I could wish that my voice could speak to all the kingdome that I might tell them what God expects from all their hands But though that cannot be I am called this day to speak to you Right Honorable and beloved who are the Representative Body of the kingdome and whose thankfulnesse will be interpreted by God and man to be the thankfulnesse of the whole kingdome you must think of some such way of praising God as becomes your high places and callings and the whole kingdome which you represent if single persons praise God upon a ten stringed Instrument you must do it upon a ten thousand stringed Instrument some thing worthy of a Parliament of England such a Parliament for whom God hath done such great things When King Solomon offers a peace-offering he brings two and twenty thousand fat beeves and an hundred and twenty thousand fat sheep there is thankfulnesse fit for a King to shew And when David would shew his Gratitude to God in preparing to build him an house he offered a thousand thousand talents of silver and an hundred thousand talents of gold which comes to above three and thirtie thousand cart-load of silver allowing two thousand weight or six thousand pound sterling to every load and of gold seventy millions of French crowns besides brasse and iron without weight And when he and his people had added much more unto it he admired Gods goodnesse to give them a heart to offer so willingly and excuses the smalnesse of his own gift as being prepared in a time of trouble Let not therefore your Thankfulnesse be in trifles lowprizd serve not God with that which costs you nothing And if indeed you would do something heroicall worthy of your selves take him for your pattern who for his thankfulnesse was called the man after Gods own heart and that is David who when God had delivered him from all his enemies and established him in his kingdome expresses in the hundred and first Psalme wherein his thankfulnesse should appeare weigh the Psalme seriously it comprehends the sum of what I have to say to you I will sing saith he of mercie and judgement that is I will celebrate thankfully all Gods mercifull administrations unto my soul how would he do this Answ. In binding himself in his rule of walking towards three sorts of persons with whom he had to do First himself Secondly his family And thirdly his kingdome For his own person he would be holy he would walk uprightly in the midst of his house For his family he would have no wicked person about him no slanderers liars proud or deceitfull persons he would root them out as pests to his family And he would search throughout the whole kingdome to have his family stored with good servants Thirdly for his kingdome he would root out wicked men without exception of persons and that early that so his whole kingdome might be a City of the Lord a people with whom God might delight to dwell Here is an example fit for a King and Parliament to follow oh that God would encline your hearts this day to resolve to begin first with your own persons else you will never be sincere for the rest Now God hath called you and separated you for his work be not the vassals of Satan factors or pensioners for his enemy who hath thus far be trusted you Secondly look to your families do as Jacob did at Bethel when he payed his vow of thanksgiving unto God he made all his family bury their Idols under an oke that so when hereafter any of you shall be mentioned it may truly be said such a Noble-man such a Parliament man and the Church in his house that your families may be little Congregations of Saints with whom God may delight to dwel Not like Taverns and Alehouses houses of lewd and debaucht persons where Zim and Jim dwels dolefull creatures fit onely to be agents for Satan as it is much feared many of them are untill this day Thirdly then look to sweep the Church and kingdome blessed be God you have begun well you have been happie Instruments to ease many pressures But beloved there is yet much work to be done yet the root of our evils is not taken away yet the Ministery is not purged yet the great Cities and Towns and many thousand other places in the kingdome want bread for their souls and the portions of the Levites honorable maintenance for them who should do the work of the Lord in many places are not yet provided yet there remains much rubbish to be carried away as yet the honour of the Lords day is not fully vindicated as yet the Lords Temple is not builded nor the Scepter of Christ throughly set up These are services fit for a thankfull Parliament if you neglect these and cause a cessation in building the Temple and let it lie unfinished as it was in Cyrus his dayes if there be a Pâ—rez-Vzizah a breach in bringing in the Ark of God unto us Now you have built your own house and procured Civill Liberties should you let Gods house lie waste should you be as many fear you are lesse zealous in Gods cause then in your own I solemnly professe unto you the God of heaven will require it at your hands and the hands of your posteritie he will curse all your blessings and overturn what you think you have established But the people of God in whose hearts and prayers you daily are expect and hope for these great things from you This do in the fear of the Lord and ye shall prosper 2. This Right Honorable is that I had to say to you from the Lord if now you that are the residue of this great Assembly enquire what you shall do and how you shall testifie your thankfulnesse I answer if you will go and ring Bels make Bonfires feast one another and send portions to the poore for whom nothing is provided I have nothing to say against it I think you shall do well But this I beseech you do go home and pray God to encline the hearts of the Parliament to practise what this day they have heard write down a Catalogue of all the great things which God hath this yeer done for us and let your children know them and the Lord put it into the heart of some wise observer of the times so to write them that the present and future generation may be blessed with a true Narration of these wonderfull mercies give every one of you up your selves to the Lord to be his servants abuse not your peace and Libertie with Idlenesse riot and excesse or in being choked with enlarging your selves with worldly businesses but make that use of our peace which the Church did in the ninth of the Acts and the 31. vers. Then had the Churches rest and peace and what use made they of their peace They
A Peace-Offering to God A SERMON Preached to the Honourable House of Commons assembled in PARLIAMENT At their publique Thanksgiving September 7. 1641. For the PEACE concluded between ENGLAND and SCOTLAND By STEPHEN MARSHALL Batchelour in Divinity Minister of Finchingfield in ESSEX Psalme 147. Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion for he hath strengthened the Bars of thy Gates and blessed thy children within thee He maketh Peace in thy Borders Published by Order of the said House LONDON Printed by T. P. and M. S. for SAMUEL MAN dwelling in St. Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Swan 1641. TO THE HONORABLE House of Commons assembled in PARLIAMENT THe mercies which God hath shewed to these two Nations of England and Scotland giving us such great cause and matter of Thanksgiving causing our sheafe to arise and stand upright making us with Saul higher by the shoulders then all our brethren these mercies I say deserve so to be recorded that posterity should be compelled to read and admire them but who is sufficient for this thing It was said of Claudian that he wanted matter suitable to the excellency of his wit but where is the head or heart suitable to this matter Who can utter these mighty works of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise For my own part had I put my self upon this work to utter these mean conceptions upon this great subject before so great and honorable Audience I might justly have been condemned for abusing both the one and the other But you were pleased to command my service in preaching on the day of your publique and solemne Thanksgiving it may be because I was then neer at hand and after your Reverent attention had testified that you received them as the counsell of God you were further pleased expresly to desire me forthwith to print and publish what in my weaknesse I then delivered I suppose for the better memoriall of these great deliverances I could have pleaded much why these poore notes should not be exposed to publike view Treatises to be read by all should be long meditated often reviewed Excellent pictures should be engraven in brasse and not cast in clay the setting forth these mercies and quickning up answerable Thankfulnesse are above the Abilities of any man much more beyond the capacity of my self the weakest and unworthiest of many thousands But your Order left me not at liberty to do what I desired you have thus made them your own the more facile I shall hope to finde you and all Ingenuous Readers towards my weaknesses which not presumption but my obedience hath made thus publique This further encouragement I have little things have been accepted with God and man in testimoniall of Thankfulnesse a female a Turtle a handfull of wheat-floure by God himself a handfull of water a bunch of grapes c. by great Kings and Emperours And even under this Notion also I humbly present you with this ensuing discourse I have no more to say for my self but much I have to beg of God that you Noble Senatours and the Right Honorable Lords who joyned with you in this peace-offering may wholly consecrate your selves to advance his glory who hath done these great things for us all that your faithfull endeavours to do what is behind joyning with your Thankfulnesse for what is past the event may be answerable to your desires even the glory of God and the good and safety both of Church and Common-wealth which is the daily prayer of Your devoted servant STEPHEN MARSHALL A SERMON PREACHED before the Honorable House of Commons at their publike Thanksgiving The Preface to the SERMON RIght Honorable and beloved It was a priviledge and mercie which the Lord promised by the Prophet Isaiah That they should reioyce with Ierusalem who had mourned with her This mercie the Lord hath in great degree vouchsafed to my self this day the same good hand that cast it to be my lot though most unfit and unworthie to help this Honorable Assemblie in the day of their humiliation to dig pits in the valley of Bachah hath now designed me to sing with them in the valley of Berochah That after I had helped to carry out their precious seed with teares I should come with ioy and help to gather in their sheaves that after our Lamentations we should together sing Canticles and Halleluiahs unto our God Thus the Lord in mercie mingles rain and sunshine Oh that we had hearts suitable to all his administrations The duty of this day is to reioyce and to give praises unto God a service easier to the flesh then that of fasting and mourning but harder to the spirituall part In a day of humiliation even wicked men have affections stirring in them consciousnesse of evill guiltinesse of minde sense of wrath astonishing and oppressing feares arising from the apprehension of neare and unavoidable danger are naturall meanes to make even Pharaohs Ahabs and Ninevites mourne and humble themselves before God But in keeping a day of spirituall reioycing unto God little or no help is to be expected from the flesh and that is one reason why commonly dayes of thanksgiving are translated with much lesse affection life and savour then dayes of humiliation You should therefore have chosen Asaphs Ieduthuns and Hemans who might skilfully have helped you to lift up the praises of God but it s now no time to complaine of your choice neither will it be needfull if the Lord please to be present who can make the tongue of the dumbe to sing and can ordain his praise out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings trusting therefore his assistance I beseech you attend to his holy Word as you shall finde it written PSALME 124. verse 6 7 8. Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the snare is broken and we are escaped Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth I Studied to have found out a Text which might every way have been suitable with the mercies which this day we are to celebrate but I confesse I could not do it and I do greatly question whether GOD ever did such a thing for matter and manner as he hath now done for these two unworthy Nations This Text which I have chosen comes very neare in the matter and way of our deliverance very home to the duty which this day wee are to performe The Psalme is stiled a Song of degrees a title peculiar to fifteen short Psalmes set downe together whether they bee so called because they were to bee sung with an exalted voice or because they were to be sung upon the staires of the Temple where the Singers were to stand or whether for the supereminencie of the matter contained in them they being so full of short grave and
upon earth some of the poore that lie in the dust who want bread to keep themselves alive all these shall be counted to the Lord for a generation a seed who shall serve him and what shall this service be even to declare and set forth his righteous works from generation to generation here is all this holy seed hath to do first to seek him then to praise him to enioy him and to glorifie him So that what Solomon said of fearing God and keeping his Commandments this is the whole duty of man The same I may say of thanksgiving praise God and glorifie him for this is the whole duty of the Church in this world And not onely in this momentany pilgrimage but even to all eternitie if you would know what the triumphant Church doth how the glorious Saints and Angels are employed this one word Hallelujah expresseth it fully praise ye the Lord And by this time I hope you see good reason why our praises should succeed our prayers and accompany our deliverances But will some say all this labour might have been spared is there any man who will not praise God Doth the man live who is not willing and ready to give God the praises due unto his Name I answer Indeed if to praise God were no more then most people think it were the most universall common easie cheap and constant duty in the world such who never kept a holy fast in all their life time such who neither pray to God in their family nor in their chamber do yet if their carnall minds may be the iudge praise God an hundred times Every day their ordinary phrase is I thank God I praise God Ask but of their welfare well I thank God they say Enquire of their families all well I praise God Every mouth is filled with the praises of God blessing proceeds out of the same mouth which is full of cursing young men and maids old men and children can all praise God But alas most men are infinitely mistaken in this dutie a thankfull man who can finde there is not in all the world a duty more rare to be found a duty more spirituall more difficult more costly then the duty of praise Let me therefore that we may not mistake when we come to application give you briefly the Institution of a thankfull man according to the word and I will bring it all to these two heads First the qualification of the person of a thankfull man who and what he is Secondly the Ingredients into the duty or what makes it up Who the man is And what his work is First who is the man that may praise God Answ. Onely the godly man True it is all men even the worst are bound to do it it lies upon them as a duty but it belongs not to them as a priviledge it is the priviledge onely of the righteous they may do it Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous it becomes well the just to be thankfull Let the high praises of God be in their mouthes Their praises please the Lord better then a bullock that hath horns and hoofs Not so the wicked they have a woolfe by the eares in this work if they do it not God will have his glory out of them Pharaoh Senacherib Herod such as proudly seek to rob him of his glory shall yeeld him his glory in their righteous destruction they would not do it with singing they shall do it with howling On the other-side if they bring their peace-offerings God spreads the dung of their sacrifices upon their faces They are an abomination to him See this notably expressed in the 50 Psalme vers. 7. and so forward the Lord shâ—wed how little pleasure he took in the sacrifice of beasts in comparison of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows to the most high Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me This God takes pleasure in Mark now what follows But unto the wicked saith God what hast thou to do to take my covenant into thy mouth who required these things at thy hands so that you see whether wicked men praise God or praise him not they are abhorred by him Just as some great Lord of a Mannour who having an enemy holding lands of him will compell him to do suit and service and yet abhorres him in his suit and service But Israel may rejoyce in God let them praise him in the dance let them sing praises to him with timbrell and harpe for the Lord takes pleasure in his people The second quare what makes up the duty Now you have found the man wherein stands his work Answ. When God appointed the sacrifice of peace-offerings he made it an indifferent thing whether it were a male or female so it were the best they had the best it must be Cursed be that deceiver who hath a male and sacrificeth a corrupt thing unto God Were a female the best it was accepted provided it were a whole one To bring a limbe of a torne beast should I accept this at your hands saith the Lord He will have all or none A whole one then it must be Now this whole peace-offering is made up of these 3. things The first is the soul which is the fat and inwards of it Secondly the tongue which is the glory of it Thirdly the life which indeed is the life of thankfulnesse 1. First the soule the heart and spirit this must chiefly be looked to having to do with the Father of spirits with God the searcher of the heart I will praise God saith David with my whole heart My soule praise the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy Name My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Now to this soul-praising of God are required principally these three things First A A minde observing the wayes and mercies of God a spirit inquisitive into Gods wayes not out of Athenian curiosity but as Bees flie from flower to flower to gather honey to digest them into matter of praise and thanksgiving God makes it an argument of an unthankfull heart not to consider his wayes nor the operations of his hands And on the other side it is an argument of a thankfull heart to take pleasure in searching out the works of God See how David sets this down in the 68. Psalme ver. 14. They have seen thy goings O God the goings of my God my King in the sanctuary then follows The singers went before the players on Instruments followed after Blesse ye God in the Congregation First they observe Gods footsteps then blesse him in the Congregation And in the 107. Psal. after the Prophet had set down the variety of Gods administrations for which he should be praised he thus
concludes the Psalme Who so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindnesse of the Lord And ye may further observe that the thankfull men recorded in the Scriptures have not let slip from their observation the very circumstances of Gods dealings towards them not onely the substance of the mercie in a grosse summe but all circumstances which have accompanied it as time place manner meanes Secondly this soul thankfulnesse must have affections suitable to the mercies bestowed when our heart is affected according to Gods dealing this is thankfulnesse And these affections are chiefly love and joy I love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my prayer And then they must rejoyce in his mercy Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous it becomes the just to be thankfull Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work therefore will I triumph in the works of thy hands Mercies are not mercies deliverances are not deliverances to men who are not glad of them God gave David a great deliverance from his rebellious sonne Absolon he upon the news weeps and cries out O Absolon my sonne my sonne Was this thankfulnesse God hath wrought a great deliverance for us can those men whose fingers itcht for blood and are grieved at our peace be thankfull for this deliverance Thirdly the last thing which makes up this soul-thankfulnesse is the laying up and registring these mercies of God in our memorie to lay them up in our treasurie not as some do their bundles of old writings in their counting-house never looking on them in seven yeers but in a memory which may suggest to them upon every occasion what great things God hath done for them A memory which will lay Gods mercies before them as the Chronicles which Ahasuerus read when he could not sleep in the night God requires it should be so The righteous Lord hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in thankfull remembrance This thankfull memory feeds the heart with continuall matter of praise fils the thoughts with admiration of Gods dealing towards them shews them how Gods mercies passe their understandings in the manner of them in the measure of them making the soul stand amazed thankfull hearts have found so much good in remembring of Gods mercies that they have been carefull to keep Registers and set up Monuments to help their memorie endited Psalmes to bring to Remembrance gave Names to places where mercies were received new Names to times when they were received write the Names of their deliverances upon their children that the sight of them might quicken their memories and thoughts Yea God himself used to take new Names to himself as he gave new mercies sometimes calling himself The God that brought Abraham from Vr of the Caldees then the Lord that brought them out of the land of Aegypt then the Lord that gathered his people out of the North countrey and now since the greatest deliverance of all The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ And all to help their memories 2. This is the Inside of a thankfull man but if praise be in the heart it will not be kept in but it will be like oyle in the right hand like the word in Ieremies heart like a burning fire in his bones which he could not contain within The tongue will be set on work and beares a great part in this Musick of thankfulnesse confessing to God publishing to others I will tell you what God hath done for my soul My tongue shall ever be talking of thy wondrous works and of thy praise all the day long Our tongue is therefore called our glory because with it we glorifie God As praise is Gods glory so our tongue in exalting him is our glory Now this tongue-praise is not confined to saying of a grace singing of a Psalme uttering a Benedictus or Te Deum laudamus but in all speech which tends to exalt God and sets forth his excellency Iunius told the mercies of God when he wrote his owne life And Davids tongue was ever talking of Gods praise because his speech one way or other rended to exalt God Thirdly true thankfulnesse is expressed in the life as one truly saith the life of thankfulnesse consists in the life of the thankfull The praising of God and ordering our conversation aright are not onely inseparable but exegeticall interpretations one of another Now this life Thankfulnesse stands in these two things First in using Gods mercies to the right end this is to praise him indeed without this all other thankfulnesse is but complement formalitie and hypocrisie Set this down for an everlasting truth that its impossible God should be praised with an abused mercie Did Israel and Judah praise God for their faire jemels of gold and silver which God had given them when they made to themselves Images of men and committed whoredome with them Did they praise him for their broidered garments their fine floure oyle and honey wherewith God clothed and fed them Did they praise him for their sonnes and daughters when they sacrificed them unto devils Read the sixteenth of Ezekiel and you will finde the contrary I shall give you one example which will cleare it beyond all contradiction and that is of Hezekiah God gave him a most miraculous recovery he was sick to death and it is thought he was sick of the plague God not onely healed him but made the Sun go back for six houres at least and by this miracle told all the world that the God who loved Hezekiah had recovered him from death to life Now mark Hezekiahs thankfulnesse as soon as he got up he makes a Psalme wherein he confesses his unworthinesse his bitter affliction Gods gracious restoring of him goes to the Temple and sings it resolves to sing it all the dayes of his life who would not think but this man had been thankfull But Hezekiah abused this mercie his heart grew proud he began to think himself the most remarkable man in the world discovers this vanity of his heart to the Ambassadours of the king of Babylon See now what God judged of his thankfulnesse Hezekiah was sick to death and God spake to him and gave him a signe but Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up Never doth a man render according to the mercie who abuseth the mercie The second thing in life thanksgiving is the rendring back again to God what God requires by way of homage or Lords-rent Quid retribuam What shall I render to the Lord is every thankfull mans Psalme Now although no man can give unto God any thing worthy of him yet there are foure things which God requires and accepts from all his thankfull people by way of homage First an humble broken contrite heart a self-renouncing
a self-abhorring spirit for our vilenesse against so gracious a God is infinitely pleasing to him Oh saith David when God had pardoned his great sin and healed his broken bones I would give thee sacrifice and burnt offerings if thou delightedst in them But these God cared not for but David lights upon that which he cared for The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Secondly the giving up of our selves bodies and souls to have and to hold and to use them at the will of the Lord to consecrate them unto him to do him faithfull service This is notably expressed by David in the 40. Psalme when he studied what to render to God and found that sacrifice and offerings God did not desire but this pleased him My eare thou hast bored What is that boring his eare why he alludes to the practise in Israel that when a servant did chuse to dwell with his master for ever his master should bore his eare through with an awle So saith David I will be thy servant for ever I delight to do thy will O God thy law is written in my heart This is a little otherwise expressed Hebr. 10. 5. In stead of reading it my ear thou hast opened The Apostle following the Septuagint reads it a body hast thou prepared me but full to the same sence as if he should have said Lord thou hast fitted me moulded my body and soul to be thy servant This same thing the Apostle cals for I beseech you brethren by all the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service this is a second peace-offering Thirdly when God had put an end to all Leviticall sacrifices both Propitiatory and Eucharisticall in stead of them he hath instituted the attending upon his holy ordinances praying preaching hearing Sacraments to be in the Christian Church acknowledgements of our homage spirituall sacrifices acceptable unto him through Jesus Christ This the Apostle expresseth in the 13. to the Hebrews vers. 15. Having before shewed that all other sacrifices were abolisht he tels them that the calves of our lips the sacrifice of praise were now to be offered up to God continually Fourthly and lastly the works of mercie the poore visiting the sick feeding the hungry clothing the naked ministring to the necessities of the Saints are an adour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well-pleasing unto God To do good and to communicate saith Paul forget not for with such sacrifices God is wel pleased Provided that because they are sacrifices they must not be offered to the Idol of our own credit or esteeme or private ends but unto God alone even in obedience unto him and for his glory Thus have I as briefly as I could possibly given you the true Institution of a thankfull man his person must be holy his sacrifice must be whole made up of heart and tongue and life an observing minde suitable and enlarged affections a readie memorie a tongue to tell Gods praises a life using Gods mercies aright abusing none of them abhorring himself before God devoting himself unto God humbly waiting upon his ordinances and according to his ability endeavouring to be an Instrument of help and comfort to him that needeth Now give me leave Right Honorable and beloved to endeavour to set all this home to your hearts in a double use First for Humiliation Secondly for Exhortation First for humiliation It may be some will think it unseasonable in a day of rejoycing to put you upon sorrow and mourning but certainly could I but help you to be rightly humbled for and to slay this beast of Ingratitude it would be the best peace-offering which ever God received from many of your hands neither will you ever be able to give him the sacrifice of an humble contrite heart till your spirits be laid low in the sence of this great sin Let me speak plain and in earnest I remember I speak to a great assembly to an assembly of Gods but I speak in the name of a great God before whom you are but as so many gras-hoppers his potsheards his poore sinfull creatures Pardon me ye great Lords and Gentlemen if I passe over all your eminencie and discharge my dutie Are we not a most unthankfull people Do we render to God according to his infinite mercies vouchsafed to us I could easily set before you great lists and Catalogues of mercies which you have received Many in common with the rest of the world Many in common with this Nation to which God hath been mercifull above all Nations upon earth Many in common with the places where you live Many peculiar to your own persons to your own souls and bodies to your estates families relations privative mercies positive mercies ye eat mercies drink mercies weare mercies compassed about and covered with mercies as much as ever the earth was with water in the time of Noahs flood But beloved where is your thankfulnesse for all these mercies to be found I can tell you where the houses are that are full of mercies but who can tell me where true thankfulnesse may be found May not God say of you that for all his goodnesse and mercies which he hath multiplied and bestowed upon you the return is nothing but abominable Ingratitude let me help you in a few things 1. Are there not abundance to be found who take no notice of Gods gracious dealing to them either through the pride of their heart esteeming nothing worthy of their observation or having their souls so crooked to the earth that they cannot look up to heaven or through the peevishnesse of their spirit burying ten thousand mercies under one clod of discontent and so can finde nothing for which they should either rejoyce in God or love him or admire his goodnesse to them 2. Are there not abundance whose tongues in stead of being their glory to exalt God and his goodnesse are as it were set on fire of hell depressing his majestie reproaching and blaspheming his Name and works his ordinances and servants seldome naming him for his praise unlesse when with the Pharisee pretending to thank God they intend to commend themselves 3. Are there not abundance even great ones Lords Ladies Gentlemen whom God hath singularly and eminently loaden with his mercies who with all thâ—se do nothing but beare armes to fight against God as David against Goliah with his own sword Waters of a full cup are wrang out into them they prosper in the world encrease in riches they have all their hearts can desire therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain therefore they are corrupt and wicked therefore they may swear and drink dice and drab Oh beloved God hath a tallie of all the mercies which you enjoy a Catalogue of all the favours which he
hath bestowed upon you and if you be found to be the people who thus requite him who are thus advanced and work all these abominations God will ere long say of you as David said of Nabal Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath and he hath requited me evill for good I will not leave any thing that pertains to him in vain have I done all which I have done for these men they have requited me evill for good I will strip them naked I will deprive them of all my abused mercies I will spend my arrows and heap mischiefs in stead of mercies upon them 4. Are there not abundance to whom this thankfull rendring of a contrite heart of bodies and souls consecrated to Gods service reverent waiting upon him in his ordinances and doing good to others thereby to praise God to whom I say these things are the darkest riddles in the world who think God never doth enough for them and think any thing too much for them to do to God But to leave this generall complaint I beseech you Right Honorable and beloved to see what great cause we have to be abased concerning our great Ingratitude for the admirable mercies which God hath bestowed us this very last yeer This one yeer this wonderfull yeer wherein God hath done more for us in some kinds then in fourescore yeers before breaking so many yokes giving such hopes and beginnings of a very Jubilee and Resurrection both of Church and State This yeer wherein we looked to have been a wonder to all the world in our desolations and God hath made us a wonder to the world in our preservation giving us in one yeer a Return of the prayers of fourty and fourty yeers Now look abroad into the kingdome enquire as Ahasuerus did of Mordecai what honour and dignity is done to the Lord for all this my heart would bleed were it rightly affected in the expressing of it We scarce make any shew of thankfulnesse but manifest the very power of Ingratitude Alas there are many whose hearts are grieved at the great things which God hath done for us turning a Jubilee into Lamentations I know not better how to expresse the spirit of these men then by that in the 8. of Ezekiel Among all the abominations which the Lord shewed the Prophet whereby he was provoked to go far off from his sanctuary one was a company of women sate weeping for Tammuz they wept because they they had lost their Idoll so these grieve because they fear to loose their toyes and fooleries which provoke God against us Others bring up an ill report of Gods goodnesse and his worthy Instruments who can see no wood for trees ever enquiring in discontent what is done all this yeer the Parliament hath sate long abundance of money given but what have they done for us Indeed lesse is done then might have been had we been truly thankfull but much more is done then ever thou or I had cause to hope our eyes should see when it is Gods mercie we are not all as Sodome art not thou a wretched man to say what is done by way of sleighting what thy eyes see this day Others deny not but God hath done great things this last yeer and all their enquirie is What is to be done next who as swine under the pear-tree devoure all that fals and whine for more never looking to the hand that shakes down to them in the meane time return nothing to God abate not an ace of any of their former courses whereby God was offended as proud vain wanton worldly prophane this yeer as the last yea a greater torrent of sin for ought I can hear rusheth in and fearfully prevails and domineers in most places God is free in his goodnesse and will be mercifull to whom he will be mercifull and the wickednesse of a Nation can set no bounds or limits to his goodnesse else we should certainly conclude that this drie winde from the wildernesse this ingratitude of ours would even sweep and drive away all Gods mercies from us Yea may I not must I not Right Honorable and Noble Senators humble you even you before the Lord this day even in this day of your rejoycing to make you begin this your Passeover with eating some bitter hearbs have you rendred to God according to the mercies of this yeer I think you may say of Gods dealing towards you as never Parliament could say God hath carried you in his bosome prevented and discovered great designes against you queld great adversaries before you restored great priviledges unto you appeared as your Councellour in all your darknesses opened a doore an out-gate in all your straits all rubs and stumbling blocks before you God hath made them but as vantage ground to raise you higher What should I say you have found your gracious Soveraigne granting I think all your suits hitherto your Rights and Liberties are establisht and your houses built if it were possible you should surpasse the very Angels in thanksgiving Now let your servant be bold with you what glory and honour do you return to God How have you observed the goings of your God and King amongst you With what admiring thoughts are your hearts filled what Reformation appears in your hearts and lives what cost are you at for this God how strongly have you engaged and consecrated your selves and all which you have for his service and glory Lay your hand upon your heart and think in this your day of rejoycing whether your continuance in your old sinfull wayes your unbeliefe your ebbing and flowing in your spirits according as humane hopes and helps have come and gone your not zealously laying to heart the cause of Christ his worship and servants may not make the Lord say of you as of Hezekiah the Lords and Commons of England prayed unto God and the Lord heard them and gave them a signe but they rendred not again according to the benefits done unto them If it be so the good Lord humble you under it and turn away the guilt of this great sinne from you and from us all for Christ Jesus sake and so much for the use of Humiliation Secondly one more for exhortation and I have done Oh that I were able to speak something to raise up your hearts to the practise of this excellent service I shall confine my self to these two heads First a few Motives to quicken you to the duty Secondly a few Directions to guide you in it First the man lives not who owes not this homage or quit-rent unto God yea even for every thing which he hath finde out the man who lies under one evill so great as he hath deserved or enjoyes one mercie which he hath not freely received and that man shall go scot-free from the dutie of thankfulnes Now even common honesty will call for the discharge of this ingenuous equall
and easie rent of Thanksgiving to men who are but Instruments of mercie how much more to God the welspring and fountain of them all Secondly consider the excellency of the duty what a high and honourable service it is so high that though God be most worthy to be praised yet no creature is found worthy to praise him In our praises we are said to blesse honour exalt magnifie and glorifie God can any creature be thought worthy or able to do this to lift up God to make him a great God to put glory upon God yet God so interprets it he that praiseth me honoureth me Yea so excellent is this duty that it is the onely imployment of all the glorious host of heaven It is said in the Psalme that man did eat Angels food sure I am this is to do Angels work heavens work to bring heaven down to earth and to raise up poore dust to heaven to be enabled to praise the Lord what should I say more this praising of God is by Interpretation the doing of all that God requires Tully said that Gratitude to man is Maxima mater omnium reliquarum virtutum But what ever Gratitude to man be the Scriptures teach us that gratitude to God is the comprehension of all our obedience 3. Thirdly it is the comfortablest duty that ever we can perform partly because it is the sweetest evidence of our sincere love and faithfull dependance upon God we may pray for base self-love when we love not God but his gifts but a cordiall praising of him is a reall expression of our love to him and partly because God graciously accepts what ever comes under the notion of praise a female or turtle a handfull of wheat floure a pepper corn a cup of cold water a sigh or teare is most kindly accepted when presented as a peace-offering I will praise God with a song this shall please the Lord better then an ox or a bullock that hath horns and hoofs Who that loves God would stick at any thing in this duty so acceptable unto him It is pitifull to observe what pains and cost many poore seduced Papists are at out of a false conceit of meriting for themselves and theirs should not love and Gratitude to God and our Lord Jesus who hath merited all for us be more prevalent with us then self-love and blinde superstition in them 4 Fourthly I have one Motive more especially to presse upon you according to the duty of the day the consideration of the wonders I had almost said the miracles of this last yeer Could I lively draw them before your eyes that you might see what this yeer God hath done for you and wrought by you such whose affections are lame among you would leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumbe would sing This yeer we have seen the three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland in a posture of warre without blood shed Oh wonderfull This yeer we have seen our neighbour Nation come into England in a hostile shew with peaceable hearts oh wonderfull This yeer we have seen the same Nation after all mistakes cleared received into the bosome of their Soveraignes favour their loyalty and faithfulnesse acknowledged and with a friendly aid honorably and peaceably sent to their own homes and the two Nations faster cemented together in a league of love then ever heretofore oh wonderfull Nay yet more this yeer have we seen broken the yokes which lay upon our estates Liberties Religion and Conscience the intolerable yokes of Star-Chamber and terrible High-commission and their Appendances unsufferable pressures to many thousands all eased removed broken and swept away This yeer have we seen the two houses of Parliament and many ten thousands in the kingdome following their example enter into a Protestation promise and vow for defence of Gods true Religion against all Popery and Popish Innovations and superstition This yeer the Complaints of the Imprisoned outcast persecuted and afflicted we have seen and heard tenderly received into the high and honorable Court of Parliament and the faces of many proud enemies covered with shame This yeer for preventing future grievances the Lord hath put it into the heart of our gracious Soveraigne the Lords and Commons all to agree upon a Trienniall Parliament and this present Parliament to continue till all things be rightly established both in Church and Common-wealth that the foundations of the Land may be no more out of joynt that Liberty and Religion henceforth receive no dammage unlesse the State like the foolish woman in the proverbe plucks it down with their own hands Quadragesimus primus mirabilis annus Oh wonderfull yeer and so much the more wonderfull that all these things are done for us when our neighbour Nations round about us see no such dayes when Germany remains a field of blood when their Cities and Towns are desolate their wives ravished their children kill'd when many of them eat their dead carcasses and die for want of food yea when Gods sword rides in circuit round about us these great things are done for us and hopes of greater And which is most wonderfull all this done for the most unworthy and unthankfull Nation in all the world our God hath thus broke in over all the walls of separation which our sins have built up against us and called for vengeance upon us Me thinks Right Honourable and beloved every one of your hearts should say to God as the Prophet to the 〈◊〉 thou hast been carefull for us with all this care what is to be done for thee Lord what wouldst thou have us do to testifie that we are sensible of thy goodnesse Oh praise the Lord 5. And the rather because else God knows whether all these mercies may not be removed and destruction and miserie yet break in upon us When Tamar was to be delivered and twins in her wombe Zarah first put forth his hand and they tyed a scarlet threed about it and said this came out first but his hand was plucked in again and his brother broke out before him So mercie and judgement deliverance and ruine have seem'd to be long strugling in the wombe which should first break out upon us Deliverance hath now put forth the hand and we have tyed our scarlet threed about it and say this came out first Oh that Ingratitude cause not this hand to be plucked back again and destruction yet to break in upon us Ingratitude that Obex Infernalis as Divines call it that hellish stop may interrupt the course of all Gods mercies According to what God hath threatned that though he speak concerning a Nation to build and plant it if that Nation do evill in his sight he will repent of the good wherewith he said he would benefit them Quest What then is to be done or wherewith shall we be thankfull Answ Chrysostome once desired that he had a voice to speak to all the world
pithy sentences all tending to exalt the praises of God I know not In this all Interpreters agree that for this third and last reason they all deserve to be called Songs of degrees and therefore any sentence of them will deserve and call for the highest degree of our reverend attention to the unfolding of it This Psalme and three or foure other of these Songs of degrees was unquestionably penned by King David who therefore counted himself the man raised up on high because he was the anointed of the Lord and the sweet singer of Israel esteeming it a greater mercie that the Spirit of God spake by him then that the Nations were subdued under him But upon what occasion he penned it whether historically speaking of what was alreadie done or prophetically foretelling deliverances to come either that out of Babylon or that from Antiochus Epiphanes Interpreters agree not but we need not trouble our selves about it because when ever the particular storie fell out without question the Spirit of God intended it to suite the like condition of the Church in all ages so that even we enjoying the same mercie and called to performe the same duty may say for our sakes no doubt this Psalme was written The matter whereof is that which David usually cals a new song even praise to our God yea the most pleasant and comely praise recording his dealing to his peculiar people to his own inheritance in such mercies which he dispences not to other Nations and may all be reduced to these two heads First an Antecedent or a doctrine Secondly a Consequent or the use of that doctrine The Antecedent or doctrinall part is laid down and explained in the five first verses the summe whereof is that God and God alone is on his peoples side to deliver them in all their most deadly and desperate dangers The Consequent or use of this doctrine is laid down in these three verses which I have read Blessed be the Lord c. And it contains 2. branches 1. Therefore his people praise him because he is on his peoples side ver. 6. 7. 2. Therefore his people will trust in this mightie God who is alwayes their help in the time of trouble vers. 8. The first branch or the use of thanksgiving I have chosen to speak of this day wherein for the more quickning of their souls to praise God the Prophet first repeates and illustrates the danger they were in before deliverance came and secondly the author time manner and way of their deliverance and then thirdly celebrates this mercie in his return of praises Blessed be the Lord c. The danger they were in is in this verse and elsewhere in the Psalme set out by 3. sorts of comparisons all expressing the strength malice and rage of their enemies and their own nearnesse to be ruined and destroyed by them First they are compared to men strong men proud men wrathfull men whose rage was kindled cunning men subtill men unweariable men like men that go about to set nets and snares to catch birds entangling them before they are aware Secondly they are compared to wilde beasts that go roving and roaring about to catch their prey whom there is no pacifying they had almost swallowed us up quicke A prey to their teeth Thirdly they are compared to the most masterfull and mercilesse creatures of fire and water their wrath was kindled against us the proud waters had almost swallowed us So that look what potent cruell cunning men can do look what ravenous wilde beasts Lions Tigers Beares Dragons c. are able to do look what fire and water raging fire and proud water look what all these are able to do and then you may judge what the Churches Danger was before Deliverance came Secondly The deliverance the author time and manner of it we have expressed in these words God hath not given us a prey to their teeth our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare the snare is broken and we are delivered The lastly follows the return of their praises for Gods needfull helpe in the time of trouble The 2. first branches their danger and deliverance I shall but briefly touch taking them in onely as a foundation or groundsill whereupon the building of thanksgiving which we are this day to reare up may the more firmly and conspicuously stand Their danger from these enemies thus described teaches us among what neighbours Gods people live in this world and what they are to expect from them What ever the Lions paw or Foxes skin open force and secret cunning is able to bring to passe they must continually look to be put in practise against them thus it ever hath been thus it ever shall be till Christ have subdued all their enemies under their feet The Jews when they dwelt in their own land of Canaan were thus compassed on the East they had the Moabites Ammonites Assyrians and Caldeans on the West the Philistines on the North the Syrians on the South the Arabians and Aegyptians and these were all alike maliciously bent against them and when ever God let any of them loose they presently executed all that their wrath strength and policie could bring to passe against them And just so hath it been with the Church of Christ ever since they dwell among men that are set on fire even the sonnes of men whose teeth are speares and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword They are hated and persecuted of all men so that what Paul said of his own case the whole Church may say of hers I know not the things that shall betide me save that the holy Ghost witnesseth in every Citie that bonds and afflictions abide me And would you know the cause of it It comes partly from the condition and qualitie of Gods people in this world their lives and conversations are contrary to other men they dare not runne with them to the same excesse of sin this their neighbours think strange of and this their holy life gives checke to others and armes their consciences against them and therefore they hate them This you shall see in Revel. 11. 10. to be the cause why all the inhabitants of the earth were so mad against the two witnesses that is the small number of them that bore witnesse to Christs truth in the time of Antichrists apostasie because these two witnesses tormented them that dwelt upon the earth and partly the outward condition of Gods people is most what meane and contemptible they have indeed glorious things but these are hidden from the eyes of the world their out-side appeares as their Saviours did when he conversed here upon earth without forme or comelinesse there was no beautie why they should desire him They have little countenance from men few of them are wise noble or mighty but they are the foolish weake and base ones of the world Now
low stiles are easily troden down every hawke dare flie at pigeon any wilde beast run at a silly lambe 2. And partly it comes from that inveterate hatred and enmity which God hath put betwixt the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman from which enmitie it comes to passe that the wicked can no more cease to persecute the righteous then the troubled Sea can cease from casting up mire and dirt 3. And partly from the devill who as he reignes in all the children of disobedience so where ever he is he makes it his great work to make warre with the woman and her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimonie of Jesus Christ Persecuting men often die often have been reconciled persecuting Kings and Princes have become nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers but Satan never turnes Christian Non semper saeviunt Nerones sed nunquam cessat diabolus The devill ever goes about like a roaring Lion seeking to devoure them 4. Yea God himself hath ordered it to be so for his own glory because he delights to rule amongst his enemies and to make the wrath of man to turn to his praise that he may shew his wisedome power and love in preserving his Lillie among the thornes and to keep his bush though burning from consuming Many are the uses which this lesson might teach us I shall onely name these two as most agreeable to our present businesse First to admire adore and praise the wisedome goodnesse power and care of God in the protection and preservation of his Church and people in the midst of so many and mighty malicious and impetuous adversaries We are prone to wonder why Gods people walking so innocently and inoffensively should meet with so much hard usage but alas could we read what is in the heart and purpose of all our ill neighbours we should rather wonder that there is one godly man left in the world In stead of thinking it strange concerning their fiery trials as though some strange thing happened unto them we should with thankfull hearts daily sing this Psalme were not the Lord himself on our side we should instantly be swallowed up quick the waters would overwhelme us the proud waters would go even over our soul Secondly this may teach us all never to be secure if we have escaped one danger if we be come out of six troubles and the seventh hath not been able to hurt us if whole armies of our enemies be overthrowne let us not hang up our armour upon the wall grow not carelesse because the rod of him that smote us is broken for out of the Serpents root will come forth a Cockatrice and the fruit will be a fiery flying Serpent God hath lately done great things for these two unworthy Nations great enemies are quelld great yokes are broken blessed be his Name for it but our enemies are not all dead our adversary the devill who rules in all the children of disobedience compasseth the earth and goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure Be sober therefore and watchfull and keep on the whole armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evill day and having done all to stand But though there be cause of watchfulnesse a yet you will see there is no cause of distrustfull fear by that time I have briefly opened the next branch which is the author manner and way of their deliverance God hath not not given us a prey to their teeth c. Where among many considerable things I shall onely commend to you these 2. observations First That they were not made a prey because God would not give them as a prey to their teeth Secondly when they were as birds caught in the net and snared God chose that for his time to break their snares asunder The first affords us this comfortable lesson That how potent soever how cunning or malicious soever the enemies of Gods Church are how great imminent or unavoidable the dangers of Gods people are yet they never can be made a prey unlesse God will give them for a prey All things seeme to meet that might make them a prey yet because God would not give them to be a prey therefore they were not made a prey This is abundantly proved out of the Scripture when ever God told his people they should be spoiled it was added he would deliver them up When at any time they were spoiled God is said to spoil them God sold his people into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan The Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian God sold his people for nought he made them a reproach a scorn and derision he made them turn their backs from their enemie So likewise when they desired deliverance from their enemies they used to beg in these termes that God would not deliver the soul of his turtle unto the multitude of their enemies accounting all to depend upon Gods act if God refused to deliver up his turtle they feared none others catching or shooting his turtle Most remarkable is that place in Deut. 32. 30. The Lord did there in that song tell the people what would betide them for their rebellion afterward they should be scattered into corners and be made a spoile to all their enemies round about them insomuch that two or three of their enemies should chase a thousand of them and a handfull of their enemies should put ten thousand of them to flight Now whereas they might object and say Is this according to thy promise that thou madest in the 26. Levit. That thy people should chase their enemies that five of them should chase an hundred and an hundred of them should put ten thousand to flight how comes it then that one should chase a thousand of thy people Mark what answer God makes them in that 30. verse This could never have been unlesse their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up If God say to one Spoile them shut them up it is done presently If God will not do it all the world cannot do it And the ground of it is plain because God not onely is a wall of fire about them keeps a watchfull eye upon them carries them under his wings and in his bosome but even all creatures all things which might hurt them all their enemies who would hurt them have such a dependance upon God that not onely in him they live and move and have their being but all their motions and operations are but as Tools in Gods hands That although they seem to work from principles of their own yet the truth is they are but meerly as the ax and the sawe in the hand of God who useth them This the Scripture speaks an hundred times The great King of Assyria was but the rod of Gods anger though his heart
to purge you and to make you white and at the appointed time deliverance will come which if it be a while deferr'd you shall be liberally pay'd for your forbearance Thus I have done with the second part of my Text and now I proceed to the third Branch of my text which I most aymed at the use which the Church makes of this goodnesse of God Blessed be the Lord c. The Hebrew word Barach when it is applied from the creature to God signifies Benedicere laudare offerre munus To Blesse to speak well of to offer a gift to praise This is our work this day and so without any more Preface I come to handle that lesson which is our maine duty viz. That the praising of God is the service which Gods people are to performe when ever God delivers them This is a Doctrine which needs much explication and application but little proofe No one lesson more inculcated in the whole Scriptures frequently commanded Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me All that seek the Lord shall praise him Oh that men would praise the Lord for for his goodnesse foure times repeated in one Psalme At least an hundred times in one expression or other it is enjoyned in this book of the Psalmes Oh praise the Lord praise ye the Lord pressed and repeated almost in every verse of diverse Psalmes as if the Prophet knew not what other duty to call for 2. This duty was likewise typified in the old Law They had two sorts of sacrifices shadowing out morall duties some petitionary whereby they sought God for the mercies which they needed Others were Eucharisticall peace-offerings wherein their praises were rendred unto God and these was to be as constant as their Supplicatory or Expiatory sacrifices 3. The duty hath alwayes been practised by all Gods servants the time would fail me to tell of Noah Abraham Jacob Moses all the good Judges Kings Priests and Prophets whose Hallelujahs were as constant as their Hosannaes When ever they had sought God and found him their next work was to magnifie and praise him And for the rule and practise of the Christian Church I shall passe by many exhortations and examples and satisfie you abundantly with one place which is the fourth of the Revelation That Chapter is a description of Christs presence in the Christian Church and of all their service and carriage towards him there ye have the Lambe sitting upon the throne in the midst of his people there ye have also all the multitude of his Saints in all the foure quarters of the world shadowed out by the foure beasts there ye have the multitude of Christs Ministers shadowed out by the foure and twenty Elders sitting upon their seats Now mark what all the service is which these foure beasts and foure and twenty Elders perform to him that sits upon the throne it is expressed vers. 9. to be nothing else but to give glory honour and thanks to him that lives for ever and ever So that all Christian worship publique and solitary whatever the corps of it be the soul of it is nothing but honour and glory and praise to our God through Jesus Christ Many reasons might be given why praise and thanksgiving should be rendred unto God All excellency and honour is his originall due All good things are received from his hand freely Now common honesty requires that undeserved favours should be received with thankfulnesse A benefit received and a Return of praise are inseparable among all Civill Nations But I shall insist onely upon this one This service of praise is the onely Quit-rent or Homage which God hath reserved to himself for all the mercies which he bestows upon his Church Vnderstand it I beseech you I say what ever the Lord doth for his Church and people he hath reserved not a shoe-latchet save onely his praise and glory Which to understand know that there are three things meet in every mercy First the thing it self which is given suppose food rayment health life peace wife children or what ever we enjoy Secondly there is the sweetnesse of it the comfort which may be drawn out in the use of it Thirdly there is the glory of it or the commendation that may arise from it the honour or praise which exults out of it The two first God freely gives away he hath made nothing but he freely bestows he gives heaven to the Saints and Angels he gives the earth to the sonnes of men he gives all creatures living upon earth for their use And allows them to take all the sweetnesse and comfort which can possibly be drawn out of his free gifts le ts them drink and be filled with the juyce and marrow of every mercie onely his glory he will never part with his glory and praise he will give to none They say Quit rents and Royalties are so prized by Lords of Mannors that they will not sell them under thirtie or fourty yeers purchase But the Lords Royalty and Homage of praise and thanksgiving is more precious unto him then heaven and earth In somuch that it is all one in his account not to be acknowledged God and not to be praised Yea so deare is his praise and glory that it was the utmost and highest end he propounded to himself in creating upholding and governing this goodly frame of heaven and earth even that his glory and excellency might shine forth that as of him and by him so all things might be for him And as all things were made for his praise so the creature man was in speciall manner made to be a fit bayliffe or gatherer in of Gods Quit-rent of praises from all the rest of the creatures and to pay it unto himself And this David acknowledges in the 8. Psalme and magnifies as an infinite advancement of man above all the rest of the creatures that Gods glory which is above the heavens should be ordained to proceed out of the mouth of such a poore worme as man is Nay if we look yet further into it we shall finde that when all mankinde had sinned and sell short of the glory of God would not praise him and could not praise him the Lord therefore bought a peculiar family to himself by the blood of his Sonne that he might have a people of his own to praise him who might while they are here upon earth collect gather in and offer up the praises due unto his Name And therefore he cals his redeemed ones his sonnes and daughters which he hath created for his glory This is plainly taught in the 22. Psalme in the latter end whereof ye have a description of the Church or kingdome of Christ which as there is said shall be gathered out of all Nations and all sorts of people some that are fat and mighty