WHen God ever signally appeared in the be­half of his People the Jews, to relieve them in their Wants, to assist them in the day of their Distress, and so exerted his Almigh­ty, interposed his own Sovereign Power for their De­liverance; when ever he wonderfully preserved them from any Danger that did beset, any Calamity that did befall them, we still, we as constantly find them (tho a stubborn and head-strong People) making their so­lemn and grateful Returns, paying their most enlarged Thanks, and just retribution of Praises. Thus, when the Depths of the Sea overwhelmed Pharaoh and his whole Host, Exod. 1 Ver. 6. so that they sunk into the bottom as a Stone, and as Lead into the mighty Waters; when the right hand of the Lord became glorious in Power, dash­ed their Enemies into pieces, and might have involved them in the same Ruin and fatal overthrow, but yet miraculously preserved them, Ver. 19. so that they went on dry Land, even in the midst of the Sea, we have Moses composing his [...], his triumphant Song of Thanks­giving, and in a most devout, most dutiful manner, landing and praising his God, and acknowledging [Page 2]him, v. 11. glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. And thus also, not to mention any more in­stances, when the Children of Israel were deliver'd and freed from twenty years Slavery and Servitude, which they had suffer'd under Jabin King of Canaan, we find Deborah, and Barach the Son of Abinoam, as you may read in the fifth Chapter of Judges, magnify­ing God the Author of their Liberty. And as this was their constant, their general Practise, so likewise in parti­cular this Psalm (as a Reverend Divine of our Church in his Argument upon it observes) is universally thought to be a joyful Song compos'd by Ezra, Dr. Patrick. or some such good man, wherein he celebrates the Jews happy delive­rance out of Babylon, a City to which they were car­ried Captives for their Sins; wherein he ascribes the mighty, the unexpected great things, of their return to their Countrey, of their restitution to their Laws, Liberty, and Worship, wholly to the Lord, looking upon this happy turn, this Revolution of Affairs (as well he might) as a thing too great to be effected by bare Humane Power, so wonderful, so incompre­hensible, that it was judg'd impossible to be perform­ed. Insomuch that when the Lord stirred up the Spi­rit of Cyrus King of Persia to issue out his Royal Pro­clamation for their Return to Jerusalem, Ezra 1. v. 2, 3. we read in the first Verse of this Psalm, that they were like unto them that dream, that they could scarce be wrought into a belief of their Happiness, and that they look'd upon themselves under some soft delusion, some kind­er Deception, only in a Dream, an imaginary fancy of such unhop'd for, unexpected Felicity; but then, when they met with no obstruction or impediment, when they clearly perceived, and had sufficient de­monstration and Conviction that God had wrought [Page 3]this for them, and that the men of the place not only permitted them, but also help'd them, forwarded them to go; when, I say, the truth and certainty of this appeared, beyond denial or contradiction, then (as became them) were their Mouths filled with Laughter, and their Countenances with Joy, their Tongues employ'd in singing, and their Breaths in fashioning Hymns to their God, who had magnified his Power in their Deliverance, which justly filled them with Joy and Triumph, so that they expressed them­selves in the words of my Text, The Lord hath done great things, &c.

And sure, if ever any People under the Copes of Heaven had cause to bless God for any Mercies con­ferr'd upon them, then certainly we of this Nation have, for those of this days Commemoration. A day, whereon we celebrate a double Blessing; an Anniver­sary, whereon we repeat our continued Thanks to Al­mighty God for the Birth, and for the Return of our present Sacred Majesty; A Birth, next to that of our B. Saviour's, the most beneficial, most advantagious to us, being the Nativity of the best of Princes; A Re­turn, the greatest and most signaliz'd Mercy, next to that of our Redemption, being ransomed thereby from the greatest Tyranny but that of Hell, and restored to our Sovereign, and in him to the greatest of Earth­ly and Temporal Blessings, and therefore have all the reason imaginable to break forth into this grateful re­cognition of the Psalmists, The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

In the prosecution of which words, (which I hope may suit with the serious business of the day) I shall en­deavour these three things.

[Page 4] 1. I shall observe unto you the great things that God hath done for us; the signal Mercies he hath vouchsafed unto us in this days Dispensation.

Secondly, I shall endeavour to shew, (since there is no good Christian, or good Subject, which are re­ciprocal and convertible terms, but will one way or other be glad, and rejoyce in this day which the Lord hath made) which way, and by what means, we may best and most acceptably express our Joyes of it.

Thirdly, and lastly, I shall make some brief Appli­cation to the whole, with reference to this Solemn, this Loyal Appearance.

First then, I shall observe unto you the great things that God hath done for us, the signal Mercies he hath vouchsafed unto us in this dayes Dispensation.

Both which Topicks, if taken together, will try the utmost stretch of Thought and Contemplation; will amount to a Subject that can never be exhausted; such that Language it self, cannot, with all its copiousness, sufficiently express. So that when we have us'd all our Faculties to utter our Praises, and bespeak our Gratitude, when we have been swallowed up in the deep contemplation of the Divine Goodness and Pro­tection to which we owe our present Stabiliment and Continuance; when we have almost breathed out our very Souls into Ecstasies of Joy, and pious Raptures of Thanksgiving; and, in a word, have with the best expressions of exalted Gladness, with Acclamations loud as Thunder, and Hallelujahs like the roarings of the Sea, manifested our deep, our profound sense of His Majesties miraculous Restauration from the miseries and hardships of a cruel Exile and unnatural Banishment; when we have done this and more, we shall still find [Page 5]matter of wonder before us, to silently admire, when we can no longer express the immense Goodness, and stupendious Bounty of Heaven, extended unto us in these two instances of the Day, the Nativity of our Sovereign, and his Accession to the Throne. And though we may well expatiate on both, and have as great reason to bless and praise God for the one as well as the other; to bless God, that he who rules over us, rules by undoubted Succession, that he is our Natural Lord, and born Prince, that he sways the Sceptre, not by Violence and Usurpation, as the late infamous Protector, not by Adoption, as Tiberius, not by Election, as Vespasian, heretofore amongst the Romans, but by an uninterrupted Lineal Descent, but by an unalterable Right of Inheritance; a Right, that cannot be alienated without the highest violation of Justice, Oaths, and Laws National, Natural, and Sa­cred; tho, I say, these are Blessings (if any can be) equal with those of His Majesties happy, thrice happy Restauration, yet I shall forbear the consideration of them at present, and speak to the latter chiefly, where­in we have sufficient to exert our wonder, and to make us conclude with the Psalmist, Psal. 59. ver. 10. that God hath shewed us his goodness plenteously.

For, when we were void even of all other help, and quite destitute of hope from Men, from the Arm of Flesh, when we groaned, sighed, and languished, and were ready to expire under the heavy Oppressi­ons of Tyrannical and Arbitrary Government, when we had utterly lost, and were totally depriv'd of that we now to the full enjoy, viz. our Liberty, Property, and Religion; when we were consumed even from Morning till Evening, all the day long, our Houses plundered, our Wives violated, our Vir­gins [Page 6]rap't, and our Churches too, without any respect had to the Sacredness of Temples, sacriledg'd and pro­phaned; when All but Rebells and Traytors were re­duc'd to Cain's sad, Cain's disconsolate condition, to dread every one they met to be their Executioners; and, to consummate our Miseries, and compleat our Infelicity (that our better Parts might not escape Pha­natick Rage and Tyranny) when we were deny'd our religious, and well-digested Forms of Prayer, and our Souls almost poyson'd with the blasphemous and fulsome stench of Extempore Nonsence; when the Pulpits were usurp'd by Jeroboam's Priests, the Beasts of the People, the lowest, and vilest, and most con­temptible Mechanicks, and the rever'd Name and Sa­cred Word of God abus'd and prostituted by Enthu­siastick Canting and unintelligible Babble; and, in a word, when all the Miseries that can be thought of, by the loss and most savage Murder of the best of Kings, and by the outragious cruelty of the worst of Traytors, had sadly, had lamentably befallen and con­sumed the Nation; then, even then, did it please Al­mighty God to come in to our Aid and Succour, to free us, by this dayes Blessing, from all the Insolencies, and Spoils, and Devastations of an Army, from all the direful Issues of a Civil and Intestine War, and (for nothing else, nothing less than our Sovereign's Return would have put the period) from all the different Competitions and variety of endless Claims, which would have been still started up, and so consequently begot and bred everlasting Disturbances, circular, eter­nal Fears: So that a bare exemption from such a long Train, such a complicated Series of Miseries which must have unavoidably ensued such Confusion in the Government; had no other Blessings (which, God [Page 7]be praised, we abound with) been superadded, must have put us upon declaring our grateful Resent­ments; but then, if to this we add the miraculous manner of his Majesties Return, it must needs excite our wonder and admiration.

For He was restored to Us, after some Men, some Potent men, had arrived to that Audacious degree, that high pitch of Impudence, as to form and pass an Illegal and Diabolical Act, Sir R. Ba­kers Chron. pag. 588. for the Exheredation of the Royal Line, for the utter Extirpation and Abolish­ing of Monarchy it self, the best of Governments; He was restored after a Proclamation issued forth, that none should presume not only to declare and publish, nay, Ibid. p. 587. even to breathe or whisper him, or, to express it in their own terms, any ways to promote him to be King. He was restored by General Monk, p. 693. to whom they had offered the Government, and so, one would have thought, should not have proved so industriously instrumental in bringing the Lawful Heir to it; Nay farther yet, to our greater Astonishment, He was restored, when there was a well formed, well disciplin'd Army on foot against him; when his own Friends were low and poor, harrassed and oppressed, but his Enemies strong and powerful; when it was their Interest, as well as Principles, to keep him, now they had him out; And lastly, for all this, He was restored (which must needs convince even the Rebels themselves, that God was in it) without Opposition or Resistance, without a Hand lifted up, or a Blow struck, tho, had a thousand Lives been sacrific'd, had whole Rivers of Blood been shed, it had proved but a small Offering for so great a good; but a poor Victim, and slender Oblation for so great a Prince; To see, I say, such an Universal Concurrence among so many different Parties and di­stinct [Page 8]Interests, to see such general and united Joyes, such miraculous Circumstances, attending and waiting upon the Return, must make the most bigotted Pha­natick either renounce his Reason, or else confess, that this was the Lord's doing; and from hence know and learn, that the Lord saveth his Anointed, and will hear him from his holy Heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand; as heretofore, when he was driven from his own Kingdom to another People, so likewise now, being seated on his Fathers Throne. For which great and transcendent Mercy let us never cease to bless and praise God, and with our purest Acclama­tions of Joy and Triumph, clap our hands, and cry, God save the King: 2 Kin. 11.12. which in the Hebrew Phrase, as is observed in the Marginal Note of our Transla­lation, is, Let the King live, out-live all his Foes; let him receive fresh and new accessions of strength and splendour, and let him now at the last, be amply and largely recompenced for the times wherein he hath suffered Adversity; for the times wherein he fled before, and was glad to escape his own, but rebelli­ous Subjects; for the times wherein he was reduced almost to Lazarus his poor and necessitous condition, and forced for his own Concealment and Security, in an adjacent County, and a little Village, Madely by name, Bak. Chro. p. 609. to take up with no better an Apartment than a Barn; for the times wherein (like our Blessed Sa­viour) with Reverence and Submission do I speak it, He took upon him the form of a Servant, nay, and was put about Servile and Culinary Emyloys. Now let the World judge, Was there ever Prince so Great, Just, and Good, exposed to such Hardships, put up­on such Indignities as these? Indignities that he never would have been driven to, but by two sorts of men, [Page 9]since the beginning of the World, namely, the Cruci­fiers of our Lord, the Jews, and the Murtherers of our late King of blessed Memory, the Presbyterians and Independants; but I shall forbear entring any farther on this black and dismal scene of Affairs, out of the pure respect I have for the Day, and not for them, because I am not willing to overcast the bright­er rayes of it with such thick and Egyptian darkness, which many of us have too sadly felt, and therefore pass to my second undertaking, which is, to shew how we may best and most acceptably express our Joys of so comprehensive a Mercy we this day com­memorate.

(2.) This I shall perform these two ways; First, Negatively. Secondly, Positively.

First, Negatively. Not by any sinful Methods of Excess and Intemperance; not by any irregular or ex­orbitant Excursions, for these will rather call down, than appease God's Judgments, these will engage him not for, but against us, and make us at enmity and variance, and set us at distance with Heaven it self; nay, and will render us (which we should be loth to be accounted) the worst Subjects and greatest Re­bels; for every Vice carries something of Treason along with it; each fit of Drunkenness (especially if a National Sin, as in this of ours) damms up to de­luge the Land, and each Lust serves to scorch and fire the place of its Inhabitants, and proves the most fatal Conspiracy, arming God against it; for, as Solomon expresses it, Prov. 1.32. Even the prosperity of such Fools shall destroy them. So that if we should thus sin­fully Congratulate the Safety of our King, that very act would contribute towards his Ruin; and in real truth, though we should ever so heartily rejoyce for [Page 10]him in such a manner, yet, the best that can be said of it, would be, that it was a Loyal way of destroy­ing him; 2 Kin. 9.22. for as, Jehu answered Joram, What Peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jesabel, and her Witcherafts are so many? So likewise, what Protecti­on, what Assistance can we expect from the Powers above, so long as Vice and Wickedness abounds, and is encouraged among us? I speak not this (for I would not be misunderstood) to disrepute our in­tended Festival; I acknowledge with the devout Salvian, Salv. de gub. l. 6. Rideamus quamlibet immensuratim, laetemur quamlibet jugiter dummodo innocenter, We may be glad without measure, we may rejoyce continually, pro­vided it be done innocently and inoffensively; nor do I speak it, that I in the least doubt, or any wayes suspect, but that the whole Action will be performed with Sobriety equal to its Loyalty, which is primi­tively pure; but only in general, because at such times such Sins are too frequently transacted amongst men: and withall, I affirm, that as long as there is such open and unpunished neglect of Gods Worship, Word, and Sacraments, as long as there is such Con­tempt of his Sacred Laws, and holy Institutions, such horrid Prophanation of the Lord's Day, and such promiscuous Incontinence, even from the Cottage to the Palace, that unless a more than ordinary Piety stand in the gap, the Event and Issue of these things will be desolation and ruine, the bane and consum­ption of our King and our selves; it will happen unto us, 1 Sam. 12.15. as the Lord spake unto Israel, If ye do wickedly, ye shall be destroyed, both ye and your King. If so be therefore we will not conspire against our selves and Prince, if we will not put helping and assisting hands to our own Misfortunes and Calamities; if we will [Page 11]not be instrumental to effect that which the Papists and Phanaticks are both industriously endeavouring to do for us, let us, as one expresses it in words to this effect, ‘Mistake not Debauchery for Joy and Merriment, Dr. Spark 29 May. nor drown our Reason, to manifest our Loyalty, but pray for the Kings Health,’ and drink only for our own; and this will be good and acceptable to God and our King, and will bring us under, and recom­mend us to the Divine Favour and Protection.

Secondly, Let us express our Joyes and thankful­ness Pofitively; by doing those Duties, by making such proportionable returns as become good Christr­ans, that have a thorow sense and conviction of so miraculous and stupendious a Providence as ours of this Day; which may be best performed,

First, By an utter abhorrence; and hearty detestation of all such abominable Practises, and Disloyal, Anti-mo­narchical Principles, that naturally lead, dispose and de­bauch the minds of men into such bold, daring, and unlawful Attempts, as to fight against, and drive out of his own Territories the Lords Anointed, which are such as these and the like: Namely, That Princes, for just causes (as if there could be any such, when they sin only against God) may be deprived. Psal. That the People taken collectively, are better than the King, and of greater Authority. That they may Arraign their Prince, and they might with as much Justice and Equi­ty on their sides, have said, Murder'd him too, as they once did; that it is not sufficient for Subjects not to obey the wicked Commandments of their Prince, (which we are like to have none of) but they must resest them also, and deliver the Children of God (which by a strange kind of Baptism they Christen them­selves) from the hands of their Enemies, as we would [Page 12]deliver a Sheep that is in danger to be devoured by a Wolf. Which wicked and damnable Doctrines, with many more of the same leven and stamp, which for the imbittered poyson they carry along with them, I shall forbear to mention, and are at large recited out of Knox and Buchanan, two factious and rebellious Teachers, Book 1. Ch. 4. by Bishop Bancroft, in his most useful Book of dangerous Positions. Now, I say, if we have a hearty and sincere joy and rejoycing, that the King, and in him Monarchy, is restored, we must abhor, dread, and abominate these and such like pernicious Principles, which have seduc'd men from their boun­den Duty and Deference to their Prince, by which they have endeavoured, (though with all the Wit and Malice they had they never could) to justifie and maintain their rebellious Commotions against him; otherwise we can have no share or partnership, no communion or fellowship, with those that offer up their Hosannas and Hallelujahs to him that sitteth in the Heavens, laughs our Enemies to scorn, and protects us and our Anointed.

Next, Let this our just Joy suggest unto us an im­portant Duty incumbent upon all good Christians and good Subjects, which shall be this; Not only to offer up unto God our devoutest Praises for this and all other his Benefits conferred upon us, but our ear­nest, our incessant Prayers also, that He (for unless God keep the City the Watchman waketh but in vain) would continue his hedge of Protection about us, and defend us and our Religion, the best and pu­rest in the World, from all the continued Assaults and Batteries that are made and raised against us; and this not only by his Universal Power, as the common Preserver of men, but also, by his more im­mediate [Page 13]and especial Care, but by his particular Pro­vidence, without which, like disagreeing Elements, we shall prey upon, and devour each other. Farther, let us beseech Almighty God (for there never was more need) that He would depute a Guard of Holy Angels, those ministring Spirits, to defend our King and his Royal Brother from all the Plots and Machi­nations, not only that are, but also that shall ever be formed or managed against them; that he would scatter all their Enemies that delight in Blood, as Dust and Chaff before the Wind; that he would confound their Counsels and defeat their Stratagems, that, like the untimely fruit of the Womb, they might prove abortive, and never see the Sun, never behold the Light; and, in fine, that he will suffer no Weapon forged against them to prosper, though never so of­ten consecrated to such impious and unhallowed pur­poses.

Last of all. After we have unanimously sent up our Petitions, with all the Purity we are able, to Al­mighty God, who is a Defender of All them who repose their trust and confidence in him; let us also add our own earnest and honest Endeavours to suppress all malevolent and disaffected Persons and Parties, and so bring, as much as in us lies, all sacti­ous disturbers of the Peace, and fomenters of Dis­cord, to their condign and deserved punishment; let us suffer no reproach, we can prevent, to befall, no Dirt to be cast upon the Government; let us sup­press all Conventicles and Meeting-houses, the very Nurseries and Seminaries of Rebellion; and, in a word, let us put all the wholsom Penal Laws in Exe­cution (for nothing less will prevail upon our obsti­nate [Page 14]Dissenters) whose pernicious Doctrines and im­pious Positions, whose Midnight Plots and Noon­tide Contrivances, we have good reason, not only to dread and fear, but also, as much as by Law and Honesty we can, to provide against; especially since we see by their late, that they do not repent them of their former Practises; especially since we see they are so inured to, so fond of their old Forty Eight Re­publican Principles, that we find by their often, tho not successful Attempts (thanks to Heaven alone, not to them for it) that no Indulgences will win them, nor a thousand Acts of Oblivion make them forget their Villany; Villany that caus'd all that did but dare to be more honest than their wicked selves, to live such Lives, and be subject to such Tyranny, that, like some of the persecuted Christians of old, they would have embraced Death as a kind and friendly deliverer, that they complained of Life, because of its trouble, Ch. 3. v. 10. and might have cried out with Job, Where­fore is light given to us that are in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul? But because, by the blessing of God, and the endeavours of honest men, things are brought to a more promising Crisis, and favourable prospect, I shall insist no longer on this point, but shall con­clude it with the ingenious Prefacer to the excellent Treatise of Toleration and Comprehension discussed; ‘That it is too sadly apparent, from the late Books and Pamphlets of these kind of men, (speaking of the Dissenters) and against the Church and State of England, that they endeavour to do that work which Jesuits, and Jesuited Papists, do most heartily wish were accomplished.’ And I will add, that if ever Popery breaks in upon us, as a severe Scourge [Page 15]and Judgment for our sins, which God avert, that notwithstanding their outcries and clamours against it, yet they will be, in all humane probability, the un­happy Instruments to introduce it; which I wish they may seriously and in time consider, and by an honest Conformity to our Church, (for there is no other way) endeavour to prevent and remedy, that our Land may not again be overwhelmed with Cruelty; that our Church, now purified and refined, may not once more be run over with Idolatry and Super­stition; that our Souls may not be enslaved, and our Consciences enthralled; and, that we may not be brought to this sad Dilemma, either to dye barba­rously, or to live wickedly, either to resign up our Lives, which is a hard case, or else, that which is far harder yet, to worship a true, living God, after a dead and false manner, which Considerations I leave to them with all the earnestness imaginable, begging them to look into the causless grounds of their Sepa­ration from us, and so weigh these and such like con­sequences which may fatally ensue, and to repent and amend before it be too late; which if they will not, let me tell them, this, and many more Discourses extant in the World of this nature, will leave them without excuse at the great day of retrubution of all things. And so I pass to my third and last underta­king, to make some brief Application to the whole, with reference to this Solemn, this Loyal Appearance.

Has Almighty God done such great things for us? Has he been exceedingly gracious to this Land where­in we live? And has he by his miraculous Providence and wonderful Preservation of him, after the fatigue and toil of a savage War, and tedious Exile, at last [Page 16]brought back, at last restored our most gracious Sove­reign to his own, and most undoubted Rights? Then let this engage us (in return to such rich and tender Mercies) to do something for his Honour, and to his Glory; and the best we can do, do all we can, is to leave off our Sins, and to repent us of our Vices; that Gods Hand may not as visibly be stretched out against our Sovereign, as it was this day remarkably seen in his Deliverance, that he might be at Peace with and reconciled unto us, and still continue what he hitherto hath been, Bp. Piers. Ann. Cyp. our Tutelar God, our Protector and De­fender: For as St. Cyprian answered Demetrius the then Proconsul of Africa, who objected against the Christians, that they were the cause of all the Evils that did befall them: No, said he, the true reason why so many Calamities happen unto you, is not because the Christians are among you, but rather, Quod à vobis non colitur Deus, because God is not worshipped amongst you. So as truly may we assign the cause of our Fears and Dangers to our manifold Wickednesses, to our gross Impieties; for could we be but persuaded to be truly Religious, To worship God in Spirit and Truth, which he indispensibly requires of us, and but lead lives answerable to our Vows and Obligations, we might be secure and safe; we might enjoy Wealth and Plenty to the full, like Solomons Peace, on all sides round about us, and we need not fear (for God would be on our side who is greater than they) though all the Devils in Hell, and Presbyterians on Earth, rise up and conspire together against us.

Secondly, Are we, we the Inhabitants, tho not Na­tives of the County, assembled together, to give our best Testimonies and largest Attestations of our hearty [Page 17]Affection to the Government we so happily live un­der, and are Subjects of? And have we erected a Feast (the usual and ancient way of Commemorating Mer­cies) to render our Congratulations for his most gra­cious Majesties Birth and Restauration? Let us then answer the design and intent (which can be nothing less in the worthy and honourable Founders of it then truly good and loyal) by a regular performance and due execution. Let us crown our meeting, as with Loy­alty and Sobriety, so with Bounty and Charity, Heb. 13.16. for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased. Let our abun­dance, as the Apostle speaks, be a supply to the wants of the Poor; and then will our Feast be acceptable to God and Man, then will it procure a Blessing for our selves, and the County we are planted in; Nus­quam Dominus meritis nostris ad Praemium deerit. Cyp. de Op. & Eleemo­synis. God is never wanting, always ready to reward our good Deeds. Then will it give a Credit, and conciliate re­pute to the Institution of it; and then, to say no more, will it bear a Suitableness and Correspondency with the primitive, purest, and most ancient Feasts, in which, the Money that was collected, as Tertullian informs us, was not expended in eating and drinking to excess, was not consumed in foul Epicurism and filthy Glut­tony, but was laid out and employed, Tert. Ap. cap. 39. Egenis alendis humandisque, & Pueris, & Puellis re ac Parentibus de­stitutis, and so on; in feeding the Poor, and burying them, in comforting Children that were destitute of Parents and Patrimony, and in helping old and de­crepit Men that had spent the Vigour and Prime of their Youth, and the best of their dayes in the Ser­vice of the Faithful.

To incite and stir us up to such good Duties, I might propose several Instances of this kind, I might propose several Objects of this degree and nature; As our care of some poor, and fatherless, and helpless Children; As our freeing and enlarging some necessi­tous, and indigent, insolvent Debtors and Prisoners, or, As (which would be a very agreeable Constitu­tion) our establishing a Fund for the Relief of some poor Veterane Souldiers, who had almost lost their Lives, but altogether their Fortunes, in the Service of our King and his Martyred Father, in our late unhap­py Wars and Contentions; but I shall commit this to our further consideration, and shall bespeak you once more (for I never can too often) that you would continually implore the Divine Majesty in the behalf of our Earthly one, and beg of him who is the Foun­tain and Source of all good gifts, that he would make his Reign to come prosperous, safe, and easie, and his Days many, that he would make him a King in the Wise man's Phrase, Prov. 30.31. against whom there may be no rising up; and influence with his heavenly benediction and blessing, all his Affairs, all his Counsels, and all his Undertakings, through the whole course of his Reign over us. And lastly, Let every one of us present, as it is expressed in the Panegyrick spoken to Paulinus Bishop of Tyre, upon the building of Churches, ‘With one Spirit and one Soul, Euseb. Ecc. Hist. li. 10. cap. 4. never cease to give thanks and praise to the Author of these our so great good things; keeping them fresh in our Me­mories both now and throughout all succeeding times; and moreover, setting before the Eyes of our Minds God, the Cause of this present Day's joyful Solemnity, and the Master of this Feast; both [Page 19]by Day and Night, every Hour, and as (I may say) every Moment wherein we fetch our Breath; let us love him, and worship him, with all the strength of our Souls. And let us now rise up, and with the loud voice of our Affections beseech him, that he would continually save and defend us with­in his Sheep-fold, and that he would afford us his everlasting Peace entire and inviolable in JESUS CHRIST our Saviour, by whom be Glory to him throughout all Ages. Amen.’