THe Genius of this Scripture, as it is very gracefull and pleasing in it self, so it is also very suitable to the re­spects of this day, on which we are met together. It presents unto us what we all partake of, if we be so well disposed as to see it, Felicitie or Happinesse. And if a single hap­pinesse be too little, behold it is conveyed in two streams; the silver stream, and the golden. It is reached forth, as it were, in both the hands of Pro­vidence. There is the happinesse of the left hand, which is Civill, in the first clause of the words; and the happinesse of the right, which is Divine and Religious, in the second. Answerable to these are the two welcome aspects of this day: the Civill aspect or reference, which ariseth from the an­nuall revolution, as it is Dies Principis, a day of so­lemnitie for the honour of the King: and the Reli­gious aspect from the weekly revolution, as it is Dies Dominica, a day of devotion for the worship of God. In these there is so evident a correspon­dence, that I cannot but congratulate, both the day to the text, and the text to the day, in regard [Page 2]of their mutuall complications. For we have, on the one side, both clauses of the text in the day: and on the other, both references of the day in the text. Happinesse is the language of all▪ and, that which addes to the contentment, it is Happi­nesse with an Echo, or ingemination; Happy and Happy. From this ingemination arise the parts of the text; the same which are the parts both of the greater world and the lesse. As the heaven and earth in the one, and the body and the soul in the other: so are the passages of this Scripture in the two veins of Happinesse. We may range them as Isaac doth the two parts of his blessing, Gen. 27. The vein of civill happinesse, Gen. 27.28. in the fatnesse of the earth: and the vein of Divine happinesse, in the dew of heaven. Or (if you will have it out of the Go­spel) here's Marthaes portion in the many things of the body: Luke 10.41, 42 and Maries better part in the Ʋnum necessarium of the soul. To give it yet more con­cisely, here's the path of Prosperity in Outward comforts, Happy is the people that is in such a case: and the path of Piety in comforts Spirituall; Yea, happy is that people which have the LORD for their God.

In the handling of the first, without any further subdivision, I will onely shew what it is the Psal­mist treats of: and that shall be, by way of Grada­tion, in these three particulars. It is De FELI­CITATE; De Felicitate POPULI; De HAC felicitate populi: Of happinesse; Of the peoples happinesse; Of the peoples happinesse, as in such a case.

Happinesse is the generall, and the first: a noble argument, and worthy of an inspired pen, especi­ally the Psalmists. Of all other there can be none better to speak of popular happinesse, then such a King: nor of celestiall, then such a Prophet. Yet I mean not to discourse of it in the full latitude, but onely as it hath a peculiar positure in this Psalme, very various and different from the order of other Psalmes. In this Psalme it is reserved to the end, as the close of the foregoing meditations: In other Psalmes it is set in the front, or first place of all; as in the 32, in the 112, in the 119, and in the 128. Again, in this the Psalmist ends with our blessednesse, and begins with God's; BLESSED BE THE LORD MY STRENGTH. In the 41 Psalme, contrary, he makes his exordium from mans; BLESSED IS HE THAT CONSIDERETH THE POORE: his conclusion with God's; BLES­SED BE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL. I there­fore observe these variations, because they are helpfull to the understanding both of the essence, and splendour of true happinesse. To the know­ledge of the essence they help, because they de­monstrate how our own happinesse is enfolded in the glory of God, and subordinate unto it. As we cannot begin with Beatus, unlesse we end with Benedictus: so we must begin with Benedictus, that we may end with Beatus. The reason is this, Because the glory of God it is as well the consummation, as the introduction to a Christians happinesse. Therefore as in the other Psalme he begins below, and ends upwards: so in this, having [Page 2] [...] [Page 3] [...] [Page 4]begun from above with that which is principall, Blessed be the Lord; he fixeth his second thoughts upon the subordinate, Blessed, or happy are the people. He could not proceed in a better order: he first looks up to Gods kingdome, then reflects upon his own; as not meaning to take blessednesse be­fore he had given it. There is no man can think, but this is the best method. It is the method of Saints, as we see 1. Sam. 25.32, 33. and 2. Chron. 31.8. First, Blessed be the God of Israel; then, Blessed be the people of Israel. Nay, it is the method of Angels: Luke 2.14. they first sing, Glorie to God; then, Good will towards men. It must also be the method of every Christian, whensoever we are about the wishing of blessednesse, either to our-selves or others, to begin from heaven, and ascribe it first to the LORD. That we may re­ceive, we must give: give what we have, and give what we mean to have. To give is the way to get: both to get the thing, and to get the greater degree. It is an undeniable consequence, If beatitude be the ultimate end of man, and the glorie of God the ul­timate end of our very beatification; then it fol­lowes necessarily, That by giving more glorie to God we gain more of beatitude to our selves, be­cause more of the supreme and beatificall end. So that he who will attain to the Psalmist's comfort, must observe also the Psalmist's order: that he may end assuredly with BEATUS, he must learn to begin with BENEDICTUS. That's the first considerable thing in the order as touching the essence of true happinesse. The other is concerning the splendour, [Page 5]which flowes from the other part of the variation: in that the Psalmist doth end this psalme, as he be­gins divers of the rest, with Happy or Blessed; to represent, as it were, unto us utramque splendor is pa­ginam, the two great excellencies of blessednesse by the double situation of it. Happinesse is both the bonum Primum, and the bonum Ʋltimum, of a Chri­stian: the spring of all good things, and the crown: the spire, and the basis: the first and the last of things to be desired; the first for eminence, the last for fruition. In the descents of Christianitie the first, because we move from it to inferiour ends: happi­nesse giveth law to all our actions; we move from it, that we may in time come to the possession of it. In the order of ascent it is the last: for having climb­ed once thither, we go no further, but set up our rest. It hath this resemblance with God himself, who is the Doner of it, That it is both the begin­ning and the end, before which nothing should be loved, and after which nothing can be desired. An­swerable to these two respects are the positures of happinesse in the Psalmes. As in military affairs, it is the custome of Emperours to promise the Donative to their souldiers when they go forth to warre, that they may encourage them; but not to give it till the warre be ended, that they may re­ward them for their service: In like manner (saith S. Ambrose) doth the Psalmist: velut praeco magni Imperatoris, he disposeth of beatitude both wayes: he prefixeth it to the beginning of some Psalmes, that thereby we might be invited to pietie; he annexeth it to the end of others, to teach us not to [Page 6]look for it before our work be done. So even by this we may learn how to order and dispose of our selves to happinesse. Since it hath the double refe­rence, it must have also the double honour, and the double esteem, yea and our double endeavours for the attaining of it. Then we give it the double, when we set it in both places, make it both our first and our last, the prime of our life, and the perseverance. We must look through all things upon happinesse, and through happinesse upon all: through all upon it, as not resting in any thing else; and through it upon all, as seasoning every act of our life with the thought of happinesse. Otherwise, if we think to give it our last respects without our first, pretend what we will, there is no hope to overtake it. Thus farre even worldly men will go: they are willing enough to heare that they must make it their last work, and they fulfill it in a sort to the let­ter, but not to the meaning. The love, the hope, the care of their own happinesse, they put them off all to the last: A very preposterous course for a man to begin where and when he should have end­ed, and to defer his first of motion to his last of rest. It is too late for the foolish Virgins to cry, Matth. 25.10, 11. Lord open when the doore is shut: and a vain thing to ex­pect happinesse as our end, unlesse we make it our beginning, and give it the same place in our hearts and actions, which holy David affords it in his meditations: the first place in other Psalmes, as the best introduction to all other discourses; the last in this, as a delightfull farwell to be alwayes fresh in remembrance. That shall serve for the first step of [Page 7]the Gradation, the generall part of the argument handled: It is De FELICITATE.

The second is more speciall: it is de felicitate Popu­li; HAPPY, or, BLESSED ARE THE PEOPLE. In the former part of the Psalme he speaks of such things as concern his own happinesse; Blessed be the Lord MY strength, vers. 1. Send down from above, and save ME out of the great waters, vers. 7. Rid ME and deliver ME from the hand of strange children, vers. 11. And he might as easily have continued the same strain in the clauses following, That MY sonnes may grow up as the young plants, MY daughters may be as the polished corners of the temple, MY sheep fruitfull, MY oxen strong, MY garners full and plente­ous: and accordingly he might have concluded it al­so, Happy shall I be, if I be in such a case. This, I say, he might have done, nay, this he would have done, if his desires had reflected onely upon him­self. But being of a diffusive heart, and know­ing what belonged to the neighbourhoods of pie­tie, as loth to enjoy this happinesse alone, he al­ters his style, and (being in the height of well­wishes to himself) he turns the singular into a plu­rall, Our sheep, Our oxen, Our garners, Our sonnes and daughters; that he might compendiate all in this, Happy are the people. Here's a true testimonie both of a religious and generous mind, who knew in his most retired thoughts to look out of himself, and to be mindfull of the publick welfare in his privatest meditations. S. Ambrose observes it as a clear cha­racter of a noble spirit, to do what tends to the publick good, though to his own disadvantage: [Page 8]And Salvian, in his first De providentia, doth rec­kon this as the principall thing which made the Fa­bii and the Fabricii, and other Romane Worthies so renowned in their times, That they were content to expose themselves to want and danger for the prosperitie and safetie of the publick. But (alas!) there are few such spirits in our time: It is a rare thing to find a private man, who cordially devo­teth himself to the good of the Communitie. It was the complaint of Plato in his time, That every man was impetuously carried [...] and of Thucydides the Historian in his, Ʋnusquisque rem suam urget: and of Tacitus in his, Privata cuique stimulatio, & vile decus publicum. S. Paul himself was driven to this complaint, Phil. 2.21. All seek their own. Where he left we may take it up: Our own settling, our own securitie, our own wealth, our own advancement, is all we generally look after. There is hardly any man to be found, whose bent is not towards himself: Whereas the publick is the private infinitely multiplied; and so much the more of nearer concernment, as it is of larger ex­tension: whereas again man is onely a world in a fi­gurative sense of speaking, and that but a micro­cosme or little world, that is in effect, a small part of the great; yet, as in some other things, so in this also it falls out, The Allegorie devoures the letter, the private eats up the publick, the part the whole, the overweaning respect to the little world doth every where almost overturn the greater. I know there are many which make fair shews, goodly pre­tences, great ostentation of the contrary: You shall [Page 9]have them often crying out, The Publick, the Pub­lick; and as fast as the Jews did, The Temple, the Temple: but it is with the like insyncetitie; for their aim is wholly for themselves. So we shew our selves hypocrites even in things civill, as well as in religion. Each godly man is of another tem­per. His word is that of S. Ambrose, Mihi parci­or, for is totus: or that of the Oratour in Salust, Ad­sum en Caius Cotta, voveo, dedóque me pro Republica. It was a brave resolution in a Heathen: but it con­cerns us Christians more. For he was onely a part of one Communitie: we, each of us have a share in two; being members of the Church, as well as the State. So there is a double tie upon us: and that we should daily remember it, it is insinuated in the Lord's prayer: in which as there is one ex­presse petition for the publick; so there is a respect had to it in all. There is nothing singular, not an I, nor a Me, nor a Mine; but all plurall, We, Ʋs, Our: noting that it is every mans duty, even in his pray­ers, to be zealous for the Communitie. But the text will not allow me that scope, to speak of this zeal to the publick as 'tis the dutie of private men, but as it is an excellencie of Kings and Princes. It's true, I might call it a duty even in them also; God requires it of them as a dutie: but it becomes us to repute it an excellencie, both because the be­nefit is ours which redounds from thence, and like­wise because it is more eminent and illustrious in them, then in other men. In others it's limited and ministeriall, in a Prince supreme and universall. He is the influxive head, who both governs the whole [Page 10]bodie, and every member which is any way ser­viceable to the bodie: The glorious Sunne that gives light both to the world, and to the starres themselves, which in their severall stations are use­full to the world. Here's enough to define it an ex­cellencie, to have the care and trust of the whole in himself. Yea but further, to tender it as himself, and to set the weal of the publick in equipage with his own happinesse, and to fold them up together, his own in the publick and the publick in his own; is so high an ascent of goodnesse, that it were a great wrong to such vertue, to style it by any lesse name then an excellencie. In this particular I might easily be large: but it requires not so much proofs, as acknowledgements and retributions. Therefore I will briefly proceed both wayes: and first give you a few examples for proofs; and then, I am sure, there is no man so unworthy, but will think him­self obliged to retributions. The first example shall be taken from Moses: whom Philo reckons among Kings; and so doth the Scripture, Deut. 33.5. For howsoever he had not the name, he had the power and authority: yet even in that power he was not more Regal, then in his tendernesse over the people. At one time his tendernesse was so great toward them, that because he could not do them so much good as he desired, he besought the Lord to take away his life; Numb. 11.15. At another time he was so perplexed with the fear of their destruction, that he requested of God, ei­ther to keep them still in the land of the living, or to blot him out of the book of life; Exod. 32.32. [Page 11]hereby shewing himself not onely the miracle of Nature, as Philo calls him, but of Grace too, in pledging for them that which was more worth then his life, his very salvation. It was a rare ex­ample of Castor and Pollux, so highly magnified by Authours, That being twinnes, and (as the Po­ets feigned) one born mortall, the other immortall, Pollux (to shew his love to his brother) yielded so farre, as to take to himself a part of his brothers mortalitie, and to lend him as much of his own im­mortalitie: being better pleased to enjoy a half im­mortalitie with the good of his brother, then a whole one alone by himself. It is known by all to be a fiction: yet if it were true, it is farre short of this proffer of Moses. He knew full well what be­longed to immortalitie, and to the favour of God: yet in effect he beseecheth God, either to take them into his favour, or to put him out of it; as content to hazard not half his immortalitie, but all, out of his love to the Israelites, notwithstand­ing they were a people ungratefull both towards him and towards God. After this of Moses I know no example so transcending as that of the Pro­phet David: who (besides that he urgeth it al­most in every Psalme, The peace of Jerusalem, The salvation of Israel, The felicitie of Gods chosen, The blessing of the people) in one place he argues for it even to his own destruction: You have it 1. Chron. 21.16, 17. It is there recorded, that seeing the angel of the Lord with his sword drawn over Je­rusalem to destroy it, he thus reasons with God for the safeguard of the publick: Me, me; adsum qui [Page 12]feci; IT IS I, EVEN I IT IS THAT HAVE SINNED: In me convertito ferrum; LET THY HAND BE AGAINST ME, AND AGAINST MY FATHERS HOUSE, NOT ON THY PEOPLE: FOR THESE SHEEP VVHAT HAVE THEY DONE? He that considers these words will hardly be able to tell what most to wonder at; the condescend­ing of his love, or the overflowing. He declared here, saith S. Chrysostome, a depth of love [...], an affection more spatious for love, then the sea for water; and, for tendernesse, softer not onely then water, but then oyl. To lay down, as it were, his own royall neck under the sword of the Angel, when he saw it hanging over him by a lesse threed, then that of Damocles: To open his own religious breast, to receive the blow, that he might ward it from the people: To value the peo­ples safetie so farre above his own, as to interpose himself betwixt the sword and the slaughter: O how farre doth he here renounce himself, and re­cede, not onely from royaltie, but from life it self! It is much which is mentioned in the text, that he should name the people first to the happinesse: more that he should offer himself first to the punishment: very much, that he should put the people betwixt himself and the blessing: farre more, that he should place himself betwixt the people and the curse. He made himself in this SPECULUM PRINCIPUM, the mirrour of Princes: a mirrour, into which (as we may well presume) our Gracious Sovereigne King CHARLES hath made frequent and usefull inspecti­ons: for it is manifest by many passages of his [Page 13]reigne and happy government, that the tendernesse of his love towards his people, if it doth not fully reach, yet it comes close up to the recessions of Da­vid. It is the more remarkable, for that he hath this vertue as it were in proper and by himself, he is almost the sole possessour of it. The most of or­dinary men, as living more by will then reason, are all for holding: so stiffe and inflexible, so tenaci­ous and unyielding, even in matters of small mo­ment; that they will not stirre a hair-breadth. En­treat them, perswade them, convince them; still they keep to this principle (and 'tis none of the best) Obtain all, Yield nothing. It is a Nobler spi­rit that resides in the breast of our Sovereigne, as appeares by his manifold yieldings and recessions. Of such recessions we have many instances in the course of his Majesties government. I might go as farre back as his first coming to the Crown: when he receded from his own profit, in taking upon him the payment of his Fathers debts, which were great, and but small supplies to be expected from an empty Exchequer: yet the love of justice and his peoples emolument overswayed him, and armed him with Epaminondas his resolution, Totius Orbis divitias despicere, prae patriae charitate. Having but glanced at that, I might draw a little nearer, to the third of his reigne: when, in that Parliament of Tertio, he was pleased to signe the, so much desired, Petition of Right a Title which, I confesse, takes me much: both because it speaks the dutifulnesse of the subject, in petitioning, although for right; and the great goodnesse of a Gracious Prince, [Page 14]who knows how to recede from power, and in some case even from prerogative, when besought by prayers; and rejoyceth, not to sell his favours, but to give them. For I have heard some wise men say, That that single grant was equivalent to twen­ty subsidies. But the time will not give me leave to dwell, as I should, upon particulars: therefore I will call you nearer to the transient remembrance (and but the transient, for it is no pleasure to revive it) of the commotions in the North. The eyes of the whole world were upon that action, and they all are witnesses what pains and travell were taken, what clemencie and indulgence was used, what yieldings and condescentions, both in point of honour and power, to purchase, as it were, by a price paid out of himself, the peace and tranquilli­tie of both kingdomes. Whereby he made all men understand, how much more pleasing it was to his Princely disposition, with Cyrus in Xenophon, [...] and to conquer, not by might, but by clemencie. By clemencie, I say, the word which I named before, and I cannot name it too often. It is the vertue God most de­lights in, to exercise himself; and 'tis the copie also which he sets us to write after: It is the vertue which draws both eyes and hearts unto it; in that it maketh Royaltie it self, which is so farre above, to become beneficiall and sovereigne: It corrects the brightnesse of Majestie, calmes the strictnesse of Justice, lightens the weight of Power, attempe­rates whatsoever might cause terrour to our mind and liking. If we never had known it before, yet [Page 15]the onely time of this Parliament would teach us sufficiently how much we ow to the King's cle­mencie. The laws and statutes which have been made this last yeare, are lasting and speaking mo­numents of these Royall recessions, as well to po­steritie, as to our selves. Surely if the true picture and resemblance of a Prince be in his laws; it can­not be denied, that in the Acts, for trienniall Parli­aments, for the continuation of the Parliament now being, for the regulating of impositions, pressing of souldiers, courts of Judicature, and others not a few of the like nature, are the lineaments, and ex­pressions to the life, of the prefect portraiture of a Benigne and Gracious Prince, who seems resolved of a new way, and hitherto unheard of, by whole­some laws to enlarge his subjects, and to confine him­self. Yet it may be said, It is not his onely hand which is in these laws: the proposall of them is from others, although the ratification be in him. Be it so: But the ratification is ten fold to the pro­posall; nay, it is the life and essence of a law. So we ow the laws themselves to his goodnesse. Nay, and if it be granted, that the proposall of such laws comes from others, let us then look to the many gra­cious messages, which occasionally have been sent, at severall times, to that great Assemblie. In these he speaks onely by himself; and in so gracious a manner, that to reade some passages, would ravish a loyall heart, as well as endear it. In some of them we may see, how he puts the happinesse of his peo­ple into the same proximitie with his own: in o­thers, how he neglects his own for our accommo­dation. [Page 16]In that of January the 20, you have these golden words: That he will rather lay by any par­ticular respect of his Own dignitie, then lose time for the Publick good: That, out of his Fatherly care of his people, he will be ready, both to equall, and to exceed the greatest examples of the most In­dulgent Princes, in their Acts of Grace and Favour to their people. Again, in that of the 28 of Janua­ry there is yet more tendernesse. He calles God to witnesse (and with him the attestation of that sa­cred Name is very religious) that the preservation of the publick peace, the law and the libertie of the subject, is and shall alwayes be as much his care and industrie, as the safety of his own life, or the lives of his dearest children. Lastly, in the other of the 15 of March there is more then yieldings and con­cessions; a gracious prevention of our desires: for he is pleased to excite and call upon that Great Councell, even the second time, to prepare with all speed such Acts, as shall be for the establishment of their priviledges, the free and quiet enjoying their estates and fortunes, the liberties of their per­sons, the securitie of the true Religion now profes­sed in the Church of England. What now shall we say to these things? Is not that of Solomon made good unto us (Prov. 16.10.) A Divine sentence is in the lips of the King? Have we not good cause to take up Ezra's benediction (Ezr. 7.27.) Blessed be the Lord which hath put such things as these into the Kings heart? Such things as these we were not so ambitious as to hope for: I trust we shall not be so unworthy as to forget. For my self, I could wish that, accor­ding [Page 17]to the dutie of this day, I could set them forth as they deserve. But they need no varnish of Ora­torie: neither was it my intendment to use them fur­ther, then for the proof of the proposition in hand; to shew you how this highest excellencie of Prin­ces, in the care of their peoples happinesse, is radi­ant in our Gracious Sovereigne. Yet you may re­member also that I told you, The point needs not so much proofs, as retributions. It calls aloud upon us for all dutifull returns, of honour, love, obedience, loyaltie, and thankfull acknowledgements, into that Royall bosome, the first mover and originall under God of our happinesse. In the sphere of Nature there is none of us ignorant, how willing the mem­bers are to make return to the head, for the go­vernment and influence they receive from thence: they will undergo hardship, expose themselves to danger, recede from things convenient, nay neces­sary; they will not grudge at any plentie or honour which is bestowed upon the head; knowing by instinct that from the head the benefit of all re­dounds to them. It is likewise obvious in the regi­ment of families, which are as States epitomized, that both honour and dutie belong to the Paterfa­miliâs, not onely for the right he hath in the house, but for the provision and support and comfort which all receive from him. Now Kings, by way of excellencie, are Fathers, who look upon all their subjects as so many children, and (with that Noble Emperour) account equally as daughters Rempubli­cam & Juliam. The very Heathen, which saw onely the outside or Civill part, reputed them as [Page 18]Fathers: but the Prophet Isaiah, when he speaks of the Church, goes further, and calls them Nursing Fathers: Isai. 49.23. a word which in propriety of speech might seem incongruous; because they have no more of the nurse, then the bosome; nothing at all of the breasts, if what is wanting in the sex were not supplied by their tendernesse. Benignitie, and clemencie, and sweetnesse of disposition, and faci­litie of accesse, and compassion toward the distres­sed, these are their breasts, more breasts then two; the same both their breasts and their bowels, which day by day they open to thousands severally, and to all at once, for the suckling and fostering of the pub­lick. Therefore it behoves us to think of returns. By this word Christ read us the lesson, Matth. 22.21. Bender, or Return unto Cesar the things which are Cesars, or the things which are from Cesar. The pro­tection of lives, and fortunes, and worldly com­forts; let him have these back again in the honour, love, fear, obedience, supplies which belong to the Sovereigne Head and Parent of a beloved people: that his throne may be established by your loyalty, his reigne still prosperous by your prayers & bles­sings, his life lengthened by yeares taken forth of your own: that so he may long rejoyce to say with David, Happy are the people. So I have done with the second step of the Gradation, the speciall part of the argument here handled; It is De felicitate Populi.

The third is yet more speciall: It is not onely De felicitate Populi, but De felicitate Populari, that is, De Hac felicitate populi, or De hoc Genere felicitatis: [Page 19]Beatus cui SIC, Happy they who are in SUCH A CASE, or CONDITION. What that condition is, you may see in the former words; in which there are severall blessings mentioned, and all of them temporall. Plenty is one, in those words, That our garners may be filled with all manner of store; our oxen strong to labour; our sheep bring forth thousands. Peace is another, in these words, That there be no leading in­to captivitie, no complaining in our streets. Multi­tude of people, especially such as are vertuous, a third, in those, That our sonnes may grow up as the young plants, our daughters may be as the polished cor­ners of the temple. The safetie and prosperitie of David their King, a fourth (or rather a first, for it is first mentioned) He giveth salvation, or victorie to Kings, and delivereth David his servant from the peril of the sword. Of all these civill threeds the Psalmist twists this wreath of Happinesse; Happy they who are in such a case. Now hence ariseth the scruple: Why David, a man of so heavenly a temper, and of so good a judgment in things which concern salvation; that he is said to be A man after Gods own heart, 1. Sam. 13.14. should place felicitie in these temporalls. Devout S. Paul, who of all o­thers came nearest to Davids spirit, had these out­ward things in no better esteem, then as drosse, Phil. 3.8. or dung: and our blessed Saviour, in his first Sermon, thought good to begin the chain of happinesse from povertie, and to second it from hunger, Matt. 5. and to con­tinue it from suffering persecution. Non dixit, BEATI DIVITES, sed, BEATI PAUPERES, as S. Ambrose observeth. In this, I say, is the [Page 20]scruple, That Christ should begin blessednesse from povertie, and David place it in abundance: that things earthly should be as drosse to Paul, and as happinesse to David. This scruple wrought so farre with some Interpreters, that they conceived it to be a defective or imperfect sentence, and that the Psalmist uttered it in the person of a worldly man: like that of Solomon, Eccl. 2.24. There is nothing better for a man, then to cat and drink, &c. Therefore, to take off the suspicion of a paradox, they inter­pose Dixerunt: BEATUM [dixerunt] POPU­LUM CUI HAEC SUNT, Men usually say, HAPPY ARE THE PEOPLE IN SUCH A CASE. But we need not flee to this refuge: It is neither a defective nor a paradox; but a full and true pro­position, agreeable both to the tenour of other Scriptures, and also to the analogie of faith. For first, the Psalmist speaks not here, as in other pla­ces, of the happinesse of a man, but of the happi­nesse of a people: it is not Beatus homo, but; Beatus populus. In some other places, where he treats of the happinesse of a man, he circumscribes it al­wayes with things spirituall: a Psal. 32.2. Blessed is the man un­to whom the LORD imputeth no sinne, and in whose spirit there is no guile: b Psal. 112.1. Blessed is the man that fear­eth the LORD: c Psal. 40.4. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust: and the d Psal 65.4. & 84.5. & 128.1. like. Here otherwise, see­ing he speaks of the happinesse of a people, he might use more libertie to take in these outward ac­complishments, as having a nearer relation to the happinesse of a Nation or Kingdome, then abstra­ctively of a Christian. Howsoever Aristotle af­firms, [Page 21]in the 7 ^th of his Politicks, that there is the same happinesse [...] of a single man and of a whole citie: Yet there is a great deal of difference, which he, being not instructed in Christianity, could not observe. Look as on the one side, the being of a State or Nation, as a collective bodie, is not so ordered to immortalitie, nor by conse­quence to happinesse, as the being of a man: so on the other, the concurrence of temporall good things is in no wise so essentiall or requisite to the happinesse of a man, as to the being and well-be­ing, and so to the happinesse of a State or people. Experience tells us that a man may be happy with­out children; a State cannot be so without people: a private man may keep his hold of happinesse, though poore and afflicted in the world; a State is onely then happy, when 'tis flourishing and prospe­rous, abounding with peace, plentie, people, and other civill accessions. Men are the walls for strength, women the nurseries for encrease, chil­dren the pledges of perpetuity, money as the vitall breath, peace as the naturall heat, plentie as the ra­dicall moisture, religious and just government as the form or soul of a bodie politick. Upon this ground the Psalmist well knowing how conducing these outward things are to popular happinesse, he casts them all into the definition; his present ar­gument being the happinesse of a people. In the second place, admit he had spake here of the hap­pinesse of a man, or a Christian: yet he mentions not these temporalls, either as the all, or the onely, or the chief of happinesse; but as the concomitants [Page 22]and accessories. They have not an essentiall influx or ingredience into it: but a secondarie and accidentall respect they have in these two considerations. First they are ornamenta, as garnishings, which give a glosse and lustre to vertue, and make it more splen­did. The Moralists say well, that they are as sha­dows to a picture, or garments to a comely perso­nage. Now as in these, the shadowing makes not the colour of a picture truly better, but onely seem better, and appear more fresh and orient; and as garments do indeed adorn the bodie now in the state of corruption; whereas, if man had stood in his integritie, they had been uselesse for ornament, as well as for necessitie: So likewise these outward things, although in themselves they have nothing of true happinesse, yet because they render it more beauteous and gracefull, as the state of vertue now stands in respect of our converse with men, we may well reckon them without prejudice to vertue inter or namenta. Then secondly, they are adminicula also, helps and adjuments, as hand-maids to pietie, without which vertue is impotent. Were a man all soul, vertue alone were sufficient; it is enough by it self for the happinesse of the mind: but being partly bodie, and enjoying corporall societie with others, he stands in need of things corporall, to keep vertue in exercise. Want clippes the wings of vertue, that a man cannot feed the hungry, or cloth the naked, or enlarge himself to the good of others: on the other side, this [...], as the Philo­sophers term it, sets vertue at libertie, and gives it scope to be operative. As fire, the more aire & few­fell [Page 23]you give it, the more it diffuseth it self: so the more health, peace, plentie, friends, or authoritie we have; the more power, freedome and advantage we have to do vertuously. Put now all these toge­ther, & the reason is evident, why the Prophet Da­vid here placeth this happinesse in the things which are worse; because they are serviceable to the things which are better. Howsoever he reserves the men­tion of the better till afterward; Yet he would give us to understand, that even these inferiour things are the good blessings of God, and such blessings, as being put together, make up one part of the happi­nesse of a people. It is true of popular happinesse, as well as personall, It is not one single good, but the aggregation or affluence of many. In the twenty eighth of Deuteronomie, where Moses describes the blessednesse promised to the Israelites, he reckons up all sorts of outward blessings: and a­greeable to those is the conflux of these in this Psalme: The blessing of the house, and of the citie; That there be no leading into captivitie, and no com­plaining in the streets: The blessings of the basket, and of the store; That the garners may be filled with plentie: The blessings of the fruit of the bodie; That the children may be as young plants: The blessings of the field, That the sheep may bring forth thousands, and the oxen be strong to labour: The blessings of going out and coming in; That they may be delivered from the hand of strange children, and saved out of great waters. Here is briefly the compound of the many simples which make up this case or condition of a peoples happinesse. And surely if by these particulars it be [Page 24]defined, we may boldly say, The condition is our own, and men may pronounce of us, as truly as of any Nation, that we have been for a long time a happy people. Our deliverances from strange chil­dren have been great and miraculous, and our land it hath been a Goshen, a light-some land; whereas the darknesse of discomfort hath rested upon other Nations. The blessings of the citie and field, of the basket and of the store have grown upon us in such abundance, that many men have surfetted of plen­tie: Our land hath been as an Eden and garden of the Lord for fruitfulnesse, as a Salem for peace; whereas other kingdomes do yet grone under the pressures of sword and famine. Besides these, if there be any blessing which the Scripture mentions in other places, Peace in the walls, Plentie in the palaces, Traffick in the ports, or Salvation in the gates; if any part of happinesse which it speaks of in this Psalme, for plantings, or buildings, or reapings, or storings, or peoplings; we have had them all in as much fulnesse as any part of the world, and in more then most: onely there is one particular may be questioned, or rather cannot be denied, That amidst the very throng of all these blessings there are some murmurings and complainings in our streets. But it need not seem strange to us, because it is not new in the world. In the stories of all ages we meet with it, That men used to complain of their times to be evil, when indeed themselves made them so. I may be bold to say, There was cause in respect of sinne then, as well as now, especially with godly men, who are so good themselves, that it is no mar­vell, [Page 25]if they thought times a little evil to be ex­tremely bad: as alwayes sinne swells to the eye of grace. But if we speak of outward pressures and calamities, I am certain there is not cause now as then: for the riches of the Kingdome were never so great, the peace of the Kingdome never so con­stant, the state of it for all things never so prospe­rous. Onely we must give leave to the world to be like it self: As long as ambition or covetous­nesse are in the world, men of such spirits will cry out, The times are bad, even when they are best; because they (in their own bad sense) still desire to be better. As nothing is enough, so nothing is plea­sing to a restlesse mind. An insatiable appetite is alwayes impatient; and, because impatient, queru­lous. Yet this is not the sole reason: for besides this humour of appetite, the very corruption of our nature leads us hereunto, To be weary of the present. It is the joynt observation both of Divines and Moralists (as of Salvian, Quintilian, Tacitus, and others, who agree as near almost in words as in opinion) Quòdusitatum est ment is humanae vitium, illa magìs semper velle quae desunt; &, veter a quidem in laude, praesentia in fastidio ponere. Our own ex­perience will tell us as much, if we will take pains to observe it, How, through the pravity of our own dispositions, whatsoever is present proves burdensome, whether it be good or bad. Salvian, in his third De Gubernatione, sets forth this humour to the life: That men of all times were displeased with all times: Si astus est, (saith he) de ariditate causamur; si fluvia, de inundatione conquerimur: si [Page 26]infoecundior annus est, accusamus sterilitatem; si foe­cundior, vilitatem. So winter and summer are both alike distastfull to impatient men: In scarcity things are too dear, in plentie too cheap: povertie pinch­eth, and abundance nauseats. If there be a little too much drought, they cry out of a famine; if a showre or two extraordinary, they are afraid of a deluge. You shall heare in good times, Quid no­bis cum Davide? and in bad, Antigonum effodie: as we reade of the Israelites, That even when God himself was pleased to order their civill affairs, they were not contented; but still repined, as well when they had manna, as when they wanted it. The reason is (as the Greek Historian notes) [...]. But I hope we Christians are of a better temper. It beseems not us of all others to be so injurious to God, who hath singled us out to be a happy people: It beseems us not to be so unthankfull to our Sovereigne, under whom we enjoy these blessings. Howsoever it ought to be in the first place acknowledged, that the originall of all our happinesse is from heaven: yet it must be confest withall, that the crystall pipe through which blessings are conveyed unto us, is his government: Our peace is from his wisdome, our plentie from our peace; our prosperitie from our plenty; our safetie, our very life, our whatsoe­ver good of this nature, it is by Gods providence wrapt up in his welfare, whose precious life (as the Oratour speaks) is Vita quaedam publica, the very breath of our nostrils perfumed with multitude of comforts. Lam. 4.20. What then remains, but that our thank­fulnesse [Page 27]should result from all, to make our happi­nesse complete? that so both receiving what we desire, and retributing what we ow, we may give cause unto all Kingdomes to lengthen this acclama­tion, and to say, Happy both Prince and people which are in such a case. So I have done with the first ge­nerall part of the text, the path of prosperity, an­swerable to the civill respect of the day.

I now proceed to the second, the path of Pietie, answerable to the Religious respect; Yea, happy. It's the best wine to the last, though all men be not of this opinion. You shall hardly bring a worldly man to think so. The world is willing enough to mis­conster the order of the words, and to give the pri­oritie to Civill happinesse, as if it were first in di­gnitie, because 'tis first named: they like it better to heare of the Cui sic, then the Cui Dominus. To pre­vent this follie, the Psalmist interposeth a caution in this corrective particle, Yea, Happy. It hath the force of a revocation, whereby he seems to retract what went before, not simply and absolutely, but in a certain degree, lest worldly men should wrest it to a misinterpretation. It is not an absolute revo­cation, but a comparative; it doth not simply deny that there is some part of popular happinesse in these outward things, but it preferres the spiritualls before them: Yea, that is, Yea more, or, Yea rather: like that of Christ in the Gospel, When one in the companie blessed the wombe that bare him, he pre­sently replies, Yea, Luk. 11.28. rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keep it. In like manner the Pro­phet David, having first premised the inferiour part [Page 28]and outside of an happy condition; fearing lest any should of purpose mistake his meaning, and hearing the first proposition, should either there set up their rest, and not at all take in the second; or if take it in, yet do it preposterously, and give it the prece­dence before the second, according to the worlds order, Virtus post nummos: In this respect he puts in the clause of revocation; whereby he shews, that these outward things, though named first, yet they are not to be reputed first. The particle Yea removes them to the second place: it tacitly trans­poseth the order; and the path of piety, which was locally after, it placeth virtually before. 'Tis as if he had said, Did I call them happy, who are in such a case? Nay, miserable are they, if they be onely in such a case: The temporall part cannot make them so without the spirituall. Admit the windows of the visible heaven were opened, and all outward blessings poured down upon us; admit we did per­fectly enjoy whatsoever the vastnesse of the earth contains in it: tell me, What will it profit to gain all, and to lose God? If the earth be bestowed up­on us, and not heaven; or the materiall heaven be opened, and not the beatificall; or the whole world made ours, and God not ours: we do not a­rive at happinesse. All that is in the first propositi­on is nothing, unlesse this be added, Yea, happy are the people which have the LORD for their God. You see in this part there is aliquid quod eminet, some­thing which is transcendent: Therefore I will en­quire into two particulars; see both what it is that transcends, and what is the manner of propoun­ding of it.

The manner of propounding it, is, as I said, corre­ctive, or by way of revocation: the summe where­of is thus much, That temporalls without spiritu­alls, in what abundance soever we possesse them, cannot make us truly happy. They cannot make happy, because they cannot make good. They may denominate a man to be rich, or great, or honourable; but not to be vertuous. Nay, Seneca carrieth it a little further: Non modò non faciunt bonum, sed nec divitem; They are so farre from making a man good, that they make him not truly rich; because they encrease desire, and riches consist in conten­tation. Not he that hath little, but he that desires more is poore: nor he that hath much, but he that wants nothing is rich. Yea, and we may go further then Seneca; They are so farre from making good, that they often make evil, if they be not sanctified: they possesse the heart with vile affections, fill it full of carnall and sinfull desires. Whereas there are foure good mothers which bring forth ill daughters, prosperitie is one. Truth begets hatred, securitie danger, familiaritie contempt, prosperi­tie pride and forgetfulnesse of God. In this I might well make a stop; but there is one degree more: They are so farre from making good, that they do not bring good, but many evils and inconveniences. They bring not the good of contentment, but infi­nite distractions: they are aureae compedes, as S. Ber­nard speaks, fetters or manicles which intangle the soul, that it cannot attend upon better things: Nor the good of freedome: they do enthrall the soul to that which is worse then it self; and it cannot [Page 30]be apprehended how a thing worse then our selves can make us happy. Lastly, not the good of safetie: for they oftentimes expose us to dangers. Multos sua felicitas stravit, as Gregorie speaks. Many men their lives had been longer, if their riches had been lesse: their happinesse made them miserable; & consolationes factae sunt desolationes, as S. Bernard again. Upon these grounds the Psalmist had very good reason to sequester them from true happi­nesse, and, by this corrective particle, to reduce them to the second place, though he set them in the first. He knew very well that they are burdens, snares, impediments to pietie, as often as furthe­rances. He knew them to be vain and transitory things, Prov. 23.5. that we cannot hold. They make themselves wings, as Solomon speaks. They are onely the moveables of happinesse, Bractealis felicitas, as Se­neca; [...], as Nazianzene. What's that? S. Austin seems to translate it, felicitas fallax, a fa­bulous and personate felicitie: Nay, not onely fal­lax, but falsa, fictitious, spurious, deceitfull, which leaves the soul empty when it most fills it: that be­ing most true which the same Father addes, felici­tas fallax, major infelicitas; & falsa felicitas, vera miseria. Therefore, that I may shut up this point, let this be the use of it. We must learn from hence to regulate our judgements according to the wis­dome of the Spirit revealed in the word: And that we may do, if we keep to Gods method, and set every thing in the due place, where God hath seat­ed it. Now the Scripture constantly doth give the inferiour place to these temporall things. If to come [Page 31]after, be inferiour; it sets them there: Seek first the kingdome of God, &c. Matth. 6.33. If to be be­low, be inferiour, it placeth them there: Set your affection on things above, &c. Coloss. 3.2. Even gold and silver, the best of these things, they are seated under the feet of men, and the whole world under the feet of a Christian, Rev. 12.1. to teach us to despise it. Lastly, if to be on the left hand, be in­feriour; the Scripture reckons them there too: they are called the blessings of the left hand, to teach us to give them the same place in our affections. In one sense, we may put them on the right, by using them to God's glorie: but in love and esteem they must be on the left. S. Hierome illustrates it by this similitude: As flax when it is on the distaffe, it is on the left hand; but when it is spunne into yarn, and put on the spindle, it is on the right: so temporall things in themselves, when first we receive them, they are as flax on the distaffe, all this while on the left hand; but spinne them forth, and use them to God's glorie, they are as yarn on the spindle, trans­posed to the right. Thus we must learn to order them: to the right hand onely for use, to the left for valuation. Otherwise, if we pervert God's order, and put them on the right; it is to be feared they will set us on the left at the day of judgement: if we elevate them above, they will keep us below; and make us come after, if we set them before. The highest place they can have, is to be seconds to pie­tie: here holy David placeth them: though he men­tions pietie last, yet he giveth it the precedence in this word of revocation, Yea, happie; that is, Yea [Page 32]first, yea more, yea more truly happie. That shall serve for the first particular, the manner of propounding this truth unto us.

The second is the thing it self which transcends, in these words, whose God is the LORD, or, who have the LORD for their God. In the generall it is an ordi­nary, as well as transcendent. An ordinary, because all partake of this priviledge. Whereupon S. Au­stin asks the question, Cujus non est Deus? But S. Hierome resolves it; Naturaâ Deus omnium, volun­tate paucorum: In a communitie the God of all, even to the sparrow on the house top, and grasse of the field; but the God of the righteous after a pe­culiar manner. To come to the meaning; we must let go the generall, this ordo communis providentiae, as he is Dominus omnium, the Lord of all creatures: this brings not happinesse along with it: God's or­dinary and generall providence intitles not to that supreme blessednesse, which is in himself. The spe­ciall references are onely intended: and those we may reduce to these two heads. The first is ordo specialis influxûs, on God's part, the respect of his being gracious to us. Then the Lord is our God, when he shews himself benigne and propitious, when he manifests his mercie and goodnesse in the wayes of grace and means of salvation. It is so ex­pounded Psalme 65.4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest: and Psalme 33.12. Blessed is the nation, whose God is the LORD, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Being thus taken, it affords us this meditation, That there is no true hap­pinesse, but in the favour of God, and light of his [Page 33]countenance; that is, in God himself: both because happinesse is onely from him, he is the onely au­thour of it: Non facit beatum hominem, nisi qui secit hominem; — Qui dedit ut homines simus, solus dat ut beati simus; He onely makes Saints who makes men: 'tis S. Austin's elegant expression. Then a­gain, as it is onely from God, so it is onely in God. As the soul, saith Austin, is vita carnis; so God is the beata vita hominis, so fully, that a man cannot be happy either way, nec absque Deo, nec extra De­um: not without God, because he is the Doner; not out of God, because he is the thing it self, and all which belongs to it. As S. Ambrose of the foure beatitudes in S. Luke compared with the eight in S. Matthew; In istis octa illae quatuer sunt, & in istis quatuer illae octo: and as King Porus, when Alex­ander askt him how he would be used, answer­ed in one word, [...], that is, like a King. A­lexander again replying, Do you desire nothing else? No, saith he: all things are in [...]. So in this which we are now about it holds much more: both the foure, and the eight, and all bea­titudes, they are in God; so that he who hath God, must needs have all things, because God is all things. There is no notion under which we can couch beatitude, but we may find it in God by way of eminencie: if as a state of joy, or glory, or wealth, or tranquillitie, or securitie; God is all these: if as a state of perfection, salvation, re­tribution; God is all these: not onely the giver of the reward, but the reward it self; both our bonum, and our summum. A Christian is never truly hap­py, [Page 34]till he can find himself and all things in God. The fruition of God, it is [...](as Pelusio­ta speaks) the very top of the spire or pinacle of beatitude both here and in heaven. In hoc un [...] sum­mit as beatitudinis cliquatur, to use Tertullians words. Were a man in paradise, were he in heaven it self, and had not God; he could not be happy. Were he on Job's dunghill, in Daniels den, in the belly of hell with Jonah, nay in the infernall hell with Dives, and yet had God; he could not be misera­ble: for heaven is wheresoever God is, because his influxive presence maketh heaven. That's the Ordo influxûs I mentioned, for which he is said to be our God. Besides this, there is ordo Divini cultûs, on our part, The respect of our being serviceable to him: when we love him, and fear him, and honour him, and adhere unto him as we ought. To all these there is blessednesse pronounced in severall Psalmes: to those that fear him, Psal. 128.1. to those that keep his testimonies, Psal. 119.2. to those that trust in him, Psal. 84.12. If we take it thus, the point is this in summe, There is no true happinesse, but in the worship and service of God. Felices sunt qui Deo vivunt, that's S. Bernards: Servire Deo est regnare, that's S. Ambrose his expression: As much as this, The godly man is onely the true happy man. Yet we must understand it aright: It is not to serve him onely in outward profes­sion, which either makes us his, or him ours. There are many who pretend to serve him, who cannot challenge this interest: for they serve him but with their lips; in act, themselves and their [Page 35]own pleasures: in this both hypocrites and idola­ters, that under the shew of one God set up many to themselves. The Epicure he makes his belly his God, the lascivious man his lust, the voluptuous man his pleasure, the factious man his humour, the covetous man his mammon. I name this last. It is the observation of S. Austin, in his 7 book De Civitate Dei, and of Lactantius in his second De Origine Erroris, That avarice gives laws to religi­on, whil'st generally sub abtentu Numinis supiditas colitur. Yea, and S. Paul expresseth it more pun­ctually, That covetousnesse is idolatry, Col. 3.5. And the covetous man an idolater, Ephes. 5.5. For he doth the same to his gold, that the heathen did to their idoles: he makes his gold his God; his God, be­cause his joy, and his care, and his confidence: Those pictures he worships, though otherwise he abhorres idoles; to these he offers his service, he gives them his heart, he extols them, ascribes unto them the glory of his happinesse: These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: this money got thee such a preferment, procured such a deliverance, prevailed in such a sute. It's the secret idolatrie which runnes through the world. But such men as these, they are as farre from God as from his service, and as farre from happinesse as from God. Whosoever will make sure of the Lord to be his God, he must put the idoles out of his heart, he must go out of himself, he must not willingly harbour any sinne. Sinne se­parates from God, excludes from happinesse, cuts off both priviledges, of God's being ours, and our [Page 36]being God's. Yet there is one thing more; with which I will conclude: Since it is so, that happi­nesse is seated in these mutuall intercurrences, of calling the Lord our God, and our selves his people; and seeing religion is the Vinculum unionis, which makes these mutuall interests intercurrent, and cou­ples them together; it follows as the upshot of all, That the chief and choicest part of Nationall hap­pinesse confists in the puritie of God's worship, in the enjoying of God's ordinances, in the free pas­sage of the Gospel; that is, in the truth and integri­tie of religion. In this alone there are all sweets, all beauties, all blisses, all glories. It is as the ark of God to Israel, and as the golden candlestick to the Churches, the elevating principle which advanceth a Christian Nation above the heathen, and the re­formed Churches above other Christian Nations, and this Iland in which we live (I may say without arrogancie) above all. There is no Nation in the world, which hath had the condition of religion so pure and prosperous, as we, for almost these hundred yeares. It's true, if God calls us to ac­count, we cannot say that we have answered our op­portunities: we find not wherein to boast of our righteousnesse; for we are a sinfull people, whose lives (for the most part of us) are as much worse, as our means and professions better then in other pla­ces. It is true also, that of later yeares the love of religion in most hath grown cold, and the puritie by some hath been stained and corrupted: and I will not now discusse where the fault hath been; the rather, because it is every mans endeavour to re­move [Page 37]it from himself. Onely I will adde thus much, That wheresoever the fault is, there is no man hath shewed himself more forward to reform it then the King himself. But Princes cannot al­wayes attain their ends according to their liking, because they see with other eyes, and execute with other hands then their own. And if we should cast the faults of men upon authoritie, we should do wrong (I fear) to those who do not deserve it: for even this very yeare, notwithstanding the reforma­tion of corruptions hath been with so much zeal and diligence endeavoured, yet the end is not at­tained: Nay, in some respects, it is so farre set back, that, to my understanding, the state of religion hath never been worse since the first reformation, then this present yeare: in respect, first, of the greatnesse of our distractions, which have di­vided us all one from another: then, of the multi­tude of sects and sectaries which cry indeed, as the Jews before them, Templum Domini; but with a worse addition, ut Templum Domini diruatur. Lastly, in respect of the many dishonours done to the service of God, with so much scorn and scan­dall to religion, that in forein parts they question, whether all this time we had any. No doubt all this is come upon us for our sinnes: let us remove them, and then God will blesse our studie of refor­mation. But yet in the mean time let us remember that message, which the good Bishop sent to Epi­phanius, Domine, sol ad occasum descendit. Our sun-shine is but yet declining; it may come to set, if we now begin to disgust this greatest blessing of [Page 38]religion, which God hath bestowed upon us. Let us learn to regard it more, to love it better, to blesse God for it, and for his government who upholds it: a Prince so devout and religious in his own person, that if all were like him, we should have a King­dome of Saints. In this respect, we may use Velleius his words of his Majestie, Cùm sit imperie Maximus, exemplo Major est: The lustre of his pietie surpas­seth the lustre of his empire. If therefore that of Synesius be true, That men generally affect to write after the copies which are set by their Prin­ces; it behoves us all, both to take out the lesson, and to blesse God for the copie. And moreover, as this day puts us in mind, let us all send up our most affectionate prayers, that his Throne may be esta­blished by Righteousnesse, his Crown exalted with Honour, his Scepter be for power like Moses rod, for flourishing like Aaron's; that his happy reigne may in himself outlive us all, and in his poste­ritie be perpetuated to all generations; that suc­ceeding ages may confesse, Surely God hath been fa­vourable unto this land, and hath not dealt so with any Nation. O how happy are the people that are in such a case! Yea, how happy are the people which have the Lord for their God!