IN which words the wise King and Politician has briefly represented to us the happiness of a People under good and virtuous Princes, and their unhappiness, on the o­ther side, under those that are bad; Under the Government of the one, The People shall re­joyce, (and here they won't rejoyce for nothing) [...] say the Septuagint; shall be merry or Cheerfull; Serenity shall possess their Soules and sit upon their Countenances; but under the con­duct of the other, [...] Men groan,) and surely they groan not for nothing neither (and sigh, as is said of the Israelites in Aegypt, by reason of their boudage; there being this, amongst other dif­ferences, betwixt Divine Inflictions, and the Injuries [Page 2] done us by Great Men in Authority, that we have liberty to pour out our Complaints, and to remonstrate to the one, under the Sense of his hand bearing hard upon us, whil'st a Profound silence, and a Private sigh is many times both our Pru­dence, and our Refuge under the Pressures of the other.

My business shall be at this time, to illustrate, and confirm the two Opposite Assertions of the Text, by shewing what just Occasion and Matter of Rejoyceing this People will have, When the Righteous are in Authority, and what Reasons they will have, on the contrary, to mourn, when the wicked bear Rule; which done, we shall bring the former of the two Propositions to the Occasion of the day; inverting only the order of the Text, and giving the wicked Man, for once, the pre­cedency of the Righteous, because it falls in more naturaly with our Purpose.

First, Then of the unhappy Occasions of mourn­ing to a People, when the wicked bear Rule.

Where, before we proceed, it will be necessary to premise that Aphorisms of this kind concerning Moral and Civil Affaires are not to be taken in a Strickt and rigorous Sense, as if they never fail'd [Page 3] in any one single instance; there truth is sufficiently attested, if for the most part, and generally speak­ing, we may relie upon them.

Thus, to instance in the case before us, accord­ing to the common course of things, and the or­dinary Methods of God's Providence, 'tis highly probable that a people will be miserable, under the Conduct of wicked, and ungodly Princes, and yet, without any just detraction from the truth of King Solomon's Aphorism, it may so fall out, whe­ther by the great Abilities of a wicked Man for Government, notwithstanding the Corruption of his Morals, as in the case of the late Grand Usur­per, and our neighbouring Prince, or through some secret designs that Providence has on foot, that a people may have some just matter of re­joyceing, as by being great, and formidable to the Nations round about them, &c. under a flagitious, and ungodly Tyrant.

And thus, again, on the other hand, tho, in all humane probability, the Land will have just Occasi­on to rejoyce, when a Brave, and Pious Prince sitts at the Helm, and it may justly be presum'd, that He will render both Himself, and People happy, yet it may so fall out, through the dis­posal [Page 4] of the Al-wise Providence, and many times doubtless by reason of the Sins of the people, not the Prince, that both He, and the Land may mourn, notwithstanding the righteousness of His own Life, as in the Case doubtless of that Unfortunate Prince, King Charles the Martyr.

And haveing premised thus much, I go on to illustrate, and confirm the truth of the Assertion laid down.

First, then when the wicked bear rule, the Land, in all probability, will have too just reason to mourn for those many, and extreme calamities which an ill Man, arm'd with Power, will be apt to bring upon the State. Tis one of the bitterest curles of all that long, and black Catologue which David in the 109, Psalm layes upon his Adversa­ries, as 'tis suppos'd under the Person of Judas: That God would set an Ʋngodly Man to be ruler over him, and let Satan stand at hisright hand. For what Miseries and Hardships may not one expect from Him, who has mischief in his heart, and Power in his hand and the Devil President of his Councels? And whatsoever the Character of the most Flagi­tious Princes, like that of all other Supreme Ma­gistrates in other forms of Government, is so far [Page 5] forth Divine, as the Original Justitution of Rule, in the General, is such; yet we have little reason to expect that such an one will do the work of him that sent him: But of his Father the Devil; and what good will He bears to Mankind, especially to the better part of it, when He has got a Power­fvl Instrument in his hands to his purpose, we need not look so far back as the Reigns of Nero, Do­mitian, Dioclesian, Maximian, or the like, we need not ask our Fathers, that they may tell us; the scenes of blood, and inhumanity not long since o­pen'd in our Neighbour Nation will inform us.

It were a tedious, and but a melancholy province to summ up all these several, and heavy Calamities which are but the too usual attendants of a wicked, and ungodly Reign. Samuel in his first Book and eighth Chapter has given us a competent Catalogue of them in acquainting the Israelites with the man­ner of the King which they so earnestly desired to Reign over them: Not that Kingly Government, as some Enthusiasts, and several Jewish Rabbies ima­gine, was displeasing to God, which is for Kind so near a Resemblance of his own, but because they asked amiss, in a grumbling and a mutinous manner; dissatisfy'd both with God's Government, [Page 6] and Samuel's: They have not rejected Thee but Mee; i. e. not Thee, in effect, so much as Mee: Not that the mischiefs He recounts neither are the insepera­ble concomitants of, and for so a just exception to, all Monarchie; but of that absolute, Arbitrary, and despotic Monarchie of the Nations round about them, which they particularly specified in their re­quest: And hence it is that He tells them of his taking their Sons, and appointing them for Himself, for his Chariots, and his Horse-men: Of his taking their Daughters for Confectioners, Cooks, and Bakers: Of giving the best of their Fields, and their Vine yards to his Officers, Servants, &c. And who but a dull stupid Jew could expect better Treatment, from such a Lawless Form of Government as that?

If then the Arbitrary Lashes of a Rehoboam's Scorpions, if the violent perverting of Justice, and Judgment in a Nation, if the breach of Faith, and the breach of Laws, if the Insults, and Insolencies of the bad, and cryes of the Innocent under their Oppressions, if the turning of all true Religion out of doors, the discountenanceing of Piety, and Vir­tue, and the triumphs of Atheism, Irreligion, and all manner of Impieties &c. be just cause of the most sensible grief to the best part of a Nation, [Page 7] to all those who have any concern left them, for the Honour of God, there Religion, and there Country, then, in all humane appearance, will that Land, mourn, where the wicked bear rule; and that mourning fall with so much the more weight, and load upon the Land, by how much 'tis, ge­nerally, as to its causes, remediless and incurable. For tho I shall not here stay to determine whether it be lawful or no to check, and oppose such Il­legal Violences by force, yet this much must be granted, that, generally speaking, that kind of remedy equals the disease in the dangerousness of its consequences, and so the Land, under the Con­duct of ill Men, is inevitably doom'd to Misery, and mourning, either through Oppression on the one hand, or Anarchie, and Confusion on the o­ther, without the especial Intervention of such an Extraordinary Providence, as our eyes have seen to come into its rescue.

Secondly. when the wicked bear rule, their ill Example rules also; and by its unhappy Influence, on too many men's previous Dispositions that way, will give the Land just Occasion of mourning: And, of the truth of this, we our selves have been no less notorious, than deplorable Instance. Fle­xibiles [Page 8] in quamcunque partein ducimur à Principe! Says Pliny, atque ut it a dicam sequaces sumus &c. We are flexible, and ductile as it were, whatso­ever way our Prince leads us: For we naturally desire Says He his approbation, and favour, which which we cannot hope for, whilest our Manners are unlike his: And therefore, as the wise Son of Sirachs observes to the same purpose: As the Judge of the people is Himself, so are his Officers; and what manner of Man the Ruler of the City is, such are all they that dwell therein. So that if he set up his Standard for the Devil, and in his Life pro­claim warr against him whom he represents, He shall not want Volunteers enough to come into his Service. The meer want of good sense in some, the want of Moral Probity in others, a Profane and Irreligious Disposition in a third sort, and the hopes of favours, and Rewards in all, shall make not only Proselytes to, but loud Applauders of, His Vices. His sins shall in a competent time, extend their Dominion equal with his; and com­ing Authoriz'd, as it were, with the Royal stamp upon them, will pass current amongst his Subjects, and it shall come in time, to be look'd upon as a distinguishing Character of true Loyalty, to be [Page 9] Vicious. And then tell mee if that Land will not have just Occasion to mourn; first, for the sake of the Dishonour done to God by such authentic, as I may say, Violations of his Laws, which must doubtless be matter of very sensible regret to all [...]hose who have any generous Remains of Piety, [...] Religion left about them; and then secondly, [...]rough the fear of the Divine Vengeance upon a Land for such impudent Provocations of him. For, if He has inflicted Severe Judgements upon a people for the sins of their Governours only, as we shall see a non; how much stronger reason have we to expect, that they shall be consum'd, if they do wickedly, both they and their King?

Thirdly then, When the wicked bear Rule the Land, in all probability will have just reason to mourn, because God often times avenges the Ini­quitys of a Prince upon his People, as the Mem­bers frequently suffers through the disorders of the Head: For if we remark strictly upon the History of the Jewish Kings▪ we shall find that the Prince and the People have been mutually punish'd or rewarded, for the Sins, or the Virtues of each other. For as it is not unusual with Providence to pun­ish [Page 10] Princes, by infatuateing their Councels, and turn­ing them into Folly, by blasting their Endeavours, overthrowing them in Battel, &c. For the Sins of their People: So, on the other hand, does the Old Testament-History afford us several Instances of severe Inflictions upon the People, for the Sins of their Rulers.

Thus Saul's cruelty to the Gibeonites was re­venged upon his People, with three Years Fa­mine in the Land; and you all remember, I pre­sume, the Instance of David's Sin in numbering the People, to this purpose: Now, thô it is said that Satan stood up against Israel to provoke David to do this thing, and that He himself acquits the People of the guilt, in that compassionate Exposta­lation of His with the Almighty: Is it not I that commanded the people to be Numbred? Even I it is that have sin'd, but for these Sheep, what have they done: Yet, notwithstanding all this, I say, the Lord sent a Pestilence upon the People, so that there fell of Israel Seventy Thousand men. (1. Chron. 21.) Thus again, the Pride, and Ingratitude which that good King, Hezekiah, chanc'd to stain his Memory with, upon his deliverance from Senacherib's Arms, was aveng'd, not on himself singuly, but on his [Page 11] Subjects likewise; For, because▪ Hezekiah rendr'd not again according to the benefis done unto him, but his heart was lifted up, therefore says the Text, there was Wrath upon him, and not upon him only, but upon Judah also, and Jerusalem, (2. Chron. 32. 25.) And 'tis peculiarly observable of the Sins of Manasseh, that▪ they left such an indelible stain of Guilt upon his Country, that notwithstanding all Josiah did to wash it off, and propitiate an Incens­ed Deity by purging out that Idolatry which heso much hated, yet it is said, for all that, the Lord turn­ed not from the Fierceness of his great wrath, where­with his Anger was kindled against Judah, (the whole People) because of all the provocations that (not only they, but) Manasseh (their King) prc­voked him with all. (2 Kings 23. 26.) Such a Curse and a Plague may on evil Prince entail upon a Land for Generations after Him: So sad, and last­ing an Occasion may it have to mourn for the wick­edness of them that bear Rule in it. Much more might be added upon this argument, and much more upon the recent Experience of some later Years, but I draw the Veil: And hasten from this dark to the bright side of the Cloude, to the reverse of this Melancholy part of the Text; The Rejoyceing of [Page 12] the People, when the Righteous are in Authority. Which was the second thing to be considered. And indeed the present Solemnity, is an ample com­ment upon this part of the Text: But, more par­ticularly.

First, it cannot but be matter of rejoyceing to all good Men (and it matters not for the rest) to see the very Honour done to Virtue, by place­ing Her on the Throne, and putting the Crown, as it were upon Her head; For thô she really re­flects more true Honour upon Princes who pro­fess Her, than they can possibly reflect back again upon Her, and she looks well wheresoever she dwells, yet it cannot but be a prospect more than ordinarily agreable to those who have any just Sense of Her worth, to see Her cohabit with Crowned heads, and goe hand in hand with Majesty; For then, the moves in a Sphere worthy of Her, and suitable to Her high Quality, for she's near allied to Heaven, and so ought, above all things else, to be respected, and preferr'd at Court. And as any Man is naturally apt to rejoyce upon the promo­tion of his Friend, So needs must a good Man be exceedingly transported, to see his good Old-friend, and Antiquated Acquaintan [...]e▪ that true Piety and [Page 13] Vertue in whose Society, He has all along delight­ed, advanc'd at Court, and brought back again into favour and fashion.

Secondly, when Righteousness and Authority dwell together, the people, in all probability, will have just Occasion to rejoyce, by reason of those many Blessing which are like to descend upon the state, from so happy a Conjunction; and this both from the natural Tendencies of the thing it self to render a Nation happy; and from the Divine fa­vour prospering, and going along with a Govern­ment so much after his own heart.

First, From the Natural Tendency of the thing it self to render a Nation happy. For, righteous­ness, or the Exercise of true Religion casts a very favourable Aspect upon the Temporal Happiness of a people, in as much as it most effectually re­commends, and promotes the practise of those vir­tues, which of themselves, carry a mighty stroke in the preservation of a people, such as Humility, Contentedness of mind, Obedience to Superiors, mutual Concord, and Amity, true fortitude, and Resolution of mind, Industrie &c. and as power­fully discourages those contrary Vices, which na­turally tend to the disolution of that Society where [Page 14] they reign, such are Pride, Dissatisfactions, Re­fractoriness, Hatreds, Variance, Voluptuousness, Co­wardice, Idleness &c. and indeed, all vice in the General carries Confusion along with it, were there no Justice above to look on, and punish it.

Secondly, from the Divine favour shineing upon a Government so much after his own heart. For Rightousness in Authority will engage the Blessings, and Protection of Him who loveth righteousness on its behalf. For if He is many times propitious to par­ticular persons here upon the observance of his Laws tho' many times indeed He deferrs the payment till the General Audit of all the Earth, when every work shall receive its full recompence of reward; how will He not be much more so to a Nation fearing God, and working Righteousness? espe­cially since a Nation, as such, cannot, as parti­cular persons may, be Recompenc'd in the other world, where all Political Relations are dissol'd and a done way. And what sure ground of rejoyce­ing must this be to a people, to have just reason to believe that they have obleig'd him, who is the great, and sole Arbiter of all Success, upon whose pleasure alone, when Men have done what they can, all Events depend, and whose sole Fiat, all [Page 15] the United world is not able to reverse? For, Who hath resisted his will? Or, who hath harden'd Him­self against Him, and hath prosper'd?

And now, if the Publick weal, upon both these Accounts, have so close a dependance upon the practise of true Piety and Virtue; how highly does that Prince contribute thereunto, and consequently, to the rejoyceing of his People, who enjoyns Vir­tue by his Laws, recommends it by his Practise, and spreads it ore the Nation, by the powerfull argu­ment of an Illustrous Example? Vita Principis censura est, sayes Pliny, the Prince's Life is a taxing of other Men's. Ad hanc dirigimur, ad hanc convertimur, nec tàm imperio nobis opus est quàn exemplo. 'Tis this by which we Steer our course of Life, nor do we so much need His Command, as His Example; for He being the Fountain of Honours, and Rewards, Dis­grace, & Punishments, His Example cannot well fail, for that very reason, of a serious Imitation from His Subjects. So that insuch an Auspicious Reign as this that we figure to our selves, and which we are not without hopes but we may yet see beyond Idea, how shall true Piety erects her depressed head? And be be no more dash'd out of Countenance by those lewd Buffoons, who think they Confute all they [Page 16] rail, or laugh at! And how, upon her Score, (for She never goes alone) shall all other Temporal Blessings flow in upon a People! Sense, and Rea­son shall be no longcr muzzeal'd by Prejudice, and Folly, (And 'tis no small comfort to a▪ Man to dare to assert the truth) Violence and Oppression shall give way to Justice, and Propriety be secured to e­very Man under his own Vine, and his own Fig-tree The Interest of the Prince and People shall be no more Disjoynt'd, but flow in one common Channel. Their Armes shall prosper whithersoever they car­ry them, there shall be no leading into Captivity, and one would think, there should be no complain­ing in their Streets: Righteousness and peace shall kiss each othor, (for when a Mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him.) God shall give such a People his blessing, and their Land shall yeeld her increase: Happy shall the People be that are in such a case, that live in such a Reign; for, such Righteousness as this will establish the Throne; mauger all the little driveling Artifi­ces of Domestick, and the more powerful Forces of Forreign Enemies, to subvert it.

Thirdly, when the Righteousnes of the Text, i. e. true Piety, and Virtue is in Conjunction with Autho­rity, [Page 17] the People shall rejoyce, because the Divine Wisdom and Goodness will, in all probability direct the Counsels, and prosper the endeavours of the Prince for his own, and the Publick welfare. Their Employ is arduous, their Province highly difficult. Their Deli­berations are conversant about things noless intricate in themselves, than uncertain in their consequences, & events; (For the Race is not always to the swift▪ nor the Battel to the Strong.) The grand Vessel of the Publick-weal, which these Pilotes steer, is subject to be split upon ten thousand Rocks; and lyable to many a tempestous Storm, and those too raised both within, and from without the Vessel; For so it is that the very Passengers many times that are in Her, thô their safety too depends upon Her preser­vation, are yet but too forward, some of them through a narrow, but mistaken Spirit, to indeavour only the saving of their own cabin, others through envy, Malice &c. to make leeks in her, and and sink her, if they can; so that a man, all consider'd, has just reason to cry out with Sr. Paul upon another Occa­sion, Who of Himself is sufficient for these things? None but he who ruleth the rageing of the Sea, and the madness of the People. And therefore they, of all Men liveing, have need of an understanding heart; [Page 18] of the Spirit of Councel, and of the Spirit of Judgment; of that [...], that Heroicke Princely Spirit, as the Septuagint render it, (Psal. 51. v. 12.) which enables Men for Great, and Generous under­takeings: And if these Divine Assistances of Wis­dom, Conduct, and Courage are so entirely requisite to the right management of the nice, and difficult province of a Ruler, it will not, I presume, be denied me, that the Righteous in Authority stand fairer for them than the wicked: And then whatsoever Happy­ness, by this meanes, befalls such a Prince, is necessa­rily derived down to the meanest of his People▪ His Reputation, is theirs: His Glory theirs: His Suc­cesses, theirs: His Gains, theirs in as much as their Interests are now upon the same common bottom, and it cannot be suppos'd, but that, next under God, who directed him, and his own Personal Conduct, their Aid, and Assistances contributed to all His Acquisitions: So that what St. Paul says in relation to the members of the body, and of the Church, holds equally strong in case of a Righteous man, become the head Politick of a Nation: If that be honoured, all the members rejoyce with it. I have only to add in the 4th. and last place, That you need but at your leisure peruse your Bibles, and so su­persede [Page 19] me the Labour here, to furnish you with pregnant instances of such Princes, as through their excellent virtues have derived down happiness to their people, I shall only, more particularly re­mark, that the Divine Goodness has been pleas'd to express that Special regard to the Righteousness of some Princes, as perticularly to that of King David's, that He allow'd it the priviledge to en­tail a blessing upon the Land for Generations after him. Howbeit says he, upon Occasion of Solomon's provocations of him, I will not rend away all the Kingdome; but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my Servant's sake. (1 Kings. 11. 13.) And when long after in the days of Hezekiah, when Sen­nacherib laid siege to the City which He had cho­sen to put his name there, He saved it says Isaiah, for his own sake, and for his Servant David's sake▪ (Isa. 37. v. 35.) Such a durable blessing did the Piety of one single Prince bequeath to the people.

And now, lest I should be thought hitherto to have slurr'd over the Occasion of the Day, (thô I have not neither) and so to have affronted both God, and the King; God, the great, and supreme Author of our happyness; and the King, His In­strument; [Page 20] who, with good Jehoshaphat returning from battel, commands us this Day to repair unto the House of the Lord, because He has made us to re­joyce over our Enemies: I shall therefore add a few words concerning the Present Occasion of our re­joyceing, and shew that it becometh well all the Just Honest Men in the Nation this Day, to be thank▪full. Thankfull for such a King; thankfull for such a Delivernce.

For, First, If we respect Him whom God has set over us, what is there wanting in Him, to render Him a most compleat Prince, and the Nation as com­pleatly happy under him.

What is there wanting in Him, to recommend Him even to some of our own Nation? For his Virtues and Exploits have done it long ago to all the World beside: The one has made Him the ter­ror of his Enemies; The other the Darling of his Friends: And both together have purchased him a Renown, like the Jewels of His Crown, both bright and Solid too.

Look we upon the Justice of His Reign; What Violence is there done in it, unless indeed, it be that which He Offers, (might I so speak) to Justice Her self, through the extraordinary Clemency of his Nat [...]re?

Look we upon His Wisdom in Deliberation, 'Tis like some great River, the silence, and stilness of whose Course is owing to the deepness of its Channel.

Look we upon His Vigour in Action; The Lightning of his own Canon's scarce more quick, nor an hungry Lyon more fearless than He▪ that Insomuch we have just reason to say unto the King, what the Men of David sware to Him, after his Victory ouer the Philistines: Thou shalt go no more out with us to Battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel▪ (2. Sam. 21. 17.) And when it had pleased the great Lord of Hosts to bless such personal Prowess and Conduct with success; see with what Gentleness and Moderation He us'd the Victo­ry God had given Him, how the Christian presently overcame the man, and the Natural Lenity of his Temper conquer'd the Conqueror. He pursu'd His scatte'd Enemies indeed, but with the mildness of Declarations, not the edge of the Sword, Lastly,

Look we upon Him in his Devotions; And His Behaviour looks as if His Kingdom were no longer of this World, but He were expecting every hour to be translated to a better. His Religion is our own, (and when could we truly say so of a Prince before?) that of our Excellent, and Establis'd [Page 22] Church; and thô his Enemies were pleas'd to fling out some surmises to the contrary, foolishly endea­vouring to blacken the Sun, yet they consider'd not that the Prejudices of Education, which stick so close by, and clap so Fatal a by ass upon other men, could not prevail over a Judgment so pierceing to discern the truth, and a Mind so invincibly resolv'd to de­fend it. And how then are we obliged, upon all these Accounts, to accost the King in Tertullies his Rhe­toric to Felix Seeing that by Thee we ensoy great qui­etness; and that very worthy deeds are done unto this Nation, by thy providence: We accept it alwayes, and in all places most Noble Prince, with all Thankfull­ness. Remembring always that God expects re­turns of gratitude, not only to Himself, but to the glorious Instruments likewise which he is pleased to make use off in accomplishing the Deliverance of a People; As it is reprochfully said of Isarel, not one­ly that they remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the Hands of all their Ene­mies on every side; but that they shewed no kindness to the House of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, (who had been his Instrument in it.) According to a [...] the good­ness which He had shewed unto Israel. Jud. 8. 34, 35.

I said, Secondly, It would well become us to re­joyce and be thankfull upon the Score of the great Deliverance, which the King, under God, has wrought for Us. Imagine but that you see the Sword going through the Land, wearied, and blunted by destructi­on; and Dragoons usurping the Office of Apostles with the cruelty of their Persecutors: Imagine your holy Religion ravish'd from you▪ and turn'd out of doors, and this Excellent Church made a Prey, and a Scorn to the dullest Impudence, and the vilest Superstition; and in a word, all Europe Enslaved to the merciless Tyrany of one great Leviathan, who takes his Pastime therein, in Scenes of Blood, and Desolation: Go aske in France, and Piedmont in Ireland; Inquire of the Inquisition, and then give me an aestimate of our Deliverance. But I'le dwell no longer upon this Argument. He who is not at this day sensible of the inseperable attendants upon those twins of Popery and Arbritrary-Power doubt­less one of those who would fain represent the little Finger of a Tax rais'd to keep them out, heavier than both their Loins, is proof against all reason and experience, and boldly out-faces all mankind; and pittie it is but He were taught them, as Gideon [Page 24] taught the men of Succoth with Briers and Thorns. Judges, 8. 16.

We may likewise Farther, to excite our thank­fulness upon this joyfull Occasion, recollect the several appearanc [...]s of God's finger through many of the Periods of this great Affair; as, that a De­sign of such Importance, and which we since find was communicated to so many, should yet be car­ried on with such Secrecy, and Reserv'dness, that farr the greatest part of the Nation was surpriz'd into Safety: That the counsels of our enemies Achitophels was turn'd into such gross folly, as to help on the Advancement of that, which they so zealously sought to destroy: That the Nation, as debaucht as it was, by their means and Artifices, could not yet be corrupted, or putrified (I may say) into Popery: That a great, and formidable Army should scatter and disperse it self, almost without Opposition: That the breath of the Winds, were lately, so suddenly stopt, and their Mouth's turn'd quite another way, to save our Fleet, and us from destruction: That another Numero [...] Army should be seized with a sort of panick fear▪ before any just cause of fear overtook them. These, I say, together with the preservation of the King's [Page 25] Person, in such Eminent, hazards, and several other particulars, that need not to be enumerated, are such plain Signatures, and Characters of an Imme­diate Interposal from above, that a man may verily say, This is the Day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoyce, and be glad in it. And long may the happy Occasion of this Day, not only endure, like the day of Josuah, when the Sun stood still in Gibeon, and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon, but like the Sun its ordinary course, arise, in due time, to its Zenith, make a perfect day, and bless all the Confederate Regions with Its warmth, and influ­ence. May the glorious Occasion of it be joyn'd with the days of Heaven, and be measur'd toge­ther with Eternity. Blessed, then, be God, who hath not cast out our Prayer, nor turn'd his Mercy from us, but hath turned our fasting into feasting, and our heaviness into joy; who hath put off our sack­cloth, and girded us with gladness.

Blessed be God who hath not deliver'd us up as a prey unto our Enemies teeth, nor hath made those that hate us Lords over us; but hath turn'd the Captivity of our Sion, preserv'd our Religi­on, and continued the Establishment of our Church.

Blessed, lastly, be God, (and let all the people say Amen) who hath delivered the King, and Servant. From the peril of the Sword, and has given Him Victory in the battle. Even so. Amen.