A Thanksgiving Sermon. For the blessed RESTAURATION Of His SACRED MAJESTY Charles the II. Preached at VPTON before Sir Richard Samwel, Knight, May 29. 1660. By William Towers Bachelor in Divinity; eighteen years titular Prebendary of Peterburgh; sixteen, titular Parson of Barnake. Now (by the Friendly favour of Mr. Reynolds) continued Curate at Vpton in the Diocese of PETERBURGH. With a short Apostrophe to the King. LONDON, Printed by R. D. for Thomas Rooks, at the Holy Lamb at the East end of S. Paul's, 1660. To His most Sacred Majesty, Charles the II. By the special Grace of God, KING of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. Most dread Sovereign, THough your Court be now much fuller of Gratulations To You, than once your Camp was with Bullets Against You; though your Royal Palace be as much beset with the cheerful Duties of Men, as your Royal Oak was pitched about with the Ministry of Angels, and the trembling Prayers of three Kingdoms: Yet I humbly crave leave, that one Shrub amongst so many Cedars, may testify his joy, that the Powder-fire hath not come out of the Bramble to destroy those Cedars, nor to do violence to the persecuted Defender of them, and of the helpless Shrubs too. Nor do I much fear the repulse of my loyal Suit, since a good Prince will be as accessible and exorable, as his great God; That God hath humbled himself to hear my constant Prayers for the King, and the King will stoop so low to hear my Petition to the King; since 'tis no more, than that your Majesty may be acquainted, that we who contributed to the dulling of the edge of the sword, to the quenching of the Volleys of fire against you, with louder volleys of those primitive weapons (the one fervent enough to melt the Sword, and the other moist enough to extinguish the flame) Tertullian's Preces & Lachrymae, have now changed our armour into Preces & Praeconia, Praises to God for your Majesty's unbloudy Victory; Good will towards men, for that the same Voices, and the same Guns, which before made a separation from amongst us, and breathed out slaughter upon us, have now closed with us, in shouting out the common joy, and vollying out the Triumphs of the King, His liege People and themselves; a joy too big to be understood, and we that feel it, cannot tell all the joy we feel; who, unless some Angel, will dare to recount the fullness of honour which God hath done to your Majesty beyond all the Princes in Christendom! To unite two Kingdoms into one Britain, was a great and wise work of your Royal Grandfather, for which he deservedly wears the Name of The wisest Monarch of all before him; but this was brought to pass in his riper years, in his days of Peace; what will not mature judgement and much plenty do, when the very lack of judgement, the very desire of plenty hath made one (with whom I would not exchange my Curateship for all the Crowns he now hath, Aliter cineres mando jacere meos) wade through blood rebelliously shed, through oaths, forsworn, all of them, some, in not being kept, the rest, in being taken, till he climbed into a Throne, Ut lapsu graviore ruat? But what greater wonders hath God done by your Majesty? your tender years have overcome so vast miseries which would kill him, whom the Devil tempted to murder, and God suffered to Martyr the best of Kings: Your younger days have reduced three States, & three Protectordoms into three Realms, and those three Realms under one King, and that one King the lawful head of them all: Come Angels and speak; we, overmastered mortals, must sit down and wonder. Nothing else is left for us, besides to pray, that God would continue to make you wiser than your wisest Grandfather; to make you as holy (for our conceptions cannot imagine any thing to have been (besides the Man Christ) or to can be more holy) as your Royal Father; to bless your Majesty, and your Kingdoms under you, with all the blessings which God hath ever bestowed upon good and suffering Kings, or will ever grant to reformed and penitent People. The Prayer of Your Majesty's humblest Votary, from the first famous 29. of May; and most dutiful Subject twelve years before the second, when your Majesty entered the Imperial City of London, WILLIAM TOWERS. Psalm the XXI. The Title of the Psalm, The Text. and the former part of the first verse. To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The Title. The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord. The Verse. IT is a day, and a rejoicing Text; what the Title does covertly, (whose cover we shall pull off anon) the Text does, in open view, Rejoice. 'Tis a for the integrity, and Success of the General, in preparing the way before the face of the Lord our King, to bring him in; to make the King happy in a loyal and obedient people; to render the people blessed, in a lawful and Religious King; A Lawful one these three ways: 1. By the law of Nature; The Kingdom is his, and the King is our birthright; besides, that he is our Legal King, by the most fundamental Law; he is our Natural King too, by the loins out of which he came. 2. By the law of the Land; that declares him our Sovereign, and us his Subjects as our supreme; Not at all subjects to our fellow subjects, unless under him, not, by the usurpation of one, a wrong OR. or more of them, a wrong and misnamed Parliament (a Juncto rather) but, to those set over us by his authority; by him, and for him; For him, not, in a pretence, but really. 3. By the Law of God; 'tis by him Kings Reign; Prov. 8. 1●. and for him (not only for wrath but for conscience, Rom. 13.5. for conscience to him) that we obey. We are to bless God for the General; The General means the King; and the King means God. The Text. (in the latter part of it) meets with all three, Strength with the General; the King with the King; and, Thy strength, and, O Lord, with God. Give we honour to whom honour is due; Rom. 13.7. to each, theirs; & in their right subordination; to the General, for the good of the King; to the King, for the benefit of three Kingdoms; to the Tri-Une God, for his blessing upon all: to the General, & to the King, as instruments; (to the General as a less principal instrument than the King; and yet as a more prinipal instrument than all the world besides; & yet, as the most principal instrument, to help us to that Musical word, the King, which makes our very eyes to dance, and our very hearts to leap) to the King, as the most principal instrument of all, more immediately deriving blessings upon all; to God as the Author, the Guider, the Finisher, the All in All. In the General, have we due esteems of, and bear we deserved respects to the inferior instruments under him, his Officers, and Soldiers: All the stars are fine shining things, and shed good influences every one of them; If there chance to be a few Mutineering stars in the Firmament, whose malignancy threatens danger, yet their discord will be composed, and their very Ominousnesse become fortunate, by a conjunction with stars of a kinder temper; else, there is, yet, one remedy left; they must be disdanded, fallen stars; every Officer and Soldier must have his share of praise, as well as of pay; but the Morning star, Mart. (of whom we bespeak the day, Phosphor, red diem) is the gayest, the luckiest, and loveliest of them all; The General, who brings in the King, is that Star; The King is that Day; the light and cheerfulness of our faces, Lament. 4.20. as well as the breath and life of our Nostrils, of our Souls; That Morningstar must not be courted beyond the Sun; the Sun shines brighter far than he; the Sun, we see, shines upon him; and the Sun, we foresee, (as glorious as his rays already are) will make him shine brighter yet: Gen. 1.16. 'tis that Sun, which must rule the day, which that star ushers in; the King must be known to outshine the General; and the General's Lustre must be acknowledged the Greater, for stooping down to his: And lastly, Jam. 1.17. The Father of lights must be infinitely honoured above the Sun; God above the King. I can look upon my County as an Epitome of the Kingdom (seated in the midst, and heart of it.) I can honour the King in every Petty-Constable, one in a Parish; (be the common Soldier he) in every High-Constable one in a Hundred; (be the Captain over fifties, and over hundreds he) in a Sheriff one in shire; (be the Lord General he) in a resembled Parliament too, a faint image of both Houses of them, Peers, Knights, and Burgesses; (be the Lords, Knights, and Gentry, Commissioners for the whole Shire they) I can honour all these, because of the King for whom they serve; I can honour the King above all these, somewhat of whose face I can see, (when he pleaseth to stamp his likeness upon them) in every of these; and (that I may honour the King faithfully, and unprejudicially, to the King himself) I can honour God above the King; That God whose image of power, whose inscription of Sovereignty, the King bears above all; and can say, (referring all these strenghs, and preparations of strength and all the advantage hoped for by them, to the gift of God) as one King hath said in Scripture, and another King in his heart, before me, the King (and the kingdom too) shall joy in thy strength, O Lord. See we if we can discover all, or most of these and some particulars depending upon these, out of the first part of the Text, the title of the Psalm, which is equally the word of God, as the Psalm after it. A Psalm (look we upon the title of it, and the several interpretations of that Title; upon the contents of it; or upon the former part of the first verse; for our Text reacheth no further) every way apposite both to the occasion, and to our hopes. Method I must be forced to transgress, either in order to the blessings received, or in order to the Text; in an orderly enumeration of blessings, we ought to begin with Actual, rather than with hoped for blessings; and amongst the actual, with the first which we receive; but my Text prompts me to another course, to begin with the Church, and with blessings hoped for to that; that, which is first in Nature considerable in the Text, is, that the Psalm hath a Title; and in that first considerable (as also, in the whole Title,) I shall find occasion to espy out a Church, and may hope to be , not only as I am a Churchman, but as I am a Christian, to begin with that: Have a little patience with me, and anon I shall pay you all, in setting those blessings before you, which concern your civil capacity, as you are men and subjects, as well as those which relate to your Religious condition, as you are Christians, and Disciples; the meanest of yourselves have skill enough to love gold better than silver; give me leave to have as much judgement, in preferring the Soul of man above his body, and to begin with the more than golden blessings of that. First the Psalm hath a Title; and that Title is the word of God; as sure as the Psalm after it, or any part of the Bible, before it, and behind it: If so, the close after the Epistles, as well as the entrance upon the Psalms, is the word of God too: If so, Timothy was the first Bishop (not of one parish amongst them, but) of the whole Church of the Ephesians; and Titus was ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians; First, each of them, in regard to seconds and thirds, etc. which were to succeed them, to follow after them: and, if so, the Church of England ought still to have (as she always hath had ever since she was a Church) Bishops presiding in it, in conformity to the word of God; aught to have them in the Church, even for the good of the state also; for, I fear I may say it, he is no discerning Christian Statesman who does not foresee, that if the Church, with the State be not delivered out of confusion (if God, and the King be not both provided for) the State will, by the displeasure and wrath of God, relapse into it; be it the care of every of us, in our places and callings, to reconcile God to us all; That's the surest way of perpetuating the reconsiliation, of quenching the heart-burnings amongst ourselves. But this, though it be a truth consequential out of the Text, is not so visibly, and immediately the truth of the Prophet David, as of the Apostle Paul. What says David himself, when he prophecies of the Christian Church? Instead of thy Fathers, Psa. 45.16. shall be thy children, whom thou mayst make Princes in all the Earth; in all of it; Geneva's self not excepted, but by itself; (England as little as any part of the world, if we look upon the entire, full, untumultuary consent, both of Church and of State too) S. Hierom's note upon it is the more considerable, because he is a mistakenly pretended father against Episcopacy; These Fathers, saith he, were the Prophets, these Children the Apostles: Nunc, quia Apostoli a munde recesserunt, habes, pro his, Episcopos Filios; sunt & high Patris tui, quia ab ipsis Regeris; He tells, and he comforts the Church, (I would none in a contrary Anti-Ecclesiastical, as well as Antiepiscoparian way, would more disconsolate her, then St. Hierome did!) that now since the Apostles are gone to heaven, She hath their Sons, the Bishops in the midst of her; These, saith he, are to her in stead of Fathers, because by these she is, and aught to be governed. But this, though it be David's, is not David's in our Text, either in Title orin verse, 'Tis David's in effect there too; in both of them. The Greek Title is, A Psalm of David: David was the King: He is expressly so called in the verse: Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers, Isa. 49.23. 'Tis a prophecy of the Government of the Christian Church by Kings; not only legal Kings are, but Evangelical Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers; The King hath two Sons, Church and State, The Church is his firstborn: as 'tis the privilege of Fathers to convey down Titles to their Heirs. so, 'tis their indulgence, to take care how to preserve those Titles. Though we have not the Church, directly in the Greek Title of the Psalm, yet we have the King's person there, David. Such a King, a Charles, we have heard of, and wept for, a long time; a King in Title at least: He, who was, before but a King of hearts, is now owned a King of England, a real King; the Pulpits ring of him, as well as the bells ring for him; and we dare now profess ourselves, what the most of us have always been, his loyal Subjects. This suits with the day, the day is set apart for the King if not also by the King; and we will no more scruple (as formerly we have done) to observe a day, since it is for the honour of the King, out of a fear, lest we keep the day without the King's consent, since we are sure we have his consent, (and more than that God's too, and more than that, God's command) that we honour the King, as we fear God, 1 Pet. 2.17. See we Doway's Title next, and the interpretation of that Title! if these will help us forward! The Title, a A Psalm of David. Unto the end; The interpretation, it pertains principally to Christ; partly to godly and victorious Kings. Deo principatum; the King, & that Church, which he owns and defends, not unto themselves, but to his Name give all the honour; Him, in the collect for defence against enemies, they acknowledge the only giver of all victory; him they worship more than success; & more, because of success; and not the less without success: And for that godly Epithet, all his loyal subjects (who dare inquire after, believe, and utter truth) may in his name (since his own humility will not do it) Challenge the Christian world to match him, if they can, with another Prince so knowingly, and devoutly holy as he: I should be glad to see such a second Phoenix! but I despair. Will Doway's contents advance us one step more? they are praise to God, for Christ's exaltation after his passion. Christ signifies, King; The King hath had his passion, in being twelve years a forceably, not owned King, and half twelve more, a suffering Prince; A deliverance out of all these, is, If any thing, an exaltation; for which this is the day of Praise and unto God. There is more yet in this day than so; Carthusiensis will Ludolfus' contents help us to find it out? A Psalm; of the glory of Christ, in the overthrow of his enemies. Christ, I told you, is King; the King is Christ's Vicegerent; His (the Kings) glory is great in thy (in Christ's) salvation, Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him, (the King) in 5. v. of this Psalm; The honour of the most glorious victory, His enemies being not twice slain, not dead in their sins; not once slain, not dead at all, but so mercifully overcome, that they may have leisure and Grace to repent of their multiforme and broody sin, their rebellion against God and the King, and be reconciled to the service and favour of both; No conquest like that, which, instead of killing an enemy, makes him a friend. Nor yet is this all neither, Ludolfus' title is the same with Doway's, but his interpretation comes, (as I hope, the King does) more home to us. A Psalm of David, Unto the end. That is, saith he to Christ, who is the end of the Law, of that Law, under which whoever were, were also under bondage. He goes on, It hath regard too unto the latter end, to the last time, in which these foretellings were to come to pass: The Psalm, says he, declares what good the Father will do to the King, the Son of the King, to Christ the Son of God, Propter contantiam. This is that constant King, whom no wants of his own, no temptations from abroad, no unkindness from subjects, no allurements from foreigners, no offers of men, monies, Kingdoms to boot, could either hire, or provoke out of his steadfast settledness in religion: None, that are so true to the Church of England as he is, will dare suspect him; for the rest, if they do cavil for fear the fixed King should change his Religion (and O! may they never cavil at him, even for this reason also, because he will not change his Religion! Alas! What amends will they ever make to the King and Church, for having really changed their own! None, but this, to return to that Religion, at which the King stays; These are those times in which is fulfilled the deliverance of King and people, Church and State, from the thraldom of that one Law of Arbitrariness, from the slavery of that other sword-Law; which I wonder, Those who have practised it against the King and his liege people, have not abhorred it for being called by that Heathenish Idol-Name of Law Martial. These are the general and public blessings, which this day minds us of; But, may we not be induced to hope for some peculiar blessings, arising out of these, and will not the extent of the title bear us out? Junius, and Tremelius' Title is the same with ours; ours is the very English of theirs; To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Will not this deliverance, which brings Melody to our hearts, restore Music to our Churches too? No danger, (would men but rightly apprehend it) of too much cost in the house, and decency in the worship of God; No posture too humble in our penitentials; No Music too lofty in our gratulations and Praises: Talk men what they will of the spirit, of an humble and grateful heart, yet I wish they could tell me, by what surer token to judge of a proud heart, than by a covered head, and unbended knee: of a thankless heart then by a tongue, which says that heart loathes Church Music; I therefore wish it, because myself loathes to Judge so hardly of the dissenters, whose lowly reverence to God and sober conformity to the Church they live in, I so earnestly covet to witness and to extol; This Music, of all the liberal Arts (says B●etius, and Venerable Bede) is the principal, because this alone hath the honour to enter into the Church of God; and very fit it is, at this time to be reduced, on this day to be used too in the Churches, if we will hearken to the judgement of the wisest Heathen, or see by the best light of Nature; The first, and loveliest office of Music ('tis Plutarch's in his book upon it) is, to employ it in a tuneful acknowledgement of the blessings of God which blessings we, this day, celebrate; which thankfulness we, this day, pay; and I could hearty wish, we paid it, with some other Organs than those living one's of our body (even with liveless, though not with breathless Organs) which body of ours is but a kind of instrument, a Corpus Organicum, and the Soul the Musician that tunes it; Most certainly, Grace will not deprive God of any those honours which nature itself affords him, but much rather explain, and exalt, and add unto them; If therefore we be not beastially in love with slovenliness and profanation; If we will not still seem to worship God in a more proud and saucy manner than we dare to show our respects to man (for, thus only to show them, is to conceal them the more; and there is a kind of Harmony in a submiss behaviour, a kind of Airs in a respectful deportment) so to worship God, as if some Heathen, should chance to come in amongst us, he would rather think we were abasing of God, we shall, then, all of us, with hands up to Haeven, and knees down to the ground, cheerfully admit a chief Musician, a Chanter, (as cheerfully as himself sings) at least in the Chapple-Royal, and in every Cathederal; In some I hear, these glories are already restored to our now-Israel, which so long hath been an Egypt; could I see them too, and hear them themselves, as well as hear of them, Sylu. 4. I would exultingly ask that question of Statius, Aspicis, ut Templis alius Nitor? Conclude we upon the Title, with the note of that eminent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That great King-lover, and (in the King's absence) that stout Church-defender, the Loyal and learned, the Holy and Judicious Dr. Hammond. This 21. Psalms was committed by David to the perfect of his Music, to be sung by the Choir, in the assembly of the people, as a form of to God (a very set form) upon occasion of any victory, even an unbloody one. Upon the King's recovery of his Rights and Prerogatives, to Rule the people, and ours of our Rights and Privileges, not only really, but, a vouchedly, unmolestedly to obey the King (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. as S. Basil in another case, It may be our pitch of honour to be styled the servants of so worthy a Master) upon these, do we right to God and his Church too; serve we him as she hath appointed; and be this itself no small part of our joy and , that we may, all of us, praise thee again O God, we may acknowledge thee to be the Lord, we may praise and acknowledge even as heretofore: Were there nothing else said in the defence of set forms, of Common Prayers, than what that late Martyr of Christ, and for his loyal people) the now-King's Royal Father, of dear and blessed memory, hath wrote, that alone, were enough to prevail with any, in whom there is the least spark either of devotion, or unpassionate reason to return (upon the call, of the Church of England, and the counsel of the late nursing Father of it, who would nurse and feed it with his own blood, rather than forsake it) to their Almighty and most merciful Father, & to confess how much they have erred and strayed from his ways, by their disacquaintance with such wholesome and intelligible prayers. Review we what we have gained out of the Title; hopes of the establishment of Bishops, in that there is a Title; a King, to be sure, out of the Greek Title; A Holy King in his sufferings; and a victorious, after them, out of Douai: A King constant to his Religion, by whom, and by which, his people are delivered out of bondage, in the Carthusian; A King under whom we do already enjoy the true worship of God by set forms, in St. Hammond, and hope to enjoy the Ornamental and decent worship too, with Music and vestments, in the Church-Bible, and in that of Junius and Tremelius; A King, for whose restauration (and in him, for our own) we own to the King of Kings, to the great God, in Douai. If such an obscure title will afford us so much of Appositenesse, such a clear Text as this, the King shall joy in thy strength O Lord, will do it much more. The King; we have him in the Text, &, we hope, in the Land too (patiently blessing God, that, what was but Hope in the Pulpit, is Fruition at the Press) in his own Land; In which, and the Heir of which he was born; in which, this year he is, and of which these twelve years he hath been King. Look we in the Land, and we have him; look we on the Text, and up to that God who Inspired it, and we have him, not from the Seas only, but from Heaven, The King O Lord. The King first, so we read it; but, the Lord before him, so we must construe it, O Lord, the King shall joy in thy strength. O Lord, the King! How sweet and orderly they sound! Deus & Rex! 'tis a Methodical and Scholarly Title, a Book, in some degree (but without any Blasphemy of comparison; nothing not Comparison itself so Odious as that) Holy, like that of Gods; a Book (next to God's and the King's, the Bible, and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) fit to be in the hands eyes, and hearts of all Christian, Loyal and intelligent Readers: The King; he is Our Lord; The Lord, Thy King, 1 Sam. 26.15. My Lord, the King. Dan. 1.10. He is the Lord of us All, both Thine and Mine; Rex & Ego, will befit the mouth and pen of Any the biggest man under the King; It will become the door of his lips, and be a more suitable Motto over the Portal of his Buildings too; Ego & Rex meus must be laid aside by all sorts of Subjects, the lofty Cardinal, and the more lofty Fanatic who, with a Blood-Red Sword in his hand, sets himself higher above his King, than he with a Blushing red Hat upon his head durst ever attempt to do; 'Tis the Style Of God, and for God alone, of him, for whom the King himself, King David, in the Grammar of my Text, says, O Lord the King. The King indeed is the First word in our translation; but (that we may Give unto Cesar, the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are Gods; and give to both in their right place; First, to God his, and then to Cesar his) in how many other translations read we God fore the King! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek! Domine Rex in St. Hierome's! Jehovah Rex in the Protestants, Junius and Tremelius! and, Lord the King, in the Papists, the College of Douai! 'Tis well done by all, in placing God before the King; but, of all best by the Elder, the Greek and St. Hierome, in setting God, and none but God, above the King; I wish that, forever hereafter, both the rest would Go and do likewise! that none of the former would unauthorizedly, join the People, nor any of the latter Vnconciliarily put the Pope in Commission with God, to sit upon the Honour, Power, and life of Kings, against Gospel and Law too! Sessions at home, and Conclaves abroad, have no such authority either of these two ways, and therefore Can have none at all, but Imaginary and Usurped! That neither of them would go about to make Treason duty, by an arrogant and lame, King and Country, and self-betraying distinction, either with a Vniversis Minor, or with an Inordine ad Spiritualia. To void the First. As Knights and Burgesses are respectively, their representative Towns & Countries, So the King is the Representative All; He is, Legally the whole People; I am told so by the writing of an eminent Lawyer; the Author, and his book had this Eulogy from aright reverend person of that Function, which, now we are got into our wits again, is, as it ought to be, honoured by all, that God made the man to make this book, he did his work, and died; which I the more boldly, and, I hope, the more unenviedly recount now, because both are expired, the deserving Author, and his Loyal hearty Encomiast. Livor post Fata Quiescit. Ovid. If this be doubted for good Law, to make amends, I am sure it is sound Scripture, the King is as much ourselves, as our own life makes us ourselves; he is the very Breath of our Nostrils; Lam. 4.20. Is it too much for the King to Represent the People! I tell you, (and I crave no pardon from any of those, who believe him to be, what he is, God's Vicegerent) He represents more, even God himself. To evacuate the latter, (and thereby the more strongly, for the very Popery sake of it, to render the former an abomination) If this Inordine may pass for Authentic, how easily will Ambition and Covetousness be tempted to call, Every Temporal (The Crown of the King, and the wealth of the People) Interpretatively and by Reduction, Spiritual! When this is done, all Christendom, and all Temporals therein, (A Religious Mine, and a Spiritual Coalpit too) will be the Popes; The Land and the Sea too will be his; the Sea shall be Holy-Water, and all shall be Fish that comes to his Net: the Gold and Silver shall be Fish; and the Fish shall be Spiritual; When all this is done, he may (next, do as another Pope we read of, did before him) Throw away his fishing-Net, send the Distinction to the College from whence it came, call himself Christ's Vicar, and every King his Curate to stand to his allowance, and own himself Lord of Temporals in the very Name of them, and Quatenus such. Which of the two, (the unlucky distinction (the lame member of it) of some who call themselves Protestant's, or of others amongst the Papists) is more repugnant to Scripture, or more mischievous to man, 'tis hard to tell, so like they are the one to the other. Non est tam similis Issae nec Ipsa, Mart. (The very Reformer is, in this, what he loathes to be, a Papist; the Papist's self is, This way (What no entreaties & disputes of ours can preswade him to be the right way) a (Reformer) and therefore would be hated with a perfect hatred, by all those who believe themselves bound by Either Table, by any one command of God, who either love their neighbour, or their very God. The King, we have him, (God bless him; be blessed by him; By us for him) from the Lord we know, O Lord the King; his help, and Our help (his helping of the King to us, and of us to the King; Psa. 121.2. our help both by God and the King) stands in that Name. But what means did the Lord honour by using, whereby to restore our King to us? His Kingdoms to him! strength; an Army; Conquest by that strong Army; Incruenta victoria the Best, the Noblest, the Royalest, the most Chistian, the most Heavenly, an unbloody Conquest; a Wise as well as Valiant Army, an Army whose Looks did conquer; a strength which overcame wiithout a Stroke; so overcome, as that the Miracle of the Victory, the peaceableness of the War, does evidence and demonstrate no less than the Kind power of God to be the Conqueror; So that though we May look up to the Hills, to the strength, to the Host, From whence cometh our help, v. 1. yet we Must, in the very next verse look beyond them, to the Heavens, to the Name of God, to the Lord of Hosts, In whom standeth our help; In Man it was not the Sharpness of his Wit or Sword, but a very Rumour of him, in God it was not the utmost, the nonsicut of his Power and Love, but the very Name of Him, which hath gotten for us, which hath Gotten to himself the victory. Nomini Tuo Gloriam Domine. This is the sense of the Text, this is the story of the Times; And what can the result of all this be but Joy, the Joy of all? The King and the Kingdom, shall rejoice, The King is a Term Relative, and it would continue to be a wise and happy Age, if we would all of us, be sober Arithmeticians, and as much count the prosperity of the King to be the welfare of the Nations, as to call, (somewhat, we some times know not what) the success of the Kingdom, the honour of the King; Most bodily afflictions will the more easily be born, and speedily remedied whilst the Head escapes the Blow, whereas a broken head endangers, and a cut-off-head dis-livens every Member with it; The King is not Himself, He is in some measure the Kingdom too; We are not Ourselves, We are Slaves without the King; There is a Reciprocalness of affection, betwixt King and People; The only difference is, he hath loved us more than we have regarded him or ourselves; His present joy is ours, as our past griefs have all along been his; Here is joy, greater, sublimer than can be seen, unless by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Fathers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Homor calls him, that God which causes it; All our Bonfires and Bells have been but Dark and Dumb representations of it; our Drums and Trumpets, but still Music, our Herald's atarmes mere Pageantry, Pictures and Shadows; our Voices to the Ear, and our Languages to the Eye, our Pulpits and Presses but Extempore silences, and at best but Studious ones; our very Deliverance itself (till we look upon the face of the King) but a pleasant Dream; When the Lord turned again the Captivity of England, we were, Psa. 126.1. (as those of Zion before us) Like them that Dream; When after the sighs of our hearts & the Options of our Souls, O That the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion) the Lord hath been pleased to bring back the captivity of his people, Psal. 14.7. though Jacob does rejoice, and Israel is Glad, yet our joy is louder and brighter; more Harmonious and more Substantial, more Manly and Soully, more Strenuous and inward, than can be uttered. Res severa est Verum Gaudium. Senec. All the rest are but the Post and Sign, the outward pearance; The Heart is the House where Joy Inns & dwells, Thou (O Lord) hast granted him (the King) his Heart's desire, as well as thou hast not withheld the request of his Lips; and the desire of his heart; is the joy of us all, we Joy that he hath his desire, and his desire it is, that we should joy. Apostrophe To the King. GReat King, Great to the most of us, in your sufferings, and to all of us upon your Throne. Whom we greet as the honest Heathens did their Jove, with a Mioa Thuris and a Libamen Farris; as the devout Christians do their God with men's Pia and Cor Sincerum; may I crave your Royal pardon, that I purposely wave all the little skill I have, and make choice to appear before your Majesty, rather in the Graceful Nakedness of high Loyalty, than in the ornaments, either of a Learned, or a Flourishing Style; I must have Time, well to Digest my Joy before I can be able, well to pen it; and yet I lie under an other impotency, it being impossible for me to Rule or stiefl my Joy; to esteem myself less than Traitor, unless I am so bold to make even Irreverent haste, & to tell to your Royal Face, that I have always been almost more than Loyal; the Honour of my Poverty bears me witness; and I would rather Perish still than to have been rich; nor yet flies my Ambition beyond a Touch or a Glance; one Look from your Eye, one Kiss of your hand, will outvalue all Ecclesiastical preferment; That, That Look may not be a Frowning one may I also Plead for my pardon, as He did to another Caesar. — Non Displicuisse meretur Mart. Festinat, Caesar, qui placuisse Tibi. All this is but a Proem to a Sermon, as all the Title is but a Preface to the Psalm; and in all this I serve myself more than my King, in desiring this, as a means whereby to bless my Eyes in the King's Face, and my Lips upon his hand; If I may have command or leave to print the Sermon upon the verse, I shall therein serve my King (and in doing that, serve myself again, so much is Loyalty's self the great & conscientious reward of Loyalty) in showing those who are my Superiors Equals, Inferiors, (and yet all of them my fellow Subjects) how inseparable the authority of Majesty is from the person of the King; what blessings the people have in Regal Government, especially under the best of Monarches. My Dread Sovereign I falldown, with my very Soul at your Majesty's Feet, to tell you, I am Your Majesty's most Alligeant Subject. William Towers. FINIS.