THE REPAIRER OF THE Breach; A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church of Gloucester, May 29. 166● being the Anniversary of His MAIESTY'S birthday, and happy Entrance into His imperial City of LONDON. By THOMAS WASHBOURN, D. D. LONDON, Printed for William Leak, at the sign of the Crown in Fleetstreet, between the two Temple-Gates. 166● To the High and Mighty MONARCH, Charles the Second, By the Grace of GOD KING of Great BRITAIN, FRANCE, and IRELAND, Defender of the Faith, &c. Most Gracious sovereign, THAT I assume the boldness to tender this Sermon to your Sacred majesty, is not from any the least thought I had that it could be worthy Your reading, who daily hear the best that the best Learned of Your Clergy preach in-Your Royal Chapel; but being preached upon that Day which is now made Yours, because Your majesty on that Day was made Ours, first, by Your Birth; and then, by Your happy Return to Your People; and being now printed at the importunity of some of Your MAIESTY's Loyal Subjects that were my Auditors, as also by the approbation of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, my worthy and much honoured Diocesan; I humbly offer it at Your MAIESTY's feet, hoping with it to gain the favour of kissing Your MAIESTY's Hands, a favour which You have not denied (such is Your Benignity and condescension) to Your meanest Subjects, though I have not yet been so happy as to obtain it. Not that I wanted an heart ready with the foremost to wait upon Your majesty, and bid you welcome home; nor that I wanted the like desires and affections, perhaps without other men, (for who is totally free from them) to reap some particular benefit in the first fruits of the church's Harvest, which till Your coming lay (as it were) fallow for many years, yielding no increase to the true Proprietary. But as Imperante Augusto natus est CHRISTUS, CHRIST was born in the Reign of Augustus; so Imperante CAROLO renata esse Ecclesia CHRISTI, this poor Church of CHRIST in England is new born, or rather raised from the dead, in the beginning of Your majesty's▪ Reign, 1 Cor. 8. as if you were resolved to make good to us St. Paul's wish to the Corinthians, Not to reign alone unless we also might reign with You, and share in Your Triumphs as we had done in Your Sufferings. Some such thoughts, I say again, I might be tickled with; for 'tis true, which that learned Knight Sir Robert Cotton hath observed in the life of Your Predecessor, HENRY the 3d, That in every shift of Princes, there is none (either in Church or State) so mean or modest, that pleaseth not himself with some probable object of preferment. But, SIR, so wonderful, and beyond all expectation, was Your Restoration to Your Kingdoms, that it struck me with astonishment, and I became like unto them that dream. Great joy as well as great grief Gen. 45. 26. overwhelm the spirits, as we read of the Patriarch Jacob. And in this Deliquium or fainting fit I lay, whiles all sorts crowded to see Your majesty, and most of my Profession, (which had not bowed their knees to Baal, nor meddled with them that were given to change, but feared God and the King, and suffered with and for Your majesty, and Your Royal Father of blessed memory) had preferments answerable to their merits, before I had the opportunity only of beholding Your MAIESTY's face; and even then I stood like Phaeton at his father's Court at an humble distance admiring his glories. Ovid. Met. l. 2. Consistitque procul: neque enim propriora ferebat Lumina. My weak sight was satisfied with the reflex beams of Your majesty afar off, which at a nearer approach, and in a direct line, would have dazzled, if not blinded my eyes. In this reverential posture I continued a good while, saying within myself as Mephibosheth to David, Let them take 2 Sam. 19 30. all, forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his own house. It will be honour and preferment enough for me, if I may be but owned by Your majesty for Your MAIESTY'S most humbly devoted, and most obedient Subject, THOMAS WASHBOURN. The Repairer of the BREACH. A SREMON, &c. Isa. 58. 12. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, The Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to dwell in. IT is an Observation made by the Royal Preacher, Eccles. 3. 1, 2, 3. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to break down, and a time to build up. Experience tells us 'tis so with men, and so with God too, who is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, the great Master-builder, the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, or chief Husbandman, Joh. 15. 1. We find him planting his Church under the Parable of a Vineyard, Isa. 5. 1. fencing it and planting it with the choicest Vines, building a Tower in the midst of it, vers. 2. And again, vers. 5. we find him resolved to pluck down the hedge thereof, and break down the wall, and lay it waste. But how, or by whom would he do this? Not by his own immediate hand from heaven, as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; but by the hand of the Chaldeans, of whom the Psalmist makes a grievous complaint to God, whether by way of Prophecy, as a thing to come; or of History, as already past, is uncertain. Psal. Vid. Dr. Ham. in locum. 79. 1. O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy holy Temple have they defiled, they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The Jews being by the just judgement of God carried Captives by Nabuchadnezzar into Babylon, where they did duram servire servitutem, endure a long and miserable bondage, began at last to bethink themselves which way they might pacify God's wrath, and recover his favour; to which purpose they ord●ined solemn Fasts, Zech, 7. 5. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even unto me? And chap. 8. 19 there is mention of these two months fast, and two more, the fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth. But when they found that for all their frequent fastings God was not appeased, nor they delivered, they were moved to wonder and murmur at it, vers. 3. of this chapter, Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledgt? Whereupon God commands his Prophet, vers. 1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Let them know, that their fasts, as they are compounded and made up of the bitter ingredients of injustice and cruelty, strifes and debates, blood and rapine, would never be pleasing to God; Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, vers. 4. No, assure yourselves, unless to your bodily fast you join a spiritual, abstain from sin, as you do from meat, and give to the poor what you spare from your own bellies; unless your acts of mercy and charity consecrate your fasts to God, they will not be accepted by him, for this is the fast that he hath chosen, to lose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free; to deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, and when thou seest the naked to cover him, vers. 6, 7. And if this fast be truly and sincerely kept, than the Prophet promiseth from the mouth of God, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, vers. 12. that they shall enjoy all the happiness and prosperity as their hearts can wish, their prayers shall be no sooner made than heard and granted, vers. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. Their sickness shall be turned into health, their darkness into light, their ungodliness into righteousness, their shame into glory, vers. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. And lastly, to come to my Text, Thou shalt return from captivity to thy own native Country, And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, The Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of paths to dwell in. Division▪ In the explication or unfolding of this portion of Scripture, I shall show, 1. What is meant by the waste places, the foundations cast down, the breach or breaches, for I find the word rendered by Translators in the plural number. 2. By whom these waste places should be built, the foundations raised, the breaches repaired, the paths restored, which is first expressed in the plural, They that shall be of thee; secondly, in the singular, relating to some one extraordinary and more eminent person amongst the rest, that should be most signally and remarkably instrumental in the designing, ordering, and perfecting this great and glorious work, Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations. Thou shalt, &c. 3. The honour and dignity that should accrue to this singular and superexcellent person for the same, in perpetuam rei memoriam, Thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach, the Restorer of paths, &c. Having cleared these points unto you as plainly and briefly as I can, according to the literal sense; I shall easily and without any enforcement make application to the time and occasion that hath brought us here together. And first, the waste places, and the ruined foundations, and the breach or breaches, fall under our consideration; this may be understood of Jerusalem in the letter, but of Christ's Church in the Type of figure. They that refer it only to the former, as relating to the restoration of the Jewish Church, the reparation of their decayed Temple and City by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemia, are by St. Hierom termed, amici occidentis litera, friends of the St. Hierom in locum. killing or dead letter. But pace tanti viri by the father's leave, whiles we hold the latter sense with him, we shall not let go the other, but take both along with us, as the Text relates to them and us too. True it was what the Psalmist spoke, Psal. 79. 7. They have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place; and Psal. 80. 16. It is burnt with fire, it is cut down; that is, the City and Temple, which was beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, Psal. 48. 2. so beautiful, that he thinks it worthy of all observation and admiration, vers. 12, 13. Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following. That famous City, that glorious Temple, with the Towers, the Bulwarks, the Palaces thereof, were totally demolished, cast down, destroyed, the inhabitants, as many as escaped the sword and the famine, carried captive into Babylon, where they continued seventy years, and with tears in their eyes bewailed the miserable desolation of their Church and State, Psal. 137. 1. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. He must have a heart of flint, as hard as the nether millstone, that could think upon Zion in this condition as she was, and not dissolve and melt into a shower of tears. We sat down and wept; whereupon St. Chrys. in Psal. 136. St. Chrysostom, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, they do not slightly mourn, or take on a little, but make it their business, their eyes vying with the Rivers of Babylon which should most overflow their banks. In what a lamentable case were God's people all this while, when not only maenia Jerusalimae, as Vatablus understands it here) the walls of Jerusalem, but fundamenta Ecclesiae & Reipublicae, the very foundations of Church and commonwealth were not only shaken, but shattered to pieces, and the children of Edom had now their desire, when they cried, Down with it, down with it even to the ground; or as the last Translation reads it, raze it, raze it even to the foundations thereof, vers. 7. of the same Psalm. The King and the Priest, the Lords and the Commons, all were made Prisoners and captives, from him that s●te on the Throne, to her that grindeth at the mill, God delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand, Psal. 78. 61. And now are we not ready to expostul●te in the words of the 80 Psalm. vers. 12, 13. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they that do pass by the way do pluck her? The Boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast out of the field doth devour it. Why haste thou suffered those great Tyrants, the Kings of Assyria and Babylon to break in upon this thy vineyard, and root out the Vine which thine own right hand hath planted? Why hast thou scattered us among the Heathen, so that they which hate us spoil our goods? The answer is soon returned▪ The fault was not in the Lord of the Vineyard, who had done what he could for it, planted it with his own hand, watered it with the dew of his heavenly benediction, hedged it with his divine Providence; but the fault was in the Vine itself, as he complains, Isa. 5. 4. When I looked it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. What wild grapes? he tells us, vers. 7. He looked for judgement, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. And therefore it follows, vers. 9 Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair without inhabitant. This, this was the cause that the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, that is, the house of Israel, and the men of Juda his pleasant plant, was so eaten up, so trodden down, vers. 5. This was the cause the Christian Church went to wrack by persecution under Heathen Emperors, Almighty God making them his Rod to scourge his backsliding people into repentance and better obedience; for we are not unlike a child's Top, that never goes upright without whipping. Cyprian de Lapsis. So St. Cyprian speaking of the times of Decius, Quia traditam nobis divinitus disciplinam pax longa corruperat, jacentem fidem & pene dixerim dormientem censura coelestis erexit. Because long peace had corrupted the good order and discipline of the Church, delivered to us by divine Authority, the wisdom of God thought fit by the hand of his justice to awake the dull and drowsy, and almost dead faith of Christians. And from the same cause Eusebius derives the Original of Dioclesian's persecution, in whose words as in a glass we may see the face of our own Euseb. l. 8. Eccles. Hist. c. 1. times, with all its deformities; take the Latin for want of the Greek, Postquam vero res nostrae per nimiam libertatem ad mollitiem ac segnitiem degenerarunt, & alii alios sunt odio & contumeliis prosecuti, &c. After that our affairs through too great a liberty degenerated into sloth and delicacy, and that one began to prosecute another with hate and contumely; and when we ourselves only opposed ourselves with words of strife and contention, when dissimulation and hypocrisy was grown to the height of malice, Et qui pastcros nostri videbantur, repulsa pietatis norma matuis inter se contentionibus fuerunt inflammati, &c. And they that were or pretended to be our Pastors and Ministers, casting off the rule of piety, blew the coals of discord among themselves till it grew to a flame, and every one made his own ambition play the Tyrant as he listed; when such was the hardness of our hearts, that we were not touched with any sense or feeling thereof, nor endeavoured to appease God's wrath, but as if we thought God did not regard, and would not punish our sins, but were such an one as the Heathen fancied him, Nec ben pro meritis capitur, nec tangitur ira. We ceased not to add sin unto sin, and then behold the divine judgement, after its usual manner, began to visit us by degrees. Ita ut persecutio à fratribus qui in militia erant exordia sumeret. So that our persecution took its rise and beginning from our brethren that were in the militia; then, than I say, according to that of the Prophet, Lam. 2. The Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Juda, he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the Kingdom and the Princes thereof: he hath increased in the daughter of Juda mourning and lamentation, and he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, he hath destroyed the places of the assembly. The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the King and the Priest. By this we have discovered what is meant by the old waste places, the ruined foundations, the breach or breaches that were made in the Israel of God, with the reason thereof; which hath opened my passage to my second Query. By whom the waste places should be built, the ruined foundations raised, the breaches repaired, the paths restored; Ex te erunt, And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, &c. In the seventh chapter of Nehemia, there is a long catalogue of the people, the Priests and the Levites, that had leave from the King of Babylon to go up to Jerusalem and build the waste places, especially the Temple; their whole number is computed to be forty two thousand three hundred and threescore, vers. 66. among whom the grandees or chief are expressed by name, vers. 7. and of those I find most honourable mention of two above all the rest, (as upon whose shoulders rested the main of the work) Nehemia and Zerubbabel; and therefore we shall insist somewhat upon both, as we meet with them recorded in sacred story. And first of Nehemias; He was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, as he himself tells us chap. 1. 11. and a great favourite he was, as appears chap. 2. for when he (commiserating the miserable estate of his native country) presented a cup of wine to the King with a heavy heart, which discovered itself in a sad face, the King said unto him, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart, vers. 2. To which Nehemia replied, vers. 3. first, praying for the King, though a heathen, as his duty was; then telling him the cause of his sadness, Let the King live for ever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the City, the place of my father's sepulchre, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the King said unto me; For what d dost thou make request? vers. 4. It seems the King was willing to grant him whatsoever he should ask in reason. Observe the piety of the man, before he petitions the King, he makes supplication to the King of heaven▪ and that was the sure way to speed, for the hearts of Kings are in the hand of God; So I prayed (saith he) to the God of heaven, and I said unto the King, if it please the King, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight that thou wouldst send me unto Juda, unto the City of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it. Whereupon the King dispatcheth him with a Commission and credential Letters to the governors beyond the River, that they might convey him over to Juda, and with a Letter to Asaph the keeper of the King's forest, that he might give him timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the City, and for the house of God, vers. 8. and to secure him by the way, (for they that enterprise good and great designs, as this was, are like to meet with strong opposition) the King sent Captains of the Army and Horsemen with him, vers. 9 Notwithstanding he, like a prudent man, resolves to carry on the business more by policy than power. He comes to Jerusalem, the Metropolis or head City of Judea, and was there some time before he told any man what God h●d put in his heart to do at Jerusalem, vers. 12. Then he takes a private survey of the ruined walls; and when things were ripe for the work, he said unto the Nobles, the Rulers, the Priests, and the rest of the people, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work, vers. 17, 18. Yet could not he with all his assistants carry on the work so smoothly▪ but that he met with some disturbance, a fanatic party to hinder and oppose him; and to head them, they had a notable Leader, one Sanballat, vers. 10. When Sanballat the H●romite, and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. And therefore they fall first to jeer and scoff at them, vers. 19 They laughed us to scorn, and despised us, saying, What is the thing that ye do? But Nehemia answered, vers. 20. The God of heaven he will prosper us, therefore we his servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. From scoffs they proceed to secret plots and force of arms, vers. 7, 8. But when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdoties, heard, that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, than they were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. And this they contrived in a clandestine way, saying, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst amongst them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease, vers. 11. Whereupon Nehemiah plays the part of a pious and vigilant Commander, falling to his prayers, and setting a strict watch, vers. 9 nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night; and raised a new militia, vers. 13, 14. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places; I, even I set the people after their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them; remember the Lord is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. When all this would not make him desist, he receives an intimation, that they intended to ass●ssinate his person, chap. 6 10. They will come to slay thee, yet he still retains his wonted courage, saying, Should such a man as I flee? Thus he stood like a Colosius unmoved and undaunted till he had done the work. And now we have found the man that in the singular number may well be styled, Reparator ruinarum, the Repairer of the Breach. But can we find out ne'er another? Yes▪ we have him Ezr. 1. 8. by the name of Shesbazzar the Prince of Juda, or chief Governor deputed to that office by King Cyrus, and commissionated to build the Temple, chap. 5. 14. and build he did, vers. 16. Then came the same Shesbazzar and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. This Shesbazzar is the same with Zerubbabel, who as a Prince is named in the first place among those that came from Babylon, as the Captain General, chap. 2. 2. and chap. 5. 2. Then rose up Zerubbabel, &c. And Hag. 1. 14. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Juda, &c. If we look into his genealogy, Matth. 1. 12. we shall find him like Moecenae descended from ancient Kings, Josias begat Jechonias, and Jechonias begat Salathiel, and Salathiel begat Zerubbabel. This Zerubbabel, whose spirit God stirred up to this grand employment, went through his work with all alacrity and activity, Ezr. 3. he re-edifieth the Temple in despite of all adversaries; the manner and means how it should be done by him is foretold, Zech. 4. 6, 7. This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by tower, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. What art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying Grace, grace unto it. Two great blocks were in the way to discourage Zerubbabel in the work, the one was the weakness of his party that should assist him, the other the strength of the enemy that would oppose him. First, The weakness of his own party, they were but a small remnant of the poor captive Jews, whose spirits were dejected with their tedious servitude and extreme oppression; and this might make Zerubbabel diffident of the event, and reason thus against it: The work is great that we are to undertake, and our strength but little, and therefore in all probability our endeavours are like to be frustrated, and we to perish in the undertaking. To this God speaks, Not by might, or army (as 'tis in the Margin) nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Know, this work is not to be effected by human help merely, but by divine power; not by strength of man, but by the Spirit of God, whose strength is made perfect in weakness; by his Spirit who is Lord of hosts, and commands all the Armies of heaven and earth. Though you had no strength at all, though you had no life at all left in you, though you were but an heap of dead and dry bones, God can bring you together, put new life in you, and cause you on a sudden to start up a numerous Army, as in Ezeki●ls vision, chap. 37. 10. yea, though these bones were laid in the grave, covered never so deep in the earth, God can raise you thence. To such a desperate condition was Israel reduced at that time, that God was fain to quicken and revive their dead hope by the parable of those dry bones, vers. 11, 12. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophecy and say unto them▪ Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. The argument holds, a majori ad minus, he that can raise the dead out of their graves, can bring you out of captivity. Nay more, not only from dry bones, but from very stones God can raise up children unto Abraham, rather than his Church should not be builded. This block thus removed out of the way, the other yet behind was the mighty power of Zerubbabel's enemies, which is therefore called a great Mountain, and he speaks unto it by an Apostrophe, as the more emphatical expression, Who art thou, O great Mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. Thou hast hitherto oppressed my people, and kept them in bondage: But beh●ld, I am against thee, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and make thee a burnt mountain, Jer. 51. 25. Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. Though thou art high and strong as a great Mountain, seemest in thine own eyes and others also irresistible, invincible; thy pride shall be brought down, thy high looks abased, thy mighty strength abated, thy huge and vast body laid level with the earth, and be made a plain, so that all thy opposition shall be as nothing, and all difficulties made plain and easy to Zerubbabel, by the power of my Spirit that shall support him, and suppress all his opposers. It follows, He shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it; vers. 7. that is, He shall accomplish the building with the joyful acclamations of the beholders, even to the wonder and astonishment of his very enemies, that shall say and say again, Grace, grace unto it. And not to it alone, but to us by it shall great grace and glory also come; and that they did say so, the Psalmist tells us, Psal. 126. 2. Then said they among the Heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them; which the Jews as their echo resounded back again, vers. 3. Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we rejoice. Lastly, The Prophet adds as a Corollary and confirmation of all, vers. 8, 9 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his hands shall also finish it; statutum esse, it is a statute, a decree past in the highest Court of Heaven, not to be reversed, that as Zerubbabel hath begun the work, and laid the first stone, the headstone of the corner; so with a non obstante, maugre all contradiction, he shall put to his last hand and complete the work. Thus you see by whom this great work was effected. Multorum manibus grande levatur onus, Many hands went to it, but two especially, Nehemia and Zerubbabel, they were the principal instruments under God for the carrying on of the same, and therefore both of them justly meriting the style and title of honour and dignity that is here given in the Text, which is my third point, Vocaberis reparator ruinarum, Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, &c. And indeed, what better, what nobler title can be bestowed upon a man? a more glorious one could hardly be thought on. Quanto honestius est principi si reparator ruinarum vocetur, quam vastator civitatum? as Marlorat notes well upon the place; How much more honourable is it for a Prince to be called the repairer of ruins, than the destroyer of Cities? It was a vain and horrible brag of Senacherib, which he spoke as tending to the honour of his predecessors, and himself too as descended from them, 2 King. 19 11. Behold, thou hast heard what the Kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. And the like we read of Alexander and Pompey, who were called Great from the great conquests and bloody victories they achieved, glorying in the many thousands, yea, millions, they had slain. The two famous Scipios had their sirn●mes from the Countries they subdued, the one was called Africanus, the other Asiaticus. How much a better title was that of Solomon, and our King James of happy memory, Rex pacificus. I have heard it credibly reported (fides sit penes authorem) I would not wittingly and willingly father a falsehood upon the worst of men, but give even the devil his due) that the late Oliver Cromwell (in whom hypocrisy and tyranny strove which should be predominant) boasted, he had been the death of near upon 40000 Scots in their own Country and at Worcester, where besides what were slain in fight, many were killed in cool blood, a cruelty which a Turk would be ashamed of. I have read of Knolls his Turk. hist. a greater Warrior, and a better man than he, Tamberlane, who having fought a battle with the Muscovites, wherein he had slain upon the turf about 40000 men, and taking a view of the dead, was so far from rejoicing at the sight, that he lamented the condition of such as commanded great Armies, commending his father's quiet course of life; accounting him happy in seeking for rest, and the other most unhappy, who by the destruction of their own kind sought to advance their own glory; protesting himself even from his heart, grieved to see such sad tokens and trophies of his victory. Hence then let Princes and great ones learn how to raise themselves a glorious name, that may survive them, and be sweet and precious when their bodies rot and consume in their sepulchers, while others take a pride and pleasure to kill and destroy, let them labour to save and preserve the world in peace; while others pull down and lay waste Cities and Temples, let them raise up and repair the breaches, so shall they be truly called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, gracious Lords, Luk. 22. 25. Et reparatores ruinarum, the repairers of breaches, the restorers of paths to dwell in; which will be far greater glory to them, than if they accumulated all the titles of honour, that either Heraldry can invent, or this world confer. It was well said by our late King of glorious memory, to his Son our gracious sovereign that now reigns, whom God preserve long among us, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 27 I had rather you should be Charles le Bon, than le Grand, Good, than Great. greatness hath no better Character than that of goodness, without which, 'tis but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, a cold and liveless carcase of nobility, like a ruddy colour in a picture that hath no life or heat in it, a rich cabinet without a jewel: With such an empty casket of honour without virtue, Minutius Minutius Felix Felix thus elegantly expostulates, Fascibus & purpuris gloriaris? vanus error hominis, & inanis cultus dignitatis fulgere purpurâ, mente sordescere. Nobilitate gloriaris? parent's tuos laudas; omnes pari sorte nascimur, sola virtute distinguimur. Dost thou glory that thou art invested with highest dignities, clothed with Purple and ermine? Alas, thou deceivest thyself; to be glorious in apparel, and sordid in soul, is but a vain error, and whiles thy face shines with Moses', thy better part is clouded with Egyptian darkness. In boasting of thy noble birth, thou praisest thy parents, not thyself, if thou degenerate. Nam genus & proavos & quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco. We are born alike, being hewed all out of the same Rock, our father Adam; 'tis only virtue and noble actions that distinguish and set us above the vulgar. When Moses goes about to describe the genealogy of the Patriarch Noah, he begins it thus, These are the generations of Noah: And Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God, Gen. 6. 9 Wilt thou be famous in thy generations as Noah? be just and upright as Noah, and thou shalt be Chronicled in the book of fame to all succeeding generations. Vocaberis, &c. thou shalt have an honourable name like this in the Text, Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of thy Country's peace and liberty. The wiseman is almost nonplussed and graveled, to think what praises should be given to these Repairers of breaches, Ecclus. 49. 11, 12, 13. How shall we praise this Zerubbabel which was a ring on the right hand, so was Jesus the son of Josedec: these men in their time builded the house, and set up the Sanctuary of the Lord again, which was prepared for an everlasting worship. And among the elect was Nehemias, whose renown is great, which set up for us the walls that were fallen, and set up the gates and the bars, and laid the foundations of our houses. But behold a greater than Nehemias or Zerubbabel is here. This Zerubbabel, the chief among these Repairers, was a type of Christ, and so is presented to us by the Prophet, Hag. chap. ult. vers. ult. In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thes, saith the Lord of hosts. Christ was the true Zerubbabel, whom God the Father chose from everlasting to be his servant, in performing the great work of our Redemption: Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. This is he that hath built his Church upon a Rock, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. This is he that hath raised up the foundations of many generations, and therefore is most worthy to be called, The Repairer of the breach, that vast breach which was long since made between God and man, that breach which was made between Jew and Gentile. Quae deserta fuerant in Judaeis, dicimus aedificari in Ecclesia, non ad breve tempus, sed in perpetuum: & fundamenta illius ex utroque populi, id est, in duabus generationibus suscitanda, the waste places in the Church of the Jews are built up by Christ in the Christian Church, and the foundations thereof raised of both people, that is, in those two generations of Jews and Gentiles. So St. Hierom understands my Text, according to that of St. Paul, Ephes. 2. 14, 15. He is our peace▪ who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. And because he humbled himself to the form of a servant to the death of the cross, therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name (above this name in the Text, and) above every name (besides) that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, &c. Phil. 2. 7, 8 9 I have done with the Explication of my Text, I come now to make some Application of it to the time. I need not tell you of our wast places, our ruined foundations, our vast breaches, they are too obvious to every eye, he that runs may re●d them. They may be reduced to these two heads, Breaches and ruins and Wastes made both in Church and commonwealth. To begin with the Church, for that is God's method, judgement commonly begins at the house of God. And, good God, who can think upon the Breaches, and not cry out with Job c. 22. v 6. Even when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh, this were enough to make a good Christian turn Quaker, and yet be a good Christian still. Not to speak of the material buildings, the goodly foundations of ancient Churches demolished and run to ruin, concerning which there goes a Proverb to the scandal of our Religion (though our Religion were not the cause of it) Pater noster set them up, and our father plucked them down. I shall not insist upon these external breaches & ruins in the Church, though in respect of them also, I may take up the Psalmists words, Psalm 102. 13, 14. Thou shalt arise O God, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea the set time is come; And why, thy servants think upon her stones, and it pitieth them to see her in the dust. The most considerable breaches were in the spiritual building, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Ye are God's building, &c. Eph. 2. 20. O what breaches were made in this building! Even breach upon breach, Job 16. 14. Here were the living stones broken, heart broken, the principal Pillars thrown down? Able, painful and pious Pastors and Preachers (such as Dr. Featly, that Malleus Hereticorum, and many others of the Clergy, besides the Reverend Fathers of the Church, the Bishops, of whom the world was not worthy,) cast out of their places and Livings upon false suggestions and informations; or if true, deserving rather encouragement and protection; than imprisonment and ejection. Sequestered and cast out they were, not for any thing really scandalous, but for being so conscientiou, that they would not take new Oaths and Covenants contrary to those they had formerly and lawfully taken: and upon the same score would have suffered death (as some did) rather than run with the tide of the times against the known laws of God and man. So wide was this breach, and so far from being well closed again, till this last year, that upon their exclusion, either none at all were put in their Livings, as in divers Counties of Wales, where the tithes of many Parishes were engrossed in a few hands, two or three Itinerant Preachers serving for a whole diocese: or else for the most part, ignorant and factious persons brought in their places, whose business it was to sow sedition and false doctrines, and whose preaching (if I may call it preaching) was full of cursing and bitterness, Rom. 3. 14. And what betrer could be expected from them that enter not by the door into the sheepfold, but climb up some other way, John 10. 1. not by the regular way of Ordination, which hath been ever observed in the Church of Christ from the Apostles days to ours. What better could be expected, when the Prophets two staves were once broken; the staff of Beauty, and the staff of Bands, Veritas Evangelica, & unitas Christiana, the true Doctrine and Uniform Discipline of the Church. When these, I say, were broken to pieces, behold an inundation of Sects and Heresies like a second Deluge over-flowed the whole Land, they came croaking about us like the Frogs of Egypt, and swarming like the Locusts out of the bottomless pit. Barclay in his Icon Animorum, writing of the several Sects in Religion which he had observed in England in King James his reign, tells a story of a father and his two sons who constituted or made up a Church between themselves, but these three not long agreeing, the two sons Excommunicated the Father, and at last one son the other, so that these three made three distinct Churches in their conceits, and each one the true. What would he have said, had he lived to see the many factions and fractions, Divisions and Subdivisions which have spawned since amongst us. Our Church being well likened by the last Archbishop of Canterbury in his Speech at his death, to an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body, and at every cleft, profaneness and irreligion entering in. It was a most charitable wish of judicious Master Hooker, and most seasonable for our times, in his answer to Master Travers Supplication in Queen Elizabeth's reign. Take it in his own words, for they are excellent, and deserve, as Job speaks in another case, to be graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever, to be so deeply imprinted in our hearts, as never to be obliterated or rased out. Since (saith he) there can come nothing of contention but the mutual waste of the parties contending, till a common Enemy dance in the ashes of them both, I do heartily wish that the grave advice which Constantine gave for uniting his Clergy so many times, upon so small occasions, in so lamentable sort divided, or rather the strict commandment of Christ to his, that they should not be divided at all, may at length if it be his blessed will prevail so far at least in this corner of the Christian world, to the burying and quite forgetting of strife, together with the causes which have either bred it or brought it up: that things of small moment never disjoin them, whom one God, one Lord, one Faith, one Spirit, one baptism, bands of so great force have linked, that a respective eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted, make us not, as through infirmity the very Patriarchs themselves sometimes were, full gorged, unable to speak peaceably to their own brother. Finally, that no strife may ever be heard of again, but this, who shall hate strife most, who shall pursue Peace and unity with swiftest paces. And to this I hope all my Brethren of the ministry will say Amen, and make some amends for the Divisions and Breaches which too many of them through their former misguided zeal brought into the Church, by their earnest endeavours for a happy settlement of all matters Ecclesiastical, and by their humble submission to that Order and Discipline in the Church as is or shall be established by lawful Authority. But behold more Breaches yet, the Hebrew {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is rendered by the LXX. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, a Builder, a Maker or Repairer▪ of hedges. Now the Jews have a saying, Massora sepes est Legis, Divitiarum sepes decimae, that as their Massora was the hedge of their Divine Law, comprehending every verse, word, and letter of it, so tithes were the hedge of their riches, and beyond a hedge in this respect, as the same worthy Author hath very well observed; for an hedge doth only fence and preserve that which is contained, but tithes and Offerings did more, because l. 5. Eccl. Po●. they procured increase of the heap out of which they were taken, witness that saying of God himself, Mal. 3. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me therewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Yet was this hedge going down apace, voted away from the Church by the fanatic party, who had devoured them in their imaginary hopes, and taken ere this time all the houses of God in their possession, if they had not been in the nick of time strangely prevented. The only way they thought to enrich themselves, was, to impoverish the Church, and cease upon the poor remains thereof. And whereas Abraham (long before the Law was given by Moses, and therefore could not be ceremonial) paid tithes of all the spoils, these men would make a spoil of all the tithes; then the Priests received tithes from the Soldiers, now the Soldiers would have taken tithes from the Priests, though to the ruin of themselves, and their posterities, and the whole Nation, that would have been involved both in the guilt and punishment, as was the whole Nation of the Jews for the same sin, Mal. 3. 9 For my part, I must confess my fears, that the curse which hath been upon out Nation of late years for this sin of sacrilege, amongst other great and crying sins, will not be taken off clearly (for we see God's hand is stretched out still against us in the late plague of immoderate rain and waters, which may breed a dearth, if not pestilential diseases) till satisfaction be made by restoring what hath been wrested and ravished from the Church. It was the opinion of that great advancer of learning, Sir Francis Bacon, in his considerations touching pacification and edification of the Church, presented to King James, and well-worthy the consideration ofthis present Parliament, That all Parliaments since the 27 and 31 of Hen. 8. who gave away Impropriations from the Church, stand in some sort obnoxious, and obliged to God in conscience, to do somewhat for the Church, to reduce the Patrimony thereof to a competency; for since they have debarred Christ's spouse of a great part of her dowry, it were reason they made her a competent jointure. And blessed be God that put it into the King's heart to take care, that all Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, should out of their Impropriations augment the small vicarages belonging to them in such a reasonable proportion, as the tithes will well bear. And 'tis to be hoped, that this will be a leading-card to invite and draw on others of the Nobility and Gentry to do the like, as some of them have done already, to their honour be it spoken, and therein have preveated his majesty's desires in that kind, and began to us; I could name some of them, but that I think they are sufficiently well known to the world. Consider next the ruins and breaches in the State, Armies raised, Battles fought, Cities besieged, taken, sacked, Countries harassed, plundered, Parliaments purged, dissolved at the pleasure of a thing called Protector, or the Grandees of an Army, the House of Peers abolished, another of mock-Lords instituted, all the fundamental Laws violated. A breach upon our liberties, by imprisoning men without showing cause, denying the people their voices in a free election of Knights and Burgesses. — fingit solemnia Campus Et non admissae dirimit suffragia plebis. A breach upon our estates, by imposing taxes what they pleased. A breach upon our consciences, by enforcing Oaths and Covenants contradictory to former Oaths. And to fill up the measure of our ruins, a breach upon the headstone of the building, the chief stake in our hedge was cut up, when our King of ever glorious memory was cut off, and most barbarously murdered before his own Royal gate; a most inhuman unparalleled Parricide, Regicide, I had almost said Deicide, and if I had, it might admit of a sober sense, for Kings are earth's Deities, God's pictures in a lesser form or model, and God himself hath honoured them with his own Name, I have said, Ye are gods, Psal. 82. 6. yet he did not fall like one of the Princes, but as if he had been an ordinary or common malefactor. Carnificis dextra Cromwelli-potentis obiram Procumbit. And when he fell all fell with him, ever since we have been a Tohu & Bohu, rudis indigestaque moles, a mere Chaos of confusion, a second Babel, or like a Tennis-ball tossed from hand to hand, a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to all that were round about us, Psal. 44. 13. Sen. Trag. Nec ulla requies, tempus autt ullum datur Nisi dum jubetur. We were put to it beyond Hercules's labours, no rest, no breathing time, no relaxation from our burdens allowed us by our worse than Egyptian-Taskmasters, we must make brick without straw, pay contribution doubled and trebled, as they were pleased to vote it, when many had no money to discharge it, but what (as the young Prophet said of his axe head) was borrowed. Nor was it safe for any man to complain of this extreme bondage and oppression, it being our case in these times as it was the people of Ariminum in Caesar's, — genitu sic quisque latente Lucan, Non ausus timnesse palam: vox nulla dolori. Credita— We were fain to mourn in secret, and not discover our grief in words or tears. Was it not now high time for us to say with the Psal. 119. 126. Psalmist? and indeed Nihil hic nisi vota supersunt, 'Tis time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy Law; yea, all the Laws both of God and man. When all endeavours of men failed, and no hope of human help appeared, than was it God's time to work; and work he did beyond all expectation, even to admiration. As he stirred up the spirits of Zerubbabel and Nehemias to repair the breaches in the Jewish Church and State, so hath he done for us; we have a Nehemias and a Zerubbabel as well as they, ex te erunt, and we have them of ourselves. As it was our unhappiness, that like the spider we spun the web of our miseries out of our own bowels, and with our own hands pulled our own houses upon our own heads; so it was our happiness again, that God hath raised up from among ourselves Heroes, and men of renown, to stand in the gap, to turn our captivity as the Rivers in the South, to build up our waste places and repair our breaches: For had we sent abroad for builders, as Solomon did to Hiram, 2 King. 2. they might have built a Babel instead of a Temple, and overthrown more with one hand than they set up with two. What tongue can tell, and what heart would not ache to think, what desolations had been wrought in the earth, if the way to the Throne had been hewed out by the sword of aliens and strangers to the commonwealth of England: Nay, had Sir George Booth's design gone on, in probability it might have cost hot water, multo sanguine & vulneribus, &c. and we had seen another A●eldama or bloody field; and even then the King had been fain to swim unto his Crown through a Red-sea of his subjects blood, an ungrateful passage both to him and them. usque ade● miserum esse civili vincere bello. But blessed be God, that as in Solomon's Temple there was no axe, nor hammer, nor iron tool heard in the house, while it was in building, 1 King. 6, 7. so in raising the foundations of this great work, and bringing it to perfection, no sword nor battle-ax, no instrument of war lifted up, no canon, nor musket, nor pistol discharged. Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, of Samson, and of Jeptha, of all our worthy Patriots in Parliament, in City, in Country, that by Votes, Declarations, or other ways, joined heads, and hands, and hearts, to the contriving, compassing, completing of this glorious work. Give me leave to single out one from the rest, unus instar omnium, I hope without envy I may name him, whose name will be like an ointment poured forth, precious to posterity, the Lord General Monck, who hath upon our stage acted both parts of Nehemia and Zerubbabel to the life. As another Nehemias he carried on his work prudently and closely, he came up to our Jerusalem or Metropolis, and was there some time before he told any man what God had put in his heart to do. Artis esse, celare artem, a man shows his art in concealing his art. An unseasonable discovery frustrates a good design, whiles a discreet silence fits it for maturity. Had he taken off his hood or veil at the first approach▪ God knows what resistance he had found, but as long as he carried it in a cloud, and hung like a Meteor between heaven and earth, or as the Papists picture Erasmus between heaven and hell, each party took him for their own, and so neither opposed him. True it is, he put many in a maze, and the whole City in great fears, when in a seeming compliance with, and obedience to the command of those that pretended to the supreme authority, like Samson he went away with the gates of the City, bars and all; but he so on made them amends by setting them in statu quo, or in a much better condition than he found them. Martial. una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit. The same hand that broke their head, gave them a plaster. Then again, like Nehemias, he calls the Nobles and Rulers together, brings in the Secluded Members to consult how our breaches might be made up; and to secure their sitting, sets a guard, and raiseth a strong Militia. Those members having made some notable Acts, in order to a further settlement, dissolve, and quickly after a full and free Parliament succeeds them, and prosecutes, if not perfects, what the other had so well begun. Thus you see how he personates Nehemias in these particulars. And may he not pass for a Zerubbabel too? I am sure like Zerubbabel he did his work not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit. * Lambert. Sanballat marched towards him with a more potent Army than his, which stood like a great Mountain in his way, but he had virtue enough to remove this mountain, it became a plain before him, and he might have said to his soldiers as Cesar in the like case to his, Tela tene jam miles, ait, ferumque tuenti▪ Subtrahe: non ullo constet mihi sanguine bellum. Hold your hands, here is no need of weapons nor blows, this victory shall not cost a drop of blood: As the magicians said in another case, so may I in this, Digitus Dei▪ est hic, even an Atheist may discover the finger, yea, the whole hand of God in it, and be, if not converted, at least confounded at the sight. May I not take up the Apostles exclamation with a little alteration? Behold, ye despisers, ye fanatics, and wonder, and perish, for God▪ hath wrought a work which you would in no wise believe, though a man had declared it beforehand unto you; nor will your posterity easily credit it, though a man declare it unto them in the next generation, it will sound in their ears more of a Romance than a true story▪ and we ourselves that know it to be true, may say of it as the Jews did of the like in their time, Psal. 126. 1. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, then were we like unto them that dream; so strange, so unexpected, so beyond hope, that it seemed rather a fancy in a dream than a real deliverance. What remained for him to do that he might make up the parallel, but that with Zerubbabel he bring forth the headstone of the building with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it; and this was done when Charles the Second by the grace of God, &c. was first Proclaimed, and after crowned, all the people with loud acclamations crying out, God save the King. And in him we have found another Zerubbabel, and a greater than the former; the General was but his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} (as John the Baptist was to CHRIST) his Forerunner or Harbinger, to prepare the way before him; and lo, he is come like Zerubbabel from a strange Country (where he lived in exile divers years) to his own native soil and dominions, over which may he and his Posterity reign happily to the world's end. Et nati natorum & qui nascuntur ab illis. And upon this very day whereon he came into the world, he came into his Royal City, being just thirty years old, as David was when he began to reign. A Prince, whom time, and sufferings, and converse with foreign Nations, have adapted for a Crown and heroic actions. A Prince whom the heavens honoured with a Star at his birth, which prognosticated him to be a man of wonders. A Prince most justly meriting the title which was given to Titus the Emperor, Deliciae humanae generis, The delight of mankind, even his enemies being judges, if yet he can have any enemies, whom God hath brought in with so high a hand, and outstretched an arm. This is that single person whom God set as a signet on his right hand, and preserved him as the apple of his eye from the hand of that uncircumcised * ●●om●●●. Philistine at Worcester, who with his numerous Army, like fat Bulls of Bashan, thought to have closed him in on every side, they said, Persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him; but God gave him cause to say with David, My soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fouler, the snare is broken, and I am delivered. And from that mir culous escape it was easy to prophesy of his future felicity, his happy return to us, as it is this day. And though many concluded him then for a lost man, that this our Sun was set to us, and had bidden us good-night for ever; yet we did hope that this Sun would arise again in glory to our Horizon, and that with healing in his wings, to salve and cure all the wounds and distempers in the body politic, and ecclesiastic too, of this Nation. When that little vessel now upon the Thames where it deserves to be kept like Theseus his ship for a monument to after▪ ges; when that Vessel, I say, had safely conveyed his Majesty to the Haven where he would be, methinks I see him looking back to England, and speaking comfort to his yet loyal, though then drooping and disconsolate subjects, as Aeneas to his companions in the Poet, — revocate animos, maestumquc timorem Millite, forsan & haec climb meminisse juvabit. recall your courages, lay aside your fears; both I and you shall have cause to give God thanks for this deliverance; which we remember this day with all joy and thankfulness This is that single Person whom Rebels abjured and devoted to destruction, but the Lord separated and set apart from the womb to be the Repairer of all our breaches in Church and State, the Restorer of paths to dwell in. Every one may now repose himself under the shade of this Royal Oak; and whereas the common prisons were of late years the proper places for loyal subjects, now they may sit secure under their own vines and figtrees. — Deus nobis haec otia fecit. Again, As Zerubbabel lived long in the King of Babylon's Court, yet retained his own true Religion, worshipping the God of his fathers in his true way and manner as he had commanded him: So hath his Majesty lived long in the Courts and Territories of foreign Princes, of different Religion from him, yet, with Job, he held fast his integrity, stood like a Colossus, or Rock immovable against all surges of temptations that were raised to shake his faith, to alter his Religion, witness the sharp assaults (as we have heard) of Monsieur Militiere and others he met with beyond-Sea. Like Ulysses he bound himself to the mast of a well-grounded resolution, that no Romish sirens could draw him out of the ship of the Church of England, in which he was baptised and educated, though that ship were like the other wherein Christ and his Disciples sailed, in all appearance ready to sink; and when he had no power visible to defend himself, he would be still the Defender of the faith once delivered to the Saints, therein following the great example of the best of Kings, his Royal Father, who to his death maintained the Religion of the Church of England, and died a Martyr for the same. Lastly, When Sanballat and others beyond the River offered their service to join with Zerubbabel in carrying on the work, Ezr. 4. 2. saying, Let us build with you; his answer was, You have nothing to do with us, but we ourselves will build unto the Lord our God, &c. So did his Majesty wave all foreign aids tendered to him, waiting God's ways and leisure as the best, who hath given him the hearts of his people, and found a way for his coming in sine coede & sanguinem, without bloodshed; Thanks be unto God who hath given him this innocent victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, what the Psalmist spoke of our Saviour, may, in an inferior sense be fitly applied to his anointed, and our sovereign, The stone which our late builders refused (if I may call them builders that were destroyers) is become the head stone of the corner, This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad it. And that he might be Charles the Great indeed, the great repairer of our breaches, he hath publicly declared his great Mercy in granting a general Pardon, and passing an Act of Oblivion, yea, and pressing this present Parliament to a confirmation thereof. He hath manifested his great Charity, in abolishing all notes of discord, and difference of parties, conjuring all his subjects to a perfect union among themselves. He hath showed his pity in indulging a liberty to tender consciences in matters of Religion, which disturb not the peace of the Kingdom. He hath expressed his great Justice, in being himself sworn to govern, not by his arbitrary will, as our late Masters did, but by the known Laws of the Land, leaving all his Subjects to be tried by them. But I cast water in the Sea, His own gracious Messages, Letters, and Declarations, both before and since his coming, speak him much better than I can, and therefore to them I commend you. To conclude all, How shall we praise this our Zerubbabel, whose renown is great, who hath set up the Sanctuary of the Lord again for an everlasting worship, and laid the foundations of our houses, made both Church and State rise out of their ruins, as the world out of a Chaos, and become glorious to the wonder of our own and other Nations? How shall we praise him as he deserves? We will call him the Repairer of our breaches, the Restorer of paths to dwell in; and we will wish him all prosperity in the Psalmists words, Good luck have thou with thine honour, ride on because of the word of truth, of meekness, and of righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. I will dismiss you with the words of Nehemia to the people, chap. 8. vers. 10. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord. Now to the King of Kings, that brought our King this day to us, be ascribed all honour, and glory, and thanksgiving, this day and for ever, AMEN. FINIS. These Books are lately come forth, and sold by William Leak, at the Crown in Fleetstreet between the two Temple-gates. An exact abridgement of the Records in the Tower of London, from the reign of K. Edward the second, to K Ri hard the third, of all the Parliaments holden in each King's reign, and the several Acts in every Parliament, by Sir Robert Cotton, Kt. and Baronet. An Apology for the Discipline of the ancient Church, intended especially for that of our Mother the Church of England, in answer to the Admonitory Letter lately published by William Nicolson, archdeacon of Brecon, and now Lord Bishop of Gloucester. Le Prince d' Amour, or the Prince of Love, With a collection of several Ingenious Poems and Songs, by the Wits of the Age. 8. A learned Exposition of the Apostles Creed, delivered in several Sermons by William Nicholson Archdeacon of Brecon and now Lord Bishop of Gloucester., The solemn League and Covenant, Arraigned and Condemned, by the sentence of the Divines of London and Cheshire, &c. by Lawrence Womack, now D D. and archdeacon of Suffolk. The Result of False Principles, or Error convicted by its own evidence, with Diotrophes his Dialogues, by the Author of the Examination of Tylenus before the triers; whereunto is added a learned Disputation of Dr. Goads, sent by King James to the Synod at Dort.