A SERMON OF Publike Thanksgiuing for the wonderfull mitigation of the late Mortalitie Preacht before his Matie vpon his gracious command at his Court of Whitehall Jan. 29. 1625. AND Vpon the same command Published By Jos Hall Deane of Worcester LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Nath. Butter 1626. Psal 68. vers 19 20. Blessed be the Lord who loadeth vs daily with benefits euen the God of our saluation Selah He that is our God is the God of saluation and vnto God the Lord belong the issues from death YEa blessed bee the Lord who hath added this vnto the load of his other mercies to his vnworthy seruant that the same tongue which was called not long since to chatter out our publike mournings in the solemne Fast of this place is now imployed in a song of praise and the same hand which was here lifted vp for supplication is now lift vp in thāksgiuing Ye that thē accompanied me with your tears and sighs accompany me now I beseech you in this happy chāge of note and time with your ioyfull smiles and acclamations to the God that hath wrought it It is not more natural for the sun when it looks vpon a moist and well fermented earth to cause vapors to ascend thence thē it is for greatnes goodnes when they both meet together vpon an honest hart to draw vp holy desires of gratulation The worth of the agent doth it not alone without a fit disposition in the subiect Let the Sun cast his strongest beames vpon a flint a pumice he fetches out no steame Euen so the greatnes goodnes of the Almighty beating vpon a dry hard hart preuailes nothing Here all three are happily met In God infinite greatnes infinite goodnes such greatnes that he is attended with thousand thousands of Angels a guard fit for the King of heauen such goodnesse that he receiues gifts euen for the rebellious In Dauid a gracious heart that in a sweet sense of the great goodnes of his God breathes out this diuine Epiphonema Blessed be the Lord who loadeth vs daily with benefits euen the God of our saluation c. Wherin me thinkes the sweet singer of Israel seemes to raise his note to the emulatiō of the quier of heauen in the melody of their Alleluiahs yea let me say now that he sings aboue in that blessed consort of glorious spirits his ditty cannot be better then this that he sung here vpon earth and wherin we are about to beare our parts at this time Prepare I beseech you both your eares for Dauids song and your harts and tongues for your owne And first in this Angelicall straine your thoughts cannot but obserue without me the Descant and the Ground The descant of Gratulation Blessed be the Lord wherin is both applause and excitation an applause giuē to Gods goodnes and an excitation of others to giue that applause The ground is a threefold respect Of what God is in himselfe God and Lord. Of what God is and doth to vs which loadeth vs daily with benefits Of what hee is both in himselfe and to vs The God of our saluation which last like to some rich stone is set off with a darke foile To God the Lord belong the issues from death So in the first for his owne sake in the second for our sakes in the third for his owne and ours as God as Lord as a Benefactor as a Sauiour and deliuerer Blessed be the Lord. It is not hard to obserue that Dauids Alleluiahs are more thē his Hosannaes his thankes more then his suites Oft-times doth he praise God when he begs nothing Seldome euer doth he begge that fauour for which he doth not raise vp his soule to an anticipation of thanks neither is this any other then the vniuersall vnder-song of all his heauenly ditties Blessed bee the Lord Praysed as our former translation hath it is too low Honor is more then praise blessing is more then honor neither is it for nothing that from this word Barac to blesse is deriued Berec the knee which is bowed in blessing and the cryer before Ioseph proclaimed Abrech calling for the honour of the knee from all beholders Gen. 41.43 Euery sleight triuiall acknowledgement of worth is a praise Blessing is in a higher straine of gratitude that caries the whole sway of the hart with it in a kinde of diuine rapture praise is in matter of complement blessing of deuotion The Apostles rule is that the lesse is blessed of the greater Abraham of the King of Salem the Prophets charge is that the greater should be blessed of the lesse yea the greatest of the least God of man This agrees wel Blessing is an act that will beare reciprocation God blesseth man man blesseth God God blesseth man imparatiuely man blesseth God optatiuely God blesseth mā in the acts of mercy Man blesseth God in the notions in the expressions of thanks God blesses man whē he makes him good and happy man blesseth God when he confesseth how good how gracious how glorious he is So as the blessing is wholly taken vp in agnition in celebration in the one we acknowledg the bounty of God to vs in the other we magnifie him vocally really for that bounty Oh see then what high account God makes of the affections and actions of his poore silly earth-creeping creatures that hee giues vs in them power to blesse himselfe takes it as an honor to be blessed of vs Dauid wonders that God shold so vouchsafe to blesse man how much more must wee needs wōder at the mercy of God that will vouchsafe to be blessed by man a worme an atome a nothing Yet both S. Iames tels vs that with the tongue we blesse God the Psalmist cals for it here as a seruice of deare acceptation Blessed be the Lord Euen we mē liue not Camelion-like with the aire of thanks nor feed ere the fatter with praises how much lesse our maker O God we know wel that whatsoeuer men or Angels do or do not thou canst not but be infinitely blessed in thy selfe before euer any creature was thou didst equally inioy thy blessed selfe frō all eternity What can this worthles loose filme of flesh either adde to or detract from thine infinitnesse Yet thou that humblest thy selfe to behold the things that are done in heauen earth humblest thy selfe also to accept the weake breath of our praises that are sent vp to thee frō earth to heauen How should this incourage the vowes the indeuors of our hearty thankfulnes to see thē graciously taken Would men take vp with good words with good desires quit our bōds for thanks who wold be a debter With the God of mercy this cheap paiment is currant if he thē wil honor vs so far as to be blessed of vs Oh let vs honor him so far as to blesse him Quare verbis parcā gratuita sunt Why do we spare thanks that cost vs nothing as that
wise Heathen O giue vnto the Lord yee mighty giue vnto the Lord the praises due to his name offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiuing and still let the foot of our song be Blessed be the Lord. This for the descant of gratulation the groūd follows His own sake hath reason to be first God will be blessed both as Iah and Adonai the one the style of his Essence the other of his Soueraigntie Euen the most accursed Deist would confesse that as a pure simple infinit absolute being God is to be blessed for if being be good these two be cōuertible nature must needs teach him that an absolute infinit being must needs be absolutely and infinitly good but what do I blur the glory of this day with mention of those monsters whose Idol is nature whose religion is secondary atheisme whose true region is the lowest hell these damned Ethnicks cannot will not conceiue of God as he is because they impiously seuer his essence from his inward relations VVe Chrstians can neuer be so heauenly affected to God as we ought till we can rise to this pitch of piety to blesse God for what he is in himself without the external beneficial relations to the creature Else our respects reflect too much homeward and we doe but look through God at our selues Neither is it for vs only to blesse him as an absolute God but as a Soueraigne Lord too whose power hath no more limit then his essence the great moderator of heauen and earth giuing lawes to his creature ouer-ruling all things marshalling all euents crushing his enemies maintaining his Church adored by Angells trembled at by deuills Behold here a Lord worthy to be blessed We honour as we ought your conspicuous greatnesse ô yee eminent Potentates of the earth but alas what is this to the great Lord of heauen When wee looke vp thither we must craue leaue to pitty the breath of your nosthrills the rust of your coronets the dust of your graues the sting of your felicities and if yee take not good heed the blots of your memories As ye hold all in fee from this great Lord so let it be no disparagement to you to doe your lowliest homage to his footstoole homage I meane in action giue me the reall benediction I am sure that is the best they blesse God that praise him they blesse him more and praise him best that obey him There are that crouch to you great ones who yet hate you Oh let vs take heed of offering these hollow obseruances to the searcher of hearts if wee loue not our owne confusion They that proclaimed Christ at Ierusalem had not only Hosanna in their mouths but palmes in their hands too so must wee haue Let mee say then If the hand blesse not the Lord the tongue is an hypocrite Away with the waste complements of our vaine formalities Let our loud actions drowne the language of our words in blessing the name of the Lord. Neyther must we blesse God as a soueraigne Lord onely but which is yet a more feeling relation as a munificent Benefactor Who loadeth vs daily with benefits Such is mans selfe-loue that no inward worth can so attract his praises as outward beneficence Whiles thou makest much of thy selfe euery one shall speake well of thee how much more whiles thou makest much of them Here God hath met with vs also Not to perplexe you with scanning the variety of senses wherewith I haue obserued this Psalme aboue all other of Dauids to abound see here I beseech you a foure-fold gradation of diuine bounty First here are benefits the word is not expressed in the originall but necessarily implyed in the sense for there are but three loads whereof man is capable from God fauours precepts punishments the other two are out of the road of gratulation when we might therefore haue expected iudgments behold Benefits And those secondly not sparingly handfulld out to vs but dealt to vs by the whole load loadeth with benefits Whō thirdly doth he load but vs Not worthy and well deseruing subiects but vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rebels And lastly this he doth not at one doale no more as euen churles rare feasts vse to be plentifull but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 successiuely vnweariedly perpetually One fauour were too much here are benefits a sprinckling were too much here is a load once were too oft here is daily largition Cast your eyes therefore a little vpon this three-fold exaggeration of beneficence the measure a load of benefits the subiect vnworthy vs the time daily Who daily loadeth vs with benefits Where shall we begin to survey this vast load of mercies were it no more but that he hath giuen vs a world to liue in a life to enioy ayre to breathe in earth to tread on fire to warme vs water to coole and clense vs cloaths to couer vs food to nourish vs sleep to refresh vs houses to shelter vs varietie of creatures to serue and delight vs here were a iust load But now if wee yet adde to these ciuilitie of breeding dearnesse of friends competency of estate degrees of honor honesty or dignitie of vocation fauor of Princes successe in imployments domestique comforts outward peace good reputation preseruation from dangers rescue from euills the load is well mended If yet ye shall come closer and adde due proportion of body integrity of parts perfection of senses strength of nature mediocritie of health sufficiency of appetite vigour of digestion wholsome temper of seasons freedome from cares this course must needs heighten it yet more If still yee shall adde to these the order and powers and exercise of our inward faculties inriched with wisedome art learning experience expressed by a not-vnhandsome elocution and shall now lay al these together that cōcerne estate body mind how can the axeltree of the soule but crack vnder the load of these fauours But if from what God hath done for vs as men we looke to what hee hath done for vs as Christians that hee hath imbraced vs with an euerlasting loue that hee hath molded vs anew enliued vs by his Spirit fed vs by his word and Sacraments clothed vs with his merits bought vs with his blood becomming vile to make vs glorious a curse to inuest vs with blessednesse in a word that he hath giuen himselfe to vs his Sonne for vs Oh the height depth and breadth of the rich mercies of our God Oh the boundlesse to plesse bottomlesse load of diuine benefits whose immensity reaches from the center of this earth to the vnlimited extent of the very empyreall heauens Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that hee doth for the children of men These mercies are great in themselues our vnworthinesse doth greaten them more To do good to the well deseruing were but retribution Hee ladeth vs who are no lesse rebellious to him thē he is beneficiall to vs. Our strait and
maintenance of oppressed neighbourhood That one mercie I may not forget that in the shutting vp of blessed Queene ELIZABETH the Pope and the then-King of Spaine were casting Lots for the Crowne and palpably plotting for their seuerally-designed successors as appeares in the publicke Posthume Letters of Cardinall D' Ossat a witnesse beyond exception Three seueral Briefes were addressed hither by that inclement shaueling of Rome for the defeating of the Title and succession of our late Soueraigne of deare and blessed memorie and his Royall issue Yet in spight of Rome and hell God brought him in and set him peaceably vpon this iust throne of his forefathers and may He perpetuate it to the fruite of those loynes till world and time shal be no more AMEN If I must follow the times let mee rather balke that hellish Sulpher-mine then not search it and yet who can looke at that any otherwise then the Iewes doe at the Rain-bow with horror and astonishment VVhat doe I tell you of our long Peace our full plentie our wholesome Lawes our easefull Gouernement wirh a world of of these common fauours it is for poore men to reckon Those two late blessings if no more were worthy of immortall memorie The Prince out of Spaine Religion out of the dust For the one what a winter was there in all good hearts when our Sunne was gone so far Southward How chearefull a Spring in his returne For the other who saw not how Religion began during those purposely protracted Treaties to droope and languish her friends to sigh her enemies to insult daring to braue vs with challenges to threaten our ruine The Lord look't downe from heauen and visited this poore Vine of his and hath shaken off these Caterpillers from her then-wasting leaues Now we liue and it flourisheth These would haue beene great fauours of God euen to the best nation but more to vs VVho haue answered mercies with rebellions O God if proud disguises if gluttonous pamperings if drunken healths if wanton dalliances if bloody oathes if mercilesse oppressions may earne blessings from thee too many of vs haue supererogated VVoe is me these are the measures thou hast had from too many hands That thou shouldst therefore inlarge thy bountie to an vnworthy vnkind disobedient generation it is more then wee can wonder at and wee could almost bee ready to say with Peter Lord depart from vs for we are sinfull men Yet the wise iustice of the Almighty meant not to cockney vs vp with meere dainties with a loose indulgence but hath thought fit to temper our sweetes with tartnes and to stricke our backes whiles he stroakes our heads Ecce in pace amaritudo amarissima the comfort of our peace was allayed with the bitternesse of death Hee saw that in this common Plethorie it was fit for vs to bleed he saw vs Eeles that would not bee caught but when the waters were troubled He therefore sent his destroying Angell abroad who laide about him on all sides VVhat slaughter what lamentation what horror was there in the streetes of our mother Citie More then twentie thousand families runne from their houses as if those had beene on fire ouer their heads and seeke shelter in Zoar and the mountaines Some of them are ouer-taken by the pursuer and droppe downe in the way and lye there as wofull spectacles of mortalitie till necessitie and not charitie could find them a graue Others passe on and for friends finde strangers Danger made men wisely and vnwillingly vnhospitall The Cozen the Brother forgets his own blood the Father looks shiely vpò his own child and welcoms him with frownes if not with repulses There were that repaid their grudged harbor with infection and those that sped best what with care for their abandoned houses estate what with griefe for the miserie of their forsaken neighbours what with the rage of those Epidemiall diseases which they found abroad as it is well obserued by one that in a contagious time all sicknesses haue some tincture of Pestilence wore out their dayes in the deepest sorrow and heauinesse there leaue we them return to the miserable Metropolis of this kingdome which they left VVho can expresse the dolefull condition of that time and place The armes of London are the Red Crosse and the Sword what house almost wanted these Heere was the Red-crosse vpon the doore the Sword of Gods iudgement within doores and the Motto was Lord haue mercy vpon vs VVhat could we heare but alarums of death what could we see but Trophees of death Here was nothing but groaning and crying and dying and burying Carts were the Beeres wide pits were the graues mens clothes were their coffins and the very Exequies of friends were murderous The carkasses of the dead might say with the sons of the Prophets Behold the place where we lye is too strait for vs new dormitories are bought for the dead furnished neither might the corpses be allowed to lye single in their earthen beds but are pyled vp like fagots in a stack for the society of their future resurrection No man suruiued but he might say with the Psalmist that thousands fell at his side 10000. at his right hand And if we take all together the mother the daughters surely the number was not much short of Dauids though his time were shorter It is not without reason that from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Plague is deriued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a desert Certainly the plague turnes the most populous Citie into a desert Oh the wofull desolation of this place it was almost come to Herba tegit Troiam And if some infrequent passenger crossed our streets it was not without his medicated Posie at his nose and his Zedoary or Angelica in his mouth Euery roome seemed a Pest-house euery scent mortall heere should he meet one pale ghost muffled vp vnder the throat another dragging his legs after him for the tumour of his groyne another be-spotted with the tokens of instant death here might hee heare one shrieking out in a frantik distraction there another breathing out his soule in his last groanes What should I say more This glorious chamber of the Kingdome seemed no other then a dreadfull dungeon to her owne a very Golgotha to all beholders and this proud Queene of our Brittish Cities sat in the dust of her compassion howling in the rags of her sackcloth not mourning more then mourned for pittied no lesse then forsaken VVhen the GOD of our saluation looked downe vpon her deepe afflictions and miraculously approoued vnto vs that vnto him belong the issues from death It was hee that put it into the heart of his Gracious seruant to command a Niniue-like humiliation what pithie what passionate prayers were inioyned to his disconsolate Church VVith what holy eagernesse did wee deuoure those fasts How well were we pleased of the austeritie of that pious penitence VVhat loude cryes did beate on all sides at the gates of heauen and with what inexpectable vn-conceiueable mercie were they answered How suddenly were those many thousands brought downe to one poore vnitie not a number Other euils were wont to come on horse-backe to goe away on foote this mortalitie did not poste but flye away Mee thought like vnto the great yâ—e it sunke at once Only so many are stricken as may hold vs awfull and so few as may leaue vs thankefull Oh how soone is our fasting and mourning turned into laughter and ioy how boldly doe wee now throng into this house of God and fearelesly mixe our breaths in a common deuotion This is the Lords doing and it is maruailous in our eyes Oh thou that hearest the prayer to thee shall all flesh come And let all flesh come to thee with the voyce of Prayse and Thanksgiuing It might haue beene iust with thee O God to haue swept vs away in the common destruction what are we better then our brethren thou hast let vs liue that wee may praise thee It might haue beene iust with thee to haue inlarged the commission of thy killing Angell to haue rooted out this sinfull people from vnder heauen But in the midst of iudgement thou hast remembred mercy Our sins haue not made thee forget to bee gracious nor haue shut vp thy louing kindnesse in displeasure Thou hast wounded vs and thou hast healed vs againe thou hast deliuered vs and beene mercifull to our sins for thy names sake Oh that wee could duly prayse thy name in the great Congregation Oh that our tongues our hearts our liues might blesse and glorifie thee that so thou mayst take pleasure to perfect this great work of our full deliuerance and to make this Nation a deare example of thy mercie of peace victorie prosperitie to all the world In the meane time let vs call all our fellow-creatures to helpe vs beare a part in the Praise of our God Let the heauens the stars the winds the waters the dewes the frosts the nights the dayes Let the Earth and Sea the mountaines wels trees fishes foules beasts Let men let Saints let Angels blesse the Lord praise him and magnifie him for euer blessed blessed for euer be the Lord who loadeth vs daily with benefits euen the God of our saluation to whom belong the issues from death Oh blessed bee the Lord God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things And blessed bee his glorious name for euer and euer and let all the earth be filled with his glorie AMEN Amen FINIS
Let the world be a cheater our flesh a traytor the deuill a tyrant Faithfull is hee that hath promised who will also doe it God is the God of our Saluation How much more then in these outward temporall occasions when wee haue to doe with an arme of flesh Doe the enemies of the Church rage and snuffe and breathe nothing but threats death Make sure of our God he shal be sure to make them lick our dust Great Benhadad of the Syrians shall come with his hempen collar to the King of Israel The very windes and waues shall vndertake those Mahumetan or Marran powers that shall rise vp against the inheritance of the God of Saluation Saluation is rateable according to the danger from which we are deliuered since death therefore is the vtmost of all terribles needes must it bee the highest improuement of Saluation that to our God belong the issues from death Death hath here a double latitude of kinde of extent the kind is either temporall or eternall the extent reaches not only to the last compleate act of dissolution but to all the passages that lead towards it Thus the issues from death belong to our God whether by way of preseruation or by way of rescue How gladly doe I meet in my text with the deare and sweet name of our Iesus who conquered death by dying and triumpht ouer hell by suffering and carryes the keyes both of death and hell Reuel 1.18 He is the God the Author and Finisher of our Saluation to whom belong the issues from death Looke first at the temporary he keepes it from vs he fetches vs from it It is true there is a Statutum est vpon it dye wee must Death knocks equally at the hatch of a Cottage and gate of a Palace but our times are in Gods hand the Lord of life hath set vs our period Whose omnipotence so contriues all euents that neither enemie nor casualtie nor disease can preuent his houre Were Death suffered to runne loose and wild what boote were it to liue now it is tetherd vp short by that almightie hand what can wee feare If enuy repine and villanie plot against sacred Soueraigntie God hath well proued vpon all the Poysons and Pistols and Poynards and Gun-powders of the two late memorable Successions that to him alone belong the issues from death Goe on then blessed Soueraigne go on couragiously in the wayes of your God the inuisible guard of heauen shall secure your Royal head the God of our Saluation shall make you a third glorious instance to all posterities that vnto him belong the issues from death Thus God keepes death from vs it is more comfort yet that he fetches vs from it Euen the best head must at last lye downe in the dust and sleepe in death Oh vayne cracks of valour thou bragst thy selfe able to kill a man a worme hath done it a flye hath done it Euery thing can finde the way downe vnto death none but the omnipotent can finde the way vp out of it Hee findes hee makes these issues for all his As it was with our head so it is with the members Death might seaze it cannot hold Gustauit non deglutiuit It may nibble at vs it shall not deuoure vs. Behold the onely Soueraine Antidote against the sorrowes the frights of death Who can feare to lay himselfe downe and take a nappe in the bed of death when his heart is assured that hee shall awake glorious in the morning of his resurrection Certainly it is only our infidelity that makes death fearfull Reioyce not ouer me O my last enemie though I fall I shall rise againe O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie Cast yet one glance of your eyes vpon the second and eternall death the issues where from belong to our God not by way of rescue as in the former but of preseruation Exinferno nulla redemtio is as true as if it were Canonicall Father Abraham tels the damned glutton in the parable there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulfe that barres all returne These black gates of hell are barred without by the irreuersible decree of the Almightie Those bold Fabulists therfore whose impious legends haue deuised Traian fetcht thence by the prayers of Gregory and Falconâ—lla by Tâ—claes suspending the finall sentence vpon a secundum praesentem iniustitiam take a course to cast themselues into that pit whence they haue presumptuously fayned the deliuerance of others The reseue is not more hopelesse then the preuention is comfortable There is none of vs but is naturally walking down to these chambers of death Euery sinne is a pace thitherwards onely the gracious hand of our GOD stayes vs In our selues in our sinnes we are already no better then brands of that hell Blessed be the God of our saluation that hath found happie issues from this death What issues Euen those bloody issues that were made in the hands and feete and side of our blessed Sauiour that invaluablie precious blood of the Sonne of God is that whereby wee are redeemed whereby we are iustified whereby wee are saued Oh that our soules might haue had leasure to dwell awhile vpon the meditation of those dreadfull torments wee are freed from of that infinite goodnesse that hath freed vs of that happie exchange of a glorious condition to which wee are freed But the publicke occasion of this day cals off my speech and inuites me to the celebration of the sensible mercie of God in our late temporall deliuerance Wherein let me first blesse the God of our saluation that hath put it into the heart of his chosen seruant to set vp an Altar in this sacred threshing floore and to offer vp this dayes sacrifice to his name for the stay of our late mortall contagion How well it becomes our Gideon to bee personally exemplarie as in the beating of this Earthen pitcher in the first publicke act of humiliation so in the lighting of this Torch of publicke ioy and sounding the Trumpet of a thankfull iubilation and how well will it become vs to follow so pious so gracious an example Come therefore all yee that feare the Lord and let vs recount what hee hath done for our soules Come let vs blesse the Lord the God of our saluation that loadeth vs dayly with benefits the God to whom belong the issues of death Let vs blesse him in his infinite essence and power blesse him in his vnbounded and iust Souerainty blesse him in his maruelous beneficence large continuall vndeserued blesse him in his preseruations blesse him in his deliuerances VVee may but touch at the two last How is our Earth ready to sinke vnder the loade of his mercies VVhat nation vnder heauen hath not enuied and wondred at our blessings I doe not carie backe your eyes to the ancient fauours of our God to the memorable frustrations of forraine Inuasions to the miraculous discoueries of Treasons to the succesfull