WHen Moses by the unsearchable judgment of God was denied an entrance to the promised Land, and brought under a sentence of death, Numb. 27.12. that the hopes and happiness of Israel might not die with him, he makes an earnest Prayer to God for Joshua, whom God had appointed to be his Successor, v. 16, 17. That the congregation of the Lord might not be as sheep without a shepherd: and v. 23. he gave him a charge and instruction how to go in and out before the people to con­duct them to Canaan, and commended him to the Prayers and Counsel of Eleazar the Priest, who had been (after the death of Aaron) his own faithful Counsellor. And by these means God put the spirit of Moses, and some of his ho­nour upon Joshua, that all the congregation of Israel might be obedient, v. 20. And indeed, there was not any so qualified for the Government of that people as Joshua was. The Suc­cession to great Kingdoms and Governments (as old Brithwold said of this of England) is Gods care; and he will provide for it: and in his will and pleasure the people ought to ac­quiesce. But it was not so with those with whom Joshua had to do, of whom Moses testified, Deut. 31.27. I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck: while I am yet alive with you [Page 2]this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death? They had by their murmurings and provocations and the golden Calves which they had set up, worried that good man to death.

And Joshua was to encounter not onely with that stub­born people, but with many Nations that were confederate a­gainst him, strong and fenced Cities, whereof every one was made the seat of a King: Reges vocantur singularum ferè Civitatum Domini; which are reckoned in number thirty one. And the death of Moses in such an extraordinary manner, had raised great prejudices in the hearts of the peo­ple both against Moses and his Successor, who hated him the more for his love and zeal for the true Worship of God; whereof they had such experience: for Joshua being with Moses in the Mount when the Law was delivered, he first discovered the murmurings of the people, Exod. 32.17. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, (viz. at the setting up of their Calves) he said unto Moses, There is a noise of War in the Camp. He saw also how greatly the Lord was displeased at the Rebellion of Core, Dathan, and Abiram, against Moses and Aaron; and when Eldad and Medad became Field-Chaplains, and prophesied in the Camp, he perswaded Moses to forbid them, Numb. 11.28. And that small Party which adhered unto Joshua, were tired out by their tedious journeying through the Wilderness, and were now brought to the like straights as they had been at the Red-Sea: so that nothing but a Miracle could reclaim the people, and preserve Joshua from being swallowed up by them. The River Jordan, at whose brink they were brought, had at this time overslowed its banks, as if it had conspired to meet and joyn with the madness of the people to cut off Joshua. But this extremity the God of Israel made his opportunity to deliver and exalt Joshua: The Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnifie thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know, &c.

This day (i. e.) from this day forward, as the Syriack renders it, I will give an [...]. Earnest and As­surance that I will exalt thee; not onely draw thee out of all that contempt and distress to which thou art reduced, but I will begin now, and in due time perfect that Honour and Dignity which I have designed for thee, both in the sight of all the Canaanites, whom I will cast out before thee, and in the sight of all Israel, who have been so rebellious against thee; that they may know, that as I was with Moses, and gave the people a passage through the Red-Sea; So I will be with thee, and cause thee to pass over this swelling Jordan, and subdue not onely thine own people, but all the Nations of Canaan under thy feet: And, Sicut fuit verbum meum in adjutorium Mosis; as I con­ducted Moses by my word and counsel, so I will guide thee.

Having thus considered the Text, it seemed to represent the form of a Triumphant Arch consisting of two Pillars, like unto those of Solomon's Porch, 1 King. 7.21. Jachin and Boaz: This signifying, In him (i. e. in God) is strength; and the other, He will establish: I the Almighty God will establish thee the distressed King of Israel; Honour and ma­jesty will I lay on thee; thy glory shall be great in my salvation, Psal. 21.5.

I know it will be very acceptable to all good men, espe­cially to such as are so neerly concerned as our selves, to see the ancient Monuments of Gods miraculous favours to Kings and Governours, and such as live in obedience to them, pre­served and revived. And they may serve as Pillars to sup­port our weak faith in Gods power, and our Loyalty to the King, when it begins to decline. I therefore desire your patience while I read you, as well as my dull eyes will permit, those Inscriptions of Gods great power, and the Pre­rogative of his Magistrates, which are engraven on these two Pillars of the Text: the first of which shews us what great things God did for Joshua; the second, what good things Jo­shua [Page 4]did for God, or rather God wrought by Joshua, to mag­nifie him, &c. Over the first Pillar is written, Ego Deus tuus; on the second, Te Regum meum: and the Key-stone that joyns these in due construction, is a magnificabo; and the date is hodie, this day, and not this day onely, but this day I will begin it. And let us begin our survey of this Arch where God himself began it, at that foundation-stone of the first Pillar which God laid in the Waters of Jordan, when he brought Joshua to his promised Inheritance through those swelling streams; which is the proper work of this day: Hodie incipiam, this day will I begin to magnifie thee.

What surer testimony could the God of Heaven give an afflicted Prince, that had a howling Wilderness behind him, and raging Flouds before him, than to divide and dry up those swelling Surges, and make those Flouds that had lif­ted their voices threatning destruction, to stand as a guard about him, while he passed through as on dry land? For no sooner did Joshua appear, and set the Priests bearing the Ark of God before the people (which formerly was obscured, and even lost in the midst of the confused multi­tude;) but, as the Psalmist records it, Psal. 114.3. The wa­ters saw thee, O God, and fled; Jordan was driven back. A Miracle like that of our Jesus, Mat. 8.24. of whom Joshua was a Type, who when his Disciples were covered with the waves of the Sea, and cried out, Lord, save us, we perish; He arose and rebuked the waves and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Thus at the presence of Joshua, the streams of Jordan that descended from the Mountains, were stopped over a­gainst Jericho, and the waters beneath it flowed into the Sea, and made a plain path for Joshua and his people to pass thorough. There is no way inaccessible to the divine power: Thy way, O God, is in the Sea, and thy path in the great waters: thy foot-steps are not known, Psal. 77.19. Per­via [Page 5]Virtuti est omnis via. Now Signes and Wonders are not wrought but on special occasions; not onely to confirm those that do believe, but to convince unbelievers. They are Gods Broad Seals to confirm the Commission of such per­sons as he sends into the world for extraordinary ends; and if their authority be doubted of, this testimony of God is sufficient to evince their authority to be derived from him: for by such evidences God confirmed all the Rulers and Judges of Israel from Moses unto Saul; and all the Do­ctrine of his Prophets and of Christ and his Apostles; and this was the first work of God, to magnifie Joshua in the sight of all his people. Now as a well-made Arch stands the firmer when a great weight is laid on it, so when we have a promise and a precept from God, and our obedience like the Key-stone unites these two, we cannot lay more stress upon it than that will bear.

The second inscription on this Pillar is the Memorial of Joshua's taking the great city Jericho, whose Walls seemed as inaccessable as the Waves of Jordan, and the rage and mad­ness of that people against Joshua more invincible than either: yet in the taking of Jericho, Joshua was not assisted by any arm of flesh, or humane polity; he appears before it one­ly with the sound of such Trumpets as were wont to begin the Jubilee, when every person was to be restored to his Inheritance, all Captives and Prisoners to be released, all Debts and Bonds to be cancelled; Et redit ad Dominum quod fuit ante suum: and at such an approach of Joshua the Walls of Jericho fell to the ground, the Gates flie open, and the hearts of his Enemies are in their heels, and scarce in­able them to flee before him. And so totally did God de­stroy the enmity that was bred within those Walls against Joshua and his people, that he denounced a Curse against a­ny that should repair it; which Curse was inflicted on Hiel the Bethelite, who laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, [Page 6]according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Joshua, 1 King. 16.34. Josh. 6.26.

This City, the strength and Metropolis of the Canaanites, being subdued, all the little Cities run out at their gates, and leave them open to be possessed by Joshua and his Sub­jects, ch. 12. 7. One and thirty Kings had cantoned out the Land, and fixed themselves in walled Towns, where they had great strength, and Chariots of iron, ch. 17. 18. But (ch. 5. 1.) their bloud and spirits failed them, and were dri­ed up as the waters of Jordan; they had neither courage to fight, nor wit to flee, but were many of them taken, and hanged up, Josh. 8.29. & 10.26. Yet was not the Land at rest, but the Canaanites, Madianites and Jebusites were still in the land, ch. 15. 63. and they vexed Joshua with their Wiles, and with their Confederacies and Associations: for Adoni-Bèzek a great Lord, or Lord of Thunder (as his name imports) the greatest Tyrant in the Nation, who had dis­membred threescore and ten other Lords, and brought them to gather meat under his table (Judg. 1.7.) conspired with other Lords of the Amorites to fight against Joshua at Gi­beon, ch. 10. but here God magnified Joshua by working a­nother great Miracle, fighting against them with Hail­stones from Heaven, which slew more than the Sword of Jo­shua, though that made a very great slaughter. And lest the day should fail him to compleat his Victory, we may read it ingraven on this Triumphant Arch, how at the word of Joshua, the Sun stood still in Gibeon, and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon, ch. 10. 12. till the people had avenged them­selves upon their enemies. And many a time did their ene­mies assault them, being mixed among all the Tribes of Is­rael, as you may read, Judg. 1.18, &c. but Joshua made them tributary, and God preserved him, and made him to prosper, following him where-ever he went, with Miracles of mercy and loving kindness all the days of his life At the top of this Pillar you may see how Balaam also that false [Page 7]Prophet, who was hired to curse the Israel of God, was taken and stain with the sword, ch. 13. 22. And the land had rest from war, ch. 11. 23.

And thus we have briefly viewed the Inscriptions of the first Pillar of this Triumphant Arch, shewing you what God did for Joshua: to which I cannot adde the top-stone, and shew how much these things contributed to the magnifying of Joshua, till I have raised the other Pillar to some propor­tionable hèight, and considered what Joshua did for God, and for his Worship and People, which tended more to his ho­nour than all the Miracles that God wrought for him.

The foundation of this Pillar is laid in Shiloh, where Jo­shua setled the Ark, the Symbol of Gods presence, by vertue whereof he was enabled to do such wonderful things against his enemies. Ch. 18. 1. The children of Israel assembled to­gether at Shiloh, and set up the Tabernacle of the congregation there. Then he restored the Priests and Levites to their inheritance, ch. 18. 2. by the consent of the whole congre­gation of the children of Israel, who came together at Shi­loh, and set up the Tabernacle of the Congregation there: for the Levites had no part among the people, but the Priest­hood of the Lord was their inheritance, ch. 18. 7. for the Lord had commanded by Moses to give them cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof: And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance at the commandment of the Lord, ch. 21. 2, 3. See Numb. 35.2. And all the cities which the Levites had were forty and eight with their suburbs, ch. 21. 41.

And here, to the immortal renown of Joshua, we shall ob­serve his and Gods great displeasure against such as with­held any of those things that were devoted to the Lord: for, ch. 6. 24. the silver and the gold, and other ornaments, were to be put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Achan a sacrilegious person, seeing among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a [Page 8]wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, he coveted them and took them, and hid them in his tent: but they proved to be as so many coals from the Altar, which were by the wrath of God kindled into such a flame, as consumed all that he had: for, all Israel stoned them with stones, and burned them with fire, ch. 7. 25.

This sin of Achan was seconded by another sacrilegious sin of the Reubenites and Gadites that dwelt on the other side of Jordan: for they raised another Altar or place of mee­ting, besides that which Joshua erected at Shiloh; and this is called a rebellion against the Lord, ch. 22. 16. for separa­tion from the true Worship of God, and setting up a diverse Altar, is the worst sort of Sacriledge. Achan with-held onely some Ornaments, these withdrew the Souls of Gods people from his service. And in this case the children of Israel declared themselves enemies to the Reubenites, whom they apprehended to separate from the established Worship at Shiloh: for they had made not onely a very great Al­tar, but made it after the fashion of the Altar of the Lord, v. 28. and not after the fashion of an Altar of memorial, ch. 22. 10. And the reasons of their building of it were, lest their Land should be thought unclean, v. 19. and lest the children of Israel should say to their children, Ye have no part in the Lord. For which cause the children of Israel ga­thered themselves at Shiloh to make war against them, ch. 22. 12. but they first sent Commissioners to treat with them, ch. 22. 13. Phinees the son of Eleazar the Priest, and ten o­thers with him, who argued them out of their separation; and desisted not until the Reubenites declared, That it was not intended as an Altar for sacrifice distinct from that at Shi­loh, but onely as a memorial that the Lord was their God: and therefore they called the name of it Ed, i. e. a Witness of Gods wonderful works and mercies to them.

You see here what apprehensions the people of God had of the great sin and mischief of separation. They accounted [Page 9]it first a Rebellion against God: for, God being one, ought to have a uniform Worship: Multiplicity of forms in Gods publick Worship, would bring a contempt of all; and from many, the people would relapse to none. Of which both Israel and England have had sad experience. And this se­paration from the true, and toleration of false Worship, brought the Israelites to down-right Idolatry, against which Joshua so earnestly exhorted the Israelites in the four last Chapters.

Secondly, Different Modes in Religious Worship, breed differences in affection; and separation from the established Communion in the Church, is followed with Sedition in the State, against the Governours by whom that Worship is e­stablished: and therefore the Children of Israel declared, that the setting up of another Altar by the Reubenites, was not onely rebellion against the Lord, but against them, v. 19. and a likely means to perpetuate division and discord be­tween their succeeding Generations: for their children would say to one another, Ye have no part in the Lord. And by this Religious care for the uniform Worship of God, God magnifi­ed Joshua in the sight of all the people.

But besides these Stirs on the other side of the Water, Jo­shua was perplexed with the Strivings and Divisions of his People at home, who being mingled with the heathen, lear­ned their ways, and forsook the Worship of God at Shiloh. There were some Princes of the Congregation who were surprised by the wiles and fair pretences of the Gibeonites, to enter into a Covenant with them, ch. 9. v. 18. for they had sent their Elders who pretended they came from far, their Garments were old, their Bread mouldy, and every thing about them smelt like a Good Old Cause. They made Lyes their refuge: for they came in zeal (as they preten­ded) for the Name of the Lord God of Israel, v. 9. and v. 8. we are your Majesties Loyal Servants. But these men were still as great strangers to the God of Israel, as great enemies [Page 10]to his people, as any of the Amorites or Jebusites: and though they pretended to have come from far, yet upon enquiry it was found that they were not three days journey distant from them; their place and original discovered them to be Canaanites, and their Elders to be new Impo­stors, who having by their subtilty and importunity ob­tained a Toleration, were intolerably troublesome to the Go­vernment. And therefore the Princes of Israel are blamed for their fond credulity and indulgence to such a people: for they took of their Victuals, and perhaps some Presents, and rashly comprehend them in a League. But as the Text notes, They asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, v. 14 But Gods Oracle plainly commanded that such Se­paratists should be rooted out. The Hypocrisie of these Elders being known to Joshua, though he granted them their lives, which were forfeited to the Sword, yet he denied them their liberty of Conscience, v. 15. and made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the service of the Altar of God, v. 27.

Next to these Gibeonites, there were Jebusites also, that had gotten such strong holds in the Land, that they could not be cast out until the days of David: for they had such confidence in their Telesms, the Spels and Conjurations which they had made, the blinde and the lame Images which they set up on the walls of Sion, that they told David perempto­rily, Except he took them away (which they thought he could never do) he could not come in, 2 Sam. 5.6, 7. As if those Idols had been so many Guardian-Angels to pro­tect them, though they could neither see, hear, or move.

All these Parties were (as Joshua told the people, ch. 23. 13.) snares and traps unto them, scourges to their sides, and thorns in their eyes, until they had utterly demolished and thrown down their Altars. But all these difficulties notwithstanding, God had begun and still went on to mag­nisie Joshua in the sight of all the people: for God having [Page 11]given rest unto Joshua after many victories and deliverances, he appoints a solemn Thanksgiving. And having built an Altar to the Lord God of Israel, ch. 8. 30. he assembles all Israel, their Elders and Officers, their Judges, with their women, little ones, and strangers, and read unto them all the words of the Law, v. 34. the Blessings that should be granted them on their obedience, and the Curses that would befal them on their disobedience; together with those Forms of Thanksgiving: All which Moses had written, and caused to be recorded as in a publick Liturgie for the use of the succeeding Generations, Deut. 31.27, &c. and they bles­sed God, singing the Song of Moses, and sacrificing Peace-Offerings with the Forms prescribed by Moses: for there was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel, v. 35.

And particularly, Joshua's next care was to revive those two great Ordinances of the Lord, Circumcision, and the Passover; the one being the Seal of the Covenant which he made with Abraham, to be his God and the God of his seed, and to own them for his people; the other as a Me­morial of his wonderful deliverances of them from their bondage under Pharoah in Egypt. To which our Sacra­ments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist do succeed. These, by the long omission and neglect of them while they were in the Wilderness, were fallen into contempt: but by Gods special command to Joshua, were to be renewed, ch. 5. 2. And none of those that observed not these Ordi­nances were to have any inheritance in the Land; as nei­ther we, unless we duely partake of the Sacraments of our Jesus, shall be admitted into Heaven, whereof Canaan was a Type. When these Ordinances were duely administred, God appeared to Joshua, v. 9. and said, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt; and then also God sent his Angel to go before them as Captains of the Host of the Lord, v. 14. to fight their Battels.

And to compleat the magnificence of Joshua, he appoints Cities of refuge for those who had been ignorantly and un­awares betrayed to kill their brethren, that they fell not by the revenging Sword, but might live quietly among their Brethren.

Thus the Lord continued to magnifie Joshua, casting out before him many Nations greater and mightier than he; crowning him with Victories, Peace, and Plenty; and ha­ving served God fully, and governed his people faithfully, being an hundred and ten years old, he was gathered to his Fathers; having setled the People, and established the true Worship of God in the Land of Canaan: And gave the Is­raelites a land for which they did not labour, and cities which they built not, vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not, Josh. 24.13. Thus did God perfect that great work by which he begun this day to magnifie Joshua in the sight of all the People.

And now I doubt not but you will give me leave to lead you through this Triumphant Arch, and by way of Ap­plication shew you on the Reverse, the Memorials of those wonderful works whereby God hath begun to magnifie our Jo­shua in the sight of all his people. And that we may begin at the foundation of this Fabrick, let us first consider to what a low ebb the affairs of our Joshua were reduced, and how the wrath and rage of his enemies overflowed all bounds when he came to the brink of this Jordan.

After the never-enough-lamented death of the Royal Martyr, his Royal Majesty had a great part of a howling Wilderness to pass through: he was hunted from Mountain to Mountain, and from one Kingdom to another people; desti­tute of all comforts, and forsaken of all but his God onely; and in him, as David in the like condition at Ziglag, he en­couraged himself. For as long as he retained the Ark of God, [Page 13]and resolved with Joshua, though all Israel should corrupt themselves, yet he and his house would serve the Lord, he could not doubt but God would restore him, and bless him, as he did Obed-edom and all his house: the same promise being applied to all true Israelites which was made to Joshua, Heb. 13.5. I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.

And indeed, there was no visible power sufficient to pre­serve and restore him, like to that of his care for the Ark of God, the true Religion, and solemn Worship which had been banished with him: He had not Treasure from the Pope, and Conduct from the Emperour, the Courage and Constancy of some within the walls, the united Strength and Counsels of others in the Field: he did not trust in his Sword or Bow, in Chariots or Horsemen; all these were rather com­bined against him: The Christianissimus was an enemy to him abroad, as well as the Antichristianissimus at home; but he was still Defender of that Faith which God promised to defend against all the gates of Hell: None except old Caleb, whom God supported against otherwise-insupportable difficulties, ap­peared for him. And God alone it was who sent such a Spirit of Giddiness and Division among his enemies, and so exhausted and dried up their spirits and courage, that the dividing the waters of Jordan, and drying up those migh­ty streams, was not more wonderful. The Prophet Da­vid accounts it an argument of greater power, to restrain the madness of the people, than the raging of the Sea, Psal. 65. And all this was done, at the approach of the Ark of God, by his Majesties gracious Declaration concerning Ecclesi­astical affairs; which so bowed the hearts of his people as the heart of one man, that they sent back this Loyal Invitation, Return thou and all thy houshold.

I do not plead for Miracles as a ground of Faith and O­bedience now; I leave that to the Church of Rome, which if ever it wrought a true Miracle in these later Ages, it is [Page 14]this, That they should so captivate the understandings of so many, and some otherwise-wise men, as to make them believe their false ones, after so many Impostures have been discovered.

When the Israelites were setled in Canaan, and did eat of the Corn growing in the Country, the miraculous Man­na ceased, Josh. 5.12. And we who live in a Country where the Bread of Life is so plentifully dispensed unto us, which was confirmed by so many undoubted Miracles, may not expect any new Miracles or Revelations: we have a more sure word of prophesie, (2 Pet. 1.19.) where­on to ground our Faith, and direct our Obedience: And if we believe not the Doctrines and Promises of Christ and his Apostles, neither will we believe if one arose from the dead, Luke 16.31.

Yet as God shews equal wisdom, power, and goodness, in upholding the Earth, and in his dayly governing of and providing for all his Creatures, as in the first creation: so he doth still manifest as much of his infinite wisdom, pow­er, and goodness, in over-ruling the perverse wills and con­trary dispositions of men, bringing Good out of Evil, and Peace and Order out of all the Confusions which are intended and acted by them, as in any miraculous work. And if any thing in this late Age comes near to the nature of a Miracle, that Series and Succession of unparallel'd Wonders for twenty years together granted to our King, may be so called.

If therefore it were a Wonder in Nature to see Jor and Dan forsake their course and stand on an heap while Joshua passed over, it was no less to see multitudes and streams of people in an about Thames and Isis forsake their wonted Channel, andAmnis (que) cucurrit qua non pronus erat. flow back to their Head and Fountain, from whom they had ran so long over so many Precipices. To see those great men [Page 15]that thought themselves as immovable as the Mountains, skipping like Rams, and the little hills like young sheep, at the presence of Joshua and the Ark of God, Psal. 114.4. To see that Prince who had been so long and often near to be shipwrack'd on dry land, to be owned and guarded as So­veraign Lord and Commander of the Seas; and those Ships which as so many Tygers and Vultures roved up and down to make him a Prey, as so many Doves flying to him as to their Ark, with Olive-branches in their mouths, to assure him that the Deluge was over, was very strange: but much more wonderful it was, that those slouds of people that had lift up their voice, threatning present death at his first ap­proach, and that if he pass'd the Seas he should wade through a Sea of Bloud; should in an instant of time change their note, and welcome him, as with the voice of many wa­ters, clapping their hands, shouting for joy, and crying, Hallelujah; so as nothing else could be heard but God save the King: This is the lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes: This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us be glad and rejoyce in it. For from this day did God begin to mag­nifie our Joshua in the sight of all his people.

And now our Joshua stands on his own terra firma, and might truly say as Caesar did, Veni, vidi, vici; where-ever he came, and whatsoever he saw, he overcame: for with no other preparation than that of the joyful sound of Trumpets, he approached the Royal City, the Fortress and Metropolis of the Nation; or rather, the great City came forth to meet him. That City which had sent forth ma­ny Messages after him with a Nolumus hunc regnare, We will not have this man to reign over us; and had spent vast Treasures, and hazarded the lives and souls of many thou­sands to take away his life, now cast themselves at his feet, imploring his Pardon, offering their Lives and Estates in defence of his; and set open their hearts wider than their [Page 16] gates to entertain him. And those who with Shimei had cursed their King most bitterly, were some of the first that came with Acclamations to welcome him home. The Ex­ample of this City (as it usually had done) influenced all the lesser Cities, which like those of Canaan, spued out those independent Arbitrary Tyrants that held them in sub­jection, to make room for his peaceable Officers, who under God restored their Judges as at the first, and their Counsellors as at the beginning.

And now (his Majesties own house being not yet setled) he makes it his first care to fix the Ark of God among us, restoring the Priests and Levites to their Offices and Inheri­tance; and to recover the Spoils of the Church and conse­crated things from those sacrilegious Achans that had pur­loined them, and hid them in their own Tents. And though he destroyed not the sacrilegious persons, yet he hath well­nigh destroyed Sacriledge it self. And this is another act whereby God magnified our Joshua: for, by giving unto God the things that are Gods, God hath given unto Caesar the things that are Caesars.

The next memorable act ingraven on our side of this Royal Arch, is the banishing of those false Prophets, and de­priving them of those wages of Iniquity which were given them as a reward for cursing the King, and deceiving the People; among whom there being none like to our English Balaam, the very Blunderbuss of that Age, that had less Re­ligion and as little Reason as the Ass he rode on, was deser­vedly executed by the Sword of Justice.

With these there fell in a great measure those several Sects, Parties, and Factions of Jebusites and Madianites, Hittites, and Perisites which they had raised, who though they were irreconcilably divided from each other, yet they una­nimously conspired against the Israel of God. Onely it will stand recorded as a defect not so much in the Government [Page 17]of Joshua, as on the inconstancy and importunity of some of the Elders and Princes of the Congregation, that the Land was not wholly cleansed from them in his days; but by their wiles and subtilties, their clothing of new Errours in the ha­bit of old Traditions, and their decking of old Errours and Heresies in new forms of Godliness, they extorted an Indul­gence and Toleration, to the insnaring of such as were unstable, and the grieving of those that were stedfast; to whom they were as so many Briers and Thorns, to vex and dis­quiet them. The Acts of Oblivion and all Indulgences, un­der which, as in the Cities of refuge, even bloud-guilty men might have lived securely, have been so far from suppres­sing their enmity, and causing them to live peaceably with their Brethren, that they have rather taken encouragement from them, as to turn the grace of God into wantonness, so to return the Kings Clemency into new Affronts and Confedera­cies against him.

But these mischiefs notwithstanding, those two Sacra­ments of Baptism and the Supper of our Lord, by which we have an entrance into, and an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven assigned to us, are duly administred to all that will rightly receive them. And as by the Law of Moses, the uncircumcised and such as partook not of the Paschal Lamb, had no inheritance among their Brethren in the Kingdom of Israel; so we are taught that they can have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven, who will have no Commu­nion with the Church of God in the use of these Sacra­ments.

There was a time when the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, and the violent took it by force; but now, when the Kingdom of Heaven seems to offer violence, and to take us into it by force; though our Jesus hath by his own bloud provided for us a Laver of Regeneration, and in great love prepared a Feast of fat things, even his own flesh and bloud, [Page 18]to preserve our Bodies and Souls to eternal life; the Do­ctrine of Resistance to the Commands and Institutions of the King of Heaven, is as boldly put in practice, as that of resisting the Supreme Power on Earth is preached in our Con­venticles. For what a scandal and contradiction is it, that they should pass for true Protestants among us, that were never Christians! and boast themselves the chiefest Mini­sters of Christ the Head, that cut themselves off from all Communion with the Body of Christ his Church, and make their Children pass through the fire to Moloch, rather than through the Baptismal water to Christ! That would ra­ther confederate in a Covenant for Bloud with some Sons of Belial, than partake of the Bloud of that Covenant of Peace which the Son of God invites us to! Certainly the Bloud both of their King and of their Saviour, must seem very vile to those that can thus trample them under their feet. And notwithstanding the Cry of Persecution, I think it our bounden duty, and an act of Christian Charity, to practise our Saviours Prescript upon these distracted people, and compel them to come in to his House, and to his great Supper; that, as St. John Baptist says, they may be preserved from the wrath to come, Mat. 3.7. for other­wise God can as well raise up Children to Abraham out of those stones (as St. John says, pointing, as some learned men think, at those very stones which Joshua set up in the midst of Jordan) as make them Children of his Kingdom, which nothing can do but a Miracle of Mercy; whereof they can have little hope, that despise the easie and ordinary means of their Salvation.

And now, to convince these men, behold another Won­der, That notwithstanding all these impotent Commotions, those two great Luminaries and Ordinances of Heaven, the light of the Gospel, and the comfortable influences of Go­vernment, do stand still over our Land, as the Sun did over [Page 19] Gibeon, and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon: neither the blustring of the Northern Winds, nor the interposition of infernal Mists consisting of gross darkness and new lights to­gether, have been able to hinder the dispensation of those heavenly blessings, to the comfort of all humble and faithful Souls, and as well to the admiration as to the regret and confusion of our enemies. And may they ever so stand, till all the enemies of the established Religion and Government be so destroyed, that there be not one of them left. And now I dare for once to appeal to the people, as Joshua did, ch. 23. 14. Ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord our God promised to his Church in these later days. The Sun of Righteousness was promised (Malachy 4.2.) to arise, with healing in his wings: and it was foretold, Isai. 49.23. that God would send Kings to be nursing fathers to his Church; and nothing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord our God promised us: he hath in a good measure healed our Divisions, removed our Prejudices and Enmities, and established the Ʋniformity of his Worship a­mong us, and rolled away the Reproach that lay upon us.

But if with Jessurun we shall grow wanton, and kick a­gainst God, and bite and devour one another, he hath threat­ned to bring upon us all the evil that is written in his Law, till he have destroyed us from off the good land which he hath given us, Josh. 23.15. He can (as he hath done once al­ready) turn the Sun, i. e. the Gospel, into darkness; and the Moon, i. e. our Government, into bloud: he can re­move the Ark of his presence and Worship, and roll back the reproach of Egypt upon us, and write Ichabod upon the whole Land.

Wherefore, as we have heard and seen the great works of God for the magnifying of our King; so let us consider the [Page 20] duties which we owe to God and the King, that we may rightly celebrate the joyful Solemnity of this day. And first, let us sing our Te Deum; let us ascribe unto the Lord the praises due unto his Name for all those Acts of Grace whereby he hath magnified the King: for with his own right hand, and with his holy arm, hath he gotten himself the victory; and therefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy Name be the honour and glory of all those great things which thou hast done for our King, and for us whom thou hast committed to his charge. It is he that giveth victo­ry unto Kings, and hath delivered David his servant from the peril of the sword: Let us therefore that are all parta­kers of his mercies, joyn together in singing our Magnifi­cat with one heart and one mouth; My soul doth magnifie the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour: for he hath regarded the low estate of his servants; he that is mighty hath magnified us, and holy is his Name: He hath shewed strength with his arm, and hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts: he hath put down the migh­ty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek: he hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembring his mercy, hath holpen his servant Israel, as he promised to our forefathers Abraham and his seed for ever.

Secondly, Let us beware how we do so much as in our thoughts despise or undervalue, much less seek to cast him down whom God hath so wonderfully exalted. It is hard fighting against God; and our murmurings against so good a Governour, are not against him onely, but against the Lord. Haman being asked what should be done to the man whom the King delighted to honour, Hest. 6.6. answered, Let the royal apparel be brought which the King useth to wear, and the horse which the King rideth upon, and the Crown royal be set upon his head. But what shall be done to the King [Page 21]whom God delighteth to honour! that King whom God prevented with blessings of goodness, and gave him his hearts desire; that King on whose head he hath set a Crown of pure Gold, and crowned that Crown with inestimable mercies and loving kindnesses; that King that trusteth in the Lord, that hath been born upon Eagles wings, and fixed on the Rock that is higher than himself; against whom though the peo­ple did rage, and their Rulers took counsel together, yet with a Non Obstante he hath set his King upon his holy hill of Si­on: He hath laught his enemies to scorn, and vexed them in his sore displeasure: What shall be done to such a King! What? why there are some (who are of a far worse mind than Haman was) that would deal with him as the Jews did with Christ their King; they have platted a Crown of Thorns, and would set it on his head, and put a Reed in his hands in­stead of the Royal Scepter; and instead of the Royal Robe, clothe him with Curses, railings, and mockings, as with a Garment, and nail him to the Cross, and pierce his royal sides with their Tongues, sharper than swords or spears; that thirst for his heart-bloud, and cry as they did, His bloud be upon us and our children: not considering how heavy such Royal Bloud hath lain on them and their children already, and still cries aloud for more vengeance; which would cer­tainly fall on them, did not the bloud of Christ speak better things than the bloud of Abel.

I know it is a hard thing to perswade some men that there hath been a Plot and Confederacy to take away the life of the King: and it is the interest of some infidels not to believe it till they see it executed, as in the case of the Royal Martyr. And to others that have Christian and charitable principles, it is so great a wonder that there should be any such Ruffians and Desperado's among us, that should seek to take away his life in whom all their lives are bound up, that it is no wonder if they could not believe it. But their [Page 22] own tongues have testified it against them, and made them to fall; and the hand of God hath so fully discovered and de­feated them, that all the world (except those whom the God of this world hath blinded) do see it, and are ashamed. And all these endeavours to destroy the King, God hath in great mercy converted to the magnifying of him.

When Joshua had passed over Jordan, the use of that Mi­racle was to endear him to the people, and to assure the people that the living God was with him, Josh. 3.10. and that all the people of the earth might see, the mighty hand of God, ch. 4. 24. But though the mighty hand of the li­ving God hath lifted up the King; though God appeared unto him not once or twice, as unto Solomon, giving him great wisdom, and lasting prosperity: yet, as Isaiah com­plains, ch. 26. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, how wonderfully God hath ordained peace for us, and wrought all our works in us: But they shall see, and be a­shamed of their envy to the people.

We have seen all the things that God did for Joshua, but we have not yet seen all the great things that God will do for our King. How God hath begun to magnifie him we have seen, by many signes and wonders: He honoured him with a signe in the Heavens, a Star appearing at noon when he was baptized: He honoured him with many wonderful deliverances at home and abroad when he was in his low con­dition: He honoured him with many Graces, preserving him in the true Faith and fear of his Name, against the manifold temptations to which he was exposed in his banishment: He honoured him with many special endowments that qualified him for Government, above all his neighbouring Princes: He honoured him by turning the hearts and affections of his People, which had been long alienated from him: He ho­noured him by the wonderful restoration of him to his Fa­thers Throne without the least opposition: He honoured [Page 23]him by discovering and defeating the many secret Conspira­cies of implacable and bloud-thirsty men; and doubtless as he hath defeated these which are discovered, so he hath ma­ny more which are not yet discovered: He hath honoured him, by making him beloved at home, and feared abroad, and putting the Balance of Christendom into his hands: He hath honoured him by giving us, for more than twenty years together, the blessings of Peace and Plenty, when the Nations round about us wallow in Bloud and Confusion; yea, Mercy and Truth are met together, and Righteousness and Peace do kiss each other: He hath honoured him with the Gift of Healing that loathsome Disease of the Kings Evil, which otherwise would have destroyed the bodies of many thousands of his Subjects, and in a good measure healing by a touch of his righteous and merciful government, the Souls of many more of the like Evils in their hearts, which might have destroyed Souls and Bodies eternally.

And it doth not yet appear how much farther God will go on to perfect that great work by which he hath begun to magnifie him: but what hath been already done may serve to raise the confidence of all his Subjects in their Loy­alty towards him, and to strike a terrour into the hearts of all that hate him; and are otherwise to mind them of the dishonourable end of Haman, that would not honour him whom the God of Heaven hath delighted to honour.

Joshua himself was never so magnified as our King hath been. Miracles were common in his days; he and his peo­ple did eat, and drink, and were clothed by Miracles: but such Wonders as we have seen, cannot be parallel'd in any Age for a thousand years together. They were so many, and done in such an extraordinary and unexpected manner, by the immediate hand of God, that all that see it will say, This hath God done: for they may perceive that it is his work. Joshua had a particular promise, and immediate assi­stances [Page 24]from God; our King onely a general promise and providence to depend upon: Onely he was very couragious, to believe and to do all that God required of him; and many a time against hope he hoped in him, and was holpen. Joshua was to take the land of other Nations into possessi­on; our King regained his own Inheritance. Joshua con­quered by the Sword, and ruled with a Rod of iron; Charles, by the Grace of God. Joshua shed much bloud; King Charles dryed that bloudy Issue which had so long defiled and ex­hausted the Nation.

Let not our Adversaries boast any more of their Succes­ses as arguments that God owned their Good old Cause; which was conceived by Perjury and Hypocrisie, and nourished with Bloud and Cruelty, Rapine and Sacriledge, for many years; but was destroyed by the hand of God in one day, this Joyful day which we now celebrate. And now I see nothing wan­ting but quiet and peaceable hearts, Thankfulness, and Obe­dience to the Law of God and the King, to make us a happy people: Onely the guilt and just fears of some men, haunt and provoke them still to act over all those Tragical Scenes which for almost twenty years together made the three Nations so many Stages of Bloud and Confusion.

As for us, let us now added to our Praises for the Mercies past, and for the perpetuating of the Joys of this day, our hearty Prayers to God, that as he hath already equalled the Blessings and Successes of our King, to those of Joshua; so he would renew them to him every day; that he may arrive to the age of Joshua; and his care to magnifie God, and esta­blish his Worship, and perpetuate it to succeeding Generations, may increase with his years; and that in his own due time God would exchange the Crown and Glories which he en­joyeth here, for those which are prepared and reserved for him in Heaven hereafter.