the voice of his praise to be glorious Fifthly Because ingratitude and unthankfulness even among Barbarians hath been ever reputed a monstrous thing it is a preternatural thing one of those Privations and Deficiencies which GOD never wrought but the malice of the Devil brought into the world by shouldering out the contrary positive and primitive Virtues We speak of an unthankful person with more then ordinary detestation and account an ungrateful person an unnatural man One phrases Ingratitude a Solecism in sence a Paradox in manners and a Prodigie in nature See how the Lord detests and abominates it and calls the Heavens and the Earth to witness against it Isa 1.2 Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me the Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters crib they know their Benefactors but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider And the Lord by the Prophet Micah calls upon the mountains and the strong foundations of the earth to listen attend to the plea controversie he hath with them that were called his people for their monstrous ingratitude Mich. 6.1 Hear ye now what the Lord saith Arise contend thou before the mountains and let the hills hear thy voice Hear ye O ye mountains the Lords controversie and ye strong foundations of the earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel O my people what have I done unto thee testifie against me For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants and I sent before thee Moses A iron and Miriam O my people remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted and what Balaam the Son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord Here the Lord upbraids them with their monstrous and more then beastly sin of ingratitude and calls the insensible creatures to witness against them and the Psalmist Psal 78.11 They forgat his works and his wonders that he had shewed them marvelous works did he in the sight of their fathers c. but v. 32. for all this they sinned still and believed not his wonderous works v. 42. They remembred not his hands nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy how he had wrought his signes in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan c. That is the fifth Argument taken from the nature of the sin of Unthankfulness it is a monstrous and horrid sin Sixthly Another Argument may be taken from the example of Saints and here to use the Apostles phrase we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arias Montanus circumjacentum nubem testium or as Beza Circumstantem nubem We are compassed about with a cloud of witnesses When they received Mercies and Blessings and Deliverances they looked up and returned Blessings to him that was the Fountain of those Blessings and Deliverances They did not Hab. 1.16 sacrifice to their own nets or burn incense to their own drags as though their portion was made fat or their meat plentious by them they did not ascribe it to their own sword or their own bow but to him who is the Saviour of Israel the Deliverer of those that trust in him Psal 44.1 We have heard with our ears O God our fathers have told us what works thou didst in their days in the times of old how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantedst them how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out For they got not the land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them V. 6. I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall save me But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to confusion that hated us Therefore in God we make our boast all the day long and will praise thy name for ever Secondly They did not onely thankfully acknowledge that their Deliverances came from Heaven and offer up the Sacrifice of Praise Jehovae liberatori to God that delivered them but also they did it in die illo in the same day The same day in which they were delivered the same day was the day of their thanksgiving Seneca tells us that thanks deferred or slowly returned lessens the estimation of the benefit received and is no thanks and therefore the people of God delayed not but offered their Sacrifice of praise in die illo the same day in which they received their deliverance Exod. 14.30 Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day out of the hand of the Egyptians And on that day Moses and Israel returned a Sacrifice of praises for that Deliverance Exod. 15.1 Then in die illo sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously c. Lyra notes upon the Text that they did not onely sing praises but they also invited one another stirr'd up one another to the same according to that of the Prophet Psal 34.3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together The like Example we have in Deborah and Barak Judg. 5.1 The Lord had given Israel a great deliverance from Sisera who had nine hundred Chariots of Iron and twenty years had mightily oppressed the children of Israel Judg. 4 3. Then says the Text sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day saying Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel They sang praises in die illo on that same day on which the Lord delivered them And the practise of David was the same as we see in the inscription of Psal 18. A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song IN THE DAY that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and from the band of Saul c. He sang praises in die illo on the same day on which he received his deliverance The same we finde in the practise of religious Hezekiah 2 Chron. 20.26 Thus they praised God for their deliverances they returned the Rivers of thanks to the Sea of Blessings and delayed not their returns but offered Sacrificium laudis their sacrifice of praise to the Lord at the same day and time that they were delivered Thirdly They did not onely bless God for his Blessings by themselvess and in their own persons but it was their practice to preach their mercie and deliverances to their children and so one generation to another that the thankful memorial and remembrance of them might never die but be perpetuated to all posterity This was the Precept of God frequently repeated in the Book of Deuteronomy there after a rehearsal of the
from heaven the stars in their courses fought against Sisera The river Kishon swept them away that antient River the River Kishon O my soul thou hast troden down strength Then Seaventhly for the better expression of their thankfulness for such mercyes and deliverances that they might be transmitted and handed over to all posterity and generations and that the people that were unborn might praise the Lord it was usuall and ordinary with them to put some remarkable signe or token of remembrance upon the particular mercy and deliverance which they had received or upon the place where they received it by giving it a name that did import and signifye the same that so when their children or their childrens children should in time to come ask the reason why is this thing or this place called by this name then their fathers might preach unto them the gracious deliverance of the Church in that thing or that place and make rehearsall repetition of the righteous Acts of the Lord thus the Lord instructed them in the ordinance of the Passeover Exod. 12.25 it was called the Passeover because the Lord commanded the destroying Angel to passe over the houses of Israel when he slew all the first born of the Egyptians And it shall come to passe saith the text when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you according as he hath promised that ye shall keepe this service And it shall come to passe when your children shall say unto you what mean you by this service that ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lords Passeover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses Hebr. Pasch from Pasach that is to leape or Passeover And when the waters of Jordan were cut off or divided that the people might passe into the land of promise Josua commanded for a perpetual remembranise f this Act to all posterity that twelve men that is one out of every tribe of Israel should take a great stone out of midst of Jordan and set them up upon a heap upon that place which was dried up for their passage that when the generations to come should ask what means this great heap of stones then the fathers might preach to their children the righteous Acts of the Lord and by reviving the memorial of that wonderfull mercy stir them up to praise the Lord. Jos. 4.6 The Lord gave Israel a great deliverance from their enemies by the hand of Samson first Samson returned thanks Lord thou hast given this great deliverance to thy servant and then he puts a name upon the place for a Memorandum to posterity he calls it Jud. 15.17 Ramath Lehi that is the lifting up of the jaw bone that when the generations to come should inquire why is this place called Ramath Lehi then their fathers might preach unto them the righteous Acts of the Lord shew them the greatnesse of the deliverance by the weaknesse of the meanes So Israels great deliverance from the enemy that surrounded and compassed them about David thankfully ascribes unto the Lord the Lord saith he haâ—h broken in upon mine enemies like the breach of waters and then he gives a name to the place for a Memorandum to Posterity he calls it Baal-Perazim that is the plaine of breaches 2. Sam. 5.20 That when the children in time to come should inquire why is this place called Baal-Perazim then their fathers might teach them the great mercies of God towards Israel and say unto them in this place the enemy compassed us about and thought to swallow us up quick and here the Lord broke in upon them like the breach of waters and therefore this place is called Baal-Perazim the plain of breaches The like may be said of Samuel when the Lord had delivered Israel from the Army of the Philistins not by sword or by bow or by battle but by thunder from heaven then Samuel set up a great pillar of stone for a memorial to all generations and gives it a name he called it Eben-Ezer that is the stone of help saying thus far the Lord hath helped us 1. Sam. 7.12 And after that Jehosaphat had received a notable deliverance from the numerous Army of the Ammonites the Moabites and the Edomites that came against Juda not by fighting but by singing and praising God 2. Chr. 20.21.23 That the memoriall of so great a deliverance might be perpetuated to all posterity he put a name upon the place and called it Berachah that is blessing and so that valley was called the valley of blessing that when their children in time to come c. Eightly they expressed their thankfulness by erecting of Altars as Moses Exo. 17.14 and Gideon Jud. 6.24 and Josua Jos 8.30 and others Ninethly They did not onely blesse God for their deliverances and build Altars and erect great pillars and monuments but also they writ whole Rolles Bookes and volumes of their deliverances for the instruction of future generations and thus the Lord commanded Moses to write Israels deliverance from the lying in wait of Amelek the first enemy that affronted them after their coming out of Egypt Jos 17.14 The Lord said unto Moses write this for a Memorial in a book the Lord will have written and recorded not onely what Amalek did to Israel but also what the God of Israel did to Amalek for a Memorial to Israel for instruction to posterity that the generations to come might praise the Lord. Thus Israels deliverance from the Amorites and the wonderfull Acting of the Lord in order thereunto they recorded in a booke for the benefit of posterity Jos 10.13 The Sun stood still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Ajalon till the people were avenged of their enemies Is not this written in the booke of Jasher The great deliverance of Israel in the red sea and the wonders which the Lord wrought in the brooks of Arnon were recorded for a Memorial to posterity in the booke of the warrs of the Lord. Num. 21.14 It is sayd in the booke of the warrs of the Lord what he did in the red sea and in the brooks of Arnon And at the streame of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar and lyeth upon the border of Moab The vulgar latine reads the rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar and lye in the borders of moab upon which the do way translators comment thus A the Egyptians were drowned in the sea so the Amorites were oppressed with the rocks falling upon them and the waters carried their carcases into the valley of Moab This was recorded in the book of the warrs of the Lord. And thus they writ volumes and books of their deliverances for an everlasting Memorial to all posterity And was it thus with our fathers and the people of God informer ages then surely whatsoever things were written a foretime
doomesday for the good old cause that is for the advancement of the Catholick interest they had projected to quench the light of the Gospell with the blood of us that professed it and for the effecting their project with the more facility they had resolved to seize all the strong holds forts castles and magazines in the Kingdome and especially the Castle of Dublin at one time that is upon this 23. of October and so to get all the Arms and Ammunition in the Kingdome into their own hands and then to fall to the Sword and Skeane and to cry with the Edomites Down with them even to the ground Psal 137. v. 7. They had brought their design to the very nick of execution the lyers in wait were entred into their Ambush to surprize the Castle of this city at the hour apointed they had brought their mischeivons devise as nigh execution as Faux was to the blowing up of the Parliament house the powder and the billets were ready the train was layed there wanted nothing but applying the match to the powder Fire and wood were ready and we were designed for the sacrifice And these sons of Belial had brought their divelish plot within less then 14 hours to the time which they had designed for the execution it was a work of darkness saw not the light could not be discovered and therefore could not be prevented but he that keepeth Israel that never slumbers nor sleeps was pleased to watchover us seasonably to bring this worke of darkeness to light and by a wonderful way to discover their machinations and to deliver us by a greate deliverance as we see this day And doth not this call upon us to sing Jethro's Song of thanksgiving Benedictus Dominus Blessed be the Lord who hath deliverd us out of the hadd of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharao who hath delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians When this design was discovered and the Execution of it prevented they fell notwithstanding to carry on their purpose of rooting us out by the practice of all kind of mischiefe that mischiefe which they had before concluded and that as men in desperation Haec quia non successit alia aggrediendum via Now I confesse I should much afflict your minds and torment your patience I say not if I should make rehersal But if I should but point and glaunce at those manyfold and barbarous cruelties inhumanities and savage butcheries which they used and practised in every place were they came a gainst the Brittish Protestants as atoken of their inveterate hatred both to their nation and Religion It is hard to judge whether they were more in genious in the invention of variety of tortures or barbarously cruel in the execution But exungue leonem you may know the lyon by his paw and guesle at Hercules stature by the impression of his foot in Olympus I will but mention and I cannot without trembling the barbarous and inhumane stripping of men women and children naked in the depth of winter in the height of frost and snow and so turning them out of dores to wander in the bogs and mountains destitute afflicted and tormented feeding some like dogs and starving others with hunger their fearfull reproaches blasphemâ—es and insultations Some they would bring to the Church strip them naked set them before the Pulpit beat them with cudgels or scourge them with rods to the effusion of their blood and then aske them how like you such a Sermon as this to morrow you shall hear such an other what wanted this of the blasphemy of Davids enemies who in his distresse cryed where is now thy God Psal 42. v. 10. Hanging drowning stabbing knocking in the head were common and ordinary and might be reputed mercies at their hands and indeed were mercies comparatively that is in comparison of the lingring torments inflicted upon many others Some they made drunk with strong drink or inveigled them to go to mass upon promise to preserve their lives and then immediately hanged them indeavoring and intending as much as in them lay to destroy both body and Soul together some they buried a live and took much pleasure and delight to hear their cryes and pittyfull complaints and few they buried otherwise it is conceived upon good grounds that in one River they drowned no fewer then a thousand persons and that in the province of Ulster there perished in the beginning of the Rebellion above 154000. persons and then as Ahashucrus said what have they done in the rest of the Kingdom so that we may truly say with the Prophet Psal 79.1 Oh God the heathen are came into thine inheritance thy holy temples have they defiled and have made Jerusalem an heap of of stones The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meate to the fowles of the heaven and the flesh of thy servants have the heasts of the earth Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them Thus we were made a reproach to our neighbours a very scorne and derision to them that were round about us Now that the Lord hath thus wonderfully delivered us out of the hand of the Egyptians and preserved us alive as it is this day is it not a duty incumbent upon all of us to sing a Benedictus Dominus and say Psal 124.1 c. If the Lord himself had not been on our side now may Israel say If the Lord himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us Then they had swallowed us quick when they were so wrathfully displeased at us Then the waters had overwelmed us the stream had gone over our soul Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey unto their teeth Our souls are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the snare is broken and we are delivered let them then saith the Prophet give thanks unto the Lord whom he hath redeamed and delivered from the hand of the enemy and gathered them from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south Psal 107.2,3 Let the princes of the people sing their Benedctius Give unto the Lord Oh ye mighty Psal 29.1.2 give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse Let the priest be cloathed with righteousnesse and let the saints sing with joyfulnesse Let the priests with Jethro sing their Benedictus Blessed be the Lord who hath delivered us out of the hand of the Egyptians Let men sing with Zachary their Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israell Luc. 1.69 for he hath visited and redeamed his people and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us Let the women sing their Benedictus Luc. 1.46 with Mary and say My soule doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoyces in God my Saviour c. Let the children sing their Benedictus with the young ones in the temple and say Hosanna to the son of David Hosanna in the highest Mat. 21.9 Let us all give thanks and say The Lord is good for his mercy endureth for ever Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever And hath delivered us from our enemies for his mercy endureth for ever Oh give thanks to the God of heaven for his mercy endureth for ever Oh give thanks to the Lord of all Lords for his mercy endureth for ever Psal 102.18 This shall be written for the generations that are yet to come and the children that are yet unborne shall praise the Lord. FINIS