THE PERIOD OF THE GRAND CONSPIRACY.  
Delivered in Two SERMONS.  
The Desire of Nations, Preached on the Fast Day, April 6. 1660.  
The Second, The Joy of Nations, Preached on the Thanksgiving Day, June 29. 1660.  
By JOHN ALLINGTON, Author of the Grand Conspiracy.  
Omne sub regno graviore regnum est res Deus nostras celeri citatus turbine versat.  Senec. 
LONDON: Printed by J. Grismond. 1663.   

Sit haec Periodus. Fiat Desiderium & Exultatio. ut sit & fiat. Fiat Impressio.  
Novemb. 6. 1662.  
M. Frank S. T. P. R. in Chrsto Patri. D. Ep. Lond. à Sacris Domesticis.   

 coat of arms or blazon   

To the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS TREVOR, Knight and Baronet, and one of the Honourable Order of the Bath.  
SIR,  
FOr a deed which I might have chosen whether or no I would have done, it seems somewhat uncouth to make any manner of Apology, for I might have saved both labours; and therefore I shall not make use of that Hackney Stale (which hath not been wanting) Importunity of Friends; Nor shall I colour my Design with any pretext of more Consequence, than the thing is.  
The naked truth, or reason then, why these two Sermons see the light, it is a desire I had (which Nature itself prompts every Agent to) opus perficere, to finish what I had begun, and indeed to bless God who before my own, hath brought, A Period to the Grand Conspiracy.  
It was (I profess) a great Alleviation of my sufferings, to meditate the Parallel between my Saviour and my Sovereign; His great Example silenced all murmurs! and since it hath pleased God to restore him in the greatest, and nighest capacity this State affords; since we enjoy him in his Lively Image; since there sits upon the Throne, Carolus nulli nisi Patri secundus,  
A second to that glorious Martyr, Quis tam ferreus ut teneat se? who can be so Stoical as not to rejoice, and be exceeding glad? And indeed I never hope to see a gladder land, than I saw upon this account!  
Nor truly did I only stand by, and observe, but even then as early as any, these two Sermons, even as they are now presented, were then preached; But I conceived the Music was too loud then, for a plain song to be heard in, and the tinkling of a Cymbal is best spared, when Trumpets, Shaumes, and Sackbuts sound up their stronger Elegancies; for which cause I have chosen a stiller hour, and indeed therefore a longer day, that I might take due measure of my own affections, and make some trial, whether my hopes or my Sovereign, were the bottom of my joy. And,  
Right Worshipful, it was meet, yea very meet, that I should delay, and proportion my intentions even to your leisure; it was meet I should give you the full liberty of that general Triumph, before any thing of mine should call you off: For next to the happy arrival of our Gracious Sovereign Lord the King, I am bound to bless God for you; for you, whose Bounty did surprise my hopes; for you, who guilded my blacker letters, and feared not to be an Obadiah to the Prophets of the Lord, in the saddest times.  
Ever must my prayers be, Good luck have thou with thine Honour, even with that Honour, which was the undoubted evidence of more Loyalty, than Ambition, when your noble Choice was, rather in a minorated degree of Honour to Attend, then to be only a thrifty Spectator at the Coronation of your Sovereign.  
The Grand Conspiracy, and the Continuation of it, when they durst not see light, they had the light of your Countenance; and therefore, I doubt not but this Happy Period it shall be received by you, as the first Fruits of his Gratitude, who is bound to proclaim himself,  
From your bounty and my Vicarige of Lemmington Hastings ' Jan. 30. 1661. Your most obliged kinsman and Chaplain, in all Holy Duties, ready at your Service, Joh. Allington.   
2 Sam. 19 v. 9, 10. 
And all the people were at strife through all the Tribes of Israel, saying, The King saved us out of the hands of our enemies; and out of the hands of the Philistines, and now is fled out of the land for Absalon.  
And Absalon whom we anointed over us is dead in battle, and therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the King back!  
FAsts and Feasts abstractedly considered, they are but cyphers upon God's account, not are they ever more than what their real end and design can make them. For to Fast for strife and debate; To Fast to smite with the fist of 
Isay ●8.  wickedness, that is to carry on an usurped Interest, this God disclaims, ye shall not so fast!  
Those who have no Law but their fists, nor no evidence but their swords! Those whose hands are full of Blood! such, they cannot lift up pure hands, such are in no tune to find, though they pretend to seek the Lord, their unjust fullness spoils and pollutes all Fast.  
But the same God who disclaims such a Fast, professeth a Fast there may be, which he will own; He will own that Fast, which is, To lose the 
Isay 58. 6.  Bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Now truly our Day of Humiliation seemeth clearly to aim at these ends For to disband an Army that eats up and oppress a Country, comes very nigh to losing of the Bands of wickedness! To take off Decimations, Sequestrations, all illegal Impositions, this comes very nigh, to undoing of th● heavy burdens! to release those, who without hearing, have endured many years' imprisonment; to release those who have been secured, only for Conscience; and a good Cause, what is this, but to let the oppressed go free and to reconcile dissenting Partie● to make up Breaches, and to unite us Brethren, What is this but to break every yoke?  
So that Fasting and Prayer aiming at these ends, are such, as we need not fear the Allseeing Eye! To Fast and Pray for such purposes, it is (God himself the witness) a Fast which he hath chosen! to Fast and Pray for the settlement (not of cracked and usurped Titles, but) of a Nation! to Fast and Pray that Glory may dwell in our Land, that Mercy and Truth may 
Psal. 65. 9, 10.  meet, and Righteousness and Peace may kiss! this is the Fast which God hath chosen.  
Now, though Fasting and Prayer are excellent motives, and Disposes for God's blessing, and for God's assistance; yet unless we also Act, as well as Fast, and do as well as pray, the ends we fast and pray for, will never come unto us.  
Whereas then the great end, that all good Men aim at, is the settlement of Peace and Government, not upon the sandy Bottoms of Faction and Selfishness, but the Rocky Base of Truth and Righteousness; I know no better expedient, then to set before you a people in a like Condition, A people, whose good King was fain to fly, and fly out of the land too; And that for fear of an usurper, for fear of one who had a potent Army on foot against him! For the Text saith, The King is fled out of the land for Absalon!  
Now whilst it was thus in Israel, though Absalon's party had the Royal City in their possession, had Amaza and an Army on foot, yet they conceived a Sceptre was blunter than a Sword, and a King (though out of the Land) more to be embraced then a General in the City, and therefore upon debate, consultation, and sending throughout all the Tribes, the result was, And all the people were at strife, through all the Tribes of Israel, saying, the King saved us out of the hands of our enemies, and out of the hands of the Philistines, and now is fled out of the land for Absalon. And Absalon whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle; and therefore, why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King?  
Now these words, with the Consequents upon them, cannot well be understood, without we briefly relate the story, what it was occasioned, and what it was that brought David into all these troubles: Now to that end know we must, David walking upon the roof of the King's house, had the unhappy sight of a beautiful 
2 Sam. 11.  Woman, lying too naked to his view, Bathsheba with bathing her body, inflamed his, and indeed so lustfully and wretchedly fired his soul, that as if the eyes of him, who made the eye, had been blinded in the clouds, He sends messengers, and takes to his bed, even the Darling of another's bosom, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  
Upon this she conceives with child, and upon this conception, his soul soul, traveleth with fresh mischief, conceiveth sorrow, and brings forth a more sad ungodliness, 
Verse 6.  for he sends for the Husband to conceal the shame, sends for Uriah, that lying with his wife, the adultery might be smothered. But his better soul (to the shame of thousands of Christians at this day) was so affected with the public calamity, both of Church and State, that he would by no means be solicited to private contentments, and personal joys; for he said unto David, The Ark, and Israel and Judah abide in Tents; And my Lord Joab, a●d the servants of my 
Verse 11.  Lord are encamped in the open fields shall I then go into my own house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, will not do this thing.  
In these days of ours, few (I doubt very few such Uriahs are to be found few who prefer a public to a private interest! Most men now adays s● studying, and minding their own, tha● so that be safe, let the Ark be where it will; let Israel and Judah sink o● swim, if they can eat and drink, an enjoy their Bathshebas, all is we with them; so that all that most me care, or seek after, it is their ow● selves!  
Now well had it been with David had Vriah been of such a tempe● for then he had had a Father to h● Bastard, and a cloak for his Adultery but this Religious soul, could not sport himself, in time of a public calamity, could not endure to solace himself at home, whilst Church and State were languishing, and oppressed in the fields: And therefore David (now forgetting that God had eyes) he proceeds from adultery to murder, and being Uriah would not go and lie with his Wife, he writes to Joab to cause him to lie by the cold walls of Rabbah.  
But the just God, whose eyes are in 
2 Sam. 12.  every place, beholding both the evil and the good; He so severely beheld, and looked upon this evil, that by his Prophet Nathan he sends him word, he should smart for it even to a circumstance! For,  
Being he had dared to take to his ●ed the wife of another man, the Prophet plainly tells him, another ●hould go to bed to his wives; Being ●e, a public person, had secretly done ●o foul an act, the prophet tells him 
Verse 11.  ●is wives should be adulterated open●●, 
12.  before all Israel, and even in the ●●ght of the Sun! yea, whereas he had ●ared by an unjust sword to slay a Subject, God sends him word, The sword shall never depart from thy house! And 
Verfe 10.  indeed all this was verified in his rebellious Darling, in his lovely son, his son Absalon. For first, having made the Royal City too hot for him, when himself came thither (as if Incest had been an high piece of Gallantry) a tent was spread on the top of 
2 Sam. 16. 22.  the house, there went he in to his Father's Concubines, and that in the sight of the Sun and Israel.  
An Observation that seems to me to give a great check, and restraint to all Rebellion; for what need the Subject to wrest the Sword out of a King's hand, when you see both the eye, and hand of God is severely upon an oppressing King! Why should there be in the soul any rebellious machinations against a Sovereign, when God is so great a Patron of the Subjects interest, that he spareth not a King after his own heart, if his heart shall dare to do thus?  
Ahab, He by the instigation of a lewd Queen, did once invade the Interest of a Subject, poor Naboths vineyard! But he and his whole line was 
1 Kin. 21. 11.  accursed for it! Be hold I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy 
1 Kin. 21. 21.  posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall. David, a better King, for daring to adulterate one wife, had no less than ten of his 
2 Sam. 11. 16.  own prostituted! and for daring to murder a subject by the sword of the children of Amnon; he had a Son murdered, and that by a Son too! Amnon was slain by Absalon! Yea being 
2 Sam. 13. 18.  he dealt treacherously with Vriah, God permits his own Son, the Son of his Love, his Fondling, his Absalon to deal so traitorously, that as the Text speaks, David was glad to fly out of the land for Absalon! Thus exact is God in beholding, and in avenging what Kings un kingly, or unjustly do unto their Subjects! David, who whilst yet a stripling slew the Formidable Goliath! David, who most successfully fought the Lords Battles! David, whom the men of Israel, in the Text, profess, saved them out of the hands of their enemies, and out of the hands of the Philistines! even he, when God would avenge the injury of a subject, durst not hold out his Royal City against a Rebel, durst not hold up his hand against a puny! for Now he is fled out of the land for Absalon. And so we are brought to the very Text itself, to consider, how the Israelites wanted, and how they valued a King in exile; even so much, that All the people were at strife, throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us, etc.  
In these words there are of distinct Consideration, 

1. People.  
2. David.  
3. Absalon.    
The People must have a double Consideration:  
1. As a misinformed people. And that implied in these words, Absalon whom we anointed.  
2. As transformed, and become new men, And so all the people were at strife, through all the tribes of Israel.  
3. What they strove for: the restitution of their injured and banished Sovereign; for that's clear in these words, Therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the King back!  
4. The Motives and Inducements, and that's insinuated in the comparison of David with Absalon, his Victories with the others Rebellion, The King saved us out of the hand of the Philistines. And shall we suffer him to be exiled for Absalon, to be fled out of the land, or kept out of the land for Absalon?  
First, Let us look upon the People as misinformed, which they indeed most foully were, or they would never have said what here they confess, Absalon whom we anointed.  
God, who is the God of Order, and who indeed by the power of order keeps all together, in order to the preservation of the great Bodies of Church and State, he hath placed every Man, as he hath every Member in the Body Natural, that is, not all to the same, but every one to its proper office. For, as he hath not made the Foot to be the Head, nor the Ear to be the Eye, nor the Eye to be the Hand; even so in the mystical, or the politic Body, God hath not made every man for every employment; for he hath made some high, and some low, some to obey, and some to rule, some to be public, and some to be private persons! some to be Magistrates, some to be Ministers.  
Yea, of public persons he hath so ordered it, that a man may be public to one, and yet but a private person to another Function. As for instance; under the Law Aaron the Priest of God, as to sacrifice, atonements and holy Duties, he was a public person; but in point of Government, and secular affairs, there no such, nor more than a private person.  
Uzziah, because a King, in order to politic, and secular affairs, he was a public person, but in order to Sacrifice and temple-Duties, there no such man; even so at this day, a Magistrate, as to things of secular and legal consequence, he is a public person, but to Ministerial and holy Duties, he is nothing so; for, he who may make a mittimus, cannot give an● obsolution, and he who may administer Justice, hath no power to administer a Sacrament.  
Now if it be so that the God of Order, hath not confusedly given unto all men, the power of all Actions, consider than we mast, to whom God gave the power of anointing princes: If to the people, than they might well say, Absalon whom we anointed. But if never so! if the people had no more power to anoint, than the Priest had in kingly offices, or the Magistrate in the Ministry, than these words Absalon whom we anointed, it must needs be the voice of a deluded, usurping, and misinformed people.  
Psal. 82. 6. I have said ye are gods. If the power of anointing Kings were in the people, than it should have been said, Not I, But we have said, ye are gods. And if Kings were the extracts of the people, than it could not be, as in that verse it followeth, And all of you are children of the most high. But all of you are of our creation, all of you are Filii terrae, children of the earth, of the vulgar and most low. But God who but knoweth, he is so declarative upon this account, that he saith, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Kings (saith 
Psal. 105. 15.  God) they are mine anointed; If now Kings be Gods anointed, certainly then the power of anointing Kings, is only in their hands to whom God committed it; and that you shall find it hath ever been to Priests and Prophets.  
The first King that ever God owned, it was Saul, and we find Samuel the priest of the Lord took a vial of oil, and 
1 Sa. 10. 1.  poured it upon his head, and kissed him: whence it appears Samuel, and not the people, anointed Saul.  
The second King, he was the person in my Text, and of him we find it thus written, I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I 
Psalm 85. 20.  anointed him. Now God (we know) did not pour out oil upon him, God did not come down from heaven, and personally appear for to anoint him, but God commanded Samuel, and Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. 
1 Sam. 16. 13.   
Now what Samuel did to Saul, and David, the like did other Prophets and Priests to succeeding Kings.  
1 Kings 1. 39 Zadock the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon, and they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, God save the king.  
2 Kings 9 Elisha sends a young Prophet with Commission to take a box of oil, and pour it on the head of Jehu, and say, Thus saith the Lord, 
Verse 3.  I have anointed thee king over Israel.  
And 2 Chron. 33. when Jehoiada the high Priest had set things in order to it, He and his sons anointed Josiah, and said, God save the king. And indeed in ordinary phrase, and account of Scripture, Kings are called the Lords anointed; but never the anointed of the people. Whereas then the people in the text say, Absalon whom we anointed over us is dead! That the people should presume to anoint a Sovereign; it was (you see) an invasion upon God's Ordinance, an entrenchment upon the divine Prerogative! For only Priests and Prophets were deputed to that honour, only Priests and Prophets might pour oil out upon the Lords anointed!  
Whereas then the great desire of our Nation is, Peace and Settlement; certainly there can be no one greater endeavour to ward it, than a resolute confining all Men to their Proper Callings. 1 Thess. 4. v. 11. Study to be quiet, and to do your own business. Nothing makes more unquietness, then meddling where men have nothing to do! The people hath nothing to do with the Sceptre! The Mitre hath no dispose of the Crown! The Priest hath nothing to do with the sword! The Soldier hath nothing to do with Law-making! Nor may any that will, as in Jeroboams days, take upon him a Priestly office! King's are to be reverenced and obeyed, not to be made, or anointed by the People! For, Absalon to the world's end will stand upon Record, a Rebel, for all the people in my text say, Absalon whom we anointed over us.  
2 Sam. 15. If we look upon the beginning of Absalon's Rebellion, we shall find, Absalon made such a religious pretence of going unto Hebron, that those who attended on him, they thought they had gone to have done God service!  
For, Absalon thus tells his Father, Thy servant vowed a vow whilst I abode 
Verse 8.  at Geshur in Syriah, saying, I the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then will I serve the Lord 
Verse 7.  and pay my vows in Hebron.  
In Hebron (as old Lyra observes) Adam 
In loc.  and Eve, Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob and Leah; all lie interred. And therefore in an honourable remembrance of those precious Relics, Hebron in the days of David, it was accounted an holy, a religious place; and therefore Absalon pretending to be full of Holy thankfulness, for being recalled from his exile, restored to Jerusalem, and reconciled to his Father, he must needs to Hebron, that there, where his Father was first declared King, he might make public manifestation of his holy rejoicing: And so, with this specious pretence and show of piety, he drew out of Jerusalem two hundred followers, of whom it is thus written, They went in their simplicity, and knew 
Verse 11.  not any thing: So that I might very well say, those who said, Absalon whom we anointed over us, they were a misinformed people.  
They went not out with any rebellious intent, or purpose, they went not out to head an Army, but out they went upon the score of Religion; out they went in their simplicity, and to do they knew not what: But, when engaged and drawn in by the crafty, than they were fain to do as they did, and to say as they said, when Absalon and Achitophel had wound them into their guilt, then there was no way but to strengthen his hands, and (now his was their interest) to anoint Absalon.  
It is traditionally delivered, that 
2 Chr. 33. 6.  whilst in the wicked reign of Manasseh, the children passed through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom there was a delicate harmony made of Sackbuts, Cornets, Dulcimers and all loud music; And the reason was, that this melody might drown and conceal the sad, and dismal shriecks, that the frying children's made in that cursed fire: Even so● here, that the people which wen● out with Absalon, might not drea● of raising a war, or sending for a general to head them, whilst the messenger was dispatched away to fetch Achitophel, whilst yet the leaven o● conspiracy was but newly working 
1 Sam. 15. 12.  Absalon falls to his pretended business, pays his vows, and offers sacrifices, whilst Achitophel, and the design was not yet ready, Absalon talks of nothing, but Reformation, Religion, Vows and Sacrifices, seeking God: But when Achitophel was come, when the close Committee had got together, and (as the Text saith) the conspiracy grew strong; when the Vows, and Covenants had done, what they were intended for, than they were like an Almanac out of date, laid aside, and a march commanded toward the Royal City; for though Absalon pretended Hebron, it was Jerusalem that he aimed; the first of the rebellion, was to drive the King from the City.  
Whereas then the great desire of all good people is, to have a settlement upon the foundations of Truth and Righteousness. Pray we must, that we have not such as was Absalon to be our leaders; such as shall pretend piety and reformation, when they no more intend it, than did he in Hebron: The Crown and Dignity, the Palace and the kingly Revenue: this was all that Absalon thought to compass; when in simplicity of heart, and under pious pretences, he drew a many, even of the King's loyal subjects into Hebron.  
Acts 3. Saint Paul exhorting the Jews, who had persecuted and crucified their King, to become Converts and Loyal for the future, useth this argument, And now brethren I 
Verse 17.  wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. Those who through ignorance, misinformation, and simplicity of heart, have conspired either against David, or the son of David; such the Apostle infers they have a very pardonable plea, and indeed so pardonable, that we read not that David put any mother's son to death upon that great rebellion; yea, albeit he returned upon his own terms, returned in conquest, returned with the sword in his hand; yet so merciful is a good King, that he gives an Act of Indemnity unto all, and spares even that rebel, who insulted upon a weeping King, The King said, and swore unto Shimei, thou shalt not die. And 
Verse 23.  truly there was a great deal of Reason for abundant mercy; for they who had been a misinformed, became now a reformed people; they who in simplicity of heart went out against him, they, and thousands more with integrity of heart flocked, and came in unto him, for even All the people were at strife, through all the tribes of Israel, saying, The King saved us out of the hands of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hands of the Philistines.  
All the people they now seemed to strive who should commend the King most, who should be forwardest in bringing him back to his royal City. And that's our next considerable.  
II. Israel, or all the people under this notion, a transformed people, transformed, I dare not say reform; for so ill an use even in our memories hath been made of Reformation, that till reformation itself shall be reform, it will be Mali nominis, of an ill report.  
For in the days of Hen. 8. when a Reformation only was pretended, what did the Reformation of a Monastery signify, but pull it down, and alienate the Revenue, convert that to common, which was given for holy use, convert that to the service of men, which was given for the service of God: so that to reform a Religious House, signified in those days a taking from them, whose designed life was Fasting and Prayer; and a giving it unto those, who would spend it in chambering and wantonness; a taking the maintenance from Devotion and Piety, to give it unto such, who would spend it in Gallantry, Rioting, Drunkenness, and to put to any, rather than that use which the Revenue was given for, V. 2. Holy, Charitable, Religious.  
In these days of ours, what hath Reformation signified, but either Extirpation, or Deformation? For, to reform Episcopacy, what was it, but decry the function, and sell their land? to reform Liturgy, and the worship of God? what was it but a suppression of that Form, which was confirmed by the blood of martyrs, and to set up, what will never get into form, extemporary rhapsodies, and abominable effusions? To reform Innovations, what hath it signified but the introduction of a new Doctrine, a new Discipline, a new every thing? To reform Taxes, Burdens, and Impositions, what hath it signified but the multiplication, and and the most heavy aggravation of them? And as for the reformation of Religion, what hath that signified, but an open toleration of all but the true reformed Religion? and therefore where reformation is grown scandalous, and ambiguous, I choose rather to say, a transformed, than a reformed people, proportionable to that of Saint Paul, Be ye not conformed 
Rome 12. 2.  to the world, but transformed in the renewing of the minds: And thus were this people; for it was the renewing and the change of mind that begat this Loyal strife, which in these words we are to speak on, All the people were at strife, through all the tribes of Israel.  
It hath been said of old, Vox populi, vox Dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God, and indeed when God is the ultimate design in it, it is so. Now to make a voice to be the voice of the people, and that voice of the people to be the voice of God, there must be a concurrence of these three:  
1. Generality, 2. Unanimity, 3. God's glory.  
First, where there is not a general vogue, it may be the voice of a party, but cannot be the voice of the people.  
When our late King of blessed Memory was brought to the Bar, The Charge was laid in the name of the people: But a wise and resolute Christian Lady plainly told them, it was nothing so, saying at those words, Not half the people: A packed party might, but the voice of the people never brought him thither; for (God knows) thousands of his people were upon their knees to God for him, when these unrighteous Judges did dare to lift up their hands against him; so that what they deludingly called Vox populi, the voice of the people, it was at most but Vox partium, the voice of a party.  
But here in my Text we seem to have a better account; for 'tis not only said, all the people, but all the people, throughout all their tribes were at strife: As if we should say, all the people in all the Shires of England, and Wales; that is the greatest part in all these places, say so, or so: And this is generally enough to make it vox populi, the voice of the people.  
Secondly, As there must be Generality, even so there must be Unanimity, that is, they must speak one and the same thing.  
Acts 19 We read of a great multitude, and a numerous assembly at Ephesus, but some cried one thing, and some another: So that though there 
32.  was Generality, there wanted Unanimity: and therefore (as before) this could not be Vox populi sed partium, not the voice of people, but of parties.  
Here in my Text we find no variety, all the people in all the tribes, all strove for one and the same thing, all sang the same tune, all issued out this harmony, Why speak ye not a word of bringing the King back?  
But, though Generality and Unanimity may make a voice to be Vox populi, the voice of the people; yet there must go more than so to make that Vox Dei, the voice of God; for the unanimous voice of some people, hath rather been Vox Diaboli, then Vox Dei, rather the voice of the Devil, than the voice of God: For,  
Exod. 32. 1. When the people saw that Moses delayed his coming down out of the Mount, The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods.  
Here is Vox populi, the voice of the people; but that voice which calleth for artificial gods, Up, make us gods, that cannot be Vox Dei, the voice of God.  
Matth. 27. At the arraignment of the best of Kings, even our blessed Lord and Saviour, it is written, Then answered all the people, and said, his blood be upon us, and upon us, and 
25.  upon our children.  
Here was Generality, and here was Unanimity, all the people said, his blood be upon us, and upon our children; And yet this was not Vox Dei, this was not the voice of God; for the curse of that blood sticks to this day, to them and their children.  
Thirdly, therefore to make that voice, which undoubtedly is Vox populi, the voice of the people; the voice of God, it must have a sincere intention, and a direct aim at God's glory. For, the death and passion of our Saviour, it was without doubt the will of God; he became incarnate, and came into the world for that very end: And yet their voice who cried out, Crucifige, crucifige; their voice who said, Let his blood be upon us, and upon our children, it was not (though agreeable to his will) Vox Dei, the voice of God.  
For, they did not intend God's glory, but their own ends; they did not intend the salvation of mankind, but the destruction of a man; they voted what was God's will, but it was more than they knew, and more than they regarded.  
Whereas then it is said in the text, All the people were at strife through all the tribes of Israel, and that not for a private, but for a public interest, for the reducing and bringing back their most injuriously exiled King: I see no reason why I may not here say, this Vox populi, it was Vox Dei, this voice of the people, it was the voice of God: For it was generally all, throughout all the tribes; Unanimously all, all called for the same thing: And to God's glory all, for all were for the restitution of his anointed; all said, Why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King?  
The Use I shall make of this point, is, That we may all grow unanimous, 
Applic.  vote and pray for one and the same thing, and that not a private, but a public interest; an interest in which (God the searcher of hearts may see) we more prefer his glory, then personal accommodations.  
The day of Humiliation lately kept throughout this Nation, what was it for, but only to make Vox populi, vox Dei? to make the voice of the people to become the voice of God; for an united devotion, and an unanimous prayer, in a public and a pious interest, draws nighest to the voice of God of any we can imagine.  
In my text it is said, All the people were at strife: and indeed to such a loyal, and conscionable strife as this, I could exhort all people, I wish there were an holy striving in every breast, which should get fastest to God for the obtaining of so great a blessing, as is the settlement of peace and government, upon the foundations of truth and righteousness.  
1 Cor. 11. Saint Paul there reprehendeth the Corinthians, that when they should have met together upon a public interest, Every one betaketh to himself his own supper. At such a 
21.  time as this (when the very foundations are out of course) to pray for a settlement no otherwise, then may stand with a peculiar interest; this is as at a public communion, To take before us our own suppers; not to care for the public, so we may save ourselves, nor no otherwise to desire the bringing back the King, then as may conduce to personal advantages; this is neither Vox populi, nor Vox Dei, neither the voice of the people, nor the voice of God: thus only to speak of bringing back the King, is only to throw the Crown upon our own ends, and indeed in a court phrase to speak ourselves.  
The men of Israel (whose example I am now considering) in a public calamity, they talk of nothing but a public remedy, and that we shall consider on in these words:  
III. Why speak ye not a word of bringing the King? which is our third particular; the thing they strove for.  
In three English Translations, we have these three readings:  
1. Why are ye so still, that ye bring not the King back?  
2. Why are ye so slow to bring the King again?  
3. Why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King?  
From which variety I shall press this only lesson, That good resolutions ought not to be delayed, for the not pursuing whom God calleth, do many times move God to make choice of other instruments.  
Hester 4. When Mordecai writ to Hester, about rescuing the Jews out of the hands of Haman, he sent her this admonition, If thou altogether 
14.  holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.  
We have seen in these days of ours, those who sometime were as Hester, those who having power and opportunity, to have settled our Nations upon the bottom of truth and righteousness, neglected and despised the time God gave them; For as much as in that their day, they saw not what belonged to their peace, preferring a private to a public interest; we have lived to see such laid aside, and may live to see deliverance arise to the oppressed from another way.  
Yea, these very people in my text, The Israelites, though they were early in their intentions, and the very first discoursers of the business; yet for as much as they did not pursue their timely resolutions, they lost the glory and the blessing of this so great a work; for not the Rebellious but the Royal, not Israel but Judah had the honour of doing indeed, what all Israel only talked on; for, The men ●f Judah not only talked on it, but, they sent this word unto the King, return thou and all thy servants: so the King returned, and came to Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to go mte● the King, and to conduct the King over I dan.  
All the men of Israel strove, but it seems no man stirred, they were in this so excellent a purpose, so still and slow, that nothing was indeed done, till Judah went to the water side, and brought the King back. And so I will pass from their delay, to their debate.  
4. The Motives and Inducements that moved them to think on David, and to solicit his return, and those we shall find insinuated in this comparison between David and Absalon, The King saved us out of the hands of our enemies, and out of the hands of the Philistines, and now is fled out of the land for Absalon, and Absalon (also) is dead in battle therefore, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Why are ye so hard of hearing? why so deaf? why so slow in bringing back the King?  
In which words there are clearly two Reasons:  
1. The usurper is taken away, Absalon is dead.  
2. The advantages of their old King's reign; He saved us, he delivered us, and shall we not recall him again?  
First of the first, the usurper, Absalon is dead; therefore all Israel, as convinced, seem to say, Better call home the undoubted owner, then set up another rebel.  
A King it seems is one of those good things, whose want doth best commend them; for, whilst David was at home, and in the City, the Citizens would not strengthen his hands, would not stand to him, for he was fain to fly: But now when out of the land, than they begin to consider, the feeling and sensible distance, between an Usurper, and a Father, between an Absalon and a David: And then they find there was as much difference between the King, and his Usurper, as is between an Husband, and an Adulterer: for, as the one takes a woman for his love, and the other for his lust; even so do they take Crowns, the King to promote, the Usurper to make a prey on it; the King he loves, the Usurper he lusts; the King studieth the advance, peace, and improvement of his people, David saved us from all our enemies, David delivered us out of the hands of the Philistines: But the Usurper, he studieth how to advance himself, how to build up his house, and to make all enemies that are not his friends; so that indeed as a young man, who weddeth an old rich widow, marrieth her estate, and not her; even so Usurpers they take the power of Dominion, and Government over Nations, not out of any affection, or indulgence to the people, but only that they may command what they have, and riot in the expense of their sweat and blood: and therefore all the people having now their eyes open, they cry for a King, they will have their old David, rather than any fresh Absalon.  
Prov. 28. 2. For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof. Many Princes, they too too oft prove to the body politic (as the fresh horseleeches in the Fable) extreme suckers: and therefore Solomon the wise, as to the happiness of a people, he opposeth one to many, even as a blessing to a curse: For thus he writes, For the transgression, or punishment, of a land, many are the princes, but by a man (a single person) of understanding and knowledge, the state thereof shall be prolonged. One may establish what many cannot! And therefore the men of Sichem; they 
Judg. 9 5, 6.  choose rather to have one Abimelech (and he naught too!) then threescore and ten to rule over them.  
And indeed Absalon being now dead, they lay at the mercy of the General; they lay at Amasa's dispose to have what Government he pleased; and therefore if they consulted no further than their own welfare, they could not say less, when Absalon was now dead, then strive to bring David home again; for, they know his, they feared what a new Form might bring, Absalon whom we anointed over us is dead in battle, therefore usquequo si letis, as the vulgar Latin, Why so silent, why so backward in bringing back the King?  
Secondly, The other Reason is drawn from the excellent times they had under David's government, The King saved us from out of the hands of our enemies; but Absalon he hath made us enemies to the King, the King delivered us from the Philistines, but Absalon he hath made us as Philistines, Rebels against the Lords anointed! David, he smote the Moabites, he smote the Syrians, he smote the Ammonites, he brought all Edom under his subjection! In the days of David he so smote the Philistines, that the men of Israel feared them not; in the days of David, Israel and Judah were a renowned people, feared abroad, in security at home: but in the days of Absalon, Israel was as odious as the uncircumcised: In the days of David, The Lord had given them rest 
2 Sam. 7. 1.  round about, from all their enemies: In the days of Absalon, all were enemies that were round about them; yea, in the days of David, the Ark was 
2 Sam. 6. 12.  brought into the City of David. The glory of Israel, the Ark of God, the holy Testimony of his presence, it was by David brought into the City of David.  
And yet for all this, so ungrateful had they been to David, that to promote a Rebel, they exiled a King; against David undoubtedly the Lords anointed, they anoint Absalon his ungracious son to rule over them: Absalon was brought to the royal City, and David for Absalon fled out of the land.  
But Israel now (now Absalon was dead) bethinking what they had done, and what they had to do; How they must either live in a perpetual war, or call back their King: How if they set up another instead of Absalon, they must keep an Army on foot, to maintain the usurpation.  
Josephus relating the story, telleth us they thus concluded, That it behoved them, since he was dead, whom they had chosen, to make their supplication and submission unto David, that dismissing his wrath, he would receive the people into his favour; and according as before time, so now also he would vouchsafe them his pardon and protection.  
And indeed (as before I intimated) the King was so gracious, that not so much as Shimei (who reviled, cursed, and threw stones at him) suffered upon that account.  
Now if the desires of Israel was as the desires of England, To settle Peace and Government, upon foundations of Truth and Righteousness; they could then pitched upon no better course than indeed was done, which was the bringing back of David to Jerusalem; the King to the City: For, a righteous Foundation builds upon this score, That every man may have his right; and that made David himself to say unto his God, Thou hast maintained my Right, and my Cause; Thou 
Psal. 9 4.  sattest in the throne judging right.  
Now the men, both of Judah and Israel, they were all convinced; they all very well knew, that the seat of the Kingdom was david's; knew Absalon to have no Title, but what the sword made him; knew the right of the Throne belonged to him who was fled, to him who was out of the land: And therefore, if they would have peace and government built upon the foundation of Righteousness, they could not but conclude, the King himself must have his right; He who was unjustly banished, must in Righteousness be called home; He who was unjustly driven from his Royal City, must in all right and reason be reduced and brought back again.  
For, if there were all the right and reason in the world, that Ahab who unjustly got possession, should restore Naboths vineyard, certainly then there is no less righteousness, that all the people of Israel should restore David to his own, when themselves very well knew, there was nothing but Rebellion and Treason, that drove him out; so that either righteousness and right dealings must be confined to the subject, or else David the King must have his right; and of this doubtless all the people of Israel were then convinced, when they thus said, Why speak ye not a word of bringing the King back?  
Again, as Righteousness, even so Truth requires it: For if you will run through the whole book of Kings, you shall find that true Religion, it always adhered to the King's party: during the rebellion of Absalon, Zadock, and Abiathar, and all the Levites 
2 Sam. 15. 29.  they were of David's side; they went out with him, they carried the Ark with him, they returned it to Jerusalem upon command from him; yea, when after Solomon's days there was a division made between the house of Judah, and the house of Israel; when there was Kings of Israel, and Kings of Judah: In Judah still was the Lord known; in the City of David was the Temple, the Sacrifice, and the undoubted Priests of God.  
1 Kings 12. 28. When Jeroboam had exalted himself to be King of Israel, you shall find one of the first things he fate in Council on, it was Religion: And, because he knew the true Religion, and his false Title could not do together, he made two Calves of Gold, and said to the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, Behold thy gods oh Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.  
They who will live under an usurped Title, they must never hope to live under a true Religion; for Usurpers, they will have such Worship, such Priests, and such Confessions, as may serve their turns: And therefore had the men of Israel, only upon the account of Truth and Religion considered, and consulted, they could not have found a better expedient for the enjoying of it, then by moving as they did, to bring back their King again. For to David, and his line, adhered the profession of the true Religion.  
In a word, to settle Peace and Government upon those two immovable Pillars, Truth and Righteousness, cannot possibly be effected, unless we be true to this common principle, Suum cuique, To give every one his own. Now,  
Matth. 22. 21. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are Gods, saith the Saviour of the world, the Prince of Peace. Whence it appears, that both God and King have their interests, and their properties; Caesar hath, and God hath his Rights.  
Now if God and Caesar have a right, how can we expect that God should bless us with the blessing of peace, unless we give both to him and his anointed what is their rights.  
Suppose Absalon, Achitophel, Amasa, or all Israel (whilst the power was in their hands) had sold the Tabernacle, which David pitched to 
2 Sam. 6. 17.  put the Ark in, or had they made sale, or given away the King's Cedar 
2 Sam. 7.  house, that was in Jerusalem ● Could the Government of Israel have been settled upon Truth and Righteousness, till God had had his Tabernacle, and the King his palace? certainly Restitution is as great a part of Righteousness, as Preservation; and God and Caesar, as considerable to their deuce, as any persons in the world.  
Truly among us Christians it is a great defect, that we are quick and highly sensible of every trespass, of every wrong, of every encroachment that is personal, and done to us; but what is done to others, the s●questrations, deprivations, wrongs, and ejectments of any but our own relations, those, as nothing at all to us, we scarce lend an ear to, so we scape, all's well. And hence it comes to pass, what is done to God, or what is done to Caesar, we make no account, no reckoning on.  
Now sure I am, God Almighty was very ill pleased with them, who in their fullness did not think of them that wanted; who drank wine in Bowls, anointed themselves with the chief ointments, but grieved not for the affliction of Joseph.  
Now certainly if the afflictions of Joseph, the troubles of David should be remembered; and indeed with what face can we desire our God to settle us in peace, if we have no Bowels for our Brethren? nor melting hearts for the Father of our Country? certainly, we are not worthy to sit in peace under our own Vines, if we will not endeavour to bring the Lord of our Vineyards to his own possessions.  
To the people of Israel (whilst they understood themselves) nothing was so dear, as the Ark and the King: But neither the Ark without the King, nor the King without the Ark, could make a settlement.  
A time there was, when Jerusalem had their King, but the Ark was 
2 Sam. 6. 1  at Kiriath-jearim, and whilst so, David. 
Serm. 7.  himself could be contented; and therefore that the Ark of God might be brought home, like the Ark of God, with Honour and Solemnity, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand men 
Verse 1. .  
A time there also was, that Jerusalem had the Ark, but they wanted their King, for the ark was at Jerusalem, even all the while that the King was fled out of the land for Absalon: But the ark without the King, the worship of God, without the great Patron and Observer of it; this could not make Jerusalem at unity within itself: And so judah went 
Verse 15.  out to Gilgal to meet the King, as than it was the King's zeal to fetch home the ark; even so it was Israel's loyalty to bring back their King: both had been taken away, that both might be better valued.  
And so Lord grant it may be in this Land of ours; restore thy worship, restore thine anointed, and so unite Israel and judah; that now Absalon is dead, all animosities may be buried in his grave.  
Now Absalon is dead, O let our David live, and let the ark and him rest in a lasting peace, which we beg of thee, the God of peace, even for his sake who is the Prince of peace, Jesus Christ the Righteous, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory, now and for ever. Amen.   

The Joy of Nations, PREACHED On the Thanksgiving Day, FOR THE HAPPY RETURN Of our Gracious Sovereign CHARLES' II.  
June 29. 1660.  
LONDON: Printed by J. Grismond. 1663.   
Psalm 118. 22, 23. 
The Stone which the Builders refused, is become the Head stone of the Corner.  
This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.  
IN the Eighty second Psalms, at the fifth Verse, there is a sad complaint, that All the foundations of the earth are out of course: Yea, there is not a complaint only, as to matter of fact that it was so, but there is an assertion of the cause, and reason that of necessity it must so be; for the Verse thus begins, They know not, neither will they understand, they walk on in darkness.  
When the present Power, and chief Rulers of the Commonwealth of Israel, were so blinded with interest, that They walked in darkness: When they were so bend upon cruelties, oppression, and injustice, that they would not understand; when those who had the high and honourable appellative of gods, acted rather as Ministers 
Verse 1.  of Satan, accepting the persons of the ungodly, and afflicting the poor and fatherless: whilst it thus went in Israel, all the foundations must needs be out of course.  
Now have not we of this Nation been a very late parallel to this sad condition? Have not all our foundations been out of course? Have not such who were called, The house of gods, Such, who themselves pretended as saints to judge the earth, have not even they bound our Kings in chains, and our Nobles in fetters? have not our Fundamental Laws, and our deepest bottoms been digged up? The square Stone of our Law it hath been removed, and a round Arbitrary pebble placed in the room of it: The Marble Charte● of our Nation, and the glorious Pillars of three Kingdoms they have been ground to powder; and that powder laid as the Sandy Base of a Rebellious, Sacrilegious, and Fanatick-Commonwealth: Yea, whereas it is observed of Rome, that beside the material foundation of seven Hills, she was bottomed upon seven Governments: First, Kings, secondly, Consuls, thirdly, Decemviri, fourthly, Tribunes, fifthly, Dictator's, sixthly, Emperors, and lastly, Popes.  
Since our Foundations have been out of course, attempt hath been made of as many, if not more Foundations: But, as Boys oft by experience find, when the Right shell is wanting, among ten thousand more, one poor Cockle cannot be matched, completed, or made up again; even so, though we have had ten thousand Builders, some Hewing, some Canting, some Levelling, some trying this stone, and some that; No stone could do the the work, till the providence of the chief Builder so ordered it, that The stone which the builders refused, became the head stone of the corner.  
These words upon their very reading, appear to be an Allegory, a Figurative expression, in which of necessity there must be some hidden, or latent meaning: For, the stone which the Builders refused, doth not imply the act of a Mason, or the rejection of a stone, but the contempt of a person; so that the person couched under this stone, and the builders intended by this Metaphor, must be our first enquiry.  
Now by Stone in the Text there is generally meant, either David, or the Son of David, the King, or the King's Son; a person exalted above ordinary men, a person exalted above all his brethren.  
Whence my first Observation shall be, The great distance between man as man, and man as King, upon the account of this present Metaphor.  
When the Scripture speaks of man as man, the Spirit puts a very low value and esteem upon him, call him, Dust, Grass, Esay 46. yea, Vanity. 
Eccles. 3. 20.   
But, when he speaketh of Man as a King; when he speaks of a Man, made the Lords anointed, and exalted 
Psal. 39 11.  to regal Dignity, than you shall find the style riseth: For, old jacob drawing to his Dust, when in blessing his children, he came to speak of a royal Emanation out of joseph, the Spirit of God taught him thus, From thence is the Shepherd, 
Gen. 49. 24.  the stone of Israel: Under the notion Shepheard, Expositors doubt not, is meant the Kingly office; now, he who was to bear that, he is not as a mortal, or a man called Dust, or Grass, or Vanity, But the stone of Israel.  
Nor is a King deciphered at large by any sort of Stone: for if, Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius, If every block is not fit to make a Statue, every Stone is not fit to represent a King; and therefore the spirit of God is choice even upon this account: For the Kingly person deciphered, he is set forth, not simply by a stone, but by a tried stone, a precious stone, a 
Esay 28. 16.  corner stone; yea, in my Text, there is yet a gradation higher, for, not only a stone, and a corner stone, but Caput Anguli, the Headstone in the corner.  
Look then how far a stone transcendeth Dust, a precious stone excelleth grass; The Head stone in the choicest structure surpasseth vanity, such is the proportion, such the distance between man as man, and man as King: As men we are but dust, and grass, and vanity; but he who is our King, he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the stone of our Israel, the corner stone, yea, the Head stone of the corner.  
Now truly this I had not observed but to check such (if such yet there be) who think themselves as good as a King, and a King to be no more than one of us.  
1 Sam. 10. We read that men (as I may phrase it) upon the Coronation day, even upon that day when it is written, All people shouted and said, 
Verse 25.  God save the King; even than some contemptibly said, How shall this man save us? even very then some despised him: And,  
2 Sam. 20. When God beyond all expectation had removed the usurpation, and brought that King, who was fled out of the land, to his royal City, even than Sheba, the son of Bichri, 
Verse 1.  blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of jesse: every man to his tents O Israel.  
The Son of Bichri, in behalf of himself and his party, professed, unless they might have inheritances out of the son of jesse, unless they might have the Crown land, they were rather for a war, than a settlement, rather for confusion, than a King: they valued a King at no more than what was their own interest, and their own advantage.  
Now truly thus to do, is not with the Spirit of God, to deem a King a stone, a Corner stone, a Head stone: but a stepping stone, a stirrup stone, a stone laid only for advance to private interests, and to raise and get up to personal advantages; But, they who so did, the Spirit of God puts an eternal brand upon them, calling them, Children of Belial: A man of Belial; yea, between the Loyal and the Seditious, 
1 Sam. 10. 27:  the Spirit of God most remarkably 
2 Sam. 10. 1.  distinguisheth: for, they who adhered and went with the King, they are said to be such, Whose hearts God had touched; but those 
1 Sam. 10. 26.  who despised, and brought him no presents; they who looked upon him, but as one of them, they are such, Whose hearts Satan governed, men of Belial.  
Those whose hearts God had touched, they owned, and joyed, and triumphed in their King; they shouted and said, not God save Saul, as a man, But God save the King; God grant he may live, not as a man, but a King, in Glory and Majesty, in Power and Greatness.  
But the children of Belial, they hung down their heads like a Bulrush, and had rather see a King's head on a block, then to be, as God would have it, the head stone of the corner; But in despite of all, who devised how to put him by whom God would exalt, the Lord would, and hath compassed his own design: For,  
The stone which the Builders refused, is become the head stone of the corner: This is the Lords doing, and marvellous in our eyes, etc.  
In the words we may for methods sake observe these two Generals.  
First, Matter of fact: Secondly, The manner of doing.  
In the matter of fact two Considerabl●▪  
1. A Reprobation, a Stone Refused. 2. A Reparation, Exalted.  
The stone which the Builders refused, is become the Head, etc.  
In the second General, in the manner of doing, two Particulars;  
1. God's extraordinary efficiency, The Lords doing.  
2. Man's duty, and regard in these words, Marvellous in our eyes.  
First, of the matter of fact; The stone which the Builders refused, is become the Head stone of the corner.  
Now for as much as Expositors of great note, attribute the prime sense to David, and the principal to the Son of David, I shall follow their steps, and indeed shall consider this matter of fact upon three accounts:  
1. David's Reprobation and Reparation; how he was the stone, both refused and exalted.  
2. The Son of David, Christ our Lord, his Reprobation and Reparation, how the Builders refused him, who became the Head.  
3. Lastly, how far by way of Analogy, or resemblance our David, and our David's Son, our late King, and the Son of this King may be here concerned, whether he who is become the Head of the corner, hath not been a stone reprobated, and refused.  
First, That David was a rejected stone, the History of his life will easily evince; For, if we look upon him upon the account of Nature, we find him the youngest (not the seventh, but) the eighth Son; yea, we find seven at home, or about home; but he, as a neglected Pibble in the Fields keeping sheep, when Samuel came to look him up, 1 Sam. 15. 11.  
Yea, afeter this, when Samuel by anointing, had made him a precious stone, Eliab his eldest brother (even then, when he came by God's appointment, to work a mighty deliverance) accused him of pride, and naughtiness of heart, 1 Sam. 17. 28.  
Saul, he adopts him for a Son, gives him a daughter, but hurls him off as a stone, and persecutes him as a Partridge upon the Mountains. Yea,  
1 Sam. 26. 19 David himself complaineth, saying, They have driven me out this day, from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve strange gods. So that he was now become a very rolling stone; a stone (one would think) neither fit to Bed nor Head.  
Yea, when he was in the land of strangers, even there (and that by those who pretended of loyalty to follow him) when a cross accident befell them, They began to speak of stoning of him, 1 Sam. 30. 6. So that a poor King had need be a stone, a well weathered stone; for storms and cross winds will soon crack, break, and crumble him to dust else.  
Now who would think, that a poor shepherd Boy, persecuted by a King, driven out of the Land of his Nativity, despised by his brethren, ready to be stoned by his followers, opposed by a General; who would think that that stone, which such Master-Builders did set at naught; should become the Head of the corner, and the Glory of his people? And yet such was his Reparation; for, 2 Sam. 2. 4. The men of Judah anointed him King in Hebron. And the tribes of Israel, seven years and six months after, 
2 Sam. 5.  came and made him King over all Israel. So that albeit Judah and Israel were not two Nations, nor two Kingdoms, yet they were two high parties, malignant, and well-affected, loyal, and rebellious, for the King, and against the King: But, when the rejected stone was put in, where it ought to be, when the Builders wearied with war, and perverseness, put him in his right place, and made him the Head of the corner: This union made up the breach, and that Head so closed the joints, that Israel and Judah, the rebellious, and the loyal, all David's days lived as brethren: So that to this change and reparation of King David, we may well say, This is the Lords doing, and marvellous in our eyes.  
Secondly, let us consider this stone as relating to the son of David, and 
Christ.  truly we shall find him a stone refused, and set at naught indeed.  
In every Erection, there are divers sorts of Builders; some plot, some work, some serve! The Master-Builders are for plotting, the Masons for raising, the labourers for serving; Now by every of these, was the stone in the Text refused.  
Psalm 2. 2. The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed. Against the King's son, against the son of David, there was a combination of Princes, the very Master-Builders took counsel, and plotted against him, they would not have this stone to head them!  
The Pharisees, Scribes and Elders, those whom I may call the Masons, in this spiritual edifice, they would none of this stone, for their voice is, No King but Cesar: They who put him to death, for fear the Romans should come; yet when design led them to it, they cry up even the Roman party, We have no King but Caesar; 
Joh. 8. 15.  None but a General, none but an Usurper should head them, Nolumus hunc, come what will of it, we will not have this stone, We will not 
Luk. 19 14.  have this man to reign over us.  
And hence it came, that the very laboureres, or under-builders of all, they are taught to cry out against this stone, as the very rubbish of the work, preferring a piece of course clay, to a royal Marble: Non hunc sed Barabbam, not him but 
Joh. 18. 40.  Barrabas! Any Usurper; any Villain; any Form, rather than the right King! any Bloodstone, rather than Christ the Living-stone, any petra scandali, any Rock of offence, rather than caput Anguli, the corner stone.  
Matth. 27. 22. When Pilate saw there was such an hellish despite against this stone, Pilate said unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? As if he had said, if ye will not have him for your King, nor allow him to be an Head stone, what place shall I assign him? what shall I do with him? They all said, Let him be crucified, that is, let him be destroyed: And indeed in this they were right; for a King can be safe in none, but in his own place; lessen him, and like a loose stone he drops out; the corner stone will fit no where, but at the Head only.  
And this Rebel, and Usurpers too well know; for when the Husbandmen in the Gospel had a will to be Lords, and to take the Son's Inheritance 
Luke 10. 15.  into their own Hands, to make sure work, They cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him; not only cast him out, but killed the Heir.  
Rebels are the greatest cowards in the world; if the Corner stone be but above ground, they fear it will heave, and heave, and do what they can, become the Head of the corner: And therefore when Pilate said, What shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ, they cried make him away, make him away, let him be crucified, torn to pieces, beat to powder, make him incapable and useless, and all is well enough: And what did they omit to do it? look upon his passion, and you shall find, that if he had been a stone indeed; they stamped, and trampled on him, head, hands, feet, and side, found not so much pity from these Builders, as the very stones afforded; for whereas the Bvilder's tear and rend the stones themselves, they rend; for no sooner was (the most Holy Priest of his living Temple) his Soul separate from the Body, but the vail of the 
Matth. 27.  temple rend in twain, even from top to bottom. When the King, the Corner stone, was thrown down, the Temple by a kind of sympathy rends also, but the Builders they were as merry, as if his sighs had been pleasant tunes, and his exquisite sorrow the joy of their hearts; for even in the anguish and bitterness of death They mocked and derided him: so 
Matth. 17.  that indeed never was any stone more contemptuously disallowed, and rejected, then was the son of David, so that never could any so rightly apply that of this Psalm, as he did, for he, even he was that stone which the Builders refused! He that stone, who after the most sad refusal that could be made, Became for all that Caput Anguli, The head of the corner.  
Lament. 1. 12. Behold and see if there be any sorrow, like to my sorrow! As there was no sorrow like to our Saviour's sorrow, even so no rejection, no reprobation like to his! no stone brought to a more unlikeliness of a raising, than he was! for, who could think that that stone, which was hid, and buried in infimas partes terrae, in 
Eph. 4. 9  the lower parts of the earth; who could think that stone which was closed within a Rock, and the mouth 
Matth. 27. 60.  of that secured with a mighty stone; yea, who could have thought, that that Body which was as dead as a stone, that person whom shame, and sorrows, weight, and pain had bruised to pieces; who could have thought, that such a stone should be so cemented, and again so perfected, as to become the beauty of the Building, and to be made even the Head stone of the corner! Yet this was done, and this was the Lords doing.  
Ephes. 4. 10. He that descended, is the same also that ascended: Yea, and if we make due observation of it, we shall find that his reparation, it was proporionable to his reprobation! For he who descended low, he ascended high, he who was humbled to the lower parts of the earth, He was exalted far above all heavens; He who was thrown off as a stone, only meet to advance the rubbish, he was advanced to the height that a stone is capable, even the Head of the building! for, He is the Head of the Body, the Church! and (2 Coll. 10.) The Head of all Principality and 
Col. 1. 18.  Power! yea higher yet, for he is the Head of the corner! Corner it implies more than Building, for corner is a place where at least two walls meet, so that to be the Head of the corner, implies Union, as well as Dignity: and in this respect there was never such an Head stone, as the King's stone, never such a corner stone, as was this Head stone of the corner! For,  
Eph. 2. 14. He is our peace who hath made both one: Whether we respect Jew or Gentile, Male or Female, quick or dead, Heaven and Earth, this stone is the Head to every corner; for to him was given, All power both in heaven and earth. 
Matth. 28. 18.  And therefore was the rejected stone repaired, and the disallowed stone advanced, That he might be Lord both of the dead and the living; so 
Rom. 14. 9  that to this we may very meetly add the words following, and say, This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.  
Thirdly, or lastly, by way of Analogy, and to enforce the better sense of our present Blessing, let us see how far our David's Son, or the Son 
Charl. II.  of our late King may be here concerned.  
I shall now show unto you, that in divers choice Particulars he very meetly resembles both David, and the Son of David: For, 

1. Infamy.  
2. Breeding in the same 
1. alike for infamy:  School.  
3 Exile both from the 

Land of his Nativity.  
Religion of his God.    
4. Time.  
5. For 

The persons persecuting.  
His Restitution.      
First, that He hath been a stone rejected, and refused: This is as clear as the noon day, yea this very day of the Thanksgiving had never been else.  
Now in the time of his Reprobation, the good King David thus complains, The very abjects gathered themselves 
Psalm 35: 15.  against me! yea, The very drunkards made songs of me! Those who had not a stone in their houses, could find a stone to throw at a distressed King.  
And hath not even this been the case of the King's Son? The abjects of our times, State-lecturers, News-mongers, Mercenary pens, and Tongues, they have made it their work to tumble down, and degrade this stone: for as some out of superstitious fear rob God's Saints of their honour, calling Saint Paul, Paul, and Saint Peter, Peter; even so, those who to the rebellious cry, your Excellency, your Honour, your Lordship, call the corner stone, even below 
Common enemy.  a Gentleman, Charles Stuart, Tarquin, one of the cursed Family! A stone fitter for a threshold, than a Throne!  
But what these did, may seem no more than the fabulous Cocks, preferring a Barleycorn, to a Jewel! For they were no Builders, and therefore knew not when they saw a stone for building: But when professed Builders, when those who would behold the Council of a Nation, and the Master-builders of a Kingdom; when they shall disallow, or refuse a stone, when they shall vote the Head to the feet, and the chief stone to be incapable; this is a considerable reprobation, and such, as might seem to put a stone out, either of heart, or hope of getting any higher: And hath not the King's Son been thus dealt withal? Have not Builders, and prime Builders too, even by a solemn act disallowed this stone? Did not the successors to such who killed the Heir, enacted a Disinherison of all the Royal Family? As the Jews by a stone and a seal, thought to have kept the Son of David from ever rising, to sit upon the Throne of his Father; even so, so for ever did many Master-builders repudiate, and disallow this quarry, that they thought never any stone of it, should become, Caput, or Caput Anguli, the Head, or Head of the corner. And yet blessed be God, I may now, in relation to our King's Son say, The stone which the Builders refused, is become the Head stone of the corner.  
Secondly, We read not of any King but only one, who is graced 
2. For breeding in the same School. 1 Sam. 13. 14.  with this high Eulogy, or Character, A man after Gods own Heart. Now this King, this King whom God declared should act, according to his own Heart! God so provided, that he should be humbled before he was exalted, that he should be a Rejected, before he was an Elected stone! First, a vilified and refused, and then the Head stone of the corner!  
Now as was David, even so the son of our David, he hath been bred up in the Schools of affliction, he hath had the experience of many, many various troubles! He hath been rolled like a stone, from City to Country, and from one Kingdom to another! Being then God hath so bred our King, as he did the King after his own heart, in trouble, persecution, exile! Being, as was David, he hath been a stone refused, we have very great hopes, that now becoming as was David, The Head of the corner, we shall find that God hath prepared him, as he did David, for a flourishing Kingdom.  
Thirdly, David, whilst yet he was a refused stone, complains, 
* 1 Sam. 26. 19  They have 
3. For exile both from the land of his Nativity, and the Religion of his God.  driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve strange gods.  
The Builders so furiously rejected this anointed stone, that they would not suffer it lie, or abide in the Land of his Nativity: they have driven me out, saith David, From abiding in the inheritance of the Lord: Where the best Religion and worship of God was, they would not suffer this stone to be! they drive him out saying, Go serve strange gods: They hoped in an Idolatrous Country, necessity, assistance, or something might turn this stone into an unholy altar; so that if once they could bring him under the just infamy of serving strange gods, they might then as well before God, as good men, make him a refused stone for ever.  
But, the stone whom wicked men refused, he would never refuse his maker, he was resolved to be a stone for God's Altar, in what posture so ever providence should cast him.  
Now hath not the stone of our David, our King's Person even been just thus served? we all know he hath; we all know, driven he hath been from abiding within the inheritance of his Fathers, yea, they who drove him, seemed to say, Go and serve strange gods: Glad would some of our late Builders have been, to have had him the stone of a Popish Altar.  
But as David, when God from a refused stone, called him to take his place, and to be Head of the corner, came like gold out of the fire, pure and undefiled; Even so the King's Son, or Son of our David, he comes with the same impress of Religion, that he carried forth; no more corrupted by the King of Spain, then was David by the King of Gath: Education like a tool in Marble, it hath made a durable impression, as it was with David, even so we believe it is with him; whether a refused stone, or a corner stone, whether at home, or abroad, he serves the same God, and the same way.  
Fourthly, As David was a refused, 
4. For duration of time.  before he was an approved stone; even so it is very considerable, how long God did exercise the patience of his servant, how long he suffered him to be a rejected, before he came to be the corner stone: Now 2 Sam. 5. 4. it is written, David was thirty years old when he began to reign.  
The King by whom God resolved to do great things, he wont him to troubles, he experienced him with tentations, till he was Thirty years of age, he began not to reign, he was Thirty years old, before he sat upon the throne, Thirty years old, before he became the Head stone in the corner.  
Now if we look upon our King's Son, and if we compute his age, we shall find just David's year, the first year of his actual reign, the first year of his being in his own place, the first day of his entrance into his Royal City, it was the day of his Nativity, and the Head of the corner, just as was David the thirtieth year.  
Lastly, Being our King, is not only a King, but a King's son; let us take 
5. For those who persecuted.  one parallel, between him and the Son of David;  
In the 

Rejection.  
Reparation.    
Psalm 69. 8. I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to my mother's children. The son of David complaineth he was a stone rejected by his own brethren; I became a stranger to them! yea, his very mother's children looked strangely on him, I was an alien to my mother's children.  
And was not this the very case of the son of our David? Hath not he been, even from his Childhood up, a stranger to his brethren, and an alien to his mother-City? yea, when he was fain to fly out of the Land, as the son of David (a Babe did) from him that sought his life? The Lily had no pity, the Lily was not candid to the Rose, his kindred stood a far off, and he was an alien to his mother's children! yea, he was upon this account; a stone more refused, than the son of David: For,  
Cant. 1. 6. He only thus complains, My mother's children were angry with me: But for all that, they make me the keeper of the vineyards; when the case was so with him, that as it is in that verse, Mine own vineyard have I not kept, yet even then they made him the keeper of their vineyards.  
But when it so was, that our Heir could not keep his vineyard, his mother's children were so angry, that as a stone they threw him out of their vineyards, they would neither let him keep their vineyards, nor shelter him under their vines: As the 
Judges 9  men of Shechem preferred a shurb, a bramble, a base fellow, before the Olive, the Figtree, or the better family of Jerubbaal! Even so, his mother's children, not in an heat, passion, or upon anger, but which is a sadder rejection, upon counsel, deliberation, treaty! When this stone was in balance with the very dross of a Nation, when their flesh and blood, the undoubted Head of the corner, was in competition with a Rebel, a Traitor, a man of blood! yea, one who had washed his hands in Royal blood! even than they preferred this son of Belial, as the Jews did Barrabas, before their own flesh, before their own blood: The son of Nobles, yea, the son of their own Nobility was made a stranger to his brethren, an alien, yea, an exile to his mother's children.  
And yet for all this, in his state of Reparation, behold he comes, as rose the Son of Righteousness, with healing on his wings, merciful, and gracious as the son of David,  
Our blessed Lord and Master, though he was a refused and a rejected stone, and that by his own too; yet we find after his resurrection, he was exalted, and became such a stone, that it is written, On whomsoever it should fall, it would grind him to powder: 
Luke 10. 18.  Yet even then, so full was he of grace and mercy, that he was content his Rebels, and his refusers, should become stones in his building; yea, living stones under the protection of him their Head, only the condition 
1 Pet. 2. 5. Acts 1. 38.  is, Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.  
All that the stone so refused, after his exaltation, requireth of his rebels is, that they list themselves anew, that they fight under his Banner, that they repent and be obedient.  
Now the Son of our late King, our long refused and despised stone, he sent his Heralds, and prepared his way, by messengers of peace; proclaims a general pardon, upon the same terms that did the son of David, repentance, loyalty, and obedience for the future; and indeed the God of peace himself will not give pardon upon other terms: For,  
Psalm 68 21. God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one, as goeth on still in his wickedness. He that hath rebelled, he may be pardoned, but he that goeth on, he that after declaration of pardon, upon gracious terms will not come in, see what the Saviour of the world, and the once rejected stone professeth, These mine enemies 
Luke 14. 27.  that would not I should reign over them, bring them hither, and stay them before me. He who hath abundant mercy for a returning, hath none for an obstinate and persisting rebel.  
1 Pet. 2. 7. We thus read, Unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the Builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. Unto them that be disobedient, unto them that would not, the rejected stone is become their King! unto them which be disobedient, the same is made the head of the corner; so that one of these two are inevitable, either they must become obedient, and lay hold of his pardon, or this stone must fall upon them, and then remember it is written, On whomsoever it shall fall, 
Luke 20. 18.  it shall grind to powder. And therefore kiss the son, lest he be angry; let us revere and reverence him whom God hath exalted, for every King proportionably is, what the King of the Jews was, Caput Anguli, the head of the corner.  
Yea, that this Metaphor, the Head of the corner, hath a meet proportion even to all Kings; Saint Peter seems to me in this Chapter to insinuate; for, from his discourse of the chief precious, living, and elect corner stone, 
Verse 6.  he presently falls to treat of Christians duty to their Kings, saying, Submit 
Verse 13.  yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord sake; whether it be to the King as supreme: and Fear God, honour the King; and indeed if 
Verse 17.  we observe it, we shall find their persons, and their obedience are very nigh together: For,  
The son of David, he who sitteth at the right hand of God, and is immediately next to God, he is a King! the highest exaltation of humanity, it is in the person of a King: And as in Heaven, even so in Scripture, God and the King are next neighbours: Honour the King stands so nigh to fear God, that he cannot be a good Christian, who will not be a good subject, specially to such a King whose Throne is sensibly of God's erection, and whose restitution is so signal a testimony, that the very enemy cannot but say, This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. And so from the matter of fact to,  
II. The manner of doing. This is the Lords doing.  
Psalm 78. 19 They speak against God, and said, can God furnish a Table in the wilderness? The Jews did never think it more impossible for God to send them Quails, to fill them with flesh, and to furnish them with a table in the wilderness, than thousands in this our Nation thought it was for God (to do as he hath done) to bring back the banished, and to set him, who was fled out of the Land, upon the Throne of his Fathers: But as Quails came to them, even so came a King to us, upon the wings of the wind, yea and an East wind too; only with this great difference, Quails were the fruit of their murmur, but a King the return of our prayers; Quails were given upon displeasure, but a King in loving kindness; Quails were brought in with blood, but the coming 
Verse 31.  in of the King was much like the Israelites going out, of which it is written, Not a dog moved his tongue against it; yea, what is written of God, the 
Exod. 11. 7.  great King of the earth, the same is applicable to the King we joy under, God is gone up with a merry noise, and 
Psalm 47. 2.  the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. So came in our King, and that he who so lately was petra scandali, the rock of offence, should now on a sudden become desideratus genuium, the desire of Nations, that he should so come in, Hoc factum Domini, This is the Lords doings, and that it is so,  
Behold in this doing the 

Goodness,  
Wisdom, 
II.   
Power of God.    
First then, This is the Lords doing, for it was of his great Grace and Goodness, that this was done: For,  
The whole Land, that is all the Honourable, all the Loyal, and (upon the account of Religion in 1641. protested to) all the Religious, lay as the chidrens of Israel in Egypt, under severe Taskmasters: For, as the Israelites for crying, Let us go and sacrifice 
Exod. 5 8, 9  to our God, had the heavier load, and imposition laid upon them: Even so, to worship God after the way of our Fathers, to worship the known God by a known way; this was enough to take our straw, nay more than so, our very bricks, and our very livelihood away; so that to Fear God, and Honour the King, it was malignancy enough to undo any man.  
Now as it was the mere goodness of God, that moved him to have compassion on his rebellious people; even so, so ill under the rod had most of us carried, and demeaned ourselves, that we were unworthy of a favour, unworthy to know any but oppressors, and Usurpers to be Lords over us: For so loud were the Oaths, so abominable the debauchery, so unclean the lives, and so fierce the uncharitableness of too too many of us; that all the taxes and Taskmasters, all the vexations and sufferings groaned under, they were but our just deservings: And therefore that God should be so good, as to send redemption to such a people, so gracious as to raise up a mighty salvation to the house of our David, so merciful as to vouchsafe us a King, whose very approach seems to put a period to the calamities of three Kingdoms: This can have no such motive as his own goodness, nor could this have been any, but only his own doings, so that we may here very well take up that of the Psalmist, Thou, O God, of thy goodness hast prepared 
Psalm 68 50.  for the poor. It is of thy goodness, O Lord, that the stone which was refused, is become the Head of the corner; and therefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name we give the glory, it was thy goodness, it was thy doing.  
Secondly, As it was thy goodness, even so it was thy wisdom: To keep the rejected Stone from being Head of the corner, there hath been as great plottings, as the wit of man quickened by covetousness, malice, and ambition could invent: To repair this stone, and to raise it to be Head of the corner, there hath been as great contrivances, as prudence, highthned by love and loyalty could imagine; but neither could effect their purposes, it was the wisdom of God that did the work.  
Psal. 2. 6. Yet have I set my King, upon my holy hill of Zion: Though the Kings of the earth set themselves against it, though the Rulers took counsel together, and cried, Let us break their Bands in sunder, yet (saith the Lord for all this) I have set up my King upon my hill.  
As than Balaam told Balak, There 
Numb. 23. 23:  was no divination against Jacob, nor no enchantment against Israel; even so there is no counsel against the only wise, nor no instruments of government, no humble advice that can check his providence: For when his time is, as holy Job speaks, To set up on high those that be low, that those which 
Job 5. 11,  mourn may be exalted to safety: (The very condition of the royal Family) see his method, He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their 
12.  hands cannot perform their enterprise: As Dagon fell before the Ark, even so must and shall all parles and counsels before God's wisdom: And for instance, we shall no further than the duty of the day; for, against our gracious Sovereign, against this stone which the Builders refused, there was as great provision made as humane wisdom could imagine; Oaths, engagements, establishments were made against it: and that by such who were cried up for the Saints of the earth, men full of holy pretences, pretended revelations, Sabbatarian zeal, and extraordinary impulses of the spirit; yea, enacted it was that none should be a Builder, that did not disavow this stone; none should bear office, handle the sword, or have benefit of Law, that did not engage against King and Lords; yea, it was defined treason, and made death by pretence of Law, so much as to pray for the Head of the corner; and yet for all this, he who sitteth in heaven hath laughed them to scorn; he whose wisdom will admit no defeat, he hath broke their bands in sunder, and maugre all Conspiracies and devices of Usurpers, Traitors and Tyrants; The stone which was thus refused, is become the Head of the corner, and it is the Lords doing, his counsel, his wisdom did it.  
Lastly, it is the Lords doing, for not only his goodness, and his wisdom, but his power is eminently seen in it.  
It is well known, to keep our Sovereign from being what he is, to keep the refused stone from being Head, there was as great a power, as flesh and blood could well raise: there was formidable, and whole armies, armies that feared not to fight, men victorious enough, and expert in war; so that indeed the King's friends, and such as would have raised up this despised stone, they were like Israel under the Philistin tyranny, They had nor sword nor spear, they had not so much 
1 Sam. 13. 19  as a leaver left them, all the power was in the enemy's hand; and when so, than it appears was Gods hour (to use an abused phrase) to bare his arm, and to show his power: For,  
Hosea 1. 7. It is is thus written, I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them; but observe how, not by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, or horsemen, but I will save them by the Lord their God.  
The mercy which we this day bless God for, it is a mercy done to the house of Judah, and done (blessed be his name for it) neither by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, or horsemen, but even by the Lord their God.  
The Lord our God he hath showed his power, not by breaking the bow, or snapping the spear in sunder; but which is a much more admirable efficacy, by turning the hearts of his people, by bowing the hearts of thousands, and ten thousands, as the heart of one man; to call for that stone which they had refused, and to place it, where in all right and justice it ought to be, Caput Anguli, the Head of the corner.  
Amongst us men, such is our power that we can fetter the feet, bind the hands, and bridle all outward violence, (for when a stronger cometh, the armed man is conquered) but a power over the heart, that we have not, the power of hearts it is in his hands only, who made the heart; and therefore I conceive, that that is much more the Lords doing, which is done by hearts, then that which is done by hands.  
The Prophet Daniel mystically presenting 
Dan. 2. 34.  the stone in my Text, he calls it, A stone cut out without hands.  
Albeit the blessed Virgin was instrumental to the conception, breeding, and bearing the King of the Jews; yet being the Holy ghost was the only active and prime principle, he is called to God's glory, a stone cut out without hands.  
Even so albeit toward the restitution of our Sovereign, there have been glorious and honourable instruments; yet there hath been so much more of heart, o'er there hath been of hands, so much more of God, o'er there hath been of men, that we may well to the glory of God's power say, Our rejected stone was set in his place, our refused stone he was made Head of the corner, even as the stone which was cut out of the mountain, sine manibus, without hands; and therefore it must needs be the Lords doing!  
Psalm 74. The prophet sadly complains, that at the destruction of the Temple, The enemies roared in the midst of it, they cast fire into the sanctuary, 
Verse 4,  yea, they broke down the carved works thereof with axes and hammers: 
7.  But at the erection and building 
6.  of it, There was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the 
1 King. 6. 7.  house, while it was in building.  
Now this is just the emblem of our sad, and our glad condition; for when our Caput Anguli, when our Corner stone was rejected, despised, and taken down, than the enemies roared, fire and sword, axes and hammers, even went through the land.  
But the King's son (though glad to fly out of the land, not having in three Kingdoms where with safety to lay his Head) when he was exalted, and made Head of the corner, his raising it was just like Solomon's Temple; no hammer, no axe, nor any tool of iron; no bow, no sword, no noise, but as Balaam told Balak, The joyful 
Numb. 23, 21.  shout of a King is amongst them: And who could do this but the overruling power of heaven? who could compass this, but God only, It is the Lords doings; and which is the last Considerable, It is marvellous in eyes.  
And this comprehends man's duty, for this his thus doing, Mirabile in oculis 
III.  nostris, marvellous in our eyes: a marvellous work, a marvellous blessing in our eyes.  
A marvellous work: For that, that stone which the Master-builders had voted rather dirt, than stone; that that stone voted by them no more like to the Head of the corner, then is a Traitor to a King, or a Rebel to a Sovereign; that that stone, to the which every helping hand was voted treasonable, and every friendly Builder a Rebel, and a Traitor; that that stone, which Ministers were forbid, either directly or indirectly for to pray for; that that stone, to which it was treason to make an approach, or an address, should find Builders to advance, and raise it up, Hoc factum mirabile, this is a work marvellous in our eyes.  
A marvellous blessing too: For, Blessed 
Eccles. 10. 17.  art thou, O land, when thy King is the son of Nobles, and thy princes eat in due season for strength, and not for drunkenness.  
Now if it be so, that descent and temperance in a King, makes a Land blessed, we have then in our King a marvellous blessing; for, He is the son of Nobles.  
That daring and unimitable precedent! that Son of blood, who feared not to unhead our corner, and throw down the most precious stone, that ever did Head our Buildings; even he (to the eternal aggravation of his insolence) professed, even that King was the offspring of many Kings, the 109th of his Nation; so that the son of such a King, he must needs be the son of Nobles.  
We find in the History of Kings it never went well, either with Church or State, when the lowest of the people were made Priests, or when God permitted a Jeroboam, a servant, to sit upon the Throne of his Sovereign: And we have experimented this sad truth, we have tasted, yea, we were almost at the dregs of that bitter cup: But, which is a marvellous blessing in our eyes, the preposterous Letters are set right, and we have a King which is the son of Nobles. 
R. C. C. R.   
And as we have a King the son of Nobles, even so we have a King, Who eats in due season for strength, and not for drunkenness: A King, whose first public act of regality his Kingdom was acquainted with, it was a Proclamation against the debauched and swearing, professing with what parts so ever, they may be otherwise qualified and endowed, they shall for them be as reprobate stones in his account; so that the heading of our corner with such a stone, is, not only a marvellous work, but a marvellous blessing in our eyes.  
Now without doubt a marvellous work, and a marvellous blessing, is not laid before our eyes, that we should shut our eyes upon them, or that we should make no reflection, no use of them; for there is nothing marvellous, but it carrieth the power of an Ecce in it, and calleth upon us for to behold it.  
Certainly then this work which is the Lords doing, and marvellous in our eyes, it calls upon us:  
1. To rejoice, 2. To be thankful, 3. To be obedient.  
First, To rejoice; For if these words relate either to David's exaltation to his Throne (as some) or to the son of David, our Saviour's resurrection from the grave; or as we at this time apply them, to our present Sovereign's most happy restitution; upon all accounts, the eye may see, what did, and what may joy the heart.  
In relation to the two former Senses it is most clear, that this marvellous work, and this Lords doing, it is a matter of high rejoicing; for the very next verse to my Text is, This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.  
David, and all that loved him, rejoiced to see his day, for it is written, All Israel gathered themselves unto David in Hebron; they came as one man to anoint David, and to rejoice with him, I Chron. II. v. ay, 3.  
The son of David (the most certain designed by this stone) he was depressed and exalted; a stone rejected, and a stone advanced even for our sakes: he died, and was despised 
Rom. 4. 25.  for our sins, he was raised and made Head of the corner for our justification: And therefore the memorial of this marvel; the marvellous things done by God for our redemption, may very well create a Festival, and give Christians (at least at the Feast of Easter, for) to say, This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will reloyce and be glad in it.  
And as for David, and the son of David; even so, for the son of our David, for the marvellous things done by God for our King, and in him for us, even for these we ought for to rejoice.  
It is an old tradition among the Jews, that there was at the building of the second Temple, a peculiar stone which in the building was oft handed, and as oft thrown out of hand again: But at length when they came either to complete the work, or to leave it a rude and imperfect lump; there was no stone that could do the work, no stone that could fit the corner, and close up the joints, but that only.  
Now woeful experience hath taught our Builders, that such a stone was our Royal Sovereign, Charles the Second; like this Emphatical stone of the second Temple, was the only Caput Anguli, the only Head stone that could close our breaches: And therefore that God of his most gracious providence, would be pleased so to fit us, that through God's blessing in him we may become an united people: This is matter of rejoicing, and rejoicing in the Lord too; for though it is our comfort, it was the Lords doings, and Mirabile in oculis nostris, marvellous in our eyes.  
Secondly, Whereas worldly interest, 
II.  and present content is a natural motive to stir us up to joy, and rejoicing: This marvellous work requires more than so; not only joy in our hearts, but thankfulness to God; for as all along we must confess it was his doings! it is the Lord who hath done great things for us! it is the Lord who hath turned our captivity! yea, so hath the Lord exalted our rejected stone, that we who see it done, may for ever sit amazed, and be even like to them that dream: And therefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thee we give the praise, to thee the thanks, to thee the glory.  
1 Sam. 12. When Samuel had presented their desired King unto his people, Samuel tells, them the consideration of the great things which God hath done, it should work in them such a thankfulness, as should evidence itself in godly fear, and holy services: For,  
Samuel having said, I will teach you the good, and the right way; immediately 
23.  adds, Only fear the Lord, and 
24.  serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things the Lord hath done for you.  
The things that are marvellous in our eyes; this marvellous blessing of enjoying without blood, an exiled King; this marvellous work, of so setting up the Head of the corner, it should teach us to be thankful to our God, and to express that thankfulness, not only as Samuel, but so also as our Sovereign hath required, By cordially renouncing all licentiousness, and profaneness, and by becoming examples of sobriety, and virtue: and indeed unless we all so do, we shall all be found reprobate stones, and very castaways in the last day.  
Lastly, Is the restitution of our Sovereign, and the making him, who was so sadly rejected the, Head of the corner, the Lords doing, and marvellous in our eyes?  
Truly, this should teach every of us our bounden duty to our King, and that is to love, honour, and obey him for the Lords sake, not daring by thought, word, or deed to lessen, or degrade him, whom the Lord hath made Caput Anguli, the only Supreme, the Highest, the Head of the corner.  
Col. 3. If you observe there the commands of obedience, which St. Paul gives, to wives, children, and servants, you shall find the Lord is made a motive to them all, for speaking to wives he saith, As it is 
Verse, 8,  fit in the Lord; speaking to children he saith, This is well pleasing to the 
20,  Lord; and speaking to servents, Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to 
23.  the Lord.  
Whence there appears to me a very signal difference between Christian, and between Moral obedience: For, the Wives of Jews, the Children of Turks, the Servants of Pagans; these all respectively may give as great obedience, as we can; and yet because it is not done upon a Christian motive, because it is not done for the Lords sake; all this obedience as to God's acceptance, and as to Heaven, is of no value: But the same obedience done upon the Lords account, the same obedience done by us Christians upon the account of Faith, it may bring unto us an everlasting recompense.  
Whereas then that our despised is become the Head of the corner, is the Lords doings, and marvellous in our eyes; our bounden duty is, not as do Pagons, or Turks, to honour our King for fear, to love him for his bounty, or to obey him upon constraint: But being it was the Lords doing, so marvellously (almost miraculously) to invest him in the Throne of his Father! Being it was the Lords doing to quell the mighty, and the Lords doing to set him in his own place; let our obedience be for the Lords sake, let our obedience have more of the Gospel, than the Law in it, let our allegiance have more of the Christian, than the Subject in it;  
Yea, that there may be a perfect period to the Grand Conspiracy, both against the Lord anointed, and the Lords anointed, let our conversation be such as become Christians, and our loyalty such as become Christian subjects: Let us kiss the Son lest he be angry, and let us honour the King, because God hath honoured him: for to God's glory, and our comfort, we cannot confess in any better Form, than the words of my Text, ever blessed be the name of God for it;  
The stone which the Builders refused, is become the Head stone of the corner: This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.  
Soli Deo gloria.   

Collecta.  
WE return unto thee, O God, as our bounden duty, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, for all thy blessings from time to time conferred upon us, beseeching thee of all, and every one of them to make us more sensible, that we may become more thankful: but more especial we praise thee for the blessings of thy day, and in particular for thy Son, and for our King.  
We praise, bless, and glorify thy name, blessed Jesus, that thou wouldst be pleased to become as a stone, despised, and despicable for our sakes, that thou would though so many despites, and scorns, purchase what was to thy eternal person no advantage, thee being Head of the corner, head to thine own creatures, Head of Men and Angels: O Lord, this was thy great goodness, and is our greatest comforts, that we are members of that body, and stones of that building, whereof thy own Son is the Head corner stone.  
And as for thy Son, even so we desire to praise thee for our King to, that thou hast been pleased of a stone so rejected, and so despised of men, to raise him up, and place him in his own place, to set him upon the Throne of his Father, and in him to give praise, and joy, and comfort to three torn and afflicted Nations.  
O Lord, give us grace to remember how for the transgressions of a land, many are the Princes thereof; give us grace to remember, if we shall gill do wickedly, as thy servant Samuel told Israel, we may yet be consumed both we and our King.  
And therefore, that we and our King may persevere and continue in thy favour, Lord give grace both to King and people, to fear thee, and serve thee in truth, even with all our hearts.  
O Lord confirm his Throne, and establish it in righteousness, make his Sceptre like a rod of Iron, that may early destroy all the wicked out of the land; breaking in pieces like a potter's vessel, all the profane and debauched, all such who go on in their wickedness, all such who neither fear their God, nor their King; make us all according to thy word, obedient to thee, and to thine anointed, that so peace and truth, love and plenty may dwell amongst us, and descend from us, even to succeeding generations; all which we beg for his sake, who is the Head of the corner, Jesus Christ, to whom be all honour and glory now and for ever.  
FINIS.