him upon his bed, and sleep departs from his eyelids-gracious Lord, what shall become of him, if, at such an hour, a writer shall inform him there is no help for him in his God; that there is neither Redeemer nor Creator; that the universe is the sport of contending dæmons, a scene of ravage and desolation; and, instead of being "full of the loving "kindness of the Lord," is peopled only with fiends and furies? What sort of a being must the writer be who could give such a representation of things; and what does he deserve at the hands of mankind? -Before guilt of this infernal dye, that of cheating and thieving, of perjury, robbery, and murder, melts away, and vanishes into nothing.

See

On the other hand, and by way of contrast, look into that collection of divine hymns, which have been recited in the church, to the unspeakable instruction and consolation of the faithful, from age to age. I mean, as you well know, the book of Psalms. there how the people of God, whenever any calamity befel them, either as a nation or as individuals, sustained, comforted, and cheered themselves and each other, by recollecting and meditating upon the works of the Lord which he had wrought in old times for their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of Israel, his servants; the miracles in Egypt, the wonders in the field of Zoan; the division of the waters at the Red Sea, and again at the river Jordan; the fall of Jericho, the discomfiture of Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, and the overthrow of all the idolatrous kingdoms of Canaan. While they were employed in chanting forth the praises of God for

the special providences formerly vouchsafed them, their minds were comforted, their spirits were raised, their hearts were warmed, their faith was revived and invigorated; it grew strong and mighty; and they no longer supposed it possible, whatever their present sufferings might be, that he who had so often made bare his holy arm in their cause, could "ever "leave them or forsake them."

The use which they made of the mercies vouchsafed to them in old time, should we make of the special providences vouchsafed to us, in the deliverance and preservation of our own church and nation from the various schemes concerted for the destruction of both. Among the first of these may be justly reckoned the deliverance this day commemorated, as will sufficiently appear, if we consider,

III. The marks and tokens visibly impressed upon it; how strange and how important it was.

The Scriptures relate many events of a strange kind; that is, strange, compared with the ordinary course of things, or the natural influence of causes, when the means are disproportionate, unsuitable, nay, seem even contrary to the effect. Such events speak God to be their cause, by his invisible power supplying apparent defects in the means. In the Scripture histories we are, as it were, admitted behind the scenes, and informed that the hand of God was more immediately concerned. Thus the stars in their courses fought against Sisera: the Lord thundered upon the Philistines, and discomfited them: he made the host of Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and horses, and a great host: he made the children

of Ammon and Moab to destroy one another: he smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men: under his direction one chases a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight: a stripling, with nothing more than a sling and a pebble, destroys a mighty giant, armed from head to foot: the cunning schemes of worldly and treacherous politicians, such as Abimelech, Ahithophel, and inany others, are suddenly baffled and blasted, and the mischief intended falls upon the heads of those who intended it; plots with all possible caution and secrecy, contrived in darkness, are, by improbable means and unaccountable accidents, disclosed and brought to light; "a bird of the air," as the wise man speaks, "telling the matter;" "the stones in the wall," as it is in the prophet, "crying out," Treason! In the book of Esther we read, that the king cannot sleep; to divert him, the chronicle is called for; Mordecai's service is pitched upon, and inquiry made concerning his recompense; honour is decreed him; so the cruel device of Haman to destroy the Jews comes out; and he himself is hanged on the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai.

66

or,

Thus, in the desperate wickedness of this day, the plot was laid deep and dark; the implements of destruction prepared and all ready, when the heart of one of the conspirators relents towards a friend, who must have been involved in the common ruin: a letter is sent to warn him: in that letter the nature of the destruction is alluded to; the letter is carried to the king, who conjectures the meaning; a search is made, and the villain seized upon the spot; who declared, that

if he had been advanced a few steps farther, he would have set fire to the train, and sacrificed himself, rather than the design should have failed.

Occurrences like these, containing in them somewhat, though not strictly miraculous, yet truly admirable; turning out of the ordinary stream of human affairs, as miracles surmount the course of nature; most reasonably may, most justly should, be ascribed to the special operation of Him "who only doeth "wondrous things; who breaketh the arm of the "wicked, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty; "who disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so "that their hands cannot perform their enterprise ; "who is known by the judgement that he executeth, "when the wicked is snared by the work of his own "hand."

This may be farther evinced from the importance of the deliverance.

To entitle every little trifling thing that happens to a special providence, would be levity; to father upon the Almighty the mischiefs issuing from our own sin and folly, would be something worse; but to ascribe every grand and beneficial event to his good hand, has ever been reputed wisdom and justice. It was a prevailing opinion even among the Heathen, that whatever did bring great benefit to mankind, was not effected without divine goodness toward men. We know, indeed, that God doth not disregard any thing, but watches over all by his general and ordinary providence. He thereby "clothes the grass of the field;

a

Balbus, in Cic. de Naturâ Deorum, lib. ii,

VOL. III.

T

"he provideth for the raven his food, and the young "lions seek their meat from him;" without his care

a sparrow does not fall to the ground;" and by it "the hairs of our head are all numbered." But the hand of his more special providence is chiefly employed in managing affairs of moment and consequence to us; such as great counsels and undertakings; revolutions and changes of state; war and peace; victory and good success; the protection of princes, and preservation of his people. When, therefore, any remarkable event, highly conducing to the public good of church and state, doth manifest itself, the accomplishment of it should be attributed to God's own hand. When any pernicious enterprise, levelled against the safety of prince and people, is disappointed and brought to naught, surely it is fit we should profess and say, "The righteous Lord "hath hewn the snares of the ungodly in pieces."

And if the preservation of the king and royal family, with the three estates in parliament assembled"; if the freeing our country from civil disorder and confusion of the worst kind, from the yoke of usurpation and slavery, from the most grievous extortion and rapine, from bloody persecutions and trials; if the upholding from utter ruin our church, which was so happily settled, and had so long flourished; if the

Such is the language in the rubrick in the form of service for this day; whence it must occur to the reader, that the doctrine which makes the king one of the three estates in parliament, is an innovation, introduced by republican writers, who diminish the crown to raise the people, and in the end to overturn the go

vernment.