thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer Son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground Thou who didst make the Earth to tremble and shake the Kingdoms thereof Lastly when he as brought to that prodigious Strength and Greatness as to be Courted by the greatest Monarchs and thought to fix the Succession in his tainted Blood when he had been set by his Flatterers in a Throne and the Crown and Scepter laid at the Idols Feet then came the hand writing suddenly out against him and the Stone which he and the Builders before him had rejected like the stone in the Vision cut out of the Mountain without hands smote the Image that Prophetical Symbol of many Governments and broke in pieces the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold and they became like Chaff and the wind carried them away but the Stone which smote the Image became a great mountain even like mount Sion which cannot be removed and is the joy of the whole Earth To conclude even then when the Royal Interest was desperate and in Human probability must have utterly perished had not the deliverance happened when it did when not the People only but the Princes of the Earth counted our Soveraign smitten and afflicted of God and shunned him as the Heard do an hunted or embossed Stag then sudden confusion came upon his Enemies as sorrow upon a Woman in Travel then God said of them as of Cyrus his Anointed He is my Shepherd and set him upon the Throne of his Father David and made his Enemies lick the Dust When he was ready to sink under the Waves of Affliction upon which he had walked not without a Miracle so many years then didst thou stretch forth thy Arm unto him O righteous Jesus when he was become like a broken Vessel and seemed cleam forgotten as a dead man out of sight then didst thou O Lord overtun overturn overturn till he came whose right it was III. Another Character of Gods special Providence and Assistance in any Event is The mighty good which thereby accrues to the publick state of things and the persons upon whose welfare the publick doth depend To ascribe every petty Accident to a special Providence would look like Lightness and Superstition and it would be Profaness to father upon God the mischiess which we bring upon our selves by our own Sin and Folly but that great and beneficial Events ought to be ascribed to his particular hand is the common Creed of all Mankind For it is demonstrable from the Nature and Attributes of God that he doth govern Human Affairs and that being admitted it must needs follow in the Second place that he takes special care in ordering those Events which are of publick moment and benefit to Mankind and peculiarly those which concern any People that are of his Houshold which is the Church of God There was never any thing which seemed more contingent than the selling of Joseph into Egypt yet God did order it by a special Providence that he might be an Instrument in the time of Dearth of saving his Fathers House It was not you saith he to his Brethren but God who sent me hither to preserve you a Posterity on the Earth Genâ— 45.5 7 8. God sent me before you to save your lives by this great deliverance and hath made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of his hourse and Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt which was then more than ever the Granary of the World So likewise in the story of Esther that she should be chosen into the Seraglio of Ashuerus among a crowd of other Virgins seems a matter of Fortune or common Providence and yet it was contrived by God for the deliverance of his People and the Providential Scene which depended upon it was perhaps as miraculous as ever was acted upon the Stage of Human Affairs But of all the remarkable Events in Sacred or Profance History none hath been a greater Blessing to any Prince or People than the Revolution of this day hath been to us and our King As for us we were delivered by it from Egypt and Babylon at home from dome-stick Captivity from Servitude of all Servitudes the most intolerable under the Tyrannical Empire of our own Mamalukes and from that Evil under the Sun when Beggars and Servants were Lords and Princes and Princes and Lords Beggars and Slaves We were delivered by it from Military and Arbitrary Power indeed from the Tyranny and Insolence of Vsurping Sultans in several Forms and Successions of Government who broke the bonds of Law in sunder as Sampson did the green Wit hs like Threds of Tow and made their Will and Pleasure our Law In a word we were restored by it to our natural King and Government to the Father of our Country and in him to our Lives our Religion our Liberties and Estates As for his Majesty he was restored by it to the Inheritance of Three Kingdoms where his Dominion is from one Sea to the other and from the Flood unto the Worlds end Of Three Kingdoms where his Subjects are his Children and where even his Merchants as the Prophet Speaks are Princes Isai 23.8 and his Traffiquers the Honourable of the Earth Lastly of Three Kingdoms where he sits on his Throne like God holding the Ballance of the World and represents him above all other Monarchs in this that he is the Moderator of Peace and War among Princes and can Set up one and Pull another down These are the Temporal Blessings which he and we enjoy by it and the Spiritual are no less considerable than these For after our return from Captivity the Temple was soon Rebuilt the Altar speedily set up and the Lawful Priesthood restored again Wherefore since the revolution of this Day was such an unspeakable Blessing to the Three Nations and so highly beneficial both to Church and State common Reason and Religion will Award the Contrivance of it to Gods Wisdom and the Execution of it in all its parts to his Almighty Arm. IV. Another mark of Gods Special Providence and assistance in any Event is When it falls out very seasonably for the relief and Vindication of oppressed Innocence and brings along with it the just Execution of publick Vengeance upon the Nimrods of Humane Societies the Sons of violence who live by Oppression and Prey God is naturally the Protector of Innocent Men and Righteous Causes and tho' in Wisdom he cannot acquit and condemn reward and punish here as he means to do hereafter when the great Tragecomedy is done yet lest in the mean time the Spectators should have Sinister Thoughts of his Providence he is forced to come as it were from behind the Curtain and kill a Bloody Tyrant like Herod with Blasphemy perhaps in his Mouth and sitting in his Royal apparel upon his Throne Though it would be inconsistent with his Wisdom in the Present State of things to extirpate the Bears and Wolves
this still is our Duty to do on this auspicious Day We have offered up the Calves of our Lips the Sacrifices of Praises and Thanksgivings unto God with our Mouths and I hope our Hearts are Unisons with our Tongues We have sung unto the Lord as the Psalmist saith and heartily rejoiced in the strength of our Salvation we have sung Psalms and Anthems unto him because he hath done marvellous things and I hope in this solemnity our very Souls have magnified the Lord and our Spirits have rejoyced in God our Saviour and even hto te last moment of it let every Loyal Person say bless the Lord O my Soul Ps 103.1 and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Certainly it is our duty on this happy day to extol God and exult in the Salvation which he hath wrought for us and to acknowledge that this is the day which the Lord hath made the day of our going out of Egypt the day of our return from Captivity the day of the Dedication of our Temple and Altar nay the day of the Brittish Purim in which we ought to rejoyce as being the day wherein we rested from our Enemies and the month which was turned to us from Sorrow to Joy and from mourning into a good day that we should make it a day of Feasting and Joy Esth 9.22 and of sending Portions and guifts to the Poor For it is to the Mercy of this day that we owe our Lives our Religions our Liberties and Estates that every one of us can sit securely under his own Vine and call what he hath his own and therefore certainly we that ejoy so great a Deliverance by this day and such mighty Blessings consequent upon it as no other People in the World enjoy besides our selves if our hearts be not at discord with our Mouths in our present Devotions we cannot forbear to let the offerings of our Charity accompany our Sacrifices of Praise and do something considerable to exhilarate the Spirits of our poor brethren and make them partakers of our joy This day the sorrowful sighing of the Poor and of the Prisoners ought to come before us and more especially if we know any such who wereruined by the late Successful Rebellion them we ought to relieve They more especially ought to be the Objects of your Charity upon this Solemnity and therefore in the first place let us do good and distribute to those or the Poor Relations of those who were sufferers for their Loyalty and bore the greatest and bitterest part of that Captivity from which the Lord brought back his People upon this day I suppose there are such to be found among you the Monuments of your former Loyalty in the bloody Worcester-fight and I hope you will consider them as Martyrs and Confessors for our English Liberties and open your hand liberally towards them who yet bear in their Bodies or in their Distressed Families the Marks of their Loyalty for the King and of their Sufferings for the Church We cannot offer up unto God any Sacrifice more acceptable than the supplies which in gratitude to him for our Deliverance we shall give to them this day and if our Charity be such as becomes our present Devotion we need not fear but that God will accept our Alms and Oblations and that our Prayers and our Alms will go up for a Memorial before him who hath done so great things for us and by his Almighty Power and Allwise Providence turned our Captivity as the Rivers in the South These are the duties proper to this day but then we must further understand that if our Joy be pure and genuine and such as really proceeds from a grateful and Religious Sense of Gods Goodness it will shew itself in the Fruits of true Piety towards God and of True and conscientious Allegiance to the King whom God so miraculously restored unto us all the Days of our Life He that pretends Religion towards God and yet makes use of it as a Cloak of Maliciousness to Cover his Disaffection and Disloyalty to the King that Mans Religion let him shew never so much Zeal for preserving the Protestant Religion is Pharisaical and vain and utterly unacceptable in the sight of him who will have every Soul to be Subject to the Higher Powers And on the other hand he who pretends Loyalty to the King and expresses it in such a manner as must needs be offensive to God and sober Men that mans Loyalty subverts the Kings Throne and provokes God to let the Enemies of the Crown multiply and prosper to punish the Wickedness of such profane Royalists who in that Bacchanal manner by which they Testify their affection to the King disgrace his Majesty and dishonour God He that truly Fears God will Honour the King and not meddle with those that are given to Change and he that truly Honours the King in the Christian notion of a King as the Image and Lieutenant of God will be sure to Honour him by whom Kings Reign and express his Zeal for him and his Joy for his Restauration in such Ways and Measures as shall not pollute any Festival Solemnity or turn our indulgence into Riot or Excess God forbid that Loyalty more than any other Christian Virtue should be made a pretense for such unworthy Greek Practises and God forbid that any of the English Melchites or Loyal Subjects of the Church of England should find no other ways of declaring their Zeal and Affection for their Soveraign than such as will render them the Scorn and Reproach of theirs and the Kings Enemies and a Scandal to the Royal Cause Let us in God's Name rejoyce in the Kings Salvation but in such a manner as will consist with the strict Rules of Christian Sobriety Let the Fear of God temper our Mirth for the Deliverance of the King let us wish him Health and say with Daniel O King live for Ever but at the same time let us remember him who hath Cloathed him with Majesty and in whose Rule and Governance the Hearts of Kings and Princes are God indeed hath given Wine to chear the Heart of Man but then we must in our Mirth remember what he hath told us that Wine is a Mocker and that strong drink is rageing Prov. 20 1. and whosoever is deceived thereby is not Wise God indeed hath given us leave to Eat and Drink to kill Beasts to mingle our Wines and furnish our Tables upon Festivall Occasions but then as Christians it becomes us to remember at our Feasts that whether we eat or drink 1 Cor. 10.31 or whatsoever we doe we must do it to the Praise and glory of God who on this day brought back the Captivity of his People and therefore doth expect that Jacob should Rejoice and Israel should be Glad for the wonderful deliverance which by his Special Providence and Assistance he hath brought about Now to God our Mighty Deliverer and Saviour who giveth Victory unto Kings the God to whom alone our Gracious Soveraign is Subject and next under whom he is Supream within these Realms unto the Allwise and Almighty God of whose institution Kings and Kingdoms are unto the Allwise Almighty God and Creator King of Kings and Lord of Lords be ascribed as is most due Eternal Praise Honour Majesty and Glory by us and by the whole Church Militant and Triumphant now and Evermore FINIS Page 17 line penult for 60 read 70. Sermons written by the same Authour and Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in St. Pauls-Church-yard 1. A Discourse to prove the strongest Temptations are conquerable by Christians A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London and Court of Aldermen Jan. 14th 1676 7 2. The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised In a Sermon Preached before the Vniversity of Oxford On Act-Sunday 1680. 3. Peculium Dei A Sermon Preached before the Honourable the Aldermen and Citizens of London on February 6th 1688 8 0 1 4. The true Notion of Persecution in a Sermon preached at the time of the late Contribution for the French Protestants 5. A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of London on Jan. 30th 1681 2 6. The Moral Shechinah or a Discourse of Gods Glory In a Sermon Preached at the York-shire Feast In Bow-Church June 11 1682. 7. A Sermon Preached at the Church of St. Bridget on Easter-Tuesday being the first of April 1684 before the Right Honourable Sir Henry Tulse Lord Mayor of London and the Honourable Court of Aldermen together with he Governours of the Hospitals upon the Subject of Almsgiving
A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church OF WORCESTER On the 29th of May 1684. Being the ANNIVERSARY DAY OF HIS MAJESTY'S Birth and Happy Restauration By George Hickes D. D. Dean of Worcester and Chaplain in Ordinary to 〈◊〉 MAJESTY Published at the Joint and Earnest Request of the MAYOR and ALDERMEN of Worcester LONDON Printed by R. E. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard and John Jones Bookseller in Worcester 1684. To the Right Worshipful FRANCIS HAINES Esq MAYOR And to the Worshipful the ALDERMEN Of the City of Worcester Gentlemen THE style of the Paper in which you sent me your joint and earnest Request to publish this Discourse was so respectful and obliging that I could not deny it without incurring the imputation of Rudeness especially seing it was the first Request of any Kind that you ever desired of me I need not tell the world how Loyal you are nor how Active some of you have been in Reforming this City the very Approving of this Sermon which all the Enemies of the Government will be sure to Condemn is a sufficient Testification that you are some of those Worthy Citizens who in the late distinguishing Times were too honest and too wise to be misled by those subtle and malicious Enemies of the Monarchy who are generally known by this Character that they are for the King against his Evil Counsellors and for the Protestant Religion against the Church I was very much pleased as well as surprized to find at my arrival on the Evening of the Anniversary Day of our most Gracious Soveraigns Birth and happy Return that this City now restored to its self had prepared to celebrate that Auspicious day in a most Solemn and Festival manner and I must bear you and your Loyal Citizens witness that I never saw more Conduct and Order in any Publick Procession more Gravity in any Publick Joy or more universal Temperance and Sobriety at any Publick Feasting among all Sorts of Persons exactly agreeable to that seasonable Exhortation with which I concluded this Sermon which now is no longer mine but Yours I am very sensible it deserves not half of that great Opinion which you have expressed of it and if it answer those Ends but in any tolerable and competent measure for which you desired me to make it publick especially among the People of this City to whom I am bound to have a particular regard I shall think my pains well spent and rejoyce that I was so happy as to testify in a way so serviceable to the Publick that I am Gentlemen Your most Affectionate and Faithful Friend and humble Servant George Hickes Psalm Psalm XIV v. 7. When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad The whole Verse runs thus O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when the Lord bringeth back c. THIS and the foregoing Psalm were composed by David in the Rebellion of Absalom when the People of Israel had Universally revolted from the Allegiance which they owed to him and the Duty which they owed to God In the first Verse he gives us an account of the Authors and Ring leaders of this general Apostacy and Rebellion They were it seems an Association of Impudent and Atheistical Men who tho' they durst not openly deny the God of Israel with their Mouths yet they denied his Being and Providence or at least doubted of them in their hearts The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God meaning most likely the Fool Achitophel or perhaps the Raw and Younger Fool Absolom And then for those that were of their Party they are saith he corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good And then in the third Verse to shew how the Generality of the Nation had in a manner lost all Sense of their Duty they are all saith he gone aside they are all together become filthy or putrid there is none that doth good no not one In the fourth Verse He expresses his astonishment at the stupidity and blindness of the Conspirators that they should go on without any Sense or remorse in their Atheistical Practices of Rebellion and be so unjust and irreligious Have all the workers of Iniquity no Knowledge who eat up my People as they eat Bread and call not upon the Lord. In the fifth Verse he tells us that the Generality of the People were moved with fear to joyn with them but that it was a causeless mistrust and fear for want of considering That God will protect Righteous men and Causes There were they in great fear He addeth in a Parallel place Psal 53.5 where no fear was for God is in the Generation of the Righteous i. e. they were in a great fear fearing men more than God who taketh part with the Righteous aginst the Wicked In the sixth Verse he shews how the Conspirators laughed at the small Loyal Party which preferring their Duty before their Interest and trusting in the Protection of Heaven adhered to the King You have shamed the Counsel of the Poor because the Lord is his Refuge i. e. you have mocked and jeered the Poor Despicable Loyal Party because they make the Lord their Refuge And then in the last Verse he expresseth a great and longing desire for that happy time when God who dwelt in Sion would arise and shew himself in the Deliverance of him and his People O that the Salvation or Saviour of Israel were come out of Sion When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People Jacob shall or ought to rejoyce and Israel shall or ought to be glad According to this which is the most genuine Explication of the Psalm I may without the least Violence to the Sense of the Royal Psalmist make these three Observations upon my Text which will be suitable to the Solemnity of this day 1. That the People in a State of prevailing or successful Rebellion are in a State of Slavery and Captivity This Observation I ground upon that remarkable Expression the Captivity of his People 2. That a People cannot be brought out of such a State of Slavery and Captivity without the special Providence and Assistance of God As it is written when the LORD bringeth back the Captivity of his People 3. That it is the Duty of a People so brought back out of Captivity to render Praise and Thanksgivings unto God When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People Jacob ought to rejoyce and Israel ought to be glad First that a People in a State of prevaling and Successful Rebellion are in a State of Slavery and Captivity for a State of Slavery and Captivity consists in being obnoxious to the will and pleasure of an Unlimited Absolute and Arbitrary Power such as was the Power of the Ancient Roman Emperors of whom as our Learned Lawyer Fortescue observes out of Justinians Institutions the Civil Law saith