City Security STATED: IN A SERMON P●eached at St Paul's August. 11th 1661. Before the Right Honourable THE LORD MAYOR. By ●illia● Bell B. D. late Fellow of St John Baptists College 〈◊〉; and now Chaplain to his Majesty in his Tower of LONDON. LONDON, Printed for John Baker, at the Sign of the Peacock in St Paul's Churchyard. 1661. City Security. PSALM 127. the latter part of the first Verse. Except the Lord keep the City, the Watchman waketh but in vain. THere is a natural necessitous humility lodged in persons of mean, and low spirits; men of no parts, or no knowledge of their parts, or who have no just esteem of them. And there is an artificial flagitious humility, when, like the Hawk, men stoop for a quarry. 2 Sam. 15.5, 6. Thus Absalon stole the hearts of his Father's subjects out at their mouths, by his treacherous kisses. And there is a penal calamitous humility, when God trips up the heels of insolent persons; such was that of proud Nabuchadnezzar, Dan. 4.33. when devested of Empire, and Reason, Humiliatus erat, quid humilis non erat, humbled, because not humble. And there is a Celestial gracious humility, when men of eminent parts and place, own God as the fountain of all they have, and are, that fills and feeds their Channels. A royal virtue indeed, when Kings acknowledge their Thrones to be set upon God's foot stool, and though in all Causes, and over all Persons, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, in their own Dominions Supreme heads and Governors; yet pay their ho … … and fealty to the King of Kings, in confessing they are all this under God and his Christ. It is the method of proud men to compare themselves with their inferiors, and as the Pharisee, to cry out, Lord! what am I not? like those that measure themselves by the declining Sun, and so seem taller than they are: But the humble person compares himself, his power, his wisdom, his holiness, his honour, with those of God, and, as the Publican, cries out Lord! what am I? As those that measure themselves by the Sun at noon, and their bedwarfd shadow, and are more than they seem. It is Moses his Title of Honour to be styled God's servant; And David's chief ambition to be a Nethenim in the house of God; The threshold of whose Temple was a step above his Throne, and he takes a degree to be a Porter at it. Rev. 4.10. The Elders cast down their Crowns at the feet of God. And, as all subordinate Powers, give in at the presence of the King, as Stars return their light to the Sun at his arising; so even Kings lower their Sceptres, when God exalts his, since the best of them are but the off-sets thereof. The most absolute Monarches, are thus far relative, that they subsist by God, there being no independency in reference to him. There are no designs, be the means, or men, that carry them on never so potent, that come not to naught, if blown upon by God: Nor is any instrument so impotent, that with God is not efficacious. Phil. 4.13. This is the ground of St Paul's omnipotency: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Proud Babel that was raised in Rebellion against God, was razed in confusion by him: Zech. 4.6, 7. But where not an Army, nor strength, but the Spirit of God builds, there even the head stone is laid, and the shouting is grace, grace. God blessed the Egyptian Midwives, Exod. 1.21. by his building them houses, for their supporting the houses of the Israelites. And he who blessed them for their work, blessed them in it: And as he suited the reward to the work, so he suited the work to his own promise; for he had pronounced that primitive blessing of Increase, Gen. 1.28. and Multiply, on that people, and man cannot subtract where God will multiply. No, nor yet multiply where he will subtract. He, who keeps the key of David, opens the barren, Rev. 3.7. and shuts up the fruitful Womb: And as from one Vine, one fertile Wife, Psal. 128.3. he can draw forth the blessing of Clusters of Children for him that feareth him; Verse 1. 1 Kings 11.3. so from seven hundred Wives and three hundred Concubines, the product to Solomon was but a single Rhehoboam, so fare as Scripture undertakes the Genealogy; but one Grape from so many Vines, and that too, but such an one as men gather of Thorns, who, like Ivy, plucked down the house, he pretended to support. Both the fruit of the common Womb, the earth, is Gods, for The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof; Psal. 24.1. and that of every particular one too, of every Mother, as well as that general one: Psal. 12●. 3. for Children are the inheritance of the Lord, and the fruit of the Womb is his reward. So that there is neither fertility, nor security; plenty nor safety without God, for except he build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except he keep the City, etc. Which words are, whether written by Solomon, Scope of the Text. Eccl. 8.4. or by David, for Solomon (as is most probable) the words of a King, and there is power, and truth in them; as they are a proof of the necessary concurrence of divine providence to the undertake of men: And the procedure of the argument is a minore, ad majus, from the less, to the greater; that that providence is so particular, as to extend to the Oeconomy of every private family, except the Lord build, etc. that is, Clarius. Castalio in loc. nisi augeat rem familiarem & familiam, unless he improve the estate, and household: haeredes, liberos, the heirs, the children, there can be no increase, or improvement of either by any. And yet that providence is withal so general, as to comprehend the polity of a whole City. Except the Lord keep the City, etc. The name of a family shall rot, unless God shall vouchsafe to preserve it by a numerous, and perfume it by a gracious succession of generations; And the City shall be buried in its own ruins, for all its fortifications of dead earth, its Walls and Towers; and of living earth, its Militia and Magistrates, unless God shall supervise and bless all. Except the Lord keep, etc. Division. The words are a mod●l Proposition. The Proposition, The Watchman waketh but in vain. The modus or limitation. Except the Lord keep the City. I shall not mangle the words by any more minute division of them: that I may not part God from the City; the Watchman from God; vigilance from the Watchman; nor success from his vigilance. But I shall speak to it by way of Explication, and Application. 1. By way of Explication, in unfolding these four particulars: First, What is intended by the word Watchman. Secondly, What is meant by the City. Thirdly, What is the purport of this phrase of Gods keeping the City. Fourthly, I shall insist on what is indeed the whole concernment of the Text, that Except the Lord keep, etc. which I shall assert. 1. By Precedents, that so it hath been. 2. By Arguments, that so it must be. 1. Watchman what? First, What is intended by the word watchman? It signifies a Sentinel, or one of a Guard appointed, and sent forth for the safeguard of some place, or persons. It is applicable, 1. Ecclesiastical. Ezek. 3.17. 1. To Ministers, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth: both mission, I have made thee a watchman, and commission from God, therefore bear the word at my mouth. But an enlargement on this sense, in this place, at this time, is not pertinent. It is, 2. Civil Governor. Ezek. 33 2. 2. Therefore put for the Civil Governors, and particularly for Magistrates by Election. If the people of the Land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, etc. And the expression is significant, there is an Analogy, or correspondence between the Magistrate, and Watchman in the unde, ubi, and quare of their employments. 1. Taken from. 1. The Sentinel or Watchman, is taken from his fellows, and only differenced from them, in respect of his present charge; so is the Magistrate, who though clothed with the Name and Image of God, in regard of his power above his brethren, Yet must die as a man, Psal. 82.7. and fall like one of the Princes. The Robes, and Dress distinguish him, but the flesh and blood is the same; it is not the metal, but the superscription of Cesar on him, that makes him differ in value. 2. The Watchman was set in a Tower. Isai. 21.5, 8. The Magistrate is exalted above his brethren, 2. Preferred above. his place is a place of eminence; anointed above his fellows, taller by the Crown, by the head, than the rest. 3. For his fellows. 3. Though the Watchman be taken from, and preferred above his brethren, yet all this is for them. As the Ecclesiastical, so also the Civil Ruler, Heb. 5.1. is taken from among men, and ordained for men, for salus populi, the people's safety; it should be, suprema lex Magistratui, the Magistrates chief Law, because it is, suprema ratio Magistratûs, the final cause of Magistracy. Isai. 45.4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I will even call thee by thy name, and name thee, to wit, Cyrus, which neither descended of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority, or (which is a derivative of that) from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord, showed he had that, and was this for jacob's and Israel's sake: But enough of this, whereof we have had too much so lately. Rulers necessary to the being. Now Magistracy is necessary adesse to the being, and bene esse, to the well-being of a people. 1. To their being, they cannot be a people without it: Can we have leave to look through the Act of Indemnity, we should quickly take a prospect of those confusions, an Usurping Government had involved us in; Hosea 1.4. Anarchy would have been worse; by that we were Israel, a scattered people; by this we should have been Loammi, not a people. And well being of a City. 2. Magistracy is necessary to the well-being, to the strength and opulency of a people; Bees taste the sweet of Government, who fill their Combs under their King. And you cannot forget, for all an Act of Oblivion, under whom you crammed your Coffers, and under whom you drained them: Who rendered you feared abroad for your Powers, and envied for your Peace and plenty at home; and who made you scorned or pitied, when like earthen Vessels, they had emptied and dashed you to shivers against each other. But because the Magistrate here, under the notion of a Watchman, is set rather for the preservation, than improvement of his people's peace, to keep the City, that is, to secure what they have, not to acquire what they have not; we shall in three words consider our Magistrate, as necessary to the being of his City, as a Watchman set out, or up. Ruler's Watchmen. 1. To prevent dangers, 1. To prevent. And truly, as it is rather eligible to avoid sin, than censure; to be innocent than pardoned. 1 Sam. 15 22. Obedience being better than sacrifice, in this among many other respects, since that prevents the guilt, which this but atones for; so is it more commendable to intercept mischiefs, Prov. 22.3. than to overcome them. It is the prudent man's Character, that he forseeth the plague. Now, to speak in my own sphere; he that prevents sins, prevents dangers, for sin is the harbinger of plagues For this cause many are sick, 1 Cor. 11.30. and weak among us, and many are fallen asleep; for as intemperate diet in the natural body breeds ill humours, and they engender death; so in the body politic, ill manners beget public distempers, and they close in a general confusion. Cant. 3.3. Therefore as the Watchmen walk about the City to prevent the designs of thiefs, murderers, and incendiaries, so must the Magistrate; his eye must walk the round of his limits, to obstruct sins in their spring, and outburst; a finger may hinder there, and then, when brachia contra torrentem, when grown large, and swift, and strong, those weak and contemned waters will bear down all the banks and dams of Laws and Authority. Magistrates are called shields; and you know a shield is a defensive piece of Armour, Psal. 47.9. and its use is to ward off blows from the body: And better have a shield to prevent a wound, than the ablest Chirurgeon to cure it. 2. To discover. 2. The Magistrate is a Watchman to discover and intimate dangers; therefore is the Watchman in the day on his Tower to foresee and forewarn, in the night with his Lantern to descry. Ezek. 1.16, 18. The Magistrates are those wheels mentioned by the Prophet, said to be full of eyes; eyes to pry into sins, and like those of Tiberius, able to see in the dark. Watchman, what of the night? Is. 21.11. And they have motion, and weight, to tract and overtake, thrash, grind, and crush sinners to pieces. The Watchman or Sentinel is to give the Alarm to his Officers on the approach of the enemy: so must inferior Magistrates discover to their superiors, those evils that are too strong for themselves to grapple with. Ezeck. 33.3. The Watchman when he seethe the sword come upon the Land, must blow the Trumpet, and warn the people. Neither of which, Isaiahs blind, Isaiah 56.10. and dumb Watchman can do, nor see, nor warn. 3. To repel dangers. 3. The Magistrate is a Watchman to repel dangers; Therefore hath the Watchman his Bill, and the Magistrate his Sword, and neither of them are to bear them in vain. If he cannot prevent them by caution and discovery, he must valiantly attaque them; If as a shield he cannot repel them, as a Sword he must cut through them. If as a breast-work he cannot bear off, as a Cannon he must beat off the Assault. The Sentinel who is the forlorn of every Corpse of Guard, hath not only eyes to foresee, and voice to intimate, but his Muskett at a distance, and his Sword at hand, to resist the intrusion of an enemy. And therefore is the Magistrate armed with a Commission, that where he cannot hinder offences from a being, he may obstruct their spreading, by discountenancing vice in striking through the loins of offenders. And in these senses, and for these ends the Magistrate is a Watchman or keeper, for security of 2. City what? The City, The second term we promised the Explication of: The word in the large acceptation of it, signifies a Nation, or Nations united under one Supreme Magistrate or Magistracy. In the restrained and usual sense of it, It is a place encompassed with walls, where men convene, and cohabit for mutual commerce, security, and society, having particular subordinate Officers, Charters, and Laws of Government. The word hath other figurative senses, but not pertinent here. And THE City in every Nation signifies their Metropolis, as among the Ancient Grecians, Athens; with the latter, Byzantium, or Constantinople; among the Romans, Rome; with us, this of London; and among the Jews Jerusalem, suppposed to be the City intended in the Text. Though it is an universal truth, and may be predicated of any whole Country or Kingdom, and of every particular body politic, Corporation or City therein, that the Watchman or Magistrate thereof watcheth or waketh therefore but in vain, Except 3. Lords keeping the City what? The third expression needing Explication. It was an ancient superstition among those who knew not God, Mr Gregor●●. in the crowd of those th●●●● thousand, they worshipped for God, 2 Sam. 5.6, 8. The Lord keepeth the City. to ascribe a Genius to every Nation and City; and to build their Cities under the most propitious configuration of the Heavens, which they called the Ascendent of the City. Under the influence of a second constellation, they erected a Statue of brass, into which they called by Magic (as the Devil made them believe) the Fortune of their City, which so confined, they disposed in some recessefull and safe place of the City; and on the preservation of that Statue, they supposed their own, and their Cities depended. Such was the Trojan Palladium, and such were the blind and lame, 2 Sam. 5.6, 8. mentioned in Samuel, wherewith the Jebusites did Garrison their Fort against David. Not impotent persons (as some have too lamely and blindly asserted) set in scorn as defendants good enough in a place so impregnable; for such David's soul would have pitied rather than hated, as he is there said to do them. And their natural or accidental defects would not have secluded them from Verse 8. 〈◊〉 his Palace, as those lame and blind, were, Id. which was open to Mephibosheth, though conscious of one of those imperfections. 2 Sam. 9: 13. It was congruous to the pride of Persian Monarches, to forbid entrance into their Courts to persons clothed in sackcloth, lest they should cloud, Esther 4.2. and damp their mirth, and luxury: But David, who was a man after Gods own heart, (and the heart of God is compassion) could not therefore so distasse them. But these were Images, the tutelary Gods of the place, which the Jebusites call blind and lame, not as intimating their own esteem of them, but repeating the Israelites upbraid of them as such; suitable to the Character David gives of them, They have eyes and see not, (blind, Psal. 115.5, 7 ) feet and walk-not, (lame.) And throughout that Psalm, (it is therefore worth your perusal at leisure) the Penman thereof sets up the Lord in opposition to all those false Gods. Luke 11.22. Who by his binding that strong man armed in his own Palace, shown that the Devils are subject to him, by their migremus hinc, their quitting possession, when, and wherever his commands seal a Lease of Ejectment on them, and that there is no sorcery against Jacob, Numb. 23. 2● Heb. 7.25. nor divination against his Israel. He is able to save to the uttermost them that rely on him; a sure repositary of his people's confidence. In his hands no danger, out of them no safety. No presuming then on Idols, that are not so much as the Image of God, no nor yet on Magistrates, which are but so much: Not on Idols, which are the work of our hands; nor on men, though they are the work of his hands: For except the Lord keep, etc. 4. The Text proved. Which is the fourth and last particular, and indeed the all of the Text, which we promised to evidence by Precedents and Arguments. 1. By instances. 1. By Precedents, that so it hath been. And truly History sacred, and profane, domestic, and foreign, is full of instances. Take the word City in its largest bounds, of Empires, Nations, and Commonwealths; against how many of these, and how often, hath God writ his Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin, he hath numbered, Dan. 5.25, & weighed, divided, and cassed them. The four Monarchies Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, Roman: The Histories of every Nation will assert this truth to their Readers, in the many, and great changes they offer to view. Take the word City in its limited and usual sense, for a place encompassed with walls, and the time would fail me, should I insist on the particular Tradegies of those only recorded in Sacred Writ, that have fallen under the displeasure of the Lord: Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, the City of Hamor for the rape of Dinah, Jericho, Ai, Tyre and Sidon, Gibeah, Damascus, Samaria, Babylon. a Deut. 1.28. The Cities of Canaan walled up to Heaven. b 2 Chron. 14.14. The Cities about Gerar of Aroer, c Deut. 3.4. the Cities of Og. All those of the d 1 Chron. 20.3. Ammonites and e 2 King. 3 25. Moabites, and f Judg. 20.48. Benjamin. Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron of the g 1 Sam. 5. Philistims; with those many that sunk under the weight of the Prophet's heavy burdens. And the doleful ruins of Jerusalem, we may take a view of through the holy p●●spective of Jeremy's tears and Threnody: And its last irrecoverable devastation described by Josephus, an eyewitness of the fulfilling of our Saviour's prediction on the Temple, and the enlargement thereof to almost the whole City, whereof scarce one stone was left upon another. When God had empounded the greater part of the Nation within those walls at the feast of the Passeover; where there was an account given in of two hundred fifty six thousand five hundred Paschall Lambs slain, and at the rate of ten at least to a Lamb, there was in the City then no less than two millions five hundred sixty five thousand purified male Jews: Jews besides strangers, and men besides women and children, and purified besides the unclean; the captives ninety seven thousand, slain, and died of the plague during the siege, an hundred thousand. And the City lost, and razed through the factions of the seditious, and zealous. They are Josephus his words. And indeed sedition, and blind zeal will go far toward the destruction of a City. In grand Cairo Historians tell us, there died in one year of the plague no less than eighteen hundred thousand persons. And what havoc it made not long since in the Western parts, Rome, Naples, Genoa, etc. your weekly News Books could inform you. To come nearer home, how hath God harassed these Lands by incursions of Romans, Scots, Picts, Danes, Saxons, and Normans, by Civil dissensions betwixt King and Barons, York and L●ncaster, when (as one wittily alludes) the red Rose blushed for the blood it shed, and the white Rose grew pale through the blood it had lost. What depopulation and waste hath the plague made in several parts of the Nation, to instance but in one at a distance, fifty seven thousand, and more in the City of Norwich in six months, where now is scarce the fifth part of that number of inhabitants. To come home to this City, in the year 1593., there died of the plague seventeen thousand eight hundred and ninety, among which, the then Lord Maior, and three Aldermen In the year 1563, twenty one thousand five hundred and thirty. In the year 1348, fifty thousand were buried in one Churchyard, that of the The vast numbers of those that were hereby gathered to their Fathers in the first of King James, and King Charles the first, is within the memory of many of you, and therefore needs not my record. And but gently to touch the yet green wounds of our last twenty years contracting; how hath this City been singed in several limbs of it by fire, and scared by triumphant enemies marching through the bowels of it, and some Swords, and blood drawn in it. And there are, and have been, new diseases, new fevers, gleaning, and reaping in it. And though the plague (God be thanked) hath not, yet War, and its daughter, poverty, hath shut up many houses in it. And though I am confident no City in the world is better constituted for the Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military Polity of it; yet all these unquestionable experiences will peremptorily convince us, that Except the Lord keep the City, etc. 2. Reasons. But 2. this truth may be, as experimentally so also rationally asserted. Wherefore to back this strength of History, we shall bring up a reserve of six Arguments: three whereof immediately refer to God, and the other three respect the Magistrate, 1. From God. or Watchm●n. Three Attributes of God especially, give in a valid testimony to this truth; that Except the Lord keep, etc. 1. His Omniscience. 1. His Omniscience, God, and God only knows all the enemies of a City, and all the designs of those enemies. All things are naked, and open before him, Heb. 4.13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anatomised, as every capillary v●in to the Hawks eye of the accurate Chirurgeon. Verse 12. No such dissecting knife, as the wisdom of God, it pierceth to the dividing as●●n●er of soul, and spirit, and of the joints, and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts, John 2.25. and intents of the heart. He needs not that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in him; better than the Artificer doth the springs, and wheels of any movement. One man cannot judge another's heart, but by some overt ●ct: It therefore is a very blasphemous expression to say, We know such an one as well as he that made him. There are three Indices, or discoverers of the mind; The Countenance, the Tongue, the Hand: All these may, and have, Matth. 6.16. put a fallacy upon man. The Pharisees were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of most mortified countenances, but corrupt principles, and they caught the people in this net; who could not see the graves for the painting. 1 Kings 13.18. That lying Prophet by a smooth tongue, and a well couched story, betrayed the man of God to a sudden and sad destruction. And the rough hands of Jacob cheated the dim sight of Isaac. Gen. 27.22. How often have these combined, and a well dressed lie, an innocent look, and siding for a while with a party, let in a Spy, and Traitor into a Garrison, past all the Guards to the ruin thereof? Thus Judith captivated th● heart, and then cut off the head of Holofernes. Judith 13. And what walls are proof against a golden Ass, or the wooden horse of an insinuating Sinon. The Philosopher conscious of his sincerity, wished he had a window to his breast, that his very thoughts might be visible to all the world. Man is diaphanous, or transparent to God who made the eye, without such a window. The heart of man is deceitful above all things, to others, to himself; Jerem. 17.9. but he that framed it, knows every winding in that labyrinth, and can trace it without a clue. The Watchman passeth him that can give the word: But how many have had the word in their mouths, who yet have betrayed the City? But there is no word save that of Immanuel, God with us, that can preserve it. The Lords allseeing eye can pierce into a Spanish Council, a Romish Conclave, an Hellish Vault; and discover, and scatter an insolent invasion, and Powder-treason He knows all thoughts before they are; every embryo stratagem against a City, and no ambush is hid from, nor is there any counsel against him. No such overseer than as God, who is never overseen. 2. Omnipresence. 2. Except the Lord keep, etc. Because of his Omnipresence. Entèr, praesenter Deus est, & ubique potentèr, present to all times, for this King indeed, and personally never dies: and to all places, he fills Heaven and earth. Jer. 23.24. Magistrates below are forced to delegate Officers under them; to see by the perspective of others eyes, and hear by the Otacousticon of others ears, and e●k out their short arms with others hands: To ape an omnipresence by Lieutenants, Judges, Viceroys, Deputies, Constables, and the like: And treachery in one of these, may bring ruin on the whole body. The Governor of a Garrison endeavours to be every where by his Council, Orders, Officers, Main-guard, Outguards, Reserves, Sentinels, Perdus, Scouts, Spies, Pe●●ols, Rounds, and Grand-rounds. But God is all these, and above them, and they are all nothing without him; He is a Centinel at every door, a Master, a Father in every Family, in the City: Ma●●. 1.6. Ephes. 3.15. for except he build every particular house, they labour but in vain, that would raise it. He is present to every person, and to every action of that person. He is not as a Watchmaker, who having framed, and put together a piece of Clockwork, winds up the springs, or draws up the weights, and is then an idle spectator of its several motions: But as a skilful Musician, whose fingers assist to every Note, and relish; as In him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17.28. Now since as in the body natural, so also in the body politic, death may be let in, and life out at every poor, every little leak may sink the Vessel of the Commonwealth; there can be no security, but in one, who is at hand to all dangers, and such is our Omnipresent God. 3. Omnipotency. But 3. That which renders the other two Attributes advantageous to us, is the Omnipotency of God. Our Watchmen may be conscious of our afflictions, present to them, ready, and willing to help, but impotent. They may see the fire consuming, but unable to quench it: the plague ravageing but unable to stop it: famine depopulating but unable to relieve from it. Milchama, war devouring but unable to obstruct it. Matth. 19.26. But with God all things are possible. His breath that blows up the fire, can blow it out. He can set limits of time, number, and place to the plague, and fill your Bills of Mortality with empty Ciphers, as (blessed be his name for it) he hath done for above thirty years together. What doth a Watchman, a padlock, and a red cross at the door, dog-killers within the City, and Pest-houses without, and all other very prudent Cautions of our Governors signify, unless there be a Lord have mercy upon us too, to heal those within, and secure those without? He only gives bread, Ezek. 16.49. Leu. 26.26. and makes it plentiful. Even fullness of bread, and he gives the staff of bread, and makes it nourishing, that it prove not gravel in the mouth; Prov. 20.17. Matth. 7.9. a stone instead of bread. He turns the edge of every Sword that is drawn against you, and rebates the point of every Spear of war that is thrown among you. You have found what advantage it is to have the General of a few thousands for your friend. What prejudice, to have him for your enemy? What doth it then import to have the Lord of hosts for you, or against you? One Angel is Guardian sufficient for the whole City of Samaria, 2 Kings 19.35. and in one night dispatcheth one hundred eighty five thousand of its besiegers. How secure are they then, who have him for their defender, who commands more than twelve legions of such conquerors? Matth. 26.53. We presume our Nation to be well fenced with a wall of water; And we thought our City well munited with a wall of earth; But alas! how weak is water, and how frail is earth to that God who is a wall of fire. The Roman Ram, Zech. 2.5. an engine of battery with its iron horns pushed down the walls of many Cities: But even the breath of a few ramms horns, Josh. 6.20. when God inspires them, blows down the walls of jericho. He works with, or without, by weak, or contrary means. His power is so great none need to assist, none can resist him. Rev. 6.2, etc. Both the red horse of war, and the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of pestilence belong to his Militia; And if he charge us with but one of these, it is sufficient to rout us; What would all three do then, if he did not bind their mouths with a bit, Psal. 32.9. and bridle, that they should not come near us? No Magistrate is then such a shield, as God. No Tower so strong, as Herald No Watchman hath such knowledge to detect, such an ubiquity to direct, and such power to protect. Therefore except, etc. 2. Reason's concerning the Watchman. And that will yet more evidently appear, if as you have considered how necessary God is to the City, so secondly, if you perpend that he is of as absolute necessity to the Watchman, to the Magistrate too, and that because 1. His abilities. 1. He hath his endowments from God: such as are David's zeal for piety; and Phineas his for justice; the wisdom of Solomon; the meekness and uprightness of Moses; the valour, and conduct of Joshua; the strength of Samson; an unbribeable spirit as Samuel; a tender care of the spiritual and civil concernments of God's people, as Joseph, Nehemiah, and Mordecai; the impartiality of Job: And (which comprehends all these) that vigilancy, that waking in the Text, to exert, and suit these to their proper objects. Now all these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from the father of lights, James 1.17. who gives every good and perfect gift: Who as he is free to give Empire, so also to qualify for it. And where God denies or withdraws any of these from Governors, he so far, and so much exposeth that Government to hazard. But these are but the limning, though rich ones, of a Magistrate: We must have a facing to: these but adapt, they do not licence for Government: they belong ad posse, not adesse of Magistracy, simply considered: for with these our Watchman watcheth but in vain, Except, etc. 2. Commission. 2. He hath his deputation from God: from whom all must have their Commissions, immediately as Kings, or mediately by and from Kings, as subordinate Magistrates. The Prince is the fountain of honour, and power. But God is the Sea of both, the bottomless, boundless Ocean of both honour, Rom. 13.1. John 19.11. and power. The powers that be are ordained of God. Thou couldst have no power at all against me, saith Christ to Pilate, except it were given thee from above. All Magistrates from God, whether by succession as Kings, nomination as Judges, or election, as Majors, Aldermen, Sheriffs, Common-council-men, etc. though there is also herein much of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ordinance of man, 1 Peter 2.13. St Peter speaks of, because proper for men, and discharged by men, and they have their congè d'eslire, leave to choose from God. By whom King's reign, Prov. 8.15. and Princes decree justice. Now a Commission is a direction to the Commissioned for the matter, manner, measure, and time (usually) of his work, this, thus, and thus much, and thus long. So that Magistrates often cannot do the good they have power to do, for want of authority: he that transgresseth lying under a praemunire. Psal. 78.41. The holy One of Israel, in himself, unlimited, hath set bounds to all dominion, every Magistrate being his Minister. Even Angels who are superior to the best of men in their best condition, their state of innocence; wherein they were made little lower than the Angels, Psal. 8.5. Exod. 23.20. are prescribed their orders, and circumscribed by God. He sends an Angel before his Israel, to keep th●m in the way, and bring them into the place he hath prepared. Psal. 91.11. And he gives his Angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways. There is a great deal of difference between acting with, and without a Commission, either fear palls, or despair fires the procedure of these, whereas he who draws his Sword lawfully, can use it valiantly, and sheathe it safely. It is undeniable that there may be many not called to the helm of Government, as pious, prudent, just, and valiant as those that are: But as they have a moral aptitude to rule, parts, so they must have a civil aptitude, leave to exercise those parts, before they can justly exert them as Rulers. He that hath the endowment without the employment, like Ephraim, is a cake, baked but on one side. Hosea 7.8. 2 Sam. 18.23. Verse 29. 2 Tim. 2.24. compared with Rom. 10.15. An unsent Ahimaaz may make more haste than a Commissioned Cushi, and more haste than good speed too, for when he comes his errand is, he knows not what. To be apt to teach, apt to rule is not enough, for how shall they do either, except they be sent? We have sadly felt the inconveniences of having the Throne, the Bench, the Pulpit thus filled by Usurpers. The Ship cannot be safe, when every Mariner will play the Pilot; nor the Army secure, when every Soldier will set the watch without order. God keeps a City by his Providences, such are health, peace, plenty, and the like; And by his Ordinances, whereof Magistracy is one, and a considerable one, it can be no City without it. Now the providences of God cannot be expected, where the Ordinances of God are slighted. Then God will keep your City when you let him set his own Sentinels and Watchmen over it, such as are not only parted, but also impower'd by him, adapted, and Commissioned by God, Authority being the embellishment of Dignity. But yet this is not all that is necessary to the preservation of a City: For 3. Success from God. 3. Then God keeps the City when he blesseth the endeavours of those that do wake over it. The able, faithful, painful, lawful, may yet be an unsuccessful Magistrate, and Watchman: The last hand therefore of God is his blessing upon their studies. And this is the main purport of the Text, as is evident by the next Verse, the exegesis, or illustration thereof. It is vain for you to rise up early, Psal. 127.2. to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. We sound, and safely sleep on beds of Down, when he renders the counsels of our vigilant Watchmen successful, whose Pillows are stuffed with thorns, public cares. What doth a Typhis, a Palinurus at the Stern signify, when God will not still the raging of the Sea? or a wise and just Prince in the Throne, when he will not allay the madness of the people? A Court of Aldenmen, Psal. 89.9. Prov. 16.33. or Common Council may debate and conclude, but as lots cast into the lap, God will dispose of all their Resolves, they may deliberate, but he will determine, and, when he pleaseth, use his Negative voice, against any of their orders. Nay, Jer. 5.6. when he purposeth to chastise a City, he will do it by fasces and Swords of their own Judges, and set Leopards to watch over them. Their keepers shall be their Gaolers. Instead of Nursing-fathers', Isai. 49.23. their Magistrates shall prove Step-fathers': Their Ministers bout-feu's, and bellows of Sedition: And their Militia an Iron yoke about the neck of their liberty; A Wolf in the bosom that eats out the heart of its maintainer. Separate the blessing of God from the brain of an Ahitophel, and the tongue of an Herod, and that wise Counsellor, 2 Sam. 16.23. Acts 12.22. and this eloquent Orator shall die with shame and horror, though he counselled, and this spoke as the Oracles of God. Why doth not the harvest answer the seed time, 2 Cor. 9.6. nor that promise of God, that he that soweth plentifully shall reap so? Why doth not meat satisfy the hungry? 1 Hagg. 6.9. nor drink the thirsty? nor warm? nor the wages rest in the bag? the ninth Verse tells the reason: The Lord did blow upon all. (And would you know why God blowed thereon, peruse the whole Chapter at your leisure, and then consider this ruin'd house of God, into a corner of which we are creped, and your merit therefore of such a judgement, and apply the remedy; it is eccentrick to my Text, Prov. 10.22. and I cannot insist on it.) The blessing of God makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. The blessing of God makes rich, the curse of God sometimes doth it, when he fills the bellies of the wicked with his hid treasure, Psal. 17.14. and entails it, they have enough, and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes. When men make haste to be rich, and therefore cannot be innocent. Prov. 28.20. Psal. 17.14. When they have wealth from God, not as tokens, but portions, but then the sting appears in the tail, Luke 16.25. Eccl. 7.6. everlasting sorrow, Dives last course and sad voider; here comforted, and but for a time, their prosperity a fire of thorns; below tormented, and that for ever, their punishment a fire of brimstone. God's blessing is the best Charter of the City, the ratification of all your counsel, when his fiat is to it. When to you Optative he adds his Imperative Amen, 1 Kings 1.36. and commands down the mercy you look up for. Then is your Militia so many thousand effective, when the Lord of Hosts is their General, Prov. 11.14. Psal. 82.1. then in the multitude of your Counsellors there is safety, when God stands in your Assemblies, and judgeth among you. For Except he keep your City, the Watchman Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military, watcheth but in v●in. Application. Now having proved the truth in the Text, it remains that we improve it. I find three parties concerned in the words; The Watchman, the City, the Lord. My Address shall be to each, with respect to the other two. To the Watchman for the Lord and the City; and to the City for the Watchman and the Lord; and to the Lord for both Watchman and City. 1. To Watchmen, to be First, To the Watchmen: You who under God, and his Vicegerent, the King, have any share in the Government of this Royal City; You have heard, that Except the Lord keep your City, your vigilance cannot be successful in its preservation. The best way then to wed your endeavours to success, is to interest God in your endeavours, which is done principally in the exercise of piety and justice, piety toward the Lord, and justice toward the City: the Jachin and Boaz, the pillars of a Nation, 1 Kings 7.21. these being uprightness and strength 1. Pious to God-ward. 1. Piety: And it is fit God should be first served, first Give unto God the things that are Gods. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted. Prov. 11.11. There is at this day a loud outcry against profaneness, (I hope they are no hypocrites, that, like Lapwings, make it furthest from their own nests) and certainty it is no causeless clamour. You have excellent Laws against sins of all sorts, Let not those Lion's sleep, if you would have your God wake for you. But especially let your lives be a Law to your City: your people will be more apt to copy out your practice than your Precepts. Then your commands have authority in them, when they have that of your example for them. A religious Josiah is attended by a pious Israel. 2 Chron. 34.33. Acts 10.7. And a devout Centurion by Soldiers that fear the Lord. It is an usual saying, that The world would be good, if every one would mend one; a compendious way to effect it, is by Magistrates amending themselves. Many would set their Watches by such regular Sun-dials. The good conversation of one righteous Lot will check a whole City of Sodomites. Nobles are in the holy language called white ones, and the Robes of Majesty are faced with white, to put the wearers in mind, that they must be innocent, who condemn the guilty, lest the sentence reflect, Matth. 7.3. and the beam censure the mote. God hath honoured you, do you honour him; And if you would have him continue to keep your City, let it be your resolution with good Joshua, Josh. 24.15. that you, and your household shall serve him. And let not your Religion be suited to the factious humours of any party you would favour, or be favoured by, but to the Word of God, and those consonant, or notrepugnant Canons, and Laws of the Church, and State you rule under. And do not as the Lacedæmonians, who are said to dress their Gods according to the present mode, and garb of their City. Magistratus indicat virum, wine, and power show what is in man. Let men see, that as you are Gods, you can be good as well as great. Plato would have the Palaces of Princes seated near Temples; and the Romans made the way to the Temple of Honour through that of Virtue. Hic ●urus ●haeneus sto, nil conscire m●li, Jerem. 15.20. nullâ p●llescere culpâ. Integrity and piety will be a wall of brass to you, and your City. You are subordinately custodes utriusque tabulae, keepers of both Tables of God's Law; be so by your example and authority. You use to say, Keep your Shop, and your Shop will keep you; I may confidently say, keep your God, and your God will keep you. Observe you his Commandments, and he will preserve your Government. 2. Just to the City. 2. Remember that that God who alone can keep your City, is a just God, and be you just as he is just. The Sword of justice duly drawn, and valiantly used, will prevent unsheathing the Sword of War. And keep you from falling not only into the hands of men, but those of God too, by fire, 2 Sam. 24.14. Numb. 25. Psal. 106.30. James 1 20. famine, or pestilence; Which last Phineas diverts by an act of justice. He executed judgement, and the plague was stayed. Thus though the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, yet the righteousness of men, diverteth the wrath of God. All Controversies before you are about meum and tuum, what is this, or that man's propriety. Now justice doth suum cuique tribuere, give every one their own: Reward to whom reward, and punishment to whom punishment is due. And as piety and justice are the pillars of Magistracy; so reward and punishment are the whole work of justice. And therein prudent. And in the discharge of this duty, Job 29.16. you must exercise many virtues, your prudence in searching out of causes, and discerning the natural from the artificial white, the truth from that fucus, and paint which Rhetoric and interest will dawb them with. And truly without this prudence, justice will still be, as already it hath too long been, all Sword and no balance. 2 Chron. 1.10. Verse 12. It was a worthy choice in Solomon to prefer wisdom to riches, long life, and victory; for with that, he had these given as vantage, in measure, as a train attending on that Queen, Psal. 45.14 This qualified him for the Throne, and by this he decided that intricate Controversy between the two harlots. 1 Kings 3. And justice cannot be done without judgement. They are mistaken who think piety alone qualifies for Magistracy. Matth. 10.16. The wisdom of the serpent must be joined to the innocency of the Dove. Then Magistrates are Gods, when, as God their truth secures them from deceiving, and their wisdom from being deceived. As impiety alone destroys not right of Dominion: 1 Kings 18.8. Rom. 13.1. wicked Ahab continues Obadiah's Lord, and Christians ow● subjection to impious Nero. So piety alone establisheth not a right, no, nor single, adapts for Government. Wisdom is an excellent offensive weapon, Prov. 21.22. Eccl. 9.15. 2 Sam. 20.22. A wise man scatters the City of the mighty: and defensive too; A little City saved by a wise man. And a great City, a Mother in Israel, by a wise woman: And that by a pi ce of justice, like that, for which the Dagger is become the Arms of this City, the seasonable dispatching an insolent Rebel. (And when the prudence, and prowess of your present Governor last year expressed, in timely intercepting the repullulating head of sedition, shall be duly weighed, there will be found not more room, than merit for another Dagger) Geese may save a Capita●, but it is by chance. And courageous. And you must annex courage to prudence in the execution of justice; and this leads the Van, (and courage loves to do it) in Jethroes qualifications for Magistrates, Exod. 18.21. they must be men of courage, fearing God, dealing truly, and hating covetousness. You must rescue the innocent Lamb from the Lion and the Bear, Job 29.17. 1 King. 10.20. and break their jaws too. Solomon's Throne was supported with Lions. Courage will bear up your judgement-seats; and to this you must add impartiality; And impartial. not to be warped by the poor man's misery, Exod. 23.3. (not countenance a poor man in his cause, if unjust) nor rich man's bounty, nor great man's dignity, nor a friend's amity. God is no respecter of persons, and you are no Gods if you be. You must let judgement run down like water, Amos 5.24. and righteousness as a mighty stream; free as water from a spring, and not forced by importunity, as water from a Pump. And free as your Conduit-water, that fills the earthen pitcher, as well as the silver goblet. And free as your Thames water that flows to all that will fetch it, and not as your New-River-water, that is imparted to none but those that will pay for it. And clear without mudding it by mixing self-interest. Public men must be public spirited, and the private is included in that. Great persons that use their place and power to fill their own Coffers, are like passengers in a Ship, that tear up the planks of the Vessel to build their own Cabins. Remember you judge for God, and shall be judged by him. It was a condescending expression of the best of Princes to a late Parliament upon their Dissolution, that during their Intervals, in all his public Resolves, he should propose to himself what a Parliament would judge of them, and if his actions would not bear that test, it should be for want of judgement in him: In every sentence you are to give, remember the sentence you must receive; and so pronounce that, that you may not dread to undergo this. Thus faithfully trading with the Talents of your piety, Luke 19.17. and justice, wisdom, courage, and integrity in the trust of the Government of this City. God shall at last give you authority over many Cities. 2. To the Citizens. 2. To the City, that is, to the Citizens, by a Meta●●●y of the continent for the contents, Acts 13.44. the City, that is, the Inhabitants, came together to hear the word. And to you, as therefore so convened, I shall speak a word for the Lord, and for the Watchmen. There hath been formerly among you a great cry for truth and peace, so great a cry, that we lost both in the mist of that breath; They are two Jewels, that when gone, are worth a siquis an enquiry; Let us call home these banished too. Let righteousness and peace meet, and kiss each other. 2 Sam. 14.13. Psal. 85.10. Matth. 19.6. Gal. 5.12. And cursed be they that part what God hath put together. I wish they were even cut off that trouble you in either. Let me therefore exhort you to the prosecution of truth for the Lords, and peace for the Watchman's sake, and of both for your own sakes, the safety of your City, being the result of both. 1. To get truth for God's sake. 1. Truth, and if any shall put to me Pilat's question to Christ, what is truth? and hath more patience than he to stay for an answer, John 18.38. that I shall give proper to our present purpose, is; that, by truth is meant either the word of God, thus his Law and Commandments are truth; Psal. 119.142, 151. 2 Peter 2.2. or our conformity to that word, called the way of truth: That is truth of Doctrine, this, of life and practice. Now, 2 Peter 2.2. as the same Ocean takes various denominations from the several shores it runs by, so truth in cogitation is sincerity, in communication veracity, in conversation integrity: And for these truths contend in God's name. Col. 3.16. Let the word of truth dwell plenteously in you; not as a guest for a night, or a servant for an Apprenticeship, or a child during nonage; but as the Master of the house, even aeterno vestro, for life. Be frequent in searching these evidences for your freehold of grace and glory, and so copy them out, that they may be legible in your lives to him that runs. Psal. 51.6. Ephes. 4.25. Prov. 12.19. Dan. 4.37. Let there be truth in the inward parts, truth in thoughts. And speak every one the truth to his neighbour, truth in word, called the lip of truth. And let your works be the works of truth, truth in deed. It God's Omnipotency, that he cannot lie; Let it be yours, that you can do nothing against the truth, 2 Cor. 13.8. but for it. Maxima, & summa est virtus neminem decipere. It is the greatest, chiefest virtue to deceive none. Oh that all that hear me were thus, Prov. 23 23. and always thus virtuous! Buy the truth, and sell it not, and never sell but b● it. Let it, as a thread in a necklace of Pearl, run through all your duties to God and man: your worship, let it be suited to the God you serve, John 4.24. He is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit, and in truth. He that would not have the skin, requires the heart in sacrifice. And let your respect be to all the Commandments of God, and all his Ordinances, to the truth, and all the truth; and in the whole inward and outward man, and this is integrity, as it is deduced from timber, that is straight without, and sound within. Take heed of that malicious, proud sin, Luke 12.1. that sour, and swelling leaven of the Pharisees, hypocrisy, that infectious, Aguish vice, first it trembles, and then it burns; Prov. 26.23. that potsherd covered with silver dross. And be true in your civil contracts with men, and let not Turks and Infidels rise up in judgement against you Let your Omer and Epha, your Shekel and Cubit agree with those of the Sanctuary. Your weights, and measures correspond with those of the Standards The Heathen used to chain their Gods in their Temples: Fasten God by truth of holiness to your Churches, and truth of justice to your Shops, and you have him a sure keeper of your City. 2. Peace for the Watchman's sake. 2. Having taken into your bosoms this Leah, this eldest daughter of grace, truth (and it is fit she should have precedence, Gen. 29.26. it being also not our custom, to give the younger before the first born) make room too for the beautiful Rachel of peace, so beautiful that she reflects a beauty on the feet of her messengers. Rom. 10.15. This bigamy is not only lawful but dutiful. In the old Law the Jews were not to take a wife with her sister, Leu. 18.18. to vex her: But you cannot vex these sisters, nor yourselves, worse than by parting them; He is a Jew that would do it. For truth without peace is a constant persecution, and peace without truth is a wicked combination. Peace is the walls, and truth the Guard of a City, and these are a mutual, a countersecurity to each other. Oh that this City like Jerusalem might be called the City of truth! Zech. 8.3. Psal. 122.3. Isai. 59.14. And like Jerusalem, might be as a City at unity in itself! That truth might not fall in the streets by guile, and extortion; nor peace be shut out, of your Church, and City-gates by schism and faction! Weaken not the hands of your Magistrates by your intestine divisions, and strife about words, and things that profit not; 2 Tim. 2.14. lest you lose the substance of Religion. Love in your bitter altercations about the dress and shadow of it, Indifferent Ceremonies. Committing an undoubted sin, disobedience to the powers, in waving a scrupled duty, submission to a prescribed Form of Worship; where liberty of Conscience is not entrenched on, for the thing still remains indifferent there, though liberty of practice be (as it may be) confined, for unities and (which is the hedge to that) for uniformities sake. Let me therefore prevail with you, since God hath vouchsafed you a mercy as much above your expectation, as your merit, in giving you Judges as at the first, Isai. 1.26. and Counsellors as at the beginning; that you would prove a City of righteousness to that God, and a faithful City to these Judges. And that, as you are taught from the Text, to think the Lord necessary to you, be they never so able; so not to think them unnecessary, though God can keep your City without them. He who watcheth over them, hath appointed them to watch over you; and though he needs them not, you do, and his will, and not his power, is the rule of your duty. Would you set up a Throne to Christ, do it every one of you in your own hearts, Open those everlasting doors, Psal 24.7. and let that King of Glory come in And think not to gratify him by wresting the Sceptre out of the hands of your lawful Prince, to crowed i● into his, Luke 12.14. Matth. 22.21. Chap. 17.27. John 18.36. who by his renunciation of any such Government, of the office of a Ruler or Judge, when solicited to it; by his precept and practice, in asserting the rights of Cesar, hath convinced the whole world, that his Kingdom is not of it; and when ever (if ever, in the civil sense of the word) it shall be, Matth. 25.31 Rev. 5.11. he who hath promised to come with all his holy Angels, even ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, cannot need a score or two of Blunderbusses to get him possession. Since than it is both the Sword of the Lord, Judg. 7.18. and of Gideon: Let God have the glory, and your Magistrates th': fruit of your subjection; Titus. 3.1. Rom. 13.5. And let me put you in mind to obey them, not for wrath, but conscience sake. Submit to their Orders where they enterfere not with Gods, and pass no harsh censures on their Counsels, since you cannot fathom all the reasons of them. Reverence their persons, let them have your hats and your hearts And honour these Gods with part of your substance too. Prov. 3.9. 1 Sam. 10.27. They are sons of Belial that despise their Prince, and bring him no presents. And put some grains of charitable allowance into the scale, to weigh against their frailties, whose temptations are greater; and, as their persons are more eminent, so their faults are more visible than others, and themselves are but men. And practice that love towards one another, John 13.23. which St John, Who lay in the bosom of Christ, and learned there, so frequently and cordially urgeth And manifest it in giving, forgiving, bearing, forbearing. Convincing gainsayers by strong arguments in soft expressions: Matth. 5.9. Reconciling differences like blessed peacemakers, going between brethren of opposite persuasions, as mortar to cement them, though you venture being crushed by both for it, the lot of moderate spirits. So shall you allay all violence, and strife in the City, and discover your legitimacy as the Children of God, who will therefore, and thereby keep you and your City; and in his due time translate you, and all your faithful Watchmen to be made Denizens of that City that hath foundations, Heb. 11.10. whose builder, maker and keeper, himself immediately is; even that Jerusalem, that is above the Mother of us all. Gal. 4.26. 3. To the Lord, for Having finished my address to the Watchman for the Lord, and the City; and to the City for the Lord, and the Watchmen; It remains that I bespeak the Lord for both Watchmen & City. Now all Application to him being by way of Petition, whereunto the more hands and hearts we can get, the more hope of success; since he vouchsafes to be a Isai. 45.11. commanded, & b Exod. 32.10, etc. Gen. 32.26. captivated by Prayer, let us unanimously wrestle with him for a blessing on both. A Prayer. 1. Watchmen Civil, O Lord our God, our strong Tower, our Wall of fire, our Sun, and our Shield: By whom King's Reign, and Princes decree Justice; Who alone Qualifiest and Commissionest for Government, and blessest the endeavours if our Governors with success: We beseech thee bless the chief Magistrate of this City, and all those in Authority under him, with wisdom to foresee, faithfulness to discover, and courage to encounter every danger. L●t them he Shields for the safeguard of them that do well, and Swords for the terror, and punishment of them that do evil: Men of courage, fearing thee, dealing truly, and hating covetousness. And, as by particular Relation, and Duty I stand bound, I implore thy most gracious preservation of his Majesty's Royal Tower of London, and of St John Robinson his Honourable, and Faithful Lieutenant thereof. Keep it from all secret Conspiracy, and open Violence, that the Watchmen in it may not watch in vain. And Ecclesiastical. Let all the Spiritual Watchmen of this City be clothed with righteousness: Not ignorantly blind, nor negligently dumb, but rightly dividing thy Word of Truth, and behaving themselves as workmen that need not be ashamed. Fill every Candlestick with a burning, and shining Light, that may lead thy people by Precept, and Practice into, and in the ways of Truth, Peace and Godliness. 2. For the City. And keep the Commonalty of this most populous City from all superstition, hypocrisy, and profaneness, schism, and faction, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness; pride, drunkenness, gluttony, and idleness. Preserve them from every evil of sin, and sorrow, from fire, famine, sword and pestilence. Led them by thy Spirit, Word and Ministers into every necessary truth, and up to every duty. Teach them to keep Consciences void of offence towards thee, and towards men: That they may give thee thy due in a respect to all thy Commandments: And Cesar his, in their thoughts, words and deeds, in their honour, customs and tribute, and in their cheerful subjection for conscience sake, to all the lawful commands of their Magistrates: And their fellow-subjects their due in brotherly charity, and honesty in bargains and sales: And their families theirs in all Christian care for them; and themselves their own due in a sober provision for their bodies, and an earnest and faithful endeavour after the salvation of their souls: owning, imploring, and improving thy superintendency over all, Prince, Magistrates, Ministers, City, Estates, Reputations, Families and Persons. Guide us by the hands of thy Moses and Aaron's, keep us by thy power, prosper us by thy blessing, sanctify us by thy Spirit, and save us by thy Son: to both whom with thyself, a Trinity of Persons, in Unity of Essence, be honour, and praise, now, and forever. Amen, Amen. FINIS.