THIS Psalm is generally thought to have been compos'd by that great Ma­ster of Poetry and Devotion, King David; and it further appears, both from the matter and stile thereof, to have been a Pious and Gratulatory Hymn of his own penning, wherein he does very religiously acknowledge the special vouch­safement of God's Mercy and Goodness towards him, in that he was advanced so miraculously and providentially [Page 2]from the low and despicable State of a Shepherd; nay from the mean degree of a Fugitive or banished Person, to sway the Scepter of God's People, and in the room of his Father Saul to be another King over Israel.

My Text, 'tis true, is not uncommonly nor improperly understood by all Divines agreeable with that applica­tion of it to the same purpose which the Apostle makes in Acts 4.11, — to refer to Christ; who being the stone which the builders (i. e.) the Jews refused, and the Person which they did afterwards most despitefully Cru­cify, is now, being risen from the dead, become the head stone of the corner, or the chief Pillar and Foundation of the Church of God. And therefore in a Prophetical Rapture, being especially assisted thereunto by the Di­vine Spirit, the Royal Psalmist is supposed hereby to ce­lebrate (even before it came to pass) the Resurrection of Christ our Redeemer from the dead, and to congra­tulate that most beneficial advancement of his Person to the Regalia, and Supream Authority next under God his Father, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But waving this typical and figurative Interpretation (though no question sufficiently intended by our Royal Prophet in this Psalm) I shall take these words at pre­sent only in a literal sense, as they are part of that grate­ful and devout acknowledgment, which Holy David did humbly offer to the Divine Majesty for those repeated Deliverances which the watchful Eye of Providence had ever afforded him amidst all his manifold Dangers and Tribulations; but more especially for that unexpected and surprizing Revolution in the Exaltation of his Per­son and Family to the Throne and Scepter of Israel.

Considering the extraordinary pre-eminence of King David above all other Kings, as well upon the account of his Prophetical Spirit, as of the peculiar designation [Page 3]by an immediate Divine Appointment, that he and his Family should sway the Scepter of Israel; (which was such a Title to a Crown as no Kings out of the Jewish Oeconomy have ever since been able with the utmost as­sistance of all their Mercenary Advocates for Arbitrary Government, to justify a claim to): I say, considering this, and his other many personal Merits, especially his Exemplary Devotions, and the tender regard which he always had to the Profession of God's True Religion, it may, perhaps, be a just Scruple to some, how far such an occasional Comparison might be well prosecuted, which my Text invites me to make, between King David and that Prince, whose wonderful and happy Restoration to these Kingdoms we are this day conven'd, by the Order of our Government, to commemorate, and out of a re­ligious sense of the great Blessing, to return unto God the Author and Procurer of it, our devoutest Acknow­ledgments, and most pious Thanksgivings.

And though some Persons in the former Reigns have been perhaps too free and audacious in their Panegyrical Strains at such Anniversary Entertainments as this, when they thought it not amiss to draw both these Princes in the same Colours, making them Rivals and Competitors for the same Heroic Perfections and Kingly Qualificati­ons (as if the latter, not unlike the former, had been a man, and what is more, a King too, after God's own heart) yet it will be pardonable, I hope, in me, if I make not too forward a step in dawbing over the Characters of Princes: But however, this I will be bold to affirm, That if we examine the Journals of their persecuted and broken Fortunes, how very difficult and alike Providen­tial the Circumstances of their Escape were from the deep-laid Treachery and Machinations of their Ene­mies, and how after their being forc'd to retire to Achish [Page 4]the King of Gath for Protection, they were wonderfully brought back again in Peace to their own Countrey, and alike rewarded with the Donation of a Crown for their Travel.

If we consider these broken pieces of Story, with re­gard had to the special Providence of their unexpected Promotion, the Choice of these Words on the present Solemnity, may admit of a very tolerable justification.

In discoursing therefore on the Words of my Text, as I have accounted for them, I shall in the first place observe how eminently the Providence of God is con­cern'd in the Revolution and Alteration of Government.

For thus the stone which the builders refused, became the head stone of the corner; and thus a Prince that had been formerly forced into Banishment, was afterwards recal­led, and triumphantly brought back, pursuant to the then general Vote and Desire of the English Nation, to the Throne and Scepter of his Ancestors: And this was the Lord's doing, and was marvellous in our eyes.

2dly. I shall shew the Reasonableness of our present Joy, and the Duty of this Day's Thanksgiving: This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I shall in the first place observe, How eminently the Providence of God is concerned in the Revolution and Alteration of Government: For thus the stone which the builders refused, became the head stone of the corner; and thus a Prince that had been formerly forced into banish­ment, was afterwards recalled, and triumphantly brought back, pursuant to the then Genral Vote and Desire of the English Nation, to the Throne and Scepter of his Ancestors: And this was the Lord's doing, and was marvellous in our eyes.

The Notion of a God and Providence are so recipro­cally and so inseparably dependent upon each other, that [Page 5]there is no possibility of arriving at a rational perception of the one, without the necessary result and supposition of the other.

For the Belief of the real existence of the one, does effectually establish the consequent Hypothesis of the universal Influence and Actuation of the other; as on the contrary, to deny either, is to take away the com­mon Belief and Assent which is due to both.

Because God and Providence are words of the same import and signification, though with this only diffe­rence, that one denotes the Person, or Infinitely Power­ful Being that made the World at first out of nothing; and the other expresses, that necessary and essential At­tribute of the Deity, his Infinite Wisdom, by which he presides continually over us, watching and ordering all things in it for the best, so as to prevent what must otherwise unavoidably come to pass, a general Ruin and Confusion amongst us.

For were it true, which the Fools affirm in their hearts when they say that there is no God; and had there been no first and infinite Being to have given life by his bare fiat to all the other beings that are now Existing in the World, all things had for ever been locked up in the womb of an eternal and silent Chaos; and they would have still remained in the same unactive and insensible State, as they were once in before the Eternal Word gave Being and Existence to them, or put them into Motion.

And so in like manner, were there at this time no such thing as a Superintending Providence to Direct and Or­der the Affairs of this World here below, but that all things, according to the Epicurean Conjecture, were abandoned to blind Fate and an uncertain Chance, the Disorders of the Universe would quickly become exces­sively [Page 6]great and intolerable. In short, were it not for the Direction of a Divine Providence, Nature it self after such a long series of Time must needs decay, and run from off its Hinges, and Mankind would be soon destroyed from off the face of the Earth.

That God Almighty therefore does actually concern himself about the Administration of human Affairs; and that his Providence is eminently exerted over man­kind in the various Revolutions and Alterations of Go­vernment that do ordinarily happen, will be abundant­ly evident from these following Considerations.

First, From the Reason and Nature of Government it self, which being purposely instituted for the sake of Order, and a peaceable Harmony among sociable Crea­tures; I mean, for the Publick Good and Benefit of the governed, rather than as some have fantastically imagi­ned, to gratify the Boundless Luxury of any particular Person or Persons that shall so happen to be set over the rest, does therefore necessarily suppose the Care and con­tinual Superintendency of an All-wise Being, that first qualified mankind for Society, and afterwards disposed them in so wonderful a manner as he has done, for the Terms of Subjection and Obedience.

For seeing that all men are by nature equally ambiti­ous of Power and Dominion, and alike impatient of being controul'd and put upon by others, it must be the Power and Will of God alone, that should first incline men to forgo these their Natural Propensities of Tyran­nizing and Domineering over one another, and instead thereof to give up their Lives and Fortnnes so unani­mously as they have done, to the Stated Forms of Civil Policy.

For thus, Saul himself, tho higher by the head and shoulders than the rest of his Brethren, had no Title by [Page 7]Nature or Birth, or any pretence to the Crown of Israel, till the foregoing Request of the People, and God's sub­sequent Designation, had first recommended him as fit to be their King: Nor had any of those barbarous Nati­ons, in imitation of whose particular Forms of Govern­ment, the foolish Israelites were willing to quit their Theocracy, ever resign'd themselves up to the Power and Conduct of one man, but that the Wise Disposer of things, who is he that stilleth the raging of the Sea, that represseth the Tumults of the People, had first pre­pared them by suitable Instincts, and previous Dispositi­ons, to be so directed and commanded.

Government then in general being an undoubted Or­dinance of God, Rom. 13.2. though the Specification of it to this or that Form does always depend upon the dif­ferent Climats of Countreys, and the various Complecti­ons and Humours of People, according to that of St. Pe­ter 1.2.13. who stiles all the Species of Government (Monarchy it self not excepted) the Ordinance, or Creature of man, for [...] is the expression; I say nevertheless, Government in general being an un­doubted Ordinance of God, it must therefore be in all Times and Places of the World one of the Principal Concernments of his Directing and Superintending Pro­vidence.

For an infinite Wise Being, such as the common No­tion of Persection in the Godhead supposes him to be, could never Ordain and Appoint any thing to be, but that he must be thought likewise to be ever careful of it afterwards, and to provide always for its Continuance and Preservation. And therefore, if he Instituted Go­vernment at first in the World for the Publick Good and Order of Human Society, he must be suppos'd to be still concern'd in the Disposal and Administration of it, [Page 8]and to be privy to all the Transactions and Revolutions relating to States and Kingdoms.

But Secondly, The Consideration of his Attributes of infinite Perfection in Power, Knowledge, Goodness, and Wisdom, do justly bespeak him to be the Mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, and the only ruler of princes.

His Omnipotence imports, That he is the Supream Legislator and Governor of the whole Earth, and that all things are ordered according to his Will, or by his Permission; and that no Government is set up or pull'd down, but through the uncontroulable Superintenden­cy of his Pleasure, who has before decreed to have it so, and has accordingly rais'd up fit and proper Instruments for the bringing it to pass.

He it is that whistles for the fly out of Egypt, or the bee out of the land of Assyria, Isa. 7.18. That stirs up a Pharaoh to persecute, or a Nebuchadnezzar to carry into Captivity his People. In a word, he it is that calls in Foreign Armies into a Nation to destroy it, or else finds Enemies enough at home to effect his purposes, when a Land is ripe for his Judgments, and that the measure of its Iniquity is full.

In a word, He it is that prefers and degrades, for Rea­sons best known to himself; that gives Merit and Suc­cess to some bold Undertakers, and yet at the same time infatuates the Counsels, and defeats the Purposes of others. To use King David's words, who found it expe­rimentally true; He it is that pulleth down one, and setteth up another: For promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South, but God is the judge, Psal. 75. v. 6, 7.

His Omniscience and Omnipresence do justly entitle him to be the great Arbitrator and Umpire between se­veral [Page 9]Kings and their Kingdoms, and between Sove­reign Princes and their People. For there is no Plot or Conspiracy that can be hid from his Allseeing Eye. He watches all our Actions, he hears all our Words, nay he understandeth the very secrets of the Heart, and try­eth the Reins; so that nothing can possibly escape his Knowledge.

He therefore may be well supposed to know what De­signs are forming by one Prince against another, what Treachery there is in their Treaties, and what noto­rious falsifications there sometimes are in their most so­lemn Vows and Promises. He is present also at all Ca­bals and Consultations, and will either blast or ripen their politick Devices, as shall best conduce to that great end which he proposes to himself in the Administration of his Government over us, I mean, his own Glory and our Good.

He can easily penetrate the thick disguise of fair pre­tences, and is well acquainted with the inside of every man's heart. He can fathom the bottom of all the deep­est Intrigues of State that have been, or shall ever hap­pen to be carried on between a Prince and his People in the prosecution of a separate Interest: And when dif­ferences are on foot between them, as he is privy to the Designs, so he is able to prevent the mischief of either side, before the reciprocal Charges and Clamours which they make against each other shall have time to blow up the coals of their Contention into a flame, or improve their first misunderstandings into the bloody Acts of an open and implacable Hostility.

Thus for instance, he can distinguish whether their Murmurings, and whisper'd Discontentments, have a true and just occasion, yea or no: If they are just and rational, he will perhaps regard their Complaints, and [Page 10]further all their Attempts whatsoever for the Redress of their Grievances, and the Recovery of their just Rights and Liberties. But if on the contrary, they are peevish and unreasonable Exceptions, only against the honest and well-meant Administration of their Governors, he will then frustrate all their Seditious practices, and by the Rod of the Civil Magistrate give them ample Cha­stisement for their folly: Thus according to that of the Psalmist 37.17. God breaketh the arm of the wicked. So on the other hand, he is not so insensible (as some Ma­chiavillians may imagine) when Princes design the Ruin and Destruction of their Subjects (for the hearts of kings are in his rule and governance) he knows what Designs are clandestinely formed and carried on by them and their Ministers for the subversion of a National Reli­gion, and other Legal Immunities of a People; and if it so pleases him, then Achitophel and Absalom-like they shall not prosper, but be confounded.

He sees the difference between just and unjust, and be­tween right and wrong, and can readily adjust all the ma­ny bloody Controversies that have been started and ban­died to and fro about Liberty and Prerogative: Because he knows the utmost Bounds of Princes Power, and the Original or Fundamental Reason of their being so en­trusted with it.

Thus, for instance, if Princes employ their Power, and exercise their Authority for the common Weal of a Nation, God will undoubtedly crown all their Under­takings with Success; and then, like Solomon, their Wis­dom improving with that of their Government, they shall daily encrease both in Power and in Riches.

But if they begin to affect an unreasonable Jurisdicti­on, and to Tyrannize over the People, contrary to the implied Conditions of all Governments, which are no [Page 11]longer justifiable than whilst the primary ends of their Institution shall be observed in the Protection and Preser­vation of a Peoples Just Rights and Liberties.

If Princes, I say, begin to affect such Abuses of Power as these, then it may reasonably be presumed, that he will cross and disappoint all their Measures, and cut them off as he did Reboboam, that early Affecter of Ar­bitrary Power, by the Loss of Ten Tribes from his Go­vernment. And thus, as Job long since observeth, does God pour out his contempt on some Princes, Job 12.21.

But further; The Infinite Goodness and Wisdom of God is another special Qualification and Title in him to the Supreme Government of the Universe, and a suffi­cient reason to evidence this great truth which I have asserted, viz. That he does actually concern himself in the various Revolutions and Alterations that do occasi­onally happen throughout the several States and King­doms of the World. His Goodness disposes him to com­miserate the Miseries and Calamities of an Enslaved and Oppressed People; and his Wisdom provides fit remedies against the times of their Distress, preparing all things ne­cessary, the worthy Instruments and brave Undertakers, as well as the ways and means of their Deliverance.

For his Goodness carries a very tender regard to the Peace and Welfare of Mankind, and to the Preservation of their Lives and Liberties; And his Wisdom can (at his pleasure) effectually secure them against any At­tempts whatever, in the enjoyment of all those many invaluable Blessings.

Thus for instance; out of Sacred History we have Rehoboam, who according to the Advice of his Flat­terers, (the young Counsellors, and unwary Politicians that were about him) was fully resolved (instead of redressing Grievances, and gratifying the just Com­plaints [Page 12]of an Oppressed People) to load the Israelites with other additional and more heavy Impositions, and to make them feel (as the Advice was given) that his little singer should be more than all his father's loins.

But yet it so pleased God in mercy to that People, to reserve a Jeroboam (though one, 'tis true, that after­wards made Israel sin) for the prevention of such Evil and Tyrannical Purposes.

And so it came to pass by the Wisdom of the same good Providence of God, that Ten Tribes unanimously revolting together as they did, they bravely asserted their Liberty, and by the bold refusal of having him for their King, they preserved themselves a free and unenslaved Nation.

For Modern Examples of the like kind (besides the late wonderful Revolution that occasions this present Solemnity) 'tis observable, that when the great and ve­ry Potent King of Spain was immoveably fix'd upon the oppression of his Subjects in the Low Countries, God's Providence was ready at hand to favour the Righteous Cause of the Oppressed, and he accordingly raised up as horn of salvation for them in these Kingdoms, our Re­nowned Virgin Queen of most blessed memory, to re­move the ground and occasion of their just Complaints, and to establish their Freedom.

And for another Instance of this nature, but later date, it may suffice to remark the stupendious Proceedings of Providence which both disposed and enabled those very People to repay our kindness to them with the very same good Turn done unto us.

For when our Rights and Properties, and what should be dearer to us, our Religion, were just a breathing out its last, by reason of an upstart Popish Arbitrary Power that was then hurrying and hudling up all things toge­ther [Page 13]to compleat our Confusions and Destruction, it pleased the Infinite Goodness of our Merciful God to put it into the hearts of these very People to furnish our King (the glorious Champion of England's, nay of Eu­rope's Liberty) with means sufficient at once to attempt and accomplish our Deliverance. And this too, as we have reason to say, was marvellous in our eyes, and was undoubtedly the Lord's doing.

In a word, The Divine Goodness does principally aim at, and intend throughout all his Administrations, the particular advantage of every Nation and People; and accordingly his Wisdom (being wholly intent on the Common weal and general good of Societies) is ne­ver deficient in its Operations towards that end, and never fails by some Expedient or other of bringing his great Designs, for the good and happiness of Mankind, to pass.

Supposing therefore one Nation to be more refined and polite, upon the account of its Arts and Manners, than another, or to be very flourishing in any useful part of Learning, the method of God's Providence has been such, as to suffer a Neighbouring and more Barbarous People to be overcome by, and to be rendred tributary to such as were so civilized and improved.

And thus Learning and Arms heretofore did usually march under the same Banners, and travel together out of one Country into another; and thus by the alternate Succession of the four great Empires of the World, a free circulation and communication of many excellent and many useful Arts and Sciences, were most happily be­gun and prepared for the universal benefit and satisfa­ction of Mankind.

Upon this very account we may presume it was, that he permitted the Roman Eagle in times past to spread [Page 14]out her victorious Wings over the greatest part of the then known World for the sake of a general improve­ment and propagation of Arts and Sciences; and that by the general reception of the Roman Laws and Lan­guage, when the Emperors of Rome should become Christians, as afterwards they did, the great Mystery of Godliness, and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, might obtain an easier passage, and a more agreeable admittance amongst them.

To this Head I cannot forbear to refer one Instance more, (and though some persons may think it too fo­reign to the Argument in hand, yet, with submission I think it sufficiently vindicates the interposition of a Divine Providence in the disposal and administration of Human Affairs). For thus Augustus Caesar seems to have been purposely directed by the special Providence of God to tax the world, Luke 2.1. in that uncustomary man­ner as he did, that so every man repairing to his own City, Christ by that means might be born at Bethlehem, a City of Judah, according as it was foretold by the Pro­phet Micha 5.5. And so likewise, to verify the Predi­ction of another Prophet, was the very same Person con­firm'd and establish'd in the free and undisturbed posses­sion of his Empire; to the end, that as an Instrument wherewith to accomplish the Eternal and Irreversible Decrees of a Superintending Providence, he might shut the Temple of Janus, and settle an Universal Peace throughout the World against that time when the great Prince of Peace was to be born in it.

But to wind up the whole thread of this Argument:

Let us further reflect on these following Particulars, each of which well adverted to, will abundantly illustrate the truth of what I have thus in general terms endea­voured to assert.

Had it ever constantly so fell out in the administration of a National and Publick Trust, as it very usually does in the Transactions of a Domestick and Private Capa­city; And had there ever been so many uninterrupted Successions of Wise and Warlike Princes to inherit a Crown, and to manage the weighty Affairs of some large Dominion, correspondent to what may be obser­ved in many private Families, where there has been it may be a continual Generation of such as by their great Prudence and sagacious Conduct have encreas'd and conveyed down an Improv'd Estate to their Posterities.

The whole World would have truckled long since to the Arbitrary Subjection of some mighty Nimrod's Race; And all the Kingdoms or particular Forms of Govern­ment that are now extant among us, had but been so many precarious Tenures under some one great and In­vincible Monarch.

In Popular Governments there may be perhaps (for so 'twas among the Romans) a longer Succession of Worthy Magistrates and Brave Generals (the Condition and necessity of such Governments requiring it should be so) to secure men against the common danger of Fo­reign and Intestine Wars. But in this Case too there is commonly a due Crisis which puts a period to the Suc­cess and Prosperity of their Sate.

For thus the excessive Wealth of Great men does ei­ther insensibly betray and deliver them over to Luxury, Licenciousness, and the most despicable degrees of Effe­minacy in their Conduct: or else in time their Boundless Ambition and Mutual Contention among one another for Superiority, will effectually prepare a way as well for their own ruin, as the final Subversion of their admired Leviathan.

But to reassume the first Observation, if we consider the Successions that have hapned in most Countries, we may well conclude from it, that God's Providence for the Reason already suggested, is very nearly and inti­mately concern'd in them all.

For seeing God Almighty, whose Wisdom is un­searchable, and his Ways past finding out, is privy to, and has eternally foreseen all the Natural Consequences, and probable Event of Things; and knows very well, that in case he should give to this or that Nation a con­tinual Race of Virtuous and Victorious Princes, that then neither the Rivers nor Seas, the Mountains nor Deserts would contain them, or restrain their unbridled Ambition from invading the Territories of a Neigh­bouring Prince: He therefore the better to keep the Ballance even between them, and to preserve the distinct or separate Interest of Governments and Countries in the same manner, as he hath long since established and set­led it, does very rarely bless any one Kingdom with Two Princes of the same Mind, or the like Virtues.

Agreeable to which method of his Providence, it was, that Rehoboam succeeded Solomon, that after Hezekiah came Manasses, and so on in the several Reigns and Suc­cessions of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

The like happen'd (as we read in Prophane History) among the Romans, when Tiberius succeeded Augustus, and Domitian to Titus, &c. And there might be in the History of our own Nation, a Collection made by those that are better at leisure than my self to do it, of some Unhappy Princes that have not come up to the true Bra­very, the exact Justice, and approved Wisdom of their Renowned Predecessors.

Much to the same purpose, I might reflect on the many instances of unexpected Revolutions, which have [Page 17]befallen the several States and Kingdoms of the World, and so put it upon the experiment, whether 'tis possible for them to fail of giving your Conscience a due and suf­ficient Conviction, that God is the only Judge upon Earth, and Supream Governor of the World.

For we read in all Histories, of Persons of all Ranks and Orders, the Ignoble and Base, as well as the first and high born, that have been suddenly and unaccount­ably advanc'd to a Supream and Soveraign Power. Now therefore to conjecture after all this, that such impor­tant Occurences as these have happen'd only by chance in the World, or that the God who numbreth the Hairs of our Head, and without whose Knowledg and Privi­ty so inconsiderable a Creature as a Sparrow does not fall to the Ground: I say, to think, That such an In­finite and Perfect Being, as God is, who is Lord of all Things, and Judge of all Men, should sit by altogether unconcern'd, as one that had no hand in these Affairs, which have so immediate a tendency to the Happiness or Infelicity of Mankind, would be a thought too too hard and absurd for a rational Creature to entertain of him, who is Infinite in Power, Wisdom, and Goodness; nay, and I had almost said, That 'twas as good for us to have no God at all, as to admit the Notion of such an one, that either cannot, or does not, or will not concern himself to direct and appoint fit and proper Substitutes to govern the World under him.

When Good and Just Princes are exalted and promo­ted to a Throne, 'tis a publick Benefit, and an inestima­ble Mercy to a People. 'Tis undoubtedly one main instance of God's special Favours and Goodness to a Nation, and such as ought to be a standing motive of their Repentance; nay such Mercies being Probationa­ry ones, are to be look'd upon as design'd to make proof [Page 18]of our Gratitude and Obedience to that Infinite Goodness who does freely bestow them out of the Riches of his Mercy upon us.

So on the contrary, when Evil and Tyrannical ones domineer and rule over us, 'tis an Argument of God's great Displeasure and Anger to a People. For such as these (and such have these Nations felt) are indeed ve­ry heavy and deplorable Judgments, and consequently are upon occasion the best Lectures that can be enlarged upon, in order to correct the Popular Vices of the Age, and to reform the Publick and Crying Sins of a Na­tion.

In a word, 'Twas God that, in mercy to the Israelites, rejected Saul, and promoted David. 'Twas he that divided the Kingdom of the Jews into Israel and Judah: That chose Jeroboam to be King over the Tribes that revolted, and afterwards upon due provocation overthrew Ahab, and Anointed Jehu to be King. 'Twas he that called in the Medes and Persians to afflict the Israelites for their Ido­latry and other Abominations; and who afterwards, up­on due humiliation, removed the Yoke of that insup­portable State of Bondage. And 'twas no less than God himself, according to the Prediction of his Prophets, that rais'd up the Medes and Persians against the Caldeans; The Graecians against the Persians; and lastly, the Ro­mans against all other Nations; to work out and carry on the great Designs and Purposes of Infinite Power and Wisdom.

To conclude; It was likewise God alone that facili­tated the Attempts of Edward IV. and Henry VII. for the recovery of these Kingdoms, when they had been a long time banish'd from, and dispossest of them; and when they landed with the Foreign Assistance of [...] above 2000 Soldiers, and regain'd the Crown. And [Page 19]'twas the same Good Providence of God which, in mercy to a distracted, divided, and almost undone People, effe­cted this Day's Restoration with little or no opposition, I may say with less Blood.

In short; 'Twas this that brought us all back again to our true Constitution, when the many notorious Male-Administrations and Violent Measures of the Late Reign had justly allarm'd our Fears, and put us upon the ne­cessity of a Natural State, wandring Minds, and Self-defence: In a word, 'Twas this, that when the Axe was laid to the Root of our Government, prevented the deadly design'd Blow, and prepared a way for the Re­settlement of our Church and State, as we now (bles­sed be God) do enjoy it. This was marvellous in our eyes, and was most certainly and undoubtedly the Lord's doing.

I come in the last place to shew the reasonableness of our present Joy, and the Duty of this Day's Thanks­giving.

I have been, I must confess, somewhat longer on the first part of this Discourse, because I take it to be the most useful and edifying Enquiry of the two, in these Sceptical and Atheistical Times wherein we now live; which indeed are Times so desperately wicked, as to require new Proofs and Establishment from us, for the more effectual maintaining and asserting the very Funda­mentals of our Religion.

'Tis an Age this, which has Impudence and Prophane­ness enough in store to explode and ridicule upon all oc­casions the True and Orthodox Notions of a Superin­tending Providence; as if the God that made the World had nothing at all to do in the Appointment and Ad­ministration of the great Affairs in it. Or, as if he who created man at first, was no ways concern'd, either [Page 20]to govern us by his own Eternal Decrees of Providence, or to see us governed by fit and proper Substitutes of his own designation.

But I am apt to think that the succession of such Mercies as have befallen these Kingdoms, especially the happy Circumstances of our Present Establishment, are so many standing and convincing Evidences of such a Providence which I have been so long a contending for.

To conclude therefore with the reasonableness of our present Joy, and the Duty of this Day's Thanksgiving, in as few words as I can conveniently use on this Grand Occasion, give me leave to observe, That though God's Mercies to these Kingdoms have hapned to be liable to several Abuses (as all Blessings are when bestowed on any Person or Persons who afterwards prove ungrateful) and though they have been perverted perhaps to many evil and pernicious purposes, viz. to the apparent hazard of this State and Kingdom, and to the notorious scandal of our Church and Religion:

Yet this ought not in reason to abate the first obliga­tions of our Gratitude, nor in the least measure to im­pair that natural notion or grateful sense of God's Good­ness which all Mankind, either actually have, or ought to have for Signal Benefactions and Providential Delive­rances.

Nor would I be understood to contend altogether for particular days and periodical returns for Persons and Names, or for mere forms, nor for the sake of any Poli­tick and State-compliance only, but rather for a constant and Religious sence of our thankfulness to God upon the account of his publick Benefits and National Mercies, as likewise for a substantial and devout expression of our Joy upon all solemn Occasions to him for the same.

I need not press home any Arguments for the particu­lar duty of Gratitude, as the occasion of this days Jubi­lee and Thanksgiving might otherwise require from me; because I hope that in so refined an Age, we are none of us grown such Apostates to good Manners and true Religion, as to scruple the returning due Thanks and Acknowledgments for the Benefits which the extraordi­nary Providence of God has already vouchsafed to us, and which we trust he will still continue to vouchsafe to these Nations.

The reasonableness therefore of our present Joy will be best evinc'd from these following Reflections.

In the First place; The great and chiefest Blessing of our Restoration, for I know of no other significant enough to be mentioned in this place, was, That it re­duced our Confusions, and composed our Disorders: That from the mischiefs of Anarchy, it improved our condition to the benefits of a certain and fixed Form of Government: That from no King, no Lords, and no Commons, I mean, duly Assembled in Parliament, it brought us to what was anciently, what is now, and what we hope will ever be Recognized as our true Con­stitution, a Mixt, or Limited Government, made up of each of the Three particular Forms, viz. a Monarchi­cal, Aristocratical, and Democratical Power.

A Form of Government this, if well Administred, and justly Adhered to, that affords all Conveniencies and Advantages imaginable, that can be reap'd or enjoyed from under any of the Three distinct Species, and yet secures us from all the Inconveniences and Disadvanta­ges that through an Unlimited Jurisdiction can possibly result from either of them apart.

In short, a Form of Government this, which does eminently distinguish us from the Inhabitants of all the [Page 22]other parts of the World beside, as having provided very amply for the greatness and glory of the Monarch, for the dignity and authority of the Nobility, and for the freedom and liberty of the Commonalty, without intrenching upon, or interfering with one anothers di­stinct Powers and Capacities, which would be to the ge­neral Confusion and Detriment of the whole.

In a word, A Government this, which makes our Prince the truly greatest, our Nobility the most Honou­rable, and our Commons the freest and most happy of any in Europe.

The next Blessing obtain'd by the Restoration, and which might well be insisted on as a very strong and pregnant Argument for our present Joy, is the Resettle­ment of a True and Orthodox Religion among us, in the room of the wild Phanaticisms, the Enthusiastical pra­ctices, and abominable Blasphemies of the late times; I mean, the Re-establishment of a Church that dispences the Holy Word and Sacraments of our Lord Jesus Christ with a Primitive Purity, and approved Devotion.

A Church this is, that whatever some of her Members have unadvisedly and unwarrantably done, yet of Her self is not any whit uncharitable to those that shall differ from Her in Judgment, provided mens scruples are tru­ly Serious and really Conscientious. Nor are Her Do­ctrines, whatever indiscretions the heat of Times, and prevalent Factions of a Court may have transported and betrayed some Persons into, at all prejudicial to the as­certain'd Rights and Liberties of a Free People. They were never designed, however they might happen to be Preached up and applied by some particular Persons, to advance the Arbitrary measures of a self-will'd Prince.

And it cannot be thought that this were intended to inculcate the Duty of a blind Obedience, which suppo­ses [Page 23]a servile Compliance with all Commands whatsoever, without the least Reserve or Hesitation about the Reason­ableness and Justice of them: Nor to tye up the hands of a People, when a Prince should Commission his Boot­ed Apostles to Rifle them of their Goods, to Dispossess them of their Estates, and to rob them of their Lives, in order to make them fit Converts for Popery and Slavery.

Alas! it cannot in reason be thought, That our Church, whose Doctrines are all so Sound and Rational, should ever intend such a Passive Obedience as this, in cases where the Law and the King's Will do not joyntly concur to make up the just and indispensable Obligation of such a Bow-string Duty.

For 'tis plain, that our Church (with respect to Civil Rights, &c.) can require no other Obedience (nor in­deed does it) than the State can, or does lawfully require of us too. So that the Obedience which is due to the Supream Powers, is a Legal Obedience only, and no more; such, I mean, as subjects us to the Penalties of a known Law, to which our own Consent was likewise had before it could have any force at all to affect or hurt us; and not to the uncertain Capricio's and unforeseen Violence of any one single Person's Will that shall hap­pen to get the Administration and Execution of a Natio­nal Trust into his Power.

And this, I take it, makes a wide difference betwixt us and Primitive Christians, who lived under the Absolute Dominion of the Roman Emperors; for with them, to whom the Will of their Prince was an effectual and binding Law, such a Notion as Passive Obedience in the rigid sense that some Men have talk'd and preach'd it up, might be perhaps a very true, and a sound Do­ctrine. But to our everlasting Comfort, the Case is otherwise here, where the Law is the only Measure [Page 24]and Guide of our Obedience, and where we are not to obey either Actively or Passively, but as the Laws of the Land, the Common Safety of the People, and good Manners, shall therein direct us.

To confirm the truth of this Notion, I shall e'en re­fer ye to the whole Occasion, Progress, and Success of the late Revolution, and to those many excellent and unan­swerable Discourses that have been purposely wrote for the just Vindication of our Proceedings.

For seeing that our present King, the Glorious Re­storer of our violated Laws and Liberties, was so ge­nerously invited into this Kingdom, and afterwards so bravely assisted and accompanied in his Marches to this City, and at length so unanimously voted to the Throne by those that were principally of the Church of England; I mean by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and by all the Commons; 'tis therefore very violent­ly to be presumed, That they thought it high time to rectify, or rather to reject a Notion, which a little better experience had inform'd them, was not the real Intendment, nor the true Construction of the so much talked-of Doctrines of our most excellent Church.

In a word, the restoring us to Order and Decency in our Church, to good Discipline, and Sacred Orders, to able Pastors, to discreet Rulers, was a true Cause of a­bundant Joy to our Afflicted and once Miserable Zion; and a good reason (if we value the peace of Jerusa­lem) that we should as yet rejoyce and return unto God our due Praises and Thanksgivings for the same.

And what tho the vicious Practices, and licentious Indulgences of the late times, which were but the na­tural and proper Effects of Plenty and Prosperity, did somewhat obscure the Lustre of this day's Mercy and Restoration? And what tho Foreign Politicks, and a [Page 25]Foreign Religion, which came over along with it, were like to have Eclips'd our Light, and to have brought in another Egyptian Darkeness and Slavery up­on us, yet God be thanked we are rid of those our just Fears, and we have still, notwithstanding all that is past, a good and firm ground for our present Joy and Thanksgiving. Because these present Times are in a great measure the product of that Revolution: Inso­much, that had not the Restoration of King Charles the Second preceded, the late Revolution which we have all of us had our hands in either more or less (a Revo­lution that is now our happiness, and has proved to the advantage and satisfaction of all Europe beside) had ne­ver come to pass.

To conclude, and sum up all, Had it not been for the Restoration, we had never enjoy'd, what now we have, the best Constituted Government in the World; nor had we been blessed with the very best King and Queen that ever lived in any Age before them. A King that fights our Battels, and exposes his own Person to all Dan­gers for the Religion, Lives and Liberty of his Subjects. And a Queen that takes all imaginable Care for the Eter­nal Welfare of our Souls; that not only prays for them her self, and that prescribes the model of a most Virtu­ous and Religious Life for us to Copy after; but that in all her Promotions in the Church has taken an effectual Course to provide fit remedies for the importunate Evils of a loose and degenerate Age. I mean Persons eminent for Learning and Religion, and Men of approved mode­ration to heal the Sores of our Church, and to cure those many Distempers of Irreligion, which the several Fa­ctions and Heats of the late Enthusiastical Times have so notoriously fomented and bred amongst us.

In short, according to Isaiah's Prophecy, 49.23. We have now, thanks be to God for them, (and God long preserve them to us) a King and Queen that are truly and literally a nursing Father, and a nursing Mother to the Church and People of England. In a word, two Princes of our own Choice, and according to our own hearts desire; And therefore if the greatest Temporal Blessing which the Infinite Benefactor can bestow on a Nation be a sufficient Reason for our present Joy and Thansgiving, 'twill then be our indispensable Duty to be heartily and sincerely thankful.

Which brings me to speak of the Duty of this Day's Thanksgiving.

But having exercised your Patience too much already, I shall therefore add a very few words on this Head.

First, Ye are to consider, That as it is not the Design of our Present Government, in continuing the observa­tion of this Day, to try the Strength and Zeal of a Party (as perhaps was the usual Practise and Abuse of it in the late times) so ye are to conclude, that the Business or Duty of this Day's Thanksgiving does not consist in loud Acclamations of Joy, and a vain Repetition of Huzzah's, nor in Sumptuous Fireworks, and Ringing of Bells, or other such like popular entertainments, which generally speaking, do end in nothing that is good, but are such expressions of Joy, as serve only to promote Tumults and Disorders, Drunkenness and Licentiousness amongst us; and are therefore upon that account, a very improper and unsuitable return to the Supream Governor and Great Benefactor of Mankind, for the Blessed Revoluti­ons which he has been the Principal Author and Con­triver of in these Nations, in order to our Peace and Happiness.

But Secondly to conclude all; ye are rather to look up unto God only as the Fountain and Foundation of all these Blessings.

Ye are to address your Thanks to the Divine Majesty with the humblest sense imaginable of your unworthi­ness of these his manifold Benefits, and having made your suitable acknowledgments and returns of Praise and Thanksgiving to the Great and Merciful God, in the most Devout and Seraphick Strain that ye are able to reach to, ye should still continue to admire his Good­ness, to adore his Wisdom, and dread his Power.

In short, for these good things which God hath blessed us with, we ought to repay him with a Good and Reli­gious Life, and to walk before him in Holiness and Righ­teousness all our days.

Which that we may all do, God of his Infinite Mer­cy grant us Grace.

Now to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as is most due, all Honour, Praise, Might, Majesty, Glory and Dominion, both now and evermore. Amen.