A SERMON Pressing to and Directing in that Great Duty of Praising God Preached to the PARLIAMENT At Westminster Octob 8. 1656. BEING The day of their Solemn Thanksgiving to God for that late Successe given to some part of the Fleet of this Common-wealth against the Spanish Fleet in its return from the West Indies By JOSEPH CARYL Minister of the Gospel at Magnus near London Bridge LONDON Printed by M. Simmons and are to be sould by John Hancock at the first Shop in Popes-head-Alley next to Cornhill 1657. Thursday Octob 9. 1656. ORdered That the thanks of this House be given to Mr. Caryll for his great pains taken yesterday in his Sermon preached before this House in Margarets Westminster being a day set apart for publick Thanksgiving and that he be desired to Print his Sermon and that he have the like priviledge of Printing as hath been allowed to others in like Cases And that the Lord Broghill be desired to give him the thanks of this house accordingly Hen Scobell Clerk of the Parliament TO THE PARLIAMENT OF England Scotland Ireland AND The Dominions thereunto belonging THese are times of Action as well as of Consulation and this hath been your happinesse that while you have been consulting how to settle and assure as an earthly felicity may be called sure peace and Government at home God hath prospered those with a very signall successe who are acting in a war abroad And though successe be no infallible argument of a good cause yet a good cause receives a very comfortable encouragement by successe And as a neglect to goe on in doing good is not excusable even while we find that the good we are doing doth not goe on So when it doth our neglect is altogether inexcusable When God seems to stand still or as the Scripture sometimes saith to be a sleep 't is our duty to awake and work how much more when he appears eminently awake and at work for us 'T is not good to out-run providence and 't is as bad to loyter and lagge behind it The Arme of the Lord as the Prophet long since prayd hard it might Isa 51. 9. hath lately awakened for us The occasion of this Sermon is his witnesse it hath awakened and put on strength as in the ancient dayes in the generations of old it hath cut Rahab and wonded the Dragon in the Sea It hath broken some of the heads of Leviathan in peices and given him to be meat to his people inhabiting the wildernesse Psal 74. 14. And is not all this bottome enough for me to cry Awake Awake O arme of man O arme of the Parliament put on strength and be cloathed with a holy care courage for God and for his people though as yet but in a wildernes condition wherein we are much entangled with bryars and thornes and sometimes engaged in unbeaten paths many thousands will bear this witnesse with me that it is And my hearts desire and prayer to God for you is That your Counsels both in reference to this particular mercy for which you have so solemnly given thanks to God as also in reference to all those important affairs of these Nations that are in your hands may bear this witnesse also Else I must take the boldnes with much submission to say That your own Thanksgivings will give witnesse against you 'T is an act of high favour from God to bestow a mercy and 't is an act of much grace and faithfulnesse in man to improve it 'T is easier perishing for want of help from God then for want of a heart for God 'T is better to be in such streights that we know not what to doe then to make such little use of our enlargements as not to doe what we know And what an Obligation is there upon these three Nations and upon your Selves especially who are the representative of them to be more then active even very zealous for the publick good seing we daily find Sons of Beliall rising up who are active to the utmost against it T is honorable to imitate their industry whose undertakings we abhor and that their zeal in a bad matter should provoke ours in a good As therefore the Nations have reason to pay you many thanks for your unwearied labours and the issues of them to this day So the Lord give you to encrease more and more A good man may be weary in well doing but he shall never be weary of it And it should mightyly uphold our spirits not to be as the Apostle admonisheth the Galatians Chap 6. 9. weary in well doing because as it follows there we shall reap if we faint not That you may sow without fainting and reap with rejoycing is the vote of SIRS Your most humble Servant in this work of the Lord JOSEPH CARYL A SERMON Pressing to and Directing in that great Duty OF Praising GOD. PSALM 111. 1 2 3 4 5. Praise ye the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honourable and glorious and his righteousnesse endureth for ever He hath made his wonderfull works to be remembred the Lord is gracious and full of compassion He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindfull of his Covenant THIS Psalm is King Davids order for a day of Thanksgiving In which we may consider four things First the matter of the duty Secondly the encouragement to the duty Thirdly the manner and qualifications of the duty Fourthly the grounds of the duty The matter of the duty is laid down in the first words of the first verse Hallelujah praise ye the Lord. And lest any should think that their chiefe Magistrate invited them to a duty which he had no mind to himselfe he adds Secondly his own leading example in the next words for their encouragement I will praise the Lord. As if he had said I will not call you to this duty and withdraw from it my selfe my purpose is to bear a part and joyn with you in it 'T is a beautifull and blessed thing to see those who give the rule to be the example of it Praise ye the Lord saith David to the people I will praise the Lord. As he gives both the rule and the example of the duty so Thirdly the manner of it in a twofold qualification and that also from his own example in the same verse First He would praise the Lord not formally not because it was a custome to doe so when fresh mercies came in But because he loved to doe so for saith he I will praise the Lord with my whole heart that is I will praise him heartily and most affectionately There 's the first poynt in the manner Secondly he tells us that he would doe it very openly he would not be ashamed to praise God he would not doe it
in judgement against them for they praise God continually after their manner or as well as they can The Sun Moon and stars fire and haile snow and vapour stormy winds fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruitfull trees and Cedars beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying fowle Dragons and all deeps are commanded to praise the Lord and they doe it And are not all men Kings of the earth and all people Princes and all the Judges of the earth both young men and maidens old men and children more commanded to praise the Lord and are not Saints commanded and bound to praise the Lord more then all other men And are not those Saints that have pray'd for such a mercy and who have personally tasted the sweetnesse of such a mercy and whose interest is much advanced and strengthned by the mercy obtained have not they more cause to Praise God for it then all other Saints And is not this the case of many here present and of many more absent in the severall parts of these Dominions Therefore to close this poynt Let not us with hold praise from God either in whole or in part Ananias and Saphira were strucken dead for with holding part of the price they brought something of their vow and laid it down at the Apostles feet but not all and dyed for 't If we keep a part of our Praises to our selves or give part of our Praises to instruments we deale with God like Ananias and Saphira who brought their gift indeed but kept part of the price to themselves whereas it was all dedicated to God we may quickly run into a paralell sin in this day and duty of thanksgiving and when the whole was dedicated to God keep a part to our selves It is not enough for us to say Praised be God but we must say as Psal 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory we must deny our own Praise perfectly or else all our Praises of God are imperfect we must doubly deny twice deny all our own Praises else we doe not so much as give God one single Praise that is not one single-hearted Praise And that we may come forth freely in our Praises of the Lord and sing Halalujahs to his name alone give me leave to set the stamp or character of those works of God which are instanced in this text upon those works of God which are the occasion and matter of our Praise this day and to shew how all those grounds which that sweet singer of Israel laid as the foundation of his own and his peoples Praises meet and center in ours First saith David The works of the Lord are great And surely we are not called this day to Praise the Lord for some small or little work indeed all the works of the Lord are great great as done by him for he leaves the impression of his own greatnesse upon all that he doth as every sin the least sin is a great sin because committed against the great God so every mercy is a great mercy as it comes forth from the hand of the great God but I speak not of the greatnesse of the works of God here in this notion but as they are great both in themselves and comparatively with others And as for the work of this day we may affirme the greatnesse of it in a threefold consideration 1. It is great materially or in the substance of it A great force of the enemy was beaten and broken a great treasure was taken from the enemy is not this a great work The Prophets prediction well may be our report concerning the work of this day and he spake it in the stile of a Navall victory Isa 33. 23. For having said of Sion v. 21. there The glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall goe no Gally with oares neither shall gallant Ship passe thereby that is to annoy or hurt us He presently subjoyns the reason v. 22. For the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our law giver the Lord is our King he will save us This salvation of Sion is the destruction of Babylon as is shewed in the next verse by an elegant Apostrophe to the enemy Thy tacklings are loosed they could not well strengthen their mast they could not spread the saile then is the prey of a great spoile devided the lame take the prey And when he saith The lame take the prey he doth not mean that it shall be taken by a company of creeples but by some smaller power And may we not say That now the prey of a great spoile is devided yea may we not say The lame have taken the prey Was it not taken by so small a part of the forces sent upon that designe as may not improperly be called a lame or weak limb in comparison of the whole body and did not the enemy look upon our six Frigats which engaged them as a company of Fisher-boats Therefore great is the work of the Lord in the matter of it 2. It is yet greater in the circumstances of it The greatnesse of actions whether civill or morall good or evill ariseth much if not chiefly from circumstantialls from the way and manner from the time and season in which they are done And was not this done first in a time when our need was great Was it not done secondly in a time when our faith was little Was it not done thirdly in a time when the spirits of some were high in wrath and the spirits of others higher in scorn at this undertaking And as this work was great both in the substance and concomitant circumstances of it so 3. It may prove yet greater in the consequences of it Who knows what effects this work may have or how far it may reach this may prove a long handed mercy The Apostle James speaks admiringly Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth the fire is not much at present but it may do much so much that possibly we and others may have cause to admire the greatnesse of that matter which shall be kindled with this little fire Therefore let us go forth in praises for as in Davids so in our experience The work of the Lord is Great The second attribute of the work of the Lord is laid down in the third verse His work is honourable and glorious or as the Originall text hath it His work is honour and glory When abstracts are put in Scripture for concreetes the sence is encreased To say the work of the Lord is honour and glory is more then to say it is honourable and glorious much is said in this but more in that T is good for us when God declares his mercy but 't is better when he declares his glory We should be thankfull for favour but our thanks should exceed for honour The work of God before us is honourable and glorious t is honour
Fourthly Yet with this holy heat and freedome of spirit let your Praises this day have a temperament of holy fear and your rejoycings an allay of spirituall trembling We finde this directing corrective in the Psalm too For a little beyond the text at the 10 verse thus David concludes The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome a good understanding have all that doe his commandements his praise endureth for ever We must not be afraid to praise God but we must praise him with fear and they who have most true courage and holy boldnesse in praising God praise him with the greatest mixture of this gracious fear Moses put this ingredient into his Song of triumph for the overthrow of Pharoah and his Hoast in the red Sea Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holinâ—ss fearfull in praises Exod. 15. 11. Therefore Praise him with fear what fear with fear First Lest we should not have praised him as we ought or with this fear that we have not come up to that holinesse and spiritualnesse of the duty in which it ought to be performed We have no reason to think we have done this work so well as that all 's well but rather to fear that we have failed much in it When we are at highest in any duty we are below our duty how much more in this duty of praise which is our highest duty Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise Psal 106. 2. Had we as the Apostle speaks in another case â— Cor. 13. 1. the tongues of men and Angells yea the best hearts of both we could not shew forth all his Praise what then have we done with our stammering tongues and straitned hearts to the Praise of God Secondly Praise the Lord with this fear lest you should forget the benifits which you have praised him for Holy David Psal 103. 2. bespeaks his soule thus Blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benifits that is forget none at all of them They that are afraid of forgetting the benifits of God are most likely to remember them Such fear will write the Praise of God upon your hearts and provoke you to Praise him with your lives Thirdly Praise the Lord with this fear that you neither are nor shall be able to answer his loving kindnesse nor returne to him according to the mercy now received The great things which God hath heretofore and now done for us will undoe us in the end unlesse we doe somewhat I say not equall but sutable to them Successe of affaires whether at home or abroad is a Talent yea there may be many talents in one successe And who knows not that hath read the Gospel how dangerous it is to wrap up our talent in a napkin If once God seeth that we are not bettered and strive not to doe better when he doth us good he will not onely not doe us good any more but doe us hurt yea destroy us as he told his ancient people by the mouth of Joshuah their leader and chiefe Magistrate Josh 24. 20. Therefore let this holy fear be strong and stirring upon your hearts lest you come short of the Praise of God both in the frame of your hearts and in your performance to him Be afraid that you shall neither have such strength of faith in God in future streights nor such faithfulnes to God in any of your enlargements as the experience of this day calls for Be afraid that ye shall never shew forth such a zeale for God as God hath shewed for you for as the Prophet tells us the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall so we may say the zeale of the Lord of hosts hath done this great thing for us and that zeale of God will yet doe greater if the work of God cool not upon our hands Fear lest ye should not know what this mercy calls you to doe and be more afraid lest you should not doe what you know As the correcting rod so the supporting staffe of God hath a voyce in it They are wise indeed who hearing understand that voyce and understanding it do thereafter Whatever your hand finds to doe for the name of God and for the prosperity of these Nations doe it with all your might There 's much to be done for the promoting of justice and righteousnesse in the Nation That our Judges may every where be as at the first and our Counsellours as at the beginning And that there may be no more pricking bryar nor grieving thorn among our selves as Israel was promised in reference to those about them Ezek. 28. 24 There 's much also to be done for the promoting of truth and holinesse which in consort with justice and righteousnesse are at once the beauty and stability the honour and the safety of Nations Let both evill deeds and damnable doctrines be witnessed against let no errour find encouragement let no faith-devouring and conscience-wasting errour appear with open face in our borders without a rebuke from Magistraticall power God hath been tender of the honour of the Nation abroad let not the honour of God suffer or be ecclipsed at home through any defect in the exercise of that great power wherewith you are entrusted That fear of the Lord with which I have been pressing you to Praise the Lord will surely guide you in all your counsels to the doing and accomplishing of all these things For so saith this Psalmist v. 10 The sear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome The word which we render beginning signifies also the head or top the perfection and highest pinnacle of wisdome Indeed the holy fear of the Lord is the beginning and ending the first and last the Alpha and Omega of all true wisdome and therefore the Psalmist adds in the close of the same verse A good understanding have all they that doe his commandementâ— Understanding and doing are two things yet they onely understand the commandements of God who doe his commandements and they onely doe his commandements who fear him Solomon puts both these together and makes them the sum of all the duty of man and therefore surely the sum of all the wisdome of man Eccles 12. 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandements for this is the whole duty of man or this is the whole of man As if that Preacher-royall had said You have heard me long and I have spoken many words I will now ease your labour in hearing and mine in speaking when you have heard and I have spoken but two words more Fear God and keep his commandements To fear God is to honour him in our hearts To keep the commandements of God is to honour him in our lives And is not this whole man A man without this though in honour understandeth not but is like the beast that perisheth A man in highest honour and of greatest understanding can not goe beyond this Therefore This is all man in the best of men To this end as every man was made so every man lives who knows why he was made and why he lives And hence to return to my text David had no sooner said The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all they they that doe his commandements but presently he concludes His praise endureth for ever There is a twofold reference of these words First to God whose Praises David had been inditing and singing all the Psalm over His praise eminently endureth for ever Secondly to that man who praiseth God kowingly and with his whole heart who praiseth God boldly and with holy fear this man hath a good understanding and his praise endureth for ever Right Honourable You have now kept a day of Praise to God If you shall approve your selves to God and to his people to have kept it according to the counsell and example of his Kingly Prophet there will be more then a day of praise for you your Praise will endure for ever the children who are yet unborn will praise you and praise God for you And consider how sad your account will be if you who have now kept a day of Praise should give the Nation any just and râ—all occasion to dispraise and speak evill of you hereafter if your name and honour should receive a blot or blemish by any thing that you do or advise to be done after you have thus beautified the name of God with these solemn Praises While your hand is upon the helm of government let your eye be to heaven for guidance both as to the way and issue of your counsells that you may have praise in the gate praise in the City and praise in the country that you may have nothing but praise in the hearts and by the tongues of all those whose praises are worth the having or that if you miss praise at present from men you may have that praise of God at last which will indeed endure for ever Well done good and faithfull servants FINIS
in a corner Though he would doe it with all his heart yet he would not doe it onely in his heart but saith he I will praise him in the assembly of the upright Nor is that all he would doe it yet more openly I will praise him in the congregation I will praise him not onely in the assembly of the upright or in a meeting of some choice select ones but among good and bad even in the mixed multitude As if he had said As the Lord hath owned me and my cause and my people in the eye of all the world by his signall mercies so also will I own the Lord with signall praises Fourthly we have here the grounds of the duty And these are twofold or of two sorts First his experience of what the Lord had already done for him and his people Secondly his assurance of what the Lord was to them and would further be to and do for them The first sort of grounds upon which David gave order for a day of Thansgiving or the experience of what God had done is set down under four distinct adjuncts or attributes of his works 1. The Lord had not done small matters for them The works of the Lord are great at the second verse 2. The Lord had not done some obscure thing for them His work is honourable and glorious at the third verse 3. The Lord had not done some ordinary and common work for them His workes are wonderfull at the fourth verse 4. The Lord had not done some unprofitable wonders for them his work was beneficiall and advantagious He hath given meat to them that fear him at the fifth verse These are the four characters of the Lords works He had done great and honorable and wonderfull beneficial things for them and were not all these enough to cal up their hearts to the high to the highest praises of God All these make the first ground of Davids order for Thanksgiving The second ground of his order ariseth from the assurance of what God was to them and would further be to and do for them This is set forrh in three particulars 1. Praise the Lord for we have this assurance of him he is righteous and will be righteous His righteousness endureth for ever v. 3. 2. Praise the Lord for we have this assurance of him He is gracious and full of compassion v. 4. 3. Praise the Lord for we have this assurance of him He is faithfull and will be faithfull alwayes He will ever be mindfull of his Covenant v. 5 I am fallen upon a very rich mine of holy truths here 's that which is precious and here 's plenty of it greater plenty of precious and golden Oare then I shall be able to mint and stamp out into particulars at this time and therefore I purpose to propose but one generall point of duty from this large text and draw all the particulars of it together in a way of application for our better improvement of the occasion of this great and Holy Solemnity The point is plainly this It is our duty to pay the Lord speciall praises when he is pleased to bestow upon us speciall and remarkable mercies or speciall praises are due to the Lord for speciall mercies Here is speciall and speciall I expresse it so because to praise God is every days duty Thus the Apostle directs Heb. 13. 15 By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name But though praise be an every days work yet there is a day of specialty in prasing God For as it is our duty to pray continually to continue in prayer Col. 4. 2. yea to pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. yet there are some speciall seasons for prayer or peculiar praying times Call upon me in the day of trouble Psal 50. 15. And we have the same rule James 5. 13. Is any among you afflicted let him pray T is both our duty and our interest to pray though we are not afflicted but the duty of prayer is most incumbent upon us in affliction Trouble drives us to God and God only can drive away our troubles Again it is our duty to repent continually yet there are some speciall seasons for repentance as when we have fallen into great sinâ— or when we are under the fear of great calamities Isa 22. 12. And in that day a day of common danger did the Lord God oâ— Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sack cloath all which are the most significant acts of repentance and soul humilition before the Lord. So I say though to give thanks be every days duty and that upon a threefold consideration First because every day we receive new mercies and have our former mercies renewed Secondly because every mercy is a witnesse of the goodnesse of God to us and of his power put out for us Thirdly because every the least mercy is more then we have either deserved at Gods hand or could get alone with our own hand and therefore we are bound by this threefold cord to praise the Lord every day yet upon some dayes we are bound more to praise him and that upon a fourfold consideration First Some speciall mercies shew forth more of God then our every days mercies doe more of the power more of the wisdome more of the love more of the mercy and goodnesse of God is stampt and imprest upon them then upon many other mercies Now the more of God appears in any mercy the more and the lowder it cals us to this duty of praising him The least appearance of God is praise worthy His great appearances are infinitely more then worthy of our greatest praises Secondly We have more urgent need of some mercys then of others Some are onely accessary mercies others are extreamly necessary Some concerne only the well being or bettering of our estate others the very being of it Some are only ornamental mercies others are substantiall some respect only the honour and flourishing condition of our affaires others the very life and subsistence of them they are such as we know not how to spare nor what to doe without them such speciall mercies urge us unavoydably to speciall praises Thirdly For some mercies the Lord hath been more then ordinarily sought to in prayer and with a greater exercise of faith and patience then ordinary waited upon for the receiving of them They that know the Lord and have acquaintance with him would not have any mercy without asking they pray for every morsell of bread they eat they love to see all come in a way of prayer through the promise But there are some mercies for which there hath been abundance of striving in our own hearts and much striving and tugging with God that we might attain them we for some mercies have wrestled all night like Jacob before we could prevaile and be Israels Princes with
up silver as the dust and prepare rayment as the clay he may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the Silver As if God had said by Job I know oppressors never think their dust-heap big enough and therefore they care not whom they oppresse so they may but heap up Silver for themselves as the dust yea they heap up silver as the dust that they may be strong to oppresse well let them goe on and prosper let them prepare it but I will prepare heires for them which they never thought of unlesse how to oppresse and vex them The innocent shall divide the Silver And that word divide hath a sound of war in it seing after victories obtained spoiles are divided I know some are ready to take offence at this day of thanksgiving because it is a thanksgiving for prey But let such remember First 't is prey taken from an enemy Secondly 't is prey taken from an enemy who hath swallowed up Nations greater then his own without offence given or recompence made as a prey And thirdly we have enough in this text to answer such objectors here 's King Davids order for a day of thanksgiving because God had given meat or prey to his people as he hath given to us this day We have as much I might say more reason to give thanks to God for meat gotten by a lawfull war as for meat gotten by our lawfull labour Therefore let us eate it or enjoy the benifit of it and praise the Lord. If while this meat is in our mouths the praises of God be in our mouths too certainly if they be in our hearts and lives too we shall not need to fear though we cannot be too much caution'd about it that as it befell the Israelites who fell a lusting in the wildernesse the wrath of God should fall upon us and slay the fattest of us and smite downe the chosen men of our Israel Psal 78. 30 31. Indeed if we have either asked this meat for our lusts or having gotten it bestow it upon our lusts we may expect a severer vengeance then theirs Thus I have touched upon and made a briefe application of the first ground of praising God laid down in this context by a paralell of the works of the Lord for which David gave order for publique praises with the works of the Lord for which we are called to praise him this day They are Great and Honorable they are Wounderfull and Beneficiall He hath given meat or prey to them that fear him The second generall Ground why David ordered a day of praise was that assurance and holy confidence which he had of what God was and would further be unto them and doe for them And indeed what God himselfe is to us is far more valuable then all that he hath done for us And in all our outward enjoyments we should be drawn off from the mercies of God to the God of our mercies from all the works of God to God who hath wrought them So did David here though he spake and thought highly of what God had done for them yet his heart was especially carryed out to and taken up with the thoughts of God There are four particulars in which David gives instance for the exalting of the name of God in praises as to what he is in himselfe and as to what he will be unto his people First The Lord is righteous and just his righteousnesse or justice endureth for ever v. 3. He is not righteous in this or that act onely at this or that time onely but he is righteous in all and always Some men will doe righteously now and then here and there to this or that person yet they step awry at other times or in other cases and so do justice not with respect to truth but with respect to persons But the Lord doth justice at all times in all cases without respect of persons and therefore the Lords righteousnesse indureth for ever We are saved by and live upon the grace and mercy of God yet we cannot but and are much bound to acknowledge his righteousnesse and justice They in the Revelation Chap. 15. 2 3. Who had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his image and over the number of his name were seen by John standing on the Sea of glasse having the harps of God and singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying Creat and marvellous are thy works O Lord God almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of saints The ways of Christ are just towards his enemies as he hath threatned and they are true towards his own people as he hath promised He is the Amâ—n giving being and accomplishment to his own word The faithfull and true witnesse Rev. 3. 14. bearing his testimony to what he hath said by that which he doth so declaring his own righteousnesse And may not we now turne Davids Prophesie Psal 65. 5. By terrible things in righteousness thou wilt answer us O God may we not I say turne that Prophecy into a history and say By terrible things in righteousnesse thou hast answered us O God of our salvation who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are afar off upon the sea O how much are we engaged to praise the Lord for his righteousnesse who hath avouched our right and declared himselfe against those who would not repaire our wrongs Thus did the same Holy David Psal 9. 2 3 4. I will be glad and rejoyce in thee I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high when mine enemies are turned back they shall fall and perish at thy presence for thou hast maintained my right and my cause thou sittest in the Throne judging right And as we are to praise the Lord because he hath been righteous or for the righteousnesse which he hath done so we are to praise him upon this assurance that he will ever doe that which is right For as he is the Father of Lights so also the judge of rights with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning His righteousnesse endureth for ever Praise ye the Lord. The second part of this second ground of praise is the graciousnesse of God The Lord is gracious and full of compassion v. 4. That proper name John derived from the Hebrew word here translated gracious was given in speciall by the Angells appointment to the Baptist Luke 1. 13. either because he was sent to preach the grace of God in Christ shortly after to be exhibited in the flesh or because he was bestowed upon his parents in their old age as a testimony of the favour and grace of God to them And thus all that God doth for his people flows from the fountain of his free grace and from his compassions which faile not The Lord deserveth highest praises from man because what he doth for man he
doth it gratis or undeserved As the Lord is righteous in all he doth against wicked men so he is gracious in all that he doth for the holyest of the sons of men yea he saveth them graciously not onely without their deservings but though they are very ill deserving Thus he proclaimes and entitles himselfe Exod. 34. 6. The Lord The Lord mercifull and gracious long suffering and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Here are a multitude of royall titles reckoned up in this proclamation yet the sum and substance of all may be collected and resolved into this one The Lord is gracious Surely then we ought to proclaime his praise in this title also The adverb of this word is often used in Scripture to note injuries received without cause or desert Thus David complains to God of his enemies Psal 35. 7. Without cause have they hid for me their net in a pâ—t which without cause they have digged for my soule And againe Psal 7. 4. I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy or that is mine enemy gratis I never gave any cause in this world why Saul whom he calls at the head of the Psalm Cush the Benjamite should be mine enemy yet he is so And when men or nations make war upon us wrongfully or having been offered peace and friendship upon just and righteous tearms shall refuse and so become our enemies gratis without any just cause given them then usually the Lord doth arise to destroy enemies and help his own people gratis though they have given him no cause but are exceeding unworthy to receive any such help and mark of honour at his hands yea though they have provoked him as the Prophet speaks Amos 5. 12. by their mighty sins to sell them for nought Psal 44. 12. and to deliver them up into the hand of their enemies that they might satisfie their lust upon them This I find specially taken notice of in the Order published for this day of thanksgiving in thesewords The eminency of this mercy of God in weakning the common enemy of Religion and in encouraging and strengthning the hands of his servants in a vigorous prosecution of this engagement is much heightned by the freenesse of it being extended to us a froward unbelieving and unthankefull people who had just cause rather to expect from the Lord a renewing of his stroaks and to be still kept under his rebukes then that he should returne to us in loving kindnesse and tender mercy as he hath done in this late dispensation Now seing the Lord hath been thus gracious and favourable to us let me presse it once more O praise him for his graciousnesse That 's the proper cry of Saints When the great mountaine becomes a plain before Zerubbabel then he shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings and cry grace grace to it Zech. 4. 7. that is The grace or free favour of God hath done it and the same grace and free favour will maintaine it And if the Lord shall make that Great mountaine the greatest mountaine of any state in the Christian world with which his people in these Nations are now contending by war to become a plaine before our Zerubbabel and before his helpers and assistants all the lines of our duty in praising him must center in this shout or cry grace grace And let it be the shout and cry of this day The Lord is gracious The Lord is gracious in what he hath done His favour not our force or strength hath obtained this great victory Yet that 's not all the Lord hath not onely saved us graciously but which is added in the text he hath saved us compassionately He is gracious and full of compassion The word signifies such kind of affections as parents have when their bowells are stirred toward their children seing them in any extremity or imminent danger 1 Kings 3. 26. when the true mother saw her child ready to be divided according to the award given by Solomon Her bowells saith the text yerned upon her son Compassion is an affection which besides love takes griefe into the composition of it such griefe as is full of simpathy or fellow feeling of the evill or misery which lyeth upon the party beloved Thus when the Lord seeth the Powers and Princes of this world ready to divide and devour his children who are dear to him as the apple of his eye his bowells are stirred and his compassions are kindled together And surely the Lord hath been touched and grieved with our affliction seing how we were in danger to be divided yea to be destroyed The Lord seems in this providence to speak to us as he did to Moses in the bush In seeing I have seen or I have surely seen the afflictions of my people and I know their sorrows as to this undertaking and I have helped them in pure compassion The Lord seems to say I have surely seen the anguish of some of their soules lest this buisnesse should miscarry I have seen how they have beene burthened as with the difficulty so with the costlines of this worke and I have had compassion on them I have surely seen by envy and discontents of many at home concerning it as also the pride and scorne of more abroad even saying as they of old what will they build in a day conquer nations in a day swallow up the world at once yea the Lord seems to say I have surely seen I have heard what strange constructions and interpretations have been made of former disappointments and delayes of success in this engagement yea I have surely seen how some would have rejoyced and triumphed at further with-drawings and disappointments And having seen all this my compassions are moved towards them and I am come forth for their help O praise the Lord who is full of Compassion He hath remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever The third particular in the text for which we are to praise the Lord is his faithfulnesse of which David speaks in the close of the fifth verse He will ever be mindfull of his Covenant The Covenant of God is the collection or coalition of all his promises into this one which is the center in which their severall lines meet and upon which they move I will be their God and they shall be my people The Covenant of God is our title to God by that we claime him ours and if God be ours all is ours by that he hath given up himselfe to us and takes us up to himselfe Wee should praise the Lord. First For making such a Covenant Psal 56. 4. In God I will praise his word that is the word of his Covenant There 's our Treasure That 's our magazin Secondly We should praise him more for minding of it He is mindfull of his Covenant saith the text And that mindfulnesse of God hath two things in it First
his remembring the Covenant which he hath made with us Secondly his doing or making of it good to us It is a common sin among men that they make Covenants but doe not mind them and that 's a sin very chargeable upon this Nation It is our interest as well as our duty to make and minde our Covenants with God Not to make a Covenant with him in some cases is sinfull but not to mind what we have made is more sinfull Not to mind Covenant with man is sinfull much more not to mind our Covenant with God Such is the weaknesse of some men that though they mind their Covenants they cannot do them or make them good And such is the sinfulnesse of many that they make Covenants and never mind them nor have any mind to make them good yea such is the wickednesse and perversnesse and perfidiousnesse of others that though they mind their Covenant yet they will not doe it yea they refuse to do it and which is wickednesse wound up to the hight chuse to deale falsly with God in Covenant Now as the terrour of the Lord should keep all men from such a hight of wickednesse so the example of the Lord should keep all men from the least and lowest degree of it For as the Lord is mindefull of the Covenant which he hath made so he mindeth it to do it yea his minding or remembring of it is his doing of it He can as easily keep his Covenant as make it and as soon fulfill his word as give it Thirdly God doth not only make and mind his Covenant but he is ever mindfull of it It never departs as wisdome counselleth us her councells should not Prov. 4. 21. from his eyes he keeps it in the midst of his heart and t is alwaies as written in the palmes of his hands he is mindfull of it not only without a totall Cessation but without so much as the least intermission O let all that are in Covenant with the Lord praise the Lord who will ever be mindfull of his Covenant Who among other mercyes promised in his Covenant hath promised to blesse them that blesse his Covenant people and to curse those that curse them And thus he hath been pleased to mind his Covenant to us in the mercy of this day I have now set before you those two Generall grounds of praise The experience of what God hath wrought for his people and the assurance of what God is to his people hereby to provoke your soules to rejoce in and praise the Lord The work of the Lord is great his work is honourable and glorious his work is wonderfull and beneficiall therefore praise him The Lord himselfe is righteous he is gracious and full of compassion in all that he hath done for us he is mindfull and will ever be mindfull of his Covenant to doe it more and more for us as the matter shall require Now what remains but that as I have paralelld our grounds of keeping this thanksgiving day with those of David in the text so I should both direct and presse you to paralell David by praising God in the same manner and with the same Spirit as he did I shall draw forth this directive Exhortation into four Conclusions taken up out of the text and body of this Psalm and so conclude First Praise God knowingly or understandingly The Lord cannot bear blind services and obedience nor doth he delight in blind praises and thanksgivings And as the Lord would have us to understand what it is to praise him some pretend praise to God who know not what it is to praise him so the Lord would have us understand what that is for which we praise him he would have us understand our mercies As when we repent we should search out and labour to know all our sins and all the sinfulnesse of them so when we praise God we should search out and labour to know all the mercies of God and the mercifulnesse of God to us in them This we have expresly in the text at the second verse The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein We must seek them out and find the compasse of them we must labour to understand and comprehend the height and depth and length and bredth of them as the Apostle speaks concerning the love of God They are great and their Greatnesse must be sought out But some may say If the works of the Lord are so great what need they be sought great things are obvious and easily seen we need not seek out the Sun I answer There is a twofold seeking First to find the work Secondly to find out the work that is to find the rarities and beauties the perfections and wonders of the work Thus though the Sun be a great work of God creating yet I may say there are very few that to this day have sought out the Sun that is who have seen the excellency perfection and glory of that Candle of Heaven we have not found the Sun as we ought though it shines every day to us Much lesse have we found out the providentiall works of God some of which shine as the Sun in the Heavens and yet we have not found them out The present work of God is so great that every one heares of it and t is every mans talke and discourse yet how few have studied to find out the perfections of it David describes the persons who do so They are saith he sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Then all they that are troubled at them who look sowre upon them or envy them who think a losse would serve their turns and ends better then this great gaine and to whom as the Prophet speaks in another case Isa 28. 19 It is a vexation only to understand the report that is to understand that such a thing is reported Surely these and such as these have no pleasure in this work of God and therefore will never seek it out Nor is it every kind of pleasure which we take in the works of God that makes us seek them out and so praise him spiritually and understandingly for them They who as many doe take onely a carnall or fleshly pleasure in them will seek no further then the flesh or outside of them and all their praises must needs symbolize with their spirits and be meerly carnall The true pleasure which we should take in this or any like work of God must arise upon these three grounds 1. As it is a returne of prayer David in that other Psalme where he puts the question to himself What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benifits unto me Psal 116. 12. had said v. 1 2. I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voyce my supplications because he hath enclined his eare unto me We never take so much spirituall pleasure in any of the providentiall works of God as in those