BY the Stone, which was here discarded and thrown aside, is certainly typified and prefigu­red the rejection of our blessed Saviour, the casting off and renouncing of the Messias, who was sent into the world to be a light unto the Gentiles, and [Page 4]to be the glory of the people Israel. And the Builders, that thus despised his domi­nation and rule over them, were the Scribes and Pharisees, those hypocriti­cal and Sanctimonious Zealots, who all along most despitefully treated him, and at length glutted their malice and re­venge by putting him to death. And after all his deep humility, rejection, and sufferings, God raised him from the dead, advanced him to his Kingdom at his own right hand, and so made him, tho once a stone rejected by the builders, the chief and Head of the Corner, uni­ting both Jews and Gentiles into one Spiritual-building. And St. Peter proves as much in the audience of many thousands of the Jews, Nemine contradicente. Acts 4.11. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, this is the stone that was set at nought of you builders, which is now exalted into Heaven, and become Head of the Church as well Triumpant as Militant here upon Earth.

So that the Text as it is legible in the Gospels, undoubtedly points at the Crucifixion of the Messias by the Scribes and Pharisees. But if we turn to the 118. Psalm, whence the words are quoted, than they may refer to the Psalmist himself, and the Jewish Rab­bins universally so applied them, and that with good season, provided the Psalm be interpreted only as a song of thanksgiving and not as a Prophe­sie; for it exactly, corresponds to the condition and circumstances of David, who had been long exercised with many potent enemies and afflictions on every side; and had been opposed and re­jected by the House of Saul, and the Chieftains of Israel in reference to his Kingdom; and had lain for some time under proscription and banishment: Yet God at length stood up in his de­fence, hearing him in all his troubles, redressing his grievances, helping him to subdue and discomfit all the vari­ous [Page 6]hosts of his enemies; and maugre all difficulties and oppositions bring­ing him back from exile, and estab­lishing him on the Throne of his King­dom over Israel as well as Judah; making him (tho at first a stone rejected by the builders, yet at last) Head of the corner. Then did holy David pen this Psalm as tis conjectur'd, and afterwards Hymn it in the praise and glorification of God.

And, as I doubt not but all the Loy­al Hearts of Judah and Jerusalem did congratulate David, when he enter'd into the Royal City; and afterwards went into the Sanctuary to offer up unto God their sacrifice of praise and thanksgivings for returning their King home again. So now, let every mem­ber of this Loyal Assembly, according to the design and occasion of this solem Anniversary Festival, pour out in the presence of God, all imaginable praise and glory for a deliverance, as [Page 7]stupendious and amazing for number, weight and measure, as ever God in his wise Providence dispensed unto the men of Judah, or any other people since the inchoation of the world.

I appeal to the Chronicles of the most early times, and challenge all Registers of whatsoever Age to instance in any Kingdom or Republick, that has been reduced to so low an ebb, to such sad extremities, and so perfectly unable to emerge from the calamity: That were of such implacable enmities and discord within themselves, and so mortally cursed and hated by all neigh­bouring Provinces: and at last to be so miraculously redeemed out of every straight and difficulty; and that with­out the lest drop of blood, to the un­speakable joy of all our hearts and the amazement of all about us; and at a time, when no Soul alive could ever hope for or imagin such a sudden and prosperous turn of affairs in these King­doms.

We were along time like the Cap­tive Jews in Babylon, a grievous and afflicted people; and had our Country depopulated by the inroads of mercy­less and imperious Tyrants; its strength and sinews enervated by civil and in­testine broils; our rights and liberties all infringed; our estates and fortunes confiscated; our lives exposed to insu­perable hazards; whole families extinct and buried in ruins; the State and Government quite inverted and chan­ged; all order and peacedissolved and broken up; the Scepter and Royal Throne usurp'd; the late King, of ever blessed memory executed at his own door; his Sons and all the Royal Line proscribed out of the Kingdom; Se­veral of the prime Nobility hastily dispatch'd to attend the Funerals of their Royal Master; and thousands of other inferiour Subjects Ecclesiastical as well as Civil, had all their necks crush'd to peices by the Chariot-wheels [Page 9]of insulting Pharaoh. Yea Gods holy Vineyard too miserably laid wast and troden under foot, and that very Church, which was once so remarkable for its Orthodox faith, good discipline, whole­some Canons, modest and decent way of worship, all brought to nought; and nothing but loose Doctrines and most damnable heresies succeeding in the room of them.

To such an amazing height of mi­sery and confusion was this Nation re­duced, and such as this was our lamen­table state and condition!

And after those many attempts that were made, and all honest and ingeni­ous minds had strove their utmost to stop this impetuous torrent and re­treive their Country from such a Sea of miseries: when there was no hopes left, and the Nation just a sinking under its own burden: When the waters had al­most drowned us and the streams had gone e'ne over our Souls: Then did the Al­mighty [Page 10]lift up his voice out of the deep, and the floods strait obeyed and drive back again; then did God speak peace to this British Island, and wrought our delivery in a trice, infatuating all the Counsels of the Mighty, undermining all their projects and secret Machina­tions, strangely scattering all the bands and Militia of the Nation; and by an extraordinary act of grace and mercy, above our hopes, and beyond our me­rits, and with wonderful ease and safety, restoring our most gracious Soveraign to all his Kingdoms, and his Loving Subjects to their just rights and liberties; and withal bringing the Ark and our Religion home again, and establishing it on the same basis, with all its Epis­copal constitutions; together with a profound peace and plenty, and an universal joy, and gladsomeness on every brow accompanying the return of so indulgent and merciful a Prince, even to the vilest and most profligate a­mong [Page 11]his people; who, though he had been long discarded and lain aside, yet, you see, God on this day sat him on the Royal throne of his Fathers, and so the words of my Text are again made out.

That very stone, which the builders rejected the same now, blessed be God, is head over England.

The sin, which the Builders here in the Text were guilty of, was open Re­bellion and disloyalty to our blessed Sa­viour, resolving that he should have no rule or Kingship over them, and that made them discard and lay him aside.

Now this is still the same reigning iniquity, that was the occasion and commencement of our late unhappy broils, and which broke up the sluces, and caused all the forementioned, and much worse evils to gush in upon us.

And therefore, that I may keep close to my Text, and answer the end for [Page 12]which I am appointed; and seeing the day also does so necessarily determine me to it, give me leave to shew you, first, the duty of Subjects to their Gover­nours, to tell you wherein it consists: Secondly, I will use two or three argu­ments to press you to a consciencious discharge of it, that we may all practice it better for the time to come, and study no more to reject and throw a­side the head stone of the corner: Than thirdly and lastly, I will give some mo­dest and short reflexions upon the day, and so conclude.

Begin we now with the first, to show you wherein the duty of subjects to their governours consists; And among several branches that might be named I shall at present only speak to these four following.

The first branch of our duty to Go­vernours is, to honour and reverence their sacred Persons.

Sayes the Apostle, fear God, 1 Pet. 2.17. honour the King. He gives us our duty to both in the same breath; and the reason why such great obeysance and humility ought to be paid to the person of the King is, because he is Gods representative upon Earth. So that Kings and Princes must be lookt upon, as upon them, on whom God hath stampt much of his own power and Authority, and there­fore we ought to pay all honour and esteem, never daring upon any pretence whatsoever to speak evil of the ruler of our people. Acts 23.5.

Nay! they that despise and set light by Princes, refusing the homage that is due unto them, expresly sin a­gainst the fifth Commandment, which obliges us to honour our parents, And the Magistrate is the Civil parent of all those that are under his dominion and Royalty; And the name is well deserved, because he takes care of our lives, defends us from all dangers, wat­ches [Page 14]and superintends over us for our good, and so makes his Government a publick and universal blessing to the Nation; And those, which refuse to honour the Civil Parent, do openly confront and violate one of the pre­cepts of the second table.

Add to this, the base ingratitude that such men must needs be guilty of, that can find in their hearts thus to slight and contemn them after all the care and pains they have taken for their se­curity and well-being. Lycurgus the great Law-maker, when he had allot­ted punishments to most vices, was asked why he had made no Law against the sin of ingratitude, and his answer was, that's res prodigiosa, a thing so monstrously wicked and absurd that no body in his wits can be guilty of it: And surely it must be ingratitude with a witness to deny honour and deference to those, by whose wise conduct and Government we owe e'ne our lives, for­tunes, [Page 15]liberties, Religion, and what not.

Let us all then like dutyful and Loyal subjects pay obeysance unto our Go­vernours, and have a profound and aw­ful reverence for their Personages, and esteem them sacred, in as much as they are Gods Deputies and Viceroys, whom next under himself he hath intrusted with the care and administration of his people. Should an Ambassa­dour, as soon as he is come ashore, be abused and set at nought, the indigni­ty does not terminate here, but lies up­on the Prince which sent him, and who no doubt will avenge the wrong that is done him in the person of his Minister? or suppose a man should have his Pi­cture stabbed through with a Sword, or a limb of it cut off, has he not great rea­son to resent the injury as done to his own person, and study a punishment ac­cordingly? Why thus will God do to all those that affront the Supream Powers, they being his Ambassadours and De­legates, [Page 16]and serve as so many pictures and images to represent Gods great power and Soveraignty over his peo­ple.

Nay! God has given to Kings and Princes his own August and venerable name — I have said ye are Gods — And in the 1 Chron. Psal. 82.6. the Throne, which they sat upon, is styled Gods throne — where­fore seeing God himself has so highly Dignified them, as to set them on his Throne, and to call them after his own name, it is much more becoming all their subjects to keep their distance and pay homage before them, and to have an inward worship and esteem for them, which must be expressed by our out­ward mean and deportment, by humble and lowly prostrations, by a chearful and ready compliance with their Com­mands, and that constantly and un­feignedly, without partiality or hypo­chrisie, having no by or sinister ends of our own, but doing it in great sincerity [Page 17]and truth. What a reverend Author­quotes and applies upon another occa­sion, I may, with small alteration use to this. Saith he, ‘'Tis a remarkable pas­sage that Aelian the Historian gives of a proud man, who being to go in­to the presence of the Persian King, before whom he must make such ado­ration as he had no mind to give, he therefore let fall his Ring at his en­trance into the presence-Chamber, and his stooping to take that up, pas­sed for a worship of that great Maje­sty. So many persons seem outward­ly to worship their Prince, and make very humble and lowly addresses unto him, when indeed they do but stoop to their own interest, and are but tak­ing up some Court preferment, which they have more mind to than to be humble and Loyal.’

Secondly another branch of our duty to Governours is custome and tribute. We must pay them tribute.

And this we are obliged to perform by the example of our blessed Saviour, who, when the Pharisees and Herodians asked him whether it was lawful to pay Tribute or not, he answer'd their Captious question, as his usual manner was, by put­ting another; saying, whose Image and superscription is this? Why Caesars. Ren­der therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesars — And at another time when Christ was taxed and no Money to pay, rather then he would be thought refractory, he wrought a Miracle to pay his assessment.

Nay! Mat. 17.28. the Apostles afterwards, whose Epistles are only a comment upon our Savious sayings, acknowledges this. And St. Paul especially counsels the Romans to render to all their dues, tri­bute to whom tribute is due, Custom to whom Custom, Fear to whom fear, Honour to whom Honour; and a little higher he assigns the reason why they must pay them Tribute, because they are Gods [Page 19]Ministersattending continually upon this very thing i. e.; for the safegard and wel­fare of his people.

God hath set them a part as his Vice­gerents for the good of the people, and 'tis highly reasonable they should be maintained and supported by them. And indeed when it is considered what are the cares and troubles of that high calling? How many thorns are platted in every Crown? We shall have but lit­tle cause to envy them, or retrench their dues. Men generally admire the sove­raign power and authority of Princes, the high honours and dignities, the vast revenues and exchequers, but never consider the insuperable hazards and perils, and what abundance of plots and conspiracies, rolling hastily, like the Waves of the Sea, one upon the neck of another, which are continually de­vised against them. They look upon one side of the Medal and there see a fair Image and inscription, but ne're [Page 20]turn the reverse and behold the crosses and bars that are on the other. Tully somewhere in his Offices, tells us when Democles the great Parasite was arrayed like a Prince, and sat at a Table where there was a rich banquet provided for him; as soon as ever he saw the naked sword, with the point downward, han­ging just over his head, he could not for his life taste of his entertainment, or take any comfort in the Royal atten­dance he had. By which ingenious em­blem Cicero shews, that the life of a King, in the midst of all his pomp and grandeur, is in continual fear of Death. Wherefore let no man deny him his just tribute or subsidy, since he earns it dear enough in all conscience, when we re­flect upon the many eares and disquie­tudes; the sudden frights and dangers his Sacred person is daily exposed to.

Thirdly, another branch of our duty to Governours is this, we must daily put up our prayers to God for them.

This also is laid down by the Apostle, Tim. 2.1. 2, 3. I exhort therefore first of all, that supplicati­ons, and Prayers, and intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men, for Kings and all that are in authority un­der them, that we may all lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; and the prayers which are thus put up for the preservation of the King, and all that are in commission under him, will wheel about and soon recoil into our own bosoms, because the bles­sings, which they receive from God, and which we ought constantly to pray for, tends to the good of the people, that every man may happily enjoy him­self, and eat the fruit of his Labour under his own Vine, and under his own Fig-tree.

Wherefore if we had no Love for our Governours or our Country, yet for our own sakes and the interest of our seve­ral friends and relations, it concerns us to supplicate heaven in their behalf, that they may be our strength and fortress [Page 22]our defence and Buckler in time of need; that God would so rule their hearts, and strengthen their hands, that they may neither want will nor power to punish wickedness and vice, and to maintain Gods true Religion and virtue; that they may all give us wise and whol­som Laws for the retrenching our exor­bitances and the government of our lives, for the bridling our unruly wills and affections, and to get the mastery over our passions, and to fright us by severe penalties from the perpetration of every thing that is evil and sinful: And sure I am that many of us are be­holding more to the good government we live under, then to our own princi­ples for being such as we are; for if the Laws of the Land did not tye men up, and make it death to commit Murder, ra­pin, or Robbery, I am confident men would as frequently be found culpable herein, as in Swearing, Drunkenness, Fornication, Prophaning the Sabbath, [Page 23]and the like. And therefore we have all great reason to uphold the Govern­ment and to pray for our Senators, and to bless and praise God night and day for putting it into their hearts for provi­ding thus for our Souls as well as our bodies, for publishing such gracious edicts, and constituting such easie and gentle Laws, Which ought to be the pride and glory of the English sub­ject.

It is storied of the people in China, that if any of them have a mind to travel abroad and set but one foot out of their own Country, they must never return home again; and was there not great policy in the Magistrates for pro­mulgating such a decree? for if once the Chinesses should venture to go out and behold what great liberty other Countries enjoy above what they do in their own, there would quickly be not a man left for the Governours to rule over. But thanks be to God, our case [Page 24]is widely distant from other Countries, and no people ever enjoyed a more relax and gentle Government, where the reins are in a manner flung upon the necks of the Subjects; and all its laws are calculated solely for the plea­sure and ease, for the interest and pro­fit, for the safegard of our souls as well as our bodies: and never earth bore a more gracious Prince, a more indulgent and merciful Soveraign than weilds the Scepter in these Kingdoms; and there­fore we have all the reason in the world to supplicate and interceed with God for the preservation of his Majesties most Sacred person, and the Government as it is by Law established.

But fourthly, the last branch of our duty to Governours is this, entirely to resign our selves into their hands and submit to their good will and pleasure in all things. Now because this part of our duty is most scrupled at, and a great deal worse practiced by us, I shall there­fore [Page 25]carefully consider it by it self, and with that freedom and plainness as be­comes the place where I now stand, and use but these three arguments to engage your performance of it. And afterwards I will hasten to a conclusion of the whole.

My first Topick is this, obedience and subjection to Magistrates is one of the essential marks of our Christian profession.

A Primitive Saint, in the infancy of the Church, was alwaies better known by his Catholick charity, and patient submission to persecuting Emperors than by all the other graces in the whole Systom of Divinity: It was the undoub­ted [...] and best distinguishing note, whereby you might judge infallibly of the professours of christianity from any others whatever; because no other religion enjoyns such an exact obser­vance of the commands of our gover­nours. this is strictly charged by saint [Page 26] Peter, Submit your selves to every ordin­ance of man for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Go­vernours as those that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. And Saint Paul, in the 13th. to the Romans is most full to this purpose. Verse 1. Verse 2. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers — And whoso­ever resisteth the power resisteth the ordi­nance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation: And than concludes, wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for fear but also for con­science sake, out of a sense that it is a duty which God exacts at our hands. And tis very observable, that these pre­cepts were all given at a time when those powers were Roman Emperours, and cruel persecutors of Christianity, to shew that no pretence of the wickedness of our Rulers can exempt us from this duty.

Nay! in the case of our blessed Savi­our; and if ever resistance would be [Page 27]tolerated and indulg'd, one might ex­pect it in this; And yet Christ would not allow of it, but sharply rebuked Peter for drawing out his sword and smiting one of the inferiour officers, saying, they that take the Sword shall perish by the Sword: And some learned men are of the opinion, that the Souldiers which came to seize him had no war­rant but was rather a rabble that broke out with swords and staves of their own accord and motion; and yet Christ was so jealous of infringing the supream authority, that he would not notwith­standing, suffer any opposition to be made.

By the holy institutes and exemplar of our Saviour and his Apostles, we must all pay obedience unto our Go­vernours, either active or passive; active in the case of all lawful com­mands, and passive when the thing en­joyned is repugnant to the letter of Scripture: herein, I confess, we are not bound to act as they would have us; [Page 28]but even this is a season for passive o­bedience, and we ought quietly to un­dergo whatsoever is inflicted for such a refusal, and not to secure our selves and rise up against them. Nay! it of­ten happens out that worse evils and more bloodshed will follow resistance than by patiently suffering; as hath been happily observed by some Histo­rians that how bloody soever Nero was, yet there was not so much blood spilt in his fourteen years reign as there was within a few months after his death. Wherefore men had better patiently submit their necks to the Yoke, than to rise up and rebel, and so derive down greater judgments upon their own heads.

I am sufficiently sensible, this is a very irkson doctrine to carnal and worldly minded people, to the suggesti­ons of flesh and blood, and yet this is no more than what Christianity obliges us to, if ever we hope for salvation; and which the planters and propagaters of [Page 29]our Religion all stuck to and died by it. But alas there is no such danger and trials now, as there was in those days, before Christianity was adopted into the Laws of the Empire; we have no persecution raised against the Church, but we all live in Luxury and ease, as for what has been lately used against Dissenters, ought not in any wise to be branded with so foul a character, these are not persecutions but light and gentle admonitions only, full of affectionate care and kindness, sent to mind them of their duty to their Mother, and to joyn in communion with that Church, out of the Pale whereof Salvation can hardly be obtained. The Pythagoreans were so passionately concerned when a­ny one forsook their Schools, that they presently carried out a Coffin after him, and so gave him over for a lost and dead man. And how I pray shall those a­mongst us be reckoned in a better con­dition, who nere come near our assem­blies but refuse canonical obedience and [Page 30]despise the Sacred standing Ordinances of the Church, which are the very life and nourishment of all its members: The meer suspension and deprivation whereof was that which made the Pri­mitive Excommunicants, as they lay weeping and condoling before the por­tal, so importunately to request the prayers and intercessions of all good Christians, when they entered the con­gregation, for a plenary indulgence [...] absolution of all their sins, that they might again be admitted into a fellow­ship with the Church, out of which no spiritual gift or blessing can pro­ceed, and 'tis for this end only that our Rulers study now to bring some a­mongst us within the Pale, they are wise Senators, and know what is best, and are kinder to them than they are to themselves, and therefore they shake the rod over them, being solicitous to scare and draw them to the constant frequen­ting the publick Oratories, which is of such infinite concern to the everlasting [Page 31]welfare of their souls; and this is all the severity that is exercised towards them, and how can any shorter course be ta­ken, and what gentler lenatives can be applied to make them come in than this.

But nevertheless, there is a loud out­cry made and a great talk of persecu­tion, and much muttering and complai­ning in our Streets, and never more symptoms of Rebellion and disloyalty than now; and which is most strange, from those that call themselves Christi­ans? but how does it appear that they are such, if they dont discover better principles? We shall never find then out unless their actions be suitable to their their profession, and therefore if they would be known they must be served as an unskilful painter does all his pi­ctures, when no eye can discover by the features and Lineaments whom they re­present, he is forced to subscribe their names; so must these men have the name of Christ Stampt upon their fore head [Page 32]or else by their practises we shall ne­ver know them; for Rebellion and dis­obedience is diametrically opposite to the institutes of Christianity, and I have read that it is a mark to discover Maho­metans by, but never Christians before.

Secondly, another argument I draw from the danger of its contrary, which is this, that disobedience unto Gover­nours is as mortal and damning a sin as any of those that more immediately concerns the honour of God.

God holds the Balance even and bears an equal regard to all his sanctions, and threatens no greater penalty for the breach of one than another, but Wills our obedience to Governours as much as to himself. God makes no difference, but looks upon every sin with the same abhorrency, and albeit he seems in Scripture to be more severe with the Jews for the sin of Idolatry, yet this was only to put them farther off from it, that being the first Religion [Page 33]of their Country, and to which they was most prone; and not but God ha­ted all kind of vices alike, and tho some be of a deeper tincture than others, yet the Wages of every sin is death; Rom. 6.23.

God therefore lays no greater stress upon one precept than another, but ob­ligeth us to all his commands impartial­ly, and calls for our performance of those duties to our Neighbour, and the se­veral relations we standinone to another, as much as those that more immediate­ly concern his own worship. Nay! he is sometimes pleased to dispense with the non performance of his own Laws, but never those that relate to the good and benefit of mankind.

But notwithstanding the Scribes and Pharisees of old had a mind to be more civil to God than he would have them, and were resolved to give his Laws the preeminence, and ne're matter all the other commandments, so they did but observe what belonged to the service of God; and therefore they stood up migh­tily [Page 34]for his Worship and Glory, and were strict observers of the Sabbath, and ve­ry zealous in defence of their Religion, and cryed up every where the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, and all the while neglected every other duty of equal moment and concern, lived in open rebellion to their Rulers, proved annoyance to the state, had no bowels of mercy and compassion, but devoured Widows houses, and were greatly injurious to their Neighbours interest.

And I am afraid we have many such now a days, who are great Champions for the Church, and are very forward to maintain the cause of God, and think themselves highly obliged to observe his Laws and Ordinances, but ne're mat­ter how negligent and remiss they are of others: Who take great care to dis­charge their duty of the first table, and yet can freely indulge themselves in a manifest violation of those of the se­cond; as if Religion was designed to be a supersedeas to common honesty, [Page 35]and if we did but often invoke God in our prayers, we might afterwards go lye, cheat, and abuse our neighbour. I have the charity to believe that many of them are not given to prophane the Sabbath, to cursing or swearing, to drunkenness or fornication, nor to any such gross and sensual immoralities, but none more guilty of Spiritual and Pharisaical vices than they; there are none so proud and cenforious, so covetous and worldly min­ded, so false and hypocritical, so facti­ous and seditious, and so disobedient unto Princes and Governours as they are. And if these be not mortal and damning sins what are? and yet all this is preten­ded to be done out of pure zeal to God and Religion: but if we trace out the first Authors and abettor of this surious and misguided zeal, we shall quickly find them to be the Jesuits. For there is no footsteps of this in the records of very early times, but just upon the breaking out of the Reformation then this active fiery zeal began first to blaze, and kindle, and [Page 36]embroil the whole nation out of zeal to their Idolatrous rites and ceremonies: and before our Island could be throughly purged from all the Jesuits and Seminary Priests that swarmed amongst us, they they rubbed their leprofie upon some of our honest Country men, and e'ne left the infection behind them. So that this ar­dent zeal for Religion was an old Jesuiti­cal Church engin, tho now moved about and played by other hands. And this Andreas Ab Haberfeild in his Letter to Sir William Bosewell plainly declares.

But thirdly and lastly, whether we will be obedient to our Governours or not, yet God will have his ends served in the world.

Sayes Solomon, there are many devices in the heart of man, Prov. 19.21. nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand. How void of sense and reason is it then, for such mortal creatures as we are to pretend to have our wills fulfilled before Gods, and to order all things in the world as we would have [Page 37]them? are we able to baffle the counsels and purposes of the Almighty, or to in­vert and change the course of his Provi­dence? can we cancel the sacred ordinan­ces of Heaven, and make the everlasting decrees of none effect? no! the divine ap­pointments must stand for ever, and are fixed and unalterable as the center of the earth; and what from all eternity was preordained must so happen out and come to pass, tho it be never so contrariant to the humors and fancies of unquiet men. Why then will any interpose and grap­ple with the Almighty, turn Rebels and affront his Viceroys and study to dismount those whom he hath appointed to rule o­ver us? if God should suspend his pro­vidence and suffer Rebellion to ride tri­umphant and grow prosperous, yet alas it is but for a while, and then the Scene changes, and a new face of things strait ap­pears: So that altho God may a little pro­crastinate and adjourn the execution of his designs, yet they shall take place, when he sees it fitting and convenient, and then [Page 38]must all Rebels be debased and puni­shed, and them that should preside over us again exalted.

Wherefore let this rally up the Spirits of every wise and Religious Prince; see­ing there is a God above, who beholds all the struglings of their enemies, and and knows how hard they bare against the curb, and fain would trample them underfoot. And altho the affairs of their Kingdoms may be sometimes in a sad plight, and look towards a change. Yet God can work miracles, and make the wind tack about, and in an instant rescue them out of every straight and difficulty. Who could have thought, when Joseph was betrayed by his Bretheren and fold into Aegypt a slave, should at last be Lord over Pharaohs household? When Jonas was cast into the Sea and swallowed up by a Whale, to have met him after­wards preaching at Nineveh? When Ne­buchadnezar, was grazing in the forest among the Beasts, to see him again govern­ing in Babel? When the Jews were so totally [Page 39]routed by the Chaldees, who sackt Jerusa­lem, burnt their Temple, and carried them Captive into Babylon, should at last be re­stored and set at liberty by that heathen Persian Monarch Cyrus? When that same Jesus, who was so reproachfully handled, and so barbarously crucified by the Jews, should after his death be adored by Kings, and Emperours, and his Cross an Orna­ment to Crowns and Scepters? When our most gracious Soveraign, who was so long depulsed from his Trone, discarded by his subjects, proscribed out of the Land, should at last be installed Soveraign Lord over England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Thus you see, God is able to set all things to rights again? and tho he some­times stands by and suffers wicked Men to act their pleasure; yet after a while the counsel of the Lord that shall stand, which ought to be a support and encouragement to all Governours, and a terrour to the obstinate and Rebellious, for whether men will be obedient to them or not, or whe­ther they discard and lay them aside, or [Page 40]whatever they are pleased to do with them, yet Gods ends must be served in the world, his Will shall be done be the Earth never so impatient; and that very Stone which the builders rejected, shall in his good time be made Head of the Corner.

Having thus dispatcht the chief mat­ters I designed at the beginning, I will only now give some short and modest re­flexions upon the day, and so conclude.

If all the Topicks that I have now ur­ged for obedience unto the King and Go­vernment we live under, be not sufficient, I hope the memory and experience of our late unhappy troubles will abundantly prevail upon the most stif necked amongst us. Let any of our sectaries look back and consider the sad posture of affairs in the year 41. and recount, if they can, all the evils and mischiefs that gushed in upon the Nation during the Civil Wars. I say let any of them that survived the calami­ty, and had been for sometime under the [Page 41]hatches, confess if they would pay so dear for Rebellion once more; whether they could ever find in their hearts to set one foot towards the introducing again such dolorous and bloody times in these King­doms; which I can parallel to nothing but a kind of Interregnum where after the death of the Alcade or chief Governour, the people are allowed to do all manner of villanies until another is chosen. Or to that sad time among the Jews, when there was no King in Israel, in the which every man did that which was lawful and right in his own eyes.

The old civilized Romans had such an opinion of the augustness of their City, that to be proscribed or banished was coun­ted a capital punishment, and a civil death thought equal to a natural. O that I could perswade all of you to be such brave spirited Romans, and to have such a re­gard for this Royal City, the Metropolis of our Nation, never to commit any base or disloyal action as to merit proscription from it, but be as constant and true to the [Page 42]King, as we are fully convinced the Na­tives of this place are, by this solemn an­niversary Festival; and if several Coun­tries heretofore strove which should have the honour of Homers birth, sure it is no small addition to our happiness, seeing this very Parish is honoured with so good a Kings Nativity as well as ours: And if we enjoy not now all the rights and priviledg­es, which hath been long since continued to this our Imperial City, we may e'ne thank some of its Pharisaical members, who by their open Rebellions have for­feited the great Seal and Charter of it.

I pray God then, we may all lay it to heart and let our Rebellion terminate here, and every man sit down content, and eat the fruit of his labour under his own Vine, and under his own fig-Tree. For what can any expect by disturbing and thwartning the Government, but abundance of evils and calamities must ensue; And then how deep will their guilt be, and what a great deal of blood must be Spilt, and how many lives lost in such wild heats and [Page 43]combustions. Xerxes, when he beheld his army pass before him, it drew tears from his eyes, that a hundred years hence there would not be a man of them left. Here was something of good nature, but we strive, as fast as we can, by our fierce de­bates and quarrellings to destroy and be the death of as many, and to imbrue our hands one in anothers blood.

These are strange and preposterous do­ings and very ill-timed, and most un­christian breaches, and heartily to be la­mented and sorrowed for, and do much weaken our Nation, and fit us for a final overthrow. I remember Josephus sayes, the unhappy divisions that were among the Jews in the time of their Siege did more shake the foundations of their City than Titus his whole Army without the Walls. And in another place, he has most impartially related, that there was no care of Religion, no zeal for the Law amongst them, because there was nothing but bandings and factions in their Synago­gues. And I am afraid that our zeal for [Page 44]small and indifferent matters, for circum­stantials only, hath quite eaten up the very Spirit and life of our Religion; and well may we be bore down by the common enemy, when we do all we can by our devilish and inhumane breaches to prepare the way and accelerate his coming in.

And besides this, there is such a surplu­sage of Atheism and prophanness, of irre­ligion and ungodliness abounding every where, that notwithstanding what Ju­venal remark long ago — omne in praeci­piti vitium Stetit — all vice was at the height. Yet if it be possible the times we now live in are worse; And albeit some would insinuate, that it is the humour of every age to cry down their own times; yet iniquity is now grown so bare faced and rife in our streets that there is not the lest umbrage or colour for such a pretext. And was there nothing more, his is enough to throw us out of the protection of the Al­mighty, and to make us the fag-end and refuse of Gods Creation. For what saies Solomon, righteousness exalteth a Nation but [Page 45]sin is the reproach and confusion of any peo­ple. And to use the words of a great man, ‘the experience of every age has made this good: All along the history of the old Testament, we find the interchangeable providences of God towards the people of Israel always suited to their manners; they were either prosperous or afflicted according as virtue and piety florished or declined amongst them. And God did not only exercise this Providence towards his own people, but he dealt thus with other Nations. The Roman Empire whilst the virtue of that people continued firm, was strong as iron as tis represented in the prophesie of Daniel, but upon the dissolution of their manners the iron be­gan to be mixt with miry clay, and the feet upon which the Empire stood to be broken in pieces.’

No doubt than but it was our own ex­ceeding guilt and sinfulness that destroy­ed the nation, and plunged us into such an abyss of misery and confusion. But seeing this happy day hath given us a blessed re­surrection [Page 46]to life again, and turned all our heaviness into joy and rejoycing; O sing therefore unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things; Psal. 98. with his own right hand and with his holy arm hath he gotten himself the victory. Praise the Lord upon the harp, sing to the harp with a Psalm of thanksgiving; with trumpets and Shawms, O shew your selves joyful before the Lord the King. Let the sea make a noise and all that there in is, the round world and they that dwell therein. Let the stoods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord. For this Nation was sunk deep into the earth, but now it hath lift up his head again. The people all lived un­der bondage and thraldom, but now are at perfect liberty, and enjoy their own. Oppression and Tyranny before infested the land, but now mercy and truth are met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. The hinges of the Go­vernment that were all disjonted and bro­ken, are now redintegrated, and turn up­on the same axle. Our most gracious So­veraign [Page 47]who had been so long banished on a foreign shore is now landed again, and become the delight and glory of three Kingdoms: That very Sun which before was shrowded and set, is now stept from behind the cloud, and shines upon us with all his heavenly and benign influ­ences.

In a word.

Seeing this day then hath put a final period to all our grievences, Oh let us study to be peaceable and quiet, and not Physick our distemper to a worse, but learn the lesson of obedience better for the time to come, and mind the peace and prosperity of our Nation, and the preservation of his Majesties most sacred Person, who after several years hazards and turmoils, by his own Country-men and by Foreigners; and after all those attempts and offers that were made by the Priests while he was beyond sea, to per­vert him from the true Religion, blessed be God, yea! thrice blessed be God, who preserved him all along through the Wil­derness, [Page 48]and at length brought him back in the same faith and profession as he went out. And let us all now implore the con­tinuance of Gods mercy towards him, that his Reign may be long and pro­sperous and his years many; that he would bless him both in body and Soul, and give him the hearts and love of all his Subjects; that he would make him wise as an Angel of light, and a faithful Minister of justice among his people; that he would give him the victory over all his enemies, at home and abroad; and let them be driven back and put to confusion that wish him evil; that he would set a Crown of pure gold upon his own head, and so make him for ever happy in this life, and when that dismal night draweth near in which we must part with him, Crown him e­verlastingly in the world to come.