A SERMON PREACHED At St. MARGARET'S in WESTMINSTER before the Honourable the House OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT Assembled, Upon the 29th Day of MAY, being the Anniversary Day of the KING'S and Kingdom's Restauration. BY THOMAS PIERCE, D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY. LONDON, Printed by R. Norton for Timothy Garthwait, at the Little North-door of St. Paul's Church, 1661. DEUT. 6. 12. Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. WHen I look back upon the Church in all her motions out of the East, observing how Monarchy and Learning have been at once the two Shoulders to bear her up, and withal the two Legs to bring her hither; And when again I do reflect upon our twenty years' sins, which were the complicated Cause of our twelve years' sufferings; I mean our drunkenness and luxury, which were deservedly prescribed so long a Fast; the rashness and vanity of our oaths, which gave us a miserable option betwixt a perjury, and an undoing; our profanation of the Choir, which turned us out of the Cathedral, our gross neglect of God's Service, which helped to vote down our public Liturgy; our general idleness and sloth, which often cast us out of our Houses, and as it were set us to eat our Bread in the sweat of our brows, or of our brains; our unprofitable walking under all God's methods and means of Grace, which left us nothing but his judgements (for many sad years) to work upon us; And yet again when I consider, That God hath turned Psal. 126. 4. our Captivity as the Rivers of the South, and cast the Locusts out of our Vineyards, that we may sit under our Vines; enjoying our judges as at the first, and Isa. 1. 26. our Counsellors as at the Beginning; And that the use we are to make of so miraculous a Recovery, is to be sedulous in providing against the Danger of a Relapse; To sin no more after pardon, for fear a worse thing happen unto us; I Joh. 5. 14. think I cannot be transported with a more innocent Ambition, because I cannot be ambitious of a more profitable attempt, then that of bringing down the Heads of certain Hearers into their Hearts; that what is now no more than Light, may by that means become Fire; That we may All (in this sense) be like the Baptist, not only shining, but burning Joh. 5. 35. Lamps; not only beautified with the knowledge of Christian duties, but zealous too in the discharge; as unaffectedly punctual in all our carriage, as the greatest Enemies of Godliness are hypocritically precise. And though Heresies are to be hated, as things which lead unto destruction, yet that Vice may be reckoned the worst of Heresies, by how much the error of a man's practice is worse than that of his bare opinion. Last of all, when I consider, That though Peace is a blessing, and the greatest in its kind, yet many consequences of Peace are but glittering Snares, and that the things which are given us as helps to memory, are apt to make us * Isa. 5. 12. Hab. 1. 13, 16. Amos 6. 1, 3. Host 13. 6. forgetful of Him that gave them, I cannot think of a fitter Text for the giving advantage to my Design, than This Remarkable Caveat to the People of God, against forgetfulness and ingratitude amidst the pleasant Effects of a Restauration. When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the Land, to give thee great and goodly Cities, and Houses full of all good things, when thou shalt have eaten, and art Full; THAN beware that thou forget not the Lord, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. AT the very first view of which holy Caveat, there are five particulars of Remark which presently meet my observation. As first, the Downfall of a Nation, 2ly the Deliverance, 3ly the Author of that Deliverance, 4ly the Duty by him enjoined, and lastly the juncture of affairs wherein this Duty is most in season. And of all these Particulars each is the greatest in its kind too. For First behold the greatest Curse that any I. poor Nation can struggle under. A yoke of Bondage and Captivity, imposed by the hardest and worst of men. A yoke so insupportable to some men's Necks, that I remember Hegesistratus (a captive Soldier in Herodotus) would rather Herodot. in Calliope. cut off his legs, then endure his Fetters; that by the loss of his Feet, he might be enabled to run away. So insufferable a thing is the state of Thraldom, very significantly employed in the Land of Egypt, and exegetically expressed by the House of Bondage. But yet the Curse is so set, (like Shadows II. in a Picture, or Foils with Diamonds,) as to commend and illustrate the greatest Blessing. A Deliverance brought about by such a miraculous complication, that nothing but the experience that so it is, can extenuate the wonder that so it should be. A People groaning under the pressures of several Centuries of years, and so accustomed unto the yoke, as to have made it a kind of acquired Nature (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Galen speaks) de Terrâ AEgypti eductus est, is now at last brought out of the land of Egypt.— And yet the wonder begins to cease, Because The Author of this Deliverance is so III. much the greatest to be imagined, that he is Dominus, the Lord; the Lord that stretcheth out the heavens; the Lord that Isa. 40 22. layeth the foundations of the earth; the Psal. 104. 5. Lord that formeth the spirit of man within Zech. 12. 1. him. The Lord in whose Hand are the hearts of all men; who turneth man Psal. 90. 3. to Destruction, and again who saith, Come again ye children of men. In a word, It is the Lord, to whom Miracles are natural, and by whom impossibilities are done with ease. 'Tis He that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. And therefore, The Duty in proportion must be superlatively IV. great too, however hid in this place by a little Meiosis of expression. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God; that is, Remember what he hath done, and thank him for it by thy obedience; Let thy gratitude be seen in thy conversation. Be sure to * Deut. 10. 12 love him and to serve him, with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Forget him if thou canst, unless thou canst forget thou wert † Deut. 6. 20, 21. Pharaoh's Bondman. Nay forget him if thou dar'st, unless thou art so stout that thou dar'st be damned. And yet beware lest thou forget him, whilst thou art swimming in prosperity, the stream of which may either drown thee, or make thee drunk, if thou art not forearmed with circumspection. And therefore beware that thou forget not the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt. And that thou mayst not forget him, write the Favours which he hath done thee upon the posts of thine House, and Deut. 6. 7, 8, 9 place them as Frontlet's between thine eyes; tell them out unto thy children, as thou walkest by the way, at thy lying down, and thy rising up; Let them be as a Signet upon thine Arm, and as a Seal upon thine Heart. That the pleasures of thy Deliverance may not make thee forgetful of thy Deliverer, (forgetful of the * Deut. 32. 15, 18. Rock out of which thou wert hewn, and kicking (like * Deut. 32. 15, 18. jesurun) at him that made thee,) keep an † Exod. 13. 3, 4, 10, etc. Anniversary Feast, (a standing Passeover in May,) whereby to fix him in thy Remembrance. Lastly a Duty so indispensable should V. be enforced upon the soul by the present season. A season of peace and prosperity, succeeding a season of Persecution. The greatest incitement to the Duty should be the manifold enjoyment of this Deliverance. For so 'tis obvious to infer from the particle THAN, (so strongly implied in the Hebrew, that in the English 'tis well expressed,) upon which there seems to lie the chiefest emphasis of the Text, if we observe how it stands in a double Relation to the Context. [When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the Land, to give thee great and goodly Cities, and houses full of all good things; when thou shalt have eaten and be full, THAN beware that thou forget not the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt.] The Text is so fruitful of particulars, and each particular is so apt to administer matter of Discourse, that it hath really been my hardest Question, whereabouts I should begin, and how I should end my meditations. And after too much time lost in stating the Question within myself, I have thought it at once the fittest and the most useful to be resolved, as most immediately complying with the solemnity of the time, not to yield to the temptation of comparing our Land with the land of Egypt, for fear of seeming to have a pique at the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion; (otherwise 'twere easy to make a Parallel, because however our native Country, yet for twelve years together it was a very strange Land;) But not advancing one step beyond the Threshold, I shall bestow my whole time upon the little word THAN; as being a particle of connexion betwixt our Duty and our Deliverance, betwixt the business of the Time and the time itself; betwixt the occasion and the end of our present meeting: looking like Homer's wise man, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with a visible prospect on all that follows, and with as visible a retrospect upon the words going before. When Prosperity breaks in like a mighty stream, (in so much that I may say Amos 5. 24. with our blessed Saviour, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears,) Then beware Luk. 4. 21. that you forget not the Lord that brought you out of Egypt. Beware you forget him not at any time, but especially at this. For the particle Then is an important Monosyllable; and that especially in three respects. First because of the difficulty of having God in our Remembrance, much more Then, than at other times. Next for the dignity of the Duty, rather Than, than before or after. Lastly by reason of the danger of not performing the Duty Then, when it becomes incumbent on us by many unspeakable obligations. These especially are the Reasons of the particle Then in this place, on which alone I shall insist in this morning's Service. For should I adventure upon the rest, not only the hour, but (for aught I can conjecture) the day would fail me. ANd first of all let us beware amidst I. the pleasant effects of our Deliverance, that we forget not the Author of it; because it is difficulter THAN, than at other times. For the Flattery and Dalliance of the world hath perpetually been the mother of so much wantonness, or so much pride, that Adam found it dangerous to be in Paradise, yea and Lucifer to be in Heaven. Do but look upon Solomon in the Book of Kings, and again look upon him in Ecclesiastes, how was he there lifted up by his prosperity? and how does he here preach it down? I know not whether as a Prince he more enjoyed his pleasures, or as a Prophet more condemned them: whether the luxury of his Table made him a wanton, or whether the vastness of his wisdom made him a Fool; 'Twas that betrayed him to his Concubines, and this permitted him to his Idols. Since then a prosperous condition hath such a secret poison in it, as against which no medicine hath been sufficiently Alexipharmacal; and from the force of whose contagion there is no sort of men that hath been privileged, no not Adam the Innocent, nor Solomon the wise, nor even Lucifer the beautified; who were so hugely swelled up with this venom, and so quickly burst; (not the first in a state of sinlesness, nor the next in a state of grace, nor yet the third in a state of glory;) since there is no other man then the man Christ jesus, that hath been ever temptation-proof: Lord, how wretched a thing is happiness on this side Heaven! and how dangerously treacherous are our enjoyments! I suppose we are taught by our late experience, how easy it is to be overjoyed, and how equally hard to be truly thankful, for all those wonders of salvation which God hath wrought, and is working for us, the grateful commemorating of which, is religiously the end of our present meeting. Sweetmeats indeed are pleasant, but then they commonly turn to choler. 'Tis sure the state of humiliation, which though we can worst feed upon, we are notwithstanding best nourished with: we are such barren pieces of clay, that our fruits will be withered with too much laughter, if Grace does not water them sometimes with tears. It should be matter of gladness to a considering Christian, that in the midst of his prosperity he can see himself sorrowful; that as he was destitute, with comfort, so he abounds, with moderation; and that he does not live rejoicingly, is many times a chief reason for which he ought. It was David's resolution (at such a time as this is) to serve the Lord with fear, and (by a pious Oxymoron) to * Psal. 2. 11. rejoice unto him with trembling. And if we reflect on the abuses which many have made of a Restauration, we may charitably pray, that Psal. 102. 9 80. 5. God will give them some tears to drink; and having given them some tears that he will put them into his * Psal. 56. 8. Bottle, that they may serve for this end, to blot their merriments out of his † Ibid. which compare with ▪ Mal. 3. 16. Book. That the pleasant effects of a Delive rance (which are peace, and plenty, living securely, and at ease,) are apt to make us turn Atheists, provoking the Author of our Deliverance to correct us once more in the house of Bondage; appears, as by many other reasons, so particularly by this; that it is hard for us to prosper, and not to lie snoring in our prosperities. For 'tis the natural language of a prosperous man, (as our Saviour implies by way of Parable,) Soul take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, for thou hast much goods laid up for many years, (Luk. 12. 19) And therefore Agur's wisdom was never more seen, then in his prayer; Give me not Riches, lest I be full, and deny thee, lest I say, who is the Lord? (Prov. 30. 8, 9) He knew by manifold experience, that * Jam. 4. 4. the friendship of the world is perfect enmity with God, and tends immediately to practical, if not to speculative Atheism. He did not therefore pray thus, Give me not Riches, lest I be liberal to my Coffers; or, Give me not Riches, lest I be bountiful to my Lusts; but (for fear of a greater mischief) Give me not Riches, lest I be full and deny thee, lest I say in my heart, who is the Lord? that is, for fear I turn Atheist, and only sacrifice to my flesh. So also Solomon, when he was wisest, that is to say, when he repented, and of a very vicious Prince became a Preacher of Repentance, concluded all under the Sun to be but vanity of vanities; as having found by all his trials (who sure had made more trials than ever any man did,) that peace and plenty with their two daughters, which are idleness, and ease, are exceedingly great, though glorious dangers. But we need not go further for an instance, then to the people in my Text, whom though God might have called a very wild Tamarisk, he was pleased to style his Beloved Vine. Lord! how carefully it was manured with Rain and Sunshine? with Quails, and Manna, and water squeezed out of a Rock? with the Dew of heaven, and with the Fatness of the earth? and yet when all was done that could be, they either brought forth no Grapes; or if they did, they were commonly wild ones. And when sometimes they yielded good, 'twas rather for fear of cutting down, then for the fertility of their soil, or for the manifold helps of their cultivation. 'Twas their frequently being pruned, which more especially made them fruitful. 'Tis true, that God did not evermore punish, although that people was still offending. For as he owned his being as well their Father, as their God; so he was pleased to make use of either Method for their Amendment; I mean encouragement, as well as terror. God dealt with them, as with us of this Nation. As he prescribed them a Law, so he promised them a Canaan. As he led them into Egypt, so he delivered them out of Egypt. As he thundered from on a cloud, so he whispered out of a Bush. As he pinched them with scarceness, so he feasted them with plenty. And if the one was even to famine, the other was even to satiety. But if we compare them with ourselves in another instance, by considering how ingrateful and how unmalleable they were; how repining under their yoke, and how mutinous in their Liberty; How (like some amongst us in this very day of our Deliverance,) they fell a hungering after the Garlic and the fleshpots of Egypt, quite forgetting the Bondage, and tale of Brick; how they murmured at their Moses, as if he were worse than a Pharaoh to them; like some repining at their King, as if he were worse than a Protector, (For that you know was the Euphemismus whereby to express the most bloody Tyrant;) How like so many untamed heighfers, they were exceedingly hard to be brought to hand; or like a stable of unbackt and unbridled Colts, how apt to kick at their Rider who gave them Food; How God Almighty was forced to discipline this stiff-necked Rabble, first of all by committing them to the hardships of Egypt, and then by sending them to wrestle with the difficulties of the wilderness; And how when all this was done, they were fain to miss of their Canaan, whilst they were taking it into possession; (for of so great a multitude to whom the Promise of it was made, no more than a * Num. 13. 30. Hab. 3. Caleb, and a joshua had a Capacity to inherit it,) we must conclude they were a People who deserved to be whipped with a Rod of Iron, not so easily reducible by the † Deut. chap. 27. & 28. 17, 18, 19 allurements of Mount Gerizzim, as by the curses and the threats to be thundered out from Mount Ebal. So far were they from considering, what they suffered a while ago in the house of Bondage, that they forgot this very Caveat, (as many will do this very Sermon,) which was meant to bring it to their Remembrance, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, to give thee great and goodly Cities, and houses full of all good things, (etc.) THAN beware that thou forget not the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt. Pass we now (if you please) out of the Vineyard into the Fold; from the People under the Law, to Us who live under the Gospel; whom though our Lord (out of goodness) was pleased to call his Flock of Sheep, he might have styled (out of justice) his Herd of Swine. For if He, the great Shepherd, withhold his Crook Lord how quickly we go astray. And for here and there one who will be led into the Fold, how many are there that must be driven? like the Prodigal in the Gospel, (who would not return unto his Father until he was brought to feed on Husks,) we seldom care for our Physician, until the time that we are sick; and then as soon as recovered, are very glad, rather than thankful. And this may point us out a Reason, why for so many years together, (before this last,) our heavenly Father made use of his sharpest Methods for our amendment; even placing us as Israelites amongst Egyptians, like so many flowers amongst thorns; of which the principal design was not to torture but to defend us. To defend us from the danger of carnal security, and presumption; of pride, and wantonness; of forgetfulness, and ingratitude. And since the way to be thankful for our twelve month's liberty, is very soberly to reflect on our twelve years' thraldom, Let's so transcribe a fair Copy of God's Oeconomy on the jews, as (with a grateful commemoration,) to consider it also in our selves. We who flourish at this day like a goodly Tree, not only planted by the river of God's rich Mercies, but surrounded (like our Land) with an Ocean of them; we who stretch forth our branches, not only for our own, but for foreign birds also to build their nests; and whose Spring (blessed be God) doth promise at last to be as lasting, as once our Autumn was like to prove; we who flourish like a Myrtle, how like a Willow did we droop? How was our verdure almost exhausted; and our boughs, how deflowered? How did we fall after the measure our sins had risen? First God blasted our noblest Fruits; then he despoiled us of our leaves; next he hewed down our branches. Nay how strangely were we fed on by those very vermin which we did feed? how greedily eaten up by all those Caterpillars and Locusts, which though engendered perhaps by a Northern wind, I am sure were bred out of our Body? It is not easy to recapitulate how many Mercies we now enjoy, which our iniquities had withheld for so many years, and how many good things our sins had Jer. 5. 25. turned away from us. And now if after our Restitution, we shall be found to be a barren unfruitful tree, or fruitful only in our impieties; so as that which was intended to make us better, shall render us worse than we were before; what better usage can we expect, than (after a little tract of years) to be grubbed up by the Root? to have that sentence sent out against us, which once went out against the Figtree, Cut it down, why cumbreth it the ground? Luk. 13. 7. Then give me leave to repeat the Caveat; And in the meekness of a Remembrancer, * 2 Pet. 1. 12. to put you in mind of these things, although ye know them already, and are established in the Truth. To put you in mind of being wary, not so much for your selves, as for the people you represent, by contributing to a Law for the putting of Laws in execution; that they may not intoxicate their souls with too many and great draughts of their peace and plenty, for fear a Curse should break forth from our this day's Blessing, by unthankfully forgetting the God that gave it. And let this suffice for the first importance of the word Then; as 'tis a particle of connexion, betwixt the occasion and the end of our present meeting. SEcondly let us beware amidst the II. pleasant effects our Deliverance, (such as liberty and plenty, living in idleness and at ease,) that we forget not the Author of it; because of the dignity of the Duty, rather Than, than before, or after. For, as 'tis the mark of a most servile and base-born spirit, to be the worse for the good that is done unto us; so 'tis the noblest generosity, to mend our lives with our condition. The deep and serious consideration of which great Truth, as it should lift up our Hearts to a thankful use of our prosperity, so it should also pluck them down to an humble sense of our obligations. For that indeed is the proper season, wherein humility is a noble, because a difficult virtue. Humiliation in a Captive is not a grace, but a necessity. Nor hath temperance any place in the house of scarceness. These two must have a Theatre wherein to set themselves forth; cannot easily be seen in a little Room. The proper time of seeming base in our own modest eyes, is when we are matter of admiration in other men's. The time to show our self-denial, (that is, our victory over ourselves,) is when we are brought out of an Egypt, into a Land overflowing with Milk and Honey; when our houses are full of all good things, and our Tables stooping under the weight of their sumptuous load. As our Afflictions a year ago did make up God's opportunity, whereby to show us his mercy and loving kindness; so prosperity ever since should make up ours, whereby to show him our meekness and moderation. The very Atheist will cry [o God] in a fit of the Strangury or the Stone; but let us be Religious in time of health. The profanest Mariner will be devout in a tempest; but let us be so in a calm: when the tide of our enjoyments is at the full, Then in a more especial manner let our ambition ebb lowest: when we are mounted aloft on the wings of Fame, Then let's retire into the Desert of our most humble contemplations; and be so meek amidst our eminencies, as to become most eminent for that our meekness. There are some of whom I may say, they have been armed with infirmities against the Devil: some, whose Ignorance hath kept them safe; some, whose coldness hath passed for continence; who have been phlegmatic, and therefore meek; or kept under Hatches, and therefore lowly. But than it being their necessity, and not their choice; rather their luckiness, than their valour; they having kept their ground, not by virtue of any conquest, but merely because they never fought; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we Aristot. eth. Nich●● l. 1. do not properly commend them, but call them happy; they are but sancti Planetarii, (as a Father of the Church made bold to word it;) All their armour, if they have any, is but defensive; And for their not being worsted, they may thank their Bucklers, but not their Swords. Alas it should not be a wonder, to see simplicity in the village; or to keep one's integrity, where 'tis a hard thing to lose it. We cannot call that man abstemious, who Quis abstinens diceiur, sublato eo à quo abstinendum est? Quae Temperantia gulae in fame? quae Ambitionis repudiatio in egestate; quae libidinis infrenatio in Castratione? Tertul. advers. Martion. l. 1. cap. 29. only riseth with an appetite, because he hath not enough to appease his hunger; nor is He to be commended for not being drunk, who either hath not sufficient to quench his thirst, or has an able Brain to carry it, or else loves his purse a great deal more than his intemperance, and so is beholding to his baseness for his sobriety. We do not say that he is strong, who doth not fall when no man thrusts him. Nor that he is cautelous and wary, who doth not stumble when the way is plain. No 'tis he is the brave and the gallant Christian, who can hold out his Castle however besieged with temptations; who can be chaste even in Italy, or mild in Scythia; who can be a Spaniard, and yet not proud; an English man born, yet not inconstant; who can be loyal amidst the triumphs of the most prosperous Rebellion; and humbly thankful in his advancement. He is generously a Christian, who can keep his Vow in Baptism, where 'tis ridiculous not to break it; who can at once live at Court, and forsake the world; who can be witty, yet not profane; strong, and mettlesome, yet not presumptuous; conspicuously handsome, and yet not vain; a Mathematician and a Chemist, yet not Atheistical; who will not be covetous in the midst of Treasure; nor reconcilable to a vice, although it offer him all advantages; who hath all his five senses (those Avenues of the heart) at once attaqueed by Hell's Artillery, and yet is able to prevent, or maintain a Breach; and though they batter down the walls, doth not suffer them notwithstanding to take the City. This I say is the generous, because the selfdenying Christian. And agreeable to the figure by which our vicious affections are called our members, (Colos. 3. 5.) we know in our Captain's Interpretation, (Mat. 5. 29.) that to part with an Avarice, is to pluck out an eye; and to cast away a lust, is to cut off a hand. That as in our military Oath, we swore to fight under his Banner; so as often as we part with a sinful passion, we are reputed (in his account) to lose a Limb in his battle. Self-denial it seems being one kind of martyrdom; a dying daily for his sake, who, as the Captain of Heb. 2. 10. our salvation, was made perfect through sufferings. 'Tis very true in this sense, that the valiantest Soldier is the very best Man. For no man living is truly valiant, but he who dares be good, when the Times are evil; and dares not be evil, when Times are good; who stands the shock of temptations, not only in the worst but the best of days; bravely holding out his Fort against the batteries and assaults, not of poverty only and pain, and other effects of persecution; but against plenty also, and pleasure, and other Fruits of a Restauration. To sum up all in a word, and to carry on my Metaphor the most I can to their advantage, who will not be carried to any duty which is not honourable, and brave: The Battles of Leuctra and Mantinéa were not half so full of glory to that immortal Theban Epaminondas, as the two victories of a Christian over his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That unruly Element of double fire, his anger and his lust, which his greatest felicities do most enkindle. And this I hope may be enough for the second importance of the word Then; as 'tis a particle of connexion betwixt the business of the Time, and the time itself. LAst of all let us beware, that the manifold III. enjoyments of our Deliverance do not make us forgetful of our Deliverer, because of the greatness of the danger of not performing the Duty THAN, when it becomes incumbent on us by many unspeakable obligations. For let a man's sin be never so great in point of nature, or degree, ingratitude will give it an aggravation. And ingratitude taking its stature from precedent obligations, so as the sins we commit run higher or lower, as the graces we receive have been more or less: there are not any so very capable of provoking God's Fury, as the men whom he hath pleased to take most into his favour. The reason of it may be taken from the Athenians in Thucydides, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Thucyd. l. 1. p. 52. The least unkindness from a Friend is of greater smart, than the hardest usage from an enemy. The very sight of Brutus more wounded Caesar to the heart, than all the rest of his Assassinates had done with Daggers. David indeed was somewhat troubled, that they who hated him did whisper together against him, (Psal. 41. 7.) but 'twas his greatest cross of all, that they who had eaten of his Bread should ingratefully lift up the heel against him. And in that he said, he could have born it from an * Psal. 55. 12, 13. enemy, he did significantly imply, he could not bear it from a friend. And as it was David's Cordolium, the Type of Christ; so also was it Christ's, the Son of David: who did not weep over other Cities, from which he met with an ill Reception; but he wept over jerusalem, the Royal City, which he had so much obliged, yet found so cruel. And no doubt but our Saviour is so much more keenly and nearly touched, that the most obliged Christians should break his precepts, then that the ignorant jews should offer violence to his Person, that we may rationally suppose him thus speaking to us. Had the jews or Heathens spit upon me by their impurities, and buffeted me by their blasphemies, and stripped me by their sacrilege, and murdered me by their rage; from such as these I could have born it. But that you should war against me, and in the behalf of that base Triumvirate, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, having sworn to me in Baptism that you would fight under my Banner against all Three: That you who have the privilege to be called by my Name, to be admitted into my House, to have a place at my Table, to hear my Word, and to partake of my Supper, to be miraculously brought from the house of Bondage, enjoying your Kings as at the first, and your National Councils as at the beginning, and sitting yourselves as so many Princes under your Vines and Figtrees, enjoying the liberty of your persons, the propriety of your estates, the important benefit of your Laws, and the glory to be subjected by a most honourable obedience; that such as you should despise me, and cast my Law behind your back, this is that I can least endure. My greatest favour thus abused will be converted into fury. And indeed if we consider, that as God (on the one side) accepteth according 2 Cor. 8. 12. to what a man hath, so withal (on the other side) of them who have Luk. 12. 48. received much, much in proportion shall be required; we may with good Logic infer, and strongly argue within ourselves, that an honest Heathen is far better than a Christian Knave. And if an Heathen shall be extirpate for being barren, much more the Christian, if he is fruitless, shall be cast into the fire. A fruitless Tree which should by nature bear fruit, being fit to make fuel, and nothing else. According to that of our Blessed Saviour, (which is at once of universal and endless verity) * Mat. 7. 19 Every Tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. And we who are grafted into the vine, must not only bear fruit, but such fruit too, as Christ expects to reap from us. A Bramble cannot be censured for not bearing fruit; because it is in its nature to bring forth none. It was therefore the Figtree, and not the Bramble, on which our Saviour bestowed a curse, Mat. 21. 19 Nor was it the Bramble, but the Figtree, which he commanded to be cut down, Luk. 13. 7. we must one day be called to dreadful * Mat. 25. 19 reckoning, for all the uses we have made of our this day's talon. God's injured justice must needs be satisfied, (and sure much more his injured Mercy) either sooner or later; either in this, or another world. And if in stead of being thankful for all the blessings we now enjoy, more especially for that which we this day celebrate, we shall but turn them into wantonness, and grow the worse for the effects of so great a goodness; what can we reasonably expect, but that the powers of Hell, should once again be let loose upon us and ours? For since to continue in our impieties, is the greatest dishonouring of God that can be; a filling up the measure of our iniquities, and so the vials of his wrath; He must the stroy us se defendendo; if for nothing but to defend, and secure his Glory. What then remains, but that we take up the words of the Royal Prophet, and together with them, his resolution? We Ps. 116. 13. will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. The Cup of Salvation, that is to say, the Cup of Thanks for that salvation which he hath wrought; as junius and Tremellius do rightly explicate the Trope. And mark the force of the Copulative, by which these Duties are tied together. Without the Cup of Salvation, (that is) the Cup of Thanks giving unto the Author of our salvation, all our calling upon his Name will be quite in vain: For when we spreadout our hands, he will hide his eyes, and when we make many prayers he will not hear (Isa. 1. 15.) And then to thank him as he requires, is not only to entertain him with Eucharistical words, with the mere Calves of our lips, or a Doxology from the teeth outwards; but to imitate, and obey him, and to love him after the rate of his favour towards us; that we may not forfeit all our interest in the temporal salvation we this day celebrate, nor bring a reproach on the Author of it for saving a people so ill deserving; we must add to our verbal, our vital Prayers; nor only keep an annual Day, but even an age of thanksgiving for our Deliverance. And then with a greater force of Reason, we must beware that we forget not the Lord our God, who if he brought us not out of the land of Egypt, did yet deliver us this day from the house of Bondage. We must not any of us forget him, in whatever represents, or presents him to us. But You especially must not forget him presented to you in his Vicegerent; whom the more you do enable to be indeed what he is styled, Defensor Fidei, by so much the greater will be your Glory, and the better you will provide for your children's safety. The more you strengthen that Hand, which under God is to brandish the Sword of justice, (which ceaseth to be a Sword of justice, when wrested out of that Hand by the Hand of man) the better protected your Peace will be from the ungainable enemies of each extreme; nor can you rationally hope to keep your Peace any longer, then whilst the evil-eyed Factions want power to break it. Again beware that you forget not the Sovereign Author of your Deliverance, wheresoever you shall find him presented to you in his Messengers; (and what I mean by that word, I need not explain in so wise an Audience;) by whose continuing unrestored to their Ancient Privilege and Right, your own Restauration remains imperfect. Again beware you do not forget him presented to you in his Members, who are not only your fellow-members, but were your old fellow sufferers in the very same Cause; to which they ever have adhered with the very same constancy; and for which they have been Actors with the very same courage; and do rejoice in the greatness at least of your Restauration, how much soever they are mourners for the scandalous littleness of their own. Prosperity I have showed is a dangerous weapon; such as none but the merciful should dare to use. And if ever there were a Parliament, in which both Mercy and justice met, this has the honour to be reputed so very exemplary for both; that they who stand in need of both, are very confident to obtain them, now, or never. A Parliament so prepared by the special Providence of God, for the perpetuating of Peace in our British world, that nothing less than the presence of all perfections in a Prince, can make us patiently think of its Dissolution. Will you hear the Conclusion of the Eccles. 12. 13. whole matter? I shall deliver it to you briefly in this Petition. That so far forth as you regard the Righteous Judge of all the world, and are seasoned by Him with the manifold gifts of the blessed Comforter, with the Spirit of wisdom Isa. 11. 2. and understanding, with the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, with the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and lastly with the Spirit of his holy fear, you will consider what I have said by your own Authority, because in absolute obedience to your own Order and Command. ANd now the God of Peace and Power, who brought you forth on this Day from the House of Bondage, both defend and direct you, from this day forward, in all your ways. That every one of your Persons, and the * 1 Thes. 5. 23. whole of every one, both Body, Soul, and Spirit, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord jesus Christ. To whom with the Father in the unity of the Spirit, who is abundantly able to keep us from falling, and to raise us when we are down, and to preserve us being raised, and to present us so preserved, before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be ascribed by us and by all the world, Blessing, and Glory, and Honour, and Power, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, from this day forwards and for evermore, Amen. FINIS.