The repairer of the breach a sermon preached at the cathedral church of Glocester, May 29, 1660, being the anniversary of His Maiesty's birth-day, and happy entrance into his emperial city of London / by Thomas Washbourn. Washbourne, Thomas, 1606-1687. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A65225 of text R38494 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing W1026). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 73 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A65225 Wing W1026 ESTC R38494 17512988 ocm 17512988 106527 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A65225) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 106527) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1107:20) The repairer of the breach a sermon preached at the cathedral church of Glocester, May 29, 1660, being the anniversary of His Maiesty's birth-day, and happy entrance into his emperial city of London / by Thomas Washbourn. Washbourne, Thomas, 1606-1687. [6], 26 p. Printed for William Leak ..., London : 1660. Error in paging: p. 3 unnumbered, p. 5, 20-21, 24-25 misnumbered 7, 25-24, 21-20. Advertisement: p. 26. Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. eng Bible. -- O.T. -- Isaiah LVIII, 12 -- Sermons. Sermons, English -- 17th century. Great Britain -- History -- Restoration, 1660-1688 -- Sermons. A65225 R38494 (Wing W1026). civilwar no The repairer of the breach; a sermon preached at the cathedral church of Glocester, May 29, 1660 being the anniversary of His Maiesty's birt Washbourne, Thomas 1660 13419 31 50 0 0 0 0 60 D The rate of 60 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the D category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-06 John Latta Sampled and proofread 2008-06 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE REPAIRER OF THE Breach ; A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church of GLOCESTER , May 29. 166● being the Anniversary of His MAIESTY'S Birth-day , and happy Entrance into His Emperial City of LONDON . By THOMAS WASHBOURN , D. D. LONDON , Printed for William Leak , at the sign of the Crown in Fleet-street , between the two Temple-Gates . 166● To the High and Mighty MONARCH , CHARLS the Second , By the Grace of GOD KING of Great BRITAIN , FRANCE , and IRELAND , Defender of the Faith , &c. Most Gracious SOVERAIGN , THAT I assume the boldnesse to tender this Sermon to your Sacred MAIESTY , is not from any the least thought I had that it could be worthy Your reading , who daily hear the best that the best Learned of Your Clergy preach in-Your Royal Chapel ; but being preach'd upon that Day which is now made Yours , because Your MAIESTY on that Day was made Ours , first , by Your Birth ; and then , by Your happy Return to Your People ; and being now printed at the importunity of some of Your MAIESTY's Loyal Subjects that were my Auditors , as also by the approbation of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Glocester , my worthy and much honored Diocesan ; I humbly offer it at Your MAIESTY's feet , hoping with it to gain the favour of kissing Your MAIESTY's Hands , a favour which You have not denyed ( such is Your Benignity and Condescention ) to Your meanest Subjects , though I have not yet been so happy as to obtain it . Not that I wanted an heart ready with the foremost to wait upon Your MAIESTY , and bid you welcome home ; nor that I wanted the like desires and affections , perhaps without other men , ( for who is totally free from them ) to reap some particular benefit in the first fruits of the Churches Harvest , which till Your coming lay ( as it were ) fallow for many years , yielding no encrease to the true Proprietary . But as Imperante Augusto natus est CHRISTUS , CHRIST was born in the Reign of Augustus ; so Imperante CAROLO renata esse Ecclesia CHRISTI , this poor Church of CHRIST in England is new born , or rather raised from the dead , in the beginning of Your MAIESTY's ▪ Reign , as if you were resolved to make good to us St. Paul's wish to the Corinthians , Not to reign alone unlesse we also might reign with You , and share in Your Triumphs as we had done in Your Sufferings . Some such thoughts , I say again , I might be tickled with ; for 't is true , which that learned Knight Sir Robert Cotton hath observed in the life of Your Predecessor , HENRY the 3d , That in every shift of Princes , there is none ( either in Church or State ) so mean or modest , that pleaseth not himself with some probable object of preferment . But , SIR , so wonderful , and beyond all expectation , was Your Restoration to Your Kingdoms , that it struck me with astonishment , and I became like unto them that dream . Great joy as well as great grief over-whelm the spirits , as we read of the Patriarch Jacob . And in this Deliquium or fainting fit I lay , whiles all sorts crowded to see Your MAIESTY , and most of my Profession , ( which had not bowed their knees to Baal , nor medled with them that were given to change , but feared God and the King , and suffered with and for Your MAIESTY , and Your Royal Father of blessed memory ) had preferments answerable to their merits , before I had the opportunity onely of beholding Your MAIESTY's face ; and even then I stood like Phaeton at his fathers Court at an humble distance admiring his glories . Consistitque procul : neque enim propriora ferebat Lumina . My weak sight was satisfied with the reflex beams of Your MAIESTY afar off , which at a nearer approach , and in a direct line , would have dazled , if not blinded my eyes . In this reverential posture I continued a good while , saying within my self as Mephibosheth to David , Let them take all , forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his own house . It will be honor and preferment enough for me , if I may be but owned by Your MAIESTY for Your MAIESTY'S most humbly devoted , and most obedient Subject , THOMAS WASHBOURN . The Repairer of the BREACH . A SREMON , &c. Isa. 58. 12. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places : thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations , and thou shalt be called , The Repairer of the Breach , the Restorer of Paths to dwell in . IT is an Observation made by the Royal Preacher , Eccles. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. To every thing there is a season , and a time to every purpose under heaven . A time to plant , and a time to pluck up that which is planted ; a time to break down , and a time to build up . Experience tells us 't is so with men , and so with God too , who is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , the great Master-builder , the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , or chief Husbandman , Joh. 15. 1. We find him planting his Church under the Parable of a Vineyard , Isa. 5. 1. fencing it and planting it with the choicest Vines , building a Tower in the midst of it , vers. 2. And again , vers. 5. we find him resolved to pluck down the hedge thereof , and break down the wall , and lay it waste . But how , or by whom would he do this ? Not by his own immediate hand from heaven , as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ; but by the hand of the Chaldeans , of whom the Psalmist makes a grievous complaint to God , whether by way of Prophecy , as a thing to come ; or of History , as already past , is uncertain . Psal. 79. 1. O God , the Heathen are come into thine inheritance , thy holy Temple have they defiled , they have laid Jerusalem on heaps . The Jews being by the just judgment of God carried Captives by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon , where they did duram servire servitutem , endure a long and miserable bondage , began at last to bethink themselves which way they might pacifie Gods wrath , and recover his favour ; to which purpose they ord●ined solemn Fasts , Zech , 7. 5. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month , even those seventy years , did ye at all fast unto me , even unto me ? And chap. 8. 19. there is mention of these two months fast , and two more , the fast of the fourth , and the fast of the fifth , and the fast of the seventh , and the fast of the tenth . But when they found that for all their frequent fastings God was not appeased , nor they delivered , they were moved to wonder and murmur at it , vers. 3. of this chapter , Wherefore have we fasted , say they , and thou seest not ? wherefore have we afflicted our soul , and thou takest no knowledgt ? Whereupon God commands his Prophet , vers. 1. Cry aloud , spare not , lift up thy voice like a trumpet , and shew my people their transgressions , and the house of Jacob their sins . Let them know , that their fasts , as they are compounded and made up of the bitter ingredients of injustice and cruelty , strifes and debates , blood and rapine , would never be pleasing to God ; Behold , ye fast for strife and debate , and to smite with the fist of wickedness , vers. 4. No , assure your selves , unlesse to your bodily fast you joyn a spiritual , abstain from sin , as you do from meat , and give to the poor what you spare from your own bellies ; unlesse your acts of mercy and charity consecrate your fasts to God , they will not be accepted by him , for this is the fast that he hath chosen , to lose the bands of wickednesse , to undo the heavy burdens , and to let the oppressed go free ; to deal thy bread to the hungry , and bring the poor that are cast out to thy house , and when thou seest the naked to cover him , vers. 6 , 7. And if this fast be truly and sincerely kept , then the Prophet promiseth from the mouth of God , for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it , vers. 12. that they shall enjoy all the happinesse and prosperity as their hearts can wish , their prayers shall be no sooner made than heard and granted , vers. 9. Then shalt thou call , and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry , and he shall say , Here I am . Their sicknesse shall be turned into health , their darknesse into light , their ungodlinesse into righteousnesse , their shame into glory , vers. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning , and thy health shall spring forth speedily , and thy righteousnesse shall go before thee , the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward . And lastly , to come to my Text , Thou shalt return from captivity to thy own native Country , And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places : thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations , and thou shalt be called , The Repairer of the Breach , the Restorer of paths to dwell in . In the explication or unfolding of this portion of Scripture , I shall shew , 1. What is meant by the waste places , the foundations cast down , the breach or breaches , for I find the word rendred by Translators in the plural number . 2. By whom these waste places should be built , the foundations raised , the breaches repaired , the paths restored , which is first expressed in the plural , They that shall be of thee ; secondly , in the singular , relating to some one extraordinary and more eminent person amongst the rest , that should be most signally and remarkably instrumental in the designing , ordering , and perfecting this great and glorious work , Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations . Thou shalt , &c. 3. The honor and dignity that should accrue to this singular and superexcellent person for the same , in perpetuam rei memoriam , Thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach , the Restorer of paths , &c. Having cleared these points unto you as plainly and briefly as I can , according to the literal sense ; I shall easily and without any enforcement make application to the time and occasion that hath brought us here together . And first , the waste places , and the ruined foundations , and the breach or breaches , fall under our consideration ; this may be understood of Jerusalem in the letter , but of Christs Church in the Type of figure . They that refer it onely to the former , as relating to the restoration of the Jewish Church , the reparation of their decayed Temple and City by Zerubbabel , Ezra , and Nehemia , are by St. Hierom tearm'd , amici occidentis litera , friends of the killing or dead letter . But pace tanti viri by the Fathers leave , whiles we hold the latter sense with him , we shall not let go the other , but take both along with us , as the Text relates to them and us too . True it was what the Psalmist spake , Psal. 79. 7. They have devoured Jacob , and laid waste his dwelling place ; and Psal. 80. 16. It is burnt with fire , it is cut down ; that is , the City and Temple , which was beautiful for situation , the joy of the whole earth , Psal. 48. 2. so beautiful , that he thinks it worthy of all observation and admiration , vers. 12 , 13. Walk about Sion , and go round about her , tell the towers thereof , mark well her bulwarks , consider her palaces , that ye may tell it to the generation following . That famous City , that glorious Temple , with the Towers , the Bulwarks , the Palaces thereof , were totally demolished , cast down , destroyed , the inhabitants , as many as escaped the sword and the famine , carried captive into Babylon , where they continued seventy years , and with tears in their eyes bewailed the miserable desolation of their Church and State , Psal. 137. 1. By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept , when we remembred Sion . He must have a heart of flint , as hard as the neather milstone , that could think upon Sion in this condition as she was , and not dissolve and melt into a shour of tears . We sate down and wept ; whereupon St. Chrysostom , {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , they do not slightly mourn , or take on a little , but make it their businesse , their eyes vying with the Rivers of Babylon which should most over-flow their banks . In what a lamentable case were Gods people all this while , when not onely maenia Jerusalimae , as Vatablus understands it here ) the walls of Jerusalem , but fundamenta Ecclesiae & Reipublicae , the very foundations of Church and Common-wealth were not onely sh ken , but shatter'd to pieces , and the children of Edom had now their desire , when they cried , Down with it , down with it even to the ground ; or as the last Translation reads it , Rase it , rase it even to the foundations thereof , vers. 7. of the same Psalm . The King and the Priest , the Lords and the Commons , all were made Prisoners and captives , from him that s●te on the Throne , to her that grindeth at the mill , God delivered his strength into captivity , and his glory into the enemies hand , Psal. 78. 61. And now are we not ready to expostul●te in the words of the 80 Psalm . vers. 12 , 13. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges , so that all they that do passe by the way do pluck her ? The Boar out of the wood doth waste it , and the wild beast out of the field doth devour it . Why haste thou suffered those great Tyrants , the Kings of Assyria and Babylon to break in upon this thy Vinyard , and root out the Vine which thine own right hand hath planted ? Why hast thou scattered us among the Heathen , so that they which hate us spoil our goods ? The answer is soon returned ▪ The fault was not in the Lord of the Vineyard , who had done what he could for it , planted it with his own hand , watered it with the dew of his heavenly benediction , hedged it with his divine Providence ; but the fault was in the Vine it self , as he complains , Isa. 5. 4. When I looked it should bring forth grapes , it brought forth wild grapes . What wild grapes ? he tells us , vers. 7. He looked for judgment , but behold oppression ; for righteousnesse , but behold a cry . And therefore it follows , vers. 9. Many houses shall be desolate , even great and fair without inhabitant . This , this was the cause that the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts , that is , the house of Israel , and the men of Juda his pleasant plant , was so eaten up , so troden down , vers. 5. This was the cause the Christian Church went to wrack by persecution under Heathen Emperors , Almighty God making them his Rod to scourge his backsliding people into repentance and better obedience ; for we are not unlike a childs Top , that never goes upright without whipping . So St. Cyprian speaking of the times of Decius , Quia traditam nobis divinitus disciplinam pax longa corruperat , jacentem fidem & pene dixerim dormientem censura coelestis erexit . Because long peace had corrupted the good order and discipline of the Church , delivered to us by divine Authority , the wisdom of God thought fit by the hand of his justice to awake the dull and drousie , and almost dead faith of Christians . And from the same cause Eusebius derives the Original of Dioclesians persecution , in whose words as in a glasse we may see the face of our own times , with all its deformities ; take the Latine for want of the Greek , Postquam vero res nostrae per nimiam libertatem ad mollitiem ac segnitiem degenerarunt , & alii alios sunt odio & contumeliis prosecuti , &c. After that our affairs through too great a liberty degenerated into sloth and delicacy , and that one began to prosecute another with hate and contumely ; and when we our selves onely opposed our selves with words of strife and contention , when dissimulation and hypocrisie was grown to the heighth of malice , Et qui pastcros nostri videbantur , repulsa pietatis norma matuis inter se contentionibus fuerunt inflammati , &c. And they that were or pretended to be our Pastors and Ministers , casting off the rule of piety , blew the coals of discord among themselves till it grew to a flame , and every one made his own ambition play the Tyrant as he listed ; when such was the hardnesse of our hearts , that we were not touched with any sense or feeling thereof , nor endeavoured to appease Gods wrath , but as if we thought God did not regard , and would not punish our sins , but were such an one as the Heathen phansied him , Nec ben pro meritis capitur , nec tangitur ira . We ceased not to add sin unto sin , and then behold the divine judgment , after its usual manner , began to visit us by degrees . Ita ut persecutio à fratribus qui in militia erant exordia sumeret . So that our persecution took its rise and beginning from our brethren that were in the militia ; then , then I say , according to that of the Prophet , Lam. 2. The Lord covered the daughter of Sion with a clowd in his anger , and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel , and remembred not his foot-stool in the day of his anger . The Lord swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob , and hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Juda , he hath brought them down to the ground : he hath polluted the Kingdom and the Princes thereof : he hath encreased in the daughter of Juda mourning and lamentation , and he hath violently taken away his tabernacle , he hath destroyed the places of the assembly . The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts to be forgotten in Sion , and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the King and the Priest . By this we have discovered what is meant by the old waste places , the ruined foundations , the breach or breaches that were made in the Israel of God , with the reason thereof ; which hath opened my passage to my second Query . By whom the waste places should be built , the ruined foundations raised , the breaches repaired , the paths restored ; Ex te erunt , And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places , &c. In the seventh chapter of Nehemia , there is a long catalogue of the people , the Priests and the Levites , that had leave from the King of Babylon to go up to Jerusalem and build the waste places , especially the Temple ; their whole number is computed to be forty two thousand three hundred and threescore , vers. 66. among whom the grandees or chief are expressed by name , vers. 7. and of those I find most honorable mention of two above all the rest , ( as upon whose shoulders rested the main of the work ) Nehemia and Zerubbabel ; and therefore we shall insist somewhat upon both , as we meet with them recorded in sacred story . And first of Nehemias ; He was cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes , as he himself tells us chap. 1. 11. and a great favourite he was , as appears chap. 2. for when he ( commiserating the miserable estate of his native country ) presented a cup of wine to the King with a heavy heart , which discovered it self in a sad face , the King said unto him , Why is thy countenance sad , seeing thou art not sick ? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart , vers. 2. To which Nehemia replied , vers. 3. first , praying for the King , though a heathen , as his duty was ; then telling him the cause of his sadnesse , Let the King live for ever . Why should not my countenance be sad , when the City , the place of my fathers sepulcher , lieth waste , and the gates thereof are consumed with fire ? Then the King said unto me ; For what d dost thou make request ? vers. 4. It seems the King was willing to grant him whatsoever he should ask in reason . Observe the piety of the man , before he petitions the King , he makes supplication to the King of heaven ▪ and that was the sure way to speed , for the hearts of Kings are in the hand of God ; So I prayed ( saith he ) to the God of heaven , and I said unto the King , if it please the King , and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight that thou wouldst send me unto Juda , unto the City of my fathers sepulchers , that I may build it . Whereupon the King dispatcheth him with a Commission and credential Letters to the Governours beyond the River , that they might convey him over to Juda , and with a Letter to Asaph the keeper of the Kings Forrest , that he might give him timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house , and for the wall of the City , and for the house of God , vers. 8. and to secure him by the way , ( for they that enterprise good and great designes , as this was , are like to meet with strong opposition ) the King sent Captains of the Army and Horsemen with him , vers. 9. Notwithstanding he , like a prudent man , resolves to carry on the businesse more by policy than power . He comes to Jerusalem , the Metropolis or head City of Judea , and was there some time before he told any man what God h●d put in his heart to do at Jerusalem , vers. 12. Then he takes a private survey of the ruined walls ; and when things were ripe for the work , he said unto the Nobles , the Rulers , the Priests , and the rest of the people , Ye see the distress that we are in , how Jerusalem lieth waste , and the gates thereof are burnt with fire . Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem , that we be no more a reproach . Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me . And they said , Let us rise up and build . So they strengthened their hands for this good work , vers. 17 , 18. Yet could not he with all his assistants carry on the work so smoothly ▪ but that he met with some disturbance , a phanatick party to hinder and oppose him ; and to head them , they had a notable Leader , one Sanballat , vers. 10. When Sanballat the H●romite , and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite , heard of it , it grieved them exceedingly , that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel . And therefore they fall first to jeer and scoff at them , vers. 19. They laughed us to scorn , and despised us , saying , What is the thing that ye do ? But Nehemia answered , vers. 20. The God of heaven he will prosper us , therefore we his servants will arise and build ; but ye have no portion , nor right , nor memorial in Jerusalem . From scoffs they proceed to secret plots and force of arms , vers. 7 , 8. But when Sanballat , and Tobiah , and the Arabians , and the Ammonites , and the Ashdoties , heard , that the walls of Jerusalem were made up , and that the breaches began to be stopped , then they were very wroth , and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it . And this they contrived in a clandestine way , saying , They shall not know , neither see , till we come in the midst amongst them , and slay them , and cause the work to cease , vers. 11. Whereupon Nehemiah plays the part of a pious and vigilant Commander , falling to his prayers , and setting a strict watch , vers. 9. Neverthelesse we made our prayer unto our God , and set a watch against them day and night ; and raised a new militia , vers. 13 , 14. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall , and on the higher places ; I , even I set the people after their families , with their swords , their spears , and their bowes . And I looked , and rose up , and said unto the nobles , and to the rulers , and to the rest of the people , Be not afraid of them ; remember the Lord is great and terrible , and fight for your brethren , your sons and your daughters , your wives and your houses . When all this would not make him desist , he receives an intimation , that they intended to ass●ssinate his person , chap. 6 10. They will come to slay thee , yet he still retains his wonted courage , saying , Should such a man as I flee ? Thus he stood like a Colosius unmoved and undaunted till he had done the work . And now we have found the man that in the singular number may well be stiled , Reparator ruinarum , the Repairer of the Breach . But can we find out ne'r another ? Yes ▪ we have him Ezr. 1. 8. by the name of Shesbazzar the Prince of Juda , or chief Governor deputed to that office by King Cyrus , and commissionated to build the Temple , chap. 5. 14. and build he did , vers. 16. Then came the same Shesbazzar and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem . This Shesbazzar is the same with Zerubbabel , who as a Prince is named in the first place among those that came from Babylon , as the Captain General , chap. 2. 2. and chap. 5. 2. Then rose up Zerubbabel , &c. And Hag. 1. 14. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , governor of Juda , &c. If we look into his genealogy , Matth. 1. 12. we shall find him like Moecenas descended from antient Kings , Josias begat Jechonias , and Jechonias begat Salathiel , and Salathiel begat Zerubbabel . This Zerubbabel , whose spirit God stirred up to this grand employment , went through his work with all alacrity and activity , Ezr. 3. he re-edifieth the Temple in despite of all adversaries ; the manner and means how it should be done by him is foretold , Zech. 4. 6 , 7. This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel , saying , Not by might , nor by tower , but by my Spirit , saith the Lord of hosts . What art thou , O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain , and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings , crying Grace , grace unto it . Two great blocks were in the way to discourage Zerubbabel in the work , the one was the weaknesse of his party that should assist him , the other the strength of the enemy that would oppose him . First , The weaknesse of his own party , they were but a small remnant of the poor captive Jews , whose spirits were dejected with their tedious servitude and extream oppression ; and this might make Zerubbabel diffident of the event , and reason thus against it : The work is great that we are to undertake , and our strength but little , and therefore in all probability our endeavors are like to be frustrated , and we to perish in the undertaking . To this God speaks , Not by might , or army ( as 't is in the Margin ) nor by power , but by my Spirit , saith the Lord of hosts . Know , this work is not to be effected by human help meerly , but by divine power ; not by strength of man , but by the Spirit of God , whose strength is made perfect in weaknesse ; by his Spirit who is Lord of hosts , and commands all the Armies of heaven and earth . Though you had no strength at all , though you had no life at all left in you , though you were but an heap of dead and dry bones , God can bring you together , put new life in you , and cause you on a suddain to start up a numerous Army , as in Ezeki●ls vision , chap. 37. 10. yea , though these bones were laid in the grave , covered never so deep in the earth , God can raise you thence . To such a desperate condition was Israel reduced at that time , that God was fain to quicken and revive their dead hope by the parable of those dry bones , vers. 11 , 12. Then he said unto me , Son of man , these bones are the whole hovse of Israel : behold , they say , our bones are dried , and our hope is lost , we are cut off for our parts . Therefore prophesie and say unto them ▪ Thus saith the Lord God , Behold , O my people , I will open your graves , and cause you to come out of your graves , and bring you into the land of Israel . The argument holds , a majori ad minus , he that can raise the dead out of their graves , can bring you out of captivity . Nay more , not onely from dry bones , but from very stones God can raise up children unto Abraham , rather than his Church should not be builded . This block thus removed out of the way , the other yet behind was the mighty power of Zerubbabels enemies , which is therefore called a great Mountain , and he speaks unto it by an Apostrophe , as the more emphatical expression , Who art thou , O great Mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain . Thou hast hitherto opprest my people , and kept them in bondage : But beh●ld , I am against thee , saith the Lord , which destroyest all the earth ; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee , and roll thee down from the rocks , and make thee a burnt mountain , Jer. 51. 25. Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain . Though thou art high and strong as a great Mountain , seemest in thine own eyes and others also irresistable , invincible ; thy pride shall be brought down , thy high looks abased , thy mighty strength abated , thy huge and vast body laid level with the earth , and be made a plain , so that all thy opposition shall be as nothing , and all difficulties made plain and easie to Zerubbabel , by the power of my Spirit that shall support him , and suppresse all his opposers . It follows , He shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings , crying , Grace , grace unto it ; vers. 7. that is , He shall accomplish the building with the joyful acclamations of the beholders , even to the wonder and astonishment of his very enemies , that shall say and say again , Grace , grace unto it . And not to it alone , but to us by it shall great grace and glory also come ; and that they did say so , the Psalmist tells us , Psal. 126. 2. Then said they among the Heathen , The Lord hath done great things for them ; which the Jews as their eccho resounded back again , vers. 3. Yea , the Lord hath done great things for us , whereof we rejoyce . Lastly , The Prophet adds as a Corollary and confirmation of all , vers. 8 , 9. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me , saying , The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house , his hands shall also finish it ; statutum esse , it is a statute , a decree past in the highest Court of Heaven , not to be reversed , that as Zerubbabel hath begun the work , and laid the first stone , the head-stone of the corner ; so with a non obstante , maugre all contradiction , he shall put to his last hand and compleat the work . Thus you see by whom this great work was effected . Multorum manibus grande levatur onus , Many hands went to it , but two especially , Nehemia and Zerubbabel , they were the principal instruments under God for the carrying on of the same , and therefore both of them justly meriting the style and title of honor and dignity that is here given in the Text , which is my third point , Vocaberis reparator ruinarum , Thou shalt be called , The repairer of the breach , &c. And indeed , what better , what nobler title can be bestowed upon a man ? a more glorious one could hardly be thought on . Quanto honestius est principi si reparator ruinarum vocetur , quam vastator civitatum ? as Marlorat notes well upon the place ; How much more honorable is it for a Prince to be call'd the repairer of ruines , than the destroyer of Cities ? It was a vain and horrible brag of Senacherib , which he spake as tending to the honor of his predecessors , and himself too as descended from them , 2 King. 19. 11. Behold , thou hast heard what the Kings of Assyria have done to all lands , by destroying them utterly . And the like we read of Alexander and Pompey , who were called Great from the great conquests and bloody victories they atchieved , glorying in the many thousands , yea , millions , they had slain . The two famous Scipios had their sirn●mes from the Countries they subdued , the one was called Africanus , the other Asiaticus . How much a better title was that of Solomon , and our King James of happy memory , Rex pacificus . I have heard it credibly reported ( fides sit penes authorem ) I would not wittingly and willingly father a falshood upon the worst of men , but give even the devil his due ) that the late Oliver Cromwel ( in whom hypocrisie and tyranny strove which should be predominant ) boasted , he had been the death of near upon 40000 Scots in their own Country and at Worcester , where besides what were slain in fight , many were kill'd in cool blood , a cruelty which a Turk would be ashamed of . I have read of a greater Warrior , and a better man than he , Tamberlane , who having fought a battel with the Muscovites , wherein he had slain upon the turf about 40000 men , and taking a view of the dead , was so far from rejoycing at the sight , that he lamented the condition of such as commanded great Armies , commending his fathers quiet course of life ; accounting him happy in seeking for rest , and the other most unhappy , who by the destruction of their own kind sought to advance their own glory ; protesting himself even from his heart , grieved to see such sad tokens and trophies of his victory . Hence then let Princes and great ones learn how to raise themselves a glorious name , that may survive them , and be sweet and precious when their bodies rot and consume in their sepulchers , while others take a pride and pleasure to kill and destroy , let them labour to save and preserve the world in peace ; while others pull down and lay waste Cities and Temples , let them raise up and repair the breaches , so shall they be truly called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , gracious Lords , Luk. 22. 25. Et reparatores ruinarum , the repairers of breaches , the restorers of paths to dwell in ; which will be far greater glory to them , than if they accumulated all the titles of honor , that either Heraldry can invent , or this world confer . It was well said by our late King of glorious memory , to his Son our gracious Soveraign that now reigns , vvhom God preserve long among us , I had rather you should be CHARLS le Bon , than le Grand , Good , than Great . Greatnesse hath no better Character than that of Goodnesse , vvithout vvhich , 't is but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , a cold and livelesse carcase of nobility , like a ruddy colour in a picture that hath no life or heat in it , a rich cabinet without a jewel : With such an empty casket of honor without vertue , Minutius Felix thus elegantly expostulates , Fascibus & purpuris gloriaris ? vanus error hominis , & inanis cultus dignitatis fulgere purpurâ , mente sordescere . Nobilitate gloriaris ? parentes tuos laudas ; omnes pari sorte nascimur , sola virtute distinguimur . Dost thou glory that thou art invested with highest dignities , clothed with Purple and Ermin ? Alas , thou deceivest thy self ; to be glorious in apparel , and sordid in soul , is but a vain error , and whiles thy face shines with Moses's , thy better part is clouded with Egyptian darknesse . In boasting of thy noble birth , thou praisest thy parents , not thy self , if thou degenerate . Nam genus & proavos & quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco . We are born alike , being hew'd all out of the same Rock , our father Adam ; 't is onely vertue and noble actions that distinguish and set us above the vulgar . When Moses goes about to describe the genealogy of the Patriarch Noah , he begins it thus , These are the generations of Noah : And Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations , and Noah walked with God , Gen. 6. 9. Wilt thou be famous in thy generations as Noah ? be just and upright as Noah , and thou shalt be Chronicled in the book of fame to all succeeding generations . Vocaberis , &c. thou shalt have an honourable name like this in the Text , Thou shalt be called , The repairer of the breach , the restorer of thy Country's peace and liberty . The Wise-man is almost Non-plust and gravel'd , to think what praises should be given to these Repairers of breaches , Ecclus. 49. 11 , 12 , 13. How shall we praise this Zerubbabel which was a ring on the right hand , so was Jesus the son of Josedec : these men in their time builded the house , and set up the Sanctuary of the Lord again , which was prepared for an everlasting worship . And among the elect was Nehemias , whose renown is great , which set up for us the walls that were fallen , and set up the gates and the bars , and laid the foundations of our houses . But behold a greater than Nehemias or Zerubbabel is here . This Zerubbabel , the chief among these Repairers , was a type of Christ , and so is presented to us by the Prophet , Hag. chap. ult. vers. ult. In that day , saith the Lord of Hosts , will I take thee , O Zerubbabel my servant , the son of Shealtiel , and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thes , saith the Lord of hosts . Christ was the true Zerubbabel , whom God the Father chose from everlasting to be his servant , in performing the great work of our Redemption : Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold , mine elect in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit upon him , he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles . This is he that hath built his Church upon a Rock , against which the gates of hell shall not prevail . This is he that hath raised up the foundations of many generations , and therefore is most worthy to be called , The Repairer of the breach , that vast breach which was long since made between God and man , that breach which was made between Jew and Gentile . Quae deserta fuerant in Judaeis , dicimus aedificari in Ecclesia , non ad breve tempus , sed in perpetuum : & fundamenta illius ex utroque populi , id est , in duabus generationibus suscitanda , the waste places in the Church of the Jews are built up by Christ in the Christian Church , and the foundations thereof raised of both people , that is , in those two generations of Jews and Gentiles . So St. Hierom understands my Text , according to that of St. Paul , Ephes. 2. 14 , 15. He is our peace ▪ who hath made both one , and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us , that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross . And because he humbled himself to the form of a servant to the death of the cross , therefore God hath highly exalted him , and given him a name ( above this name in the Text , and ) above every name ( besides ) that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow , &c. Phil. 2. 7 , 8 9. I have done with the Explication of my Text , I come now to make some Application of it to the time . I need not tell you of our wast places , our ruined foundations , our vast breaches , they are too obvious to every eye , he that runs may re●d them . They may be reduced to these two heads , Breaches and Ruines and Wastes made both in Church and Common-wealth . To begin with the Church , for that is Gods method , Judgment commonly begins at the house of God . And , good God , who can think upon the Breaches , and not cry out with Job c. 22. v 6. Even when I remember , I am afraid , and trembling taketh hold on my flesh , this were enough to make a good Christian turn Quaker , and yet be a good Christian still . Not to speak of the material buildings , the goodly foundations of ancient Churches demolished and run to ruine , concerning which there goes a Proverb to the scandal of our Religion ( though our Religion were not the cause of it ) Pater noster set them up , and our father pluckt them down . I shall not insist upon these external breaches & ruines in the Church , though in respect of them also , I may take up the Psalmists words , Psalm 102. 13 , 14. Thou shalt arise O God , and have mercy upon Sion : for the time to favour her , yea the set time is come ; And why , thy servants think upon her stones , and it pitieth them to see her in the dust . The most considerable breaches were in the spiritual building , {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , Ye are Gods building , &c. Eph. 2. 20. O what breaches were made in this building ! Even breach upon breach , Job 16. 14. Here were the living stones broken , heart broken , the principal Pillars thrown down ? Able , painful and pious Pastors and Preachers ( such as Dr. Featly , that Malleus Hereticorum , and many others of the Clergy , besides the Reverend Fathers of the Church , the Bishops , of whom the world was not worthy , ) cast out of their places and Livings upon false suggestions and informations ; or if true , deserving rather encouragement and protection ; than imprisonment and ejection . Sequestred and cast out they were , not for any thing really scandalous , but for being so conscientious , that they would not take new Oaths and Covenants contrary to those they had formerly and lawfully taken : and upon the same score would have suffered death ( as some did ) rather than run with the tide of the times against the known Lawes of God and man . So wide was this breach , and so farre from being well closed again , till this last year , that upon their exclusion , either none at all were put in their Livings , as in divers Counties of Wales , where the Tyths of many Parishes were engrost in a few hands , two or three Itinerant Preachers serving for a whole Diocesse : or else for the most part , ignorant and factious persons brought in their places , whose businesse it was to sowe sedition and false doctrines , and whose preaching ( if I may call it preaching ) was full of cursing and bitternesse , Rom. 3. 14. And what betrer could be expected from them that enter not by the doore into the sheepfold , but climb up some other way , John 10. 1. not by the regular way of Ordination , which hath been ever observed in the Church of Christ from the Apostles days to ours . What better could be expected , when the Prophets two staves were once broken ; the staffe of Beauty , and the staffe of Bands , Veritas Evangelica , & unitas Christiana , the true Doctrine and Uniform Discipline of the Church . When these , I say , were broken to pieces , behold an inundation of Sects and Heresies like a second Deluge over-flowed the whole Land , they came croaking about us like the Frogs of Egypt , and swarming like the Locusts out of the bottomlesse pit . Barclay in his Icon Animorum , writing of the several Sects in Religion which he had observed in England in King James his reign , tells a story of a father and his two sons who constituted or made up a Church between themselves , but these three not long agreeing , the two sons Excommunicated the Father , and at last one son the other , so that these three made three distinct Churches in their conceipts , and each one the true . What would he have said , had he lived to see the many factions and fractions , Divisions and Subdivisions which have spawn'd since amongst us . Our Church being well likened by the last Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his Speech at his death , to an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body , and at every cleft , prophanenesse and irreligion entring in . It was a most charitable wish of judicious Master Hooker , and most seasonable for our times , in his answer to Master Travers Supplication in Queen Elizabeths reign . Take it in his own words , for they are excellent , and deserve , as Job speaks in another case , to be graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever , to be so deeply imprinted in our hearts , as never to be obliterated or rased out . Since ( saith he ) there can come nothing of contention but the mutual waste of the parties contending , till a common Enemy dance in the ashes of them both , I do heartily wish that the grave advice which Constantine gave for uniting his Clergy so many times , upon so small occasions , in so lamentable sort divided , or rather the strict commandment of Christ to his , that they should not be divided at all , may at length if it be his blessed will prevail so farre at least in this corner of the Christian world , to the burying and quite forgetting of strife , together with the causes which have either bred it or brought it up : that things of small moment never disjoyn them , whome one God , one Lord , one Faith , one Spirit , one Baptisme , bands of so great force have linked , that a respective eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted , make us not , as through infirmity the very Patriarchs themselves sometimes were , full gorged , unable to speak peaceably to their own brother . Finally , that no strife may ever be heard of again , but this , who shall hate strife most , who shall pursue Peace and Vnity with swiftest paces . And to this I hope all my Brethren of the Ministery will say Amen , and make some amends for the Divisions and Breaches which too many of them through their former misguided zeal brought into the Church , by their earnest endeavours for a happy settlement of all matters Ecclesiastical , and by their humble submission to that Order and Discipline in the Church as is or shall be established by lawful Authority . But behold more Breaches yet , the Hebrew {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is rendred by the LXX . {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} , a Builder , a Maker or Repairer ▪ of hedges . Now the Jews have a saying , Massora sepes est Legis , Divitiarum sepes decimae , that as their Massora was the hedge of their Divine Law , comprehending every verse , word , and letter of it , so Tythes were the hedge of their riches , and beyond a hedge in this respect , as the same worthy Author hath very well observed ; for an hedge doth only fence and preserve that which is contained , but Tythes and Offerings did more , because they procured increase of the heap out of which they were taken , witnesse that saying of God himself , Mal. 3. 10. Bring ye all the Tythes into the storehouse , and prove me therewith , saith the Lord of Hosts , if I will not open you the windows of heaven , and pour you out a blessing , that there shall not be room enough to receive it . Yet was this hedge going down apace , voted away from the Church by the Phanatick party , who had devoured them in their imaginary hopes , and taken ere this time all the houses of God in their possession , if they had not been in the nick of time strangely prevented . The onely way they thought to enrich themselves , was , to impoverish the Church , and ceaze upon the poor remains thereof . And whereas Abraham ( long before the Law was given by Moses , and therefore could not be ceremonial ) paid Tythes of all the spoiles , these men would make a spoile of all the Tythes ; then the Priests received Tythes from the Soldiers , now the Soldiers would have taken Tythes from the Priests , though to the ruine of themselves , and their posterities , and the whole Nation , that would have been involved both in the guilt and punishment , as was the whole Nation of the Jews for the same sin , Mal. 3. 9. For my part , I must confesse my fears , that the curse which hath been upon out Nation of late years for this sin of sacriledge , amongst other great and crying sins , will not be taken off clearly ( for we see Gods hand is stretched out still against us in the late plague of immoderate rain and waters , which may breed a dearth , if not pestilential diseases ) till satisfaction be made by restoring what hath been wrested and ravished from the Church . It was the opinion of that great advancer of learning , Sir Francis Bacon , in his considerations touching pacification and edification of the Church , presented to King James , and well-worthy the consideration ofthis present Parliament , That all Parliaments since the 27 and 31 of Hen. 8. who gave away Impropriations from the Church , stand in some sort obnoxious , and obliged to God in conscience , to do somewhat for the Church , to reduce the Patrimony thereof to a competency ; for since they have debarred Christs spouse of a great part of her dowry , it were reason they made her a competent Joynture . And blessed be God that put it into the Kings heart to take care , that all Bishops , Deans , and Chapters , should out of their Impropriations augment the small Vicaridges belonging to them in such a reasonable proportion , as the Tythes will well bear . And 't is to be hoped , that this will be a leading-card to invite and draw on others of the Nobility and Gentry to do the like , as some of them have done already , to their honor be it spoken , and therein have preveated his Majesties desires in that kind , and began to us ; I could name some of them , but that I think they are sufficiently well known to the world . Consider next the ruines and breaches in the State , Armies raised , Battles fought , Cities besieged , taken , sacked , Countries harassed , plundred , Parliaments purged , dissolved at the pleasure of a thing call'd Protector , or the Grandees of an Army , the House of Peers abolished , another of mock-Lords instituted , all the fundamental Laws violated . A breach upon our liberties , by imprisoning men without shewing cause , denying the people their voices in a free election of Knights and Burgesses . — fingit solemnia Campus Et non admissae dirimit suffragia plebis . A breach upon our estates , by imposing taxes what they pleased . A breach upon our consciences , by enforcing Oaths and Covenants contradictory to former Oaths . And to fill up the measure of our ruines , a breach upon the Head-stone of the building , the chief stake in our hedge was cut up , when our King of ever glorious memory was cut off , and most barbarously murdered before his own Royal gate ; a most inhuman unparallel'd Parricide , Regicide , I had almost said Deicide , and if I had , it might admit of a sober sence , for Kings are earths Deities , Gods pictures in a lesser form or model , and God himself hath honoured them with his own Name , I have said , Ye are gods , Psal. 82. 6. yet he did not fall like one of the Princes , but as if he had been an ordinary or common malefactor . Carnificis dextra Cromwelli-potentis obiram Procumbit . And when he fell all fell with him , ever since we have been a Tohu & Bohu , rudis indigestaque moles , a meer Chaos of confusion , a second Babel , or like a Tennis-ball tost from hand to hand , a reproach to our neighbours , a scorn and derision to all that were round about us , Psal. 44. 13. Nec ulla requies , tempus autt ullum datur Nisi dum jubetur . We were put to it beyond Hercules's labours , no rest , no breathing time , no relaxation from our burthens allowed us by our worse than Egyptian-Taskmasters , we must make brick without straw , pay contribution doubled and trebled , as they were pleased to vote it , when many had no mony to discharge it , but what ( as the young Prophet said of his ax head ) was borrowed . Nor was it safe for any man to complain of this extream bondage and oppression , it being our case in these times as it was the people of Ariminum in Caesar's , — genitu sic quisque latente Non ausus timnesse palam : vox nulla dolori . Credita — We were fain to mourn in secret , and not discover our grief in words or tears . Was it not now high time for us to say with the Psalmist ? and indeed Nihil hic nisi vota supersunt , 'T is time for thee , Lord , to work , for they have made void thy Law ; yea , all the Laws both of God and man . When all endeavours of men failed , and no hope of human help appeared , then was it Gods time to work ; and work he did beyond all expectation , even to admiration . As he stirred up the spirits of Zerubbabel and Nehemias to repair the breaches in the Jewish Church and State , so hath he done for us ; we have a Nehemias and a Zerubbabel as well as they , ex te erunt , and we have them of our selves . As it was our unhappinesse , that like the spider we spun the web of our miseries out of our own bowels , and with our own hands pulled our own houses upon our own heads ; so it was our happinesse again , that God hath raised up from among our selves Heroes , and men of renown , to stand in the gap , to turn our captivity as the Rivers in the South , to build up our waste places and repair our breaches : For had we sent abroad for builders , as Solomon did to Hiram , 2 King. 2. they might have built a Babel instead of a Temple , and overthrown more with one hand than they set up with two . What tongue can tell , and what heart would not ake to think , what desolations had been wrought in the earth , if the way to the Throne had been hewed out by the sword of aliens and strangers to the Common-wealth of England : Nay , had Sir George Booth's design gon on , in probability it might have cost hot water , multo sanguine & vulneribus , &c. and we had seen another A●eldama or bloody field ; and even then the King had been fain to swim unto his Crown through a Red-sea of his subjects blood , an ungrateful passage both to him and them . Vsque ade● miserum esse civili vincere bello . But blessed be God , that as in Solomon's Temple there was no ax , nor hammer , nor iron tool heard in the house , while it was in building , 1 King. 6 , 7. so in raising the foundations of this great work , and bringing it to perfection , no sword nor battle-ax , no instrument of vvar lifted up , no canon , nor musquet , nor pistol discharged . Time vvould fail me to tell of Gideon , and of Barak , of Samson , and of Jeptha , of all our vvorthy Patriots in Parliament , in City , in Country , that by Votes , Declarations , or other vvays , joyn'd heads , and hands , and hearts , to the contriving , compassing , compleating of this glorious vvork . Give me leave to single out one from the rest , unus instar omnium , I hope vvithout envy I may name him , vvhose name vvill be like an oyntment poured forth , precious to posterity , the Lord General Monck , vvho hath upon our stage acted both parts of Nehemia and Zerubbabel to the life . As another Nehemias he carried on his work prudently and closely , he came up to our Jerusalem or Metropolis , and was there some time before he told any man what God had put in his heart to do . Artis esse , celare artem , a man shews his art in concealing his art . An unseasonable discovery frustrates a good design , whiles a discreet silence fits it for maturity . Had he taken off his hood or veil at the first approach ▪ God knows what resistance he had found , but as long as he carried it in a clowd , and hung like a Meteor between heaven and earth , or as the Papists picture Erasmus between heaven and hell , each party took him for their own , and so neither opposed him . True it is , he put many in a maze , and the whole City in great fears , when in a seeming compliance with , and obedience to the command of those that pretended to the supream authority , like Samson he went away with the gates of the City , bars and all ; but he so on made them amends by setting them in statu quo , or in a much better condition than he found them . Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit . The same hand that brake their head , gave them a plaister . Then again , like Nehemias , he calls the Nobles and Rulers together , brings in the Secluded Members to consult how our breaches might be made up ; and to secure their sitting , sets a guard , and raiseth a strong Militia . Those members having made some notable Acts , in order to a further settlement , dissolve , and quickly after a full and free Parliament succeeds them , and prosecutes , if not perfects , what the other had so well begun . Thus you see how he personates Nehemias in these particulars . And may he not passe for a Zerubbabel too ? I am sure like Zerubbabel he did his work not by might , nor by power , but by Gods Spirit . * Sanballat marched towards him with a more potent Army than his , which stood like a great Mountain in his way , but he had vertue enough to remove this mountain , it became a plain before him , and he might have said to his souldiers as Cesar in the like case to his , Tela tene jam miles , ait , ferumque tuenti ▪ Subtrahe : non ullo constet mihi sanguine bellum . Hold your hands , here is no need of weapons nor blows , this victory shall not cost a drop of blood : As the Magitians said in another case , so may I in this , Digitus Dei ▪ est hic , even an Atheist may discover the finger , yea , the whole hand of God in it , and be , if not converted , at least confounded at the sight . May I not take up the Apostles exclamation with a little alteration ? Behold , ye despisers , ye phanaticks , and wonder , and perish , for God ▪ hath wrought a work which you would in no wise believe , though a man had declared it before-hand unto you ; nor will your posterity easily credit it , though a man declare it unto them in the next generation , it will sound in their ears more of a Romance than a true story ▪ and we our selves that know it to be true , may say of it as the Jews did of the like in their time , Psal. 126. 1. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion , then were we like unto them that dream ; so strange , so unexpected , so beyond hope , that it seemed rather a phancy in a dream than a real deliverance . What remained for him to do that he might make up the parallel , but that with Zerubbabel he bring forth the head-stone of the building with shoutings , crying , Grace , grace unto it ; and this was done when CHARLS the Second by the grace of God , &c. was first Proclaimed , and after Crown'd , all the people with lowd acclamations crying out , God save the King . And in him we have found another Zerubbabel , and a greater than the former ; the General was but his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ( as John the Baptist was to CHRIST ) his Forerunner or Harbinger , to prepare the way before him ; and lo , he is come like Zerubbabel from a strange Country ( where he lived in exile divers years ) to his own native soil and dominions , over which may he and his Posterity reign happily to the worlds end . Et nati natorum & qui nascuntur ab illis . And upon this very day whereon he came into the world , he came into his Royal City , being just thirty years old , as David was when he began to reign . A Prince , whom time , and sufferings , and converse with forrein Nations , have adapted for a Crown and heroick actions . A Prince whom the heavens honoured with a Star at his birth , which prognosticated him to be a man of wonders . A Prince most justly meriting the title which was given to Titus the Emperour , Deliciae humanae generis , The delight of mankind , even his enemies being judges , if yet he can have any enemies , whom God hath brought in with so high a hand , and out-stretched an arm . This is that single person whom God set as a signet on his right hand , and preserved him as the apple of his eye from the hand of that uncircumcised * Philistine at Worcester , who with his numerous Army , like fat Bulls of Bashan , thought to have closed him in on every side , they said , Persecute and take him , for there is none to deliver him ; but God gave him cause to say with David , My soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fouler , the snare is broken , and I am delivered . And from that mir culous escape it was easie to prophesie of his future felicity , his happy return to us , as it is this day . And though many concluded him then for a lost man , that this our Sun was set to us , and had bidden us good-night for ever ; yet we did hope that this Sun would arise again in glory to our Horizon , and that with healing in his wings , to salve and cure all the wounds and distempers in the body politick , and Ecclesiastick too , of this Nation . When that little Vessell now upon the Thames where it deserves to be kept like Theseus his ship for a monument to after ▪ ges ; when that Vessel , I say , had safely conveyed his Majesty to the Haven where he would be , me-thinks I see him looking back to England , and speaking comfort to his yet loyal , though then drooping and disconsolate subjects , as Aeneas to his companions in the Poet , — revocate animos , maestumquc timorem Millite , forsan & haec clim meminisse juvabit . Recal your courages , lay aside your fears ; both I and you shall have cause to give God thanks for this deliverance ; which we remember this day with all joy and thankfulnesse This is that single Person whom Rebels abjured and devoted to destruction , but the Lord separated and set apart from the womb to be the Repairer of all our breaches in Church and State , the Restorer of paths to dwell in . Every one may now repose himself under the shade of this Royal Oak ; and whereas the common prisons were of late years the proper places for loyal subjects , now they may sit secure under their own vines and fig-trees . — Deus nobis haec otia fecit . Again , As Zerubbabel lived long in the King of Babylon's Court , yet retained his own true Religion , worshipping the God of his fathers in his true way and manner as he had commanded him : So hath his Majesty lived long in the Courts and Territories of forreign Princes , of different Religion from him , yet , with Job , he held fast his integrity , stood like a Colossus , or Rock immovable against all surges of temptations that were raised to shake his faith , to alter his Religion , witnesse the sharp assaults ( as we have heard ) of Monsieur Militiere and others he met with beyond-Sea . Like Vlisses he bound himself to the mast of a well-grounded resolution , that no Romish Syrens could draw him out of the ship of the Church of England , in which he was baptized and educated , though that ship were like the other wherein Christ and his Disciples sailed , in all appearance ready to sink ; and when he had no power visible to defend himself , he would be still the Defender of the faith once delivered to the Saints , therein following the great example of the best of Kings , his Royal Father , who to his death maintained the Religion of the Church of England , and died a Martyr for the same . Lastly , When Sanballat and others beyond the River offered their service to joyn with Zerubbabel in carrying on the work , Ezr. 4. 2. saying , Let us build with you ; his answer was , You have nothing to do with us , but we our selves will build unto the Lord our God , &c. So did his Majesty wave all forreign aids tendred to him , waiting Gods ways and leisure as the best , who hath given him the hearts of his people , and found a way for his coming in sine coede & sanguinem , without bloodshed ; Thanks be unto God who hath given him this innocent victory through our Lord Jesus Christ . Thus , what the Psalmist spake of our Saviour , may , in an inferiour sense be fitly applied to his annointed , and our Soveraign , The stone which our late builders refused ( if I may call them builders that were destroyers ) is become the head stone of the corner , This is the Lords doing , and it is marvellous in our eyes . This is the day which the Lord hath made , we will rejoyce and be glad it . And that he might be Charles the Great indeed , the great repairer of our breaches , he hath publickly declared his great Mercy in granting a general Pardon , and passing an Act of Oblivion , yea , and pressing this present Parliament to a confirmation thereof . He hath manifested his great Charity , in abolishing all notes of discord , and difference of parties , conjuring all his subjects to a perfect union among themselves . He hath shew d his Pitty in indulging a liberty to tender consciences in matters of Religion , which disturb not the peace of the Kingdom . He hath exprest his great Justice , in being himself sworn to govern , not by his arbitrary will , as our late Masters did , but by the known Laws of the Land , leaving all his Subjects to be tryed by them . But I cast water in the Sea , His own gracious Messages , Letters , and Declarations , both before and since his coming , speak him much better than I can , and therefore to them I commend you . To conclude all , How shall we praise this our Zerubbabel , whose renown is great , who hath set up the Sanctuary of the Lord again for an everlasting worship , and laid the foundations of our houses , made both Church and State rise out of their ruines , as the world out of a Chaos , and become glorious to the wonder of our own and other Nations ? How shall we praise him as he deserves ? We will call him the Repairer of our breaches , the Restorer of paths to dwell in ; and we will wish him all prosperity in the Psalmists words , Good luck have thou with thine honor , ride on because of the word of truth , of meeknesse , and of righteousnesse , and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things . I will dismisse you with the words of Nehemia to the people , chap. 8. vers. 10. Go your way , eat the fat , and drink the sweet , and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared : for this day is holy unto our Lord . Now to the King of Kings , that brought our King this day to us , be ascribed all honor , and glory , and thanksgiving , this day and for ever , AMEN . FINIS . These Books are lately come forth , and sold by William Leak , at the Crown in Fleet-street between the two Temple-gates . An exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower of London , from the Raign of K. Edward the second , to K Ri hard the third , of all the Parliaments holden in each Kings raign , and the several Acts in every Parliament , by Sir Robert Cotton , Kt. and Baronet . An Apology for the Discipline of the antient Church , intended especially for that of our Mother the Church of England , in answer to the Admonitory Letter lately published by William Nicolson , Arch-Deacon of Brecon , and now Lord Bishop of Glocester . Le Prince d' Amour , or the Prince of Love , With a collection of several Ingenious Poems and Songs , by the Wits of the Age . 8. A learned Exposition of the Apostles Creed , delivered in several Sermons by William Nicholson Archdeacon of Brecon and now Lord Bishop of Glocester . , The Solemne League and Covenant , Arraigned and Condemned , by the sentence of the Divines of London and Cheshire , &c. by Lawrence Womack , now D D. and Arch-deacon of Suffolk . The Result of False Principles , or Error convicted by its own evidence , with Diotrophes his Dialogues , by the Author of the Examination of Tylenus before the Tryers ; whereunto is added a learned Disputation of Dr. Goads , sent by King James to the Synod at Dort. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A65225e-170 1 Cor. 8. Gen. 45. 26. Ovid . Met. l. 2. 2 Sam. 19. 30. Notes for div A65225e-670 Vid. Dr. Ham . in locum . Division ▪ St. Hierom in locum . St. Chrys. in Psal. 136. Cyprian de Lapsis . Euseb. l. 8. Eccles. Hist. c. 1. Knolls his Turk . hist. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} . 27 Minutius Felix l. 5. Eccl. Po● . Sen. Trag. Lucan , Psal. 119. 126. Martial . * Lambert . * ●●om●●● .