THE ROYAL JOY. THE TEXT.
- 1. The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall be rejoice!
- 2. Thou hast given him his hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
- 3. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his bead.
- 4. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days, for ever and ever.
THis town, which formerly hath been the Stage on which Tragedies of War, Pestilence and Famine, and of Bloodshed have been acted, is now become a Theatre of Joy and Magnificence: A Theatre whereon an Action is now acted, which hath the whole World for Spectators. It is not a representative action, such as are the Comedies and Enterludes, wherein men do represent such qualities as they really have not; but it is a real action, such as were our former Tragedies, wherein the Persons are really and indeed such as they represent. The chiefest and Soveraign Actor here is the GOD of Heaven, who as he doth shew himself wonderful in all his works, so he doth it most particularly in this. You see your Town full of Illustrious persons, of Lords, of Princes, and of Soveraign Magistrates: You see therein a KING, formerly dispossessed of his Throne, and now setled again thereon, to the astonishment of all the World: You see the Subjects recalling their lawful Prince, out of meer affection, without constraint, without violence, without effusion of blood [Page 2]You see therein your Soveraign Magistrates bringing their Vows and Congratulations to the King and to his people: You see the fair and loving apparences of a perfect correspondence, and of [...]n universd content. Upon the whole we may with truth pronounce the sentence of the Psalmist, Psal. 118. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. For, as many objects we see, so many wonders, and so many expressions of the admirable providence of God; and we may with re [...]son s [...]y, that this Town hath never seen such a day, nor is like ever to see such a one to the worlds end. Let us speak of it in publick, for it is a work which is done in publick, and it foundeth to the very extremities of the earth: Let us speak of it in the house of God, since it is the work of God: Let us speak of it in blessing, since God hath wrought it, not in wrath, as he sometimes wrought here, but in his grace; Let us speak of it in the day of our rest, since he hath done it for the setling of the peace and rest of his Church. Let us therefore call this day, The day of the Lord; and let us say yet with the same Psalmist, This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. But let S. Paul tell us the occasion of that joy, 2 Cor. 6. It is now the time accepted, it is now the day of salvation. A day of salvation indeed, and an accepted time: A day of salvation for the King; a day of salvation for his people; a day of salvation for the true Reformed Religion; and an accepted time for our State and for us all together. Both the joy, and the ground of it, are found in our present Text, which hath for an object two general parts. I. A joyful King. II. The cause of his joy, viz. His salvation and deliverance. And this cause is more largely deducted, 1. By its Author and principal cause, which is the strength of the Lord. 2. By its secondary cause, or the means whereby the King hath obtained his deliverance, namely, his hearts desire, and the prayer or request of his lips. 3. By its effects or the proofs of his deliverance, which are, I. General, That he hath prevented him with the blessings of goodness. II. Particular, viz. I. The setting of the Crown. II. The lengthening of days. This is the division of the Text.
But it is to be observed, that this place is one of those that can admit of three senses ordinarily applied to the holy Scriptures. I. The literal sense. II. The mystical sense. III, The accommodated [Page 3]sense. The literal is that which is immediately and properly the intention of the holy Ghost, be it found either in simple and proper words, or in figurative tearms. The mystical sense is that which is known to be the secondary intention of the holy Ghost, and hath no place but in Types onely. 1. When the thing spoken of is found accomplished in some subjects, which was a Type or figure of Christ, or of his Church. 2. When what is said to belong to the mystical sense in one place, is found to appertain to the literal sense in another. Whensoever any of those two conditions is wanting, the mystical sense is not admitted, and we ought singly to adhere to to the litteral, which then is to have place alone, without looking therein for any secondary intention. We might illustrate this by Examples, but the present occasion doth not permit it. The accommodated sense is never under the intention of the holy Ghost, as to any particular place, but only as to the whole scope of the whole Scripture, and is left to the liberty of the Expositor, who may draw out of it all manner of moralities for the publick instruction, so as he keep within the bounds of the Analogy of Faith grounded upon the word of God. We say then, that as to the literal sense, our Text belongs to King David; as to the mystical sense, it belongs to the Kings of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ; and as to the accommodated sense, it belongs to this Kings Who is the Present subject of the publick admiration; And we shall, with the assistance of the grace of God, expound by that triple sense, keeping still within the division already made of it.
I. The Literal sense.
THe Rabbines among the Hebrews do expound that Psalm two ways. Some upon the ground of the History, do apply it to King David; others upon the ground of the Prophecy, do apply it to King Messiah, as R. David Kimchi upon the Psalms doth witness: We do imbrace both these Expositions, referring it to King David in the litteral sense, and to the King Messiah in the mistical sense, as we have declared. It is a Psalm of Thanksgiving, which David makes unto God, the subject whereof is not expressed in the Title; but if we consider the Contents and the matter of it,, we may easily conjecture that he hath sung that acknowledgment unto God, [Page 4]about the beginning of his Reign, after the time of his affliction: The Crown had been designed for him upon the second year of the Reign of Saul, when he was anointed by Samuel the Prophet to be King in Israel; but he could not enjoy it during Sauls time, who persecuted him from place to place: So that he hath been the object of all manner of adversities for the space of nine or ten years; namely, until the death of Saul, at which time he was anointed the second time, and was exalted upon the Throne at that time then, when God had accomplished the days of his calamities, and had delivered him from the hands of his persecutors, and had set the Crown upon his head, he composed that Psalm of Thanksgiving unto God.
1. You see then therein a Joyful King, yea, and greatly rejoycing. The original Text expresseth two Verbs, whereof the one signifies the joy of the hearts, and the other the joy of the forehead, viz. when it shews it self by the outward gestures, as doth ordinarily an excessive joy. And truly that of David ought to have been of that nature, considering the notable change of his condition from one extream to the other, from the extremity of calamity to the extremity of lustre and glory. But there are two sorts of joy in the Kings and Princes of this world, an evil and carnal joy, and a joy which is good and approved of God: Their carnal and bad joy is, when they do rejoyce alone, their Subjects not being partakers of their joy: Such was the joy of Ahashuerus, and of Haman, Esther 3.15. The King and Haman sat down to drink; but the City Shushan was perplexed. Such is also the joy of all the Tyrants, who do forget Tyberius his lesson, which permits indeed to shear the sheep, but not to flay them: But Davids joy was a joy rebounding upon the foreheads of his people. The near conjunction that is between the King and his Subjects, as between the head and the members of the body, can suffer no alternative as to their rejoycing; if it be just, it is reciprocal: That of the King cannot hold without that of the Subjects, nor that of the Subjects without that of their King. The Kings being exalted upon their Thrones, are as the Sun in Heaven, which is not seated in that high lustre, that by the splendor of his beams he might dazzle the eyes of men, but that he might communicate his light to the Stars, and his heat to the Earth, and give to all the Creatures he doth illuminate, [Page 5]a pleasing aspect, and a smiling look. The Psalmist doth signifie so much, v. 7. Thou hast made him most blessed for ever. It is a property which doth accompany the good Kings, to be made most blessed, not only for a passive blessing, relating only to their own persons, that they might acknowledge themselves blessed by the Dominion and Power they have upon the people, but for an active blessing also relating to the people, that they might likewise acknowledge themselves to be happy and blessed by the good and wise conduct of their Kings: So the joy becomes reciprocal, and is approved of God, when it is limited by that joy of the people, viz. when the people is partaker of the joy of their King, and the King is sharer of the affliction of his people. That that of David hath been of that nature, it hath appeared in all his actions, carrying himself towards his Subjects, as a Faithful Shepherd towards his Sheep, for so also he calls them, 2 Sam. 24. when he presented himself with his whole Family to the edge of the sword of the destroying Angel, to cause the plague of the people of Israel to cease.
II. The Cause of his Joy hath been his Deliverance, the greatness whereof may be known by the two aforementioned extreams, viz. the preceding calamity, and the present felicity. He had been wandering the space of nine or ten years, hunted and persecuted from one place to another, no rest in any place, every where exposed to a thousand dangers and ambuscadoes: And as St. Paul faith, 2 Cor. 11. That he hath been in perils by his own Countreymen, in perils by the Heathen, in perils in the City, in perils in the Wilderness, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. This King hath gone through the same Fortune, not finding any safe retreat, pursued by his enemies through the Wilderness, betrayed by his own Countreymen, discovered in the Towns of the Philistines, often compelled to disguise himself to escape and flee in the middle of the night, to retire into the Dens and Rocks: Yea, sometimes he hath been brought to such necessity, that for want of Victuals, he hath been forced to eat the Shewbread, consecrated unto God, and hath subsisted by the Presents sent him by Abigal, a vertuous woman. See 1 Sam. 21. and 25. &c. God having then delivered him miraculously from all those dangers and inconveniences, having setled him King in Israel, having put the Scepter into his hand, and the Crown upon [Page 6]his head; see whether he had not cause to call that a remarkable deliverance, and so be exceedingly joyful. But he is not content to acknowledge himself delivered; he shews us further, the Author, the means, and the effects of this deliverance.
1. The Author of his deliverance is the Lord, who by his strength had exalted him; therefore he doth not say, my deliverance, but thy deliverance. As if he should say, that it was not a deliverance obtained by his own dexterity and conduct, or by the strength of his arms, as it hath often happened, that by victorious arms and bloody battels, illustrious men have made to themselves a way to the Crown, and have conquered Kingdoms. But David doth attribute his deliverance solely to the strength of God. And indeed he was proclaimed King after Savls death, by the meer affection of the people, having had no need of compelling them by his arms to yield him obedience. And truly those kinds of deliverances that come immediately from the hand of God, are the best; and the Scepters which God puts into the hands of Princes without shedding of blood, as David had his, are far more excellent then those they do snatch themselves by violence of arms. And that for four reasons. 1. The joy for it is purer, and more universal. In the violent Conquests, the joy of the Prince and of the people cannot be so perfect, but they must needs see some afflicted Widows that have lost their Husbands in the Fight; some Children crying and lamenting the death of their Fathers; and some Fathers and Mothers weeping for the loss of their Children. But such Conquests as come immediately from the hand of God, are not subject to any calamities of that nature. 2. The Peoples approbation is more manifest. The violent conquests are often against the people's good will, who submit themselves to the yoke, not willingly, but out of necessity. The contrary is seen, when the people themselves, by the direction of the sole providence of God, who hath the hearts of men in his mighty hand, doth set their Prince on the throne. That cannot be done but with a general applause, and with all the visible apparences of a flourishing and peaceable Reign. 3. The confidence and trust that a Prince so delivered and exalted, puts in his God, is greater, when he doth acknowledge with humility, that it hath been the right hand of God which hath done that wonder, without contributing thereunto his own [Page 7]power and industry. You see that in David, Ps. 20. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. And Ps. 44. I will not trust in my bowe, neither shall my sword save me; but thou shalt save us from our enemies, and shalt put them to shame that hate us. 4. His lustre is the more eminent: His subjects look upon him as upon the mirror of Gods favor, and do with obedience submit to his scepter, seeing it is God who causeth him ro reign. His Enemies are afraid of him and do flie from him, learning to say with Balaam, Numb. 23. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. His Neighbours do honor him as Gods Anointed, and do seek his amity and alliance, as did Abimilech King of Gerar, Gen. 26. coming to the Patriarch Isaac, who told him, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? Abimelech answered him, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee, and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee.
2. The Means whereby David came to that felicity, hath been his hearts desire, and the request of his lips, that is, his ardent Prayers. The Communion he hath had with God during the time of his affliction, is known by the Titles of several Ps [...]lms. He composed 3. at that time when he was flying before Absalom his son, the 34. when he was expelled by Abim [...]lech; the 52. when he was discovered unto Saul by Doeg the Jdumean, the 56. being taken by the Philistines at Gath, the 57. and the 142. in his flight from before Saul, hiding himself in the Den; the 59. when Saul sent to kill him, the 63. being in the Wilderness of Judah; the 102. is a Psalm of complaint made by him unto God in his extream perplexity and distress. All these holy meditations do testifie the Piety of that King, and shew whom he had recourse unto in his calamity, viz. to God, who hath also heard him at length, and hath granted him the desires of his soul: For Prayer is the Key, and openeth that which is shut by men; and Godliness hath the promise of the life that is now, and of that which is to come. But it is to be observed, that among all the expressions used by him in his Psalms, not one can be found, wherein he directly demands the Kingdom of Israel, or shews the le [...]st token of impatience for the long continuance of his afflictions; but he doth meerly represent the state of his c [...] mity, [Page 8]and with an admirable temper of trust and patience, doth refer all to the providence of God, and prayeth only for the support of his grace, and for the peace of his Church: Thereby teaching us, that it is not the least of Gods graces, when he is pleased we should suffer for his glory, that we be able to refrain the desires of our hearts, and the expressions of our lips, that nothing that is irregular may escape from them, that may tend to the dis [...]dvantage of his service, and of the obedience we do owe unto him. He teaches us likewise which are the true Prayers, viz. such as do proceed from the desires of the heart, and the attention of the soul, before they be expressed by the lips: Otherwise they are as the founding brass, or a tinkling cymbal, i. Cor. 13.
3. The Effects and the Proofs of his deliverance have two parts. The I is general, and doth consist in being prevented with the blessings of goodness. God, in delivering of him, hath prevented him two several ways. 1. As to the time, 2. as to the means. 1. As to the time: For he had only asked life, to escape safe out of the hands of Saul, who persecuted him unto death: And behold, not only he delivered him, and preserved his life, but also he prevented him with a blessing he expected not yet, viz. that Saul being killed in the Battel against the Philistines, the door was opened to him to the Crown, and he not only found means to breathe a little from his troubles, and to live, but also to live securely, long and happily. 2. As to the means, no doubt but David thought he was to conquer the Kingdom which God had promised to him, by strength of Arms; but God prevented him in that thought, and not only made him Master of the Towns, but also of the hearts of his subjects: For it is said, 2 Sam. 2. 4. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David King over the house of Judah. So doth God hear the prayers of his own children, giving them ordinarily more then they do ask. The II. particular end is, I. The setting upon him the Crown, Thou settest a Crown of pure Gold on his head, viz. the Crown of Saul, which was brought to him from the Battel, 2 Sam. 1.10. By which words the Royal Dignity wherewith God had honored him is signified. Note that he faith, God had set on him that Crown, and not men, nor he himself. True it is, that men are those that set Crowns on the heads of Kings; but when God doth not put his hand to it, they are not well set. He is [Page 9]that great Master, who alone doth understand the Trade and the Art of setting Crowns, who can so well settle th [...]m on the heads of Princes, that they keep firm and will not fall. Men may meddle with it, but without the heavenly favour and assistance, they cannot succeed well therein: As experience hath shewed it in all ages, that Crowns either usurped, or unjustly snatched, set on by Sedition and Rebellion, have fallen with those that went about to wear them: For it is too heavy a burthen, and not to be born by every one, but by such only as God calls thereunto, and in bles for it. 2. The lengthening of days; Thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever. The years of the life of David amounted to seventy, and those of his reign to forty: For he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty three in Jerusalem; a lengthning of days considerable enough, which he durst not hope for during the time of his persecutions; but at the beginning of his reign, by the gift of Prophecy, he promised it unto himself. And what hath been wanting, as to the perpetuity of it mentioned here, hath been made good by the lengthning of days of eternity in heaven above; which is the true life of the faithful. But this seems rather to belong to the Mystical sense.
II. The Mystical sense:
FRom the Literal sense we come to the Mystical. David was the Type of Jesus Christ; and therefore what is said of the one, may be referred or applied to the other; yet still observing that general rule, that the mystical sense takes onely place in such matters wherein the thing is verified in both, that is to say, that what is taken mystically in one place, be found literally in another place, as we have declared before: So that all the parts that cannot be perfectly verified in the Antitype, do remain solely appropriated in the literal sense to the Type, without pasting to the mystical sense. And mutually such as cannot be verified in the Type, do remain solely appropriated in the literal sense to the Antitype, without passing to the mystical sense: For then the Holy Ghost does propound the literal sense in figurate words, the Type being set down for the Antitipe. Upon this account let us expound this Text, as all others of the like nature: But at this time we shall only trace [Page 10]the introdnction of that relation between the Type and his Antitype: For our Lord Jesus Christ being the ordinary subject of our meditations, the more large deduction of that matter is often enough made upon other occasions.
I. The joyful King is the King Messiah, not he of the Rabbines, a meer carnal and imaginary Messiah; but Jesus Christ the object of all the ancient Types and Prophecies. This joy is great, since the subject of it is great, it is perfectly pure, suitable to the holy Soul of Jesus Christ, which is not expressed by outward gestures of exultation, as that of men, which is more carn [...]l. It is communicative: for that King knows of no other joy, but such as is common to his Church; yea, he rather came to the world for the joy of his people, then for his own, Luke 2. I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people. Matth. 1. For be shall save his people from their sins. And what he faith John 11.15. I am glad for your sakes, we may apply it to the end and aim of his exaltation.
II. The Cause of his joy is the deliverance of the state of his exinanition, and of the sufferings both of his soul and body, Es. 53.8. He was taken from prison and from judgement.
1. The Author of his deliverance is God, who through his strength hath exalted him, Eph. 1.19, 20. According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, &c.
2. The Means is his hearts desire, and the request of his lips: The prayers of Jesus Christ during the time of his humiliation, have been frequent; and although he had the revelation of the eternal Decree of God touching himself, yet he hath prayed unto him for the accomplishing of it, John 17. Father glorifie thy son, that thy Son also may glorifie thee.
3. The proofs of his deliverance are likewise obvious. 1. Also the general part, that he hath been prevented with blessings, hath rather been true in the Type, then in Jesus Christ; for to speak properly, he hath been prevented with no kinde of blessings in the the state of his exaltation, neither for himself nor for his Church, which before he had not fore seen and foretold: And in that point, as in many other, he being God and Man, and Mediator between God and men, ought to be distinguished from all others. 2. As [Page 11]to the particulars. 1. The setting on of the Crown, yea, and of a Crown of pure Gold: it signifies here the Royal Office, wherein he wears a Crown that surmounts, and is more excellent then the Crowns of all the Kings of the earth: For God hath highly exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above every name, &c. Phil. 2. Far above all Principalities and Powers, and might, &c. and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, &c. 2. The lengthening of days, even for ever and ever, is rather verified in Christ, then in David his Type, Rom. 6. Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. Es. 53. He shall prolong his days; who shall declare his generation?
III. The Accommodated Sense.
IF we compare the example of that King who is the present subject of our admiration, with King David, as to those things we have spoken of him, we shall finde them extreamly like one unto the other. We do not intend here to fall upon Panegyricks and praises of the vertues and excellent qualities of that Prince, it being a thing neither suitable to our persons, nor to this place, which is the Chair of truth and simplicity, and not of flattery. But our design is only to shew you that admirable conformity that is between those two Kings, and to pray God for this, that he might be pleased to grant him the grace to acknowledge that his deliverance comes from him alone, as you see he hath done unto David.
I. The joyful King is KING CHARLS, Second of that name, lately Proclaimed by the favour and grace of GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE TRUE FAITH, THE LAWFUL HEIR OF THE CROWN, FROM THE VERY DAY OF THE DEATH OF CHARLS THE FIRST HIS FATHER OF GLORIOUS MEMORY. If David hath greatly rejoyced, even unto exultation, I leave it to you to judge whether this King hath not had reason to rejoyce too, his fortune having been like unto that of David. Although we have been told, that when the first news came to him of it, no kinde of alteration upon his face, nor any motion in his spirit was observed. The reason of it is, because [Page 12]cause the violent shakings of the calamities happened to that Prince one upon another during such a long series of years, have r [...]ised his spirit above all earthly things, to look on them all with an equal countenance, and have taught him to shew himself immoveable to the attempts of either the good or bad fortune: As the iron, the end whereof is hardned in the fire by being often put therein, whether you try it upon a stone, or upon a mass of gold, it remains still inflexible. But that commendable moderation could by no means hinder him from receiving in his soul a very sensible satisfaction of the singular grace of God to him, in inclining the hearts of his Subjects to their duty towards him, nor from expressing a joy suitable to the due acknowledgement of that incomparable benefit of God. Likewise, there is no doubt but that the joy of that Prince is a lawful joy, and approved of by God, it being mixed with that joy of his Subjects, whom we see to be as joyful for having yielded themselves to their lawful King, as the King himself may be joyful for being restored to his Subjects. From whence we conceive this good Omen, that since it is God who hath raised this joy, it will remain ever common and reciprocal for the time to come, such as his faithful Subjects could never be so happy as to take these ten or twelve years bypast, when all the joy was confined in the breast of an Usurper of the Kingly Dignity, and of those of his faction, which filled the Kingdom with violence, the Political Government with confusion and disorders, and the Church with Sects and Heresies, the smaller fort of the people being oppressed, and the great ones carrying their heads to be cut off upon Scaffolds: Judge ye what may then have been the joy of honest men, when none durst open his mouth in the behalf of the good Cause, without incurring the crime of High Treason, not against the King, but against an Usurped Authority, and without exposing themselves to the loss both of life and estate. Therefore do you represent unto your selves the joy and the action of that people, to be like to the joy of those Northern people, who for six moneths together having not seen the sun, assoon as they spie the first dawning of the day above their Horizon, after a long and thick darkness, they run to meet that fair Planet, and climb upon the mountains, to be illuminated by his beams so long hidden from them; and as the joy of the Tribe of Judah returning from Babylon, [Page 13]Psal. 126. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream; then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.
II. The cause of his joy, is his deliverance; which we may say to have been as great as that of David, for it goes from one extreme unto the other, as well as his. But I am dispensed by many considerations from making here unto you a full Narrative of the calamities and sad travels of that Prince during the twelve years of his banishment: And the chiefest reason of my silence therein, shall be my ignorance. For although we have had often the honor to see him in this town, and upon those occasions we have heard with much sorrow of heart several relations of his adversities; yet knowing all these only by hear-say, and the certainty and the circumstances being unknown to us, it is not proper for us to say any thing of that here. Besides, it being a day of rejoycing, it would not be convenient to wrong our selves so much, as to deprive us, by such melancholy discourses, of those chaste pleasures, whereunto our Bonfires, the ringing of our Bells, and the shooting off our Canons do invite us, in the admiration of Gods wonders in the deliverance of that Prince. Adde thereunto, that the little we have spoken of David's afflictions, not being taken out of any Sermon, but only one of the Books of Chronicles, it would be in vain for me to undertake to comprise in a Sermon limited by the time of one hour, all the sad occurrences of above twelve years time, whereof your posterity will see hereafter many very voluminous Histories, no less remarkable then those of former ages. It may for this time suffice, you see in this town before your own eyes an Object, which an hundred years hence (if the world continues so long) will be the subject of Table and Journey-discourses, and so much admired as now adays the most illustrious men, celebrated by the Histories, may be by us. A Prince of the most illustrious Blood in all Europe, of an extraction meerly Royal of the Father and Mothers side, dispossessed of his Inheritance, banished from his Country, abandoned by his own Blood, wandring among Foreign Nations: who was accounted to be forgotten of God, because out of the Worlds memory, whose manner is to turn its back to Adversity, though innocent, and to adore nothing but Prosperity, although never so guilty. But who hath been miraculously [Page 14]delivered from the reproach, and restored into the possession of his Ancestors, contrary to all humane apparences.
1. The Author then of this deliverance cannot be other then God, whose hand and strength only hath wrought that wonder. So that this King may very well say with David, Thy deliverance, having gotten it not by the strength of his arms, but by the only direction from above: God having put into his hands the bodies and the hearts of his Subjects, who were as wandering sheep seeking their shepherd. An example, wherein it seems God hath undertaken to give a publick check to the unworthiness of our age, for a memorial and an instruction to posterity; that the Great ones of this world having forsaken the just cause of that Prince, He himself alone hath been willing to shew he is the Protector of innocency, who raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, Ps. 113.7. Yea, he hath so wrought therein, that he hath shewed it was his own work, and not of men, taking from them all pretence of partaking in that glory, that that Prince might be beholding to him alone, and not to any foreign force, which would have rendred the deliverance so much the less illustrious, and the conquest the less glorious. Glorious was the conquest of the Earl of Richmond (afterwards Henry the Seventh) when he went out of Normandy with a small Army into England against Richard the Third, Tyrant, a Murderer, and an Usurper of the Crown, and won the Kingdom with the loss of an hundred men only, the subjects wishing nothing more then to be delivered from the hand of the Tyrant. But the deliverance of Charles II. hath been Divine, who hath conquered without fighting or losing one man: God alone having fought for him with invisible arms, not against the bodies, but against the souls of men, making them subject to his obedience.
2. The means hath been, his hearts desire, and the request of his lips. Let him go to sea, who will learn to pray, faith the proverb. No doubt but that Prince, in the midst of the vast sea of his calamities, among so many storms that went over his head, being destitute of all supply from men, hath had his recourse unto the Lord, the only support of the afflicted souls, and said often with David, Out of the depths do I cry unto thee, O Lord! and with queen Elizabeth, when she was carried from the Tower of London to the [Page 15]prison of Woodstock, by order of queen Mary her sister, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee; yea in the shadow of thy wings do I make my refuge, until the calamity be overpast. In a word, the Lord hath heard the desire of his heart, and hath rewarded his persevering piety in the profession of the Reformed religion, which he stedfastly kept in his heart, notwithstanding wait hath been often laid to his conscience, during the years of his banishment among the enemies of the Truth: deceitful promises could not shake the stedfastness of his spirit: Yet he hath been forced to swallow down the blame with the calamity, as if he had been unfaithful to God therein. But experience hath shewed the contrary, that although he was surrounded with the thick clouds of Idolatry, he hath ever preserved the purity of the worship of God in his family; as a most learned and most orthodox Divine, among his Domesticks, an unreproachable witness before God and man, hath assured us. Yea, and the event doth now shew us the contrary. David faith, Psal. 66.18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So, had this Prince had any thought tending to the disadvantage of the Worship of God, and of that flourishing Church of Christ in his Kingdoms, the Lord would not have heard the desire of his heart. But he hath heard it: And therefore let us conclude that his conscience and his affection to the truth of the holy Gospel remained pure and sincere, as he hath also protested in the midst of us. A mighty argument to prove that God honoreth such as do honor him, and are faithful to his service.
3. The proofs of his deliverance are likewise manifest. I. In general, God hath prevented him with blessings. The world did imagine that new Form of the Government of those Kingdoms to have taken root; that the wound of that Revolution was now consolidated, and that the ugly skar it had contracted, could not be opened but by the edge of the sword. But God's thoughts are not as mens thoughts: As the Heavens are higher then the earth, so are the ways of God higher then the ways of men, Isa. 55. Who untying and unfolding all those difficulties, hath opened to this Prince a door whereat he hoped not to be able to enter, when he thought upon the way of Arms; wherein the Grace from above hath prevented him, shewing him a surer, an easier, and a safer [Page 16]way for him and for his people. II. In particular. 1. He bath set a Crown upon his head; yea, and three Crowns are designed unto him. And what is more, it is God who setteth them on his head, who by his mighty hand raiseth the hands of his subjects to set them, with an unanimous consent, upon his head. Wherein his providence is yet more admirable, then it hath been in the example of David, sithence the Crown of Saul, taken up in the battel, was brought to David by an Amalekite, 2 Sam. 1. after the same manner as that of Richard the 3. of whom we have spoken before, was set on Henry the 7. his head in the Battel-field; both by anticipation: Whereas to this Prince it is offered after a mature deliberation of all his States. To David it was presented, he being in the Kingdom; to this, he being yet abroad. David was only proclaimed King of Judah, at the beginning of his reign, for the other Tribes adhered yet to the son of Saul for two years: But this is proclaimed King of all his Kingdoms, without any opposition. 2. The lengthening of days shall be the crowning of that admirable work of God, which as David, by the gift of prophefie, promised unto himself, so do we wish it to this Prince by our vows and prayers.
INSTRUCTION.
SOme might here say the same that sometimes one Sheba the son of Bichri said, 2 Sam. 20.1. We have no part in David. the interest of this King and of his Subjects, is not our interest; their joy is not our joy, who live under, and depend on other Magistrates, and therefore have nothing common. I answer, it is true, that as the Sea doth divide us, so there is a diversity of Politick Government between us. But there is another union besides that of the bodies, viz. that of consciences, whereby this Prince and his people do acknowledge themselves to be tied unto us, and our Soveraign Magistrates and their Subjects do acknowledge to be tied unto them. There are two several ties that binde us to our Superiors, each Nation to their own; but there is one only tie that ties us all to the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ: as several lines drawn from the circumference of the circle, do meet all in the centre which is in the middle; so Jesus Christ and the purity of the holy [Page 17]Gospel is our common centre wherein we meet together, as members of the same body, as Subjects of the same King, as Citizens of the same Spiritual Commonwealth. So we have part in David, so this King and his people are near related to us: our interests are common, our joyes common, our advantages common, our losses common. And upon this account we pour this day our Prayers for that Prince,
That God the pleased to accomplish in and for him the excellen work be hath begun: That be will lead him in his journey, and bring him safe into his Kingdom, to incline the hearts of all his subjects to him, that all of them, none excepted; may imbrace him as their Father and Deliverer: so to settle his Crown upon his Head, that it may never be shaken hereafter. To strengthen him against all foreign forces: to protect him against the designs of his enemies, against all dangers and inconveniences, and to give him a flourishing and peaceable Reign; that being made a joyful and contented King sitting upon his Throne, he might all the days of his life acknowledge the Author and the manner of his deliverance, Religiously remember the gracious Protection of god, during the long tempest of his calamities, and the wonders he hath wrought for his restauration: That be might keep a holy correspondence with the State of these Ʋnited Provinces, as his Ancestors have done, and might shew the first effects of his acknowledgement, by a fervent zeal to the repurgation of the Church of Jesus Christ, of all those Sects and Heresies that have crept into that Kingdom, and have been the supporters of Rebellion during the times of confusion: Therein imitating David King of Israel, whose first care was at the beginning of his Reign to take order that the Ark of God might rest in an honorable and decent place. And the Queen, Elizabeth of glorious memory, who begun her Reign by the Reformation of the Church, which was then deformed by the Tyrannical zeal of her sister Queen Mary; who upon those steps have made their Reigns happy and peaceable, the one of forty, and the other of forty five years. We wish unto that King the same ardor for the glory of God, and a lengthening of days beyond that. And that having long and happy worn the three Corwns upon earth, the King of Kings be pleased to set the fourth upon his head in heaven.
God grant him that grace.