Die Sabbathi 28 Novemb. 1691. IT is Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Thanks of this House shall be and is hereby given to the Lord Bishop of Ely for his Sermon Preached on Thursday last before this House in the Abby-Church at Westminister and he is hereby Desired to Print and Publish the same MATH JOHNSON Cler. Parliamentor A SERMON Preached before the Lords Spiritual Temporal IN THE ABBY-CHURCH at Westminster On the 26th of NOVEMB 1691. BEING THE thanksgiving-Thanksgiving-Day FOR THE Preservation of Their MAJESTIES The Success of Their Forces in the Reducing of IRELAND And for the KING' 's Safe RETURN By the Right Reverend Father in God SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCI The Bishop of ELY's THANKSGIVING SERMON BEFORE THE House of LORDS A SERMON Preached before the HOUSE of LORDS c. DEUT. IV. 9. Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart out of thy heart all the days of thy life THE Jewish Nation being represented to us by St. Paul as our Types and Examples and their History being written as he informs us 1 Cor. X. 11. For our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come We cannot have a more sure direction for the preservation and continuance of those great Blessings which we come this day to acknowledg with Praises and Thanksgivings than from the Instruction which God himself here gives to that People by his Servant Moses in the Conclusion of his Ministryamong them They had seen strange things such as no Age had produced the like since the Creation of the World They beheld innumerable signs and Tokens of a Divine Presence with them and were surrounded with so many amazing proofs of an extraordinary Providence over them that they could not doubt of God's singular favour towards them nor of the continuance of his Divine Protection Who doth not love to leave his own work imperfect but designs to finish what he hath most graciously begun The only danger was lest they should forget all that their eyes had seen or be so negligent as not to lay to heart the great goodness of the Lord Against which Moses here gives them this Caution Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently c. And truly this is the only thing that we have to fear Who are a People also saved by the Lord a People who have seen his wonderful works and may rationally hope to see further effects of his Almighty Mercy if we be not so senslesly careless as to let the Memory of what God hath done for us slip out of our Minds and leave no impressions upon our Hearts Which would load us with so foul a Guilt that God might justly abandon us to all the Evils from which he hath delivered us and let us perish even after we have been saved by his special Providence I cannot therefore do you better service than to press upon you this weighty Admonition of Moses the man of God as the most certain means of our preservation and the best expression of our gratitude Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart out of thy heart all the days of thy life In which words it is easy to observe two things First it is here too plainly supposed that men are very apt to forget even those Wonderful works which they have seen with their own eyes Otherwise there would have been no need of such great Caution as is here given to the Jews to take heed and not only take heed but to keep their Soul nay to keep it diligently lest they should forget what their eyes had seen For without heed and diligent heed and careful observance of themselves he knew these things would soon slip out of their thoughts and be no more remembred And therefore Secondly we ought to use our most serious indeavours not to forget them no not to forget them as long as we live But to preserve the remembrance of them to the very end of our days For so it follows in the last clause lest they depart out of thy heart all the days of thy life Which being the Principal thing here intended it is fit I should begin with that and reserve the supposal as an argument to inforce this duty if I have time for it Therefore we ought to take care to keep in mind the things which our eyes have seen because we are very prone to forget them Now when he bids us take heed lest we forget them it is as much as if he had charged us to remember them And to remember them is not barely to call them to mind or to keep them in mind but to have our hearts also duly affected with them For in the Holy language all such words as this which belong to the mind include the Affections and such Actions also as are agreeable to such Affections To omit the many instances there are of this in the Book of God Moses himself here gives us this Explication of his own words When he charges the Israelites to take heed lest the things they had seen did depart out of their heart all the days of their life There in the heart they were to preserve such an affectionate remembrance of them as never to forget to perform the duties unto which they were obliged by such wonderful works as God had done to engage them to him Now this being premised I have nothing to do but to consider First What the things were that their eyes had seen 2 And then Secondly I shall be your Remembrancer by setting before you a few of the things that our eyes likewise have beheld 3. And Lastly shew you what suitable Affections ought to be in our hearts and what behaviour becomes those or how they ought to live who have seen such things 1. As for the First of these the things which the Israelites had seen were of two sorts For they had been in very great dangers and they had received as great Deliverances Both of these are so well known that I need but briefly touch them Nothing is more famous in their Story then the Affliction which they suffered a long time in the land of Aegypt Where they groaned under such heavy burdens that when God sent a Deliverer to them they hearkned not unto him for anguish of Spirit and for cruel bondage VI. Exod. 9. that is they were to oppressed they could not think much less hope for any relief From which they were no sooner redeemed but they fell into such dismal straits at the red Sea that they utterly despaired of safety And when they had passed that danger Amalek came forth with all his power to oppose their passage through the Wilderness Where they were
by rescuing them from their Oppressor entred upon all the legal Rights belonging to him This hath been the constant Sence of all Nations And every good Man among us who is of a contrary Judgment I would willingly believe seriously laments his infelicity that he cannot acknowledge his present Majesty with such Gratitude as is due to so great a Benefactor Which will not suffer those who feel the least touch of it to do or to speak or so much as think any thing to the prejudice of him who hath ventured his Life many a time to preserve our Religion and Liberty Yea we ought in Gratitude to him as well as out of love to our selves to give him the utmost assistance we are able for the support and security of his Government that is in truth for the defence of our Country and Religion Which is the only thing that he can be thought to design unless it be the preservation of the Reformed Religion every where and of the Liberties of these Parts of the World which are in danger by the Ambition of a Powerful Oppressor And this is matter of Joy to us and Thanksgiving to God this day that however some particular Persons may be ill affected the Body of the People it appears by their Representatives are unanimously disposed to grant His Majesty a Supply as large as his Desires for the carrying on what he hath so happily begun III. And if we look upon our Preservation as a most special Providence of God a kind of New-Birth of this Nation a Resurrection from the Dead or at least a Recovery from a desperate Disease a Marvellous Deliverance wherein the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God most seasonably appeared for our Rescue from the most Dreadful Dangers we cannot think He hath done all this for us meerly that we may live to eat and drink and sleep in safety much less to satisfie our sinful Lusts and Appetites But that we may live to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace and Mercy towards us For what else should God concern himself in our Preservation And therefore let us make that use of it to live as becomes a People that are saved by the Lord to serve him faithfully in the steady and constant Performance of our Duty according to the Directions of our Holy Religion which he hath continued to us in its Purity by this Deliverance Such an extraordinary Obligation manifestly Challenges some extraordinary Return of Duty But what Return I beseech you have we as yet made which may be thought in any measure suitable to the Benefits we have received Nay what have we not done to provoke God to forsake us after he hath been so wonderfully Kind to us Is there any one Sin that we have amended Doth not all manner of Prophaneness doth not Hatred and Uncharitableness abound as much as ever among us When there hath been such a great Change an amazing Turn of Affairs by the late Revolution are any of our Hearts changed and turned sincerely to the Lord Do not all Men go on in the old Tract as if we had done Nothing amiss I am very loth to put any melancholy Thoughts into your Minds upon a Day of Rejoycing But assure your selves as it was God's Intention in this Deliverance to move and engage us to be a better People so if we defeat his Intentions by continuing as bad as we were before we ought in Reason to expect that He will alter the course of his Providence towards us And as Moses elsewhere speaks in this Book Deut. XXVIII 63. as he rejoyced over us to do us good so he will rejoyce over us to destroy us and bring us to nought Let us not run this Hazzard I beseech you but endeavour seriously to answer his Expectation by learning from this Deliverance to fear the Lord our God as Moses speaks Deut. X. 11. to walk in all his ways and to love him and serve him with all our heart and with all our soul to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which he hath commanded us for our good And then will the Lord love us and bless us he will multiply his Mercy upon us and make us a truly Great and Happy People For he is our praise he is our God who hath done for us these great and terrible things which our Eyes have seen IV. And hath taught us thereby that did we that Remember his Mercies in our late Deliverance we might then hope in the same Mercy for the future Yea be confident God will continue to prosper Their Majesties Arms and bless them with greater Successes in the present War wherein they are engaged Which we cannot but wish unless we be in love with Calamities or our Forgetfulness of former Dangers makes us fearless of any future 〈◊〉 our Discontents throw such a Mist before our Eyes that we cannot discern our Friends from our Enemies Let me intreat you to consider what Desolations threaten us here in a Protestant Country if the French should prevail when they have made such havock in Germany among those who are as Catholick as themselves Where they have laid the most Beautiful Cities in Ashes only because they could not keep them any longer in their Possession As if the World were made for them alone and none else were Worthy to inhabit it but every Place must be made desolate if they cannot continue in it Unto what pitch of Proud Wrath or rather Diabolical Fury are they arrived Which may justly make us look upon them not only as the Enemies of all Protestants but of all Christians nay of all Mankind Whose Interest it is to Unite all their Power to pull them down and chain them up that they may not be able to make any further Ravage in the World with their Infernal Troops It is manifest at what they aim and how they intend to treat all those who become their Slaves And therefore as we have the highest reason to bless the Goodness of God this Day for driving them out of the Kingdom of Ireland where they designed no doubt to settle themselves as a fair step to master us also so it is the utmost degree of Infatuation to favour their Pretensions or not vigorously to oppose the progress of their Arms For it is to oppose Robberies and Rapes hellish Cruelties and utter Devastations It is to assert the Common Right of Mankind against a Boundless Oppressor who forges a Title at his Pleasure to any Country which he hath a mind to invade And he hath invaded so many that there are innumerable Souls in several places of the World who cry out continually in the Anguish of their Spirits as the Psalmist doth O God to whom vengeance belongoth O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy self Lift up thy self thou Judge of the earth and render a reward to the proud Lord how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph How long shall they
not seeking meerly our own things but every one also the things of others i. e. the Common Good and be likewise at greater Unity among our selves by Loving one another with a pure Heart fervently Of this let us take a special care lest our Affections which seemed to be disposed to Reconciliation be again alienated one from another by our present Differences What cannot we differ in Opinion but we must declare War one against another Or must we break off all Friendship and Kindness yea all Acquaintance and Conversation and look upon one another as Infidels Nay I think we ought to have a greater Kindness for Infidels than many of us had one for another in our former Differences and Contentions Which for God's sake let us not act over again If we cannot Agree yet let us not Quarrel no nor be Angry much less furiously bent against those who are not of our Mind nor pass hard Censures on those as Men of no Conscience who for instance have endeavoured by the best and most justifiable means as they think to preserve the Reformed Religion and the English Liberties For such Censuring looks like Raving and that 's no good sign Men are in the right Let us learn at last to be Sober and Wise to Love one another and to live in Peace and the God of Love and Peace will be with us In the time of our Distress I cannot but hope we had very good Resolutions about such matters and intended hereafter to be more moderate Let us now therefore make them good II. Which is the Second thing I intended to press under this Head It is scarce possible for a Man when he is in great Danger not to consider his ways and to resolve he will avoid those things which evidently brought him into it Nay to make Vows that he will remember those Holy Resolutions There was great Reason I am sure for every one so to do We were strangely false to God and to our own Souls if the Methods of his Providence wrought no such Pious Purposes in us And if we do not now make them good we are strangely false also to our own Promises and Vows If one might judge of all Places in the Kingdom by some one would conclude that as our Coldness and Carelessness in Religion had brought us into great Dangers so our Dangers had quickned many Souls to greater Fervency and Zeal For we saw our Churches filled our Communions thronged with larger Assemblies as if the Fear that was upon us had moved us to flee to the Table of the Lord son Sanctuary as Joab did to the Horns of the Altar God forbid that any such Souls should ever hereafter forget those Fears or forget those Resolutions which their Fears created of being more Diligent and Devout in God's Service Take heed I beseech you lest you live to see the Day when all the Apprehonsions you had of God and of your Duty to him are vanished and you are fall'n back into your former Remissness For what can bring you out of it again but some such Danger And do you either desire or hope or fear to see such Dangers again as you have lately seen I am sure you do not you cannot desire it And you cannot hope for that which you cannot desire And if you fear such a time may come again it is because you resolve to deserve it by continuing those Sins which brought you into such Distresses Consider I beseech you did we not for instance seem all inclined to be at peace one with another Did we not at length begin to reflect with grief upon our zealous Folly in our indiscreet behaviour to say no worse one towards another upon the account of the differences that were among us Did we not resolve to be Friends upon some Terms or other to forget what was past and to joyn together heartily for our mutual safety and preservation And do we now break out again into the same Outrages as if we had been wholly strangers to all such good Dispositions Do our Spirits boyl up with Anger at the very mention of Reconciliation As if we had no Resolutions but to return to our former Animosities and Enmities to rake into all Miscarriages revenge all the Wrongs that have been done us renew our ancient Strife and Contention Wrath and Bitterness and all the rest of those Sins which brought us to the very brink of Destruction What can we think then will become of us having by the dangers into which these Sins threw us seen such reason to reform them as I hope we shall never see again If they be not amended by what we have seen we shall be in danger to perish in our Sins For should we fall into new dangers of that kind which we have already seen they will not in all probability be intended to reform us but to ruin us But I must prosecute this no further because there is a Third thing which deserves to be pressed longer than I have time for it III. Learn I beseech you by the dangers wherein you have been to abhor the Spirit of Popery Which it is evident by what was lately acted among us is void of all Truth and of all Mercy nay of common Humanity None can trust those safely that are possessed with it when they are in Power No Obligations can hold them for they had the greatest to treat us otherwise than they did lately no Promises no Oaths no Ties of Gratitude are of any force to bind them but this Spirit breaks through all being the Spirit of Falshood and Violence made up of Persidiousness and Cruelty Witness the Tragedy it hath acted in France if you will not take the Character of it from what your Eyes have seen at home which hath been accounted the most moderate of all the Catholick Countries as they call them But they have taught us that there is no such thing as Moderation among them For there they have not only violated the Faith of all Edicts Treaties Promises and Oaths but persecuted those of the Reformed Religion in such an outragious manner that their Cruelty can scarcely be matched in the History of the ancient Pagan Persecution of the Primitive Christians And yet so little of common Honesty there is in that Spirit where it prevails so little of shame they have had the face to publish to the World that no such thing as severity hath been used there but they have made all their Conversions in the most gentle and sweetest Methods imaginable Be sensible I beseecli you of the infinite Goodness of God who hath prevented these gentle Methods here in which we have too much reason to think they would have proceeded had they not been seasonably stopt without shame without remorse without any tenderness even for those who had been so foolish as to assist them to undo themselves and others For we see they had the confidence so far to abuse our late Soveraign as to
speak so disdainfully and make such proud boasting c. And he who Rules in all the Kingdoms of the Children of Men all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase will at length hear the Sighs and Groans of those poor Wretches whom that Oppressor hath made very miserable And will dash likewise all the Designs that are against us here in those Kingdoms if we be not so ungrateful to Him as not to regard the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands For when did the Hand of God appear more visibly than it hath done of late in Defeating the Attempts that have been made in these Three Kingdoms upon our Religion and Liberties And can we think that God intends they should rise up again who have been so remarkably confounded No surely if we be not so wickedly unthankful as to forget the Hand that hath saved us or slight his Mercies towards us There 's the remaining Danger and therefore let us take heed to ourselves and keep our Souls diligently lest we forget the things our Eyes have seen and lest they depart out of our Heart all the days of our Life This is a thing which requires very great care because we are naturally forgetful Creatures apt to be unmindful of Benefits and in this particular Case shall meet with many Attempts upon us to make us like the old Israelites disgust our present Happiness and in effect wish our selves again in Egypt Which I have not time left to represent so effectually as it deserves but must only intreat you to be aware of this Danger and watch your selves so carefully that nothing efface the sense of God's great Goodness to you in the late Deliverance he hath given you And then he who hath hitherto heard our Prayers will still fulfil our humble Petitions He will hear the Cry of those miserable People who are undone by a haughty Oppressor Though he bear long as it is in the Gospel for this Day he will avenge his own Elect yea he will avenge them speedily And we may rationally hope he will also preserve us from falling into his cruel Hands He will stretch forth his Hand against the furiousness of our Enemies and put them to shame that hate us He will go on to disappoint them and cast them down and as the Psalmist elsewhere prays reward them according to their Deeds and according to the Wickedness of their own Inventions Recompence them after the Work of their Hands and pay them what they have deserved In one word break them down and not build them up The Lord will perfect that which concerneth us for his Mercy endureth for ever He will not forsake the Work of his own Hands But we may take the boldness to sing on this Day of Thanksgiving as the Church doth upon the like occasion Psal xlviii 9 14. We wait for thy loving kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple This God who hath done such great things for us is our God for ever and ever He will be our Guide unto Death Amen FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell A New History of the Succession of the Crown of England and more particularly from the Time of King Egbert till King Henry the VIII Collected from those Historians who wrote of their own Times A Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a New Separation on account of the Oaths With an Answer to the History of Passive Obedience so far as relates to Them A Vindication of the said Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a New Separation from the Exceptions made against it in a Tract called A Brief Answer to the said Discourse c. An Account of the Ceremony of Investing His Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh with the Order of the Garter at Berlin June 6. 1690. By Jawes Johnston Esq and Gregory King Esq His Majesty's Commissioners Dr. Freeman's Sermon at the Assizes at Northampton before the Lord Chief Justice Pollexfen August 26. 1690. His Thanksgiving Sermon before the House of Commons November 5. 1690. Dr. Tenison's Sermon before the Queen concerning the Wandring of the Mind in God's Service Feb. 15. 1690. His Sermon before the Queen of the Folly of Atheism Feb 22. 1690. Dr. Fowler now Lord Bishop of Gloucester his Sermon before the Queen March 22. 1690. The Bishop of Sarum's Sermon at the Funeral of the Lady Brook Feb 19. 1690. His Fast Sermon before the King and Queen April 29. 1691. Mr. Fleetwood's Sermon at Christ's Church on St. Stephen's Day A True and Impartial History of the most Material Occurrences in the Kingdom of Ireland during the Two last Years With the present State of both Armies Published to prevent Mistakes and to give the World a Prospect of the future Success of their Majesties Arms in that Nation Written by an Eye-witness to the most Remarkable Passages A Full and Impartial Account of the secret Consults Negotiations Stratagems and Intrigues of the Romish Party in Ireland from 1660 to 1689 for the Settlement of Popery in that Kingdom A Ground-Plot of the strong Fort of Châ—â—â—ement in Ireland with the Town River Marshes Boggs and Places adjacent Drawn by Captain Hobson price 6 Pence An Exact Ground-Plot of London Derry with the River Woods Ways and Places adjacent by the same Captain Hobson price 6 d. A Prospect of Limerick bearing due West exactly shewing the Approaches of the English Army with the Batteries and Breach An Exposition of the Ten Commandments By Dr. Simon Patrick now Lord Bishop of Ely The Lay Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures By Dr. Stratford now Lord Bishop of Chester A shore View of the Unfortunate Reigns of these Kings William the 2d Henry the 2d Edward the 2d Richard the 2d Charles the 2d and James the 2d Geologia Or A Discourse concerning the Earth before the Deluge wherein the Form and Properties ascribed to it in a Book intituled The Theory of the Earth are excepted against And it is made appear That the Dissolution of that Earth was not the Cause of the Universal Flood Also a new Explication of that Flood is attempted By Erasmus Warren Rector of Worlington in Suffolk The present State of Germany or an Account of the Extent Rise Form Wealth Strength Weaknesses and Interests of that Empire The Prerogatives of the Emperor and the Privileges of the Electors Princes and Free Cities adapted to the present Circumstances of that Nation By a Person of Quality The Judgment of God upon the Roman Catholick Church from its first rigid Laws for Universal Conformity to it unto its last End With a Prospect of these near approaching Revolutions viz. The Revival of the Protestant Prosesion in an Eminent Kingdom where it was totally suppressed The last End of all Turkish Hostilities The General Mortification of the Power of the Roman Church in all Parts of its Dominions By DRVE CRESNER D. D. 4 to Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of PIEDMONT By PETER ALLIX D. D. A Vindication of their Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of the 〈◊〉 Bishops in a Letter out of the Country occasioned by Dr. B 's 〈◊〉 of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4 to V. CL. GVLIELMI CAMDENI Illustrium Virorum ad G. Camdenum EPISTOLAE Cum Appendice varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annaliâ—â— Regni Regis Jacob◠〈◊〉 Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis 〈◊〉 Angliae Praemittitur G. Camdeni vita Scriptore Thomâ— Smitho S. T. D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4 to MEMOIRS of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1072 to the Peace concluded 1679. 8vo Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum 4 to A Sermon Preached at White-Hall on the 26th of November 1691 being the thanksgiving-Thanksgiving-Day for the Preservation of the King and the Reduction of Ireland By OILBERT Lord Bishop of SARVM 4 to ADVERTISEMENT PROPOSALS will be shortly published by Richard Chiswell for Subscription to a Book now finished intituled ANGLIAE SACRAE PARS SECVNDA sive Collectio Historiarum antiquitus Scriptorum de Archiepiscopis Episcopis Angliae à prima Fidei Christianae Susceptione ad annum MDXL. Plures antiquas de Vitis Regni gestis Praesulum Anglicorum Historias sine certo ordine congestas complexa