A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church OF WORCESTER, On the 29th of May, 1684. Being the ANNIVERSARY DAY OF HIS MAJESTY'S Birth, and Happy Restauration.  
By George Hickes, D. D. Dean of Worcester, and Chaplain in Ordinary to 〈◊〉 MAJESTY.  
Published at the Joint and Earnest Request of the MAYOR, and aldermans of Worcester.  
LONDON, Printed by R. E. for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, and John Jones Bookseller in Worcester, 1684.   

To the Right Worshipful FRANCIS HAINES Esq MAYOR, And to the Worshipful the ALDERMEN Of the City of Worcester.  
Gentlemen,  
THE style of the Paper, in which you sent me your joint and earnest Request to publish this Discourse, was so respectful and obliging, that I could not deny it without incurring the imputation of Rudeness, especially seeing it was the first Request, of any Kind, that you ever desired of me.  
I need not tell the world, how Loyal you are, nor how Active some of you have been in Reforming this City, the very Approving of this Sermon, which all the Enemies of the Government will be sure to Condemn, is a sufficient Testification, that you are some of those Worthy Citizens, who in the late distinguishing Times were too honest, and too wise to be misled by those subtle and malicious Enemies of the Monarchy, who are generally known by this Character, that they are for the King against his Evil Counsellors, and for the Protestant Religion against the Church.  
I was very much pleased, as well as surprised, to find at my arrival on the Evening of the Anniversary Day of our most Gracious Sovereign's Birth, and happy Return, that this City, now restored to its self, had prepared to celebrate that Auspicious day in a most Solemn, and Festival manner; and I must bear you and your Loyal Citizen's witness, that I never saw more Conduct and Order in any Public Procession, more Gravity in any Public Joy, or more universal Temperance, and Sobriety at any Public Feasting among all Sorts of Persons, exactly agreeable to that seasonable Exhortation, with which I concluded this Sermon, which now is no longer mine, but Yours. I am very sensible it deserves not half of that great Opinion, which you have expressed of it, and if it answer those Ends, but in any tolerable and competent measure, for which you desired me to make it public, especially among the People of this City, to whom I am bound to have a particular regard, I shall think my pains well spent, and rejoice that I was so happy, as to testify in a way so serviceable to the Public that I am.  
Gentlemen, Your most Affectionate, and Faithful Friend, and humble Servant, George Hickes. Psalm.   
Psalm. XIV. v. 7. 
When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.  
The whole Verse runs thus: O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back, etc.  
THIS and the foregoing Psalms, were composed by David in the Rebellion of Absalon, when the People of Israel had Universally revolted from the Allegiance which they owed to him, and the Duty which they owed to God.  
In the first Verse he gives us an account of the Authors, and Ring leaders of this general Apostasy, and Rebellion: They were, it seems, an Association of Impudent, and Atheistical Men, who tho' they durst not openly deny the God of Israel, with their Mouths, yet they denied his Being, and Providence, or at least doubted of them in their hearts, The Fool hath said in his Heart, there is no God; meaning most likely the Fool Achitophel, or perhaps the Raw, and Younger Fool Absolom. And then for those that were of their Party, they are, saith he, corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doth good. And then in the third Verse, to show how the Generality of the Nation had in a manner lost all Sense of their Duty, they are all (saith he) gone aside, they are all together become filthy, or putrid, there is none that doth good, no not one. In the fourth Verse, He expresses his astonishment at the stupidity, and blindness of the Conspirators, that they should go on without any Sense, or remorse, in their Atheistical Practices of Rebellion, and be so unjust, and irreligious: Have all the workers of Iniquity no Knowledge, who eat up my People, as they eat Bread, and call not upon the Lord. In the fifth Verse, he tells us, that the Generality of the People, were moved with fear to join with them, but that it was a causeless mistrust, and fear, for want of considering, That God will protect Righteous men, and Causes. There were they in great fear, 
He addeth, in a Parallel place, Psal. 53.5. where no fear was.  for God is in the Generation of the Righteous. i e. they were in a great fear, fearing men more than God, who taketh part with the Righteous against the Wicked. In the sixth Verse, he shows how the Conspirators laughed at the small Loyal Party, which preferring their Duty, before their Interest, and trusting in the Protection of Heaven, adhered to the King, You have shamed the Counsel of the Poor, because the Lord is his Refuge. i e. you have mocked and jeered the Poor Despicable Loyal Party, because they make the Lord their Refuge. And then in the last Verse, he expresseth a great, and longing desire for that happy time, when God, who dwelled in Zion, would arise, and show himself in the Deliverance of him, and his People, O that the Salvation, (or Saviour) of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People, Jacob shall (or aught too) rejoice, and Israel shall (or aught too) be glad.  
According to this, which is the most genuine Explication of the Psalm, I may without the least Violence to the Sense of the Royal Psalmist, make these three Observations upon my Text, which will be suitable to the Solemnity of this day.  

1. That the People in a State of prevailing, or successful Rebellion, are in a State of Slavery, and Captivity. This Observation I ground upon that remarkable Expression, the Captivity of his People.  
2. That a People cannot be brought out of such a State of Slavery, and Captivity, without the special Providence and Assistance of God. As it is written, when the LORD bringeth back the Captivity of his People.  
3. That it is the Duty of a People so brought back out of Captivity, to render Praise and Thanksgivings unto God. When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People, Jacob ought to rejoice, and Israel ought to be glad.   
First, that a People in a State of prevailing, and Successful Rebellion are in a State of Slavery, and Captivity: for a State of Slavery and Captivity, consists in being obnoxious to the will and pleasure of an Unlimited, Absolute, and Arbitrary Power, such as was the Power of the Ancient Roman Emperors, of whom as our Learned Lawyer Fortescue observes out of Justinians Institutions, the Civil Law saith, quod Principi placuit Legis habet Naturam, that the Prince's pleasure was a Law; Or, such as was the Power of all Kings in the Kingdoms of Ancient Times, founded after the Flood, when, as Justin in his Epitome tells us, arbitria Regum pro Legibus erant, that the will of the King was a Law unto the People; Or lastly, such as is now the Power of the Turkish, Russian, Persian, and Morocco Emperors, who rule purely by Regal Authority, without any Political Regulation, having Absolute, Uncontrollable Power over the Lives, Fortunes, and Liberties of their People, and of whom I may truly say, as Daniel said of Nabuchadnezzar, 
Dan. 5.19  for the Majestly that the High God hath given unto them, all their People, Nations, and Languages tremble before them, for whom they will they slay, and whom they will they keep alive, whom they will they set up, and whom they will they pull down.  
I say Civil Slavery, or Capativity, consists in being obnoxious to such an Unlimited Arbitrary Dominion, as this; which rather deserves the name of Military, than Civil Power; but the People, that are Subject to a Conquering Rebel, or Rebels, are subject to such an Unlimited, Absolute, and Arbitrary Power, which is under no Civil Regulation, but as the forecited Fortescue, wisely saith of mere Regal Power, it can give Laws to the People, and lay all manner to Taxes, and Burdens upon them without their consent, and let me add, take away their Lives by a High Court of Justice, or by any other Arbitrary way, without Trial by Law, or Peers, nay without any Trial at all.  
For their Power is an Usurped Military Power, not under the wholesome regulation of Laws, but as Arbitrary as the Sword, and as Tyrannical as their Lusts will make it, and if they do not oppress the People, after they have mastered the Lawful Government, it is generally because their Policy over rules their Ambition and Cruelty, and not that they are truly good. It is seldom that Rebels have any regard, or tenderness to the People's Blood, or Treasure; or if, as Cicero saith of men who make their Interest their Supreme End, the goodness of their Nature, may chance to overrule their Evil Principles, yet the People, that are subject unto them, are all the while in the Lion's Den, the Beast may perhaps be good humoured, and Generous, but still he may eat them, when he will.  
Therefore every successful Rebellion makes the victorious Rebel a grand Signior, the Sword is his Title, and his standing Armies the Laws by which he Governs; so that in the most absolute Monarchy that ever was, Rebellion may alter the Governors, but not the Government, which will be still as Arbitrary, as the will and pleasure of the Conqueror can make it, and all the Benefit that People under such a Revolution, can possibly reap by a prosperous Rebellion, will only be that of the Ass in the Fable, who complained, that tho' he had changed his Master, and Paniers, very often, yet still the burden was the same. I say in the most Arbitrary Government, where the People are perfect Slaves, Rebellion will not likely mend their condition, because the Conquering Rebels will still be their Lords and Masters, and they must still abide Slaves. They change their Master, but not their Service, their Lords, but not their Vassalage; all the difference is, that they have an Usurper, or Senate of Usurpers, to rule over them, instead of their Natural Sovereign, and have set up their Fellow Subjects in his Place.  
This generally speaking, is so true, and so agreeable to the common report of Histories, that would the Subjects of the most Absolute Monarch consider it, they would never follow the most plausible Ringleader into Rebellion against their Natural Sovereign; but most of all, would the People of a limited and regular Government, who have their Properties, and Liberties secured by Law, consider, That a Conquering is an Absolute, and Unlimited Power, they would abhor the thoughts, and abstain from all appearance of Rebellion, which in the end must either render their own Sovereign, or the Victorious Usurpers, which is ten times worse, absolute Lords over them, and themselves, by consequence, perfect Slaves. For if their rightful Sovereign against whom they rebel, prevail, than they and their Estates must lie at his mercy, and they will be content on any condition to redeem their forfeited lives; but if their pretended Patriots, their Leaders into Rebellion prevail, than They become their Absolute Sovereign, and may dispose of their Lives and Fortunes, without ask their consent.  
What can hinder a successful Traitor, at the Head of his Conquering Legions, from doing what he pleases? And who, even among those who first set him up, and lent him their Assistance, dares say unto him What dost thou? 
2 Sam. 15.5.  At first he was their humble Servant, he did obeisance unto them, and put forth his hand unto them, and kissed them; at first he sighed for their unhappiness, and bemoaned their Grievances, and begs but their own assistance to set them free; but as soon as he prevails, than they must say unto him, as the Trees said unto the Bramble, in the Parable of Jotham, Come thou and reign over us; 
Judges 9.14, 15.  and when it is once come to that, than he will plainly say unto them, If in truth ye anoint me King over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow, but if not, let fire come out of the Bramble, and devour the Cedars of Lebanon.  
Soon after Absalon had stolen away the hearts of the People, by his fair Carriage and Speeches, the next News was, Absalon reigneth in Hebron; and in his short Reign, or Usurpation, he and his Captains did so enslave and oppress the Subjects of David, after they had revolted from him, that he compared their condition, under the Power of their young Idol, to Captivity; saying, When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People; Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.  
He had assured them before, that he desired nothing more, 
2 Sam. 15.4.  than to be in a condition to remove their Grievances: Oh (saith he) that I were made a Judge in the Land, that every man that hath any suit, or cause, might come unto me, and I would do him justice. This and such like was his Language at first, but when he had got a great Army at his Command, and had beat the King out of Jerusalem, than he could lie with his Father's Concubines upon the top of the House, in the sight of all Israel, and he, and his Adherents, could eat up the people, as they eat bread. The poor oppressed Commonalty saw their own slavery too late, and when God besides their expectation had delivered them from it, they were so glad of it, that they were at strife throughout all the Tribes, who should bring the King back. Oh (said the men of Israel) the King saved us from the hand of our Enemies, 
2 Sam. 19.9, 10.  he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he is fled out of the Land for Absalon, and Absalon whom we rebelliously anointed over us is dead in Battle, now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King.  
These Considerations of the great Blessings they enjoyed under David would weigh nothing with them before, but after they felt the Calamities of War, and the smart of Arbitrary Government under a prevailing Traitor, after they had run into that under Absalon, which they had but feared under David, than they saw their Error, and the men of Israel were angry with the men of Judah, for not letting them join with them in bringing back the King.  
And what happened unto the People of Israel and Judah, under the prevailing Rebellion of Absalon, hath happened, I believe, upon all the successful Rebellions in the World. Did ever People rebel with success, and mend their condition by it? Nay, did ever People succeed in Rebellion, and not afterwards groan under the Arbitrary Dominion of the Victorious Rebels? Or, were Grievances and Oppressions ever sewer under Usurpers, than under the lawful Head? It is, as I have shown, inconsistent with the Nature of that Arbitrary and Military Power, with which Conquest doth invest every prosperous Rebel; and though it be easy to reply, that it is possible for one that rises up against his lawful Sovereign to be free from self-interest and ambition, and purely to design the Ease and Liberty of his Fellow-Subjects; yet in all the Instances and Examples of successful Rebellion, very few, or none such are to be found. You see what Impostors Absalon and Achitophel were, and how they falsified all their Pretensions to the credulous People, and would the time permit, and the Solemnity of the day allow of it, I could verify the truth of my first Observation in many such Popular Cheats.  
But I will wave all Foreign, and confine myself to Domestic Examples, to prove that a state of prosperous Rebellion is a state of Slavery and Captivity, as King David in my Text, and our late Blessed Sovereign, who was wont to bewail the sad condition of his People in the late prevailing Rebellion, frequently observed. I need not tell you what fair Promises, and gilded Pretences the Ringleaders of it made unto the deceivable People. They first possessed their Heads with imaginary Fears, and Grievances, and then promised to secure them against all the Dangers which they feared. At first they exhorted and invited the Common Citizens and People, and then Commanded them; first they begged and borrowed Supplies of them, and took their Money by way of Contribution and Loan; but afterwards, when they had got the Power into their own hands, they levied it as fast by their own Authority, and demanded it by way of Tax. I shall say nothing of the illegality of their Rebellion against their Prince, no Law being better known to the People than that which declares it to be High Treason to Levy War against the King, but I design to set forth their oppression of their Fellow-Subjects, and show in a few Instances how they inverted all the Fundamental Laws of the English Liberties, and how their little Finger was much heavier, than their Lawful Prince's Loins.  
It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government, and the first Article of Magna Charta, Quod Ecclesia Anglicans libera sit, & habeat omnia sua Jura integra, & libertates illaesas, That the Church of England shall be free; and have all her Rights kept entire, and her Liberties inviolable, and yet to make Way for their Wicked, and ungodly Ends, they voted the Bishops out of the House of Peers, where, as Mr. Pryn afterwards told them, they had sat in their Predecessors as long as the Lords Temporal had sat in their Progenitors, and longer than the Representatives of the Commons of England, had sat in the House of Commons. The Lords at first refused to consent to such a fundamental alteration, perceiving very well what might be the consequence theoreof, upon which the People were brought down in Multitudes to the Parliament Doors, to Cry against the Bishop's several days successively, till the Terrors of those Tumults did force them to Consent.  
After this was done to the Bishops, they did what they pleased to the Loyal Clergy, and the Universities, Imprisoning, and turning them out of their Free-Holds, in a most Arbitrary, and Tyrannical manner, as may be seen in a little Book called the IIth Persecution, and many other Narratives of the late Times, to which I refer you for the particulars, that you may see how little regard these Patriots of England, falsely so called, had to the first Article of the great Charter, which concerns the Rights, and Liberties of the Church.  
But 2ly, It is a fundamental Law of the English Liberty, That no Free Man shall be taken, or imprisoned, without Cause shown, or be detained without being brought unto his Answer in due form of Law. This is part of the 29th Article of Magna Charta, and the whole Subject matter of the 28th of Edw. 3. and of the Petition of Right, which these very same Patriots, to endear themselves unto the People, would not let the King rest till he had passed again, and again. Yet after they had got the Sword into their own Hands, they Imprisoned whom they would, thousands of Innocent Men, and good Subjects of all Ranks, without assigning any Reason but the general Reason of Malignancy, and without bringing them to answer for themselves, as the Law requires.  
3ly. It is a fundamental Law of the English Government: That no Man shall be disseized of his , or Liberties, but by the known Laws of the Land. This likewise is contained in the 29th Article of the great Charter, and the 28th of Edw. 3. And it is that, which makes England a Paradise, and the English the most happy People in the World: Yet these very Men from the moment they got the Power into their hands against all form of Law disseized, sequestered, decimated, and forced Multitudes of Freeborn Gentlemen of England to compound for their own Hereditary Estates.  
4ly. It is a fundamental Law of the Liberties of England, That no man shall be Condemned, or put to Death, but by lawful Judgement of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land in an ordinary way of a Legal Trial. But these great Patriots, and Patrons of the People's Liberties, condemned one of the King's greatest Subjects, by an Arbitrary Ordinance, made by the remaining Parts of both Houses united into one; which made him say upon the Scaffold, that he was not only the first Archbishop, but the first Englishman, that died by an Ordinance of Parliament; if the two Houses sitting without the King, and in open Hostility against him, much less, if a part of the two Houses so sitting, aught to be called by that happy, and Honourable Name.  
Lastly, It is a fundamental Law of the English Government, That if any other case than what is declared in 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. which is supposed to be High Treason, do happen before any of his Majesty's Judges, those Judges shall tarry without giving Judgement, till the Cause be shown, and declared before the King and his Parliament, whether it ought to be judged High Treason, or no: Yet these Tyrannical Men, the remnant of a Rebellious House, vote, and declared things to be High Treason, which could not be so by the English Laws, and which had never been declared to be High Treason, neither by the Law (by which they themselves were Traitors;) nor by the Judges, in any Case; nor by the King and his Parliament; and by these, and other Arbitrary do, they made the Freeborn Subjects of this Nation, as mere Slaves, as the Subjects of the Grand Signior, and their Lives, and Liberties, their Goods, and Fortunes, as absolutely depending upon them, as theirs depend upon him. It would be endless to recite all their Sultanical Ordinances: Their Ordinances for Sequestering of Delinquents, as they called Loyal Persons, Estates; for Taxing such, as had not contributed to the War, or not contributed according to their Estates and Abilities; for sequestering the Temporalities of many Bishops, and then for selling all the Bishops, and Church-Lands; for assessing all the Members of either House, that absented from, or were in Arms against the Parliament, as they arrogantly miscalled themselves; for voiding the places of Clerks of Record, that did any thing in their Offices in Favour of the Crown; for regulating, as they called ruining, the two Universities; for removing of Scandalous, as they called Loyal, Ministers; for taking away the fifth part of Delinquents Estates; for disabling of them to bear any Office, or Place of trust, or to have any Voice in Elections; for setting free all Apprentices from their Masters, that had served the Parliament; for Abolishing the House of Peers; for selling the King's Lands; not to mention all their new Devices, by which they squeezed out of the People of this Land, above twenty Millions in seven years' Time: A Greater sum than all the Kings of England, had levied from the Conquest until that time, or herhaps until this day.  
Their oppressions in these and such like Instances were very visible, not withstanding all their Religious disguises, and all their pretended Zeal for the Glory of God, insomuch that great Complaints began to be made of them, by those, who had set them up, and their Tyranny increasing, at length came out a bold Remonstrance against them in 1647, in which they are accosted thus:  
Seeing it is high time for the Free Commons of England, to look after the enjoyment of that good Land, Peace, Freedom, and Justice, which you promised us at the beginning, give us leave to expostulate a little: How comes it to pass, that we reap not the Harvest of this promised Seedtime, and that such fair Blossoms yield such slender Fruit? Whence comes this muttering, and groaning, and these Exclamations against Oppression, Tyranny, and Injustice in our streets? How comes it to pass, that we see Courts of Injustice (Justice we cannot call them) even at the Parliament-Door, nay, within the Parliament-House? How comes it to pass that so many Irregular and Illegal Votes, Orders, Declarations, and Ordinances pass for current one day, and counterfeit the next? Whence proceeds this Spirit of Ambition, Contention, Oppression, and Sedition, which Reigns so powerfully among you? Did you so vehemently declare against Prerogative to destroy us by Privilege? Did you Exclaim against Injustice in others, that yourselves might be singularly, and superlatively unjust? Must your Will be our Supream-Law? Was the taking a little of our Estates illegal in others, but Justice in you to take all? Is this the end of our Labour, the return of our Expectation, and the prize, for which we have sweat so much Blood? We looked for Justice, but behold Oppression; we looked for Liberty, but behold Slavery, and our end is worse than the beginning. We beseech you to look to the Rock, from whence you are hewn; were you not Fellow-Commoners with us, and are you not accountable to us, by whom you are impowered, and entrusted? Have you not declared, that the Law ought to be the Rule of the King's actions, and must it not be Rule of yours? Have you formerly declared, That they, who give Law to others, ought not to be without, or above Law themselves? And therefore we the Free Commons of England, expect reparation and relief against all your Arbitrary and Exorbitant Practices. Have you not declared, That no Free Commoner ought, or might be disinfranchised of his Liberty, without Indictment, and that the Fining, and Imprisoning of Men, without due Process of Law, was a breach upon the Law, and destructive to the Subjects Liberty? How comes it then to pass, that since the time of your declaring of it to be so unjust in others, you have so frequently used it yourselves? What Prison is there free; nay, what County, or Corporation, but hath some Sufferers, being Imprisoned by the Arbitrary Subject-destroying Power of you, and your Committees? Have you not complained, that the Public Stock was converted to Private Uses, and do not you do the same? And have you not often declared against the King, for keeping and protecting Delinquents from Trial, and do not you yourselves protect, and defend many False and Traitorous Members, under pretence of Privilege.  
There are many other Complaints in this Remonstrance against our Reformers, which for Brevity-sake, I omit. And after they were thus openly rebuked for their Oppressions, and Corruptions, their Credit began sensibly to decay, till at last they were dissolved, or rather reform into a new Council of State, which called themselves the Keepers of the Liberties of England, which, after a short blaze, resigned all their Power to the Victorious Rebel, from whom they had it, under the style of Protector; and how the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and the whole Nation were enslaved by him, his own Acts are yet extant to declare. He and his Council made new Laws for Treason, and for levying and raising of Money. He confined a great part of the Loyal Nobility, and Gentry, and such as he suspected of Loyalty, to their Houses; he forbade them to wear Swords, and all others to meet at any Hunt, Horse Races, and the like Diversions. He made his Proclamations Laws, he tolerated all Religions, but Popery, and Prelacy, which he craftily joined together, to make the People believe they were both alike.  
He was succeeded by his Son, who was deposed by the Officers of the Rebel-Army, they call back the remnant of the Old Long-Parliament to the House; the Parliament presently erects a Council of State, afterwards they, and the Army clash; the Army prevails, settles a Committee of Safety; this shortly expires, and is succeeded by the Remnant of the Long-Parliament again. They presently fall to Imprison several of the most Eminent Citizens of London; and commanded the General, of happy memory, to take away their Posts and Chains, and to destroy their Gates, and Portcullis'. As soon as he had done this, he bravely turned them out of Doors, and re-admits the Secluded Members, who seeing how the Kingdom was enslaved, and bend upon the King's return, presently issued out Writs for a free Parliament; which brought back his Majesty upon this Auspicious Day.  
From this Enumeration of the Usurping Powers, you may perceive to what a degree this poor Nation was enslaved, under so many Tyrannical Successions. It is impossible to tell how many Souls, Lives, and Noble Families were destroyed by them, and how many Millions spent; but from this short review, which I have now given you, you may perceive, that first I undertook to prove, That a People in a state of Prosperous and Successful Rebellion, are in a state of Slavery and Captivity; but especially a free People, who of Subjects to a limited Sovereign, under the Regulation of wholesome Laws, become Slaves to the Arbitrary Power of their own Fellow Subjects, who Govern by the Sword.  
And so I pass to my Second Proposition to prove, That a People cannot be delivered out of such a state of Slavery, and Confusion, without the special Providence and Assistance of God, as it is written, When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity in his People. This David, who was so great a King, and so great a Politician, acknowledgeth also to Zadock the Highpriest, 2 Sam. 15.25. The King said unto Zadok the Priest, carry back the Ark of God into the City, if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back again, and show me both it, and his habitation.  
Now this Religious way of speaking in David, proceeded not from Fear, or Superstition, which is the Daughter of Fear, [for as Hushai told Absalon, he was a valiant and Mighty Man] but from the rational and experimental knowledge he had of the Being and Providence of God. He knew God, as a Philosopher, and he knew him as a Prophet: Reason and Revelation had both taught him, how God cannot but be concerned in the most minute Contigencies, that happen to single Persons, much more in the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms, according to what he elsewhere saith. The Lord is King for ever, and ever, he is a great King over all the Earth. 
Ps. 47.2.  None but the Epicureans, that over acknowledged the Being, denied the Providence of God, and their Opinion is more unreasonable, than pure Atheism itself; and all that ever acknowledged the Providence of God, did believe that he employed it in a most special manner, over Human Societies, and that the greater any Human Societies were, they were the more special Objects of his Fatherly Care.  
Indeed all Wise Men, both among Jews, Christians, and Heathens, have thought it very difficult, and ordinarily presurnptuous, to determine precisely what things happen by God's special Providence, and Assistance, and what do not; because his secret Influences upon the Understandings, and Wills of Men, cannot be distinguished from their own Judgement, and free Choice; but yet the Power, and Wisdom, and Justice, and Goodness of God are so very discernible in some Events, that we may without Presumption impute them to him, as Judicious Critics do Beoks to such, and such Authors, and from something that is Divine in the contrivance of them, pronounce at first sight, as a Limner did upon what was done in his absence, on a Picture which he was drawing, that the hand of Apelles had been there. If you ask me what that is, which makes a Man discern the special hand of God in any Event, I might answer, without any prejudice to the Cause of Religion, that I cannot tell, because the Characters of things, though clearly understood, are many times hard to be expressed: As in the appearance of a good, or bad Angel, that is inexplicable, which makes me discern, at first sight, that what I see is not an ordinary Man.  
But lest this should look like shisting, (as all lawful advantages will be called in the cause of God) I shall give you the Marks and Characters, which the Sense of Mankind, and the Common Divinity of all Nations hath set down, as Rules whereby to know, when any Humane Event is the Lords special doing, and in so doing, I shall apply the Wonderful Revolution from our Slavery and Captivity this Day, as a pat Example to every one of those Rules.  
1. The first Character then, whereby we may know, when any Event is the Lords special doing, or an Effect of his Special Providence, is, When it is brought about by Invisible Means, or if by Visible, yet by unlikely Means, which are Inadequate, unsuitable, or Repugnant to the Effect. For this Reason the Romans imputed that strange Revolution of their good Fortune after the Battle at Cannae, to a special overruling Providence, and acknowleged that Hannibal was Defeated by the Gods. Moventi a tertio lapide Hannibali Deos iterum, Deos, (inquam) necfateri pudebit, restitisse, faith the Historian, which in allusion to the Psalmist may be rendered thus: If it had not been for the Gods, now may Rome say, if it had not been for the Gods, when the Carthaginians under Hannibal risen up against us, they had swallowed us up quick, so wrathfully were they displeased at us.  
Thus likewise the Jews were so amazed at the wonderful Manner of their Deliverance out of Captivity, in which they had Lived 60 Years, that they were like Men in a Dream, and could scarce Believe the Truth, for the Strangeness of the thing. The Power and Wisdom, and Goodness of God was so Visible in that unlikely revolution, that they could not hold from crying out among the Heathen, The Lord hath done great things for us, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. They esteemed their Return from Captivity as great a Miracle, as turning back the Streams of Nile, and the Course of the Rivers in the South, and though there was nothing so surprising in it, as in our Deliverance this Day, yet God represented it to the Prophet Ezekiel by the Resurrection of Dry Bones, to show it was his special Work. Son of Man (faith he to him in the Visionary Valley full of Dry Bones) Prophesy upon these Dry Bones, 
Fz●k. XXXVII.  and say unto them: O ye Dry Bones, hear the Voice of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord to these Bones, I will breathe upon you, and you shall live, and know, that I am the Lord. So I Prophesied (saith he) as I was Commanded, and there was a great Noise, and behold a great shaking, and the Bones came together, Bone to his Bone. And I beheld, and lo the Sinews, and Flesh came upon them, and the Skin covered them above, but there was no Breath in them. Then saith he unto me, Prophesy unto the Wind, and say unto the Wind, Come, and Breathe upon these Slain, and I Prophesied as he commanded me, and the Breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their Feet, an exceeding great Army. Whereupon he said unto me, Son of Man these Bones are the whole house of Israel. And for the same Reason may we now say, that they were the Loyal Captivated part of his Majesty's Subjects, whom God, as it were Raised out of their Graves, like Men, that had been long dead.  
The Prophecies are full of such ingenious Emblems, as these, and particularly in the 17th Chap. of the same Prophecy, God represented to the Prophet the Ruin and Restauration of the King, and Royal House of Judah, under the Parable of the Cedar, and great Eagle, which is as fit a Symbol to represent what hath happened to our late, and present Sovereign, and the Princes of the Blood. The great Eagle was the King of Babylon, who came to Lebanon, and cropped off the Branches of the highest Cedar, upon which it withered and died. But I (saith God) will preserve the young twigs of the highest Cedar, and I will take the highest branch of it, and plant it again in the mountain of Israel, and it shall put forth boughs, and bear fruit, and become a goodly Cedar, and all the trees of the Forest shall know (so signal was his Providence in it) that I the Lord brought down the high tree, and dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish again.  
Was not this the condition of our late and present Sovereign? Did not an Eagle, a Many-headed Eagle full of Feathers of divers Colours, crop the top Boughs of the Royal Prerogative, and make the Cedar whither away, and die? Nay, did they not do unto him, what was done to the Tree, in the vision of Nabuchadnezzar, hue him down, cut off his branches, 
Dan. 4 14.  shake his leaves, and scatter his fruit? But did not God preserve his young Twigs, and did he not plant his highest Branch again in the British Mountains, and is he not become a mighty Tree? Yes, there are so many things, if not plainly miraculous, yet so very admirable in the preservation, and replanting of or Gracious Sovereign, that in Justice we ought to ascribe it to the special overruling Providence of God.  
For if we consider the Builders, who refused the Stone; which is now become the head of the Corner, our Common-wealth-builders, I mean, who built with untempered Mortar, Confusion came upon them, as upon the Builders of Babel, none knows how, unless it was sent from above. Consternation suddenly fell upon some, Repentance or Horror seized upon others, and Jealousies and Discontents confounded the rest; the People in the mean while, as it were by Inspiration, crying out in all places, Hosannah to the King. Then were strange things to be seen, Republicans with Royalists, Churchmen with Church-robbers, Rebels and Traitors with Loyal Subjects, Papists with Protestants, Episcopists with Anti-episcoparians, all agreed to bring in the King, or let him be brought in. That Ethiopians should thus change their Colour, and Leopards their Spots, that the Lion should associate with the Lamb, and the Wolf with the Kid, that things on a sudden should change their Natures, or act against them, are Miracles in the Moral, as well, as the Natural World, and aught to be ascribed to his Power, and special Providence, who only doth wonderful things.  
That Panic Fears should also seize on those Legions, of whom the World was afraid; and that they, who were Veterans in Blood, and Rebellion, should bear the sight of the Royal Standard, and pray for the King, as he passed their Ranks, must needs be imputed to his special Influence, 
Zech. 12.10.  who was able to pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon them, that they might look upon him, whom they had pierced with Repentance, and Remorse. That so many different Elements should jumble into such an happy mixture, and Causes so contrary conspire to one Effect, that all the Enemies of the Government should be, as it were Planet-struck, and all the Interests against it invisibly subdued, that scarce one Party, or one Man among them should appear to oppose this Revolution, nor one Dog among them move his Tongue, but that it should be brought about without Mutiny, without Murmur, or without a drop of Blood, was an admirable Scene of Affairs, worthy the contrivance of infinite Wisdom, and aught to be esteemed, as his doing alone, who can work by repugnant Causes, bring Order out of Confusion, and take from men their Hearts of Stone, and give them Hearts of Flesh.  
II. Another Character of God's special Providence and Assistance in any Event is, The strange seasonableness of it, when it unexpectedly falls out in a time of despondency, to prevent the destruction of a destitute Person, and the utter ruin of a desperate Righteous Cause. God could prevent the fall of good Men, and the ruin of Righteous Causes, but for just, and wise reasons he sometimes lets them lie in the rubbish, till they seem irreparable, and then unexpectedly raises them again, as our Saviour raised Lazarus from the Grave, when every one thought it was impossible to be done.  
This was the Condition of the Royal Family, and Cause. God could have prevented that stupendous Series of Calamities, which fell like Wave after Wave upon them, he could have prevented the Designs, and have sooner blasted the Success of their Enemies, but he let them prosper to that degree, that the Spectators, as well as the Actors of this sad Tragedy, were ready to think, that God had forgotten to be gracious to David, and had utterly forsaken his Righteous Cause. But then at the moment, when the Wicked Blasphemed God, and said, Tush! God careth not for him, in that Critical moment of Despair, when God seemed to stand afar off, and hid, as it were, his face from him, than he arose, and scattered his enemies, and broke the power of the ungodly, but like the power of the Tyrant Antiochus in Daniel which was broke without hands. When the Usurpers Will was a Law, when his Greatness made him defy his Enemies, and say in his Heart, I shall never be cast down; then came a Disease, like an Angel sent from God, to do the part of Brutus, and smote the Tyrant to the Ground. Even then, when there were no Human means left to rend the Kingdom from him, God rend him from the Kingdoms, and snatched his direful Soul from him, as from the Fool in the Gospel, in the midst of his strength, and security, when he had taken the Houses of God, and the Palaces of the King in possession, and thought he had much Goods laid up for many years. When he said in his Heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the Stars of God, 
Isa. XIV.  I will sit upon the mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North, than I say, when he thought to ascend above the clouds, (a Prophetical Symbol for Great Monarchy) and be like the most high in Sovereign Power, than fell he like Lucifer from Heaven, and was brought down to Hell, and then sang we for joy, how art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer! Son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground! Thou who didst make the Earth to tremble, and shake the Kingdoms thereof. Lastly, when he as brought to that prodigious Strength and Greatness, as to be Courted by the greatest Monarches, and thought to fix the Succession in his tainted Blood; when he had been set by his Flatterers in a Throne, and the Crown and Sceptre laid at the Idols Feet, than came the hand writing suddenly out against him; and the Stone, which he and the Builders before him had rejected, like the stone in the Vision, cut out of the Mountain without hands, smote the Image (that Prophetical Symbol of many Governments) and broke in pieces the Iron, the Clay, the Brass, the Silver, and the Gold, and they became like Chaff, and the wind carried them away, but the Stone, which smote the Image became a great mountain, even like mount Zion, which cannot be removed, and is the joy of the whole Earth.  
To conclude, even then when the Royal Interest was desperate, and in Human probability must have utterly perished, had not the deliverance happened when it did, when not the People only, but the Princes of the Earth counted our Sovereign smitten, and afflicted of God, and shunned him, as the Herd do an hunted, or embossed Stag, then sudden confusion came upon his Enemies, as sorrow upon a Woman in Travel; then God said of them, as of Cyrus his Anointed, He is my Shepherd, and set him upon the Throne of his Father David, and made his Enemies lick the Dust. When he was ready to sink under the Waves of Affliction, upon which he had walked, not without a Miracle, so many years, than didst thou stretch forth thy Arm unto him, O righteous Jesus, when he was become like a broken Vessel, and seemed cleam forgotten, as a dead man out of sight, than didst thou, O Lord, overtun, overturn, overturn, till he came, whose right it was.  
III. Another Character of God's special Providence, and Assistance in any Event, is. The mighty good, which thereby accrues to the public state of things, and the persons upon whose welfare the public doth depend. To ascribe every petty Accident to a special Providence, would look like Lightness, and Superstition, and it would be Profaneness to father upon God the mischiess, which we bring upon ourselves, by our own Sin, and Folly, but that great and beneficial Events ought to be ascribed to his particular hand, is the common Creed of all Mankind. For it is demonstrable from the Nature, and Attributes of God, that he doth govern Human Affairs, and that being admitted, it must needs follow in the Second place, that he takes special care in ordering those Events, which are of public moment and benefit to Mankind, and peculiarly those, which concern any People, that are of his Household, which is the Church of God. There was never any thing, which seemed more contingent, than the selling of Joseph into Egypt, yet God did order it by a special Providence, that he might be an Instrument in the time of Dearth, of saving his Father's House. It was not you, (saith he to his Brethren) but God, who sent me hither to preserve you a Posterity on the Earth. 
Gen● 45.5, 7, 8.  God sent me before you, to save your lives by this great deliverance, and hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of his hours, and Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt, which was then more than ever the Granary of the World. So likewise in the story of Esther, that she should be chosen into the Seraglio of Ashuerus among a crowd of other Virgins, seems a matter of Fortune, or common Providence, and yet it was contrived by God, for the deliverance of his People, and the Providential Scene, which depended upon it, was perhaps, as miraculous, as ever was acted upon the Stage of Human Affairs.  
But of all the remarkable Events in Sacred, or Profance History, none hath been a greater Blessing to any Prince, or People, than the Revolution of this day hath been to us, and our King. As for us, we were delivered by it from Egypt, and Babylon at home, from domestic Captivity, from Servitude of all Servitudes the most intolerable, under the Tyrannical Empire of our own Mamalukes, and from that Evil under the Sun, when Beggars and Servants were Lords and Princes, and Princes and Lords, Beggars and Slaves. We were delivered by it from Military and Arbitrary Power indeed, from the Tyranny and Insolence of Usurping Sultan's in several Forms and Successions of Government, who broke the bonds of Law in sunder, as Samson did the green Withs, like Threads of Tow, and made their Will and Pleasure our Law. In a word, we were restored by it to our natural King, and Government to the Father of our Country, and in him to our Lives, our Religion, our Liberties, and Estates.  
As for his Majesty, he was restored by it to the Inheritance of Three Kingdoms, where his Dominion is from one Sea to the other, and from the Flood unto the World's end: Of Three Kingdoms, where his Subjects are his Children, and where even his Merchants, as the Prophet Speaks, are Princes, 
Isai. 23.8.  and his Traffiquers the Honourable of the Earth: Lastly, of Three Kingdoms, where he sits on his Throne, like God, holding the Balance of the World, and represents him above all other Monarches in this, that he is the Moderator of Peace and War among Princes, and can Set up one, and Pull another down.  
These are the Temporal Blessings, which he, and we enjoy by it, and the Spiritual are no less considerable, than these. For after our return from Captivity, the Temple was soon Rebuilt, the Altar speedily set up, and the Lawful Priesthood restored again. Wherefore, since the revolution of this Day was such an unspeakable Blessing to the Three Nations, and so highly beneficial both to Church and State, common Reason, and Religion will Award the Contrivance of it to God's Wisdom, and the Execution of it in all its parts to his Almighty Arm.  
iv Another mark of God's Special Providence, and assistance in any Event, is, When it falls out very seasonably for the relief, and Vindication of oppressed Innocence, and brings along with it the just Execution of public Vengeance, upon the Nimrods' of Humane Societies, the Sons of violence, who live by Oppression and Prey. God is naturally the Protector of Innocent Men, and Righteous Causes, and tho' in Wisdom he cannot acquit, and condemn, reward, and punish here, as he means to do hereafter, when the great Tragicomedy is done; yet, lest in the mean time the Spectators should have Sinister Thoughts of his Providence, he is forced to come as it were, from behind the Curtain, and kill a Bloody Tyrant, like Herod, with Blasphemy perhaps in his Mouth, and sitting in his Royal apparel upon his Throne. Though it would be inconsistent with his Wisdom in the Present State of things, to extirpate the Bears and Wolves of Humane Societies, yet, like David, when he tended his Father's Flock, he often smites the Lion, and the Bear, and rescues the Lamb out of their Paws; and tho' the Nature of this inferior Oeconomy obligeth him to scourge Sinners by the Hands of Wicked Men, yet the Rod of the Wicked shall not always rest on the Lot of the Righteous, 
Psal. 125.3.  lest they put forth their Hands unto Iniquity. He knows our Frame, and remembers that we are but Dust, and therefore in his Punishments, he hath regard to the Strength of the Patient, as well, as to the merits of his Crimes. Hence it proceeds, that in the midst of Judgement, he remembers Mercy, and that afflicted Persons, and Nations, are so often relieved; as we were, in a Time of Despondency, even then, when we feared, that his Mercy was clean gone, and that he would be entreated no more. We had tempted, and provoked the most High to be wroth with his Inheritance, so that he gave us over unto the Sword, and our Glory into Rebellious Hands. He would not go forth with his Armies against them, but let them persecute his Righteous Soul, and take it, and lay his Honour in the Dust; Yet tho' all this came upon us, he did not forget us, but after so many, and such long Miseries both in Church, and State, he awoke, as one out of Sleep, and like a Mighty Man refreshed with Wine, he smote our Enemies in the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetual shame: Tho' the Rod, with which he smote us, seemed for some Years to Blossom in his Hand, yet, when his Anger was over, he broke it, and threw the Pieces into the Fire.  
The faithful Royalists, and their Prince were destitute, afflicted, and tormented, they wandered some of them in Deserts, and Mountains, and some in Dens, and Caves of the Earth. They had Trial of most cruel Mockings, moreover of Bonds, and Imprisonments, being fast bound in Misery, and Iron, which entered into their Soul. As it is written, for his Sake were they killed all the day long, and counted as Sheep appointed to be Slain. Yet, for all this, he arose in his Good Time and Delivered them; the sorrowful sighing of the Prisoners, and Exiles came before him, as the Cry of the Children of Israel in Egypt, and he delivered them, by the Death of Pharaoh, out of their Distress. The Voice of their Blood, like that of Righteous Abel's, cried unto him from the Ground, nay the Soul of our Martyred Sovereign, not to mention the High Priests, cried, like the Souls of the Martyrs under the Altar, cried with a loud, and bitter Voice, How long, O Lord, 
Rev. 6, 10.  Holy, and True, dost thou not Judge, and Avenge our Blood? And when he had rested a little while, till the number of his Faithful Subjects, the true Melchites of the Church of England, which should be slain, were fulfilled, Then didst thou, O Lord, to whom Vengeance belongeth, show thyself, than didst thou lift up thyself, O thou Judge of the Earth. The Lord made himself to be known by the Judgements, which were executed upon the Murderers of our Martyred Sovereign, whom, tho' they prospered so many Years after, to the Grief, and Astonishment of Good Men, yet Vengeance wonderfully pursued and suffered not to live, but as they had shed the Blood of the Saints, so divine Vengeance in retaliation gave them Blood to drink. Nay the Juslice of God signalised herself on the Chief Contriver of the Royal Tragedy, whom his Patience had suffered to go to the Grave in Peace. For he, and his Chief Fellow-Actor were cast out of their Graves, like an abominable Branch, and as Carcases of Beasts they were drawn, and carried out beyond the Gates of our Jerusalem, and buried again with the Burial of an Ass. The World indeed expected, that public Justice, like the Angel in the Revelations, should have thrust in her Sickle, and gathered the Clusters, that were ripe for the Wine-press of her Wrath, and that she should have trodden them without the City, till Blood should have come out of the Wine-press even unto the Horse's Bridles, but being moderated by the Mercy of our restored Sovereign, upon whose Throne she attends, she contented herself with a few of the ripest Clusters. Tho she expected to have washed her Feet in the Blood of the ungodly, yet she satisfied herself with Drops instead of Buckets, and like the Destroying Angel put up her Sword, when she might have made it Drunk with their Blood.  
Indeed there was enough of it shed, for the Vindication of Divine Justice, and the full satisfaction of Christian Ghosts, yet however it is observable, and perhaps too not without a Divine Providence, that some of those Arch-Traytors, who owed their forfeited Lives to the King's Mercy, should remain in the Land, like the Nations in Israel, to be pricks in our Eyes, and Thorns in our Gracious Monarch's sides.  
V Another Indication of God's special Providence, and Assistance in any event, is, The Harmony of its parts, when various accident, happily conspire, as in this Revolution, to produce the same effect. That one, or two things should luckily hit in the Production of some notable Event, may perhaps be reasonably ascribed to common Providence, or Chance, but that so many different Interests should combine, and so many accidents at several times, and divers places, should all concur, as it were by design, to work the deliverance of this day, cannot without manifest Violence to common Reason, but be ascribed to his particular Contrivance, who was able to range so many Causes in Order, and judge of the Seasons, and Junctures of Affairs. As Nature is nothing but Divine Art; so such admirable revolutions can be nothing but Divine Artifice, and Contrivance; unless it can be imagined, that a thing wherein there is so much of Plot, and which was so curiously contrived, that no Human Wisdom could wish it, or contrive it better, may reasonably be imputed to Chance. An ingenious Spaniard, as a more ingenious Author of our own tells us, hath written a Book, to prove te being of God, from the admirable contrivance of that shadow of his invisible Glory, the Sun, because, as he well observes, neither many Suns, nor one any otherwise contrived, than this is, could have served the same noble purposes so well. For had there been two, or any other number of Suns, or had this stood still, or been bigger, or lesser, or set at other distance, or had its motion been any other way ordered, than it is, great and manifold inconveniences in Nature would have followed thereupon: Wherefore since it is already contrived so well, both as to its bigness, distance, and motion, that the wit of Men and Angels could not contrive it better, Reason must, and aught to presume, that it was contrived by the infinite Wisdom God. In like manner, had I time to set before you the several parts, and circumstances of this wonderful Revolution, I am confident, I could make it appear, that it had been attended with many notable inconveniencies, had it happened at any other time, or in any other manner, or by any other Instruments, than it did. Wherefore is it not most reasonable to conclude, that it was the Consult of a special Providence, since it was contrived in a manner so apparently worthy of the Divine Wisdorn, and since the united Reason of Men and Angels, could not have contrived it in a better way, than it really fell out. Certainly the seasonable contrivance of so many wonderful Scenes into every Act, and of so many curious Acts into one harmonious Play, must needs have been the study and invention of a very skilful Author, even of the Alwise, and Almighty Dramatist; who hath the World for his Theatre, and seldom less than a Kingdom for his Stage.  
VI Another sign of God's special Providence, and Assistance, is, when a remarkable Event happens to any, especially to Public, and Illustrious Persons, upon the same day, in which another Accident, as remarkable, as that, 
Exod. 12.41.  happened to them before. So the same day that the Children of Israel went into Egypt; At the end of 430 years it came to pass on the self same day, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from thence. So the Altar was providentially set up by Judas Macchabeus, on the self same day it had been profaned by the Tyrant Antiochus, and so, as our Church hath well observed, it was not without a special Providence, that on the self same day, in which our Sovereign was born, he should, as it were be born again, in being restored to his Triple Crown.  
VII. Another Rule whereby to know when any Event is brought about by Gods special Providence and Assistance, is, the Correspondency of it to the Prayers of Good Men, especially of the King, and the Church. The Prayers of the Faithful, of Faithful Kings especially, as of Moses, David, and Jehosaphat, not to mention others, both Jewish and Christian Kings and Em peroursavail very much. Nay, we read of a Turkish King, who by a short Prayer to Christ in the midst of a Battle, turned the fortune of it, when it was desperate, against the perfidious Christians, who had horribly perjured their Saviour's Name. But when a King, especially a King so Holy, and Just as our late most blessed Sovereign, shall Kneel before him, who sits upon the Throne, and cast his Crown at his Feet: When a King so dear unto God, as he was, shall beg a Blessing of him, almost with his last Breath, as he did the deliverance of this Day, there is great Reason to look upon the performance of it, as a special Answer to such prevailing Prayers. The King, O Lord, 
Ps. 21, 1.2.  shall rejoice in thy Salvation, for thou hast granted him his Heart's desire, and hast not denved him the request of his Lips. But when not only the Beasts, (those Prophetical Emblems of Kings) but the four, and twenty Elders, by which are meant Christian Bishops, I say, when not only Christian Kings, but Bishops, the chief Ministers of Christ, and the whole Church over which they preside, shall cast themselves down before the Lamb, to acknowledge their sins, and beg a deliverance of God, then, if ever, must the Kingdom of Heaven suffer Violence, and God appear to be a God, that heareth Prayers.  
Wherefore, seeing it is the property of the infinitely Merciful God to hear Prayers, especially the united Prayers of the King, and the Church, we have just presumption to ascribe this deliverance, to his Special Favour in hearing thheir Conspiring Sighs, and Devotions. For if two, as our Saviour said, much more if a whole Church, shall agree on Earth, touching any thing they shall ask, it shall be done for them of our Father, which is in Heaven.  
Such are the Characters of Gods special Providence, and Assistance, whereof any one, appearing in any event, is sufficient to justify the imputation of it to the special hand of God. But that they should all be visible in one Event, that such a mighty Revolution should be effected by very improbable means, and fall out so seasonably, to prevent the Destruction of a destitute exiled Prince, and the utter ruin of a desperate Righteous Cause, and a pure Apostolical Church; that so much unspeakable good doth accrue by it to the Public, and that Oppressed right and innocency were thereby relieved, and public Justice done upon the Sons of Usurpation and Blood, that so many various accidents should so happily conspire to bring it about, and that it should happen upon the same day, which was remarkable before for the appearance of the Star, and our Sovereign's Birth. Lastly, that it should fall out in correspondence to the Prayers of good men, especially of the King, and of all, that had kept their Garments unspotted in this suffering Apostolical Church: Such a wonderful Complication of all these marks in one Event, must needs force all, but Atheists, or Epicureans, who are more absurd than Atheists, to confess with David, that it was the Lord, who brought back our Captivity, and cry out with the Church in the 118th Psalm, This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Which brings me in the third place to consider the duty, which a People so wonderfully brought back from Captivity ought to perform, which, I told you, was to render praises, and thanksgivings to God, as it is written in my Text, When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People, Jacob shall, or aught, to rejoice, and Israel shall, that is, aught to be glad.  
This is the import of these Phrases of rejoicing, and being glad. They signify Religious joy, and gladness, expressing itself, and exulting in praises, and thanksgivings unto God. So in the 118 Psalms which the Royal Psalmist made after he was Anointed King of Israel. The voice of rejoicing, and Salvation is in the Tabernacles of the Righteous, the Right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass, the Right hand of the Lord is exalted, the Right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. The Stone which the Builders refused is become the Headstone of the Corner, this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes, this is the day, which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice, and be glad therein, bind the Sacrifice with Cords even unto the Horns of the Altar, thou art my God, and I will Praise thee, thou art my God, I will Exalt thee, O give thanks unto the Lord, for be is good, for his Mercy endureth for ever.  
Almost all the Psalms of Praise and  are full of expressions of Joy and Gladness, because Religious joy is the Fountain, from whence all Praises and Thanksgivings do proceed, and the proper passions, and dispositions of mind which make them acceptable unto God. Therefore saith the Psalmist in another Psalm, O le joyful in the Lord, O ye Lands! Serve the Lord with Gladness, and come before his presence with a Song.  
This we have done, and this still is our Duty to do on this auspicious Day. We have offered up the Calves of our Lips, the Sacrifices of Praises and Thanksgivings unto God with our Mouths, and I hope our Hearts are Unisons with our Tongues. We have sung unto the Lord, as the Psalmist saith, and hearty rejoiced in the strength of our Salvation, we have sung Psalms and Anthems unto him, because he hath done marvellous things, and, I hope in this solemnity our very Souls have magnified the Lord, and our Spirits have rejoiced in God our Saviour, and even hto te last moment of it, let every Loyal Person say, bless the Lord O my Soul, 
Ps. 103.1.  and all that is within me, bless his Holy Name.  
Certainly it is our duty on this happy day to extol God, and exult in the Salvation, which he hath wrought for us, and to acknowledge that this is the day which the Lord hath made, the day of our going out of Egypt, the day of our return from Captivity, the day of the Dedication of our Temple and Altar, nay the day of the British Purim in which we ought to rejoice, as being the day, wherein we rested from our Enemies, and the month which was turned to us from Sorrow to Joy, and from mourning into a good day, that we should make it a day of Feasting, and Joy, 
Esth. 9.22.  and of sending Portions, and gifts to the Poor, For it is to the Mercy of this day, that we own our Lives, our Religions our Liberties, and Estates, that every one of us can sit securely under his own Vine, and call what he hath his own, and therefore certainly, we that ejoy so great a Deliverance by this day, and such mighty Blessings consequent upon it, as no other People in the World enjoy besides ourselves, if our hearts be not at discord with our Mouths in our present Devotions, we cannot forbear to let the offerings of our Charity, accompany our Sacrifices of Praise, and do something considerable to exhilarate the Spirits of our poor brethren, and make them partakers of our joy. This day the sorrowful sighing of the Poor, and of the Prisoners ought to come before us, and more especially if we know any such, who wereruined by the late Successful Rebellion, them we ought to relieve. They, more especially, aught to be the Objects of your Charity upon this Solemnity, and therefore in the first place let us do good, and distribute to those, or the Poor Relations of those who were sufferers for their Loyalty, and bore the greatest and bitterest part of that Captivity, from which the Lord brought back his People upon this day. I suppose there are such to be found among you, the Monuments of your former Loyalty in the bloody Worcester-fight, and I hope you will consider them as Martyrs, and Confessors for our English Liberties, and open your hand liberally towards them, who yet bear in their Bodies, or in their Distressed Families the Marks of their Loyalty for the King, and of their Sufferings for the Church. We cannot offer up unto God any Sacrifice more acceptable, than the supplies, which, in gratitude to him for our Deliverance, we shall give to them this day, and if our Charity be such, as becomes our present Devotion, we need not fear, but that God will accept our Alms and Oblations, and that our Prayers and our Alms will go up for a Memorial before him, who hath done so great things for us, and by his Almighty Power, and Allwise Providence turned our Captivity, as the Rivers in the South.  
These are the duties proper to this day, but then we must further understand, that if our Joy be pure and genuine, and such as really proceeds from a grateful, and Religious Sense of God's Goodness, it will show itself in the Fruits of true Piety towards God, and of True, and conscientious Allegiance to the King, (whom God so miraculously restored unto us) all the Days of our Life.  
He that pretends Religion towards God, and yet makes use of it, as a Cloak of Maliciousness to Cover his Disaffection, and Disloyalty to the King, that Man's Religion, let him show never so much Zeal for preserving the Protestant Religion, is Pharisaical, and vain, and utterly unacceptable in the sight of him, who will have every Soul to be Subject to the Higher Powers: And on the other hand, he who pretends Loyalty to the King, and expresses it in such a manner as must needs be offensive to God, and sober Men, that man's Loyalty subverts the King's Throne, and provokes God to let the Enemies of the Crown multiply, and prosper, to punish the Wickedness of such profane Royalists, who in that Bacchanal manner, by which they Testify their affection to the King, disgrace his Majesty, and dishonour God. He that truly Fears God will Honour the King, and not meddle with those, that are given to Change, and he that truly Honours the King, in the Christian notion of a King, as the Image and Lieutenant of God, will be sure to Honour him, by whom King's Reign, and express his Zeal for him, and his Joy for his Restauration in such Ways and Measures, as shall not pollute any Festival Solemnity, or turn our indulgence into Riot or Excess. God forbidden that Loyalty more than any other Christian Virtue, should be made a pretence for such unworthy Greek Practices, and God forbidden, that any of the English Melchites, or Loyal Subjects of the Church of England should find no other ways of declaring their Zeal, and Affection for their Sovereign, than such as will render them the Scorn, and Reproach of theirs, and the King's Enemies, and a Scandal to the Royal Cause. Let us in God's Name rejoice in the King's Salvation, but in such a manner, as will consist with the strict Rules of Christian Sobriety. Let the Fear of God temper our Mirth for the Deliverance of the King, let us wish him Health, and say with Daniel, O King live for Ever; but at the same time let us remember him, who hath Clothed him with Majesty, and in whose Rule, and Governance the Hearts of Kings and Princes are. God indeed hath given Wine to cheer the Heart of Man, but then we must in our Mirth remember what he hath told us, that Wine is a Mocker, and that strong drink is raging, 
Prov. 20 1.  and whosoever is deceived thereby is not Wise. God indeed hath given us leave to Eat, and Drink, to kill Beasts, to mingle our Wines, and furnish our Tables upon Festival Occasions, but then, as Christians, it becomes us to remember at our Feasts, that whether we eat, or drink, 
1 Cor. 10.31.  or whatsoever we do, we must do it to the Praise, and glory of God, who on this day brought back the Captivity of his People, and therefore doth expect, that Jacob should Rejoice, and Israel should be Glad, for the wonderful deliverance, which by his Special. Providence and Assistance he hath brought about Now to God, our Mighty Deliverer and Saviour, who giveth Victory unto Kings; the God to whom alone our Gracious Sovereign is Subject, and next under whom he is Supreme, within these Realms, unto the Allwise, and Almighty God, of whose institution Kings and Kingdoms are; unto the Allwise Almighty God and Creator, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, be ascribed, as is most due, Eternal Praise, Honour. Majesty, and Glory by us, and by the whole Church Militant and Triumphant, now and Evermore.  
FINIS.   

Page 17, line penult, for 60, read 70.   

Sermons written by the same Author, and Printed for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishops-head in St. Pauls-Church-yard.  

1. A Discourse to prove the strongest Temptations are conquerable by Christians. A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London, and Court of Aldermen, Jan. 14th 1676/7  
2. The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised, In a Sermon Preached before the University of Oxford, On Act-Sunday, 1680.  
3. Peculium Dei, A Sermon Preached before the Honourable the Aldermen and Citizens of London on February 6th, 1688/8 0/1  
4. The true Notion of Persecution, in a Sermon preached at the time of the late Contribution for the French Protestants.  
5. A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor, aldermans, and Citizens of London, on Jan. 30th 1681/2  
6. The Moral Shechinah, or a Discourse of God's Glory, In a Sermon Preached at the Yorkshire Feast In Bow-Church, June 11 1682.  
7. A Sermon Preached at the Church of St. Bridget, on Easter-Tuesday, being the first of April 1684, before the Right Honourable Sir Henry Tulse Lord Mayor of London, and the Honourable Court of Aldermen, together with he Governors of the Hospitals upon the Subject of Almsgiving.