( 544 ) A SERMON, &c. THE solemn and important occurrencesof the Iast week callus to a serious notice of the hand ofGod in them s The death of our late gracious sovereign, and the happy accession of his present majesty, have diverted my thoughts from the subject which I lately proposed, and have determinedme to entertain you this day with the words of the holy prophet. ssnraff V. i ?. And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts : but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. IN the reigns of several of our former princes, we had a just and melancholy apprehension of popish darkness and tyranny breaking in upon us at their death. The peace- ful and regular succession of a protestant heir to his Father's throne, is such a blessing as bath not been known in Great Britain for a hundred years past * : It might well be expected then that it should be received with universal joy and gladness of heart. The occasion for it is proper and glorious : Nor will I censure the moderate use of a feast, and a song, and instruments of music, to express this inward and becoming joy : Nor doth the prophet in my text forbid them as unlawful things ; but he gives it as the character of the profane part of mankind, that upon all occasions they give up themselves tosensual merriment, with an utter neglect of the providence of God. In such events as we behold this day, the man of wis- dom and piety looks all around him : He takes a religi- * The last instance of this kind was when Charles the First succeeded his father James the First, in the year 16Q5, and indeed this was the only one, except when Edward the Sixth came to the crown in the roomof Henry the Eighth, his father.
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