no way unprofitable to insist somewhat largely either for the better observing this present day or more acceptable discharge of our duties unto God in days of the like nature for the future In the demonstration whereof I shall make choyce to instance in that Ordinance and Exercise of Religious Worship which the Scripture requires to be performed with more extraordinary degrees of Sanctity and Piety then any other besides a day of Thanksgiving I mean a day of publique Humiliation observed according to Gods Institution 2. I shall shew That the duty of publique Joy and Thanksgiving is by Gods Institution to be performed with a greater measure of Light Faith and Sanctity then a day of Humiliation Which may be collected from the Scriptures thus Which appears 1. From the titles First From the different names titles and adjuncts the Spirit of God in the Word is pleased to cloath them withall As first a day of publique Fast is called a day of restraint Isai 58. or day of afflicting the Soul Levit. 23. or day of mourning and weeping Joel 2. But on the other side a day of Thanksgiving is called a good day Esth 9. they must keep the days of Purim for good days very holy days Neh. 8.10 Weep not for the day is holy to the Lord intimating therein That by how much the exercise of goodness and holiness which are the high Attributes of God himsef is more heavenly and spiritual then the exercise of sorrow weeping and affliction the inseparable off-spring of misery and sin by so much a day of Thanksgiving rightly performed is better and holier then a day of Humiliation which is yet more manifest in the Levites Inhibition Weep not for the day is holy The tears there shed by the people and forbidden by the Levites were Tears of godly sorrow for their sins against the Law of God which are most expresly commanded on a day of Humiliation and are in their performance the splendor and glory of the day But these Tears are forbidden on a day of Thanksgiving upon this ground because they are not holy enough for the Services of it Weep not for the day is holy to the Lord Oh how transcendently holy is that Exercise where the pearl of a Tear of godly Sorrow is a blemish Unto this more general demonstration of the point in hand 2. The end let me entreat you to take notice of that expression of the Holy Spirit in Esth 9. Vers 31. when the days of Purim or Thanksgiving are said to be the matter of the fastings and cries that is the success and fruit of their former days of Humiliation mentioned in the fourth Chapter of the Book Now who knows not That the End is the perfection of the Means and in that respect more excellent as Faith is better then Hearing because Faith is the End of Hearing Christ better then Faith because the End of Faith is to bring to Christ So a day of Thanksgiving is better and higher then a day of Humiliation because Fasting is but the subservent Means leading to a day of Thanksgiving and a day of Thanksgiving is the End and Perfection of a day of Humiliation As these different Titles of a day of Thanksgiving and Humiliation in the Scripture declare their high excellency of one above the other in the general 3. The particular graces which are 1. Scripture Light in 3 particulars So it is yet more manifest from the different degrees and measures of Light Faith and Holiness required in the observation of a day of Thanksgiving above a day of Humiliation in particular As first In the observation of a day of Thanksgiving there is required exercise and practice of more heavenly knowledg In the second of Joel the Lord requires a day of publique Humiliation should be performed not onely by men women Priests and Levites that are supposed to be persons of knowledg but also even babes and sucking children that are known to be in a condition of ignorance Yea and the people of Nineveh Jonah 3. who cannot be conceived to have had any art or speculative understanding and skill in the form nature or order of observation of a Fast according to Scripture being Heathens and having had the means but three days amongst them yet they were called to that Duty and their performance of it was accepted of the Lord because the Lord requires little art or skill in confessing our sins or sorrowing for them But now in the Duty of our return of thanks and praises there is an express injunction of the exercise and use of special skill and understanding as Psa 147.6 7. Oh sing praises unto our God sing praises sing praises to our King Sing praises for God is King of all the Earth sing praises therefore with understanding And Psa 119.171 My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes And Vers 7. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when thou hast learned me thy Judgments All which Scriptures evidence That how upright soever mens hearts be to God yet there can be no acceptable performance of praise except also that upright heart be an understanding heart that hath learned the Statutes and Judgments of God from the Lords teaching and therefore in the Solemnization of that Duty of Thanksgiving which was so holy that they might not shed a Tear in it Nehem. 8. it is expresly said There were none of that great Congregation that were gathered either of men or women but such as could hear and understand Neh. 8.2 And the observation of Gods minde expressed in other Scriptures will certifie us of the special degree of Heavenly skill required to be in such as offer high praises of God namely Knowledg First Of the form of the Service Secondly Of the blessing for which the Service is undertaken Thirdly Of the matter to be returned First 1. The form Of the manner and form of the Service prescribed of God not minted in our brains as is most evident first from the description of days of Thanksgiving Esth 9. where the form and manner of observation of the same is prescribed in every particular even to the appointment of their meat drink apparel and looks on that day And secondly from Nehemiahs and the Levites reproof and Inhibition Neh. 8.10 rebuking and blaming the people for their varying so much as in shedding a Tear contrary to the same Secondly 2. The matter There is required special understanding and knowledg of the nature and worth of the mercy for which the Duty is undertaken for God will not be praised confusedly but distinctly and proportionably to his Dispensation Psa 150. Praise him according to his wonderous works which is to be the prime and peeper matter of their high praises even his more proper and peculiar high acts then to be remembred as is largely expressed in Moses praise for the particular mercy of coming safe through the red Sea Exod. 15. and Debora's
brought me high reproaches and disgraces Bell-joy Table-joy Musick-joy and Bonefire-joy in a day of Thanksgiving without the exercise of a greater measure of Scripture Light effectual Faith and practical Holiness in giving him high praises is but to do with our God as the fisher-man in Plutarch with his 2 Use of Exhortation to heighten Praises because God requires who for blessing him with a great draught of fish promised to give his god half but paid him by taking out all the fish for himself sent the shels to his god For prevention of which abominable sin against God in the observation of this your day let me now by way of Exhortation entreat you Gentlemen in the Name of that great God who hath of late so graciously heard and answered so many of your own and others prayers speaking for you now to hear and also obediently to answer the Counsel and Exhortation of God in this truth you have heard speaking unto you which is this That seeing the Praises of God are and ought to be high Praises that then both your selves and all others that would joyn with you to answer God in thankfulness for this or any other mercy received be careful and studious to raise and heighten their praise before they be returned The things that the Lord hath done for you all are not small and low but many great and high Favours be careful therefore that the thanks you return him to day be not formal common or ordinary but many great and raised praises unto which your hearts will the sooner be convinced to yeeld obedience in raising and heightning your praises if you consider with me these two things manifest in Scripture First That whensoever God requires praise to be returned for any mercy 1. Proportionable Praises he doth not only require it to be returned in kind but also in weight measure and proportion and that according to the greatness of his love manifested either in himself word or works towards them So Psal 29.1 2. Give unto God you mighty that is men of place and power give ye unto God glory and strength that is your highest and uttermost strength in giving him glory and why vers 2. Because this is his due from you that are mighty by way of proportion therefore give him the Glory due to his Name give him his full due in worshipping him in the beauty of holiness and Psal 66.2 the Spirit of God doth require of all Nations not only to sing forth the honor of his Name but to make his Praise glorious raise it to the height of beauty and greatness make his Praise as great as himself proportionable to his own greatness So Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and because the Psalmist adds that his Greatness is unsearchable he also infers that men must wonderfully gloriously and abundantly praise him in proportion thereunto from vers 3. to 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and declare thy greatness even proportionable to the excellency and height of it Psal 150.2 Praise him in his mighty acts and according to the excellency of his greatness Thus you see the first thing that God looks for proportionable praise great praise for a great God doing great things and high praises for a high God doing high things The second thing I would have you observe to move you to raise your praises for the mercy received before they be returned 2. Proper Praises is this That that goodness of God in delivering you out of prison wherein you were unjustly detained is a mercy of that nature that God in his Word hath required and expresly and particularly declared that he expects proper and special thanks and praise for the same as Psal 107.10 Such as sit in darkness being bound in affliction and iron these prisoners cryed unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress and brake their bands asunder Vers 13. What then doth the Lord expect from these praying and now delivered prisoners see Vers 15. Oh that they would praise the Lord for his goodness and declare his wonderful works in their deliverance to the sons of men because he brake the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron in which they were restrained by which you see That the Lord expects amongst all other mercies express praise for delivering men out of bonds which made David Psal 142.7 when he was imprisoned and shut up in the Cave and had the Army of Saul round about him seeking his blood use this as the strongest motive he could use to obtain his liberty That if God would grant him the same and set him at freedom he would then praise his Name Bring my Soul out of prison that I may then praise thy Name which I cannot do now so fully and freely as I would being in bonds And as he here promised praise unto God for liberty if he might obtain it so we see him as faithful and careful to perform it when he did enjoy it Psal 116.16 Lord I am thy servant the son of thy hand-maid and thou hast broken my bonds and set me at liberty and therefore I will offer unto thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving my thanks which I will return for my liberty shall be a Sacrifice without blemish or imperfection the first the best no low mean formal but high and masculine praises by which Gentlemen you may both be strengthned and justified against all gain-sayers in this your action in setting this day apart for this publique way of thankfulness unto God for your late enlargement seeing the Lord looks and expects it specially and proportionably therefore and also be now throughly incited seeing God looks for special praises for the mercy received to heighten your praises before they be returned 3Vse direction how to raise them which leads me to the third and last Use intended namely Direction from what hath bin spoken how to raise your thanks and make your praises high praises before and in their delivery which you shall effect if in relation to the high praises you are to give for this your special mercy in your enlargement you be careful to perform these two things 1. To raise their conception in your hearts inwardly 2. To heighten their expression in your lives outwardly For the first 1. Inwardly High praises must be heightned in womb and conceptions of the heart inwardly they must be of high discent and noble birth and therefore the heart which is the spring and fountain from whence high praises must arise must be enlivened and quickned with the seminal vertues from whence all high praises take their original which are these three especially 1. 1. By the deep sense of the danger in 4 particulars From a clear understanding and apprehension of the greatness of your misery under which you were enthralled 2. From an enlarged affection from the sense and
by making joyful and perpetual confessions professions and declarations thereof to your brethren and the Congregations of his people that all you fathers make them known to your children and they also make your deliverance and praises to be remembred by future generations This is punctually prescribed to be observed in uttering praises for deliverances from bonds and imprisonment Psa 107. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness viz. for being the Author of their liberty and declaring his wonderful works in their deliverance to the children of men which also is in like manner observed in Peters praise for his escape out of prison Act. 12. where besides the thankful confession of it to God Vers 17. he both declares it to the Congregation of Saints himself and also requires the Church to make relation of it to others and especially to James and Iohn who being publique persons he knew would cause the praises of God to be remembred and celebrated therefore in all the assemblies of the Saints wheresoever they came in conformity to whose practise let me exhort you also to go tell your Iohns and Iames and other brethren how great things God hath done for you in this your enlargement so that as the Spirit of God in your very case requires Psal 102. 18 19 20 21. it may be written for the generations to come and the people that shall be created may praise the Lord for you and with you saying God looked down from the height of his Sanctuary from Heaven did the Lord behold the Earth To hear the groaning of us Prisoners and to loose us that were appointed to death That we might declare the Name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. Secondly Heighten the verbal expression of your praises 2. By Commemoration unto God by a thankful Commemoration of Gods great mercy in your deliverance between the Lord and your selves the practise whereof I would have you learn from the Psalmist Psal 136. where he praiseth GOD with high praises First for the work of Creation unto the tenth Verse and then for the deliverance of his people from the Egyptian bondage and thraldom Vers 18. In both which he heightens the praises of GOD these two ways First divides the total sum of GODS goodness into the several parcels and particular remarkable passages of his providence therein Secondly He multiplies and reiterates the expression and attribution of his praises according to the nature and number of the particulars observed in his antecedent distinction this is the method he observes in the first part of the Psalm unto the tenth Verse where he praiseth God for works of Creation dividing the mercy and multiplying the praise according to the number of the special Attributes and Actions of God observed therein First he observes the attribute of Goodness of God and then praiseth him for that Oh give thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Then observes him as God of Gods Vers 2. and praiseth him for that by it self Oh give thanks to the God of Gods for his mercy c. Then as Lord of Lords Vers 3. Then takes notice of his wonderful Power By diviving the mercy That alone doth great wonders Vers 4. Then of the attribute of his Wisdom in making the Heavens Vers 5. And having thus observed the distinction of Attributes in God and multiplyed Praises according to the number of them he then proceeds to the division of the total of his work into the principal parts of it and multiplies his Praises according to the number of them As first His stretching out the earth above the waters Vers 6. Then the making great Lights Vers 7. The Sun to rule the day Vers 8. The Moon and Stars to rule the night And as he observes this method of division of the mercy of Creation and the multiplication of praises for it so in praising God for their deliverance from bondage and their slavery in Egypt which is more properly your case he first in the beginning of each verse doth distinctly observe the several parts and circumstances of their deliverance as that he smote the first-born of Egypt and brought Israel from amongst them and with a strong hand overthrew Pharaoh and smote great Kings and famous Kings Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and unto every one of these particulars adds a particular reiteration of the praise of God for the fame in the end of each verse still inculcating and concluding That his mercy endureth for ever which is written for your learning and instruction that you also in praising God for your liberty should particularize the total sum of your safety and then to multiply and reiterate the expression of your praises accordingly And multipliing the praise Come therefore and sing unto the Lord a new Song and praise him this day in the Congregation of Saints and with good Ezra Heman and Asaph Ezra 3.10 11. Praise ye the Lord after the Ordinance of David King of Israel singing together by course praising and giving thanks unto the Lord your God because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever To the God of Gods that stood by us when all other comforts sailed us For his mercy endureth for ever To the Lord of Lords that hath subdued our Enemies under us For his mercy endureth for ever That rescued us from anger and rage of the multitude when they first apprehended us at Chelmsford For his mercy endureth c. That preserved us in the long march from Brantree to Colchester For his mercy endureth c. That suffered not our Enemies to do us any harm For his mercy c. That turned their hearts to be civil to us For his mercy c. That secured us from the bullets that were shot through our chambers For his mercy c. That made our society so comfortable whiles we were in custody For his mercy c. That did provide for us meat and drink plentifully when our Enemies starved For his mercy endureth c. Who by his Spirit stirred up so many to pray for us For his mercy c. And in his faithfulness answered those prayers For his mercy c. That caused our Enemies to give us life when they yielded themselves to death For his mercy c. That after so many weeks imprisonment brought us home with Honor Safety and Freedom For his mercy endureth for ever Thus if you shall begin to particularize your mercies and then proceed in multiplying your praises you will raise the expression of them to be high praises of God in your Mouths verbally unto which the Text requires another and higher expression of them to be added Namely An actual raising them in your lives The real expression of praise heightened with a two-edged sword in your hands which two-edged sword in your
Let the high Praises of God be in their mouth Secondly The Hand that they may be performed really And a two-edged sword in their hands A sword of two mouths or edges as well for God as to God as well defensive for his Truth as offensive against Error These are the Instruments The Execution follows where we have 1. The Sufferers 2. Their Sufferings 3. The Rule of Execution 4. The Reward The Sufferers by this two-edged sword are of four sorts 1. Heathen swallowed up with Infidelity 2. The People the meaner sort and Commonalty 3. The Kings in supream Authority 4. Their Nobles the highest of their Nobility The next thing is their Sufferings which also is four-sold according to the different condition and quality of the persons to suffer 1. For the Heathen Vengeance 2. For the People Punishments 3. For their Kings Chains 4. For their Nobles Fetters of Iron The third thing is the Rule of Execution either of the Vengeance upon Heathen or Punishments of People or Chains on Kings or Fetters on the Nobles and that is the Judgment written Janius Amesius no more no less no other and by no other persons then is expresly written and declared by the great Judg of Heaven and Earth in his Word The Sword of men of Saints against the worst of Heathen must not exceed one Iota the Sword of the Spirit the written Word of God The fourth the Reward of this Execution is Honour This honour have all his Saints Where first we may observe what the Reward is namely this Honour that is first To have high praises of God in their mouths and this two-edged sword in their hands Secondly To be guided to execute no Judgment but that which is written upon any This is Honour Secondly Who they be that are thus honoured to have praises in mouths and execute Judgment written namely his Saints such as God hath made and by his Word accounts Saints not such as are Popish Saints or canonized by themselves or Satan or their Flatterers but such as shew themselves Saints by having their minds and hands bound by the written Word from executing any thing further and otherwise then God hath appointed these and no other are his Saints and therefore to be honoured yea God to be honoured by them in them and for them which is determined in the uttermost extent of this laudatory Circle in the end of the Psalm Hallelujah Praise ye the Lord. Every observing eye may clearly perceive what a large field is laid open in the Text for my discourse to walk in and how many Clusters of divine matter seasonable and apt for our times and present occasion do offer themselves to my hands but I am resolved to let all pass and to take hold only of one and gather it for a Peace-offering to the Lord in applying it only to your present occasion and it shall be that one that groweth upon the very top of this Tree of Life in my Text and furthest from the shadow of those Collections that may be found on the under boughs namely The prescription of the duty to be done The high Praises of God where every one may take notice 1. The subject of duty Divided to be praise yea Praises 2. Object of duty to be God praises of God 3. Their property to be high High praises of God Which word alone needs a little Explication because so variously rendred by the most Interpreters some rendring it only Exaltations of God others Praisings exalting God others Songs exalting God others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expounded Sublime Praises of God others Praises highly uttered unto God the Reason whereof is because the word Romemóth in the Text signifies sometimes actively and then it notes the height exaltation Psal 71.19 Prov 24.7 and lifting up of any thing to the observation of others and sometimes passively and then it notes the height worth excellency of the thing that is exalted or lifted up in it self But the scope and nature of the duty prescribed in the Text necessarily comprehends both as well the high acts for which God is to be highly praised as the high Praises to be given unto God for those high Acts but especially the latter namely the height and excellency of the duty of praise to be performed for those high Acts of God as appears both from the whole Argument of the Psalm meerly laudatory as also from the Instrument wherewith these high Praises are to be performed namely the mouth The high Praises of God in their mouth shewing the height herein mentioned is a property of mans duty or work in praising God and not only of the work of God for which he is to be praised but in the Observation I shall from hence propound unto you I will comprehend both and all the particulars in the duty prescribed besides which is this The Praises of God are of an high nature Doctrine propounded and high performance OR The duty of praising God is a high duty which must exalt and lift up the high God in it This truth I shall labour to demonstrate 1. From the Object 2. Demonstrated The Effect 3. Their Price 4. Their Performance Or to use the School terms they are high 1. Objective 2. Effective 3. Oppretiative 4. Perfective First The Praises of God are high in relation to their Object 1. From the object being peculiar to God which is none other but the most high God and that in the consideration of his transcendent height and Sublimity over and above all other things or persons so the Psalmists resolution intimates Psal 7.17 I will praise the Lord according to his Righteousness which he expresseth in the following words To sing praise to the Name of the Lord most high and Psal 92.1 It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praise to thy Name O thou most high In which places and very many more in the Scriptures it is evident That the Lord considered in his highest Sublimity is the object of high Praise and that by most special and peculiar approbation of them unto himself and none other Isai 42.8 I am Jehovah that is my Name I will not give my Glory to any other nor my Praise to graven Images See how the Lord appropriates and owns it yea specially doth reserve it It is my Glory my Praise and so mine that I will not part with any of it to any other how high soever they be it is too high for any but my self The Lord will and doth give the highest of all things else in the whole Creation to others as the Heavens how high soever above them and the earth and all the works of his hand beneath them hath God put in subjection under mans feet and made him to have dominion over them Psal 8.6 Nay he gives the Services of the highest Angels in the highest Heavens to many others Heb. 2.14 Yea the highest Felicity and
Joys of Heaven even the Masters Joy Mat. 25.23 Yea he will give his Son his Spirit and all his own Excellencies and Perfections besides his Glory to be the portion of his People but his Praise and Glory is so peculiar to himself as that he wil not give the least part of it to any how dear and beloved soever they be unto him I confess this high God permitteth and alloweth some kind of praises in the Scriptures to some special Instruments of his Praises but he alloweth no high Praises to any Distinguished from the praisepermitted to men which are first Relative but only low Praises and those bounded refracted with many cautions and limitations to distinguish the low Praises which are communicated to men from the high Praises peculiar to the most high God As first All praise to men is relative not absolute praise to man relates to no vertue or power essential in himself but derived and borrowed from God Acts 3.12 Why look you on us as if we by our own power and holiness had done any thing 2. All praise permitted to men 2. Transient as it is relative for meer borrowed and received worth so is it not immanent in them but transient through them unto God in so much that when it is most abundantly given unto him it is most fatal and sacrilegious to let the least degree of it abide with them or to be terminated upon them as the example of Paul and Barnabas Acts 14.15 and Herod Acts 12. demonstrate Now who seeth not that relative and transient Praises Praises for borrowed things that must not be received or kept are but low Praises and yet such are the highest Praises the Lord allows to be given or taken by any of his Instruments by whom or for whom he works I say to any even the best and choicest Instruments of his Glory because there be many Instruments by whom and for whom the Lord doth many high Acts and Works to whom he will not have any of this low relative transient praise be ascribed As first 3. Limited John 9.6 To no dead Instrument who will give any praise of the blind mans receiving his sight to the Clay which was put in his eyes 2. To no irrational Instrument though living who will give any praise to the Locusts Grashoppers Lice that were Instruments to overcome Pharaoh Exod. 8.9 and force him to let the Israelites go free from his Tyranny to serve the Lord in the Wilderness 3. To no dissallowed Instrument though rational in himself and permitted of God Matth. 26. what praise is due to Judas for being Instrumental in the work of Redemption who acted from his own lust and covetousness to empty his masters bags and fill his own 4. To no Instrument that is allowed in his work and approved of God if he intends not Gods end in the work as well as the performance of the work it self For what praise is due to Ashur the Rod of Gods Anger and the Staff of Gods Indignation who was sent and approved of God against an hypocritical Nation to spoyl prey upon and tred them down as mire in the street if yet he thinks not so nor intends Gods end in so doing but rather to strengthen his own hand and to cut off Nations not a few for instead of any praise therefore the Lord saith Isai 10.11 12. When be hath performed upon Jerusalem and mount Zion Gods work Gods whole work Gods whole work alone without other help and assistance that then he will punish him therefore yea and not only him but the fruit of his stout heart and proud looks Seeing then that no praise at all is due to many Instruments by whom and for whom God doth perform many glorious Acts both in subduing the Foes of his People and Church and redeeming his Church from Vassallage Tyranny and Bondage and the Praise that he allows to be given or taken by the most holy and choycest of Instruments in the Service of his Church is but relative and transient low praise It is manifest that the Praises of God are so high that they are not to be communicated to others but peculiar to himself alone whose glorious Name is exalted above all Blessing and Praise Neh. 9.5 In the second place 2. From the Effect The Praises of God will appear to be of a high sublime nature from the high Effect the genuine and proper fruit they produce viz. That although their Object to whom they are peculiarly appropriate I mean the Lord himself be in his own Nature and of himself most infinitely high and transcendent yet by the Attribution and performance of praise unto him doth he account his Name his Power his Wisdom and Justice and himself to be exalted and promoted thereby yea accepts of those inward conceptions of his Glory and those outward honors we do him in ascribing high Praises unto his Name as additions and augmentations of his highest Excellencies who was notwithstanding before God over all blessed for ever What else do those expressions in Scripture imply wherein it is asserted That by this high duty of praise the high Jehovah is exalted Psal 107.32 His sublime Perfections to be extolled and lifted up Psal 68.4 His great Name to be magnified Luke 1.64 His infinite Majesty to be glorified Psal 50.23 Oh how high must that duty that adds height to the high God that magnifies the great God and glorifies the God of Glory and makes him higher greater and more glorious then he was before Not that mens praises Not internally how perfectly and fully soever ascribed to God add any thing to the essential and inward perfections of the Almighty which can neither be enlarged or decreased but the Lord would shew unto us thereby That these high Praises added unto him But externally do therewith make as great an addition to the external splendor and lustre of his Glory as the most flagitious and exorbitant practises of wicked men do darken and detract from the same which practises of theirs though they do not neither can or ever shall diminish the least grain of the Immensity of his internal Bliss and Glory nor injure or harm in the least degree those infinite perfections of his Immutability or All-sufficiency yet by withdrawing and detracting from God those external good things which are due unto him which he requires to be given unto him and declares himself much delighted in the receipt of them they are said in Scripture to disgrace dishonour contemn God and despise him even so these high Praises rendring unto God that Honor Praise and Glory which he both commands and entertains with highest delight and pleasure do therewithal render him to all the world more conspicuous in Beauty and Glory then he would be without them For though the Sun would shine most gloriously in it self though all the world were blind or all the clouds in the ayr did hide his face from
us yet when its beams are interposed and lustre over-clouded we account it to be in a suffering condition so the inward Perfections of God without the duty of Praises are as it were in a suffering condition and like a rich Diamond or Jewel hid in a dark corner but by the duty of high Praises the lustre and beauty of his Wisdom Power and Goodness are openly produced and made conspicuous to the observation and admiration of all Beholders and Spectators for which cause they are called in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exaltations of Jehovah rather then Singings unto his Name because according to his Name so is his Praise Psal 48.10 therefore his Name being most high his Praise must be also most high and proportionable thereunto Thirdly 3. From their value discerned The Praises of God are high and of high nature appretiativè in respect of the high estimation and value the Lord him-himself hath them in and sets them at which appears two ways 1. By the high Price wherewith he purchaseth them 2. By the high Delight he takes in them after he hath procured them First 1. In their procurement The price wherewith God is willing to purchase them is very high For not onely the expence of all his wisdom power and goodness put forth in Creation nor onely the layings out of all his counsel care love and faithfulness in Providence and Preservation but also the rich Treasure of his Promises Covenant Grace yea the precious blood of his own Son in our Redemption is given freely absolutely intentionally and ultimately for no other thing but the purchase of high praises to God Ephes 1.5 6. All that God doth and giveth all that Christ doth and suffereth is for no other end but the praise of the glory of his Grace I confess consider mens highest praises of God as they are mans performances they are poor and inconsiderable things but consider them as they are the Testimonies and expressions of a beleeving heart declaring and making known the unspeakable wisdom faithfulness bounty and excellencies of God exercised in his works in this notion The Scripture declares the heart of God so to be taken with the desire of them that he is willing to give Heaven Earth Himself and Son to poor men for the praises of their hearts hands and tongues and accounts himself abundantly satisfied therefore when his People will speak good of his Name speaking well of him in the Dialect of Angels-notes the high praises of God which most strongly and undeniably demonstrates the high worth of the Duty of high praises when the most high God will purchase them with the expence of Himself Son and all he hath Give me praise and take my Christ Self and Kingdom saith God When a profane and foolish Esau will purchase a mess of pottage with the price of his birth right a mean and contemptible thing with a great price we rather undervalue the wisdom of the Purchaser then esteem any thing the better of the Purchase But if a wise Merchant that is certainly and undoubtedly known to have perfect understanding and deep insight into the worth of the things he deals for if such a one sells all he hath and takes up what he can elsewhere procure to purchase a pearl or field we then conclude the hidden worth of the Purchase from the high price given for it by the knowing and wise Purchaser Now then must it not undeniably advance the heighth and worth of high praises when we see the omnipotent and infinite onely wise God that regards not Gold Silver Kingdoms Honors but yet knows how to prize and value his own contents and pleasure doth dispense and lay out all that Heaven and Earth is worth solely and purposely to purchase to Himself the highest praise of his Glory and Grace Secondly 2. In their Enjoyment The high value that God hath of high praises will be evident by the high delight and pleasure God takes in them thus purchased for skilful Artists and high principled elevated understandings never take pleasure or delight in any thing or work which is not answerable to their highest principles and proportionable to their uttermost skill and desire Now the Lord who is the most perfect understanding and deepest skill and knowledg declares himself to take infinite delight in his Peoples Praises It is his solace and pleasure to be attended with them either in Earth or in Heaven by men or Angels and his Soul is ravished with the thoughts and contemplation of them This was it which was typed by the Feasts Psa 148. Lev. 6.7 Num. 29.12 and rejoycing in the peace offerings by the sweat Odors and Incense in the Encharistical Sacrifices by the melodious Tunes dilightful Sangs Harmony Musick Organs Timbrels Cymbals Harps for exaltation and triumph in the solemn Feasts and days of Thanksgiving the Scripture intending thereby to declare not onely with what cheerfulness and delight these gratulatery Sâ—rviâ—â—t were to be performed by men but also how ancentable and pleasing they are unto the Lord as sweet savars and odors in his nostrils as Angelical musick and heavenly ayrs in his ears as wine and divine delicatias to his taste yea and if in Heaven it self the Lord of life and glory receives any additional exaltation from the glorified Saints and Angels besides what is exernally enjoyed in the Circle of his own perfections it cannot be concluded from any thing expressed in Scripture to proceed from any thing else but the everlasting acclamations and benedictions of the glorified Saints and Angals giving glory honor and praise unto him that site on the Throne and to the Lamb whose Hallelujabe are nothing else but the highest of these high praises of God in their hearts and mouths 4. From their performance requiring the exercise of greater measures of Grace then a publique day of Humiliation Doth not then this height of Gods valuation in their Procurement and the height of the Lords satisfaction in their Enjoyment set the high Praises of God upon the highest top of the transcendent Sublimity of divine worth and excellenty In the fourth place The Praises of God are high and of a high nature perfâ—â—tiâ—d that is in respect of the high measure of Grace they are to he attended withall in their perâ—oâ—â—â—â—â— the Lord requiring the duty of high Praise especially in a publique Day of Thanksgiving for any remarkable and high mercy should be performed with a great measure of Scripture-light with a higher degree of effectual Faith and with a more ample proportion of practical Holiness then any other of the most solemn Exercises of of his publique Worship For the more full and clear demonstration of which particulars I mean of the singular measure of Light Faith and Holiness which the Lord requires should be exercised in solemnizing of a day of Thanksgiving above any other part of his Service I conceive will be
high praise for deliverance from the hoast of Sisera Judg. 5. where the chiefest and highest part of the celebration and exaltation of God in his praise consists in the declaration and commemoration of the particulars of Gods special goodness in their present deliverance And to come neer to our selves in respect of the Nation in general Who in all the Kingdom can observe that anniversary day of Thanksgiving never to be forgotten on the fifth of November that was neer acquainted with the name nature and intentions of the proceedings of the Traytors in contriving and the Lord our God in defeating the Gunpowder-plot Nay to come to your selves in the particular for which you have set apart this day Who amongst you can give high praises to God for your selves Or of all the Auditors can joyn with you therein that is ignorant either of the means cause and place of your Imprisonment or the glorious passages of divine providence in your enlargement Thirdly 3. The return Neither is there required in the exercise of high praise knowledg onely of the mercy for which praise is to be rendered but also of the lawfulness of the matter or peace-offering that by way of thanks is to be returned In no Service is the Spirit of God more particular in prescribing or exact in expecting punctual observance then in offering the thank-offering or sacrifice because in our praises being the sole return we can make unto him for all his cost upon us he expects we should pay him with no coyn but what hath his own stamp and superscription upon it if it be the price of a profane dog or the reward of an unclean whore the Lord abhor it How strict the Lord is in acceptation of nothing in a day of Thanksgiving but the matter of his own appointment let the sad consequence of Gideons Ephod Judg. 8.27 and 9 11 1 Sam. 15 Jephtha's Vow Sauls sparing the best of Agags anathematized Cattel all for peace-offerings be a watch-word and warning to you all this day and all others hereafter to take heed what they do in the day of their Thanksgiving viz. That nothing be done or returned in way of thankfulness to God which proceeds not from an understanding heart instructed in the form of the Service the nature of the blessing and the lawfulness of the matter that they manifest their thankfulness withall Secondly A day of Thanksgiving as it requires the exercise of more Scripture-light 2. Grace effectual Faith in 3 particulars so also the use of a greater measure of more effectual Faith then a day of publique Humiliation which I conceive may hence be manifest The Ninevites fasted acceptably to God and profitably for themselves and had Faith to beleeve the threatening of God against them but their Faith in the promise of mercy towards them was very weak expressed in these words Who can tell if God will repent And David fasted acceptably 2 Sam. 12. when in the sense of Gods anger against himself and sin in the sickness of his Childe he humbled himself before God But in the return of high praise in a day of Thanksgiving besides saith in Gods threatenings is necessarily required the exercise of Faith in the promise and besides the habit of Faith without which it is impossible to please God in any Service in this a threefold special actings of Faith upon God is required as manifesting himself reconciled unto the person who hath received the mercy and is therefore now performing the duty First By Faith to apprehend in himself some sense and feeling of the love and grace of God manifested to his Soul for seeing high praises are to be performed with love and joy yea exaltation in God who ever did or can return thanks to God with spiritual joy for any mercy when he apprehends still the angry countenance of God frowning against him and hiding his favour from his Soul Secondly It is necessary in a Thanksgiving for a mercy to have faith to see and know he hath title in Christ as well as by common providence to the benefit of the mercy for which he is thankful for else there will be more cause of sorrow for the want of title by Christ then of joy in the partaking the mercy without Christ Thirdly So much exercise of Faith is necessary as to see Christ to be willing to return their-praises and mix his odors with them in presenting them unto God as to see him conveying unto them their title unto the blessing by his purchase and satisfaction faith having as much need of an Altar and Mediator to offer up acceptable praises as prayers and this is done by acting faith upon Christ therefore as is evident Heb. 13.15 By him therefore let us offer unto God continually the sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name Thirdly A day of Thanksgiving requires a greater proportion of practical Holiness then a day of most solemn Humiliation Grace practical Holiness in two particulars which I conceive may in these particulars at least be evidenced 1. God calls men to fasting prayer and mourning when they are held captive under the violence of some prevalent corruption and temptation as Paul and others 2 Cor. 9. I beat down my body and bring it under subjection by extraordinary fasting but God never calls any to joy and rejoyce or keep days of Thanksgiving that lie under the power of their lusts and bondage of corruption prevailing over them but onely such who besides their general uprightness are conscious of their own actual innocency Psal 26. I will wash mine hands in Innocency and so will I compass thine Altar yea and able in some measure to make profession of their actual subjection to God and joyn it as a ground of their praises as Psal 116.16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant the son of thine hand-maid thou hast broken my bonds of all sorts Therefore I will offer up unto thee the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the LORD which ability to be able to profess their present subjection unto God in the consciousness of their Innocency is a greater measure of practical Holiness then is required of such as observe days of Fasthing which will yet be further manifested in that God calls such to fasting and those that are so called may fast acceptably unto God who can but procure their hearts before they fast or in the day of Fasting sincerely to purpose covenant and vow reformation of their heinous transgressions though there be no antecedent or present actual reformation or satisfaction on the day as is manifest in the Fast observed by Ezra and the rest of the people when they fasted acceptably before they had put away their strange wives or taken off all the oppression of their burthens yet upon their Covenant and Vow to do it they were accepted But in a day of THANKSGIVING God requires
not onely a purpose of Reformation consequent but actual performance of Vows and Covenants of Reformation for present as David in Psal 116.18 I will offer praise and pay my vows now in the presence of all his people even in the Courts of Gods House which made our Saviour injoyn an antecedent actual reconciliation and satisfaction before the offering a gratulatory gift as if an intention of it afterward would not be sufficient God rejects all the Solemn Feasts of his people Isa 1. Upon this ground They had not before put away the violence in their hands but they were still full of blood a day of Thanksgiving is not a day of running into more debts by future Covenants but a coming out of debt by present payment in which respect more practical holiness is required to be exercised in a day of Thanksgiving then in a day of Humiliation Having thus confirmed to your Judgments the duty to be high by way of Demonstration suffer me now to improve it on your consciences by way of Application wherein I shall look no way but to the sanctifying of the Name of our God in relation to your present occasion who have for that end purpose called me hither and that first by way of Information 2. Exhortation 3. Direction And for the first let me inform you and by you all other Use of Information of the excellency of the work concerning the great and high Work which ye have undertaken to perform in setting a day apart for this high Service in delivering you from your late restraint and Imprisonment a duty of so transcendent nature as requires the abilities of the Angels in Heaven rather then of any persons Gentlemen or others in earth and a far more suitable work for a glorified Saint above then poor sinful souls beneath you have herein undertaken to return this day unto God all the splendor both of the vertue and beauty of his Glory which hath shined forth in this work of your deliverance to carry him home to day the crop and fruit of all the passages of his divine providence exercised for you or dispensed unto you therein which is more prized and is dearer to him then any thing else in heaven and earth You have undertaken to perform that service unto God this day that shall exalt him that is the highest already to magnifie him that is greatest already and to glorifie him that is already most glorious yet how high great and glorious soever before your service began when it is once done he shall thereby be rendred to all Spectators more glorious then he was before in raising higher thoughts of God his power faithfulness and graciousness as well in their as your own hearts Yea and you have undertaken to make the day a good day and more holy then any other days whatsoever by exercising a greater measure of Scripture Light effectual Faith and practical Holiness then ever Yea to perform that Service which being rightly performed will ravish the divine thoughts and heart of the Almighty with highest delight and satisfaction as with Incense and sweet Odors in his nostrils I note this Applied 1. for Incouragement first to raise the value and estimation of this duty in your hearts and to stir up and quicken your endeavours and resolutions in the observation of the same being simply and absolutely the most sublime and perfect part of Gods Service under Heaven wherein the conscientiousness of men in observing such days according to rule discovers more sincerity of love to God and obedience to his Will then all other duties either of doing or suffering for God besides if this be neglected because necessity fear self-love may drive us to fast pray and extort other duties from us but only sense and feeling of Gods Love to us and our delight in him can draw us to this so high a Service which is so pleasing to God that he declares himself to be pleased in no other duty of his Worship whatsoever it be further then it is gratulatory and done in way of thankfulness unto him and make for the exaltation of his praise I note this in the second place Applied 2. for Caution to discover the odiousness and heinousness of their sin that shall neglect contemn or abuse this so high a Service as celebrating Gods high Praises in consciencious observing the days of Thanksgiving which is then perpetrated when they are appointed and also performed rather as a Ceremony then in sincerity rather as a matter of pomp and state in relation to men then as a duty of highest devotion and conscience towards God where men turn the days of Thanksgiving to God to days of liberty and licenciousness in themselves to days of inordinate eating Exod. 32. and excessive drinking as if with the Israelites their days of Thanksgiving to God were directed only to worship the golden Calf in sitting down to eat and drink and rise up to play and their practise therein the same that the wicked Jews observed in their Feasts against our Saviour to let loose a Malefactor Mat. 26. and crucifie the Son of God by which means it comes to pass that whereas days of Thanksgiving should be of all other the holiest these men by their wickedness change them into the prophanest possibly some of these men make some conscience to prepare themselves with some devotion when they come to the duties of hearing praying fasting c. but when they come to observe days of Thanksgiving their care is about nothing else but to put on their richest apparel to get ready a Thanksgiving dinner to be jovial with their carnal friends in carnal ways which done God must rest himself contented thus to be glorified but Oh ye foolish people Deut. 32.8 and unwise do you thus requite the Lord Will you call this a day of Thanksgiving and giving high Praises to God to eat the fat and drink the sweet and then being thereby waxen fat and pampered with Jesurun to kick up your heel against God by your prophaneness whom you pretend to extol by your high Praises What is this observation of days of Thanksgiving unto God but to do therein unto God as the Souldiers did unto Christ first to bow the knee of their profession by praise to worship him and then by their irreligiousness and excess to spit on his face and buffet him and instead of putting upon his head a crown of high Praises and Glory to crown him with the thorns of their prophaneness and infamy and could our Lord Jesus's voyce be heard in the midst of their confused jollity they would hear him say unto them as he speaks to the Jews John 10.32 Many good works have I done for you for which you pretend to serve me for which of them do you thus stone me I expected bread to day you give me stones I looked for fish and you give serpents I looked for high praises and you have
feeling of Gods Love by which you were delivered 3. From the actings and exercise of faith in seeing God the sole Author of your mercy and making the Lord Jesus the sole Mediator to receive your praise and present your duty Wherefore that I may help your heart to breed and beget these high praises let me first of all stir up your hearts to praise God from a true understanding and apprehension of the depth of the danger and misery from whence you are escaped which being duly considered and weighed will appear no small or single calamity but a thraldom and bondage compounded of many ingredients of bitterness and aggravations of extream perplexity As first The violent and sudden deprivation of you from all your dearest enjoyments together to be carryed away and separated against your wills from all the comforts of families wives children friends estates at once seems to be misery raised with the highest and most killing aggravations As the Amalekites at Ziglag took all David had wives children cattel and drove them away from him so these Amalekites at Chelmsford took you and drove you away from all these That affliction made David weep whiles he could weep no more and surely had you fountains of tears you might have had occasion to have shed them all in this your captivity had not the Lord wrought your deliverance being thus suddenly and unexpectedly carryed from all at once and that without so much liberty as verbal salutations or time or space to take your leaves of them which the Martyrs not only in their prisons but even at the stake were permitted to do the want whereof struck the churlish heart of Laban so deep that he complains of it as a great wickedness and injury in Jacob that he had not suffered him to take his leave nor salute his sons and daughters before their removal from him You were surprized and snatched from all your dearest relations as Joseph from his father Jacob when he was sent to visit his brethren who for his conscience to his fathers command and courtesie to them was by his false brethren first stripped then cast into the pit and afterward sold as a slave to the Midianites and Egyptians so were you by these Midianites and Egyptians that carryed you up and down whither they pleased the meditation of this cup of bitterness will become one spark to heat your hearts and inflame them to a higher heat of thankfulness especially if unto the consideration of that part of your misery whereby at once all your comforts were unexpectedly removed You add the meditation of a second part of it I mean the woful subjection under which you were enthralled you were become the servants of Satans vassals under the power and society of your own and Gods deadly enemies amongst whom you might truly and properly have had cause to cry out dayly We unto us we are constrained to dwell with Mesheck and have our habitation in the tents of Kedar where your righteous Souls were of necessity grieved and tormented from day to day to hear and see the uncleanness and prophane conversation of the wicked when those whose prisoners you were and carryed you away captive dayly insulted over your selves Cause and Religion must it not of necessity pierce your hearts with sorrow and compel you like captive Jews in Babylon to hang up your Harps forget your Songs and lift up your voyces and weep when you remembred the Zions either of your own or Gods Houses whither you had gone with your multitudes but now you saw not your signs neither was there any Prophet left to tell you when your misery was like to end but still one deep called upon another until all the waves went over your heads and these ploughers ploughed what they pleased upon your backs which was bitter enough for the present but much more aggravated from that which you might probably expect further from their rage and malice and your impotency to make any resistance against the same for when their rage was irritated by the closeness of the siege continual repulses of their Forces within frustration of all hopes of relief from abroad what could rationally be expected but that they would have made your blood if not the rescue yet certainly the revenge of their own You only of all their enemies were in their hands as lambs among wolves and as sheep under the hand of the slaughter-man where you had nothing to defend your selves but silence patience equity and innocency all mediation of your own or their greatest friends for your deliverance rejected all offers to redeem you by exchange denyed and into what desperate condition soever either their own wickedness or weakness should bring them from it your lives and estates must secure them Gentlemen If you would this day by meditation recall your former thoughts and sad apprehensions think those thoughts over again which were conceived in your distracted hearts and heads when you were carryed in the long march to Colchester and were in hazard of the violence of the Souldiers all the way if you would lay your selves down in the same condition of sorrow and grief by contemplation from which the Lords own out-stretched hand hath freed you if your Souls have that night in remembrance when they sent you word in the evening to prepare for death in the morning surely the the deep apprehension of the great danger from whence by the favour of God you have been delivered would prove a singular help to heighten and raise the praises of God in your hearts before they be returned Especially if In the second place 2. The true apprchension of Gods presence with them discovered in four particulars you shall add hereunto the enlargement of your affections which will certainly arise in your hearts from the serious consideration of the high and singular Love of God flowing out unto you in taking this yoke of your enemies from your necks in opening the prison doors for you and breaking your bands in sunder for first of all when the comforts of your nearest relations failed you Lover and friend stood far away from your trouble when you were destitute of all other Society besides your fellow Prisoners mutually bemoaning and declaring each others losses and sufferings when you looked to the right hand and the left but there was none to help from either of them then the Lord appeared amongst you nor was there one day in all your restraint wherein he forsook you but every hour discovered his presence with you as the Angel was with Daniel in the Den of Lions Dan. 3.25 as the Son of God with the three Children in the Furnace Gen. 39.21 as the Lord himself was with Joseph in his prison so both the Lord himself his Son and Angels may seem to have been all resident with you and that not onely as Spectators to visit you in your Trouble but as most glorious Actors to comfort you in and