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<DATE>2013-03-07</DATE>
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<NAME>Leah Yurasek</NAME>
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<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Mercurii,</HI> 31<HI>^m^o die Jan.</HI> 1693.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P><HI>Ordered,</HI></P>
<P>THat the Thanks of the Hou&s;e be given to Dr. <HI>Birch,</HI> for the Ser|mon by him preached before this Hou&s;e ye&s;terday, at St. <HI>Margarets We&s;tmin&s;ter:</HI> And that he be de&s;ired to Print the &s;ame. And that Sir <HI>Tho|mas Dyke</HI> and Mr. <HI>Hungerford</HI> do ac|quaint him therewith.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Paul Jodrell,</HI> Cl. Dom. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<PB REF="1">
<P> A SERMON Preached before the Honourable <HI>Hou&s;e of Commons,</HI> AT St Margarets We&s;tmin&s;ter, <HI>JAN&V;ARY</HI> 30. 1694.</P>
<P>By <HI>Peter Birch,</HI> D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Maje&s;ties.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Tho. Nott</HI> in the <HI>Pall mall,</HI> and are to be Sold by <HI>Randal Tay|lor,</HI> near <HI>Stationers-hall,</HI> 1694.</P>
<PB REF="2">
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>2 SAM. I. 21.</BIBL>
<Q><HI>Ye Mountains of</HI> Gilboa <HI>let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the &s;hield of the mighty is vilely ca&s;t away, the &s;hield of</HI> Saul, <HI>as though he had not been anoint|ed with oyl.</HI></Q>
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<P>THis is part of the lamentation of <HI>David</HI> over <HI>Saul,</HI> and an expre&s;&s;ion of his grief &s;o rai&s;ed and extraordinary, as nothing but the greatne&s;s of the occa&s;ion could excite, nor any raptures but tho&s;e of a King and Pro|phet pre&s;ent us with.</P>
<P>It is over the fall of a Prince, that was literal|ly the Lords anointed and his Succe&s;&s;or, or if any prefer the being Vicegerents to their inferi|ours, that was the de&s;ire and choice of the peo|ple; <HI>Saul</HI> being advanced to the throne when
<PB N="2" REF="3"> <HI>I&s;rael</HI> fir&s;t grew weary of the Theocracy, and de&s;ired a King after the form of other nations. Be&s;ides that after his unction he had a new heart given him, and was numbred among the Pro|phets; &s;o that his ob&s;equies were fit only to be &s;olemniz'd by one like him&s;elf, the known inhe|ritor of his Kingdom and Spirit. To who&s;e tears al&s;o it mu&s;t needs have been a con&s;idera|ble addition, that he had then rai&s;ed an army, which though not immediately employed a|gain&s;t his ma&s;ter, yet we find offered unto <HI>A|chi&s;h,</HI> and that it made the rear of his battel when he went out to fight again&s;t <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> and therefore it is no wonder, that he who&s;e heart &s;mote him for offering violence but to the skirt of his Prince's robe, &s;hould be overwhelmed at his death.</P>
<P>But be&s;ides the&s;e appropriate circum&s;tances, there are &s;ufficient in this pathetick &s;tory to war|rant our Churches accommodating it to the pre&s;ent &s;olemnity. For although few Texts of Scripture are exactly &s;uited to tho&s;e of provi|dences, and much le&s;s to that crime without a precedent, in which all the villanies of our late confu&s;ions were compleated, yet does this noble
<PB N="3" REF="3"> in&s;tance of <HI>David</HI>'s piety to <HI>Saul</HI> teach us that our duty is practicable, even again&s;t an apparent intere&s;t, and the highe&s;t provocations.</P>
<P>We need not then &s;pend time in making out the parallel, or enquire whether God really &s;uf|fered his anointed to fall by the hands of one he had di&s;obediently &s;aved; 'tis enough for us that <HI>David</HI> believed the <HI>Amalekites</HI> relation, and that his carriage herein is recorded for our example, to guide po&s;terity in the &s;ame cour&s;e. He was at that time under more true di&s;couragements from his duty, than ever any rebel &s;ince invent|ed fal&s;e ones; he had a ju&s;t declared title to &s;ucceed, had &s;aved the honour of his Country, and was the darling of his people, and yet had grievances alone to plead, where he had merited rewards. For he was openly per&s;ecuted by <HI>Saul,</HI> with a malice that &s;eemed equally incapa|ble of end or increa&s;e; one that all his &s;ervices and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ions together could never allay, that had endangered the life of <HI>Jonathan</HI> for inter|ceding, and could ungratefully welcome him from the &s;laughter of the <HI>Phili&s;tins,</HI> with &s;eeking to &s;trike him to the wall with a Javelin: that as him&s;elf complains, pur&s;ued him like a Par|tridge
<PB N="4" REF="4"> on the mountains, and made his days as a &s;hadow that declineth.</P>
<P>And yet when this heir of the kingdom &s;aw the Crown and his Enemy fall into his hands to|gether, he does not ba&s;ely trample upon his misfortunes, or draw arguments from provi|dences to conclude him rejected of God, but forgetting his revenge, he fir&s;t vindicates the maje&s;ty of <HI>Saul</HI> by the death of his de&s;troyer, and then he piou&s;ly laments over him; not with a tran&s;ient and retired grief, as if he alone had been concerned, but after the &s;ame manner as the Go&s;pel now provides, that &s;upplications, prayers and interce&s;&s;ions be made for Kings, <HI>i. e.</HI> compo&s;ed and &s;olemnly performed in our daily offices; &s;o he likewi&s;e frames this divine lamentation, enters it in his book of <HI>Ja&s;her,</HI> where his other hymns and &s;piritual &s;ongs were written; and having, according to the u&s;e of ancient times, given it a title from the mo&s;t eminent pa&s;&s;age, as was the bow of <HI>Jonathan,</HI> he to make the &s;orrow univer&s;al, commands it to be taught the children of <HI>Judah;</HI> that all might learn with one heart and mouth to weep over the light and beauty of <HI>I&s;rael. Ye moun|tains</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="4"> <HI>of Gilboa,</HI> &amp;c. If the whole earth was once accur&s;ed by heaven for the &s;in of man, 'tis but ju&s;t that you, O unhappy Mountains, &s;hould for ever bid adieu to its ble&s;&s;ings, upon which the light of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> was extingui&s;hed; you de&s;erve to lo&s;e your fertility, and be given up to perpetual barrenne&s;s; and may this expiate, may you rather never more yield an increa&s;e &s;ufficient for an offering unto the Lord, than that his heritage &s;hould be brought to confu&s;ion, and the blood of his anointed be required at our hands.</P>
<P>The&s;e two parts therefore, the maledicti|on, and the rea&s;on of it: I &s;hall di&s;tinctly con|&s;ider, with relation to the pre&s;ent &s;olemnity. And</P>
<P N="1">1. Of the malediction, <HI>Let there be no dew, nor rain upon you, nor fields of offerings.</HI> This we need not force into a Prophecy, as if no rain or dew had ever &s;ince fallen upon Mount <HI>Gilboa;</HI> and much le&s;s are we to e&s;teem it only the rage of the Poet, all rapture and hyperbole; for if we pa&s;s on to its ground and de&s;ign, or compare it with other the like pa&s;&s;ages in &s;everal of the Prophets, it will appear &s;o far above a cur&s;e of
<PB N="6" REF="5"> fancy and pre&s;umption, as to be founded upon one that is real and perpetually threatning. 'Tis comment enough but to repeat that one parallel in&s;tance of <HI>Job</HI>'s cur&s;ing the time of his birth, <HI>c.</HI> 3. <HI>Let.</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>the day peri&s;h wherein I was born, and the night in which it was &s;aid there is a man|child conceived. Let that day be darkne&s;s, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light &s;hine upon it. Let darkne&s;s and the &s;hadow of death &s;tain it, let a cloud dwell upon it,</HI> &amp;c. All which is not a piece of bla&s;phemy or di&s;tru&s;t in God, but a de&s;igned demon&s;tration of the bitterne&s;s of his troubles, and the contempt he had of that life which &s;u&s;|tained them; for <HI>Job</HI> is before &s;aid, <HI>c.</HI> 1. 21. <HI>not to have charged God fooli&s;hly;</HI> he was long &s;ince re&s;igned and had commenced the &s;tandard of patience. And therefore tho&s;e who fir&s;t igno|rantly call this murmuring, and then excu&s;e it by infirmity, they might as well apologize for the Saviour of the world him&s;elf, who with &s;trong cries prayed the Father that cup might pa&s;s from him, to drink of which he came down from heaven.</P>
<P>But if we con&s;ider <HI>David</HI> as a man after God's own heart, and to have been in all the other
<PB N="7" REF="5"> circum&s;tances of this &s;tory mo&s;t eminently care|ful of his duty to <HI>Saul;</HI> then the Text likewi&s;e mu&s;t be interpreted by the &s;ame rule as that of <HI>Job,</HI> not as a flight in Poetry, but for a ju&s;t grief and a deprecation of that guilt wherein the whole land was involved, and which hangs over all Countries, that embrue their hands in the blood of God's Vicegerents.</P>
<P>From all which it &s;eems an ea&s;y con&s;equence, that if <HI>David</HI> &s;orrowed and feared &s;o much, for the death of a King &s;lain in battel and open ho&s;ti|lity, if he &s;o carefully propagated his grief, le&s;t the cur&s;e &s;hould &s;pread and become national, if &s;o high a concern was nece&s;&s;ary for one that had been &s;o highly provoked, therefore</P>
<P N="1">1. The like duty is now univer&s;al, namely, that we al&s;o joyn in an united and public lamentation for that &s;till more innocent blood of the Mar|tyr of this day. And</P>
<P N="2">2. That the neglect of it, and an in&s;en&s;ibility of the guilt, will certainly bring upon us the cur&s;e in&s;inuated in the Text.</P>
<P>Now both the&s;e particulars &s;uppo&s;e our &s;ins and our duty to outlive the vulgar opinion; that as &s;ome crimes are too great to be expiated
<PB N="8" REF="6"> by the puni&s;hment of one only generation, &s;o al&s;o there are &s;ome duties that &s;urvive the party to whom they were due; we do not perform all the la&s;t offices to the decea&s;ed upon his fir&s;t in|terrment, but his funerals return upon every in&s;tance de&s;igned to pre&s;erve his memory, and in this &s;ence our Lord's death is &s;aid to be &s;till &s;hewed forth, by a commemorative &s;acrifice, and that it &s;hall be &s;o till he come to judgment. Nay every man that is not ignorant of him&s;elf mu&s;t acknowledge, that the &s;oul is able to pro|duce the &s;ame effects by reflex acts as when the object is pre&s;ent to us, &s;o as to fancy a pa&s;t di|ver&s;ion is to act it over again, and to call back the mo&s;t trifling endearments of a decea&s;ed friend is to make all our &s;orrows bleed afre&s;h, and to renew tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ions we at fir&s;t entertain'd him with. Upon this at lea&s;t are built all tho&s;e com|mands of meditating, con&s;idering, and calling to remembrance things pa&s;t; as the only true way to be affected with them.</P>
<P>Since then the duty &s;till remains, and that the very pre&s;ence of this honorable A&s;&s;embly &s;uppo&s;es it, we may reflect on the two principal aggravations of tho&s;e &s;ufferings we are this day commanded to
<PB N="9" REF="6"> lament over; to the end we may at this di&s;tance pay &s;ome faint honours to our late martyr'd Soveraign, and may not be partakers of the &s;ins and the plagues of his murderers. Now the</P>
<P N="1">1. Of the&s;e aggravations we may ju&s;tly e&s;teem the private worth of his per&s;on. To form a ju&s;t Idea of which, and much more to draw his Image, or venture upon his Character, would require a Soul as great as his was; 'twere a profanation in any ruder hand to attempt it, but yet the perfections which were obvious, and within the reach of every the meane&s;t be|holder, are &s;ufficient to rai&s;e our grief and ad|miration.</P>
<P>Had all they of his own hou&s;hold been his foes, and con&s;pired to conceal him from the World, yet it mu&s;t have &s;u&s;pected &s;omething great from that blood, in which Nature had united all the gallant di&s;po&s;itions of the chief Chri&s;tian Families. But when once the&s;e had gathered &s;trength, and rendred his manhood as augu&s;t as his birth, then he appeared with all that was requi&s;ite to make him good as a Man, or honourable as a King: There <HI>Plato</HI> might
<PB N="10" REF="7"> have &s;een Learning on the Throne, and Philo|&s;ophy in Purple. In him were all tho&s;e Virtues crowded together and enobled, each of which had eterniz'd its Hero; he little needed the common allowances that are made to other So|veraigns, from who&s;e faults their very enemies, if honourable ones, u&s;e to retire with re&s;pect; for if he had any, they were in tho&s;e generous exce&s;&s;es of Pardon and Liberality, which di&s;tin|gui&s;h Princes from the vulgar; that common topic of prai&s;ing him from compari&s;on, is a real diminution to his greatne&s;s; he that &s;aith he was valiant as <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> tells but half the truth, for his Courage was equally great on the Scaf|fold as in the Field; he owed not his bravery to pa&s;&s;ion or example, but his re&s;olution was ever &s;tronge&s;t in Retirement, and he &s;hewed mo&s;t gallantry when he had mo&s;t lei&s;ure to fear. To compare his Temperance or his Con|tempt of the World to that of a beggarly Phi|lo&s;opher, were to commend his phlegm or his poverty; but he wanted neither great de&s;ires nor great temptations, nor any help of envy to declaim again&s;t other mens plea&s;ures, becau&s;e he could never ta&s;te them him&s;elf.</P>
<PB N="11" REF="7">
<P> As for the meekne&s;s of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the patience of <HI>Job,</HI> and the zeal of <HI>Jo&s;ias,</HI> all the&s;e met in his brea&s;t&punc; and together made up a perfect man; one that all the indu&s;try of his ene|mies could never &s;earch out a plau&s;ible ac|cu&s;ation again&s;t, though their malice pur|&s;ued him through all the mo&s;t private actions of his life. The truth is, in him they had nothing to revile but his Virtues, and were it fit to mingle his glory with their re|proaches, the&s;e could never be &s;o perfectly &s;umm'd up as in their calumnies; that which they bla&s;phemed for Tyranny, was a Boun|ty that &s;cattered among them all his Royal Prerogatives, and left them nothing to mur|der but Him&s;elf: the&s;e &s;trangers to a meek and quiet &s;pirit had the in&s;olence to call his a defect of under&s;tanding: Ob&s;tinacy in their mouths was in him a firmne&s;s to his du|ty, and Super&s;tition a regularity in Devoti|on. Nothing certainly but their furious zeal dur&s;t have &s;tiled him an enemy to Reli|gion, of which his life was the greate&s;t or|nament; and his death the mo&s;t devout ex|ample: None el&s;e had forehead enough to
<PB N="12" REF="8"> pronounce him unworthy to reign, and per|haps in that inglorious quality a Cla&s;&s;is was never yet outdone, but by tho&s;e who have &s;ince pretended him unable to write.</P>
<P>Upon the whole matter, if we &s;eriou&s;ly reflect on the many afflictions which &s;ur|rounded the head of that excellent Prince, how little he de&s;erved the lea&s;t of them from any man, nay how much otherwi&s;e he me|rited from mo&s;t of the chief actors; and yet again&s;t how many fair hopes they pre|vailed, and with how many &s;ad circum|&s;tances they were increa&s;ed, as if all that re|lated to him were but &s;o many appendages of his &s;ufferings; but with what an un&s;haken con&s;tancy he bore them all; we mu&s;t hence conclude, that he was &s;eparated by God's e&s;pecial appointment to give a new example of fortitude to the decaying Virtue of the age, and to confirm the belief of pa&s;t Miracles to one in which they are cea&s;ed.</P>
<P>And thus in King <HI>Solomon</HI>'s phra&s;e it hap|ned to the ju&s;t man according to the work of the wicked, and we may well take up his Fathers complaint, <HI>How are the mighty fallen,</HI>
<PB N="13" REF="8"> <HI>and the weapons of war peri&s;hed! How is the beauty of I&s;rael &s;lain upon thine high places! Thou, O unnatural country, no longer merits the common ble&s;&s;ings of heaven, the rain or the dew, and much le&s;s tho&s;e di&s;tingui&s;hing enjoy|ments, by which it hath hitherto divided thee as well in happine&s;s as in &s;cituation. Why are thine hou&s;es yet &s;afe from fear, and the rod of God not upon thee! Wherefore do the wicked &s;till live, become old and mighty in power? why are the old arts but &s;till advancing to thy ruine? but that thou maye&s;t at length meet a vengeance worthy of God, and drink up the dregs of his fury.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The other great aggravation of our grief is, that in all the guilty parts of our So|veraign's Martyrdoms his own people had &s;o great a &s;hare. I am not ignorant how many &s;crupulous con&s;ciences there are, that are truly tender of nothing but a ju&s;t reproof; and how impo&s;&s;ible it is for him that tells them the truth not to be accounted an Ene|my, and u&s;ed &s;o upon occa&s;ion; 'twere in|deed a mighty &s;tep towards their conver&s;ion, if tho&s;e men could bear &s;ound doctrine, who
<PB N="14" REF="9"> have hitherto, like <HI>Pliny</HI>'s peevi&s;h creatures, had their gall in their ears. But although there is an indemnity for their per&s;ons, there is no oblivion indulged their rebellions, we are not bound to &s;pare the crime, or cry peace to the wicked, when God &s;ays there is none; and therefore &s;ince their general and dreadful impenitences creates a nece&s;&s;ity of yearly de|claring who were his Murderers, and who &s;till abhor their principles; I hope it will not be interpreted an invective to give this &s;hort account of the action.</P>
<P>When therefore the mercy of God had made the goods of our Church pay for the purity of its doctrine, and had advanced a private quarrel into a glorious and public re|formation, it was of his permi&s;&s;ion, who al|ways leaves a way open to puni&s;h us without a miracle, that &s;ome of its enemies were &s;till left as thorns in our &s;ides, and that out of their corruption were hatch'd a new race of men, who having fir&s;t &s;owred all the benig|nity and genero&s;ity of nature, were fit only for executioners, and to be poured out among his other plagues, as a ju&s;t puni&s;hment of our
<PB N="15" REF="9"> &s;ies. The&s;e, like their brother vermin, were fed only by the rotten members of Church and State; whoever had his ambition checked, or hated the re&s;t of his brethren, knew pre|&s;ently where to herd, and find companions that were friends to none but them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Now of the&s;e and the Emi&s;&s;aries that bred them, was made up that rod of God which had been a long time &s;haked over us, and at length inflicted the &s;troke. For when once our vice and carele&s;ne&s;s had made them con|&s;iderable, and they could find faults to libel; after a luxurious peace had rendred an hone&s;t zeal too weak for a fal&s;e one, then were all tho&s;e &s;ects and here&s;ies called out of their &s;e|veral &s;hades, to over&s;pread the land, and min|gle a perver&s;e &s;pirit in the mid&s;t of our coun|cels. Hence all our Soveraigns bountiful conce&s;&s;ions met evil &s;urmi&s;es and &s;editious comments, and the&s;e were &s;econded by mu|tinous petitions, &s;editious clamors, and at length open a&s;&s;aults. When once the age was enough infatuated to give them admit|tance, this new race of Saints &s;oon preach'd and prayed it into blood and di&s;obedience;
<PB N="16" REF="10"> the violation of rights, multiplying widows and orphans, rapine and oppre&s;&s;ion were to them but &s;ins of daily incur&s;ion; and few were backward in doing that work of the Lord negligently.</P>
<P>But the&s;e were only the beginnings of &s;or|row, nor could an unnatural and &s;ervile war produce any victories on the &s;ide of rebellion but what were &s;o al&s;o. With the&s;e men to overcome and to extirpate were the &s;ame thing, they had ju&s;t as much reverence for the Crown as they had for the Miter, and kept their oaths to both alike; till at length by &s;uch judges as the&s;e the chief pillars of Church and State were made perfect through &s;uffer|ings; and to fill up the mea&s;ure of their &s;ins, the great Defender of them both. The &s;ub|ject would be too tedious and ungrateful to recount all the in&s;olencies of his mean con|querors, the melancholy and terrors of a &s;u|&s;pected pri&s;on, the barbarous forms of &s;uch a tryal and &s;uch an execution, with the other unparrallel'd circum&s;tances of the crime.</P>
<P>But it is high time to ob&s;erve, that to the honour of our Church e&s;tabli&s;hed, and may
<PB N="17" REF="10"> it &s;o continue, it was no way acce&s;&s;ary to this direful fact. She had always the &s;ame Enemies and the &s;ame fate with her King, they were ever per&s;ecuted, oppre&s;&s;ed and defamed, and have ever fallen together; her obedience was a nobler thing than to let them peri&s;h unattended; and perhaps in the &s;ad in&s;tance now before us it was ne|ce&s;&s;ary to have her con&s;tancy tryed, that &s;o famous an example might guide us hereafter, if ever the like occa&s;ion re|turned.</P>
<P>And yet notwith&s;tanding we were not immediately of acce&s;&s;ion to &s;o vile an acti|on, our &s;ins contributed to the judgment, and by con&s;equence we are bound to mourn for it. In &s;uch a day of rebuke and con|fu&s;ion as this, God particularly takes no|tice of our behaviour, and &s;ees every mour|ner in &s;ecret: he al&s;o beholds the riotous eater of Fle&s;h, and him that drinks Wine, when the Lord calls us to weeping, fa&s;ting and mourning. And I hope we &s;hall ne|ver forget our intere&s;t, by growing weary of the duty.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="18" REF="11"> II. The other general inference from <HI>Da|vid</HI>'s malediction, was that without a like &s;erious and particular humiliation, the cur&s;e in&s;inuated in the Text will certainly over|take us. The &s;in indeed is pa&s;&s;ed away, to|gether with the time in which it was com|mitted; and there are who &s;eem willing we &s;hould forget there was one, but the guilt of it remains, and makes us truly debtors to the ju&s;tice of God. For if under the Law, the &s;hedding of any innocent blood was &s;o crying a &s;in, that when the murderer was not known the whole land was re&s;pon&s;i|ble, and mu&s;t be purged by a general Sa|crifice; how unpardonable is it under the Go&s;pel, where he that loveth not his Bro|ther is a murderer, and he that re&s;i&s;teth re|ceiveth to him&s;elf damnation, for any to kill and take po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Throne?</P>
<P>Such bold and daring tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions as the&s;e are above the cognizance of an earthly Tri|bunal, it is God alone who can inflict an e|qual puni&s;hment, and who knows how to &s;upply what is wanting towards expiation.
<PB N="19" REF="11"> And were it fit for us to pry into the &s;ecrets of heaven, we might rea&s;onably a&s;cribe it to an inqui&s;ition after this blood, that we &s;o long heard the cries of the oppre&s;&s;ed, and there was none to comfort them; that we beheld Servants on Hor&s;es, and Princes walking as Servants on the Earth; that our Laws, our Liberties, and our Religion, were a prey to &s;uch as &s;coffed at Kings, and made Princes a &s;corn; and that after we were re&s;tored to them again, by a Mi|racle as great as our Ingratitude, yet then al&s;o God took the Sword into his hand, that he rai&s;ed up a foreign enemy to make War upon our Coa&s;ts, that he &s;ent the Pe&s;tilence into our Streets, and a devour|ing Fire to lay wa&s;te our Metropolis.</P>
<P>And is any &s;o blind as not to &s;ee this among the cau&s;es, why di&s;tre&s;s and per|plexity &s;till remains upon the Nation? Mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after tho&s;e things which are com|ing on the earth. Is it not Judgment-like, that our excellent Religion, which hath no foreign dependencies, and who&s;e pro&s;perity
<PB N="20" REF="12"> alone is founded on that of our Country, &s;hould yet be forced to truckle either to the practices of <HI>Rome,</HI> or to a riot of Enthu&s;i|a&s;ts; and that we are &s;till threatned in their turns, either with no Church at all, or the wor&s;t among Chri&s;tians? are we not &s;till left open to a bitter and ha&s;ty Nation, to land upon our Coa&s;ts, and po&s;&s;e&s;s the dwel|ling places which are not theirs? Are not our very ble&s;&s;ings all turned into a cur&s;e? our boa&s;ted freedom is now only a liberty to bite and devour one another; our long cried up liberty of Con&s;cience proves one of Impiety, Licentiou&s;ne&s;s, and Error, and at be&s;t &s;erves for a &s;tep to Dominion more than De|votion; our Laws are indeed open, but to the continual con&s;piracies of fal&s;e witne&s;&s;es again&s;t the Lives and Fortunes of the Inno|cent; but if the Fountain al&s;o is troubled, as the many attempts to clear it in&s;inuate, if there be wickedne&s;s in high places, or it were po&s;&s;ible to believe the reports, of Pa|triots that prefer others &s;afety to our own, of Fathers that were never Sons, of Guardians that &s;ell their Tru&s;t, or the like Contradicti|ons
<PB N="21" REF="12"> in Morality, then we may conclude that God's anger is not yet turned away, but his hand &s;tretched out &s;till, and the ven|geance impending.</P>
<P>And thus I have attempted &s;ome poor ac|count of the malediction, in order to avoid the like; it remains to con&s;ider the rea&s;on of it, <HI>For there the Shield of the Mighty was vilely ca&s;t away, the Shield of</HI> Saul <HI>as though he had not been anointed with Oyl.</HI></P>
<P>This expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>David</HI>'s grief we have no rea&s;on to a&s;cribe to any per&s;onal obliga|tions, and therefore it mu&s;t be interpreted as a confirmation of the practice of all wi&s;e and civilized nations, who have been al|ways &s;o &s;en&s;ible of the advantages of Go|vernment, as both to &s;olemnize the birth of their Kings with all the expre&s;&s;ions of pub|lick joy, and to attend their deaths with as great demon&s;trations of mourning. Nor was it anciently e&s;teemed an empty ceremo|ny to have the memory of a judgment pre|&s;erv'd by a &s;olemnity, but as nece&s;&s;ary to imprint a &s;en&s;e of its mi&s;ery, and to endear the contrary ble&s;&s;ing; the multitude being
<PB N="22" REF="13"> wholly led by their &s;en&s;es, and the wi&s;e&s;t hardly e&s;caping the being affected by them.</P>
<P>We are not then to look upon <HI>David</HI>'s action as private only and temporary, which cannot be drawn into example; but it ex|pre&s;&s;es the &s;etled and publick opinion of the whole <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Church. For he might formerly have as ea&s;ily cut off <HI>Saul</HI>'s head as he did his garment&punc; but that faith <HI>Optatus, Timuit Oleum,</HI> the holy Oil was upon his head, and his character &s;acred. And I hope we, who pretend to a better informa|tion than the <HI>Jews</HI> ever had, &s;hall not be le&s;s &s;ound in the doctrine of civil obedi|ence, or think it altered by the late exerci&s;e of that provi&s;ional power, which is nece&s;&s;a|rily re&s;erved to a free people upon all ex|traordinary emergencies. All the&s;e are que|&s;tions of law and con&s;titution, and were of old &s;o little thought to belong unto Divi|nity, that ours is the fir&s;t State Schi&s;m known in the world; and therefore our Superiors owe very little to the controverti&s;ts on either &s;ide.</P>
<PB N="23" REF="13">
<P> But the time allows not a ju&s;t pro&s;ecu|tion of the &s;ubject, and much le&s;s a digre&s;|&s;ion from it; if then we recollect the whole, we have heard the guilt and &s;till feel the con&s;equences of this wicked action; it hath brought us nigh unto cur&s;ing, for it was this villany which fir&s;t forced the po&s;terity of that pious King out of their Country, and their Religion together, and which, as a con&s;equence of that, hath entailed upon us di&s;puted titles, and for ought yet appears endle&s;s wars.</P>
<P>The way then to appea&s;e the wrath of God, and to wa&s;h out the guilty &s;tain of our Soveraigns blood, is not to unite in for|getting it, or to add impudence to the crime, by &s;eeking to depre&s;s his credit, but to make the remembrance of his unde|&s;erved &s;ufferings &s;till more &s;olemn and effe|ctual, that the &s;hame ju&s;tly due, and &s;o of|ten charged to the account of our Nation for them, may be an in&s;trument to turn us from our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, and make us bring forth fruits meet for repentance. It is yet in the power of an humble repentance to
<PB N="24" REF="14"> make God &s;hine upon our Councels, and go forth with our Armies, and though our &s;hort-&s;ighted rea&s;on can &s;ee nothing before us but blackne&s;s and darkne&s;s and confu&s;i|on, yet he can by unfore&s;een ways ea&s;ily di&s;per&s;e the &s;torm, and e&s;tabli&s;h our happi|ne&s;s as the &s;trong mountains.</P>
<P>And in order to attain that happy end of our follies, give me leave to conclude with King <HI>Solomon</HI>'s axiom, <HI>Prov.</HI> 29. 25. <HI>The fear of man bringeth a &s;nare, but who&s;o putteth his tru&s;t in the Lord &s;hall be &s;afe.</HI> We are fallen into tho&s;e dregs of time, wherein hy|pocri&s;ie and profanene&s;s &s;eem to divide the world between them, and all true and un|affected piety is out of countenance; where|in all the &s;acred ties to our King and Coun|try appear as loo&s;e as our manners; and in which that generous hone&s;ty and integrity, which was once the glory and the character of our Nation, is all vani&s;hed into mean, fal&s;e and undermining compliances. If then we dare own di&s;couraged Virtues, and would &s;tand in the gap to &s;ave the whole from de&s;truction, the true way is not to fol|low
<PB N="23" REF="14"> a multitude to do evil, or to joyn in tho&s;e fa&s;hionable flatteries that are ruin to the embracers; much le&s;s are we to put any confidence in our &s;elves, who&s;e &s;trength is but weakne&s;s, but we are according to the wi&s;e mans direction to tru&s;t in the Lord, that is, in the con&s;tant &s;en&s;e of Holy Writ, to make our ways &s;o direct as may encou|rage our affiance in him. And if God be for us, who can be again&s;t us? May he therefore endue us all with this wi&s;dom from above, and only true greatne&s;s of mind, that we may keep innocency, and do the thing that is right, and this &s;hall bring us peace at the la&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Gho&s;t, be all glory and ho|nour, world without end,</HI> Amen.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
