Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A46792
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A thanksgiving sermon preach'd upon the fifth of November, 1689 by Ben. Jenks.
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Jenks, Benjamin, 1646-1724.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing J623; ESTC R28742
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21,433
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42
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still as liable to be questioned For all the sour Intimations given and hard Words spoken of an indelible Blot cast on our Profession such Reproach need not break our hearts 'T is easie to put an ill Name upon any thing and than run away scar'd with the Mormo of our own Creating The proof is yet to come that the things excepted against are what some make bold to call them 'T is at the worst but a moot Point But that somewhat else was highly unlawful is no controverted Case at all And to be sorry that we are discharged from that Yoke is a strein above Primitive Christianity it self which never restrain'd its Votaries from being glad and thankful so to be rid of their Persecutors In the day when the Lord delivered David from the hand of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul he said I will love thee O Lord my strength Psal 18.1 Blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted ver 46. And does not such high thankfulness become us alike singularly obliged Not only the living Monuments but the Mighty Wonders of the most Signal Goodness When got out of the gloomy Shades of Babylon to possess the Land which again we may call our own We have the fairest invitation to lift up our Voices with our Hearts and sing the Songs of Zion And in our high Estate may we not forget him who remembred us in our lowest May not our Hearts be shut to him whose Hand has been so open to us O what so Charming Rhetorick as to beseech by the Mercies of God And being under a sweet Constellation of such Mercies O that we may feel their benign influence to transport us all into a cheerful Celebration of his Praises And not be worse than the dull Earth itself which reflects the Rays sent down upon it nor stifle the Memory of his Benefits who has done the greatest things for us As to which now we may say with the Psalmist here ver 2. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad Indeed we want only to be humble to make us thankful No such bar to gratitude as a supercilious pride The proud thinking all due to their Merits or below them they are asham'd to give thanks especially for such things as others have done to their hands but not just to their minds Only to the humble God gives more grace and such Souls will he still fill with his good things Let us then be humbly sensible of that we may be cordially thankful for his Mercy And as nothing will so secure the Blessings of Heaven to us so nothing will strike such confusion and dread into the Enemies of our Peace Like as when of old they began to Sing and Praise the Lord the Enemies of Judah were all Defeated before them 2 Chron. 20.22 Such blessed effects might we see of our sweet accord and uniting all to Magnifie the Lord and Exalt his Name They that have long hop'd to reap their Harvest out of the Seeds themselves have sown to breed our Dissentions would then Hear and Fear and no longer live in expectation to set up their Dagon again But be ready to throw their helpless Idols to the Moles and the Bats and go hide in Holes for fear of the Lord and for the Glory of his Majesty when he arises to shake terribly the Earth And then may we Bless God not only for the Deliverance begun but also for our hopes of the Perfecting all that concerns us If we will not reluctate against the Hand that is saving us but be only contented to be Happy and willing to see Glory dwell in our Land We may find the God of all Grace delighting yet further to oblige the Objects of his former Bounty and doing still more for us because he has done much already In the experience we have had of his Mercy lying all the best confidence we have of our security that he will go on to shew Mercy even for his Mercy 's sake making it a Motive to itself Circulating by its own Spring in a Perpetual Motion and to compleat the History of his own kindness because so long he has been Favourable to our Land watch over us still to do us good To him as we are most bounden for the Mercy of this Day and for those innumerable Mercies showr'd down upon us every day to fill even our whole Lives let us with the greatest Sincerity and Cheerfulness concur to Ascribe all Glory Thanks and Praise now and for ever Amen FINIS
had his Wits about him still yet as soon as he perceiv'd himself to be discovered he thought it then time to renounce them and by the Artifice of personating one distracted before the King of Gath he got himself a quick Discharge For the King capitulating with his Servants for bringing such a Mad man to him and ordering him to be turn'd out so he was at his liberty again 1 Sam. 21.10 to the end It may be questioned whether David did well so to act as a Cheat But if the counterfeiting were his Frailty yet that Deceit offers to our Observation this Truth That God may deliver even when men err in the means of Deliverance And then his Glory is not the less but greater still not to blast all the Success because of some faulty Instruments Tho it be the Lord 's doing yet if he please to make use of mens Concurrence to effect it Men will be like themselves and no wonder then if there be something in it that may lie open to Objection He that can serve the ends of his Glory upon Sin it self and makes even the Wrath of Man to praise him will not be so extreme to mark what his Servants do amiss as severely to exact all their Failings but mercifully allow for the Infirmity of our Frame and the pressure of our Temptations and not presently curse every good Design because its Promoters may make some false steps in their Conduct But no sooner did David find himself got off the Precipice and begin to reflect on the mercy of so strange a Preservation but he thought it was time to look up and bless the good Hand that had wrought his Deliverance And so he breaks out in his Benediction Ver. 1 2. I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall ever be in my mouth My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad He knew that all the Servants of God who came to the notice of it would be exceedingly affected with it and therefore such he invites to participate with him in the Thanksgiving not thinking himself single sufficient for so great a Service he summons in the whole Church to take a share O magnifie the Lord with me c. Where we have to consider 1. The Example and pious Practice of this Royal Prophet it being implied that he did magnifie the Lord and exalt his Name His Exhortation and earnest Desire expressed that others would accord and strike in with him O magnifie the Lord with me and let c. I shall speak of it First as every one's Duty in particular and then of its discharge in Conjunction with others But to state the thing in its proper Notion before I urge our Obligation to it let me shew what it is to magnifie the Lord and exalt his Name and how we are to perform it And afterward what reason we have all to apply our selves to it To magnifie the Lord in the letter is to make him great and to exalt his Name is to raise the honor of his Works and Attributes and all the Revelation of God whereby he has made himself known to the World his Name being himself as so discovered Now here we are at a loss in the very entrance of our Work for that this thing does not look feasible at all nor likely for us ever to acquit our selves of it To make the Supreme the greatest and best higher greater or better alas we are not able 't is utterly impossible Let us not mistake in arrogating to our selves that which is quite out of our reach as if we diminutive bits of God's Creation could enrich the Exchequer of Heaven or make him to whom we owe our very selves beholden to us in the least Never must any man think so to be profitable unto God for in this Consideration his Name is exalted far above all Blessing and Praise And nothing of our ascribing can make any manner of addition to his Glory No 't is not at all in himself but only in our own Minds and others Esteem that we are capable of greatning and advancing the most Glorious and ever Blessed God as the sweet Singer of our Israel expresses it In my heart though not in Heaven I can raise thee We cannot make him but his praise glorious i. e. when we publish the Name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to our God Deut. 32.3 When we conceive in our selves any worthy Sentiments becoming the Divine Majesty and Goodness are fill'd with an admiring Sense of his Transcendent Excellencies and a grateful Sense of his loving kindness and endeavor all we can to propagate the same magnificent and fair Idea to others This is the utmost whereof we are capable to glorifie God in such aggranding Representations as shew him somewhat like himself Nor must we fondly imagine that he who lacks nothing affects to be honored like sinful Men whose very defectiveness sets them a gasping after Vain-Glory to be thought of higher and better than their Deserts The God of all Glory and infinite Perfections as he cannot need the frail Breath and good Words of his poor Creatures so 't is infinitely below the most High to intend what even a wise Man would scorn only to fill others Minds with wonder and be celebrated in the World. His Glory shining with a constantly equal Lustre to his own Satisfaction whether Men observe it or no As long as he is infinitely pleased with the beauty of his own Actions He concerns not himself whether perverse incompetent Judges approve or dislike them any farther than they stand obliged by their own Duty and Felicity Nor can we suppose him delighted in our Applauses but only as our Well-doing is to him Well-pleasing and the Justice of the thing requires that we should render to him all Glory from whom we receive all Good. For 't is dishonest indeed as well as unthankful not to own whence we have every thing that is worth the having 't is sacrilegiously to pilfer from him what of all Reason and Right belongs to him Tho it accrues nothing to his benefit yet 't is Robbery for us to embezzle it And when his Name is polluted in the sight of the Heathen which in it self its true cannot suffer any Eclipse tho no Affronts can hurt him yet ought they to wound his Servants Ill Reflections on their Lord must be as a Sword in their Bones and the Reproaches of them that reproach Him fall upon them According to the Greek Father's Paraphrase * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Bas Hom. in Psalm He magnifies the Lord who with a large Mind and profound Contemplation surveys the great Works of the Creation that through the Magnitude and Beauty of the things made be may steal some glimpses of the glorious Author of their being And suitable hereto it is to form and preserve in our Souls such reverent Apprehensions of the Deity as may humble us