AS I cannot speak too much, so I would not speak too little, of those Glories the most conspi­cuous hand of Providence hath shed and shined upon us, those Miracles of Mercies he hath guilded and enameld this day withall: [...], the day is too little for the day, as our Saviour saith, Enough for the day is the evil Matth. 6. 34. thereof: so may we say (and happy we that we may say so) too much for the day is the good thereof: the day is too little to acquaint you with all the Grounds of your praising God this day, and to raise the Build­ing [Page 2] of your high Praises upon those grounds. There­fore Psal. 149. 6. that little that the little time will give me leave to speak to the Time, I would fain have apt and ap­posite, few words, but fit words; acceptable words, such as the Preacher sought out, a word in season, such Eccles. 12. 10. Esa. 50. 4. Prov. 25. 11. [...]. Opus Diei in die suo. as the Prophet found out. Solomon tells us, that a word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of silver: such gold and silver Medals would I cast a­mong you this day: and therefore have I pitched up­on this Text, than which the whole Book of God affords none more seasonable and suitable for the work of the day, or the day of the work: for it wraps up in its fair bosome, all those sparkling circumstan­ces that have canonizd this day in the Rubrick of our hearts, and characterd it in a Dominicall scarlet for a holy Feast to the Lord, a day of Praise and Thanks­giving. This May 24, is the forerunner of May 29, as John Baptist was to Christ: and I have the rather chosen this, because, as it is a remarkable Time, so you should have a remarkable Text; that whatsoever the Sermon be, you may be sure of an excellent Text, a Text butted and bounded, and exactly circumstan­tiated and proportioned to the Time; that those, that commonly remember little of the Sermon, may re­member Sermon enough in the Text. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so they sent this word unto the King, Re­turn thou and all thy servants.

My work to day shall be only a Paraphrase and a Parallel, close woven together on the words modelled into these three parts:

1. Here's a blessed Instrument; He.

2. A blessed Influence of that, He, upon others; [Page 3] He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man.

3. A blessed Effect of this Influence, that they sent this word unto the King, Return thou and all thy ser­vants.

1. The blessed Instrument, He: A blessed In­strument in the hands of God and the King; Gods servant, and the Kings servant, Amasa, the Generall of the Army. If you would know who this▪ Amasa was, look into Chap. 17. 25. And Absolom made Amasa Captain of the Host instead of Joab: He was the Generall of the Advers Party, Absoloms Generall, yet He (i. e.) his Generall did this great Work: He bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah, (i. e.) He inclind and brought over the whole Nation to the King, that he might happily bring over the King to the Nation: God bowed his heart first, and then he bowed the hearts of all the People. This bowing the Generals heart to the King, as well as the Generals bowing the hearts of the People to the King, is the most eminent and con­spicuous work of the great heart-bower and heart­breaker God himself; of whom Solomon saith, Prov. 21. 1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. He turned the Generals heart to the King, and turnd the Peoples heart to the Generall, that he might turn Gen. 22. 14. [...]. the Peoples heart to their King. This is Deus in mon­te, & Deus è machiná, an eminent and immediate Providence: where we may see, not the finger only, but the hand; not the hand only, but the eminent, visible, naked bare Arm of God. God covers his hand, acts as it were behind the hangings when he [Page 4] uses means, but when he will shed a lustre upon emi­nent Persons and Things by immediate Providences, he makes no use of the Creature, but puts forth his own power immediately: thus he handles the ene­mies of his Church without gloves (as we say) with his bare naked hand, which is more than with his Rod, as speaking immediate vengeance: and thus God delivers his servants with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. So has he done for us, that we may say with the Prophet, Esa. 52. 10. The Lord Hab. 3. 9. Thy bow was made quite naked. hath made bare his holy arm in the eys of all Nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. And therefore you shall find in some Scriptures, that God does eminently assert his own hand, as Esa. 63. 5. I looked and there was none to help, and I wondred that there was none to uphold, therefore his own arm Esa. 59. 16. It is in the third person, [...]is arm. brought salvation. Thus it has often been the honour and happiness of Gods people, to own their salvation to the immediate hand of God: Deut. 33. last. Happy art thou O Israel; who is like unto thee, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy▪ help, and who is the sword of thy excellence? such is the salvation we bless God for this day; this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes, Psal. 118. 23. it is in the Hebrew [...] this is from the Lord, i. e. the immediate hand of God: the doing is from the Lord, as the day is from the Lord, both his immediate work, as it follows ver. 24. this is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoyce and be glad in it: [...] hanc diem fecit Dominus, which I conceive a more naturall reading of the words, than that of haec est dies quam fecit Dominus; because there is neither, is, nor which, in the Text. This deed [Page 5] the Lord did, and this day the Lord made, we will re­joyce and be glad in it. And good reason, for such a sweet, such a sudden, such a saving change, without noise, without charge, without bloud, I challenge all Nations, all Ages, all Story to produce a paralell: the Lord help us to kiss the Hand of that glorious Arm with an humble Thankfullness. Let us thank God for Amasa, and let us thank God in Amasa for David: let us thank God for the Generall, and let us thank God in the Generall for the King. As we have a high share, so let us have a deep sense, of those sweet and saving successes that Providence hath crownd the Generals undertaking with. I would gladly let the world know the value we put upon his Excellence for our Deliverances; deliverances that have not only answerd, but prevented our hopes, pre­vented and yet enlargd them, by giving in pledges to our humble confidence, that this floating Island is at length growing to its long-groand-for establishment, upon its proper Basis of Truth and Peace, Religion and Law. Let us pay our Sterling▪ thanks to the Lord of Hosts for this Excellent Amasa the Lord Generals Excellence, whom the Lord hath made the Healer of our Breaches, first to heal a broken and divided House, and by that a broken and divided Kingdom: both which, as they were a Judgment of God upon us, so in the Judgment of God himself, they threatned our fatall and finall Ruin. A House divided, and a King­dom divided, cannot stand, saith Christ, Mar. 3. 24, 25. And we were both these, and the Lord made the Ge­nerall a blessed Instrument of Healing both these, and by them us all; by applying his excellent Weapon­salve to the Sword, heald us that were hurt. It was he [Page 6] that set the dislocated (secluded) Members of that great Body in joynt again: He was the first Mover to our Happiness, the first that gave Check to that ra­pid motion that so hurryd us to destruction. It was he that securd the Intervall between the two Par­liaments so, that (though the world was half mad then) yet we had a lucid Intervall. It was he that setled our Joys and securd our hopes in this present Parliament. It is he, the needfull Midwifery of whose constant Care and goodness still attends this poor travelling Nation (that is yet in her Throes tormented with many strugling Parties in her Womb) till she be fairly deliverd of a Handsom and Happy Birth, that may wear the Lord Generals Name to Posterity, and our Childrens Children shall sing the Story of the Lord Generall Monks Peace, while their pleasd Parents smile themselves into tears of Joy, in the remembrance that they liv'd to see the Truth of those strange Revolutions, that to after-Ages may possibly wear the face of a Romance. This is that blessed Instrument in Gods hand and the Kings hand: that He in my Text, Noble Amasa, a Generall that is the Darling of Prince and People. Lord shield him from the Fate of Amasa and Joab: Lord keep him as the Apple of thine Eye, whom thou hast raisd to keep the Apple (the light) of our Eys, his most Sacred Majesty, the only proper and precious Keeper of our Lives and Liberties. O may both King and Generall long live happy in one another, and all we in both them! You may wonder I have said so much of this He, the Generall: but that I may re­bate that wonder, which is indeed but the daughter of Ignorance and inconsideration, I must tell you, this [Page 7] He, is a Generall, and that word speaks Power, a Publick Person and a Generall Blessing. And truly though I never spake so much of any living man in this Place (and I fear (or hope shall I say) shall ne­ver have occasion to say so much again of any living man, a Subject) yet if I had spoken less of him, the stones might have flown in my face for my silence, and spoken themselves these lowd Truths. The Peoples Argument to Christ for the Cen­turion was but a petty Topick to this; They tell him, that hee was worthy for whom he should do this, for he loved their Nation, and built Luk. 7. 4, 5. them a Synagogue. Whereas this Noble Souldier hath, not only loved, but saved our Nation, and not only saved our Nation, but (as the admir'd St. Al­ban says in that History of Stanly to Hen. 7.) saved it and crownd it at once, nay saved and crownd three Nations at once. Saved the Nations and Crownd them with their King; saved the King and Crownd him with his People: the best of Crowns that ever any Prince was Crownd with, a Crown of hearts: a Crown of greater luster than those three upon his Predecessor Edwards Sword: and not only built us a Synagogue, but a Temple, another Zerubbabel laying the foundation at least of a second Temple, for our first is sadly destroyed: but no more of that; I will not infaudum renovare dolorem, I will not blast your full blown joys, or grate your ears, or my heart, with any sad and unseasonable Reflexions upon that mourn­full Theme, upon a day of such universall rejoycings. But this is but one Argument of my Apology for enlarging so much upon this Subject the Generall, this day; my next is, that he is the Generall Subject [Page 8] of this day. This is one of the main things in the Act of Parliament for this dayes solemnity, as being the Resolve of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, That this day be set apart for a day of Thanksgiv­ing to the Lord, for raising up his Excellency the Lord Generall and other eminent Persons, who have been Instrumentall in the Delivery of this Nation from Thraldome and misery. I shall also acquaint you with another Resolve of the House of Commons of the same date, viz. Apr. 26. 1660. Resolved, That his Excellency Generall Monck have the acknow­ledgement and hearty thanks of this House for his eminent and unparalleld Services done for those Na­tions. Mr. Speaker did accordingly give the thanks of the House unto his Excellency, taking notice of his eminent Services and great Wisdome in conquer­ing the Enemy without expense of Bloud or Trea­sure. That Gods making him so instrumentall to keep up the Nation from sinking, when no way appeared whence deliverance should arise, could not but be acknowledged by all, and looked upon as a miracle: so then we must praise God for the Gene­rall this day, and when we praise God for him, we cannot but praise God in him. One Reason more I could give for dwelling so long upon General Amasa, and that is, that he was the Kings Kinsman. See the vers. before my Text, how the King cajoll's him: Say ye to Amasa, art thou not of my bone and of my flesh: it is no small honour to relate to a King, but every loyall soul, and every loving Subject looks upon himself, as nearly related to his Prince by his Allegiance, as he can be by his Alliance: and upon that account thinks all the Bloud in his Veines, and [Page 9] all the flesh and bones of his body little enough to guard his head, his Cognatum numen, his lesser God in flesh, his Deity incarnate in his Prince.

2. He bowed, &c.] How was he qualified for such a work? It is not every man that could have bow'd a whole Nation thus: and especially this Na­tion of Judah. I am sure Moses, that was their Ge­neral as well as Amasa, branded them for a stiff­neck'd rebellious People, and this General's Master, David, found them so: how come they so soft now? They were stiff enough as long as Absolom liv'd: but Actio moritur cum Personâ, his cause dy'd with his carcase, and now they melt for him, and they melt from him. Hopes and fears may stiffen peoples hearts against their known duty, whilst the cause looks pro­misingly; but if it get a knock, souldiers themselves we see will faces about: but nothing softens like the example of a Commander, like lightning he melts the steele in the scabber'd, makes their hearts soft and fluid, and ductill, easily lead with a finger to run in their old chanel of Allegiance to their natural Prince. O a great man, but especially a good great man, and beloved for his goodness as well as great­ness carries an invisible loadstone, that bows and draws even iron hearts. Indeed when greatnesse and good­nesse meet together (which it is pity is no oftener) they work wonders. The God of Heaven call's great ones, Gods on earth, and therefore we give them a civil worship; now, Quos colimus, imitamur, saith the Father; and therefore if men in power be as good as they are great, they shew themselves worthy the Divinity God has stamped upon them; for like the upper lights, they have a great influence upon [Page 10] those below them. The truth is, great men had need look what paths they tread; for they walk in snow, or like the Priests of Bell, in ashes, every one sees their footsteps, and most will walk in them. It is not for the Sunne to lie a bed till noon, while no man re­gards the rising or setting of a petty Starre. We see by our late Usurpers and Oppressours, what power some leading men had to bow others to their will and way: they lead people in droves to the Devil; the very broad way was full of leaders and followers. When one of these great things relapses into back­slidings, let him goe backward from God, as many degrees as he will, he shall be sure the multitude will croud after him, as the Sunne that went backward for Hezekiah, was waited upon by knots and Com­mittees of vulgar lights: It was ever the deplored fashion of the world; let great ones doe what they will, they shall never want Apes, while sometimes being too eager in tacking about to gain the tide of wealth, or the winde of honour, they not onely ship­wrack their souls (a losse they doe not much value) but (as we now see) endanger their estates and lives. Well these Grandees had need look to it. Great men are like great Parish clocks, if they tell a lie, and preach false Doctrine in the steeple, they misguide the whole Town into heterodoxy. Great men are called starres, and they are so indeed; for as they shed their light and heat among us, so all our fair or foul weather comes from them; either in counsel, com­mand, or example. But if like our Amasa, our Ge­neral here, they guild the honour of their Birth or Place with noble Action, they convert souls by it, and preach themselves into Heaven. A great good [Page 11] man is a great good-maker; Tu conversus (saith Christ to Peter) When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. A good man is any mans, nay every mans good; a common Conduit, Market, Maga­zine, Exchequer, Exchange. Amasa is the Kings good, and the peoples good. A good General is a general good. He that is most streight himself, is most likely to bow others. Upon that principle, Re­ctum est Index sui & obliqui: Upright persons are fittest to be Rules and Rulers: for as their straitnesse makes others obliquity and warping more notorious, so as it discovers, it recovers crookedness many times, as he bowed, &c. No marvel Amasa should have such power over them; we reade his nature is in his name, [...] Populo parcens, Populum elevans, he mindes nothing but the advantage and advancement of the people, as they finde it in a full spring-tide of Trade, they bless God for.

3. He bowed, &c.] He, what He? the General? Why this bowing their heart was in loialty to their Sovereigne, and love to one another. And is this work for a General? for a man of warre to make Peace? This is as great a Riddle, as that a souldier should invent Printing, or a scholar should conjure up Gunning: or that a Monk should unravel all the plots of the Jesuites spinning. But Sic quaerimus Pacem, say they that destroy all with fire and sword. The end of warre is Peace, and though souldiers of for­tune, that make a trade of warre (I hope that Trade that has broke all others, will break it self at last) be content like the Estridge to eat iron, and live upon the sword; yet they that take up the sword onely upon an honourable necessity, will be glad to think an [Page 12] honest convenience, a cogent necessity to lay it down again, and afterwards look upon it as as great an ho­nour and happinesse to live by their head-piece, as by their sword: especially when God comes in with his sword, and wounds a noble Commanders heart, that it bleeds for the bloud of its Countrey ungodlily pour'd out, to make a red Sea for a villain to swimme in to the death of his natural Prince, whose murther'd bo­dy is design'd by the hypocritical Traitor, as a foot­stool for Mas Anello, to clamber up to his Sovereigns Throne; and therefore it is no wonder that he bow­ed them to Peace, that the General should be the Peace-maker. Thus Abner cryes to Joab, 2 Sam. 2. 26. Shall the sword devour for ever? And so little an Item bows both these great Generals to Peace, vers. 28. So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more. And oh let him have his part in Gods and the Kings Beati Pacifici, in internal, external, eternal Peace: May he be blessed from the beginning to the end quite through, Ps. 128. Thou shalt see thy childrens children, and peace upon Israel.

Secondly, The blessed influence of this He, That he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah.

Where we are to enquire into the Act and the Object.

• 1. The Act, He bowed.
• 2. The Object, Their heart; He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah.

1. He bowea:] Was this such a blessed influence? Was this such a piece of goodnesse? Souldiers indeed know how to make the people bowe (we know that) yes, and will make but a small matter of breaking [Page 13] them too, if they will not bowe. God dealt with us, as with his people, Isai. 51. 23. God put us into the hand of them that afflicted us, which have said to our soul, bowe down, that we may go over, and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over. Haman would break the whole Nation of the Jews, because one Mordecai will not bow. But our Amasa is of another temper: his de­signe is onely to bowe and not break the heart, to soft­en them into a sweet compliance with their Prince, and one another. He bowed the heart of all Judah, and sent it the King for a token. Indeed some hard hearts are like some other hard things, not to be bow­ed without violence, or at least much liquoring, or greasing with drink or money: there are such thick skins in the world, that there is no bowing them with­out a great deal of oil, and that is perhaps operam & ole­um pe [...]dere. But blessed be God he met not with such a people, [...], he met with them (as we say) in another sense.

Well he bowed them, but how? With balmy words, with soft and gentle stroking, not striking them. This is [...] our Thankfulnesse to our good God, and this noble General that he bowed us without breaking, or cutting: he undertook, and went through the cure without incision, causticks or corrosives: but like the good Samaritan he pour'd wine, and oyle into our gaping wounds, mollify'd us with sweet ointments and balsoms, gently binding up the wound that had bled (but) too freely, and▪ to little (too little) purpose, but that of our enemies, to infeeble our hearts and lives, and quench our spirits. For just in such a case he found us, as the Samaritan [Page 14] found the man that went down from Jerusalem to Je­richo, and fell among thieves, which stript him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead, Luk. 10. 30. Truly if it be not a lit­tle too tart, I think I may safely (as sadly) say: we have been dealt withall as thieves do by them they rob: we have been bound and gagg'd, that we might not sti [...]re to help our selves, nor cry out for the help of others: while some in the mean time cleverly took away our money: so that we owe and own to our Ge­neral, not onely the hope of redress, but the happi­nesse of addresse. He was fain to bowe us, that he might unbinde us: if our hearts had not been bowed, our hands and tongues had been bound still: and now being handsomly handled, carefully open'd, and soft­ly bound up again, our very wounds will bleed bal­some, though we bleed freely to preserve our natural Head.

2. The Object, The heart of all the men of Ju­dah. Why? were their hearts right and streight be­fore he bowed them? Can they be right and streight that are in actual Armes against their lawfull Prince? No sure: they were farre from streight: they were bowed too much the wrong way, to treason and re­bellion, to rapine and murder, to covetousnesse and cruelty, to ambition and arrogance, to their own ways, and their own wils, and their own works. Every man would be his own King, and his own Priest, his own Magistrate, and his own Minister: and do what seem'd right in their own eyes, the ordinary posture of the peo­ple when there was no King in Israel; as it is a brand upon that headlesse people often in Scripture; but espe­cially it is the fulmen in clausulá, the last words of [Page 15] the last Chapter of the Book of Judges. So that it seems, they were bent too much; therefore he was fain to bowe them t' other way; to bowe them, to un­bend them, to bowe them to their Prince in loialty, and to one another in love: this is the bowing that makes them streight. They were a crooked genera­tion before, and he bow'd them to make them streight. The evil bowe before the good, Prov. 14. 19. Thus this good General, is the fore-runner of his King, as John Baptist was of his Christ: he makes streight what was crooked to pave the way to his entertain­ment. Luk. 3. 5.

But here are two considerable notes that I must not slip.

• 1. That he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah.
• 2. Even as the heart of one man.

• 1. All the hearts of the Nation, here is the Univer­sality.
• 2. Even as the heart of one man, here is the Unity of their bowing.

1. Their Universality, He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah. What are all bowers? What a world of Osiers are here in a land of Oaks? Or did he change the Oaks into Osiers, with that pretty [...], that one weakly pray'd for, that God would make all the willows about his Colledge Ce­dars of Lebanon to wainscot the house of the Lord. What a rare influence had the prudence, and power, and courage, and conduct of this good man, that could undeceive them all, and turn, and bowe them all to their forgotten Prince and principles? The great Art­ist said, If he could but get some thing strong enough [Page 16] to fasten on his Engine on, he did not doubt but he could the world round. Many of this kind of Engi­neers have been very busie, and have turn'd a great part of the world round (round even to [...]) blessed be God, there was a place found yet in con­stant and loyal hearts, where this excellent Artist the General fasten'd his rare Engine of wisdome and mo­deration, by which he has bow'd and turn'd them again to their proper motion. They are now moved by their own Angel again, their own intelligence, their native Sovereign, whom God set over them as his own Sphere, we hope inseparably, as he that first fancy'd that opinion. Every one beginnes to move in his owne Orbe, to sit under his owne Vine, and his own Figge-tree. But the man­ner of this successefull bowing is beyond all comparison admirable; the Modus rei, is as much as Res ipsa, the manner is admirable as the matter: nay in some sense, Materiam superabat opus. To see a whole Nation turn'd thus, and bow'd in a moment to their God, their King, and their Countrey, in so unexpected Psal. 126. 1. [...], so unlikely a way, without money, without mutiny, without murder, is so rich a miracle of mercy, as not this day only, but all the dayes of our lives are little enough to be Thanksgiving-dayes: for [...]. [...]urip. Alii legunt [...]. I shall whol­ly entitle God to it, and set his Name upon it, with the Apostle S ^t Pauls [...], Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgements (and blessed be his Name, his mercies too) and his wayes past find­ing out? [...], no footstep to trace them by; and therefore let us not busie our heads to find them out; we shall praise God the better, the [Page 17] more we owe to mercy, and the lesse to men. It is true, men are [...], Gods hands, as Herbalists call the Plants (and some have mere signal and speaking signatures of God upon them) and these hands of God we may kisse. But let us be carefull not to take the Crowns and Garlands which we should lay at Gods feet to set upon mans head. Here are two eminent Persons, for whom, and in whom we rejoyce, whom we may with as great reason, as the people of Lystra Act. 14. 11. &c. did Paul and Barnabas, call Jupiter and Mercury, but yet we dare not sacrifice to them. [...]; These footstep-lesse wayes of God, let us spend that time in praising God for them, which our busie nature would in searching to finde them out. I have much ado to forbear criticizing upon the word [...], but then I should runne into the Metaphor the word relates to, and take away that quick sent of the mer­cy, and leave you at a losse without a footstep to fol­low this glorious mercy to its proper forme, the great and good providence of God, that clift of the Rock in which Moses lay, while the goodnesse or glory of God (for his glory is his goodnesse) pass'd before him. We have no more to do than what Moses did, Exod. 34. 8. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head down to the earth, and worshipped. We can do no lesse than pay such a bowing of the head, for this bowing of the heart. O come, let us worship and bowe down, &c. Psal. 95. 6.

2. The Unity as well as the Universality of their Bowing, is to be considered. Two expressions speak it.

1. It is said, He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, the heart, not the hearts: they were all of one heart, of one minde: this is the eminent and im­mediate [Page 18] work of God. It is he that makes men to be of one minde in a house, Psal. 68. 6. And we have seen what a rarity it has been, to finde two men of one minde in a house, nay hardly one of one mind for an hour together, much more in the Kingdome (as I thank God I can now call it) and that is the

2 ^d. Even as the heart of one man. The word is not doubled in the Hebrew, it is but [...], and that's enough too: I would our Translators would mode their rendrings so, that we might once see these mo­dern tongues, Linguas ancillantes, wait upon their mother and mistresse, and not debase (and in some places I may say debauch) the holy Idiom into a low compliance with our vulgar (sometimes too vulgar fancies:) but I have observed many expressions, some in the Text, and some in the Margin (though truly more in the Text) which I shall humbly present to the Church, when God shall please to give the Ark rest. In the mean time I shall go on, Even as one man, or the heart▪ of one man. God complains of some that have [...] An heart and an heart, two hearts, more than one man should have, a Prodigy in the Sacrifices of faith and love. [...], as St. James call them, Jam. 1. 8. Double minded men, that are unstable in all their wayes. And truly it is no wonder, that one man should be unstable that is of two mindes, when two men (nay many men) must needs be unstable, that are not of one minde: there­fore to establish them, he makes them of one minde, single-hearted men: of one heart to their God, their King and Countrey. This is the mercy we have long pray'd for: Let us not forget to praise God as heartily for it, as we have heartily pray'd for it. I shall close [Page 19] this with David's, Ecce quàm bonum & quum jucun­dum? Psal. 133. 1, 2. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity? It is like the precious oinment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aarons beard: that went down to the skirts of his cloathing. From the Prince and Priest, the Magistrate and Minister to the lowest subject. Nay like the ointment of Mary powr'd out upon the head of our Saviour; all the house is fill'd with the sweet savour of it. Not onely the house of our Church and Kingdome, but the great house of the world [...], we shall be as famous for our Peace, as we have been infamous for our warre; nay we shall redeem our elder glories, and recover that beauty and verdure which hath been so long withered and blasted by our unnatural and unhappy differences (to call them no worse) when the world shall see, Um­brâ non errabit Crassus multâ, by our turning our swords, that reek yet with the blood of our Brethren, in some successefull design upon our enemies, that we can be as a warre-like people abroad, so a peaceable and quiet Nation at home. And when you have a while refreshed your spirits, and healed the Nation with this sweet sympathy-pouder of Peace, I doubt not but your gunpouder will be more offensive in your no­strils (unless in triumphs, when it only alludes to past dangers) than it has been these many years. It is that, which as it should have blown up one, if Provi­dence had not dank'd it, so I am sure has blown down many Parliaments: whereas it is this sweet sugred syllable Peace that alone can restore them to their just power and splendour. But no more of this. I hope the miseries of our past warre have dearly [Page 20] taught us the price of our present peace.

3. Part. The Blessed Effect of the blessed Influence of this blessed Instrument; So that they sen [...] this word unto the King, Return thou and all thy servants. Here I shall briefly touch at three particulars:

1. They sent word. 2. They sent this word to the King. 3. And the word they send to the King, Return thou and all thy servants.

1. They sent word unto the King▪ it is well yet they are bow'd so much, as to send to their King at all, that they would own him to be their King. There was a Vote pass'd of no more addresses to the King. But blessed be God, a part of the same party, by whose power the Vote past for Non-Addresses, are now by a benigne influence bow'd to an humble owning their Sovereign. O that wretched Vote! I cannot remem­ber it without horrour, that was the bloudy Avenue, whereat r [...]sh'd in an Army of mischiefs, tyranny, A­narchy, any thing, every thing, that could speak sin, or shame, or sorrow to the people. But no more of that, Blessed be God that has chang'd their Nolumus hunc regnare into our Vivat Rex. What ever was done then, it is well, yet they address now▪ They sent word: it is well they sent, and it is well they sent word: before they sent nothing but blows, or a word & a blow; if a word, a blow too, or words that were as bad as blows. The words that Davids Rebels sent him, Words that were very So that tran­slation in the Liturgy reads it. swords. There was a [...]ong warre of the Pen, before that of the Sword broke out, when both sides shot only Paper-pellets: then all was lap'd up in but­ter and honey, and oil, gold, and silk, and wooll: Your Majesties most humble and obedient servants, and the Event hath prov'd that the major part then meant [Page 21] it so; but there was a poisonous vein in the Lampery, that venom'd the body so, that though Jacobs voice went along with Esaus hand a while, the [...]ougher hand at last silenc'd the smoother and softer voice. So that upon the whole matter, I think without any unhand­some reflection upon the voice, which the hand stifled, I amy referre you for a character of th [...]se J [...]hu-like furious drivers to destroy their master, to Psalme 55. where you have Davids Commentary upon the mis­sives and messages of his Rebels. For after he had said, vers. 9. That he had seen violence and strife in the City, he comes at vers. 21. to tell, how that vio­lence and strife was dissembled; the words were smooth­er than butter, but warre was in the heart. The words were softer than oyle, yet were they drawn swords, drawn out of the scabberd, and the scabberd thrown away, and onely sheath'd in thin paper, lawn-paper-complements, a Petition and a Pistoll, a word in one hand, and a sword in the other. These daubers with untemperd mortar, that meant to pull down the City and Temple, State and Church, had their Trowel in one hand, and their Sword in the other. Blessed be God, though this message is of another nature; for they sent this word to the King, Return thou and all thy servants. And that is the

2 ^d Particular, They sent this word to the King. To the King.] But one King. There is but one God in the world, but one Sunne in Heaven, but one [...]oul in the whole man, but one heart in the whole body. There is Divin [...]y in this Unity, [...]; but one King, the King; no more [...] to many Kings: and we hope no more many Kings to addre [...]e to. We have seen the misery of many Kings: that [Page 22] Body is in an ill posture, where every little bone of the Rump is swell'd as big as a Head. We have paid dear for learning Solomons Divinity, Prov. 28. 2. For the transgression of a land, many are the Princes there­of. We hope now to be in a capacity to go on with that wise King in the next words: But by a man of un­derstanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be pro­longed. By a man of understanding and knowledge; not many pretenders to understanding and knowledge, who whatsoever their judgement was, had no affecti­on, no compassion. We have a Sovereign, that is a Sovereign indeed in the sense of Medicine, as well as Majesty, of a healing vertue; Majestas & Amor, Ma­jesty and mercy inthron'd in his Royal breast; a Sove­reign like our Saviour, that can be touch'd with the feeling of our infirmities: Such an one whom besides his Sovereign sweet nature, his sufferings have taught Heb. 4. 15. compassion: to this King this word is sent: and that is the

3 ^d. Particular, The word they sent, Return thou and all thy servants.

• 1. They sent.
• 2. What they sent.

1. They sent this word, Return, &c. They (i. e.) All the men of Judah; the people of the Land in some frequent Senate or Convention; for so I suppose the people of the Land is to be understood. So is that 2 Chron. 33. 25. The people of the Land slew all them that had conspired against the King: and the People of the Land made Josiah his sonne King in his stead. So here, They sent this word (q. d.) We, all thy people say, Return. Our General hath bowed our heart as the heart of one man, and we unanimously with one heart and one voice cry, Return thou, &c. It was but [Page 23] an ungodly party among us that drove thee, and kept thee away: but now we are all for thy return: We all Lords and Commons (as it is in the Vote of May 9. in­stant) desire his Majesties speedy return to his Parlia­ment, and Kingly Office.

2. Return thou] We are return'd to thee, do thou return to us: onely a few fanaticks, that Thou, eve­ry body else, are not for this Thou: but it is no matter for them, as considerable as they vaunt themselves: do but Thou return, and they will be more then ever what they are, Quakers. Return thou, the glory of our Nation, the light of our Eyes, the breath of our Nostrils: Thou, whose Right we own, whose Person we ho­nour, whose prosperity we pray for. Thou, who art the joy of our Hearts, the praise of our Tongues, the desire and delight of our Eyes: Return thou, and bring new Joyes and new Glories to thy poor widow'd com­fortlesse people; and we will gather hopes from those startling Providences that promise us thy Return, that the King of Kings will set up a fifth Monarchy in thy belov'd Person and Progeny, in a truer and nobler sense, than is intended by the wilde assertours of that judgement. Thou canst alone under God put a pe­riod to our unsufferable sufferings, therefore we pray, we send this word, Return thou.

3. And thy servants.] Those that were before look'd upon as enemies, our hearts are now bow­ed to entertain and imbrace as friends: Thou art our great Master, and thy servants are our fellow-ser­vants.

4. All thy servants] We will not dare so fanati­cal an insolence, as to think of shackling or restraining our Prince to Numbers or Persons: it is above our [Page 24] duty, and it is below thy dignity: No, no, All come and welcome: All that please thee shall please us: Re­turn thou and all thy se [...]vants.

The next words are, So the King returned. Be it so Lord, be it so, Amen. The King of Kings return him to us with speed and safety, and keep him with us with honour and happiness, by keeping us to him with Humility and Sincerity.

I had done here, but that there is a bowing the heart in my Text, which bows my heart, to bow your heart in a short application.

Our backs have been bow'd down to bear all the burdens that proud and wicked men thought fit to lay upon us. Like Issachar we have lain crouching be­tween two burdens of sinne and shame: our hearts and our backs too bowed, till they almost broke, by our fellow Subjects. Since then our hearts are thus sweetly bow'd in Loyalty to our natural King, and love to our native Countrey; Let us say with S ^t Paul, Ephes. 3. 14. For this cause I bowe my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as Da­vid expresses it, Psal. 95. 6. O come let us worship and bowe down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker: Let us bowe down in praise and prayer. I will onely quicken your memories with a few hints, what you should praise and pray for, and then joyn with you in praise and prayer for them, and the Lord bowe all our hearts to, and in this Duty.

First, For the Exercise of the Duty of praising God this day, the Text and the Time put us in minde of eight things.

1. That the Lord hath pleas'd to bowe the heart of the General to be so eminent an Instrument for his [Page 25] Glory and our Good. This is the duty the Parlia­ment cals upon us for, but I hope we need no quick­ning.

2. That the Lord hath crown'd that excellent In­strument with so magnetick an Influence; that he hath bowed so many hearts, heads and hands without break­ing any.

3. That we our selves are sincerely bow'd to our duty, to our King and our Countrey.

4. That this bowing is so universal, as to miracle it is: We may say as much, All the men of Eng­land, as the Text sayes, All the men of Judah. If the major part be all, if an hundred to one be all.

5. That this bowing our heart to our King, is as unanimous as universal. All hearts centred in obedi­ence to his Sacred Majesty. We hear of triumphal Arches erected in honour of the two new married Princes; we have an Arch which we acknowledge not so artificial, no [...] would we have it so, it were not good it were so: and that is that Arch which alone will bear the weight of a Kingdom, the universal and united bent of all our hearts to our King. All hearts are bow'd into one Arch; a Bow which like that Bow that wears the Kings Colours in Heaven, in a party­coloured Ribband (woven with Sunne-beams upon a cloud) shall be for a Token and a Covenant between God, our King and us, that a deluge of warre and mise­ry shall never destroy us any more.

6. For the wisdome and goodnesse of the Kings most Excellent Majesty, who was bowed by God into such a condescension, as to vouchsafe to send such gracious Letters and Declarations to the [Page 26] Parliament, General, City, Navy.

7. For those humble Messages that are sent back from all these to his Majesty, with their most humble desires of his Returne, That they sent this word, Returne thou and all thy ser­vants.

8. That the desires of the Parliament for the Kings Return are so free, so full, so ingenuous for him, and all his servants. From my soul I blesse God, and I desire you to do so too, for the sweet mutual repose and absolute confidence and trust be­tween the King and his Houses: which is to me the best Augury of our future happiness, because all our former sufferings owe their beginnings to our foolish fears and jealousies.

Secondly, Prayer. There is a great stock of Prayers to be laid up, and to be laid out upon a three-fold Ac­count.

• 1. For the Remission of National sins.
• 2. For the Removal of National Judgements.
• 3. For the Restoring of National Mercies.

1. For the Remission of National sinnes. Never expect good from God and the King, till you repent the evils against God and the King.

Object. There were great and grain-sins commit­ted in the Nation, to which guilt we would not, if we could, and could not if we would have contributed; as we could not hinder such villanies, so we did not further them, but hated and abhorred them in their Causes and Consequences, so far as we could foresee them all along.

Sol. I answer that I dare answer for you, there is no tincture of the actual guilt of those high abomina­tions, [Page 27] crimson sinnes, sticks to you; you may say as to all the blood shed in the high-places of the field, or that Akeldama Westminster-Hall, with the Apostle, you are clear from the blood of all men. But O let us consider whether we have not contracted a guilt ex p [...]st facto, if not by closing with the power these bloudy monsters swumme to in blood, yet by not pouring out water enough before the Lord to wash away this defilement, and stop the Cataract of ven­geance, which we may justly expect, God will let loose in showrs of blood upon the Nation.

2. Though we could not perhaps have prevented them, we ought not to have connived at them. As we ought not to have comply'd with them, so we ought to have complain'd of them more to God, than it is to be feared we did. I shall only give you a slight touch or two upon some of them, and that so farre onely as I conceive they may bring vengeance upon the Na­tion without repentance. For as I hate to take in that sink that stinks all the world over, or stirre that old foul dunghill, the corruption whereof has bred so many vipers, that tear out▪ their mothers bowels: so I scorn to throw any bitter reflections at a party that is down. I shall onely minde you of them, as I have but too much reason to fear, they will draw down the vials of Gods wrath upon the Nation, un­lesse good people pray them away. There be many of them like the Devils in Mary, Legion, a phrase which the more suits those sinnes, as speaking not on­ly multitude, but power, an arm'd multitude. But I shall wrap them up all in one piece, but it is scarlet, the notion of bloud, a sin of the deepest die, and the loudest cry: we may all pray with David, Psa. 51. 14. [Page 28] Deliver me from blood guiltinesse, O God, so we reade it, but it is from bloods [...]. Several sorts of blood lie upon us, and cry upon us. I shall name onely four; bloud of People, bloud of Prophets, bloud of Princes, bloud of Christ.

And here because every mans heart and eyes, as well as tongue, can speak freely upon this sad sub­ject, I shall say no more but this: O pray, pray to God for pardon of our heat and tindernesse to warre, the swiftnesse of our feet to shed bloud. I could tell you how too freely you parted with your gold to set up Calves, that you might worship them. But I think you have dearly paid for this State-idolatry, though I cannot say dearly enough, because I fear the Lord hath not yet said to his destroying Angel, it is enough. We cannot but fear that a great showre of vengeance will fall upon us, unlesse we prevent it with a showr of tears, for all that bloud of the Nation, which our Land hath drunk up so freely, till it stagger'd and reel'd again: and to compleat the Sacrifice to Pride, Ambition and Covetousnesse, it was crowned with the bloud of our lawfull excellent Prince. This bloud is loud bloud; it cryes high; and I am afraid the cry of our tears, the voice of our weeping hath not yet stilled the cry of this sinne. This bloud is not speech­lesse yet. O let us pray that the bloud of Christ would plead for us, and wash away this bloud: and so for the bloud of the Gospel, in countenancing even blasphemy it self: discountenancing the Truth and its Preaching and Professours, and prostituting the Ordinances of the first magnitude to the basest of villanies, here's work enough for this head of prayer, for the remission of National sins.

2. For removing of National Judgements, which we either feel or fear, especially from warre, battel and murder. David rather chose Plague than Warre, to fall into the hands of God than man. O pray a­gainst the Causes and Consequences of Warre. The causes, divisions in Church and State, and dissatisfied­nesse with the present, though we know not how to make it better: and the Consequences of it, de­struction of body and soul, Estate, Relations, Name, Nation, All. O it is the devouring sword: it hath done too much, the Lord say, it hath done enough.

3. For Restoring National Mercies. Here I shall propound to your devotion two heads of prayer.

1. That the Lord will please to return our King to us safely and speedily, we must pray to God as well as the King for his Return. Lord return him speedily to us, and keep him safely with us, to thy Glory, the good of thy Church, the honour of the Gospel, the Peace, Plenty and Prosperity of all his Majesties Do­minions: and let all the people say, Amen.

2. That the Lord who hath pleas'd to bowe our hearts, would keep them bow'd to himself, his se­cond self, his sacred Majesty, and to our selves ( i. e.) to one another. That the King may rejoyce in his people, [...]e people may glory in their King, and both King and people in their God: that we may see God shining upon us in that glorious Prophecy, Isa. 1. 26. I will r [...]store thy Judges as at the first, and thy Counsel­lours as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousnesse, the faithfull City. The good Lord restore Magistracy and Minist [...]y to their lost beauty and splendour, and that old Peace and Plenty, honour and safety with which he hath heretofore [Page 30] crowned this Queen of Islands, Amen, Amen.

I have but one word more, and that is concerning the Joy of this day. I would not willingly give the least check to the honest and sober expressions of your Joy: you were never blest with a time that more re­quir'd it: but then it is honest and sober Joy I mean, not rude, beastly drunkenness & debauchery: No, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoyce before him with trembling, Ps. 2. 11. (i. e.) Fear to offend God in your Joy. I shall beg this of you that belong to my charge, for three precious sakes, your good Gods sake, your good Kings sake, and your good Causes sake.

1. For your good Gods sake, that gracious God who hath given you this blessed opportunity of rejoy­cing, and can turn that joy into weeping, as he has done your water into wine. Provoke him not to an­ger under a pretence of praising him for his mercy. Do not blast such a glorious mercy as this is, by abusing Gods other mercies in riot and drunkenness.

2. For your good Kings sake. His most excellent Majesty, who is the just cause of your joy is a sober Prince, and no man ever hated drunkenness and de­bauchery so much as he, unless it were his Father of precious and glorious memory, who was the Great Ex­ample of Temperance in every kinde▪ Reg [...]ad Ex­emplum—O imitate two Kings rather than beggars and rogues, that can be content to die as they live, beasts.

3. For your good Causes sake. Remember that there is a Party in the Nation, whose eyes are upon you to spie out something that may open their mouths against you and your Cause, and are resolv'd to take advantage from the loosness of your mirth, to make people believe, that now all wickedness and prophane­ness [Page 31] is broke loose, and riot shall be countenanc'd, which is a great disparagement to your Prince, your Parliament, and this glorious Cause. Let us not drink down this Cause again; it shrunk in the wetting be­fore: we know, how little drinking the Kings health contributed to his help. If this good Cause should take wet again, I will not pro­phecy, but I will pray yet against this wickednesse. Let us pray and praise God.