heart of the King it is called another heart it puts on other dimensions for it furnisheth the Kings brest with all rectitude and prudence and rectitude is the being and prudence the moderation and guid of all justice for so without respect of persons it belongs to the wise and prudent Prov. 25. Nay further though this vertue be so large yet the heart of the King is so capacious that justice and judgement cannot fill it if it stand siâ—gle therefore David prayeth not for judgement single but in the plurall number Give thy judgements And there is great reason that he should pray so for justice continuing one and the same vertue gives many times different judgements and it must needs be so and the King must needs be an instrument in them all And in the various occasions that himselfe and his people have use of This David found in his owne heart therefore he prayes for all And this pray we alway for the King for all judgement for the King So give Lord And here it is fit for you a little to take a view of your own happinesse and to blesse God for it for you live under a King that keepes his Lawes in his life A King that lives so as if he were a Law himselfe and so needed none A King that plants his Iudges so as they may equally distribute his judgement and justice to his people A King so blessed by God for your good that whether it be for his owne prayers or yours or both or neither but that God is pleased to shew his mercy and glory upon him to you certaine it is that God hath given him a very large heatt and filled it to the brim with justice and judgement Take heed I heartily beg it of you I say it againe take heed I heartily beg it of you that no sin of unthankfulnesse no base detracting murmuring sin possesse your soules or whet your tongues or soure your brests against the Lord against his Anoynted but remember in that these two things First remember that it is as easie for God to take away any blessing even the great blessing of a good King as to give it remember that And secondly remember that unthankfulnesse to God for so gracious a King is the very ready way to doe it remember that too and therefore looke to these things in time I but what then hath a King enough when God hath given him justice and judgement May his prayers then cease for himselfe as your prayers for him hath he no more need of God when God hath once given him judgement O God forbid surely he hath and it is to be presumed
never so great if David pray and God remember the King cannot bee lost in any sorrow Hezekiah found it so when he fasted and prayed and turned to the Lord Isa 37. for then the Host of Zenacharib was presently broken and himselfe saved So then David is at this necessary worke he is at prayer I but for whom is it that David praâ—es Surely dievâ—s ancient and moderne Divines think that in this place the King and the Kings son stand but for one person the person of Solomon under two different relations the King and the Kings son and that there is an Emphasis added by the Repetition And they thinke too that David penned this Psalm when he was dying when he resigned his Crowne to Solomon and delivered the Scepter into his hand which the Iesuit Lorinus tels us and he is very exact that it was just foure yeers surely I thinke hee failes of his reckoning before Davids death when hee made this prayer for Solomon And he avoucheth Ierome to be his Author but it is not so the Iesuite in this as in divers greater busines is too bold Indeed Ierome saith that Davâ—d lived after Solomon was crowned aliquot annus some yeers but he saith not just four it may be more or fewer I will not enter upon the question quando when David made this Prayer and penned this Psalme First because the quando the time here is not in the text nor in any part else in Scripture therefore I may safely be ignorant Secondly bâ—cause suppose this were the last Psalme that ever David made as some collect out of the last verse yet that supposed will not prove that hee made this Psalme after he had crowned Solomon King for before Solomon was crowned David was little lesse then bedrid 1 King 1. at which time it is out of question that David prayed therefore hee did not then compose this Psalâ—e Therefore I shall take liberty to dissent from this opinion with al submission to better judgements but especially to the Church Me thinks it was not so near night with the Prophet when he penned this Psalme I rather think that David made it when himselfe was King and his purpose was firmely set that Solomon should succeed him for so he had sworne 1 King 3. And I think this prayer here in the beginning of the Psalm was made first by David for himselfe and then for Solomon after And since this opinion maintains nothing contrary to the Analogie of faith nothing that hinders the context nothing that crosses any determination of the Church nay since there is in it more piety to God more duty to himselfe more instruction to his Son and more good example to other Kings that the prayer begin at himselfe I will take the prayer as I find it in the very words of the Psalme to be a prayer first for David and then for his Son and so proceed Well then Davids prayer here is first for himselfe we shall come to his Son afâ—et And he is an excellent example to Kings in this for the first thing that makes prayer necessary absolutely necessary for a King is himselfe that a superiour hand even Gods hand would set and keepe him right whom so many inferiour hands labour to set awry I but what need the King to pray for himselfe he wants no prayers whom all the people pray for Indeed it is true the people are bound to pray for their King 1 Tim. 2. and I make no doubt but that the people performe this duty as they are bound since it is a tribute which by the Law of God they ought to pay and David so great and so good a King had out of question the prayers of all his people both for himselfe and his son yet for all that you shall find David at his prayers for himselfe too And certainly there is great reason for it for of all acts of Charity this of Prayer is aptest to begin at home It is true indeed the King ought to have the prayers of his people and that man cannot deserve so much as the name of a Christian that prayes not heartily for the King because that is not the Kings good only but the peoples way to lead a life in godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 5. Therefore that man that makes no conscience of praying for the King let him pretend what hee can hee must be presumed to have as little care of all godliness and honesty I but though the King ought to have the prayers of his people yet in the performance of their duty I reade not of any dispensation the King hath to neglect his own not to pray for himselfe If hee be a King like David he must be a King at his prayers too especially in those great things that concerne the King that concerne the kingdome that concerne his Son and his succession to his kingdome there he of necessity must pray for himselfe He may joy in his peoples prayers there but hee must pray for himselfe too And God be ever blessed for it you have a King that is daily at his prayers both for himselfe and for you yet here I pray take this along with you that as it is the peoples duty to pray for their King and that takes not off the King to pray for himselfe So on the contrary side the Kings religious care in praying for himselfe is so far from lessening that it augments the obligation of the people to pray for the King And when both pray the King for himselfe and the people for the King God will not refuse their prayers And the prayer granted though it fal first upon the head of the King as good reason it should yet it becomes as Aarons oyle Psal. 133. for it runs to the skirts of all his people so that they have the benefit both of their own and of his prayer I will never misdoubt the pietie of this nation in the performing this dutie of which both here and in al places they are met this day to make publick proof For the person that keeps close to this dutie among many others hee shall be sure of this one great blessing he cannot fal into the opposite sin of murmuring against the King David the King in the text hee had faithfull and religious people yet there was a Shemei among them that instead of praying for the King cursed and reviled him 2 Sam. 16. David was very patient but I pray remember what Solomon the Kings Son did to Shimei 2 King 2. remember that and if the memorie of his punishment would affright other men from running into this blasphemous iniquitie all would soon be well We are to consider in the next place to whom it is here that the Prophet prayes and that is exprest A deo Give the King thy Iudgements O God Doe thou give And as this is all mens dutie so it it is the dutie of the King too among the rest to go in prayer to