Knees and listed Eyes presenting our selves before him With mentioning what God has done we are to do as he said in Psal 145.2 Every Day will I bless thee my God But there is one Exercise of our Lips which God is more peculiarly to be praised with and that is the Singing of Psalms In those Commands of God which require the praises of God even in our Dayes we have such clauses as those in Psal. 95 1. O come let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation The New Testament sufficiently inculcates this way of praising the most High and if you will believe Tertullian the Primitive Christians hardly ever had a Feast without it There are savoury Hymns of an Humane Composure which no doubt we may praise God by singing of But Scriptural and inspired Hymns are those which we should principally thus put Regards upon The Psalms of David are those which God is to be Praised by a Reverent and Attentive Singing of These were those no doubt which our Saviour Himself Sang at the Passover more than a score of Times And the very Angels whose Melodies the Shepherds overheard of old seem to sing out of the Eighty fifth Psalm Hence when the Apostle says in Eph. 5.19 Speak to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs he alludes to the well-known Division of the Psalter q. d. Go sing all the Psalms of David over Till we can mend them never let us leave them He that shall sing those Blessed Psalms and ordinarily spend at least one Observation and one Ejaculation upon every verse as he goes along will therein praise the great God at no common rate Secondly Our Lives are likewise to be Employ'd in the Praises of God We have Hands as well as Tongues for it and some thing there is that our Hand finds to do The best Thanksgiving is Thanks-living We should sometimes put that Question to our selves in Psal. 116.12 What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits As a return to God for the Excellent things that are done by Him we are to order our lives in such a manner as may be pleasing to him Hence in Psal. 50.23 He that offers praise and he that orders his conversation aright are equivolent There is a general Return of Obedience which we are to praise God by yielding of It is said in Phil. 1 1â— the fâ—uit's of Righteousness are unto the glory and praise of God Where God had carried Israel over Iordan there were Stonâ—s erected for His praise but what was inscribed on them was it any History of what and been done by God No it was a Copy of the Law Our keeping the Law is our praising of him that gave it We praise God when we seen and blush to do any thing that he may be displeased at There is also a special Return of well-doing which we should now and then praise God withal As when David had seen many mighty things done by God he became inquisitive in 2 Sam. 7.2 What shall I now do for the House of God so some signal act of Piety or of Charity should be done by us that God may not be without his praise We praise God when we are labouring to do some singular thing for the advancement of His Truths and Wayes Secondly VVe are to Spread the praises due to God for the excellent things that He has done Yea our outmost is to be done that they may be known in all the Earth A good man desires that he may not be Alone in the praising of God he would have all men to joyn with him in it It is therefore said by such a man Come I will declare what God has done fâ—r my Soul We are to praise God as publickly and as openly as we can and to say like him in Psal. 22.25 My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation And we are to do what we fairly can that the excellent things done by God may not be concealed things but that all men may be acquainted with them so are we advised in Psal. 105.1 2. Give thanks to the Lord make known His Deeds among the people sing unto Him talk ye of all His wondrous Works We should render them as Notorious as they are Notable and publish them among all our Neighbours as the happy partakers did the healing Miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it was the wish of the Psalmist in Psal. 26.7 That I may publish with the voice of Thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works Yea when God has done Excellent things we are not only to speak of them but if we can to write of them too Every good man should leave to his Children a Diary for a Legacy Some written Memorials and Experiâ—ncâ—s of Excellent things which a good man in the time of his Pilgrimage hath seen done by the most High these would be well worth beqâ—eâ—thing to them that should come after him that they may set their hope in God And the more considerable Appearances of God in every Generation ought with a fuller Publication to be transmitted unto Posterity by the Pens of good Historians That we have no more Books of Remarkable Providences is an Omission that has wrong'd and rob'd the Almighty God of more than a Million praises There should be compiled sufficient Narratives of the excellent things occurring in every Age and every place like the Books of Iasher and Nathan and Iddo and other Seers or like the Pillars among many Monuments of Antiquity What shall I say more when God has done a more conspicuously excellent thing He is to be praised after that manner in Psal. 102.18 This shall be written for the Generation to come and the people that shall be Created shall praise the Lord. But it remains that these things be made useful to us APPLICATION And O that we might all stir up our selves this Day to Sing and Spread the praises due to the Eternal God for the excellent things which He has done It is an excellent thing indeed that we may have a Day of Thanksgiving while the World is in so much Confusion and Combustion and every where Mens hearts are failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are doing upon the Earth Let us be at some pains that this Day be not lost or that it may not evaporate in a few sensual satisfactions The Excellent things done by God are now to be the Repast of our Souls Days of Thanksgiving as they are among the most Heavenly so they will be among the most prosperous of all our Devotions There are Pious Men that will now and then in secret places keep their Dayes of Thanksgiving before the Lord laying out whole Dayes in praising of the Great God for what He is and what He does and in pondering on What they shall do for God And I 'll assure you such persons ripen for Heaven a pace yea
The Hebrew Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is indeed a Substantive and it intimates that the Works of God are even Excellency in the Abstract and Majesty it self And the Chaldee Paraphrase here fitly puts upon them the term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Magnalia noting in them something eminent and powerful Such things are done by Him who is Wonderful in Working Secondly The Duties of men are then specified hereupon Since excellent Things are done by God there are two things to be done by us First We are to sing the Praises of God It is â—here said Sing unto the Lord. And such is the expression in the Holy style as to signifie not only an exactness but also an instrument used in the Song We are with a Sacred Musick to magnifie the God who is worthy to be Praised Secondly We are to spread the Praises of God It is here said This is known in all the Earth but the version which is by some chosen for it rather is Let this be known in all the Earth We should not only our selves do it but likewise provoke and excite all the Earth to take notice of what Wonders have been done by Him who is fearful in Praises Wherefore the Truth to be now entertained with us is That it should be our study to SING and SPREAD the Praises due to the Eternal God for the EXCELLENT Things which are done by Him in the World It is by the Propounding of two or three Conclusions that this Doctrine will have its due Advantages PROPOSITION I. There are multitudes of Praises due to the God of Heaven from us To praise God is to Acknowledge the persections that are in Him 't is to Acknowledge the infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Holiness which are His Attributes and this we are to do In all our ways We have received our Being for this End and our Grand our Chief Errand into the World is That our God may have a Number of Rational Beholders to be sensible of His Excellencies When Mankind came first out of His Glorious Hand He then said as in Isa. 43.21 This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise In our Lower Little World no Creatures can be found capable of Conceiving and Expressing those Acknowledgments of God which are The Glory due unto his Name besides MAN who is therefore not unfitly called The High-priest of the Creation The devout Psalmist once called upon all Creatures with a Repeated Invitation Praise ye the Lord but they all reply that Man is to do it for them and they all therefore conspire to offer the Notices of the Almighty God unto Mans affectionate Contemplation To praise God is to Acknowledge in Him something Excellent as 't is said in Psal. 148.13 Let them praise the name of the Lord for His Name alone is Excellent thus when we Acknowledge an Excellency in all those Manifestations which God maketh of Himself then 't is that we praise Him Now the Praises owing to the God of Heaven from us are obliged not only by what He Is but also by what He Does indeed by what He Does it is that we come to Learn what He is We ought to Acknowledge an Excellency in the Nature of God which is to Ascribe Glory to Him The Language of our praises is to be that in Psal. 89.6 Who can be compared who can be Likened unto the Lord God should be truly Transcendent with us We should apprehend that as the Name of our God is I AM so all other Beings are as meer Non-Entities in comparison of Him subscribing to that in Isa. 40.17 All are before Him as Nothing We should apprehend the Being of God so Independent so Unchangeable so Mysterious as no other Being is and with Dazzled Souls fall into such praises as to say I cannot find out the Almighty to perfection The perfections that are in the Almighty God should even Astonish our Understandings and fetch the Exclamations of Moses from us in Exod. 15.11 Who is like unto thee O Lord who is like unto thee One while our praises are like Hannahs to say There is none Holy as the Lord Another while our praises are like Ethans to say Who is a Strong God like unto thee Sometimes our Praises like Pauls are to say God is only Wise and sometimes again God is True but every man a Lyar and then with David we are to praise and say O how great is thy Goodness But the Excellency which is in the Works of God is that which renders the Glory of His Essence most apparent unto us and the praises which we are to bring unto Him are in a great measure to spring from thence We are told in Isa. 28.29 The Lord of Hosts is Excellent in Working Our praises of God are in This to find the Reasons of them He has done Excellent Things First We ought with many praises to observe the Excellent Things which God has done for our selves As the Psalmist call'd upon himself in Psal. 103.1 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his Benefits thus ought we to Reflect upon the many Benefits and Kindnesses of the most High towards our selves with praises too many to be Numbred too Hearty to be ended We ought to see something of God in all our Circumstances and upon all that happens to us we are to say The Lord be magnify'd But there are some Excellent Things done for us by our God Things which no Friend no Hand none else could have done for our Good and These Things we should with suitable praises be particularly grateful for It is the manner of the Iems to receive the Comforts of their Lives with a Baruk Adonai or Blessed be the Lord. We that are Christians may not suffer our selves to be exceeded by any people in Thankfulness unto God It is related concerning our Loâ—d Jesus Christ in John 6.11 that he would not Eat a Meals Meat without a Thanksgiving over it Much more ought the more Excellent Things that are done for us to be so Acknowledged When God had heard a Prayer there was that praise returned for it in John 11.41 Father I thank thee for it We ought seriously to think What Answers of our Prayers what Reliefs of our Wants and Woes the great God has in an excellent manner favoured us withal and the Result of all should be Lord I thank thee for these Excellent Things A good Hezekiah himself may smart by failing here Those persons are worse than Pharisees in whose mouths God be Thanked is not a frequent but yet solemn interject on Secondly We ought with many praises to observe the Excellent Things which God has done for Others as well as for our selves Our praises must not be confined unto those mercies of God which we our selves have been the Subjects of But all His Dispensations abroad in the world are to be the Occasion of our Hallelujahs to Him A Soul that is Fill'd with
they live in Heaven upon Earth But as for Dayes of Thanksgiving observed in the Assemblies of good men all men have seen the wonderful successes of them New Englands Prosperity has more visibly followed upon its Thanksgivings than upon its Humiliations as in times both of War and of Sickness has been more than once perceived We have seen the fulfilment of that Word in 2 Chron. 20.22 When they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against their Enemies Praises thousands of high praises be to our God that we may have a Day to celebrate His praises But that our praises may be awakened and that no man may make a Iar in our Harmony Consider how Reasonable these praises are for us all O consider with our selves Who is God it is He that Humbles Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven Consider Who is Man a poor Worm yea a cursed Viper Now that this GOD should look upon this man Lord What is man that thou shouldest be mindful of him Yet the Eternal God has been doing of Excellent things which we not only behold but also enjoy There is not one of us all who has not excellent things to be this Day praising the Almighty for They whose case is never so bad yet have cause to carry on this Day of Thanksgiving with us in that it is no worse The most miserable person in all this Congregation may with an eye to his own condition say like him in Psal. 119.156 Many are thy mercies O Lord. If I could find out the most unhappy and the most complaining person among you all even to that person would I say God has done Excellent things for thee and some that never sinned so much yet suffer more than you Consider Likewise how profitable these Praises will be to us all Behold an Expedient for the obtaining of all the Blessings that can be wish'd for It was said in Psal. 67.5 6. Let the people praise thee then our God shall bless us If the Earth send Vapours up to Heaven Heaven will make Showers to descend on the Earth Let our praises be continually ascending from us and they will soon issue in those things that are called The Showers of Blessing When we have a Jealousie of a Leaky Vessel we try it by first putting of Water before we trust Better Liquors in it if we that have little more than Water to comfort us will yet not permit it to Leak without Praises from us then God has more Excellent Things to do for us To be always Begging and Craving as a Dog for his Morsels ad Spem futuri semper hians without multiplyed praises unto God this is a most vile Disingenuity 'T is no less than a Loss of yea no less than a Curse on all our Blessings which we incurr by not praising the giver of them But the praising Soul may fill himself with such a Ioyful Hope as that in Psal. 71.14 I will Hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more Those that are sollicitous least God should Loose any of His Praises are the persons for whom God will be concerned that they don't Loose any of His Blessings these are they that shall experimentally understand the Loving kindness of the Lord. Man wouldest thou have any Excellent Things done for thy self Then bring thy praises for what Excellent Things have been done in the world I suppose by this time we have generally got our Hallelujahs ready but you call for a Catalogue of those Excellent Things which they are to be fixed on 'T is a Feast that you are this Day to be treated at and before you go out of these Doors a Feast you shall have I shall set before you a short Account of some Excellent Things which I intend as a Feast for your praises and believe me though your praises had and O that they may have no less than an Eternity to be Feeding on those matters in they never would be glutted never cloyed First The Excellent Things done by God in the Works of CREATION call for our Praises It was once the out-cry of the Psalmist in a Rapture Praise the Lord from the Heavens praise the Lord from the Earth praise the Lord all ye His Armies Truly 'T is our Business to praise Him for the Heavens and for the Earth and for all those Armies which He has replenished the World withal We have a good pattern for us in Psal 104.24 33. says the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy Works in wisdom hast thou made them all Well and what is now incumbent upon us that have the view thereof It follows I will sing praise unto my God while I have any Being Methinks the Children of Men too much imitate the Spider when they Look after nothing but building a little House for themselves and concern themselves with nothing but the petty Affairs thereof We should remember that we are Citizens of the WORLD and as far as we can we should visit every Corner of it with our Praises to Him of whom and for whom is all I make no question but that we do in a blessed manner Antedate Heaven by doing so The Praises of God are Exhibited in every part of the World and we forfeit the priviledge of Reason if we do not put as many of them as we can into our Aâ—knowledgments There are above six Thousand Plants growing on that little Spot of the World which we Tread upon and yet a Learned Man has more than once found One Vegetable enough to make a Subject for a Treatise on it What might then be said upon the Hundred and fifty Quadrupeds the Hundred and fifty Volatils the five and Twenty Reptiles besides the vast multitudes of Aquatils added unto the rich variety of Gems and Minerals in our World Our own Bodies are to use the Phrase of the Psalmist So Fearfully and Wonderfully made that one of the Ancient Heathen at the sight thereof could not forbear breaking forth into an Hymn unto the praise of the great Creator 'T is impossible that any thing should be better shaped Indeed All the Things that we have every Day before our eyes have a most charming prospect in them and the very Deformities which the Flood has brought upon this Terraquecus Globe are made Beauties by the Disposals of the Lord that sat upon the Flood There is not a Fly but what may confute an Atheist And the Little things which our Naked Eyes cannot penetrate into have in them a Greatness not to be seen without Astonishment By the Assistence of Microscopes have I seen Animals of which many Hundreds would not AEqual a Grain of Sand. How Exquisite How stupendous must the Structure of them be The Wholes that are sometimes found more than an Hundred Foot in Length methinks those moving Islands are not such Wonders as these minute Fishes are But alas All this Globe is but as a Pins point if compared with the mighty Universe
Never did any man yet make a tolelerable Guess at its Dimensions but were we among the Stars we should utterly lose the sight of our Earth although it be above twenty six thousand Italian Miles in the compass of it Look upon the Wandring Stars and you shall see so many Worlds that swallow up all our Conjectures at the circumstances of them and of their Satellites Look upon the Fixed Stâ—â—s and what shall we say about the Bigness of them Doubtless they many scores of times exceed the Bulk of this poor Lump of Clay about a few Foot whereof the Inhabitants are so Quarrelsome Or what shall we say about the Number of them For though they are but a few above a Thousand That we ever see without a Telescope yet that will tell us that the Six which we commonly call The Seven Stars have above Sixty among them and the rest are like the Sand of the Sea innumerable But above all the Sun that pâ—â—ncipal Engine which the whole Visible Creation hath such a manifest Dependence on This declares the Glory of God at such a Rate that the Philosopher once thought himself Born on purpose to Behold the Splendors of it This at last hath glar'd out my Eyes that at this Time I can look no further upon the Marvels of the Creation But my Brethren Let us take our Time to Travel over the World I hope we shall one Day have Bodies more able to do it than our Spirits at present are and then let us give many Thousands of Praises to Him whose Omnipotent and Omniscient Hand hath Created all O Sing unto the Lord because He hath done Excellent Things in making and managing the vast Fabrick of the World Secondly The Excellent Things done by God in the works of REDEMPTION call for our Praises It was the Exordium of a Psalm in Psal. 107.1 2. O give Thanks unto the Lord for He is Good Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so Behold a Constellation of Excellent Things here which the very Angels at this Day are with a million Praises adoring of Could we steal a Look this Day into the Third Heaven we should see the multitude of the Heavenly Host there clapping of their Golden Wings and hear them reiterating that Heavenly Shout in Luke 2.14 Glory to God in the Highest because there is on Earth Peace and good will towards men When the blessed Angels beheld the horrible Pit which Man by Sin was fallen down into doubtless they were even at their Wits ends about a way for his Reeovery doubtless with pity and much Despair they cry'd out Alas for miserable man He is helpless and hopeless now for ever But they have now seen a Remedy provided for undone wretched man and therein they see what they Sâ—â—â—p and Bend themselves to pry into they see The manifold Wisdom of God and they have ever since even for more than five Thousand years been Praising of the God that has Remembred us in our Low Estate because his Mercy Endures for ever That there should be a Man who was Born perhaps in September not seventeen Hundred years ago and who yet is the Father of Eternity a Man who lay in a Cradle and who yet cannot be contain'd by the Heaven of Heavens a man who is his own Mothers Father in a word a man in whom dwells the Fulness of the God-head and from whose Fulness all we receive behold an Excellent thing which the very Angels cover their faces at No man Living is able to comprehend the Triumphant Praises that were among the Angels of God when our Saviour was first Born into the world When the Sun of Righteousness first shone in our Horizon doubtless these Morning Stars were presently making their Acclamations at it The Tidings of it were quickly carried through all the quarters of the Heavens and the whole City of God was moved at the Report When it was told The Redeemer of Lâ—st Man is Born it set them all on Praising the most High God and saying Glory Glory to the Highest in the Highest for ever Well they call us Their Brethren and from the Lofty Battlements of the Third Heaven they call unto us that we would not Leave them to Praise Alone A famous Minister Lying at the point of Death after he had been for some Time sensless fell to Singing in a manner very extraordinary and gave this Reason for it I heard the Angels and shall not I joyn with them Surely our Interest in Redempâ—â—â—â— is not inferiour to Theirs but then strike up Ye Redeemed of the Lord where O where are the Praises due to Him that hath Delivered you from all the fiery plagues which you have madly expos'd yourselves unto What could we Children of wrath have imagined but that a just and a terrible God would have said concerning us I will avengâ— me on those Adversaries But instead thereoâ— behold He has ready for us a Iesus whâ— saves His People from their Sins and thâ—â— calls aloud unto us O Look unto me and 〈◊〉 saved This is an Excellent Thing 'T is aâ— Excellent Thing which God has done in 〈◊〉 Loving the World as to give His only begotteâ— Son that whosoever Believes may not perish but have Everlasting Life 'T is an Excellenâ— Thing which God has done in ordering that He who thought it no Robbery to be Equal with God should take on him the Form of a Servant for us thereby to gain the Dignity of Chilâ—dren 'T is an Excellent Thing That He whâ— knew no Sin should be made Sin for us and wâ— be made the Righteousness of God in Him anâ— that we who have lain in the Belly of Hell should be Renewed by the holy Spirit and 〈◊〉 made to sit together in Heavenly Places 〈◊〉 Christ Iesus I am to tell you That the Blackest of all the Devils are Saints in comparison of that Man whom these Excellenâ— Things do not Effectually bespeak all possible praises from But you that by Regeneration are arrived unto a more Plenary Actual sensible Interest in this Redemption are 〈◊〉 be more abundant in your praises O straiâ— the utmost of your Capacities to shew foâ— the praises of Him who has called you out 〈◊〉 Darkness into his Marvellous Light Come SING unto the Lord because He has done Excellent Things in the Recovering of Lost Man to an intimate and Eternal Fellowship with Himself Thirdly The Excellent things done by God in the Goverâ—ment of the World call upon us to praise His blessed Name for ever The continual providence of God is disposing of all things in an Excellent subordination to His own praise the Wâ—eels of providence are not carried on caeco impetu but are full of eyes and if we praise Him not for Things that every day occur unto us t is because we are worse than blind These two things are conjoâ—ned in Psal. 103.19 20. The Lords Kingdom â—uleth over all Bless ye the Lord. We may see our eternal King
the Common Rights which all English-men justly reckon themselves born unto and that all that was dear unto us was entirely given up to the Arbitrary disposals of four or five Men that beyond all measure hated us and made no stick to tell us We were but Slaves You have seen cause to Declare that we were now given to understand Our Lands were none of our own and that a Storm of unjust Violence was every day falling upon the more Honest and sober part of the Countrey while the wicked walked on every side and the vilest Men were exalted Our Churches also began to feel the kindness of those who had Sworn by the Living God to ruine them and all Debauchery was coming in among us like a mighty Flood All this while we were in a Sea of fire miserably scorched and scalded and yet it was mingled with Ice there were great cakes of Ice over our Heads there was no getting out That one person who now hazarded his All to obtain us Relief by carrying our Addresses for us was made sensible of this Remember O New-England how often that cry then went up from thee to the Lord Return we beseech thee O God of Hosts look down from Heaven and visit this Vine And now behold He is Returned Our Adversaries are what and where they are and we see so far Our Iudges as at the first and our Councellors at the Beginning And there are several Excellent Things that have been done for for us by our God while He has been effecting of our Deliverance We have cause to Praise the God of Heaven That in the Tumult of our Action there was not the loss of a Drop of Blood nor such Plunder and Outrage as would have been a Disgrace to our Profession We have cause to Praise Him that our Soveraign has Declared He took very well what we had done for Him and for our selves in the Revolution We have cause to Praise Him that we have been so comfortably carried through the Difficulties of a whole Summer while we could not say That any Law was of any Force with us Every Week erected a new Ebenezer for us We have cause to praise Him for putting it into the Heart of a Person well known unto you all to take a Voyage into England just before the late Overturnings there on purpose to be in the way of those Opportunities which his Faith was that he should have to serve the Churches of the Lord Jesus here by which means as our Friends there assure us it is that we have been preserved from being totally udome We have cause to praise Him for giving a check to those Indian Blood-Hounds which have been worrying of us in the East who having destroy'd several Plantations met with no full stop till they assaulted the first Place where a Gospel Ministry was maintained but there they found such a Bar in their Carrier that we now hear no more of them And may I not say it We have cause to Praise the Glorious God for some Excellent Things which as yet we know not of We gave Imperfect but with many probable Accounts of a Deliverance from a French Force that the possession of this Territory would have been a valuable Thing unto But this is indubitable If it had not been the Lord who was on our side may New-England now say they had swallowed us up quick Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their Teeth New-England Be humbly Thankful to thy God and exalt the God of thy Fathers God forbid there should be any Murmurers among us all A year or two ago we would have been Thankful for a small moâ—ety of what we now enjoy But if our Praises are not yet enough animated I pray then let us make a comparison of our Condition Compare our Condition with that of them in Hâ—ngary The Protestant Churches there have been made a Desolation and it would break an heart of Stone to Hear what both Pastors and People have endured Should you see one of the poor Confessors come out of an hideous Dungeon full of Tâ—â—ds and Snakes and Excremenâ—s with their very Throats putrified their Teeth fallen out and their Eyes gone into their Heads and their Flesh mangled in a thousand places you could not forbear preaching a Sermon on Thankfulness to God Imagine your selves under the continual Executions of the most witty Divels and all that shall but relieve you with a bit of Bread torn to pieces by the hand of an Hangman and you will see what has befallen the most venerable Ministers of that Kingdome until the Protestant Religion has been almost extirpated there and this after the Oathes of their Monarch to support it Compare our Condition with that of them in Germany The French King has there made even the Popish Provinces themselves a Stage of Blood and laid all in Ashes for many Leagues together He has given the Sun for his Device upon many of his Coines and by the Fiery Destructions which his Bombs have made he has given us cause to suspect whether he be not the Sâ—n in the fourth Vial that has power to Sâ—orch men with Fire Imagine that you were put under the French Contributions and not only Rob'd of all you have in the World but also driven like so many Cattle before their Slaughterers Imagine your Towns laid all in Heaps and your Persons obnoxious to all manner of Rapine and Murders from the worst of Hâ—rpyes this is what thousands are now feeling of Compare our Condition with that of them in France Except in the matter of our Sabbaths what are we better than the People of God in that rueful Countrey But all the Bloody Butcheries and Cruelties committed in the By-past Ages are meer Trifâ—les in comparison of what that People have of late endured and this after Faith given often â—nough unto the contrary After they â—ad gone thorough intolerable vexations â—n all those things that they had â—ny kindness for they have been at last â—iven up into the claws of the merciless â—ragoons and were all the Divels of Hell Inâ—arnate they could not invent more or worse â—ortures than these Dragons inflict upon â—ersons of all sorts till they have compelled â—â—em to abjure the Truth of God and thus all â—he Flocks of the Lord Jesus have been worâ—ed and Ruined there Imagine a Swarm of Lew'd Souldiers like Locusts quartered 〈◊〉 your Houses and there binding of you that they might abuse your nearest Relations before your eyes imagine them Hanging of you by the Hair of your Heads and then half Choaking of you with Smoke or half Roasting of you with Fire imagine them pricking of you with Knives and Bodâ—kins and with ten thousand lingring Tortures making you Desire while you may not enjoy such a priviledge as Death until at last you have been worried into an Abjuration which makes the wounds on your Consciences no less than those on your Bodies were before
all the Fullness of God will be Filled with praises to Him for all his Workmanship We should be like him that said in Psal 139.14 I will praise thee for marvellous are thy Works Whatever our God is Doing we should upon the sight thereof be praising and we should Acknowledge Him in all those Excellent Things which we see done in any part of the Universe It was said in Psal. 40.5 Many O Lord my God are the Wonderful Works which thou hast done God has done many Wonderful Works and many Excellent Things in which we our selves have not an Immediate or at least not a peculiar share but we should all render praises unto Him on the account thereof It is mentioned as the priviledge of a Righteous man in Psal. 112.9 His Horn shall be exalted What if one thing intended in it should be This That as the praises of God were sounded by His People in Cornets of old so there were Exalted Horns or Exalted Notes which He would have their praises to be Raised with Thus we read in 1 Chron. 25.5 of Words to Lift up the Horn To accommodate the Allusion The Praises of God are to Sound High in our Devotions When we praise God for being Excellently Good unto our selves we do well but we are to Raise our praises unto an Higher pitch than so they are to Expatiate upon all those things wherein our God has exhibited Himself as Excellently Great throughout the world Such Abstracted Praises are agreeable to the Inclinations of every Godly man he argues at that Rate Great is the Lord and therefore Greatly to be praised PROPOSITION II. We ought both to Sing and to Spread the praises which we owe unto the God of Heaven Behold a double Office incumbent on us with respect unto those Acknowledgments which we are to pay unto our God beside and beyond the first Motions of them in our own Souls Indeed the Spring of all the Acknowledgments which we make unto God must be in our Hearts and the gracious Opinions and Resentmenâ—s which are first formed there We must first look to this that God be praised by the Thoughts in our minds and as the Psalmist speaks by All that is within us Blessing his Holy Name They never will praise God sufficiently or acceptably who cannot say as in Luke 1.46 My Soul does Magnify the Lord. As all worship of God so particularly all praising of God must be performed in Spirit otherwise it will not be in Truth But the praises of God being shaped in the Honourable Thoughts of our Souls what are we then to do First We are to Sing the praises due to God for the Excellent Things that He hath done And if we keep close to the Text we shall see two things here demanded of us First There should be an Exactness used in our praising of God There should be in our Praises as on one side an Amputation of all that is improper so on the other side no Omission of any Article that calls for our meditations The charge given to us is That in Psal. 103.2 Forget not all His Benefits We should not Forget so much as One of the Excellent Things which we can Remember to be done by God The skipping of One stroke in a Lesson often spoils the grace of the Musick So does the missing of One Thing in a Commemoration of what God has done We should be careful with an often yea with a daily Examination to inform our selves about the Things for which God is to be praised It is hardly convenient for a man to sleep at Night until he have pondered What New Excellent Thing has been done by God this Day that I should particularly praise Him for And we should be careful that our Sorrows do not swallow up our praises 'T is often so that as that worthy woman of old could not eat of the Peace Offerings which was a Thank-Offering because She Wept thus we can't praise God because He Smites us We cannot see Excellent Things done by God because we feel Terrible Thins done to our selves But this is our Folly Where we have One Trouble we have a Thousand mercies of our own to be praising for And if we were a million times more afflicted than we are yet the Lord might challenge our Praises It was a great Speech of the Renowned Gerson Quiequid deme ordinaverit Deus said He However God may dispose of me for ever whether to Eternal Weal or Wo yet This I know that He is worthy of my praises and He shall have them all Indeed Praises are a Debt owing to Him even from those woful Spirits that are broken in the place of Dragons and covered with the shadow of Death Secondly There should also be an Instrument used in our Praising of God But of what kind Far be it from us to plead for that which is properly instrumental Music in the Church of the Lord Jesus Indeed before the coming of our Lord there was in the Church a Divine appointment for such a thing and between the Neginoth and the Nehiloth I find if I miscount not sixteen or more kinds of Instruments for the maintaining of it But upon the Abolition of the Mosaic Pedagogy we have no order for the continuance of this Temple Worship by introducing of it into our Synagogues The Primitive Church had it not as even a Bellarmine tells you the Ancients often loudly declaim against it and Aquinas himself about four hundred years ago notwithstanding all his Popery and Bigottry yet bestows none of the kindest Remarks upon it The Schoolmen themselves own that Aliquid Figâ—rabat it was a Typical thing and we having in the Tydings of the Gospel that grace and joy which this was a figure of ought not to Iudaize by upholding the shadow in the presence of the Substance nor ought we to bring into the House of God a Troop of Officers which the Lord Jesus never instituted What Instruments are we then to praise God withal we are all furnished with two at least First Our Lips are to be employed in the praises of God The Psalmist called his Tongue my glory Our Tongues are then our glory when we glorifie God therewith all 'T is a proper service for them Hence the Apostle sayes Therewith we bless God It is Desired for the Saints in Psal. 149 6. let the High Praises of God be in their mouthes And it is Resolved by one of them in Psal. 145.21 My mouth shall speak the praises of the Lord. Hence the Apostle urges it in Heb. 13.15 let us offer the Sacrifice of praises to God continually that is the fruit of our lips There were Offerings of many sorts which God was praised withal of old but our Lips are to be instead of the Calves and Lambs and other Euchrristical Offerings that then were customary With our Lips we are to rehearse and recite the Excellent Things that have been done by God especially when we are with bended
these Invaders and they were now returning from Gerar 〈◊〉 place between thirty and forty miles off unâ—to Ierusalem The Holy Spirit of God exciâ—ted and inclined a Prophet whose Name waâ— Azariah to entertain them with a faithful solid Sermon hereupon and in my Teâ— you have the Sum and Substance of it We may observe First The Praeface of it and that iâ— very awful and earnest Hear ye me Asa anâ— all Judah and Benjamin As he was probaâ—bly none of the greatest so t is like he waâ— none of the oldest men for it seems by thâ— eighth verse that his Father was yet alive 〈◊〉 present at this time Yet being to speak 〈◊〉 the Name of the great and eternal God 〈◊〉 expects he demands the attention of 〈◊〉 whole Army to him Secondly the Design of it and that is to â—ecclare both the Rise and Vse of their late Prosperity The Lord is with you while you â—ou are with Him or as the Vulgar Latin has â—t Inasmuch as you have been with him What â—ollows is but an Explication and Ampliâ—ication of this He saw they were taken up with various Businesses and Contrivances they had their Enemies under Hatches and â—heir minds were full of Thoughts and Cares What to do next But he calls them off to acknowledge the Presence of God as the cause of â—heir coming off so well in their late Action and above all things to obtain secure the presence of God that they might come off as well in in their future Enterprises I am therefore to call for your Attention â—nto this Faithful Saying DOCT. That The GOD of Heaven will be with a people while they are with Him 'T is by the ensuing Propositions that the Explication of this Truth shall be endeavoured PROPOSITION I. It is the Interest and should be the Desire of Every people to have the God of Heaven With them But we are to enquire What is implied in that presence of GOD which we are to be solicitous about For Answer to this There is a Threefolâ— Presence of God mentioned in the Scripturâ— of Truth First God is Naturally present with all Creatures He is an Immense Being and no Creature can be without him The Apostle that argued in the Court at Athens in Act 1â— 27. God is not far from every one of us Noâ— He is near us all He is with us all And Paiâ— could have had the Gentiles themselves confessing it for besides what their Seneca diâ— own One of their own Poets had said Iovis omnia plena It is the Speech of our God in Ier. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Yea That He do's The Jews call God by the Name of Makom or of Place because all things are in Him this is His Name in the Book of Esther if I mistake it not Whether we may count it proper and physical to speak of an Imaginary Infinite space beyond the utmost Selvige of the world replenished with our God alone yet we are sure that the Heaven of Heavens gives no limits unto His Being and the Ancients were not mistaken when they said Deus Ipse Sibi et Mundus et Locus et Omnia We cannot so well say That God is in the World as we may say The whole World is in God we may say with the Psalmist in Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I flee from thy presence Secondly God is Gloriously present with the Inhabitants of the Third Heaven The Heaven of Heavens hath in it most intimate and marvellous manifestations of God It is the Place of which we may say as t is said of that State in Rev. 21.23 The glory of God doth lighten it There the blessed ones have God with them so that they Alwayes behold His face and they are satisfied with His likeness for ever When we come to Heaven then as in 1. Thes. 4.17 We shall ever be with the Lord. So the Lord will be with us for ever Heaven is the Throne of the Most High He is there as a Prince in his Throne the Great KING is in a manner very ineffable residing there To be there is called in 2. Cor. 5.4 A being present with the Lord. Hence unto the Heaven and not unto a Bible are we directed to make our Corporal Applications in our Prayers or our Oathes before the Lord. But Thirdly God is Graciously present with His people by being Favourable unto them And this Gracious presence of God is that which a people ought to be concerned for It lies in The Engagement of Divine Providence for the Welfare of such a people God is with us when God is for us To particularize First God is with a people by Directing of them When Israel was to pass thro' the Wilderness they had that encouragement in Exod. 22.15 The presence of God going with them What was that Why They had a cloudy fiery Pillar miraculously Leading oâ— them every step of the way There was â— wonderful Pillar which was a Cloud by day and a Fire by night the Lower part of which rested on the Tabernacle while the Vppoâ— part was to be seen by the whole Congregation the Motions of this being managed by the Ministry of Angels now God was with them and He led them forth by the right way A people are often brought into a Wilderness of Difficulties and Emergencies but if God be with them He guides them to a good Issue of them all The Presence of God appears in His Directing and Inclining of a people to such Actions as may be for His Honour and their Safety and such Methods aâ— may extricate them out of all Distresses When God is with a people He shapes their Counsels for them and he disposes them to the Things that should be done He supplieâ— them with Apprehensions beyond the Reach and Verge of their own Wisdome and He layes before them Invitations and Provocations which as it were push them into the way wherein they should go When the Jews were â—pon a 〈◊〉 Assumption of the desireable thing which the Babylonians had deprived 'em of they took a Right Way to dissappoint all that were desirous to interrupt them in it We find in Neh. 4.13 That while those Exercises continued they waited in a posture agreeable thereunto and when the danger was over then they returned every one to his work How came this to pass 'T was because GOD was with them Secondly God is with a People by Protecting of them 'T was the promise of God unto His people in Isa. 43.2 When thou passest thro' the Waters I will be with thee and thro' the Rivers they shall not overflow thee On which Text blessed Bilney after his Condemnation so sweetly paraphrased that his Friends caused the whole Sentence to be fairly written on their Tables A people may be ready to be swallow'd up by a stormy gaping Ocean of Troubles but if God be with them they shall escape clear of all The Presence of
voice more awful than that of the loudest Thunder saying over us as in Hos. 9.12 Wo to them when I depart from them And Wo to us indeed we are in a most woful estate if it come to that How can we endure the mention of it without our most importunate Deprecations O our God leave us not We can have a prospect of nothing but horrible Disorders Agonies and Vexations if we lose the Presence of our Lord We ly open to no less than a fearful Dissipation and more than all our late Oppressors would rejoice to see brought upon us We have lately been complaining of Burdens that were grievous to us but I may warn you of our danger to feel one Burden more which will infinitely exceed them all t is that in Jer. 23.33 What Burden I will even forsake you saith the Lord. Behold a Burden that will sink us into a bottomless Abiss of Calamities The Presence of GOD This is no less than the very Soul of New-England We are dead and gone if that withdraw When Israel was nimbly enough possessing themselves of the promised Land which God had given them such a CHARTER for they perished in the Attempt for in Deut 1.42 The Lord said go not up for I am not among you Alas if we don 't in the first place look to this That God be among us we cannot avoid all manner of Dissappointments Desolations Let us Consider Secondly What uncomfortable Symptomes we have had of God's not being with us It seems as if God had fulfilled that sad Word on this poor Land in Deut. 31.17 I will forsake them and many evils shall befal them so that they will say in that day Are not these evils come upon us because God is not among us There is a vast number of Calamities which have given us lamentable cause to fear That God has forsaken us Why have we suffered such a Blast both on our Trade and on our Corn that the Husband-man complaines I looked for much and lo it came to little and the Mariner complains I went out full came home empty T is Because our God is not among us Why have we had Fire after Fire laying our Treasures in Ashes What means the hear of this Anger that Boston the most noble and vital Bowel of the Territory hath with a twice repeted Conflagration suffered such a Loss of that which in the Body politic answers to Blood in the Body natural T is Because our God is not among us Why have we had War after War made upon us by a Foolish Nation Why have the worst of the Heathen had renewed advantages to disturb our Peace And why have so many of our Brethren and Neighbours been made a prey to the most Savage Murderers in the world It is Because our God is not among us Give me leave to say as in Judg. 6.12 If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us But we may find Humiliation enough to convince us of this deplorable thing from what we have endured upon the Loss of our Government She of old said unto our Lord Jesus in I-h. 11.21 Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed So If the Lord had been here t is possible we had not Died. If the Lord had been with us would he have made our Wall so feeble that as they said of Ierusalem the going up of a poor FOX upon it should break it down If the Lord had been with us had all the wild Creatures that passed by this Vineyard found such Opportunities to be plucking at it No Our God would have kept us as A vineyard of red Wine and lest any should have hurt us He the Lord would have kept it night and day If the Lord had been with us had you ever thought you had seen cause to Declare as you have lately justly done That a Company of abject strangers had made a meer Booty of us Had Had we ever felt the sore grievances of an illegal arbitrary Government No The God of Heaven was not with that oppress'd people to whom He said in Isa. 1.7 Your Countrey is desolate your land Strangers devour it What shall I say It was an Appeal made in Ioel 1.2 Hear this ye old men hath this been in your dayes Even so I may say to the old men within the hearing of it My Fathers You Remember how we were when God was with us pray was it so in your dayes as it has been in ours Were you visited with Plague after Plague in a long Series of heavy Judgements as We your poor Children are Surely They will tell us God is not with us as He was with them In all these matters our Case may at least have some Correspondence with that in Luc. 23.28 He made as though He would have gone but they constrained Him saying Abide with us Let us Consider Thirdly If we are not With God we shall be guilty of an Apostasie and that under very shameful very direful Aggravations too We shall be Apostates and O let us not be so lest our God say My soul can have no pleasure in them But if we are so we shall be of all Apostates the most inexcusable Let us Consider what Fathers we have had they were with God I may say of 'em as in hos 9.8 They were with my God they are gone to be so forever What an unaccountable thing will it be for us to have that Character which we have been so much cautioned against There arose another generation which knew not the Lord What Shall the Grandchildren of Moses turn Idolaters and shall the Children of Samuel become the Children of Belial Shall we forget the Hope of our Fathers or forsake our Fathers Friend The very Graves of those blessed men every Post every Stone upon their Graves is a Witness against us if we do With dismal Accents Methinks their very Ghosts will groan unto us Alas Is our posterity come to this Nay Abraham would be Ignorant of us and Israel would not acknowledge us if we should be so degenerate as to lose the Presence of the Lord. Let us also consider what Warnings we have had It may be said unto us as in Jer. 25.4 The Lord hath sent unto you all His Servants the prophets This Countrey has been blessed with a most faithful Ministry by which I suppose every Assembly in this Territory has been called upon to Be with God and to keep with Him Especially the Sermons which our ELECTIONS have put the Embassadours of God upon Preaching and Printing of these have been so many loud Warnings unto us That we leave Him not In them we have been faithfully warned That our true interest is Not to Lye unto God We have been Warned That the latter end of our Misbehaviours will be Destruction from the Lord. We have been Warned That We must Repent and do our first Works or have the Candlestick of the Lord Iesus
removed from us In a word We have been warned from Heaven That If we forsake our God He will cast us off for ever O miserable We if we do it after all These Considerations will not have their due Force unless they expire in a Threefold Request which I must now lay before you and I may justly assert concerning the Things contained therein They are not Vain Things they are Our Life Wherefore Hear ye me Asa and all Judah Benjamin Hear ye these things all ye people of the Massachusetts First Let us Return to the Lord. We must Come to Him if we would Be with Him We have marvellously backslideâ— from our God but He calls after us Return ye backsliding Children and I will heal your Backslidings O that we may all as one man Reply what is in Jer. 3.22 Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God If we ask that Question in Mal. 2.7 Wherein shall we return Methinks t' were an harder Quaestion Wherin should we not But Behold We have had a great voice out of the Temple in answer thereunto We have had the Elders and Messengers of our Churches convend in a SYNOD solemnly informing of us Wherein we shall Return God forbid the Advice of that Synod should only serve to Convict us and Condemn us in the Day when He shall take vengeance on us for our Contemning of it That were dreadful indeed But in Compliance with it Let every man seriously now enquire of himself What have I done Mark what I say That man who does not suspect himself of having a share in the Sins which have driven away from us the Presence of our God That man I may safely affirm it is one of the principal Troublers of this Israel I do without any Scruple say it Thou art the man Let us all then Examine our selves and set upon the Reforming of our own Hearts and Lives and the Renewing of our Covenants with the Lord. Indeed both the Objects in which and the Authors from whom we have endured our Calamities those are enough to indigitate what Sins they are that have exposed us thereunto Let me in two or three instances use a plain dealing with you agreeable to my station here this day What have been the Objects in which we have been afflicted Our Fruits have been blasted were they not abused in the excesses of Sensuality Our Lands have been threat'ned and were not They the Idols for the sake of which we have offended GOD and almost Renounced all that was Holy and Iust and Good The most happy and easy Government in the world was changed with us into what has by the most impartial men been confessed to have become Intolerable Why Did not men despise the Best of Governments and procure other things to be set over them because they endeavoured to make Loggs of what they before enjoyed To pass on Were we not in the late unreasonable Extortions of the Law invited to consider Whether our needless Multiplications of Litigious Contentious Law-Suits formerly amongst us were not a Scandal thus chastised Were we not in the late unsufferable Injuries Abuses and Exactions of them that under the pretence of the Excise carried on very outragious Villanies put upon Considering Whether the Multitude or Quality of Drinking-Houses in the midst of 〈◊〉 had not once been a Stumbling-block of our â—â—iquity Again What have been the Authors from whom we have been afflicted Our Molestations have risen very much from Indian Hands And Alas have we not very much Injured the Indians I do not mean by taking from them Their Land For it was Hardly possible they should be more fairly dealt withal than they have been in that particular but by Teaching of them Our Vice We that should have learn'd them to Pray have learn'd them to Sin Endeavors for their Conversion have by many people been blown upon but there have been wicked English who have taught them to drink yea and to curse and swear things which they knew not the meaning of till they came to School unto such White Pagans as some that wear the Christian Livery among our selves And have not we also Followed the Indians The Indians are Infamous especially for Three Scandalous Qualities They are Lazy Drones and love Idleness Exceedingly They are also most impudent Lyars and will invent Reports and Stories at a strange and monstrous rate and they are out of measure Indulgent unto their Children there is no Family-Government among them But O how much do our people Indianize in every one of those Abominable things We must repent of these our miscarriages or else our God will take up that Resolution concerning us I will even forsake them saith the Lord. Secondly Let not Sin be With us and God will be so T is the purpose of our God in Josh. 7.12 I will not be with you except ye destroy the Accursed Thing from among you Let us then Destroy that Accursed thing Especially Let us take heed of the Sins which at this Time we have a peculiar Disposition to It was complain'd in Hos. 7.1 When I would have healed Israel the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered It has bin thus but God will not be With us if it still be thus among our selves Our good God the Lord our Healer is now Healing of us O let us not now be impatient patients lest that our blessed Physitian deal hardly and roughly with us Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit Medicum Let us now no more discover Revengefulness against them that have deserved Ill of us Let the Law and not the Sword measure out their due unto them No more discover an Unthankfulness unto them that have deserved Well of us Requite them not with Censure and Haired for their unwearied pains to preserve our Peace No more discover a Contempt of the Ministers who set themselves faithfully to Declare the whole Counsil of God and to Lift up their voice like a Trumpet in shewing us our sins They are all agreed I hope as one man to live and dye studying of your Well-fare but if they are unjustly ill-treated with you the great God whose Messengers they are will take notice of it and say Ye have despised Me And O let us no more Discover such a Spirit of Lying as we have made our selves worthy to be reproved for We find mention of an Evil Spirit that said in 1. King 22.22 I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets Doubt-the-same Devil has been suing for a License to go forth and be a Lying Spirit in the mouth of near all the people here I would to God this Devil were in a Shorter Chain I beseech you Let not this Land have that Character A Countrey full of Lies But of all our Errors There is none of such dangerous and threatning Consequence as the Contention which we are too prone to break forth into We are too much a