A SERMON Preached in the Parish-Church of St. Swithin, London, March 10th 1694/5. Upon the Much Lamented Death Of our Most Gracious Queen. By THO. BOWBER. M. A. Formerly of Wadham College Oxon.  
LONDON: Printed for William Rogers, at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. 1695.   

To the Right Honourable Sir john Summer, Kt. Lord Keeper of the Great SEAL of ENGLAND, and one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council.  
My Lord,  
IT needs not create Wonder in any, to find your Lordship's great Name in the Front of this Sermon, who will but consider the Faithful Service you did, and the great veneration you had for that Excellent Princess, of whom (in Mournful Accents) it speaks. The Performance, how mean soever, is the natural product of just Grief and Sorrow for the Common Loss of us all, and therefore needs not fear a favourable acceptance from your Honour. But my Lord, there is another Reason, that entitles this Dedication to your Lordship: I must always gratefully remember a singular instance of your Favour and Kindness to me, and I thought I could not better express my Gratitude, than by making a public Acknowledgement thereof. The Discourse, I here present your Lordship with, has nothing to recommmend it, but Truth and Plainness: Astonishing Grief, such as ours, slights and disdains the mean and useless Ornaments of empty Rhetoric: My chief Aim and Design in Preaching it, was to make Men better; to which Pious end, they having so great an Example set before them for their imitation, I hope, it may conduce, now, in Submission to the importunities of several (some of which for their Piety and Friendship had great influence over me) it appears in public. That God Almighty may long continue your Lordship the Delight of this Kingdom, for the Impartial distribution of Justice, and the Reformation of the Abuses and Corruptions of the late Times, is the most sincere and hearty prayer of, My Lord,  
Your Lordship's most Humble, Devoted, and Obliged Servant THO. BOWBER.   
2 Chron. XXXV. 24. The latter part of the Verse. 
And all Judah and Jerusalem Mourned for Josiah.  
MAN, though form in respect of his Body of Corruptible Principles, yet these did the Almighty so equally Poise, so harmoniously Attemper, that the Divine Workmanship, had it not dashed itself in pieces, might have been for ever free from Corruption. For in so blissful a Condition God Created Man, with such light of Understanding, holiness of Will, Affections so Regular, and with such Strength and Ability to have withstood the Temptations of the Serpent, that he might not only have seated himself in Immortality, but have conveyed it down to his Posterity. But aspiring to a more high and exalted degree of Happiness, than the alwise God had thought fit to place him in, he fell from his Original Excellency, and Forfeited his Incorruptibility. That Decree Gen. 2. v. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, took then immediately Life and Vigour, and an universal Mortality came into the World; every one became obnoxious to Death, and all past Generations are but Monuments of its Reign and Triumph: The Young Dye with the Old, the Rich with the Poor, the Wise with the Foolish, Good Josiah as well as Wicked Ahab. Can Goodness or Greatness, Youth or Beauty, or any other Human Excellency, have been any security against Death, our most Incomparable Princess had still Sat upon that Throne, which She sola te Adorned with Her Royal Presence; but to our unspeakable Grief, and the Astonishment of all round about us, She was quickly snatched away by Death, and no doubt in Mercy, as good Josiah was, that her Eyes might not see the Evil, which (we know not how soon) may befall us, without a speedy Reformation. Her Prayers doubtless, as well as Josiah's, had a mighty Energy in them to turn away the fierce Anger of God, and to incline Him to Mercy: Yet whatever Benefit we we might reap from them in Her Life-time, we were soon Deprived of Her, and that in a time when we thought Happiness at Hand, and ourselves Embracing it. A Lovely Scene of Affairs had but just presented itself, with a very Charming Aspect; a Check was given to our Enemies abroad, the King (to the great Rejoicing of His Royal Consort and People) returned home in Safety, and a Loyal Parliament Assembled, ready and prepared to Execute whatever might truly tend to the Honour of the Nation, and the Interest of Church and State; so that the Hearts of all good Men did exceedingly Rejoice, and they already anticipated that Happiness, which they expected (without interruption) to Enjoy. This was the goodly posture of Affairs, when we were all surprised by an unexpected turn of Providence: And this was the State of Judah, when Josiah was gathered to his Fathers; the Jews than promised themselves some long Prosperity, when on a sudden, a fatal Arrow from the Egyptian Host, cut off their King and Hopes together. It was indeed said of him, That he should be gathered to his Grave in peace, for he had no open Enemies, none that made War against him, yet not harkening to the words of Pharaoh Neco, who went up to War against the King of Assyria, by the River Euphrates; not harkening, I say, to his Words, from the Mouth of God, would needs Fight him in the Valley of Megiddo, where receiving a sore Wound, he was carried in a Chariot to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in one of the Sepulchers of his Fathers; and what great Impression his Death made upon all the People is here Expressed: And all Judah and Jerusalem Mourned for Josiah.  
Which words teaching us that it hath been the Practice of the Church, mournfully to Resent the Death of Religious Princes, the Method I shall confine myself to in the Prosecution of them, will be  
1st. Of all to offer some Reasons in General, to show, That the Death of good Princes is matter of great Mourning and Lamentation, to a People or Kingdom.  
2dly. I shall Inquire more particularly, into the great Cause the Jews had to Mourn for the Death of good Josiah.  
3dly. Upon the sad Occasion of the Death of our late most Excellent Princess; I shall set before you the great reason we all have to Mourn for so Great and Irreparable a Loss.  
4thly. and Lastly, I shall apply what hath been spoken in Two or Three Natural Inferences.  
1st. The Death of Religious Princes is matter of great Mourning and Lamentation; and surely were it not so, there had never been such Lamentations for their Death Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures: When Moses the Servant of the Lord Dyed, the Children of Israel are said to weep for him in the Plains of Moab thirty days, Deut. 34. v. 8. When Samuel Died, all the Israelites were gathered together, and Lamented him, 1 Sam. 25. v. 1. When Hezekiah slept with his Fathers, all Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem did him Honour at his Death, 2 Chron. 32. v. 33. And this Mourning for Josiah in the Text, was a very great Mourning, 'tis said to be as the Mourning of Hadradrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon, Zech. 12. v. 11. 
Eus. Ecc. Hist. de vita Constantini lib. 4. cap. 65.67.  And when Constantine the Great Dyed, how greatly did the Tribunes, Centurions, the whole Order of Judges and Magistrates Lament his Death; all places were filled with doleful Shrieks and Lamentations, that the common Good of them all was taken from them.  
These Instances plainly prove, That to make doleful Resentments upon occasion of the Death of good Princes, was the practice of the Church of God; and a Practice 'tis as Old and Ancient as the Church itself, for 'tis founded upon the Law of Nature; How pleasing and agreeable to Nature is it, to Weep and Grieve for the Death of our Natural Parents, especially if they be Good? Much more than surely, if we have any true Zeal for Religion, any regard for the Public Good, ought we to express our Grief, when the Fathers of our Country are by Death taken from us.  
For 1st. A Religious Prince is a great Blessing to a Nation, a promised Mercy, Isaiah 49. v. 23. 'Tis said, Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers, and their Queens thy nursing Mothers. A Godly Prince is an unspeakable Blessing, such a ray of Divine Love and Favour to a Nation, as bespeaks a very peculiar and distinguishing Providence presiding over it. Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee King (speaking to Solomon) to do judgement and justice, 1 King 10. v. 9 or to establish them for ever, as 'tis rendered 2 Chron. 9 v. 8. When Princes are endued with Wisdom, Piety, and the Fear of God, 'tis at once the greatest Lustre and Glory to themselves, and the greatest Mercy and Blessing which a People can enjoy. Blessed be thou O Land, when thy King is the son of Nobles, and thy Princes eat in due season for strength, and not for drunkenness. On the other hand, An Irreligious Prince is a sure Token of God's heavy Displeasure against a People, and of sore Judgements and Desolations to be poured out upon them. woe unto thee, O Land, when thy King is a Child, and thy Princes eat in the morning, Eccl. 10. v. 16. when thy King is a Child, that is in Understanding; such was Rehoboam in the midst and strength of his Age, a Child of one and forty Years old.  
2dly. Princes have a very great Influence upon their People, either to diffuse and spread the true Religion, or Idolatry and Profaneness throughout their Territories. Thousands, nay almost whole Nations and Kingdoms imitating and following their Examples; for what Entertainment Religion meets with at Court, the like for the most part it finds throughout the Kingdom. A Religious King therefore is a mighty Instrument both to establish the true Religion and to engage his Subjects in the ways thereof, by setting over them faithful Pastors, Men of Learning, Integrity and Piety, such as shall feed them with the spiritual Food of sound Knowledge, and win them by the Prevalency of their own good Examples. Jehosophat a Religious Prince sent Princes, and with them Levites and Priests, to Teach in all the Cities of Judah; and Asa his Father a good King commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their Fathers, and to do the Law and the Commandments; and what great Influence it had on the People, you may find in the 2 Chron. 15.12, 13. verses. Thus Josiah made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God, and all his days they departed not from following the Lord the God of their Fathers: but in his Sons days, who did Evil in the sight of the Lord, they returned to Idolatry, for all the chief of the Priests and the People transgressed very much, after all the abomination of the Heathen, and Polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. In 
* Vide Euseb. Zozom. Theodor. Ecc. Hist. et Magdeburg. Ecc. Hist.  the Reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, what Numbers, what Multitudes of Proselytes were daily added to the Church? And what effectual Care was there taken to suppress Heresies, and to reconcile differences in Opinion? (but yet) in the time of the Arian Emperors, the wonderful growth of Arianism gave occasion to that Complaint of St. Hierom, that almost the whole World Mourned to see itself become Arian. Thus in Julian the Apostates Reign they returned to Idolatry, and did with the utmost Zeal espouse it, Contending as eagerly for Error as Truth itself.  
3ly. Religious Princes are the Defence of a People; they are as the Walls of a Nation, as the Chariots and Horsemen thereof: The Psalmist Ps. 47. v. 9 calls them the Shields of the Earth; for by their Prayers they engage the Irresistible Strength of Heaven to be on their Side. Whilst the Governors and Princes of Israel and Judah were Religious, and kept close to the Service of God, they were Victorious and Triumphant, as in the Days of Joshua and the Elders who outlived him; and as in David's, Asa's, Jehosaphats, and Hezekiah's Reigns: But when they forsook the Lord their God, his Word and Ordinances, they soon fell as a Prey into the greedy Jaws of the Assyrian Monarches, by whom they were carried away Captive. At least good Prince's stave and keep off the Execution of Judgements upon a Nation, when they cannot by all their Prayers and Tears turn them away; Hezekiah, when such black Clouds of Wrath did hang over Judah and Jerusalem, that Micah Prophesied chap. 3. v. 12. That Zion should be Ploughed as a Field, and Jerusalem should become heaps, and the Mountain of the house, as the high places of the Forest, did yet so far prevail, that Peace and Truth Flourished in his Days. And in Josiah's Reign, when that Nation was in such deep Arrears to the Almighty, that the Execution of all the Threats and Judgements Denounced against them, was ready to take place; yet by Prayer and Humiliation did this good King so far mitigate the Divine Wrath, that it did not lay hold on them, during his Life. When good Princes are taken away from a People, 'tis like the breaking down the Bounds of the Sea; a passage is thereby laid open for the Divine Wrath to break in upon, and overwhelm them: Well therefore may the Death of good Princes be thought matter of great Mourning and Lamentation to a Kingdom or People. I proceed  
2dly To inquire more particularly into the great cause of the Jews Universal Mourning for the Death of Josiah, to which Enquiry we shall receive abundant satisfaction, if we do but Contemplate the greatness of the Loss they sustained by his Death, which I shall endeavour to set forth by describing,  
First, His Great and Extraordinary Piety.  
Secondly, His Zeal against Idolatry.  
Thirdly, His Public Spirit.  
Fourthly, The time of his Death.  
First, He was a Prince of most Illustrious Piety, one of the brightest Stars that did ever Shine on the Throne of Israel or Judah. There are some special remarks of his Piety: In the Eighth Year of his Reign, that is, the Sixteenth Year of his Age, (for he was eight years old when he began to Reign) whilst he was yet young, he began to seek after the Lord; Solomon also sought the Lord God of his Fathers, whilst he was young, but his Piety was strangely Clouded and Eclipsed in his elder years; for it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his Wives turned away his heart after other Gods, 1 Kings 11. v. 4. But Josiah's Seeking of the Lord was as clear as the Morning, as bright as the Sun, it knew no Declension. His Piety did surpass that of all the Kings of Israel and Judah which were before him: The Holy Ghost gives this High and Honourable Character of him, that like unto him there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his Heart, and with all his Soul, and with all his Might, according to all the Law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him. Other Kings there were in Israel and Judah of very high Elevations in Gifts and Graces, whose Hearts were sincere and perfect with the Lord, and lifted up in his Ways, yet they had some foils, their Beauty was sullied with some spots and blemishes: But this good King was unspotted in his Reputation, and so innocent in his Life, that we cannot charge him with any thing unbecoming his Profession.  
Secondly, He was a very Zealous Prince, a Burning Lamp of Zeal for the Glory of God, and Purity of his Worship, the most Zealous of the Kings that did ever sit on the Throne of Israel or Judah, in rooting out Idolatry. In the twelfth year of his Reign, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved Images, and the molten Images; and they broke down the Altars of Baalim in his Presence, and the Images that were on high above them, he cut down; and the Groves, and the carved Images, and the molten Images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the Graves of them that had Sacrificed unto them; and he burned the bones of the Priests upon their Altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem, 2 Chron. 34. v. 3, 4, 5. Of other Reforming Kings 'tis noted, That they took away the Altars of the strange Gods, the high places, broke down the Images, and cut down the Groves: Howbeit the High Places were not taken away, they took away some, but not all; but this good King destroyed all the Monuments, all the Relics of Idolatry, as you may read at large in the 2 Kings chap. 23. from the 4th. to the end of the 20th. verse.  
Thirdly, He was of a very public Spirit, for when he understood by the words of the Law, That great was the Wrath of the Lord that was to be poured out upon Judah and Jerusalem, because their Fathers kept not the Word of the Lord, he commanded Hilkiah the Priest and others saying, go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them them that are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that is found; And he endeavoured partly by Penitential Tears, and deep Humbling of himself, to allay the Divine Wrath and Indignation (for his heart was tender, and he did humble himself before God) and partly by entering into a Covenant with God: the sum and tenor of which was, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes, with all his Heart, and with all his Soul, and to perform the words of the Covenant, which are written in the Book of Moses: And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, to enter into the Covenant, and to stand to it; and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God, the God of their Fathers, as you may find it written, 2 Cron. 34. verses 31, 32. All this did this good King to avert, were it possible, imminent Judgements and threatened Desolations; but he came to the Throne in such an ill time, when they had so highly offended the Majesty of Heaven, and so increased his Anger through their many Sins and repeated Provocations, that notwithstanding all this great Reformation, and the keeping of such a Passover as never was kept in Israel, since the days of Samuel the Prophet, yet the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kinled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasses had provoked him withal.  
Fourthly, Josiah was taken away when their Hopes and Expectations of some lasting Prosperity, both in Church and State were advanced to the highest pitch; Therefore Jeremiah thus Laments his Death, The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen, Lam. 4. v. 20. I am apt to think, that this was not spoken of Zedekiah, as some would have it; for under such a Wicked and Idolatrous Prince, they could not promise themselves any safety; and when Josiah Died, all their swelling hopes of future Prosperity expired and died with him; then the Godly amongst them expected nothing but a Deluge of Sin and Misery to break in upon them; For their splendid Reformation was only superficial, a mere veil of Hypocrisy, as Jeremiah who Prophesied in Josiah's Days, complains, Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to the Lord with her whole heart, but feignedly or in falsehood, Jer. 3. v. 10. Having given some Account of the Jews great and universal Mourning for the Death of Josiah, I come  
Thirdly, To set before you the reasons of our Mourning for the Death of our late most Excellent Princess; which well weighed are of force to dissolve three Kingdoms into Tears; For  
First, She was a Princess of most Illustriand Singular Piety; She Sacrificed the Flower of Her Age and Time to the Service of the Great God, from whom She had Her Being: No Person had a greater sense of Religion, or was more sincere in Her Devotions, in which she was as constant, as the returns of Day and Night; the lofty Elevations of her Soul, and her daily flights to Heaven did plainly show, that Her Conversation was there also, and that She had Communion and Fellowship with God the Father, and with Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant. Her Life was so exactly Correspondent to Her Profession, that She became the greatest Ornament and Example of true Piety, that these later Ages have produced. That Honourable Character given Josiah, that like unto him there was no King before him, may in some respect well become Her: For She was the first of all the Kings and Queens that sat upon the British Throne, who appointed Afternoon Sermons to be Preached every Sunday at her Chapel in Whitehall, which She was pleased to Honour and Countenance with Her Royal Presence. Now that She did so greatly promote and encourage Religion amongst us, is a plain proof, an undeniable Argument, that (like Her Pious Grandfather, that great Luminary of Religion, both in his Life and Death) She truly loved that Church, in the Communion of which She was Baptised, Educated, and so lived and died: Nothing was wanting in Her to bring Religion into the greatest Vogue and Reputation. Had it pleased the Almighty to have lengthened out Her Life, Vice must have sneaked into Corners, and the Person of Honour, and the Gentleman had needed no other Distinction but their Virtues, than which nothing can be more becoming them.  
Secondly, She was a very Zealous Princess, so Zealous against the Idolatry of the Romish Church, that in that case like Levi of old (for which he is so highly extolled in Sacred Writ) She knew neither Father or Mother: When Israel fell first to Idolatry, and Moses said who is on the Lord's side? The Sons of Levi stood on the Lord's side, and appeared against Idolatry; even so our Queen by appearing against Idolatry, proved Herself to be on the Lord's side, and that in a time of imminent Peril and Danger.  
Thirdly, She was of a very Public Spirit, for when the Roman Eagle began to expand its spreading wings, and we were possessed with the justest Fears and dangers, she with an humble Trust and Confidence in Divine Mercy, readily parted with whatever was dear to her, nay, with her Royal dearest Husband for a time; who in the most dreadful Season of the Year, ventured on a very dangerous Expedition, seconded with innumerable Difficulties, to rescue us from the daily Rapes committed upon our Laws and Liberties, and to preserve and continue the beauty of the Gospel among us, for which the Hearts of all good Men did then tremble, as much as the Heart of Eli for the Ark of God, when he understood it was in danger of being taken by the Philistines: with so much gallantry and greatness of Mind, mixed with the most submissive Resignation to the Will of Heaven, did this most tender Wife and truly Wise Princess behave herself, in order to prevent a near-approaching Bondage, worse than that of Israel in Egypt, for that was only on their Bodies, but this on our Souls: And it might have been of as long continuance too, as theirs in Egypt was; when for the long space of four hundred years, they Groaned under the heavy yoke and burden thereof. The Queen, considering the large and capacious Endowments of Her Mind, had doubtless as clear and bright perceptions as any Person; what great dangers Her truly Loving, and as truly beloved Husband would (in all probability) expose His Royal Person to; yet so fixed, so intense (to the Eternal Honour of Her Sex) were Her Thoughts, upon the Glory of God, and the Public Good; that she found no satisfaction within Herself, till our Rights, which did then Bleed, were Asserted, and the Welfare of all the Protestants in Europe, which then lay at Stake, was in some good measure secured. Had She lived to have seen a settled Peace, what great and glorious things might both Church and State have expected from Her?  
Fourthly, She came to the Throne by a signal hand of Providence; so very visible and conspicuous were the Rays of Divine Wisdom, Power and Goodness in bringing it to pass, that the worst of Men must (with Pharaoh's Magicians) cry out, this is the finger of God. We were then in a very low and helpless Condition, our Hair was shorn, our Strength quite gone, all outward means failed us, and we saw nothing but Death and Destruction before us; and yet this was the Critical Minute, wherein Infinite Wisdom found out a way for our Deliverance; and the Thunder of God's Power, the Arms of his Omnipotency broke asunder whatever hindered it: Salvation arose as light out of darkness, for God in Judgement remembered mercy. Now that our Illustrious Princess was taken from us, soon after so great a Diliverance as this, may strike Dread into our Hearts, and chill our Spirits! For though She was gathered to Her Grave in Peace, yet for aught we know, it may be a sad Presage of many Miseries and Calamities ready to betid us: Mercies and Deliverances, when abused, turn into Judgements. In Josiah's days God offered the Jews Mercy, but whatever ties and Obligations lay upon them to reform and amend, they would not hearken to the voice of God, nor turn from their Evil ways, which proved their utter Ruin and Destruction: And I pray God that our ingratitude and unreformedness under our late great Deliverance, may not end in one of the sorest Judgements, that ever yet befell this Nation; if it be so, we have none to blame but ourselves, but yet from former instances of God's Love and Goodness towards us, we need not doubt, but that he hath still Mercy in store for us: The only thing wanting is an Heart truly sincere, and duly qualified to receive the same at his hands.  
Fourthly and Lastly, What remains further to be added, is to consider the Lessons and Instructions to be learned from this Discourse; the more closely we apply to ourselves what hath been spoken, the greater Benefit we shall reap from it.  
First Then, If the Death of Religious Princes be matter of great Mourning: We may hence take just occasion to upbraid the folly of such, who are so far from condoling the death of our most Religious Princess, that they Rejoice and Triumph at it. For the Conviction of Men so degenerate, and void of all Natural Affection to their Country, as well as Prince, it may not be inexpedient or unseasonable to argue thus: That if the thickest Darkness be more  than Light, if the heaviest Bondage be a more discreet choice than liberty; or the sight of Fields streaming with Blood, be more amiable and lovely than Peace, than here is a sort of Men who may rejoice; but if to be deprived of the brightness and purity of the Gospel, to be harassed with Antichristian Tyranny, and and to be involved in Confusion and Blood be sore Judgements (which every one that loves his Religion and Country must own) upon a Nation, than they ought to pay the just Tribute of Tears, to the Death and Obsequies of our Great and Merciful Princess.  
Secondly, Did all Judah and Jerusalem Mourn for the Death of Josiah? Let then all Persons among us, of what Rank and Quality soever, learn to Mourn for the Death of our Royal Sovereign the Queen.  
Let the Nobles Mourn, for their Mighty Princess is fallen, whose chief care was to support the Protestant Interest and Religion throughout all Europe.  
Let the inferior Dispenser's of God's Word and Sacraments Mourn, for they have lost the best of Queens, who was a true tender Nursing Mother to the best of Churches.  
Let the more immediate Attendants on Her Majesty mourn, for they have lost a Queen, whose great design was not only to make them Great and Honourable here, but also truly Religious, that they might be blessed and happy for ever.  
Let the Officers of the Army mourn, for she Clothed them in Scarlet, and put on Ornaments of Gold upon their Apparel.  
Lastly, Let all the Inhabitants of the Land Mourn, For the Beauty of Israel, the Glory of our Nation is now clad and wrapped up in Mourning.  
And now having filled our Hearts with a deep sense of Grief, for the Death of our Pious Princess, what we are chief and more especially to Bewail, is our Sins, which are the true cause of all the mischief done us; and will, if not timely and sincerely repent of, do us more. Let us then lay our Hands upon our Breasts, and weep bitterly, that the Floods of Impiety are risen to such an height, that they break through all Banks, all Bounds, all Laws, as if they had got the Ascendency of the Word, and were out of the reach, and above the check of an Almighty Power. Jeremiah complaining of the many and heinous Sins of Judah, tells us, that Profaneness was gone forth into all the Land, and that Men were grown Impudent in Sinning; Were they ashamed, when they had committed abominations? nay, they were not ashamed, neither could they blush, Jer. 8. v. 12. And can we when we reflect upon the common Practices of this dissolute Age, and how greatly Iniquity abounds among us, think ourselves deserving a better Character? It is manifest, that there is an excess of Corruption and Degeneracy among us, that neither the most endearing Mercies, nor the most terrible Judgements can reclaim us; that Religion, notwithstanding the great helps and advantages it meets with (than which, perhaps no Age had ever greater) is in a very low and languishing Condition, hardly able to come up to the Character of the Church of Laodicea, being fallen from lukewarmness, to somewhat farther distant from the Temper, which God requires: So that without endeavouring to aggravate that, which already exceeds all Number and Measure, we may safely sit down with this persuasion, that we, as well as the Jews have done enough to make God angry with us; and lest we should continue to provoke his Anger against us, let us not only Mourn for our own Sins, and the Sins of the Land, by fits and starts, but let us instantly manifest the truth, reality, and sincerity of our Sorrow, by an outward entire Reformation of Life, and an inward change of Mind; this will prove the most effectual Method, to turn away the fierceness of God's Anger, that we Perish not.  
Thirdly and Lastly, Are Religious Princes a mighty Blessing to a Nation? This than should teach us to set a very great and due value upon our present Sovereign, and to fix all that Love and Affection that was divided between the Royal Pair upon him alone; it was for our Sins, as well as the Trial of his Christian Valour, that Heaven so unexpectedly smote him in the most tender part, to allay and sweeten therefore so severe an affliction, Let us esteem the early acknowledgements of Duty and Loyalty among the least of those many and innumerable Services we stand indebted to him; let us prise him as God's Vicegerent, as the anointed of the Lord, as the Breath of our Nostrils: Let us offer our most humble and devout Prayers to God for him, beseeching him to Crown His Arms with success both by Sea and Land; that he may be a terror to his, and our Enemies, to cover him with his Providence, as with an impenetrable Shield, to preserve his Sacred Person from all the Plots and Attempts of his Enemies both at home and abroad, and after a long and happy Reign here on Earth, to change a Fading into an Incorruptible Crown of Glory, to be worn in the highest Heavens. Now to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, three Persons, but one Eternal God, he ascribed all Glory and Honour, Dominion and Majesty, both now and for ever.  
FINIS.