Augustissimi CAROLI Secundi Dei Gratia ANGLIAE SCOTIAE FRANCIAE ET HIBERNIAE REGIS Effigies   portrait 
A: Hertsens Fecit.  

HONY SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE.   royal blazon or coat of arms    

A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY AT White-hall. May 29 th'. 1668.  
BY D. H. KILLIGREW Master of the SAVOY, and Almoner to his Royal Highness the Duke of YORK.  
Published by his Majesty's Special Command.  
LONDON. Printed by T. R. for R. Royston, Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty. 1668.   

A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY. May 29 th'. 1668.  
WISDOM does not only do her works well, but perceives that she does so, delights in their Beauty, exults in remembrance of the mastered difficulty, and triumphs o'er the conquered Opposition: Thus God stood-off, as 'twere, from his great work of the Creation when he had finished it applauded, and blessed it; prided himself, as I may say, in his noble performance; in that he had brought light out of darkness, Order out of Chaos, a World out of nothing. In the like manner, when he had here composed the Distractions and Confusions both in the Church and State of Israel, by establishing David literally, and Christ mystically, on the Throne of the Kingdom, he glories in having brought about his great Design; laughs at the fruitless Opposition of his Adversaries at home and abroad, of the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Damascens, the Amalekites, of the King of Zoba, and of all the turbulent and ambitious spirits of the house of Saul: delights to recount their Might, and their Machinations, the more to signalise their Overthrow, and to make his Victory illustrious. For after all their rage, their malice, their Counsels, their combinations, their seeming successes against him, the Issue was this. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.  
We may observe in the words these three things.  

1. The Person established, My King, (i.e.) David literally so called, and Christ Mystically.  
2. His Establishment, I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.  
3. God's Glorying in the fact, that he had done it with such a Non obstante, notwithstanding such Opposition and Contradiction. Yet have I set my King—   
1. The Person established, My King, Gods King. Not only holy Scripture, but the writings of Heathens declare Kings to be sacred persons, descended more immediately from the Gods, and more particularly depending on them. King's are from jupiter, says Callimachus, and nothing ever descended more sacred from him. And Theocritus, Kings are the special Care of the Gods. And this Epithete's affected by Homer, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-loved Kings. Indeed all Kings in general are Gods, derive their Authority from him, govern by his Permission and Providence, as himself testifies, By me Kings Reign. But then he delights in a more especial manner to style Good Kings, his; to appropriate their Persons, and own their Causes, to interpret all things done to them, as done to himself, as at Verse 2. Why doth Rulers take council together against the Lord, and against his Anointed? Conspiracies against the King, are reckoned Conspiracies against God; the resisting his Anointed, the resisting himself. And thus, if it be a Glorious thing to be a King, 'tis a Blessed to be a Good King: for as splendour attends Majesty and Greatness; protection, and safety, and felicity, and the love of Heaven attend Righteousness. But let us see why David is here more particularly called God's King than others.  
The First Reason we may say was, because he was a King of Gods Making, because he brought him to the Throne, having no Title by Birth to it, à Cautis ovium tuli te, I called him from the Sheep-book to the Sceptre. And as these Persons which are of our Election, preferring, or favouring, we call Ours; this is my Scholar, my Soldier, my Officer, because he was of my nomination, my choosing, my advancing: so David was called God's King, because he was of his choosing and advancing; his Right to the Crown, was his immediate nomination; he had no other Interest in the Royalty, but the Interest he had in God's favour; and if he had not been God's King, he had not been King of Israel.  
2. David was called God's King more particularly, by reason of his many Deliverances of him; he preserved him, from the time of his first anointing by Samuel, from the jealousy of Saul, and the malice of Saul's house; conducted him through all the potent and perilous Oppositions of the Heathen, as I showed, and left him not till he had set him on his holy hill of Zion (i.e.) established him peaceably and Gloriously on the United Throne of Israel and Judah. And for this reason David is not only called Gods King in my Text, but in the following Verse, his Son, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The day of his Redemption and Promotion, being counted the day of his Creation. And the same words are applied to Christ in the like manner after his Resurrection, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The day of his deliverance from death and the Grave, is called the day of his Nativity or Generation; the day in which God exalted him, and Invested him with Power, the day in which he begot him.  
3. David was called God's King more particularly, because he was a King of his liking, as 'tis said, After his own heart. And in this sense also men say a thing is theirs, when they approve it, and are pleased with it above things of the like kind. Horace is my Poet, Tully is my Orator, Tacitus is my Historian, because these hit my fancy and Genius. In the Books of the Kings of Israel and Judah, and the Chronicles of their Acts, there's registered a long Catalogue of them; but though they were all Kings of God's people, they were not all God's Kings, in this last sense, Kings of his liking: he did not boast of many of them, or own their proceedings, but of those only which executed Justice and Judgement, destroyed Idolatry, and restored the true Worship; the others though they wore the Crown, they wore not the Praise of being Kings of God's liking; they were of the royal Unction, but not of this divine Relation. And just after this manner Christ esteemed his Kindred, not she that bore him, was his Mother; nor those that descended of the same stock, were of his Alliance; but they that heard his sayings, and did them, were his Mother, his Sisters, and his brethren. 'Tis not he that bears the Diadem and the Sceptre, not he that is of the Race of Kings, that is anointed by the Prophet, shooted for the people, praised by the hired Historian, that is God's King but he that does that which is Righteous in his sight: the others may boast their Title from God, but they can boast no title to him, to his Approbation and liking, and consequently not to his Protection and Blessing. In the Hebrew Dialect, things that excel in Greatness or Height above others, are entitled to God, tall Ceders are thus styled Cedars of God, high Mountain, Mountain of God; great river, River of God, etc. And Kings that excel only in might and magnificence, are but entitled to God as Trees and Mountains, and we may say unto them, as the Psalmist does to the high hills, Why leap ye so ye high hills? that is, why do ye insult, or lift up your proud heads unto the clouds? Zion is God's hill, where he delights to dwell, Zion of an humbler and lower pitch, but more pleasant and fruitful. 'Tis not the Bulk and large Dimensions of any thing that commends it to God, but the Virtue of it; not the King, mighty in his Hosts, goodly in the Symmetry and Proportions of his Body, but the King that's mighty in Goodness, whose Actions hold a just Symmetry and Proportion with God's Laws; 'twas not Saul higher than the People but David eminent in Piety, with whom God made his Covenant of mercy, and set upon his holy Hill. Which brings me to my second part, The Establishment of David.  
I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. By four Circumstances observable in the words, may be seen the extraordinary security in which God placed David after all his Troubles. He set him on Zion, and Zion was a Fortress taken by David from the Jebusites, who had made it the chief strength and Seat of their Kingdom. and so, First, 'Twas a Fortification by Art. Secondly, 'Twas a Hill, and that's a Fortification by Nature; such as must be ascended, before it can be assaulted. Thirdly, 'Twas a holy Hill, and Holiness is another Fortification, a Moral or Spiritual, stronger than either of the former, for here God is the watchman, and concerned in the Defence. And therefore Fourthly, 'Tis said My (i.e.) God's holy hill of Zion, the place where he dwelled, and had fixed his Tabernacle; God had other places of Religious worship in the land, but Zion was the Metropolis to which the rest paid homage, and to which all the Tribes came up thrice every year to offer their Oblation, and so was Gods by a more excellent Title. And to storm this place was as vain an Enterprise (if God did not first forsake it, drove away by the sins of the Inhabitants) as to attempt to force Heaven itself: for he would sooner neglect the Government of the World, then forget the Place where his Honour dwelled. So that David being established on Zion, might defy all danger from the Princes his enemies abroad, or from his illaffected Subjects at home: nay he was so far from Fearing from any of them, that he was Formidable to them, as the last Verse of this Psalm shows. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings— Kiss the son (i.e.) pay subjection to David himself (for that's the first sense of the words) lest he be angry, and ye perish—  
Thus we see David, who for so many years together, fled from place to place (as he describes his own condition) like a Partridge upon the mountains, fixed and established like a Mountain, environed with a fourfold Fortification, as if he had been within the Enclosures of Heaven itself: so that with a Pious presumption he might well say, as he does, Psal. 30. 6. I shall never be removed, thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my Hill so strong. And let no man think much, that there was a time that he was depressed and afflicted, as many are apt to take scandal when they read or hear such things as this, 
 Insignem pietate virum tot adire labores. 
 That persons excelling in Piety, should excel also in Sufferings; for God by these ways conducts his servants to the Noblest ends, hardens and prepares the Instruments of his Glory by afflictions, as men do those Tools which they design for the toughest Employments, by several drenching of them in astringent Water. Prospera in plebem, ac vilia ingenia deveniunt, a constant even Prosperity is the lot of mean Persons and Spirits, the Noble and Magnanimous are opposed to the Storms and Outrages of Fortune; nor are they otherwise to be distinguished from the Vulgar, then by these Encounters. That Great Person, says Senèca, that never proved Adversity, is like a Champion that enters the lists without an Antagonist; Coronam habet Victoriam non habet. He may gain a Crown, but he never got a Victory. In a still calm of affairs God also gets no Glory, he has no Field to show his Power, his Wisdom, and his Goodness in, he cannot frustrate the Counsels of the wicked, and bring the preparations of the Mighty to nought. 'Tis true, He governs all things at all times, but every Act of his Providence, is not a Victory over his Enemies; and though he disposes Crowns and Sceptres as he pleases; 'tis when the wicked resists that he says, Yet have I set my King— And so I pass to my Third Part, Gods glorying in his establishment of David.  
The Holy Ghost in this Second Psalm, sets down the Method which the Enemies of David used, to prevent his succeeding in the Throne, which is also the Scheme ordinarily of all Sedition and Rebellion. First, The Heathen did rage, (i.e.) The Neighbour Princes were jealous and angry, out of apprehension of their own Estates; and this is commonly the ground of Troubles: For a Kings own Subjects, though they be malcontent, and bear him ill-will in their hearts; yet they often want Courage or Opportunity to execute it, till they are backed by a Foreign Power. But than Secondly, The People, (i.e.) Princes own People, begin to imagine vain things; which may either mean false things which shall not take effect; or Wicked which shall; for in both senses Vain is taken in the Hebrew. In the Third place, The Kings of the Earth, and the Rulers take counsel together, (i.e.) The Neighbour Kings, and the Magistrates, and Great ones of the Realm fall into Combinations, and Associations. And then Fourthly, Nothing remains but open defection, the breach of all Covenants and Contracts, and Sedition is heard in every man's mouth, as Verse the 3. Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their Cords from us: Their bonds, and their cords, (i.e.) both of the Lord, and of his Anointed, all Obligations both Humane and Divine are Cancelled. By bonds, may be understood the softer and gentler Ties of Natural Love and Loyalty, which every Subject owes unto his Sovereign: by Cords, the stronger Obligations of Oaths, those Sacramental Chains that bind men like Iron Shackles and Fetters. But both these are broken, and for fear they should be again united, cast quite from them. And why was all this? as the question is deservedly asked at v. the 1. with wonder and indignation: Why did the Heathen rage? Why did the People imagine a vain thing? Why did they take Counsel together? David was just to his Allies abroad, and gracious to his Subjects at home, God prospered him, and made him Victorious in all his Erterprises. Why Lord? To answer in the words of another in a like case, Odiorum causae acriores, quia iniquiores, their hatred was the sharper and more implacable, because it was the unjuster; Innocence is abhorred by the wicked, more than Injury and Violence; The Religion and Piety of David was more insupportable to his Enemies, than the Yoke of Tyranny and Oppression; and they chose rather to bear the Iron Sceptre of the Nations, or of a base Usurper, than his holy and righteous Sceptre. And this it was which made the Establishment of David so difficult, because there was no Why, no Just cause for the Aversion of his Enemies; had there been a Reason, it might have been removed; had there been a Wrong, there might have been a Reparation: but Perverseness and Impiety only governed, and God utters himself, as if he had broke through some great Obstruction in setting David on the Throne. Like one that for a long time rolled a stone against a Hill, which often returned upon him; or Rowed against a strong Tide, which forced his Boat back, and when at last by many a weary stretch and Strain of his Arms has got the better, fits down, and reflects on what has past, congratulates his labour, and tells himself what himself has done: Yet I have planted my Stone upon the top of the Hill; or, yet I have stemmed this Churlish stream, and got my Boat a head of it. So God is pleased to speak in the Restoring of David, as if he had been hard put to it, and groaned under the performance, and Gloried in having at last carried it through, Yet have I set my King—  
But perhaps some will say, Is there any thing difficult to the Almighty? Could not he have crushed the Cockatrice in the Shell? Dashed the yet infant-Plot against the stones? Scattered his Enemies in their first Imaginations? Why did he suffer them to Combine, before he confounded them? Confederate and grow to strength, before he cast them down, and had them in derision? as 'tis said, v. 4. Even for this very reason, That he might not spoil such his Scene of Laughter, prevent the Glory of his Triumph, obscure the wise Dispensations of his Providence, that David might see the whole Wonder of his Deliverance, and his wicked Adversaries the whole Folly of their Enterprise. A wise General will not presently give on the Charge upon an Enemy passing a Ford, till a considerable Party have gained the Bank; that he may not only show his Courage but his Conduct; and cut off the adverse Power as well as repulse it. Thus, though God had it in his hands to dissipate and discourage the first Attempts of his own and David's Opposers, he chose rather to let them proceed and prosper to a degree, that he might not only obstruct their wickedness but defeat it; disturb the Conspiracy, but confound the Conspirators. And our Blessed Lord practised this piece of Policy, when he suffered the Devil by his wicked Instruments, the Jews, to take away his Innocent Life, and lay him in the Grave: For after Satan flattered himself that he had surprised his strong Foe, he let him see he was surprised by him; that instead of receiving a Captive, he had received a Conqueror within his Gates: one that sacked and despoiled his Kingdom, dismantled his Forts, and razed his Strong-holds. And this was a performance worthy of that Triumphant Speech, O Death where is thy Sting! O Grave where is thy Victory! A downright defeat is not so renowned to the Conqueror, or so grievous to the Conquered, as to turn his Stratagems upon himself, and to overthrow him by his own subtlety and Treachery. Again, to Mock and Vex an Enemy, is a further degree of Revenge, than to destroy him. When the Pirates of Cilicia began to treat some Passengers of Italy with the cruelty they used unto their Prisoners, they cried out, They were Citizens of Rome, at which Venerable name the Pirates pretended to fear, and commanded presently Gowns to be brought, and put upon their Backs, and shoes on their feet; and then with a seeming lowly observance besought them, To walk over the sides of the Ship, and be free; telling them by way of excuse for their Violation of them, When they met them next in that Attire they should not be ignorant of their Quality; and with this derision threw them into the Sea, when the unfortunate men refused to cast themselves. And the Enemies of David were such, as God thought fit not only to destroy, but also to mock and vex, as 'tis said vers. the 4, and 5. The Lord had them in derision— And vexed them in his sore displeasure. But How, and after What manner did he mock and vex them? By letting them a long time plot and strengthen themselves, make a profuse expense of Labour, money, and blood, by letting them persuade themselves they had prevailed, that David was utterly excluded; and then after all, to show them the despised and Rejected Son of Jesse set Gloriously on the Throne; their Machine of Usurped Government, made a Pageant for his Triumph; all their endeavours, all their glorying, serve but for this Occasion of Gods glorying over them, Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion.  
I have done with the Words, which have been twice already eminently fulfilled; Once as I have showed, in the Person of David. And a Second time, in the Exaltation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven, after his Resurrection, as likewise in the setting up his Spiritual Throne in the hearts of men. So that I may seem to assay an Impious thing, to make a Third Application to any Mortal King whatsoever. But while I shall not parallel the Divine and Mystical King, but at a distance adore the footsteps of his Sufferings and Exaltation, and not compare them; their will be no danger to show the Tracts and Lineaments that are between the Deliverance and Establishment of David, and of our Gracious Sovereign, for the awaking our Gratitude, and magnifying Gods mercies to this Nation.  

The Application.  
To observe the Method I began with. For the same Reasons and Respects that David is called God's King in my Text, our King may pretend to the Title, before all the present Kings of the Earth.  
First, He was a King of God's particular and singular Advancing, and placing in the Throne: though not called like David from being a poor Shepherd-boy to Rule a Kingdom, but descended of a long and glorious Race of Kings; yet recalled from a Forlorn exiled State, and a deposed Condition, to hold the Sceptre of his Royal Ancestors by a no less Divine Favour. So that whatever his Title to the Crown was, we may truly say, Had he not been God's King, he had not been King of this Land.  
Secondly, David was not only called Gods King, as we have showed, for his Eminent Deliverance of him, but His Son. And whoever considers the many Risks of our Sovereign's Life, the Prodigies both of his Dangers and Escapes, how God snatched him out of the Battle, led him safe through the midst of his Enemies, concealed him many days by a Divine Providence, after the manner the Ancients feigned their Heroes were wrapped in a Cloud; and then, without the assistance of Armies, by the same Invisible and Unresistable Hand, fixed him in his Throne: must confess, we have not only reason to celebrate this Day, for his coming into the World, or his coming to the Crown; for the Birth, I say, of his Person, or the Birth of his Royal Dignity, but for his being Born God's King, and God's Son, (i.e.) The King of his preservation, and the Son of his Promotion.  
Thirdly, As David was called God's King, because he was more pleased with him, than with others; was the King of his liking, as well as of his Preserving and Advancing: So the Wonderful Testimonies of God's Love to our Sovereign, warrants, nay obliges us to believe and revere him as God's King also in this sense, as the King of his liking, and after his own heart. And whom God has approved let no man judge; whom he has Sealed, let no man dare to Censure; no not in his thoughts. Prince's then for the most part want Goodness, when their People want Candour; and their defect of Virtue, is their Subjects defect of Love and Loyalty. But if those were God's Kings, Kings of his liking, Kings after his own heart, that set up the True Worship, and discountenanced the False, that executed Justice and Judgement in the Land, than Malice itself must confess our King, is Gods King. David was renowned for that one Merciful Speech upon his Return to his Kingdom, Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? As it had been a thing to be abominated, to show Severity, when God had showed him such singular Grace. But how many Shimei's, how many Railers, how many Cursers? ('tis but a small thing which I have said) how many Capital Enemies, how many Betrayers, how many Covenanters against him, and liars in Wait for his Blood, did our David pardon upon his Return? 'Twas an Observation of Old, 
 — regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio; 
 The King that returns after Exile, will Reign for the Future in Blood and Revenge: But our King chose after his Exile,— regnabat Sanguine parco, Reigns at this day, as one Elected to a Kingdom, that had a Crown bestowed on him, and not as one that had recovered his own. So that as the Virgins gave David the pre-eminence to Saul in the Songs of Victory and Triumph, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his Ten thousands: We in the Songs of Mercy and Clemency, may give our King the pre-eminence to David, and say, As David pardoned one single detractor, our Gracious Sovereign gave life, and opportunity of Repentance to thousands of Traitors and Murderers; and was truly in this, God's King, and not only a King of his liking, but a King that is like him, resembling him in one of his Noblest Attributes, that of his Mercy. Those to whom Princes intrust the care of their Souls, aught to be faithful to them; and not only speak pleasing things, but true; to imitate good Surgeons, who not always use Oils and Lenitives, but if need be Lancets and Corrosives. But then let no man at a distance furmise Evil of his Prince, lest while he denies him to be God's King, he sets to his hand to make him no King at all; and while he strips him of his Righteousness, strips him also of his Royal Dignity. I speak not to the King's Enemies, but to his severer Friends, if he have any: The Sinister Thoughts and Censures of the Subject are often Ominous and Fatal to a Prince, whereas their good Opinions are prophetic, and presage the Virtue, they ascribe; and make him the Person, they proclaim him. St. Paul says, Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, (i. e.) those who have this Grace, are easily induced to believe the good of another, which they do not know; to hope that, which they do not believe; and to suffer, even when they can neither believe, nor hope. And if any man be not able to walk upon this profound Sea of Charity, why does he, like Peter, rashly and un-bidden cast himself into it? Why does he presumptuously Intrude into his Master's company? Who supported by a Divine Power, shall stride Majestically o'er the Waves, and march through the storm to safety, while he disordered by every Gust, and amazed at every Billow, poorly sinks in the danger his Fancy only framed. Will not such an one another day, like him in the Parable that wanted a Wedding Garment, be speechless? (i.e.) have nothing to say for himself, when he sees his Prince as far above him in Glory, as he was in his Station in this life? And when 'tis objected to him, as 'twas to Peter, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? I proceed, God set David on his holy hill of Zion.  
Not to say, that instead of one Fort of Zion, God has guarded our King with many strong-holds and Castles, or yet to boast the Advantages of an Island above a Hill, which is not only to be ascended before it can be assaulted, but to be Sailed to before it can be approached, and fought for before it can be Sailed to; being defended by movable Bulwarks, stout Ships, which must be subdued before the Inhabitants can be grappled with upon equal terms: But to come to the Point in which the chiefest strength of Zion consisted, in that it was a Moral and Spiritual Fortification, a holy hill, and God's hill. If the Church of Christ be not inferior to the Old Tabernacle, the Gospel to the Law, the substance to the shadow; when God not only set our King upon his Throne, but restored the True Religion, and placed him within the Protection of it, he set him upon as Holy, and consequently upon as strong a Hill as he set David; and we may rest assured, he delights as much to dwell here, and that 'tis as desperate an Enterprise to assault this his Habitation, as 'twas to assault Zion. But alas some will say with a deep sigh! Would we found these things to be so! But what for a long time has been more infirm and unstable than the Condition of this Nation? Not only ready to be broken in pieces by any Impression of an Enemy, but even to dissolve and fall asunder of itself; and the supports of Religion have been as weak, as those of the Arm of Flesh.  
To which I answer, This has not happened from the Weakness of the Divine Assistances which God has given us, but from our neglect and contempt of them. Religion does not guard men like a Palladium or Charm, preserve those who have the luck only to wear it, and be possessed of it, but those who practise it, and live according to its Precepts; they are not Sextons and Sacrists that are chiefly protected by Heaven, those that keep divine things under Lock and Key, but that treasure them up in a faithful heart. When David by sin dishonoured God, and defamed Religion, his fourfold Fortification little profited him, but that security which the power of the Heathen, united with the disaffection of his Subjects, could not shake, his rebellious Son alone drove him from; and he fled ingloriously, and left his impregnable Zion, and all the Pledges of God's favour and residence with him, behind him; confessing, that when he had violated their Sanctity, he had invalidated also their Power of Protecting; and though he possessed still the Curtains of the Tabernacle, the Deity was fled from him. And little will it profit us, to have the Gospel among us, nay to have it more purely Preached than to any other People under the Sun, if we are the worst Auditors of it of any other People under the Sun; to have the Sacraments more rightly administered, if we are the wickedest Receivers of them. 'Tis the holy Use of holy Ordinances that make them a guard and defence. Righteousness, as 'tis the Honour of the Soul, so 'tis the best Armour of the Body; and does not only, as the Psalmist says, Bring peace at the last, but as the Apostle teaches, safety at present, For who is he that shall harm you, says he, if you follow that which is good? 'Twas the Custom of the Ancient Heathen when they Besieged a City, in the first place to endeavour to entice out the Guardian Deity, by alleging the Injustice of the Inhabitants, and inviting it to reside with a more holy People, 
 — ut habeat te Vrbs melior acceptior que. 
 Holding it impossible to prevail against the Outworks, when this Divine In ward strength stood firm. The Sanctity of a Christian is this little retired Deity in the Chapel, which if it cannot be charmed or enticed out by Temptation, the Malice of Earth and Hell cannot prejudice the Person in whom it dwells. The Prophet Eliah was called, The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel, but much more deservedly may Justice, Piety, and Sanctity, be styled, The Chariots and Horsemen of a Kingdom. And when God, by the Restauration of his Majesty, and true Religion gave us the Opportunity of exercising all Virtue's Civil and Divine, he put it also into our hands to be as safe and well fortified as we cared or desired to be, he made our Condition as secure as a Mortal condition could be made: and if our Mountain be turned into a Wheel, our Rock into a Rolling-stone, 'tis our sins that have unfixt and loosened its Roots; and while we are led by vanity, what wonder is it that the Kingdom fluctuates after the manner of Vain and Unstable things?  
If we consider Lastly, how great and difficult the work was, to set the Kingdom again upon its Basis, after it was so utterly subverted; to raise up the Truth and Splendour of the Church so long deformed and Oppressed by Schism and Sacrilege, we may allow God also as high, nay a higher cause of Glorying in our behalf, than for establishing the Church and State of Israel. But the time suffers me not to insist on this particular, neither is it very necessary to do it, we having all here been Witnesses and Partakers of what has passed, and this will be the properer Task of another Age. Instead therefore of dressing up a Triumph for God into which also our own Vanity or Spleen may be apt to insinuate itself, I shall employ the few words yet allowed me to speak, to excite our Thanks for these things.  
And if the Benefits we have received are such as are worthy of Gods Glorying, undoubtedly they are Worthy of our highest acknowledgements, I say, of Ours, in the most General and Universal comprehension both of Prince and People; not of the Prince alone, as some are willing to reckon the Benefits his Majesty has received, not to revere him the more for being so much in God's Favour, but to make him more indebted to God than themselves: as if because this is called the King's day, all the Mercies of it, and all the Thanks for them were to be put upon his account. Undoubtedly the King's Obligations to Heaven are infinite; but was he only restored this day to his Crown and Country? Or were not all we likewise recalled from the same Banishment, or from Prisons and Sequestrations, Dungeons, and Gibbets at home, to enjoy our Lives and Liberties, our Religion and Estates? Has all the delicious Fare of the Land been served to the King's Table? All the Gold lace been worn upon his back? Nay, but I behold many at this instant standing like Kings in the presence of the King: and 'tis to be complained of, that the Enjoyments of many Outvie his in their proportion. Is there then no Thanks of our Own due to God? We have this Obligation even more than the King has, that we have him, that yet and yet we enjoy this Principle of Union, this Bond of Peace, this Foundation of Security and Prosperity. O let us not forget in the loud joys, and Gaiety, and Festivity of this day, the days of sadness and silence, of scarcity and Doubtfulness of Soul, when we had no King; when a Villain sat in the Throne, when our hatred and Aversion ruled over us; the Scourge of Loyalty, and the Oppressor of Religion and Justice. Let us not forget the Time, when to be Noble, was to be Guilty; and to be Orthodox, an Enemy to the State: Again, when to be a Mechanic, made room for the Person in the Courts of Judicature; and a Fanatic qualified him for the highest Charges and Honours, and our Great Ones bowed down to these, or bowed under a sad necessity.  
The remembrance of these things will make us readily acknowledge the Mercies of this Day to have infinite, and General to us all; and not only heighten, but ennoble and sanctify our Joy; make the Feast resound with Thanksgiving & Praises of God, and not only with loose and confused Mirth, Riot, and Excess; it will preserve us from falling into that fatal Ingratitude which accompanies Prosperity, and which God, in the People of Israel, warns all Nations of, and yet which all more or less fall into, The forgetfulness of the Arm that delivered them, and the Goodness that made them Great. And in the midst of our Felicity, we shall remember our Duty; and our Ease shall not corrupt our Manners; nor our Power and Affluence, be snares either to ourselves or others: And then God will also delight more and more to show us Mercy, and we shall not fear the Potency and Ambition of our Neighbours abroad, nor our worse Enemies, Poverty and Distraction at home; Schism shall not spread o'er the Kingdom like a Gangrene, nor Discontent be catching and communicative like a Plague; open Rebellion shall be dashed, and the secret Treason that lurks in a Counsel shall be seen through; and God will repeat and iterate his glorying, we have heard this day, in the Person of our King, and of his Posterity to all Ages, even till all Kingdoms are swallowed up in the Kingdom of Heaven, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Which God of the riches of his Mercy grant, and to which Almighty, Eternal, and most Gracious God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Honour, Glory, and Thanksgiving this day forth, and for evermore. Amen.   
FINIS.