Ionah that must bee throwne ouer boord if ever we meane that the tempests of vengeance shall cease or be bettered by calmes of mercy You that love your sinnes as Iudah loved Tamar Ge. 38.15 to enjoy your pleasures by them as Saul loved David to get honour by them Ge. 30.36 as Iacob loued Laban to get wealth and riches by them You must part with all in all or none at all One legge in the stocks will hold fast the whole body one sinne in the soule will hold fast both body and soule In vaine shall you praise God for his goodnesse if you displease him with the continuance and increase of sinne and wickednesse To what purpose will you offer to sing Psalmes of praise and thanksgiuing if the noyse of your sinnes drowne the noyse of your Psalmes as Drummes in the sacrifice of Molech did drowne the cry of the burning and tormented Infants or as the ringing of the Bels doth drowne the noyse of the clocke How dare ye professe a subjection and loyaltie to the King and Crowne of heauen if we nourish sinne in our bosomes and hearts a traytor both to him and us Eccles 5.1 Or offer the sacrifice of praise to please him when we offer the sacrifice of fooles to provoke him This is the high way to enrage him by whose power we are created by whose providence we are preserued to send worse judgements upon us then we have escaped Iud. 16.19 Such as with Sampson will sleepe in sinne as in the lappe of Dalilah let them beware their locks Iudg. 5.26 Such as with Siserah will short in this Iael's tent let them beware their liues If you will boyse sayle in all weathers who can deplore your shipwracke If you will runne from Niniveh to Tarshish Iona. 1.3 who will pitty you though you meet with a worse storme in your teeth than what you seeke to avoid Dâ—str Tr. So did Polydamas that sonne of Antenor to auoid a storme runne under a ruinous rocke that crusht him and killed him So did the wise of Lot escape the vengeance of Sodome Ge. 19.26 yet continuing in her sinne procured a worse and more peculiar to be turned into a pillar of salt And so shall all such as are not seasoned by her example but will wilfully split themselues upon the Rocke of their owne sinnes they are unworthy of my farther reproofe or your farther attention Such as will avoid both the sinne and danger must praise the Lord for his goodnesse And such as will give unto their heavenly Caesar his tributary due of praise must do it Mat. 22.21 by acknowledging him to bee a Lord So said Ieptha to the men of Gilead Iudg. 11.9 If I fight for you against the children of Ammon shall I not be your head As I say to all of you whose faces seeme to congratulate this day whose attentions seeme to entertaine this doctrine If he fight for us against our enemies and deliuer us shall not he be our Lord Yes Le ts first acknowledge him and secondly le ts apply him all the merits of his active and passiue obedience must be laid claime to by a peculiar and particular application so did Thomas who seemed to haue engrossed him to himselfe Ioh. 20.28 My Lord and my God Thirdly by obeying him as a Lord in mercy for feare we finde him to be a Lord in justice Those mine enemies that will not I shall rule over them Lu. 19.27 bring them hither that I may slay them Heb. 10 31. It s a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing Lord. Fourthly le ts praise him as the onely Lord of heaven and earth without a riuall For his glory hee will not giue unto another nor his praise to grauen Images God in the frontispiece of his royall Law provokes perswades his people Israel to haue or serue no other Gods but him because he and no other God but he Exod 20.1.2 had brought them out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage So let all such as the Lord hath redeemed out of the hands of the enemie praise him alone as their soveraigne Lord He that hath more than one God or one Lord hath neither God nor Lord. Alexander told Darius King of Persia Quin. Cur. offering to him halfe his kingdome that the Heaven had not two Sunnes neither should the Earth have two soveraignes One Alexander was enough for a world Val. Max. one Phoenix enough for an age Duos Alcibiades neque Attica neque Graecia tulit Nor Greece nor Athens brought forth two Alcibiades Sparta brought not forth two Lysanders nor the world two such Lords Let those fishermen that know no better sacrifice unto their nets or Neptune those husbandmen unto their dunghill or to Ceres for their corne others to Bacchus for their wines to Pallas for their oyles to Apollo for their wisedome to Minerva for their peace Let the Turks thank their Mahomet for protection the Persians go to their god Nergal for defence the Hamathensians to Asima for strength the Babylonians to Succobenoth for deliverance Ier. 1â— 13 For according to the number of their countries are the number of their gods Let them and all Atheists go to their false and foolish Dieties all Papists to their Saints but let us go unto the Lord our God Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord. Oh that they would either cease to bee men or being men would never cease to praise the Lord. Or yet if our tongues could be weary of the publication of his praises yet let them be employed in the proclamation of his wonders Text. And declare the wonders that he doth for c. We men are put upon the labour and taske of Angels To publish his praises and proclaime his wonders is the office and theame of the Hyerarchy of heaven who are ever singing their divine Carols of praise â—â—d rejoycing in the expression of his wonders Had I the tongue of men and Angels you the eares and wings of Cherubins wee could neither well enough nor soone enough extoll his praises or expresse his wonders Of both I may say as the Psalmist said before me Who can expresse the noble acts of the Lord Psal 106.2 or shew forth all his praise Yet since the royall hand of heaven vouchsafe not onely to require but requite our weake performances with acceptance As we have begun with his praises so let us go on a little also to declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Duhartas 1. day The world 's a booke in Folio written all with Gods great works in letters capitall This world is a booke in Folio wherein are written the workes and wonders of Gods omnipotent hand the acts and monuments of our maker and preserver in his owne proper characters Not as Christ wrote when hee wrote in the dust that spirituall paradox Ioh. 8
8. But as the Prophet Ieremiah speakes in another case Ier. 17.1 Stylo ferreo in ungue Adamantino As with a penne of iron and point of a diamond Man is no other but a concise abridgement of this booke of the world and an intire Index to shew and point out the capital observations of the voluminous and massie pile Would you see works of imitation he turnes you to the leaues and pages of Gods sacred Oracle the Conclave of holy Scripture Would you see works of Admiration no page in this booke of the world no act in this great and high creation but gives us occasion I call you not to a tedious recapitulation of what I have spoken before in the expression of his wonders in the Sea there are enough as yet remaine unrelated For it is above all creatures wonderfull whether in regard of the scituation of it which is above the Land and roares and rageth as if it would swallow up the earth as the earth did Corah and his rebellious traine Num. 16.32 Yet he keeps it within his bounds with a Huc usque or a Ne plus ultra thus farre shalt thou go and no farther Or upon the nature of her ebbes and flows Iob 38.11 her fuls and wanes her spring and neape tides It hath puzled the wisest Moralist Q. Cur. concludes onely that t is terrible Fluxus refluxus maris terrorem incutit Or upon the innumerable number of creatures that are within the bowels of that womb of moisture B. Hall There are those living and moving Ilands the Whales that for greatnesse of body Psal 104.6 infinicy of number variety of forms strangenesse of shape are above our apprehension or expression These dance rowle and tumble upon her fearefull billows Or upon the wonderfull art of Navigation and sayling which now is grown so excellent and so common that we cease to bestow more wonder on it That the water a creature of fidelity should firmely beare up all vessels from the shallop to the ship from the smallest Caruel to the mightiest and greatest Carrack and with the helpe of propitious and favourable windes convey them from climate to climate from India in the East to India in the West if it were to the Antipodes themselues to the benefit and commodity of their far distant owners It 's recorded to be the answer of a Traveller to one asking him what he had seene in his Alexandrian journey Credite mihi fratres ego ibi faciem nullius vidi nisi tantum Episcopi c. Beleeve me brethren I saw no face there save the Bishops So if I were in a few words to give an accurat and exact account of my two or three yeares absence Credite mihi fratres c. Beleeve me brethren I saw the face of none save onely of him that is the Bishop of our soules For his face and Image is upon all the works of his hands by Sea or Land That looke how Phydias Didac de la Vega Iol. the cunning Artificer had so curiously engraven his picture upon Minervaes shield that none could look upon the shield but he must looke upon the picture of him that made it for it could not be taken off without the ruine of the shield Right even so with reverence to the Majestie of heaven be it spoken hath God that great and cunning Artificer of heaven engraved his picture upon all his workes that none can looke beside it nor beyond it aboue it or below it all his workes do both spread his glory and proclaime his Dietie Looke we upwards The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work The heaven of heavens that rowls so gloriously both above our heads apprehentiōs Act. 7.50 is the royall palace and place of his residence there is the Chamber of his presence Psal 123. There the guard chamber of Angels Archangels and Cherubins Matt. 24.36 There the lodging Chambers and many mantions of those spirituall Courtiers the glorified Saints these do all declare the glory of God and the firmament as an open Court or Hall for all commers doth shew his handy worke It would puzle a Roman Antiquary or Persian Sophie or the most curious indagator of Natures secrets to shew the nature number order of the greater and lesser lights and lanterns of heaven the Sun Moone Starres Plannets windes thunders lightenings Meteors vapors which do there attend the pleasure of the King of glory and fulfill his words Psalm 104.8 While I thinke speake or write of them I must do it in the Prophets language Oh Lord how wonderfull art thou in all thy works in wisedome hast thou made them all Or if we looke downe from heaven which is his throne Act. 7.49 to earth which is his footstoole even there also do wee see the image of his goodnesse For the earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord and so is the broad sea also Here we behold him in his goodnesse and wisedome making one Country the helper and mutuall supporter of each others welfare He makes one the Granary to furnish her neighbours with corne another the Armory to furnish the rest with weapons another the Piscary to furnish the rest with fish another the Treasury to furnish the rest with gold As Spaine is famous for her Wines Calabria and Apulia for their Oyles Sicilia and Turky for their Corne Newfound land for Fish Greece for fruit Italy for Armes Russia for Furres Barbary for Gold England for all Those blessings that severally make other Countries happy are conspired to meet in ours Whether it be by the proper commodity of our owne native soyle or by traffique and merchandize with others or by both He that travels farthest may sit downe by the waters of Babylon and weepe Psal 137.1 while hee remembreth this our matchlesse Sion O England say I happy for peace happy for tranquillity happy for a generall conflux of all happinesse that can make either soule or body blessed Lu. 19.42 miserable only because she knows not her owne happinesse Oh that thou wouldest know in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace So should this peace rest long within thy walles Psal 122.7 and plenteousnesse within thy Pallaces and thou shouldest continue as thou art the terror of thy foes the glory of the world the Mart of Nations And thus while wee wonder or declare the wonders that God doth for the children of men Isa 25.1 may we say with Esay Thou art my God and I will praise thee for i◠thou hast done wonderfull things And with Moses Exod. 15.11 Who is a God like unto our God fearfull in praises doing wonders And while we meditate of the works themselues let 's reflect our contemplative thoughts of Adoration upon that great Atlas of heaven that supports them all with the two shoulders of his power and providence Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord
of Samaria should rise up in judgement against mee who said amongst themselves 2 King 7.9 This is a day of good tidings wee doe not well to hold our peace If we tarry till the morning light some mischiefe will befall us now therefore come that wee may goe and tell the Kings houshold It were a piece of impardonable sacriledge to monopolize or ingrosse the divine Elixar of my Masters and my Makers mercies and miracles workes and wonders that I have had experience of in forraigne and farre distant Climats Counties Kingdomes Ilands Provinces Nations People Languages Since then that God the Father requires no more of me than God the Sonne did of the dispossessed Demoniacke Mark 5.19 Goe and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee I were unworthy of my tongue if I should not speake to you of your eares if you should not heare what shall be delivered May the God of heaven therefore open my lips Mark 1.17.34 and my mouth shall shew forth his praise say Ephphata to your eares and they shall be opened for the wonders of the King of glory to enter in In these words that I have read and you have heard there is an exact mixture and accurate composure of Dangers Mercies and Duties these three are woven and platted in the Text and are the three Tabernacles of my meditation here I build one for God another for you a third for my selfe and such else as it doth concerne Here is dangers of such as goe downe into the deepe Mercies of him that made the Sea and all that therein is Duties for such as have received these mercies and escapt these dangers and are brought to the haven where they would be Heaven earth and waters rowle and tumble up the billowes of the Text the woofe and warpe whereof is spun both of course and fine threed Exra 8.16 Exod. 36.1 1 Cor 3.16 It would require the skill of Iarib and Elnathan men of understanding the hand and loome of some Aholiab and Bezaleel to make it fit worke for the Tabernacle of the Lord for the Temple of God which Temple yee are that while you heare of these dangers ye may be brought to feare and awfulnesse of these mercies yee may be drawne to practise thankfulnesse of these duties ye may be woed to service and obedience It wants not what skill I could bestow upon it according to my talant and ability and my time and present opportunity of which I may say as Philip of the five loaves and two fishes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas what are these amongst so many Alas what are these my meditations these water-works not able to expresse the shadows of that divine Majestie they do adore and to which they are dedicated Yet they should be seasonable they have crossed many brinish billows and waves of salt water and to you they should be acceptable For as amongst you I preached my Vale and long farewel so now by divine providence am I brought againe once more upon this holy mount The Communion day to salute you with my primum salve first salutation what you can conceive not to be seasonable in regard of your time and meeting You may freely correct it t' will shew part of your judgement which I conceive to be sutable in respect of my time and arrivall you may favourably accept it as part of my love Incline therefore your eares to the tenor of the following Embassie the arrant is Gods the task is mine the use is yours Let your pious acceptance and patient attention be as Midwives to assist me in the delivery of these three dangers mercies duties that struggle in the wombe of my text like the quarrelling twinnes that descended from the loynes of Isaac from the bowels of Rebeckah Gen. 25.22 The rough and hairie Esau comes first to view I le first speake of the dangers Ioh. 2.9 reserving the other as the Bridegroom did his best wine untill the last They that go downe into the sea expose themselves unto a danger that like the mace of Neptune is three-forked Danger threefold All voyagers are lyable to a triple danger of the Sea of the enemies in the Sea of the enemies on the shore after their arrivall In any or all these three kindes was there never more danger than now since Noahs Dove was pilot unto Noahs Arke Gen. 8.8 or since Saturne the King of Greete did first finde out the Art of Navigation The way of a ship in the Sea is one of those foure things that prou'd a paradox to puzsle and non-plus the wise and great King Solomon Pro. 30.9 and thousands more since his dissolution He that commits himselfe to the custody of a three incht plank for there 's no more betweene death and us had need to say with David Psalme 108.1 My heart is ready O Lord my heart is ready He had need to be ready for prosperitie ready for adversity ready for libertie ready for slavery ready for the stormes tempests of vengeance ready for the calmes and favourable aire of mercy He must look to be a sharer in the first Phil 4.11 he may hope to be partaker of the last They that go downe into the deepe shall see a Sea whose billows bellow whose surges swell raging with tempests roaring with whirlwinds and be at once terrified with fearefull thunder-claps dazled with terrible lightenings amazed with ayerie fires and apparitions astonished with eruptions and evaporations from the furnaces of heaven with the clouds those bottles of heaven that sometimes emptie themselues in such violence as if they threatned another deluge With those windes that come from the treasuries and hollow concaves of the earth which as is let loose for vengeance like some accursed bandogge are more fierce for former cohibitions These besides many other sad apparences are they lyable to that go downe into the deepe which oftentimes affright them worse then the ghost of Brutus did him in his dismall and nocturnall vision Plutarch Cher. Now such as are humbled with these judgements amazed with these wonders astonished with these terrours affrighted with these apparitions can never disrellish the offers of mercy in such deliverances they cannot but praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonders that he doth for the children of men I lived to see which now I live to declare and memorate all the foure elements in a combustion Psa 118 17 uproare and confusion as if they had beene to have beene reduced to their former chaos Frigida pugnabant calidis Ovid. lib. 1◠Met humentia siccis Mollia cum duris sine pondere habentia pondus Having passed the dangerous and strait gulph of the danger Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim Ovid. in Loc. Not farre distant from the Trinacrian or Sicilian shore we sayled neare an Island that burnes like mount Sinai Earth yet not consumed
with those blasts of fire which proceed from Mines of brimstone by which they are nourished The terrible and sulphurious flames do pierce the ayre above Fire that in the day time it seemes to be covered with smoke in the night with fire The ayrie and tempestuous windes above Ayre enraged the billows and surges of the Sea below Water that as said the Poet Ovid de Pont. Iam iam tacturos sidera summa putes So said the Prophet so say I sometimes we were lifted up to the heavens and sometimes cast downe againe unto the deepe everie element a messenger of death The fire flaming the earth smoking the ayre storming the water raging Psa 8â— 5 as if all the foundations of the earth had beene out of course The envelloped clouds descended round about us in shouts terrible to each beholder into the water the water ascended into the clouds and as a weaker vessell yeelded to their violence The fire burnt in the bowels of the earth and the earth uncapable of resistance sent forth flashes and flames of fire and brimstone as if Hell had no other chimney but Strumbelo Strumbelo Aetna Vulcans temple mount Soma or Vesuvia puteoli all burning mountaines and the adjacent mountaines to vent her smoke These things for commonnesse and familiarity to some Marriners the oftner they are seene the lesse they are regarded But some fresh-water spectator beholding them in their terrour would think perhaps as little of preaching in a Church of England as ever did Ionah in the streets of Ninive when the sea was his death the fish was his death the winde and waves his death Presentemque intentant omnia mortem Virg in Luc. Yet that God that set Ionah a shore upon the borders and lists of Syriah hath brought us also to the Haven where we would be Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord and declare the wonders that he hath done for us the children of men These and all other dangers to which Seamen are subject have their end and use For as the pennance and mulct of Demosthenes did serue to adorne the altars of Iupiter so the miseries and troubles of such adventurers do work together for the best to them that love God Ro. 8.28 and are called of his purpose Here 's some honour to adorne the altars of the God of heaven For as stormes do purge the ayre above so they do or should purifie mens hearts below For now if ever the Marriners will deprecate their Dieties and call upon Ionah to call upon his God Ion. 1.5.6 Now if ever the Disciples will awake their Saviour with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master save us we perish Mat. 8.26 Now every Turke betakes him to his sacrifice every Christian unto his prayers Even such as allow not or approve not of a Letanie ashore would quickly learne to say and pray From lightening and thunder from stormes and tempests from violence of winde and waves God Lord deliver us The soundest heart will disrelish this bitter Colloquintida and quake to be fed with this unsavoury Hemlocke though but for a few dayes or houres and after the stormes are once blowne over will preferre the case of a Christian to the wealth of an Arab or savage Indian Quid maris extremos Arabas ditantia Indos Horace in loc I and conclude with Meander Satius esse pauperem in terra vivere quam divitem mari se committere It's safer to live a poore man on shore than a rich man at Sea Neither are we more subject to the violence of windes at sometimes then to variety at other Aul. Gâ—l li 2 c. 24. at night we sayle Vento Iapige with Virgils Westerne winde Act. 27.14 ere midnight troubled with Pauls tempestuous Euroclydon which blew and blustered at midnight ere morning Virg. Aen. 1 Validus iactaverit auster in alto turned with a Southerne and after that a Northerne gale t is possible to see them and many more blow all at once according to the Poeticall description where each strives to get the mastery Virg. Vna Eurusque Notusque ruunt Creberque procellis Affricus c. Nor yet more troubled either with violence of winds or variety then a third time with want and scarcity After heaven had seemed to frown and lower she now doth laugh and smile at our former troubles and present helplesnesse Now we have a breathing time and our former sorrowes be becalm'd It proves to many the increase of worse who lye for want of winde in sight of their port but cannot come at it Like Moses in the sight of Canaan but could not come neare it The first makes them a trouble to themselues which is stormes of abundance the last which is the calmes of want do make them a booty and purchase for roving and ranging Pirats 2. Danger of the enemie in the Sea which is but the second part of Danger at first proposed One woe is past Revel 9.12 and now behold another woe is at hand Sicut unda impellitur unda Ov. I two more woes doe follow it as one wave doth another If there were no more woes or danger in the Sea then the opposition of our enemies it were enough to make a voyage miserable No day in the week or scarce houre in the day are we free from encounters or preparation to encounter with those Turks Gods and our aduersaries those venemous Cantharides do swarme in the Mediteranean and Adriaticke Seas Sex quotidie millia lampadum ante Pseudo prophetae Mahometi tamulum c. Petr. Bess Mr. R Knowâ—s in his Turkish History Millions of Christian soules haue rued the terrour of those worse then debauched Saracins worshippers of the false Prophet Mahomet borne in an unluckie houre whose body hangs up in their Sancta Sophia or chiefe Church of the City of Mecha with six thousand lamps alwayes burning before him These his followers and worshippers are and haue beene the ruine of many thousand Christians on Land by warre on Sea by pyracie Neglecta solent incendia sumere vires As fires neglected gather strength and make way for their owne fury So doth their security giue advantage to our ruine and their cruelty They have alreadie so long triumpht in mischiefe that if we credit the annals or opinion of such who record it they have got a greater part of Christendome than is left for to oppose them Or if we beleeve but our owne experience and ordinarie probabilities Hist de destruct ruina Troiae we may expect that ere long like Aegcon the Greekish Pyrat they will set upon the Navy Royall of Iupiter himselfe God stirre up all Christian Princes to unity amongst themselues and to unite their forces against this common enemie herein would lye the safety of their owne Monarchies and securitie of their owne Subjects For now so many shippes so many fights and funerals both of
vaine doctrine Eph. 4 14â— They wander so farre till Dinah like they loose their spirituall chastity and virginity Gen. 34.1 2. Quint. Curtius Did they but with Alexander change their habit onely in every Country who when he was in Persia was cloathed as a Persian in Parthia a Parthian in Greece a Grecian we could and would allow them the liberty of the ancient Distick Si fueris Romae Romano vivito more Si fueris alibi vivito more loci But too many turne Romans in heart as well as in habit Luke 22.55 and while they are in the high Priests Hall warming their hands pretending to make themselves fit and serviceable agents for their King and Country they then coole their hearts and sucke in the filthy dregs of forraigne opinions split their soules upon those shelues of errour enter into the house of Rimmon 2 Kin. 5.18 Rom. 11.4 2 King 23.13 bow and bend the knees of their deuotion and affection to Baal runne after their new inuented Gods and Goddesses as once offending Salomon who bowed his knees to Ashta roth the Goddesse of the Zidonians and ran after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites Worse than Alexander they change their habit worse than Scipio and Sertorius Val. Max. 2 Tim. 4.10 Luk. 22.57 They that turne Turkes they counterfeit their religion and which is worst of all like Peter they deny forsweare forsake their Saviour There 's some aliue yet to be happy if they could imitate him in his teares as in his apostasie in the reluctancy of his sorrow as in the precipitancy of his zeale who like Zeno the Athenian Philosopher Dixit se nunquam foeliciori venio navigasse quam cum navis eius submersafuit quia tempestas ida suae tranquilli tatis existet causa Plut in Iâ—a Psal 120.5 Gen 9.27 pretend both happinesse and content in their shipwracke both of their faith and conscience these are worthy of other mens teares that have none of their owne to wash away their woes while they are not constrained but content to dwell in Mesech and to haue their habitations in the Tents of Kedar God perswade every such Iapheth to returne to the Tents of Sem from whence they are revolted Are Abana and Pharphar 2 King 5.8 Rivers of Damascus better than Iordan No let the curse of your death-beds light upon mee if I preferre not the streames of our Iordan the free and liberall use of the Gospell in peace and tranquility before the Abana or Pharphar of their religion or inquisition and which is more Iudg 8.2 as Gideon said to the Ephramites I preferre the gleanings of our Ephraim before the vintage of their Abiezar and far before it too as Vlysses did preferre the smoake of Ithaca before the immortality of the Gods often wishing for the enjoyment of this our native freedome with as great a desire as ever David could wish for to drinke of the waters of the Well of Bethlem 2 Sam 23.15 Oh that one would give me to drink of the waters c. And heartily saluting the sight of our English ground with as much ioy as Achates and his confederates did their Italian Humilem que videmus Virg Italiam Italiam primus conclamat Achates Italiam Laeto socij clamore salutant He that hath escapt these triple and triple crownd dangers of the Sea enemies in the Sea enemies a shore must needs bee glad because hee is at rest Text. and brought to the haven where hee would bee c. I and my floating Parishioners are not now to learne experience in any or all of these three dangers yet the stormes of our Sea are blowne over the danger of our enemy is already past the share of the cunning Fowlers Ps 24.7 who catch nothing but blinde Bats and Owles is also broken and we are delivered and brought to the haven where we would be Now wee live to praise our God for his goodnesse and to declare his wonders to the children of men And in doing both to pay our vowes of thankfulnesse in the midst of our Ierusalem Ps 116 16. in the midst of thy Church and congregation which stands as in the midst of Sion of which I have often said and prayd as Lot did of Zoar Gen. 19.20 Oh let my soule escape thither Is it not a little one and my soule shall live The mercies that provoke us to thankfulnesse But so much of our danger that must bring us to awfulnesse now followes the mercy that must bring us to thankfulnesse After the stormes of displeasure succeede the calmes of mercy the smooth issue of rough progenitors For a moment doth hee hide his face from us but with everlasting mercy hee doth embrace us Looke we to the present Text it reduces Gods mercy to two heads that like Tanais and Volga water the residue of our meditations He makes the stormes to cease and bringeth them to the haven where they would be two favours that include all other favours in them If brevity may bee any whet-stone to sharpen your attention or as holy water to sprinckle on your face and awaken your devotion I 'le put them both in one and exemplifie both these mercies to us by examples and ample testifications of his mercyes to others in the like miseries which are the best expression of our owne sorrows or his fauours Have you reade of Noah floating in his Arke without thought or feare of danger Gen. 7.17 Gen. 7.21 when heauen and earth the Sea and all that therein is was in an uprore when thousands perished in that common innundation of euils The case was ours the mercy Gods that wee also were deliuered from those surges wherein many perish and are brought to the Ararat of our desires to the hauen where we would be O that men would c. Exod. 2.3 Have you read of Moses crawling and sprawling in his Arke and Barke of Bul-rushes when the waves could not drowne him nor Egyptian damage him Exod. 2.5.6 We have beene as helpelesse as Moses and God as mercifull to us as unto him he was to us instead of Pharaohs daughter ready to challenge our custody and protection For by his mercy wee are brought to the haven where wee would be O that men c. Exod. 14. â—â— 28. Have you read of Israels safe convoy through those seas wherin thousands after perished the case is yet ours wee have past those 〈◊〉 that cost many thousands both life and liberty and are brought in safety to the Caâ—…an of felicity to the haven where we would be He was our Pillar and Cloud O that men would therefore c. Have you read of Daniels security amongst those Lyons that afterward devoured his accusers Dan. 6.23.24 their wives and children we have beene also even in the jawes of those Lyons that have devoured many Turks Psal 57 4. Psal 3.7 yet are
we not delivered as a prey unto their teeth But by the honourable convoy of his mercy by the hand of his clemency are wee brought to the haven where we would be Oh that men would therefore c. Have you heard and read of Ionah embarked en wombed Ionah 1.17 and entombed in the entrals of that great Leviathan yet blessed with protection Even wee also have had the like menaces of windes and waves stormes and tempests to make us fit morsels for those living mountaines whose entrals and gorges would soone consume us to a gelly Ionah 2.10 But the mercies of the God of Ionah are not yet diminished for he hath brought us to the haven where we would be Oh c. Mat. 8. â—3 24 Lastly have you heard both of sinners and Saviour both in one ship covered with waves tossed with tempests he asleep they awake they fearefull he powerfull they as sufferers he as a commander both of them and what they feared The case was ours we have beene though not in eadem nave in the same ship yet in codem praedicamento Toto sonuerum aethere â—â—mbi Vir. in the same predicament And when we cride in our distresse he heard us when we went to awake him he arose and calm'd the waves stilled the windes stayed the spouts repelled the gusts rebuk't the stormes And by his mercy are we brought to the Haven where wee would be Oh that men would therefore c. He that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth was our aide and helper or if he have seem'd to sleepe t is as he expounds himselfe Cant. 5. Cant. 5.2 I sleepe but mine heart waketh He seemes to use sleepe but his heart waketh and himselfe is vigilant for our protection Once indeed aboue all other times he seem'd to us to sleep out a miserable and fearfull storme as if he had forsaken us as once his Father had forsaken him t is worthy the file and records of eternitie Mat. 27.46 In the mould of Genoa In Genoa the eight of Ianuarie last was such a storme and tempest as caused the Inhabitants to rake up the urnes and bring forth the ashes of the deceased Saint Iohn Baptist as a propitiatory sacrifice to calme the raging Sea I neither beleeve that they are or that they are of some vertue or that they have them if they were yet there all the he Saints and she Saints Angels Lords and Ladies of Heaven were sued unto for mercy and deliverance Mat. 8.27 In this never to bee forgotten misery we cryed unto the Lord our God who seemed to sleepe and be awakened and both the windes and sea they did obey him De profundis clamavi out of the depth did I cry unto the Lord. Abyssus abyssum invocat One depth calls on another a depth of our misery caused for a depth of his mercy he did neglect us but for a while for the greater manifestation of his mercie and increase of our services Oh that men would Psal 99 6. c. Moses Aaron and Samuel Noah Daniel and Iob those spirituall Courtiers and favourites of the King of heaven in their distresses cried unto the Lord and hee heard them and delivered them and his mercies are renewed to us everie morning and his compassions faile not Lam 3.22 Psal 86.1 He will have us know that when sinners bow their hearts he will bow and bend his eares to their prayers and supplications And that he desires not the death of a sinner but rather c. As I live saith God the Father as I dye saith God the Sonne I desire not nor delight not in the death of sinners no he is proner to mercy then to judgement He was longer in destroying one Citie I in threatning to destroy it than in building of the whole world Ionah 3.4 Exod. 20.11 Fortie dayes and Ninive shall be destroyed sixe dayes and the whole world was made the heaven earth the sea and all that therein is Well may he forget to be angry with us Psal 30.5 Psal 136.1 for the stormes of his anger endure but for a moment but he can never forget to be mercifull for the calmes of his mercy endures for ever So much for the two generals viz. the Dangers that provoke us to awfulnesse the Mercies that move us to thankfulnesse 3 General Duties to draw us to obedience the third follows which is duties to prouoke us to obedience And this obedience must reflect backe againe and be seene and shewed in the performance of a double dutie viz. The publication of his praises and proclamation of his wonders Text. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men This is all the Text will enjoyn or the Prophet looke for or the God of Text and Prophet require after the receit of his mercies to yeeld unto him his tribute of praises T is as much as he doth aske t is as little as we can give t is his due and our duty Of both which a word or two and there cannot much more remaine Hitherto we haue but numbred the turrets and bulwarks of this text as David wisht the spectators of Sion Psal 48.1 Psalme 48. and haue beene stayed in Atrio templi in the porch entrance and body of the Text. Now suffer me to leade you by the hand into the sanctuary of Sanctum sanctorum or holy of holyes He that will not lend an eare deserues not that euery Angell should moue a wing or descend the ladder or looke out of the windows of heaven to assist him either in his wants or wishes Gen. 28.12 The first piece of our obligation consists in the publication of his praises and to do this brings honour to God He that offereth me praise he honoureth me Psal 50.23 The second is the declaration of his wonders and he that doth not this draws a curse and propheticall anathema upon his owne head which waits for such as regard not the worke of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Psal 28.5.6 Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare c. Those that haue beene most deeply interest in humaine miseries and the receit of divine favours are called here to the performance of these holy seruices And they onely because there cannot be a greater argument of Gods praise and our duty then escape from danger and receit of mercy This truth is firmely built upon the pillars of the Text. The conquering Romans in all their honourable and glorious triumphs Hist Rom. suffered none to make any triumph to erect any Prophees or to enter into the Temple of honour where were Crowns Garlands Palms Lawrels Robes Aul. Gel. Rewards Emblemes but they must first passe the Temple of vertue where were Swords Iavelins Targets Lances Helmets and other instruments of warre by which they must purchase their
honour and passe to their Temples So reade we 2 Tim 2 5. Nemo coronabitur nisi qui Legitime certaverit Revel 7. Reade also our vision of that blessed Saint who were those that were watching with crownes on their heads Palmes in their hands Haleluiahs in their tongues adoration in their hearts long white robes on their shoulders emblemes both of honour and victory Hi sunt qui venerunt ex tribulatione These haue come out of tribulation and have washed their robes in the bloud of the Lambe Rev. 7.14 They are fittest to be Heralds of divine praises that haue beene the deepest interested in humane miseries Thus I haue long dranke of those waters that are more bitter than the waters of Marah more venemous than the waters of Nonacridis are fittest to receiue that double fauour that Ascha the wife of Othniel begged of Culel The springs aboue Iosh 19.15 the springs beneath blessings from heauen and blessings from earth They can but relish our bread and Mannah of heauen King 22 that haue long eaten and dranke such as Ahab threatened to Micaiah the bread of sorrow and water of affliction 1. King 22.27 They are most glad when they are brought to the haven Psal 107.25 whose soules have most melted and whose bodies have most suffered in the deepe and dangerous waters They are fittest for the calmes and favourable ayres of a mercifull God Hor. of the sonnes of Dia. Sunt quos Eâ—ea domuÌ„ reducet palma coelesiis Thy sons like heavenly wights do come with an Eâ—eon Garland home 1. Cor. 9.24 that have beene tost and tumbled upon the surges and billows of a mercilesse ocean In vaine should the actors in the Olympian games have professed either their skill or abilities if they had not sometimes returned like the sonnes of Diagoras with an Elcan palme and Garland In vaine should we runne if we should not sometimes get the Crowne In vaine should we wrestle if not sometimes get the mastery In vaine should wee bee cast downe into the deep if not sometimes raised up againe to the heaven and after long be brought to the haven where we would be And in vaine should wee bee brought to the haven where we would be if we should not praise the Lord for his goodnesse or declare c. Exod. 15.1 When God mercifully delivered Israel from the hand of Aegypt and Aegyptian bondage there followed a Song of praise Exod. 15. When Christ mercifully delivered his Israel from the Egypt of sin and iniquity Luk. 1.68 there followed a song of blessing Blessed be the Lord. Iudg. 5.12 Deborah after her victory and Siseraes ouerthrow may not sleepe out such a favour nor slumber out such a mercy But Deborah must awake and Baruke must arise to utter a song of triumph and victory Awake awake Exod. 17.14 Deborah Moses himselfe after his conquest and Amalecks ruine must write it in a booke for a memoriall and rehearse it in the eares of Iosuah Which he did and more hee erects an Altar enrowls the mercy thereon offers it with thanks hallowes it with sacrifice This priestly Prophet and Propheticke King David as he hath many Psalmes of prayer to expresse his misery So hath he many of praise and thanksgiuing for the receit of mercy witnesse those that he hath committed to the care of those chiefe Musitians to Ieduthun to Gittith to Neginoth to Sheminith and many more Besides these holy men of old neuer was there any age that wanted such as did yeeld ample and large testimony of their praise and thankfulnesse for the receit of blessings and benefits Caesar All Caesars actions ended in a triumph Antonius Pius erects his Pillar Antonius Pius Traian and Traian his about which are engrauen their victories and conquests they both stand firme in Rome to this day So should all men that God hath blessed with deliuerance and victory erect some pillar of thankfull remembrance and acknowledgement that succeeding ages may be stirred up to leaue the like monuments of praise in the like deliuerances and beholding our good works may glorifie our Father which is in heauen Mat. 5.16 So was Themistocles animated the performance of many a noble action Val. Max. by beholding the triumphs and trophies of Miltiades And Alexander seeing the victories and conquests of Achilles engraven on his Tombe was stirred up and provoked to an honourable emulation of the like valour and magnanimitie I and Caesar when he saw the tombe of Alexander in the Temple of Hercules in Spaine and about the walls of the Church the conquests of the world he wept to thinke how little he had done and how much Alexander In ea aetate qua iam terrarum orbem subegisset It was worthy of Caesars teares to consider if he had done nothing in the time and age wherein Alexander had conquered the world Right even so may we that will not be provoked by others patterns and examples to a demonstration of our gratitude be compelled to weepe with Caesar while we see how the lives and acts of meere moralists do shame us besides our owne None of us but have received favours of an higher nature than any of them But alas where are our erected pillars where are our Hecatombes where our holocausts where the pyramides of our praises where our smoking Altars our burning Incense our hallowed sacrifices our holy services Gen. 31.47 Tell me who with Laban hath erected a Iegar-saha dutha a Pillar of witnesse betweene God and him of Gods mercie and his thankfulnesse Who with Iacob hath built an Altar of acknowledgement and entituled it El-elhoim Israel Gen. 33.20 Exod 17.14 16. to shew that God is the God of Israel Who with Moses hath registred the fauours of his God and ruine of his enemies upon an Altar and called the name of it Iehovah Nissi Who with Ionah disgorged out of the bowels of the deepe hath erected his pillars of praise His one for Ionahs two which yet stand firme on the confines of Syriah and are called by the name of Ionahs Pillars or neare the place where the Fish set Ionah ashore Who with the holy woman hath powred out the oyntment of her best praises upon the head of her Saviour Mat. 26.7 Or with the woman that Christ cured of her bloudy issue hath left a double monument one of her own miserie another of her Saviours mercie Ioseph Eccl Hist as we reade she did in Ecclesiasticall Histories Who so is wise will ponder these things and seeke to make some benefit by these examples which I lay before you Psal 107. ult as Iacob laied his Rodde of greene poplar before the sheepe of Laban Gen. 30.37 when he layed speckled Rods they brought forth speckled Lambes but when hee layed fairer and white roddes they brought forth faire and white lambes I lay before you not speckled but fairer and candid examples of