A Short View Of the most Gracious PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN THE RESTORATION AND SUCCESSION.  
May 29. 1685.  
LONDON, Printed for William Crook at the Green-Dragon, next Devereux Court, without Temple-Bar, 1685.   
PSAL. 2. Why do the Heathen rage and the people Imagine a vain thing? 
THis Psalm, as well as many other which were composed by the Prophet David, hath a double meaning; both literal and mystical: The one relating to himself, and the History of his own life; the other relating to Christ, and the Prophecy of his Kingdom.  
As it relates to himself; we have the people of Israel, and the Heathen that were round them, conspiring against his Government; The Tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, of Moab, and the Hagarens; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amaleck; the Philistines with the Inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also and the Children of Lot, Psal. 83.6. etc.  
All these ten Nations were confederate against the Lord, and against his anointed; they were so vain as to attempt the Alteration of the Decrees of Heaven; whilst he who sat there, laughed them to scorn and had them in derision. Their confusions did only make his Providence more conspicuous; for notwithstanding all their united Counsels, and tumultuary rage, David was not only King in Hebron, but in Jerusalem too.  
Tho' they rage, tho' they meditate, tho' they consult, tho' they conquer, and prosper for some time; yet have I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Zion, v 6.  
As 'tis a Prophecy, and relates to the Kingdom of Christ, we have the first Christians comforting themselves with this Psalm, and by an extraordinary Spirit applying it to their present Concerns; Acts 4.25. Being assured that as neither Herod, nor Pontius Pilate, so neither the Gentiles, nor the People of Israel could prevail against the Holy Child Jesus: And about three hundred years afterwards the whole prophecy of this Psalm was more eminently fulfilled, when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire; when notwithstanding the malice of the Jews and Heretics, and the ten Persecutions of the Heathen Emperors, like the ten Nations confederate against David; the Kings and Judges of the Earth, became wise and instructed, kissed and Adored the Son of God, and the Holy Child Jesus prevailed so far, till the extent of his Enemies, was turned into the largeness of his Inheritance.  
From the opening of the Psalm, you yourselves will be ready to make this Natual reflection, that no passions tho' never so furiously raging; and no Imaginations, tho' never so cunningly contrived, are likely to prevail long against a Government and a Religion approved of, and established by God.  
You cannot but apply this observation to the occasion of the day, and find the Truth of it most evidently confirmed by the great Revolution in this Kingdom, and by your own Experience.  
As this Psalm is a prophetical piece of Scripture, it holds infallibly true, of nothing but the Universal Church of Christ; but yet particular Churches and Nations may apply it as a Doctrine of Providence; and none more properly than we, who have a Monarchy most Providentially Divine, as Divine as can be made without an immediate designation from God; and a Religion as pure as Revelation itself: It being nothing but the Holy Scriptures with the best interpretations, and those guarded with some few prudential limits; which the ignorant have complained of, the malicious have disturbed; but which the wisest have ever approved, and the humble love to practice.  
Can Men ever imagine, that things, so piously and so judiciously settled, should not be the care of Providence one day, as they had been the long contrivance of it?  
Had our Government and Church always continued, according to their first establishment, without any alteration or disturbance, we might have been fortunate and at Ease, have sacrificed to our own Nets, and been proud of them, as if they had been our own Inventions; but we had never so well known their more remote and inward worth, or that the favour of God was so mingled with them: But now they have been tried and searched by the malice of Devils, and the subtlety of men, and in all this winnowing there was found but little Chaff, they are returned to us with their excellency more discovered, and a second approbation of Heaven.  
He who reads our Civil Wars may lay aside all the Histories of Greeks and Romans, Turks and Tartars, and not miss any one extravagance of humane Barbarity: For there he may find the utmost Force and guile of passion and hypocrisy; cruelty and Enthusiasm working together; and that not only in single instances, but under a public National management; not as the product of several Ages, but of one small Circuit of years.  
There he may see with what noise and clamours the Laws were silenced: with what fury and ignorance the multitude decreed Justice. With what pretended Treaties and Pacifications the Armies were inflamed, and the differences always widened: With what eager hostility, and open destruction, Rebellious Subjects were for preserving their King: With what zeal and fasting Religion was banished out of the Land: With what Tyranny their precious liberty was secured; and with what unheard of impositions they were eased of Taxes.  
There he may read of the most solemn sanctity robbing of God: Of the devoutest eyes fixed upon the Church's patrimony: Of Prayers offered up to Heaven, worse than downright Blasphemy: Of the rankest perjury scrupling a lawful Oath: Of Atheists fight for Religion; and Heathens for the pure Gospel of Christ: Of Treachery undermining perfidiousness; Of Hypocrisy groaning against Lewdness: Of Sacrilege abhorring Idolatry; and of a Covenant made with Hell.  
Certainly that late Rebellion was the most busy Scene of the Devil's Tragicomedy here on Earth, and he can hardly furnish out such another: If greater Judgements are allotted for Posterity, some other Angels sure must fall from a higher Sphere, to add new malice unto Hell, and make that direful Polity more Intelligent in mischief.  
There were some good Persons in those times, who looked upon this Nation as under a dreadful Anathema, as excommunicated by God, and delivered over to Satan: And that which made it manifest, that we were only to be severely disciplined, and not destroyed, was this; that at the same time when there was the highest Villainy in this Land; there was the highest virtue too: The rebellious party fought their King into that glory, which they never designed him: Every Victory they won, placed a new Star in his Breast: They overcame his forces, and he their injustice: They were more prosperous, and he more patiented: They got the Field, and he an everlasting Crown.  
Thus will our English Annals stand chequered to the end of Ages, with the blackest Degeneracy of the worst of Traitors, and the whitest innocency of the best of Princes.  
Nay for all that we know, this Island may be always noted for its two contrary Rivers, viz. the fiercest torrent of Rebellion, and the Noblest tide of Loyalty, which in the late Wars were most conspicuously seen together.  
And tho' the Loyal Stream ran under ground for some few years, yet it soon came up again and filled its Channel with a silent and an even course; and may it for ever flow with equal peace and plenty; for ever keep within its known and certain Banks of ancient Monarchy, of primitive and old Christianity.  
If we except the people of Israel, who were Goveined by a theocracy, never any Nation could boast of a more remarkable Theatre of the Providence of God, than what this day afforded.  
The passions of men were worn out with their own Rage: Their imaginations were grown sick of new Models and experiments of Empire: Anarchy had changed through all its monstrous shapes: Ambition was either divided into proportional parts; or lost its force in unwieldy matter: The Spirit of usurpation by often shifting was become dead, and vapid; and there was no Novelty of Sect or Rebellion to captivate the People: No one pretender had strength enough to get uppermost, but only just so much as might keep another back.  
So perplexed were the Civil affairs with various and contrary motions, so disposed were the Hearts of many for their old Government: So stupefied were the guilty Traitors, and amazed like discovered Cheats: so infatuated were the Counsels of the public, and the Rage of the multitude so becalmed, that the Restauration of the King seemed at that juncture of time the only effect in the whole order of Providence ready to drop ripe from its causes by the least humane endeavour: That most happy Enterprise being unexpectedly beset with such close circumstances from a Divine hand, that for its accomplishment it seemed to require not so much the experience and wisdom of an able Council, and the ready compliance of an honest mind, that wills as God would have it: 'Twas like the Rational Choice of an object appearing every way true and Good, and highly eligible, where there is nothing to suspend or divert the consent, but the frowardness or obstinacy of freewill. Why therefore did the Heathen rage, or the people imagine a vain thing▪  
For thus we see how vain the imaginations of those men are, who set themselves against established Constitutions, and the decrees of Heaven; how their machinations unravel into folly; and shame and dishonour are their last promotion.  
How God permits the wicked to build a large Pile upon the Sand, that the ruin may be great and conspicuous: To erect a Tower of ambition, that he may mingle confusion with all such proud attempts: And that when such judgements are in the earth the inhabitants thereof may learn Righteousness: May tremble to repeat that abominable sin, on which the Lord perhaps has executed but half of his Vengeance yet, even as to this Life.  
The Almighty has been pleased to let this Nation see the utmost of Rebellious Projects, whither they tend, what they produce, and what is the fruit of the most prosperous sedition: That no well meaning Person can ever be engaged on such a desperate design again, for which they is now no Colour, no Apology left; that henceforth, whosoever resists his King, must first remounce his God:  
I know not what reflections those sufferers might have, who died in the midnight of the late confusions, who see the Viper fastened to the Government, but did not live to see it shaken off: but we have seen the operation. of the Lord, and by Events have read the main designs of Providence; that had God permitted the Pacifications and Treaties to have taken effect, the Monarchy had been divided and destroyed, and the Protestant Religion had lain gasping in our land: We had lost an example of the highest Christian Virtues, and example worth all the desolation we underwent, and which nothing but great Calamity could have perfected and finished.  
Many insurrections were made, many generous attempts to recover the Crown, but God would not prosper impatient Loyalty; He reserved the managment and the Honour to himself; and when all humane policy lay as it were dead, he came forth, made his Arm bare, and brought about the wonderful Event.  
He gave us a King, who, we are sure was his peculiar gift, because he came adorned with all those gracious qualities, and all those sovereign Virtues, which this distempered Kingdom so much wanted, and which our ruling Rebels had not to apply.  
They bred and countenanced a spawn of Sects, He practised and established an uniform Religion: They were most Tyrannous He most merciful: They delighted in perfidiousness, War, and Blood; He in truth, and peace, and Love: They promoted ignorance, and hated learning; He cherished all ingenious Arts and usesul knowledge: They were implacable and revengeful; He made good Nature the Character of his people, and the Ambition of his Court: He planted where they had pucked up; He built, where they had demolished: He every way repaired the Ruins of the Civil War:  
He was a gentle balm to heal our mutual wounds: The only Temper for a divided Kingdom to unite in: He remained in banishment till the extreme misery of the Nation made him the choice of his very Enemies; and then the Mountebanks of State resigned up to his Cure the desterate Disease.  
He was the delight of our Eyes, the breath of our Nostrils, the gladness of our hearts. He was our wonder and our love; our dearest King, our Father, and our Friend.  
It is not easy to determine whether we received him with greater Joy, or were deprived of him with greater grief: He came in with all the shouts and acclamations of his people: He departed with all their Sighs and Groans  
But has God forgotten to be gracious? and with him has he shut up all his loving kindness; No: He is most propitious still; we may behold him working a most plain and visible recompense to Charles the Martyr, in his extraordinary Providence to his Posterity here on earth; in that he ordained, and hath through many Oppositions now effected, that two of his Sons should sit in peace upon his Throne. In that he hath so eminently blessed the Succession with a brave and a resolute Prince, who has a Soul adorned with all those regal qualities, which are adapted for the humours which he governs, and for the times in which he reigns.  
Whatever the persuasions of our gracious Sovereign are, in some particular Points of Faith, or modes of Worship different from us; yet when we deserve it, God will make him wholly ours.  
However, this is most evident to all that know him well; that the goodness of his inclinations is too strict for the licentiousness of the, Roman Casuists; the mildness of his temper very contrary to the cruelty of their Zealots; and the greatness of his Spirit most opposite to the ambitious designs of the Court of Rome.  
He had been pleased to promise, to promise often, and to pass his Royal word, for the maintaining of our Religion, but he expects we should live up to it; for he has not engaged to maintain our hypocrisy: If we truly value our Religion, let us show it by our diligence, by our zeal, by our proficiency in all solid Virtue, and by our eminency in all good examples.  
We have sufficiently confirmed the Loyalty of our Principles by arguments and disputes, let us now especially adorn them with our practice, and add the last hand to their perfection by our humble actions and behaviour.  
God has now given us an Opportunity, let us manage it with that prudent simplicity, and holy Wisdom; with that humble, but yet  integrity, as may give God his Glory, and put all our Enemies to confusion.  
Remember, that the perfect Subjection to Kings is the Glory of the Protestant Cause; and that he that is Seditious is an Apostate to the Religion of this Kingdom, be his pretences never so devout.  
However God in his Mercy may overrule Events, and turn the hearts of Kings as it seemeth good to him, yet sure 'tis no such glory to the Protestant Cause, and no great policy in a people, that they should so contrive to have a Succession of injured Princes, who must forgive before they govern: How can such Subjects ever think to merit of their King, when all their future Services can hardly expiate? when they make it so difficult a matter to distinguish, whether they are truly Loyal, or whether they are only willing in the Day of his Power.  
Surely our Republican Enemies might be content to be quiet after so many, and so signal Demonstrations, that God is with us of a truth; and hath not only given us our Gospel but our Law: Since he hath made it so evident, not only to all haughty Usurpers, by the revolution of this Day; but to all the framers of New Politics, by the perspicuous and undeniable reasons of our multiplied Writings and Discourses; that the English Monarchy is not a model of the Brain, or a few consequences drawn from an affected speculation of Humane Nature; but a form of Government suited to the genius of a wise and Loyal People, founded on a Power derived from God, politically guarded by a public successive Prudence, and pronounced good by the experience of many Ages.  
And shall a Constitution of such hereditary wisdom and strength be made the sport of every Demagogue, that dares be eloquent against the Laws, and loves to ride upon the passions of the Crowd? The worst I wish all such is this, that it may ever be the peculiar Prerogative of this Government and Church to make even those happy that would destroy them both.  
What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits; what returns shall we make for his Continual protections, for our Redemption on this day.  
Had we no revelation to guide our worship and to raise our gratitude, the very perusal of the History of our late times might do it: We might repeat the Miracles which God hath wrought for us, to quicken our obedience and Devotion, for he hath not dealt so with any of the Nations which are round us, neither have they had such Experience of his care.  
But not our Arm, not our power hath gotten these victories; nor for our Righteousness doth this Land flourish; the Lord himself hath wrought these wonders for his Name sake, that it might not be polluted among the Heathen; and if we ourselves pollute it, where shall such Sinners appear?  
If we would have him still to be our God, we must resolve to be his people; to be as peculiar in our duty as he is in his blessings: Otherwise, his mercies are our severest Judgements; and our prosperity only fits us for his final vengeance.  
FINIS.   

Books Printed for William Crook at the Green-Dragon nigh Devereux: Court without Temple-Bar, 1685.  

1. AN Institution of General History, or the History of the world; the first and second Volume, in Folio  
2. The Bucaniers of America, or an account of the most remarkable Assaults committed of late years on the Coasts of the West Indies, by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga; both English French and Dutch; the first and second Volume in Quarto, price bound 10 s.  
3. The Protestant Religion a Safe way to Salvation, together with the Apostolical Institution of Episcopacy, also nine Sermons, etc. by W. Chillingworth, the Fifth Edition, to which is now Added Mr. Chillingworths' Arguments to his Friend Mr. Leaguer to persuade him to return from the Church of Rome, to his Mother the Church of England, in Folio.  
4. A Discourse about Conscience relating to the present differences among us, in opposition to both the extremes of Popery and Fanatism, in Quarto price 6 d.  
5. The Doctrine of Passive Obedience in a Sermon preached Jan. 30. last by J. Ellesby, Vicar of Cheswick in Quarto price 6 d. 1685.  
6. A Sermon preached at the Spittle on Easter Tuesday last before the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, and Governors of the Hospital by Dr. Hascard Dean of Windsor, 1685.  
7. A Sermon preached at the Cathedral Church of Heresord on the 29 of May by Richard Buckely Prebendary of that Church, 1685. price 6 d.  
8. The grounds of Sovereignty and Greatness translated out of French into English in Quarto, price 6 d. 1685.  
9 A Discourse of Tangeir under the Government of the Earl of Teviot by Dr. Addison Dean of Lichfield, price 6 d. 1685.  
10. The manner of making, of Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, as it is used in most parts of the World, with the Virtues of them both as to Diet and Physic in Twelves, price bound 1 s. 1685.  
11. Megalopsichy being a particular and exact account of the last seventeen years of Queen Elizabeth's Reign both Military and Civil; written by Sir William Monson one of the Queen's Admirals, and H. Townsend Esquire, a member of her last Parliament, wherein is an exact account of her seventeen years' Wars with Spain; also the debates and Discourses of the greatest States men in that Queen's Reign, being the most exact account, of the proceed of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, that is yet in print, in Folio, price 12 s. bound.  
12. Compendium Geographicum being the most exact and easy piece of Geography with two Alphabetical Tables or Dictionaries, the one of the ancient the other of the Modern Names of all Towns Cities, Countries, etc. in the world, in Twelves, price bound 1 s.  
13. The Tracts of Tho. Hobbs of Malmsbury being an exact account of the Civil wars of England from 1640. to 1660. and by what Counsels and Artifices it was carried on, printed now from the Original Manuscript with three Tracts more of the same Authors, in Octavo, price bound 5 s.  
14. The Souls Communion with her Saviour: or the History of our Lord Jesus Christ, written by the four Evangelists in Devotional Meditations, in Twelves, price bound 1 s. 6 d.   
FINIS