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
A THANKSGIVING SERMON Preach'd upon the Fifth of November 1689. By Ben. Jenks Rector of HARLEY in Shropshire Licensed November the 15. 1689. LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke and are to be Sold by R. Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1689. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Francis Lord Viscount Newport Of BRADFORD TREASURER OF Their Majesties Houshold And one of the Lords of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council My Lord I Must confess the Presumption of this Address to seek so great a Patronage for so small a Performance But when nothing would satisfie some without my consenting now to appear thus openly never durst I think of exposing so invidious Reflections a Name remarkable for nothing but your Honor's Favours under any weaker shelter than that which I now make bold to beg But if what is here submitted to common Inspection may find no further Approbation but the bare forgivness of so piercing a Judge of Style and Sense I may harden my self against the Shock of all other Censures And the same Charity which was the Temptation to this Impression will I hope answer for all Imputations on your Honor's Judgment for pardoning a Piece so Mean and Dilute Which if it must carry the sound of my despicable Name any further than the little Circumference wherein it is already known I shall think it to good purpose only so far as it serves to exemplifie the thankfulness which I Preach in Publishing the continued Munificence of such a truly Noble Patron as for above Twenty Years I have found To tell of which I am Conscious I do my self too great an Honor But I had rather be charg'd with Ostentation of such Favours than really incur the worse Guilt of Ingratitude for them My Lord I have not recover'd the Transport which the late surprising Redemption gave me and while I am entertaining my self with such daâ—ling Splendors as kind Heaven darted in upon us at the Critical Juncture when a complication of ill Omens were presaging the most Dismal Night ready to Involve us I humbly beg some Indulgence if like the reputed Head of Infallibility himself in the Transfiguration I speak some things more Warm and Affectionate than Exact and Apposite But whatever Ecstacy the Wonder and Joy of this Reviving Scene have occasion'd yet of this I cannot chuse but be extremely sensible that besides my own biggest Obligations there 's a just Debt of the highest Honor and Gratitude for which the Publick is Responsible to Your Lordship for your Conduct so Wise and Worthy your Noble Self in that Happy Settlement whereof we are glad And however my forwardness to express the Pleasure I have taken in it may already have render'd me as cheap as I can be in the Opinion of such as look with an Evil Eye upon that very thing which others most cheerfully embrace with all thankfulness yet cannot I omit any fit Occasions of Declaring That with all my Soul I do Bless the God of Heaven for it And as your Honour has still been most deservedly great in my Thoughts on many other Considerations so in particular for your Honor's Favour to that Revolution which eases the Minds and exhilarates the Spirits of all Well-Willers to the Reformed Religion I am more than ever My Lord Your Honor 's ever Obliged Most Humble Servant Ben. Jenks PSAL. XXXIV 3. O Magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together WHat was said of that Concourse Act. 19.32 cannot surely be applied to any of our Congregations this memorable Day That the Assembly was confused and the bigger part knew not wherefore they were come together The Fifth of November is a Day better known as it is a Day still to be much observed to the Lord of all our Israel in their Generations And tho it were quite struck out of our Kalendars yet would it never be razed out of our Memories especially now that another wonderful Eighty Eight has made it the Aera of our new Deliverance And last year the happy Man of Gods right Hand whom he made so strong for himself set foot on our Land the very same Day as the Powder-Plotters were found digging our Graves under it This has not only afresh riveted the Memory of it in our Minds but by reduplicating the occasion of our Thanksgiving has made it to England now a high Day indeed the day of the gladness of our Hearts because the day of our double escape not only from the old Monk's Gunpowder but from a new sort of Jesuits Powder whereof they had laid large Trains not only to blow up a single Bishop and a College but the very Foundations of all our Church To themselves indeed as the Event has made them sensible a sorry Blast it proved to blow off even their Head but to us a good Wind that clear'd our Land of the Locusts which were got so busily at their Work to spoil all the envied Prosperity of this Flourishing Church And as we cannot forget it to their Infamy saying with the Prophet Jer. 20.11 The Lord is with us as a mighty terrible One therefore our Persecutors shall stumble and they shall not prevail nor prosper but be greatly ashamed and their everlasting Confusion never be forgotten As we cannot I say but remember both the later and former Plots to the loss of all their Credit in this Nation However the Woman in Scarlet may have a Face of the same die with her Garb to leave no room for any modest blush So must we not forget to put an honorable note of distinction upon this Day to the glory of God's singular Mercy and to the exciting in our selves all the most thankful Acknowledgments Nor thinking it enough only to affect our selves unless we endeavor to beget the like Resentments in others As those 2 Kings 7.9 that said one to another We do not well this day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace 'T is far from well to be listless and dumb to the Divine Praises upon such lowdspeaking Occasions And like the devout Psalmist here who calls upon all about him to bear a part with him O Magnifie c. Of such excellent Matter and Composition is this Psalm that Mollerus applies to it in particular what St. Basil says of the Holy Scripture in general 'T is like a Well which flows the purer the more 't is drawn and the oftener attentively read the sweeter it will be found It was composed upon a wonderful escape which David had when flying affrighted from one danger he fell into another and to avoid the Rage of King Saul betook himself to the Court of King Achish As more afraid of a stingy Father-in-Law than of all those very Philistims whose great Champion he had lately slain and with him all their hopes 'T was deep distress we may imagine that made him act as one bereaved of his Senses to go cast himself into such Hands But whatever was his design in coming there supposing he
into the Dust at the remembrance of his Glory to whom all Nations are counted even less than Nothing and Vanity Not to dress a God in our Fancy such a one as our poor selves to worship our own misconceits instead of the True God who if we Adore not after the Canon of of his own Word 't is not so much honoring him as humoring our selves with the Will-worship not required at our hands Tho here we need not seruple those lowly Forms of Address which speak us sensible of the vast disproportion between us and our Glorious Maker whose least angry Finger on the Wall could so dash a great King in the midst of all his Jollity Dan. 5. that the thousand Lords his Guests and all his Concubines with the richest Fare and Wine and Musick could no more recover him to his late cheerfulness than they could cease to admire his present Dejection Nor is God less to be honored in his Merciful than in his Majestick Relations those allaying the brightness of his Glory and inviting us out of our Dust as with a Scepter extended to warrant our Approaches Indeed then is he most highly honored when most dearly loved for tho Fear may dwell with Hatred Honor is still the product of Love which sets upon its Object the greatest value and entertains it in the highest Room of the Soul. But we do rather Scandalize than Magnifie the God of Love If we fansie him in such horrid Appearances as fill us more with dread than love so that in our Worship we are only dragg'd to him and never taken up delightfully with him looking upon him only as the Malefactor at the Bar eyes the Scarlet Robe ready to appall the last residue of his Hope with a killing Sentence We must not endure any such Opinions of God as reflect disparagement on the Infinite Goodness which so eminently declares his Greatness in doing such noble works of Mercy as all the Power in the World could not and all the Patience in the World besides would not do But when we behold him as the Father of Mercies and Fountain of all Goodness the most amiable Being whose Love is as boundless as his Nature from which Love the mighty Frame of Nature sprang and who so loved the World even when lost that he took the most amazing method for our recovery to make us gainers even by the sad losses of our Fall putting our Salvation in much safer Hands than when it hung only upon our own Free Will and giving the surest word of Promise that he will put his Spirit in his People which shall cause them to walk in his Statutes and his Fear in their Hearts that shall not suffer them to depart from Him so that we are kept now by the power of God himself through Faith to Salvation By this sweet Contemplation of his first loving us the Divine Love is apt to limn its own Effigies on our Souls and powerfully incline us to him as the blessed and only centre of their Rest And what greater thoughts of God can we conceive in our Minds than to look upon him in Christ reconciling the World to himself by that Redeeming Love which well may be stiled Inestimable whose prevalent strains chang'd our Judge into our Advocate and made him pursue his Enemies with nothing but Bounty and compass them about only with Songs of Deliverance Here the heavenly Criticks themselves can but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lift up the Curtain to pry into this Mystery of Divine Love but even the Tongues of Angels are at a loss when they would turn the Admiration into Expression Never can we more highly exalt the Name of God than to shew him to the World in such lovely Representations not only as the greatest but the best that has done such unspeakable things to approve his love and engage ours and still supplies a world of Creatures that all depend on him for their Being and every Comfort There are such Pleonasms and Redundancies of his kindness that a great deal still falls even to their share who will never so much as thank him for it And thus we do Magnifie the God infinitely Good when we stand in admiration of such Benignity that we should have any comfort with our lives when we have done so much to spoil all with our sins Yea that not a minute should pass but brings us a new favor from above and gives us more assurance still that he desires our felicity and cannot design our ruin who is love it self and hates nothing that he has made delights not even in the death of sinners nor is willing that any should perish indeed suffering none to perish for the want but only for the contempt of mercy who stands not watching for advantages against us but in fatherly consideration of our Frame makes merciful allowance for our Infirmities and all Dispensations still carry so sweet a savour of good Will to Men that not only when he gives us the smiles of the World 't is to draw us to himself with such Cords of Love but even when he threatens it is to prevent the evils denounced yea when he touches with the Rod 't is but to reduce us into the way of Bliss and supersede our eternal smart And thinking thus well of God we do magnifie the Lord and exalt his Name To do all to the Glory of God an Expression oftner us'd than understood is still to propose this End to our selves that the great and good God may be more known and admir'd rever'd and loved believed and obeyed by us and all Men aiming and endeavouring with whatever we are Masters of and all the interest we have in the World to do service to the Truth and promote the credit of God's holy Religion that it may look like it self in us and the way of Truth may not through our means be evil spoken of And when by due Methods we earnestly pursue our own felicity so we bring God the greatest Glory But that we should be willing to perish our selves for the advancement of his Glory as some have screwd it up is a thing so harsh and extravagant that the very naming it is enough to disprove it seeing God has wrought our Salvation in the frame of his own Glory and he can have no ends in our serving him but that we may thereby serve our own best advantage And this is the greatest honor he expects from us that we should do all we are able to promote our own and others happiest Interests in believing the infallible Truth of his holy Word and making the greatest Conscience in all things to be determined by it Nor only giving a total deference to his Will but reposing all our bliss in his Hands For we cannot honor one more than to reckon him worthy in all things to be hearkened to and sole-sufficient to be relied upon as the wisest and ablest best and willingest to do us good But the Properties of
this Eucharistical Sacrifice and after what manner we are to offer it that it may be such wherein God is well pleased we may gather from the Practice of the Man after his own Heart here in the Context 1. It must be with the Soul from the Altar of a Sensible Heart My Soul shall make her boast of God Ver. 2. To glory in him is one way of giving glory to him And well may we value our selves upon the honor to be obliged by such a One. And that this glorying may Imitate the Blessed Virgin 's whose Soul magnified the Lord It must not be a verbal flash like the crackling of Thorns on fire but making melody in our Hearts to the Lord. Indeed if the Heart is not thankful we are not at all thankful The most pompous Halelujahs and Magnificats are no more than sounding Brass and the tinkling Cymbal if not the over-flowings of enlarged Hearts The dead praise not the Lord Hearts dead in sin must needs be dead to the Divine Praises And when matters so stand within none of the Rhetorick of our complemental Harangues speak we never so good of his Name makes any Musick at all in his Ears who searches the Hearts and requires Truth in the inward parts Tho cavity of Instruments is requisite in common Service yet here hollow Instruments sound harsh and hideous and while they offer to praise God only divulge their own shame Yet 2. Tho it must not be only a Lip-Service we must not refrain our Lips neither but let our mouths shew forth his praise It shall ever be in my mouth V. 1. 'T is not to imprison up our Thanks so as to stifle the sense we have of his Favors nor hide his loving kindness in our Hearts making them as the silent Grave to swallow up all But out of their Abundance we must be speaking to his honor and not think it will sully our Speech to mention the loving kindness of the Lord. When our bodies are his Temple and our Tongues the living Bells articulately to sound his Praise how can we better imploy the speaking Faculty than in celebrating his Goodness that gave it What we are transported with we can hardly forbear to speak of if we are full of it 't is apt to float on our Tongues And if the Mercies of God affect our Hearts 't is fit we should express the same both to discharge a due Debt our selves and also to kindle the like Flame in others Indeed no Expression here can be too much that 's without Affectation and Hypocrisie Tho we not only extol him with our Tongues Psal 66.17 But our Tongues speak of his praise even all the day long Psal 35. last And we abundantly utter the memory of his great Goodness in a pious Vein flowing from the good Treasure of the Heart accustoming our selves to speak of the glorious Honor of his Majesty and of his wondrous Works to speak of the glory of his Kingdom and talk of his Power to make known the Fame thereof to the Sons of Men. As with Panegyrick pomp of Words this Sacred Orator sets it forth Psal 145. And even this cheap Oblation for which we go not to the Flock or the Field shall not fail of a good acceptance above when according to the Exhortation Heb. 13.15 We offer to God the fruit of our Lips giving thanks to his Name 3. To bless the Lord at all times as Ver. 1. not only by fits as it pleases us or when extorted from us upon some occasions extraordinary but with such a Heart * Herbert whose Pulse may be his Praise Our holy Living is the most effectual Thanksgiving For so while we live we shall praise the Lord and sing praises to our God whilst we have our Being Psal 146.2 To the offering of Praise therefore is presently subjoined ordering the Conversation aright Psal 50.23 And after he had ask'd Who can shew forth all his praise immediately he adds Blessed are they that keep Judgment and do Righteousness at all times Psal 106.2 3. For as the Heavens tho silent are said to declare the glory of God they are Preachers of his Praise because their vast and beautiful Fabrick their constant and regular Motions their sweet and powerful Influences tell the Supreme Majesty the excellent Attributes and glorious Perfections of him that there inhabits So when we justifie the Divine Laws by our Obedience and thus stand up to attest their high Reasonableness and Goodness instead of repining at them as hard Sayings and heavy Burdens shewing that really we do admire and applaud them for the blessed Products of an infinite Wisdom and Love to contrive and effect our everlasting Happiness Then do we give them the best Commendation to make all enamour'd with those Sacred Institutions which they not only hear set off in hollow Encomiums but see produce such happy Effects Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit Jo. 15.8 The Fruits of Righteousness are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 That Men may so taste and see and bless the Giver of such increase I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do saith our Blessed Saviour Joh. 17.4 Where he intimates that the doing of God's Will is the way to Hallow his Name When like the Luminaries above that warm and move too we send out the heat of Divine Love and regularly move in the sphere of Obedience without which indeed Honour is but an idle Complement unless we so delight to do his Will that our desires like the Cherubims Wings stand displayed ready even to spell out his Pleasure and prevent his Commands But a sad reckoning it would prove to us should we count that we are delivered to commit abominations and make the bolder with God's Precepts because we have tasted so deep of his Mercies as if his Goodness were our Warrant to despise him Thus licentious Men use to be worst when they fare best and in times of Festivity are the greatest Brutes not knowing how to be thankful and glad without being wanton and mad But such as fear the Lord are call'd upon to praise him Psal 22.23 And then do we most acceptably sing to the Lord a new Song when we apply our selves to lead a new Life when we look on our prosperity not so much a reward for doing well as an opportunity still to do better not an occasion to the flesh but an obligation to abound in his Praise The thansgiving of ill Men 't is but a fulsom harangue and offensive noise and indeed only reproaching the Name of God to speak good of it and do no good as becomes those that profess it Praise is comely for the upright but 't is marr'd in the Mouths of the wicked It is a Sacrifice and none but holy Persons are to officiate about holy things As long as we live ungodly we are in no capacity to praise God
sincerely We never do it with all our hearts till we offer up our selves together with our thanks and count a whole life too little to be spent in his service who has for ever obliged us to himself Now all the reason in the World have we thus to Magnifie the Lord and exalt his Name For 1. It is the very end of our Being And what was said of Israel Isa 43.21 may be applied to us all This People have I formed for my self that they should shew forth my Praise Man as the Priest of this Inferior Creation is to offer up a general Sacrifice in the name and behalf of all the rest who in their several ways give a tacit consent and as it were say Amen to the Oblation And when dumb and negligent to praise the Lord we not only wrong our selves but rob multitudes that would do it had they but our faculties and abilities to reason and express it This is our Province which the very frame of our nature adapts us for and even the whole Creation efflagitates and expects it from us And we not only stand for Cyphers but carry as an exorbitant rout breaking our Ranks and disordering the World if we celebrate not his Praise who has so set us up When we make a Man as they call it and he is lookt upon as our Creature whom we have render'd considerable in the World we are apt to think he can never enough honor and thank us for it But how do we cry out of the offensive humour if he be asham'd to own what we have done for him and rather malign us for standing as an Eye-sore to upbraid him with the Memory of his former low circumstances and his present high obligations And do not we lye under the same imputation or worse when we serve not the Ends and Interest of him that in the fullest sense has made us 'T is utterly inexcusable not to pay him the poor Tribute of our thankful acknowledgment which is all we are capable of rendring to the Lord but to give him the glory of his own Gifts Though we cannot praise him according to the riches of his Grace and the multitude of his Mercies yet 't is fit we should do it to the utmost of those capacities and abilities wherewith he has blest us And when he has erected the World not only as a spacious Theatre to spread far and wide his Fame and the mighty Organ to resound his Glory but chiefly for the rich furnisht Medium through which to derive the overflowings of his immense goodness which can no more be confined than his Being when 't was not to better himself or supply any need of his own but all for our service and benefit with a wonderful redundancy of pleasures as well as necessaries not only to supply our want but sweetly to entertain our very curiosity and delight Shall we make no grateful returns to him that gave us our Being and every good of it when he owed us nothing Or should he make Creatures that should forget themselves to be his Creatures as if they were wholly independent to live at large and regard no ones pleasure but their own so prostituting all those Noble Endowments that accomplish them for the happiest enjoyment of God himself to serve nothing but some base Lust or silly Vanity 2. We have not only capacity to magnifie the Lord and exalt his Name but all manner of obligations to it even common justice binds us to render to all their dues And when by the grace of God we are what we are there 's the highest equity that to the glory of God we should do all that we do and live to him as we live by him nor arrogate to our selves or ascribe to others that which is his peculiar Right Well may we extol him when he has done so for us that was well considered Psal 30.1 I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up If it be rude not to honor such as have been kind to us 't is no less than impious not to honor him that made them so How many great Luminaries else soever there be all disappear at the Rising Sun and all other Benefactors must be even nullified to omnifie the Supreme Now in this gratitude there 's the greatest justice as well as ingenuity for there ought to be a reciprocation of Courtesies a due circulation in Friendship and we must take care it do not stagnate and stick at us And where the kindness of Noble Friends renders it impossible to retaliate and absurd to think of a compensation which were but to affront the generous Spirits that oblige us yet he that is capable of no more can be thankful and espouse his Benefactors Cause Love and Honour their Persons stand up for their Credit and be glad and forward to serve their Interests And what indeed is our whole Religion but such Gratitude Still acknowledging the Debt we are never able to pay All the dear Pledges of Gods Love are so many Mouths crying aloud for such returns and thanksgiving is but the eccho of received Mercies But how swinish is it to devour the Blessings and never look up whence they come When 't is indeed no small endearment of every Mercy if we consider it to receive the same from such Hands For if we prize a gift for the givers sake how does it add to the value of the Mercy that the Most High so condescends to concern himself in the care of us and takes pleasure in our prosperity May our acknowledgments then bear some proportion to our engagements For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised Psal 48.1 'T were endless to enumerate particulars when we are so daily loaded with his benefits they oppress us with their multitude tho the precious things give us no Burden at all but what we delight in and should count it heaviest not to bear 3. As we are obliged so by the goodness of it encourag'd to it 'T is good to sing Praises to our God. Psal 147.1 'T is so with all the names of Good not only a vertuous Good doing the thing meet and right to be done but as the Psalmist reasons there 'T is pleasant and Praise is comely It gives the pious Soul a sweet satisfaction like the pleasure which an honest Man takes in paying his Debts My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips. Psal 63.5 The most delicious Viands are not more grateful to a Healthy Body than the Praises of God are to a well affected Soul. This raises us even into Heaven aforehand to anticipate the Anthems of the Celestial Quire and this helps most effectually to casheir all black prejudices against a serious practical Religion as a sour and melancholy thing when sweet experience tells devour Souls the contrary what a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful And how great is
that Honor to be taken up in the work of Angels How much for our own praise to praise him that has given us both matter and hearts for it 'T is no diminution at all but the preservation of honor and addition to it for the highest on Earth to stoop lowly to the Supreme Majesty of the World who has promised to honor them that honor him And tho this Duty seems to have nothing of self in it as giving all unto God yet is it indeed as all the Duties of Religion much for our profit every way for that it not only secures the blessings of God to us but increases them still upon us he thinking them well bestowed where they are so well resented And Praise provoking us also to an imitation of him whom we extol thus it has a tendency to assimilate us to the Divine Perfections and consequently to prepare us for the everlasting Glory to bear a part with all Angels and Saints in the Admiration Love and Eternal Praise and Fruition of God in his Heavenly Kingdom Thus as we are capable of magnifying the Lord and obliged to it so even in point of our own best Interest we â—â—nnot but be sensible what reason we have for it And now suitable to the design of this day consider we the publick expression of it and its discharge in conjunction with others according to the invitation here given O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together He that was taken up even wholly in the Praises of God himself could not be contented to enjoy so much sweetness alone but as true goodness is ever diffusive of itself and indeed does but still add to its own dimensions by such Communication So was he for calling in partners to share with him in so sweet an entertainment After he had led the Chorus as Prefect of this Musick he declares for a Consort in it and gives not a cheap exhortation without his own example Nor is he for going in so good a way without company but to make the Communion of Saints a point of practice as well as an Article of Faith he was for joyning all the sparks to blow them up into a mighty Flame And his Apostrophe is not only to the Children of Sion but 't is All ye Lands make a joyful noise to the Lord. Psal 100.1 117.1 Praise the Lord all ye Nations Praise him all ye People And that none might be slack and backward he not only calls on them but upon God himself to quicken them Psal 77.3 5. Let the People praise thee O God Yea let all the People praise thee He was not only for giving thanks apart in private recesses but for going into the House of God where Praise waiteth for him in Sion Psal 65.1 I will give thee thanks in the great Congregation I will praise thee among much People Psal 35.18 To whisper thanks in corners is but a tacit kind of denying received Benefits Sen. de Benef. He car'd not how many Witnesses he had of his thanksgiving not for ostentation of himself but to excite an Universal compliance of the Church A good Man would lose much of the pleasure of Heaven's Way to move solitary in it But here he gives the most charitable instance of his sociable Nature to draw all that ever he can along with him Indeed this is a kind invitation to Festivity as well as Duty and here to devout Souls a hint is enough though to dull Brutes a spur is too little But to none can we offer a greater courtesie than to importune their Society in so delightful a Path to their own Happiness And such as stand off here are the most absurd of all Dissenters and nothing fit to taste of that good for which they are too stiff to give thanks Nor did this eminent Servant of God think himself too high to assist with his Inferiors in the Divine Worship that Spiritual Ordinary which levels all before him with whom is no respect of Persons So great a Prince was not asham'd to own whence he received all yea among the rest he calls on the Mighty to give unto the Lord Glory Psal 29.1 For Princes and Grandees of the World that have most temptations to forget God and exalt themselves must lay aside the consideration of their greatness when they fall down and worship before the Lord their Maker No height in the World but must humble itself to him who is higher than the Highest and compar'd with whose Omnipotence all greatness else dwindles even to nothing The Noblest Worthies in Heaven themselves do cast their Crowns down before the Throne of God Rev. 4.10 and that does but faster secure them on their Heads But Oh! how much are they out in their sense of honor as well as defective in their conscience of this duty who offer to set up their own credit on the ruins of God's Glory Indulging to the Popish humour of assuming to self and Idolizing Creatures in derogation from the God of our Lives and of all our Mercies Truly Atheistical is it so to live without God in the World afraid to own him but ascribing all to a lucky hit this or that did the Work and no mention of Him that worketh all in all When Men would be reputed great for being Ungodly and like wild Horses in the carreer of their Impiety cast dirt at their Owner as if they were neither in debt to him nor in danger of him As if it were below them to own subjection to him that made them Servile not to be above Duty and a Diminution of their own Excellency to Magnifie Him. And if Conscience extorts from them any acknowledgments of God they are in care that none but himself may observe it who sees indeed that they are asham'd of him before Men and so he will be of them one day before all the World Thus such as use to glory in their Shame are asham'd of their Glory too And tho all a fire at any disgraceful reflection on themselves counting every thing less than flattery an affront yet this gives a notorious instance of their Bastardy which is the foulest Infamy that they can so easie brook a contempt of the Heavenly Father thinking it fine to hear his Name Blasphem'd and his Word Burlesqued and never stirring to assert his Honour as they would to vindicate the good Name of a Friend Well may they dread the Fate of Herod to perish wretchedly for not giving God the Glory Or to be sent with Nebuchadnezzar to School to the Brutes to learn to know their Owner When they can live all upon his good things and yet scarce afford him a good Word Right Brethren in Iniquity to Cabal for Mischief and run eagerly to excess of Riot to eat and drink and enflame Lust and contribute every one to heighten the Debauch but none can find a Heart or Tongue to recognize the blessed Founder of all their Comforts Or no