A SACRED RECORD To be made of GODS MERCIES TO ZION A Thankesgiving Sermon Preached to the two Houses of Parliament the Lord Major Court of Aldermen and Common-Councell of the City of London at Christ-Church June 19. 1645. Being the Day of their Publike Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the Great and Glorious Victory obtained by the Parliaments Army under the Conduct of Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX in Naseby-field By Stephen Marshall B. D. Minister of Gods Word at Finching-field in ESSEX Exod. 17. 14. And the Lord said unto Moses Write this for a Memoriall in a Booke and rehearse it in the Eares of Joshua m Psal. 44. 1. Our Fathers have told us what Works thou didst in their dayes in the times of Old Psal. 78. 4. Wee will not hide them from their Children shewing to the Generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderfull Works that he hath done London Printed by Rich. Cotes for Stephen Bowtell and are to be sold at the sign of the Bible in Popes-head-Alley TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORDS and COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT YOur time is so taken up with the important Worke of rescuing these bleeding Kingdomes and the Church of Christ in and with them that I am sure you are not at leisure to read long Epistles and were I able in a Dedication to write what might very much kindle your zeale provoke your whole inward man and thereby further your great Work I conceive it were onely to tell the world what counsell I thought might doe you good and therefore in stead of studying to present you with an Epistle which few of you would read I doe onely obey your Order and at your Command publish to the view and for the use of all and present unto your selves this plaine Sermon Preached unto you upon the day of your late Thanksgiving unto God for one of the greatest mercies the Victory and what came with it duly considered that God hath bestowed upon our unworthy Nation these many yeares What else I desire to have pressed upon your hearts I chuse to doe it when I am called at any time to Preach unto you or rather to beg it for you at the Throne of Grace where you and your great Work are every day as by many thousand others humbly remembred by Your most obliged Servant STEPHEN MARSHALL Die Veneris 20. Junii 1645. IT is this Day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament Assembled That Mr. Marshall one of the Assembly of Divines who Preached yesterday in Christ-Church London before the Members of both Houses of Parliament and in the presence of the Lord Major Aldermen c. of the City of London is hereby thanked for his great pains that he took in the said Sermon it being a day of Publike Thanksgiving within the said City and Lines of Communication for the late prosperous successe of the Parliaments Forces under the Command of Sir Thomas Fairefax And that he is hereby desired to Print and Publish the said Sermon which none shall presume to Print or re-print but by Authority under his own hand Jo. Brown Cleric Parliamentorum Die Veneris 20. Junii 1645. ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Sir Peter Wentworth and Sir William Masham doe returne the Thanks of this House to Mr. Vines and Mr. Marshall for the great paines they took in the Sermons they yesterday Preached at the intreaty of both Houses before the said Houses the Lord Major and Aldermen at Christ-Church in London And that they be dered to Print their Sermons And it is Ordered that none shall presume to Print their Sermons but such as shall bee authorized under their hands writing H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. I doe appoint Stephen Bowtell to Print my Sermon Stephen Marshall A THANKESGIVING SERMON PREACHED To the two Houses of Parliament June 19. 1645. PSAL. 102. 18. This shall bee written for the Generation to come and all the People which shall bee created shall praise the Lord Right Honourable and Beloved I Have formerly in two Sermons opened the two Verses immediately going before this Text The first of them before the Right Honourable the House of Peeres The latter before the Honourable House of Commons and there shewed at large that these two Verses did containe two Circumstances which alwayes accompany the Lords Work of building up of his Church and they are rendered as two Arguments why all the world should stand in admiration of it The one is because when ever the Lord builds up Zion Hee dotb appeare in his Glory hee appeares like himself magnifying all his Attributes The other that he does then return a gracious answer unto the Prayers of his afflicted People These two were handled in the valley of Baca the valley of Teares upon dayes of Humiliation that out of them you might receive some strength in your mourning after the Lord to help you to wait upon him while you are at his Work building the Street and Wall of Hierusalem in a troublesome time But now the Lord having in great measure given a gracious experience and fruit of those two in this late great and unexpected Victory and Mercy wherein God hath appeared in his Glory and answered his Peoples Prayers in our exceeding low condition his Providence having also called me by your choice to meet you in the valley of Beracah the valley of Blessing to praise God for this I could not thinke of a fitter Text then of the very next words to those that helped you in the dayes of your Mourning which containes the use which the Church in all ages shall make of the Lords building up of Zion And though my time for preparation hath been very short yet I am incouraged because I have been taught of God that a Peace-Offering to himself is easily found And I have often found from you that my poore endeavours how weak soever being the best I have have never been rejected And therefore without further Apology and Preface let us consider of the words as they thus lie This shall bee written for the Generation to come And the People which shall bee created shall praise the Lord Here are you see two Sentences And for the Interpretation of them some Expositors doe conceive that the first Sentence containeth the use that the Generation who receive this Mercy shall make of it They shall Write it for the good of Posterity The second they think containes the use that the future Generation shall make of former Mercies that are thus written and and transmitted to them The People that shall bee created shall praise the Lord the unborn Generation shall praise God for it But others and I think more rightly doe conceive that both sentences are meant of the same individuall People and that the one of them is but an Exegeticall interpretation of the other or rather the first of them is an expression of one way how the redeemed of the Lord shall
bee done his heart is set upon record his work of building of Zion and let what else so ever be forgotren it matters not ought yee not to be like minded unto our Lord Secondly let me assure you there is nothing else will ever appease our troubles but the vigorous carrying on of this work A great many are afraid lest the quick establishing of Religion through the multitude of mens divided thoughts and ungodlinesse of many mens minds should make our troubles and conflicts more then they have been but be ye assured the Lords Kingdome being provided for in the right way God will prepare salvation for walls and bulwarks hee will be the safety of that Kingdome which advanceth his Kingdome the Kingdome of Christ it is a Kingdome of Peace as himselfe is a Prince of Peace It will never make tumults it will appease tumults in a Kingdome where Christs Scepter prevailes whare hee strikes the Earth with the rod of his mouth Cockatrices will be charmed and all enemies shall bee hush't and quiet It will I say make no tumults where it is received but let mee tell you Christs heart is so set upon the advancement of his Kingdome that where it is not received himselfe will breed tumults enow for them that oppose him and the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands will dash asunder all men and all things all Kingdoms all States that shal not give way to him I adde further concerning your selves that there is nothing will bring so great and everlasting glory to you as to have been instruments in your generation to further the work wherein Christs honour is so much concerned you have read Books and know the world I beseech you tell me out of all the ages of the world that are past cull out the choisest among men in their generations and say who among them was really an eminent Man if it were not for being an instrument in helping forward the Church of Christ multitudes have made stately buildings Fish-ponds Gardens Palaces Some have erected Kingdomes what is become of them all Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit is the doome of all of them they are all turned into vanity and so are the Makers of them Consider the greatest wisest richest learned'st of all who have lived if they were not for Christ and his Church what glory doth now remaine to any of them how much so ever they magnified themselves or were flattered by others who now wil honour them who now extols Pharaoh for a wise King Absalon for a compleat Courtier Achitophel for a politique States-man who now would have the lot of any of them do they not all lye buried ingloriously hath not the Lord made the moth corruption to rot them al But now look into Gods Book and read all Chronicles and you shall find that all they who have set their hearts to this work all Rulers Counsellers Parliaments who have been for the Lord and his Church and Kingdome their memoriall is honourable and blessed in all ages they are still eminent and glorious and shall bee so to the worlds end and in Heaven to all Eternity Set therefore your hearts to this great work shew a reall defire to glorifie him who hath these great things for us This Right Honourable Lords and Patriots I had to say unto you and as for you the rest of this Honoured and Reverend Assembly very many things might bee suggested unto you as means to exalt the glory of this our God and Saviour but the onely thing I shall at the present commend unto you is to be often with God in the Mount follow him with your prayers and supplications give him no rest till hee hath carryed on this great and Honourable Assembly to doe this work that they may raise the foundations for many Generations This from the second part of the Text The work that they should doe not to seek themselves but how the glory of God may be preserved in the present and future Generations The third and last followes which concernes the way they shall take to perpetuate Gods glory for building his Church and answering his peoples prayers what way shall they take for it This shall be written in perpetuam reimemoriam for an eternall monument of it The onely Lesson which I shall hence observe is this That one great way of giving God his deserved glory for his building of his Church and answering his peoples prayers is by causing these wonderfull workes of God to be written for the generations to come For the truth of it it is one of Gods Ordinances You shall finde it in the 78 Psal. vers. 5. where the Prophet had exhorted them to give eare and learne what God had done for them that they might teach it to their children This said he hee ordained for a Law and a Statute for Israel what was this Ordinance that they should write it and teach their posterity to come the wonderfull things which God hath done for his people he commanded not onely themselves to know him and his works and to talk of them but to provide that the generations to come might know what God had done So in the 17. of Exod. 14. vers. When God had begun to appeare for his people in a Warre against Amalck write it said he in a Booke a Book of the Warres of God for his Church and against his enemies must bee written and kept as a record from age to age So also Moses commanded them in the 31 of Deut. 19. vers. Now therefore write ye this Song for you and teach it the Children of Israel A song must be written and learned to expresse what God had done for a people who were most unworthy of the Mercies bestowed upon them So likewise Ester Est 9. 32. The great work of Gods defeating the conspiracy of Haman and deliverance of his Church was recorded not onely by an anniversary feast but it must bee written in a Booke Thus you see the Lord hath often enjoyned his people to record and transmit to posterity the great things which hee hath done for them And as he hath commanded it so his Spirit hath ordered and brought to passe that it hath been so Moses and Samuel and the rest of the Prophets have done it what should I trouble you with a discourse of particular instances since the whole Book of God is nothing but a Chronicle Book of Acts and Monuments of the Lords wonderfull works in gathering and building protecting and saving and doing good to his Church and destroying their Enemies And they did it many wayes sometime they made Eucharisticall Songs which they taught their children sometime they wrote them upon their Childrens names sometime by giving names to the places where the mercies were received sometime erecting stones and pillars sometime by appointing yearly Feasts of remembrance Many of which wayes were presented unto you the
glorifie him by writing the Mercies they have received and transmitting them to posterity and the other is a comprehension of their whole Work that they shall not rest in any one way of manifesting their care to glorifie God but shall make it the sum of their whole life they being created to no other end The People that shall bee created shall praise the Lord And I rather incline to this because this expression The People that shall bee created does ordinarily in the Scripture signifie a People brought from an extreame low despicable condition to a state of happinesse and blessednesse fit to serve God These are said A people created for Gods praise But Beloved wee need not bee solicitous about it chuse which of them you please the difference will not be materiall in respect of the practicall Observations arising from them both of them afford many and the same helps for a day of Thankesgiving Some few whereof I shall endeavour by the Lords assistance in one houre or a little more to set before you The first and the maine and that which indeed is the comprehension of the whole Verse is this That when God appeares in his Glory to build his Church and gratiously answers his Peoples Prayers their whole work should hee to praise him That is the generall They have then nothing else to doe but to make it the work of their life to give praise and glory to him This paying of the Rent-penny of praise to our God this worke of Thankesgiving which is the end God aimes at in all his workes which is the end why Man at first was created why the Church was redeemed why the Saints are called This that is the onely heavenly work that can bee done upon earth this which is the onely joyfull imployment that shall last to all Eternity in another life This work which should ever waite for God in Zion Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion This whereof the Church should bee the Magazine the Store-house and Treasury Unto him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages and the Church is therefore called his Glory Israel my Glory Not onely because hee glories in it but because it glorifies him This Duty I say of Gods redeemed ones To praise him can never be handled often enough never pressed enough on Gods people But truly it hath been so frequently and so fully in all the branches of it delivered unto your selves upon such joyfull dayes as these are wherein you have had the whole institution of a thankfull people and all their work that I know not what to adde to that which heretofore hath been delivered save onely that what is said of our English laws That we have abundance of good Lawes and need but one more that is to put all the rest in execution the same I may say that there are abundance of Sermons of Thankesgiving extant and we need but one more and that is to have our hearts inflamed to practise them which I shall endeavour this day by the Lords help by handling some more particular Observations which this Verse affords very suitable to the condition whereinto the Lord hath brought us at the present And there are three things in the Text from whence as from so many Well-heads may flow severall instructions seasonable and usefull for our present businesse First somewhat I shall collect from the Persons who should perform this work The People that shall be created that is their Epithet Secondly from the Work which these Persons shall imploy themselves in that is to endeavour that God may have his Glory from themselves and succeeding ages Thirdly and principally and that which I shall most insist upon from the way and meanes which this created people should take that God might have his due glory from themselves and succeeding ages and that is this great Mercy of God in building his Church and hearing his Peoples Prayers should bee Recorded by them This shall bee written for the Generation to come In the first of these which I shall onely point at the Persons from whom God doth promise himselfe the performance of this great Duty The People that shall bee created Many excellent Collections might be made One is that which Mr. Calvin observes upon this Text viz. Wee may here discerne what in the Judgement of Gods People is the state of the Church when they are deprived of Gods Worship and Ordinances and scattered among the Heathen and what their estate is when God is pleased again to set up his Tabernacle amongst them In the first of these conditions they were as if their Creation were annihilated as if they were resolved into their first principles But when God was pleased from Heaven to looke upon them with a restauration of his Temple and Worship and bring them again into a Religious Common-wealth then they looked upon themselves as a People that were new created that had a new being bestowed upon them Their outward condition was much alike in both for the things of this life Bond-men they were in Babylon and Bond-men they were when they returned into Canaan the same Emperours and Kings bore sway over them and kept them under and for ought I can learne they were richer in their captivity then in their own Countrey but when they were brought back to have liberty againe to serve God in the way of his Ordinances then they looked upon themselves as people that had a new being Thus they constantly judged of themselves when their Temple was burnt and they scattered among the Heathen then they judged of themselves as dead and ary bones as those whose bones lay scattered as when one cutteth chips about the pits mouth but when they had againe got a naile in Gods Sanctuary and might enjoy the liberty of his Sabbaths Feasts Sacrisices c. it was as the founding of a new Heaven and a new Earth unto them This I onely mention Another is That when the Lord would engage his Servants to give him his praise and glory for their deliverance hee chuses to call them by this Name A people created that is reduced out of nothing brought to a blessed state from a low and meane condition from a people whom God calls by this Name hee promiseth himself his glory and praise whoever forget him yet the people who shall thus bee Created will praise him And that affords this Lesson That the People whom God in Mercy brings from a low and meane condition are the People from whom God promises to receive praise and glory Indeed such is the selfishnesse of our corrupt Nature that if we are any thing or doe any thing we are prone to forget God and sacrifice to our own nets and burn Incense to our own yarne insomuch that when ever God finds a people who shall either trust in him or praise him it must be an an afflicted and poor people
or a people brought from such an estate Free Grace is ever most valued by such people And if you looke all the Scripture over you will find that all the praises and Songs of deliverance that have been made to God have proceeded from a people that have thus judged of themselves as those that were brought to nothing but God in mercy had brought thē back again from the gates of death and usually untill they had such apprehensions of themselves they never gave unto God the glory due to his name I could give you a cloud of witnesses to evidence the truth of it but I intended only to point at this Onely give mee leave before I passe from it to make a short Application of it to our selves in these two particulars First that hence wee may certainly learne one cause why our calamities doe continue thus long why still wee are brought lower and lower why though wee bee lifted up one day or one moneth wee are suddenly brought and cast back again into as forlorne a condition as ever we were in God would bring us to such a judgment of our selves that wee might praise him when we are delivered I am perswaded God does intend to have a People here in England that shall bee for his praise and wee doe not yet looke upon our selves as a people out of meere Mercy brought from nothing in the time of our calamities we seek him and say he onely is our rock and our salvation But it is too evident that the pride of our Nation is not yet laid low still our Armes of flesh are prone to bee exalted It is with us just as it was with the Israelites when God brought them out of Egypt hee made account that hee had done enough to make them know their dependance upon him that they were created as out of nothing by such a miraculous breaking the yoke of their bondage and bringing them through the red Sea into the Wildernesse and in that howling Wildernesse giving them bread from Heaven and water out of the Rocke but the people had not yet learned it they were high and proud they were too rough pieces to bee so easily hewed one yeares leading them in the VVildernesse would not teach them their dependance upon God and therefore God continued to lead them in the wildernesse and kept them out of Canaan till they had learned it VVhat they would not learne in one yeare God made them learne in forty yeeres And so Moses told them Deut. 8. 23. That the Lord led them forty yeeres in the Wildernesse and tryed them and suffered them to hunger that hee might humble them and make them know that they lived by every word that came out of his mouth And till they had learned that lesson God never made an end with them And surely it is so with us were wee but once come to that passe that wee looked upon our selves as a forlorne Nation as a people void of wealth of Counsell of Strength of Ability to carry on our Work and would lie at Gods feet and acknowledge that it is hee that must doe it or we are dissolved and undone God would soone make an end with us then hee would trust us to praise him a people who thus look upon themselves will give him the praise and glory due to his Name Another thing that I as briefly commend to your consideration from it is this That because God Almighty doth expect that a people brought from nothing a people new created will praise him therefore if such a people for whom the Lord hath done such things should faile him if they should prove ungratefull it would aggravate their sin beyond all apprehensions beyond all expressions It is thus among men we extreamly abhorre to see a Begger mounted on Horseback and riding proudly Solomon sayes It is one of the things that the earth cannot bear to see a Handmaid made heire to her Mistresse A Hagar laid in her Masters bosome and then shee to prove insolent this amongst Men is intolerable Beleeve it it is much more with God when God shall take a People as from a dunghill from a desperate and forlorn condition and as it were create them for his glory and they slight him and undervalue him and deale ungratefully with him Thus Ezra judged cap. 9. 13. When we have received such a deliverance as this should wee againe breake thy Commandements and prove ungratefull wouldst thou not bee angry with us till thou hadst consumed us This was the ground of that unappeasable wrath that was kindled in God against the people of Israel in the 1. of Esay Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and yet they rebell against mee And especially in Ezekiel 16. Where hee told them I found thee in thy mothers wombe thy navel not cut no eye pityed thee as a bastard cast out in the time of her nativity and there I took thee from a dunghill and bred thee and trained thee up to be my wife and thou playedst the whore against mee and in all thy abominations sayes hee thou never remembredst how I found thee desolate and naked This made God judge her after the manner of harlots And beleeve it so will it prove with us if the Lord should go on thus mercifully to deale with England and create us again to raise us out of these gulfes and quick-sands and to establish us to bee a people if we then should goe and sacrifice to our owne Net or burne Incense to our owne yarne prove ungratefull to him kick with the heele against him the wrath of God would bee kindled against us so farre that there would bee no remedy God expects better things from us hee looks that a people so created should be for his praise But this first branch I intended onely to point at The Persons that should doe this work The people that should bee created The second follows wherein I shall bee a little larger and that is What their work should bee This shall bee written for the generations to come and this created people shall praise the Lord The summe whereof is That God having done thus much for them they should wholly apply themselves that in all generations both the present and those to come his glory may bee given to him both by themselves and by all posterity whatsoever was possible for them to doe should be faithfully endeavoured by this thankfull redeemed people That glory might bee given unto God for this great Work throughout all ages world without end VVhence first observe briefly by the way that which is sufficiently intimated in the Text and noted by severall Expositors That in all ages God will have a people for his praise no generation past or to come but there shall bee a people for Christ to praise and glorifie him it is not so with other Monarchies and Empires one carries it a great
while in the world and then it is dissolved and their people remaine not to them but are either destroyed or delivered over and left to some other Governour but this Kingdome of Christ shall never leave its people to any other Conquerour It is with other Kingdomes as my Text a little after tells you it is with the Earth and Heavens as a garment they all wax old as a Vesture they change and rot and come to nothing but the Kingdome of Christ like himself hath never any end and the Generation of his Servants shall ever continue in his sight The Church is sometimes more and sometimes lesse visible The people that praise God are sometimes more in number and sometimes fewer but they alwayes are in all ages God will have them that shall give him his glory and sing him praises in the Churches This I onely mention Secondly another which more concernes us is the works they should attend unto that the glory of this great deliverance might be alwayes rendred unto him Which affords us this lesson That a People who are truly thankfull for Gods building up of Zion and hearing the prayers of his afflicted ones will endeavour by all meanes possible that all ages present and to come may glorifie God for it Or more briefly take it thus The whole work of Gods redeemed people is to provide that God may alwayes and every where have the glory of it Expositors observe upon this Text that this redeemed Church take no thought concerning themselves about their own ease pleasure wealth gaine or any thing else might accrew unto themselves by this deliverance to make their own life easie or sweet but their thoughts and studies are wholly laid out how the present and succeeding Generations should give all glory to God for it And hee that runnes may read it in the practise of many others recorded in Scripture The time would faile me to give you a catalogue of the Churches Kings Prophets Priests and other holy men of God who have been like minded Their care was as Joabs at the taking of Rabbah of the Ammonites that David might have the glory of it Thus did Moses when they were brought out of the Egyptian bondage Thus Deborah and Barak after the discomfiture of Jabin Thus did Hannah 1 Sam. 2. and innumerable others who in all the Lords administrations to them whether inlargements or pressures have been studious of nothing so much as how in all things God might have his glory preserved and spread David the man after Gods own heart exceeded all others in this thing Quid retribuam what shall I render unto the Lord was his usuall study and hee never thought his own parts his wit fancy thoughts tongue pen c. sufficient for it but when hee had stirred up all within him Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within mee blesse his holy Name Hee would also stirre up all without him all the Church Blesse the Lord yee house of Israel let Israel say let all that feare God say His mercy endureth for ever All the Nations make a joyfull sound unto God all ye Lands All the Angels Blesse the Lord yee his Angels all yee his Hosts Yea all Creatures blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion whether above or below animate or inanimate The Sun and Moon the Starres of Light the Dragons and deeps fire and haile Snow and vapours Mountaines and hills fruitfull trees and Cedars Beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying Fowles hee layes a tax upon them all to come in and contribute their utmost that God might have the glory due to his Name for exalting the horne of his people even the children of Israel the people neere unto him And there are three speciall Reasons why this should bee the great worke of the Lords saved and rescued people and why indeed they can doe no other then study thus to exalt him One is because they well know that the Lord hath reserved nothing to himselfe but onely his glory the benefits hee gives to them all the sweetnesse and honey that can bee found in them hee gives them leave to suck out but his glory and his praise is his owne and that which hee hath wholly reserved of that hee is jealous lest it should either bee denyed Eclipsed diminished or any the least violation offered to it in any kind All Gods people know this of him and therefore they cannot but indeavour to preserve it for him Secondly besides they know as God is jealous in that point so it is all the work that hee hath appointed them to doe he hath therefore separated them to himself out of all the Nations of the world to be his peculiar ones for this very end that they might give him all the glory and praise of his mercy I have said God created him formed and made him for my glory Esay 43. 7. This is the law of his new Creation which is as powerfull in them as the law of Nature or the first creation is in the rest of his Works And therefore with a holy and spirituall naturalnesse if I may so call it the hearts of all the Saints are carryed to give God the glory as really as the stones are carryed to the Center or the fire to fly upwards this is fixed in their hearts the work of grace hath moulded them to it that they can doe no other but endeavour to exalt God it being the very end why their spirituall life and all their other priviledges are conferred upon them Yea thirdly they know their owne Interests are much concerned in Gods glory they never are losers by it if in any work of God he want his praise they will want their comfort but if God bee a gainer they shall certainly bee no losers Whatsoever is powred upon the head of Christ what ointment soever of praise or glory it will in a due proportion fall downe to the skirts of his garments nor is there any other way to have any sweetnesse comfort praise or glory to bee derived unto themselves but by giving all unto him to whom alone it belongeth and then although hee will never give away his glory the glory of being the fountaine the first supreame originall giver of all good yet they shall have the glory of Instruments and of fellow workers with him which is a glory and praise sufficient This is a lesson of singular use to all Gods redeemed ones in many particulars But the onely thing I shall at the present insist upon is to direct how we may best improve the mercy of this day and how we may do something worthy of this dayes meeting the Lord hath turned our heavinesse into rejoycing hath took off from us the garment of mourning and put upon us this day the garment of salvation And I am perswaded this honourable Assembly hath
not for a long time had a more reall rejoycing heart then you now feele for the mercy which this day wee meet to celebrate and commemorate Now would you know what you should doe what you should render unto the Lord what would bee the comeliest and most excellent sacrifice in this day of your praise and rejoycing before God Surely there is nothing comparable to this That you provide that of all those great things which the Lord hath wrought for us all possible praise and glory may bee set upon the head of our Lord Jesus and abide unto succeeding Generations Some such work as might preserve his honour in the present and succeeding ages were worthy such a great assembly worthy of the name of a day of their Thankesgiving I am perswaded your hearts are so warmed with the unexpected Victory that you would readily swear with David to take no rest untill you were doing that very Work if once you knew what it were I shall tel you Even in doing that where in his glory is most concerned in all ages and that is the setting up of his Kingdome the purgation reformation of Religion setting up his Ordinances in purity providing that his Church may bee governed and ruled by his own laws according to his owne Word This would indeed bee a lasting Monument of your thankfulnesse This wee should all study and to this every thankfull heart may contribute something but none so much as you Right Honourable Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament by whose appointment and for whole furtherance in this work I stand here this day God hath put into your hands the greatest opportunity and meanes of providing for all the glory that he expects from England while the world stands that he did put ever into the hands of any The measuring line and plummet of his house is put into your hands as once it was in the hand of Zerubbabel From you he seems to expect what portion himselfe shall have in England for time to come what kind of Subjects hee shall have what Worship shall bee offered to him what kind of Guests shall sit with him at his Table by what lawes his house and people shall be governed hee seems now to put into your hands what unto the end of the world hee may expect from the Kingdome of England in the way of his Ordinances not onely the managing of a Kingdome of men but of the Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus seemes now to bee in the hands of the two honourable Houses of Parliament Now when such opportunities as these are in your hands to doe such great things for God how silent should all slesh be till this worke be done how hush't and laid aside should all your other businesses bee your own estates and priviledges and private interests or any thing that concernes your selves names or families how should they all be waved and set aside till all that bee done from which Jesus Christ shall receive glory in all ages If then Right Honourable and Beloved any of you should after all the mercy God hath bestowed upon you make it your worke to feather your own nests build your owne Houses and let the House of God lie waste or hinder the setting up of this Work in purity and perfection if you should make a slight businesse of the Worke of Religion and cause the authority of the Gospel and Kingdome and Ordinances of Christ to vaile bonnet to the lusts and liberties of poore sinfull Men and decline the setting up of the authority of his Scepter lest the corruptions of Men should be brought under the yoake more then they are willing you will provide ill for Christs honour ill for the Church worst of all for your owne souls in betraying the cause of Religion and spoyling the most glorious opportunity of advancing the honour of Christ that ever men were betrusted with these thousand yeares But if you shall resolve so to goe through with it that there shall not need a reformation to come the second time I meane in stablishing the rule for Faith VVorship and Government as neere as can be found out by the VVord all carnall considerations set aside should you but doe this that it may bee set up in the Kingdome and transmitted to posterity God will then acknowledge you really thankfull and that you have done as much for his honour as hee expects from any mortall men and posterity shall confesse that as you are the most remarkable Parliament for Gods owning you protecting and saving you so God received more glory from you then from any former Parliament Josiahs praise should be verified of you â—ever the like went before you or followed after you I therefore humbly beseech you Right Honourable Lords and noble Gentlemen whilst now your hearts are warm with this mercy all of you are ready to say with David what shall I tender to the Lord what shall I give the Lord for all his mercies towards us take this cup of salvation resolve to pay your vowes the vow you made that you would endeavour the reformation of Religion according to the word of God and to the nearest conformity with the best reformed Churches Goe on zealously and impartially with it let the successe bee what it will work belongs to us successe belongs to God therein shall you in truth give unto God and our Lord Jesus Christ that glory and prase which a Parliament should give him other people must come short though wee all are interessed in this Mercy and are equally bound to provide for his honour yet our meanes are shorter wee move in a narrower spheare Some of our endeavours must bee in our own Families to make them better Others in a Pulpit to make our Congregations better few of us though raised to our highest are able to do any great things for his glory but if the Lord enlarge your hearts to doe your worke aright the whole Christian world in her severall ages shall be able to give glory unto him by your improvement of these mercies which our God hath given us And a little further to provoke you unto it consider seriously of these three things First in all our great conflicts these huge shakings of the Nations and combustions the Lord hath no designe in any of them but onely the building up of his Church and answering his peoples prayers his heart is set upon nothing else You indeed contend for Liberties and Laws and justly you may doe so and the rather because the liberty of your Religion stands and falls with your laws but God can looke upon England as well if it were in slavery as in freedome he regards neither of them further then slavery and freedome hath relation to his Church and the welfare of it if all other his works were buryed as one day they shall resolve into the Chaos out of which they were taken God cares not one whit sobeit that
last solemn meeting you had in this place upon a like blessed occasion And the grounds or reasons why this ought to bee done why these things should bee recorded are necessary First in relation to God Secondly in relation to the Generation who receive these mercies Thirdly in relation to the posterity that are to come after First in relation to God and his glory As the works of God are all worthy to be registred and remembred so the work of building the Church and answering his peoples prayers is the most worthy the most excellent because these are his master-pieces in all these works God appeares in his glory all his excellent perfections shine forth in their beauty and therefore none so worthy to be written And as this work is most worthy so there is no way or meanes so excellent and effectuall for the perpetuating of the honour and glory due to him as the faithfull recording of it and delivering it from hand to hand in all generations which else will soone bee forgotten and lost as loose pearles and pretious stones But when they are recorded they are like pretious and excellent pearles put upon a golden thred and thereby easily kept together and preserved and his glory thereby made everlasting His Works are all Eternall à parte ante in his decree this writing and registring of them will make them so à parte post in the eternall commemoration of them Thus shall be fulfilled to his glory that which Solomon says I know whatsoever God does it shal be for ever it shall last for ever to his glory Secondly in relation to them who receive these mercies the present age that enjoyes them may also bee great gainers by it for it makes the favour and mercy deeplier written in their owne hearts in indeleble characters and the frequent reading of them would keep the mercy alwayes fresh and green alwayes of the same efficacy and vertue unto them who have received it And besides those excellent Instruments whom God hath employed to helpe in the great worke of building the Church shall thereby enjoy the honour and praise which God is willing to have conferred upon them for hee would have the righteous in everlasting remembrance when in all ages it shall be known not onely what the Lord hath done for his people but also who they are whom God hath been pleased to employ in this great Work wee know the old saying Multi ante Agamemnona fuere fortes c. there were many valiant Commanders and Souldiers before Achilles or Ulysses but none of them are famous to posterity because they wanted a Homer their worthy deeds are not recorded but by such a faithfull register the Lords worthy instruments are in all ages made partakers of a glory which is next the glory of Heaven But chiefly my Text leads to the third in relation to posterity These things shall be written for the Generations to come and for their sakes they ought to be written 1. Because they are their due and the present generation cannot without injustice deprive posterity of a faithfull record of Gods mercies for in all these things he speaks to all the ages to come as well as the present You have it in Hosea 12. 3. where Jacobs wrestling with God and meeting with him in Bethel are mentioned There sayes the Church hee spoke with us what he spoke to Jacob hee spoke to Israel that lived in Hosea's time above a thousand years after it and what Paul spake 1 Cor. 10. 11. concerning Gods Judgment All these things happened unto them for ensamples and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come is as true of all his works of mercy they hapned unto them for oursakes as well as for their owne and the Prophets knew this unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did adminâ—ster the things which are now reported Now look as it is with Parents who though themselves know they cannot live long and peradventure some of them are but termers in their states and Honours yet their Evidences of their Lordships or Mannors which belong to their children they dare not but transmit the Copies of them to those who shall inherit their Lands after them Since then the records of these things are their due wee cannot deny them to posterity unlesse we would rob them of that which God will have them receive from us Nay secondly it is their gaine as well as their due yea it may prove an infinite and invaluable gain to posterity for by the recording of these great and excellent Works posteritie may learne to know God to trust him to feare and serve him they may out of these learne their duty and read their destiny This was the very end why God made that law Psal. 78. 5. That the Parents should transmit unto their children the wonderfull works which hee had done That they might set their hope in God and keep his Commandements and might not bee as their fathers a generation whose spirit was not stedfast with God The like causes of writing these things you shall find Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 11. Look as it is with them that travaile at Sea take for instance Columbus or Drake or any of those famous Sea-men that have discovered unknown tracts in the deep waters when they themselves had past them if they had come home again without making a Sea-mans Chard who had been the better for all their voyages whereas now ordinary Sailers by help of their Chard can compasse the world round about because they know where the safe chanels and where the rocks and dangers lye So in the faithfull Stories of the works which God showes to his people in one generation the generations to come shall before their eyes be able to read the right way by the fall of others they shall know where lies the rocks and stumbling blocks by the deliverance of others they shall know where out-gates are to be found The reading of a record of Mordecays good service was a meanes to save all the Church of the Jews at one time Est 6. 1 2. The remembring of Micah his prophecy saved the life of the Prophet Jeremy at another time Jer. 26. 19. the remembrance of the causes why Israel was carryed captive out of their owne Land was a meanes to bring them to repentance at another time The records of Gods dealing with Abraham Isaac and Jacob have succoured Gods people in their distresses ten thousand times the particular wayes how the Church hath profited by them are not to bee numbred inexpressible is the gaine which may be gotten by them therefore the Lord would have them written for the generations to come For Application of this First if the Lord will have his great Workes recorded to posterity that they may give him his glory surely then the present age should observe them and
glorifie him if our present mercies shall bee the wonderment of the world in after ages how ill would it become us who receive them to passe them over unregarded or put them into oblivion what a catalogue should every one of us have how full should all our memories and records bee who receive them thus by heapes upon heapes how excellent and comely a thing were it if every one wee meet with in the streets and fields could bee able to tell us the Story of Gods dealing for England these three or foure or five yeeres beleeve it it is our shame that wee are not able to doe it What a shame and unworthy thing is it to lay up in our memories trash and vanities write downe in our Books our passions toyes and fooleries and have no records of these glorious VVorks of God how shall wee lift up our heads before God when he shall reckon with us for this ingratitude O that every one of us could endeavour to have our records of these mercies as perfect as Gods are he observes and keeps account of all let us doe so likewise let our books and memories be treasuries of these works and wayes of God let our tongues talk of them let us be all good Historians at least of these latter yeares since the beginning of this Parliament be able to count all our journeys and pitching places our deliverances and Victories from Kynton unto this day yea and when wee think or speake of them let it bee with admiration which is the individuus comes the inseparable companion of praising God wee never can duly tender his praises for these mercies unlesse our understanding see it selfe conquered by that which it contemplates and be compelled with David againe and againe to cry out O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name how wonderfull are thy workes Doe these things daily but doe them this day more carefully this day is separated for his praise and glory but in a more peculiar manner let him have the glory of this laâ—e great and unexpected Victory and let us consider seriously what kind of mercy it is which wee this day come to blesse the Lord for I shall not goe about by ostentation of words and hyperbolicall expressions to elevate it above its height had I Rhetorick and words to doe it this Assembly would not be taken with such kind of language but simply and plainly bee pleased to behold this great work of God both for the substance and circumstances of it for the thing it self for the substance of it Granted it is to bee one of the greatest Victories that ever the Lord bestowed upon us since the beginning of our troubles wherein all the enemies Foot all their Carriages all their Ammunition so many of their Horse were taken in the field But there are foure Circumstances accompany it which maks this mercy most wonderfull First the Time when this mercy was bestowed upon us Secondly the Place where it was bestowed upon us Thirdly the Persons by whom it was wrought for us And Fourthly the Manner how God did it for us First the Time when it was done truly when we were very low exceeding low in our Spirits low in our Counsels low in our Treasures low in our Arms low through our mutual Divisions jealousies wondrous low I think as we have been almost at any time since the beginning of our troubles at a time when the Enemy was extream high high in their Spirits high in their confidence high in their scorn high in their resolutions so high as if they had already swallowed all boasting that our Armies were crumbled to nothing and wondering we were so foolish as not to resign up all Yea done in a time when we had newly prayed and sought God when the Honourable Houses had called the City and the Assembly of Divines to lie in tears and dust before God to wrestle with him this was the time when the Lord remembred us agreeing with that of the Psalmist Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever I may adde one more concerning the time it was in the rising of the yeare almost in the Spring when yet we have foure or five moneths before there be any necessity of winter Quarters in which time if God give us wisedome to follow it and himself please to goe on with us who knows what a blessed period our troubles may have Secondly and the place where is remarkable Where was it done truly in that part of the Land where the Enemy had lately wrought outragious villanies I speake not of taking a Town in a hostile way but of murdering of women of ravishing wives and maidens where the Commanders could boast what liberty they had given to their Souldiers though not to murder the women yet to ravish as many of them as they could where the Country groaned under the blasphemies and outrages that they wrought that the Lord should have it so ordered that where they had plundred and spoiled themselves should be plundred and spoiled that thither they should â—â—y with shame hardly daring to look in where all these cruelties and insolencies had been wrought by them Thirdly and take in the Persons by whom Of whom I will say two things which you will all grant to bee true They were an Army despised by our Enemies and little lesse then despaired of by our Friends as men from whom little was to bee looked for Gods glory is the more conspicuous this is according to his own manner of working Who delights by weak things to confound the mighty and by things which are despised and things which are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh might glory in his presence This is the Lords doing let it be wonderfull in our eyes Fourthly and the manner how is very remarkable how God did it truly so that the men should doe what men can doe that they might have the praise of Instruments giving them valour courage wisdome and faithfulnesse and yet withall letting them be so overborn one wing in a manner broken and many of the Foot routed and all in danger to be lost that it might appeare as hath been in the rest of our Victories that the thing was wrought by God Now can you looke upon all these things together not with admiration cry out This is the Lords doing this is wonderfull in our eyes Non nobis Domine non nobis Not unto us Lord but unto thy Name give the praise and glory Overmuch to extoll men God would not have you they would not have you doe it you would wrong them and your selves and your God if you should looke upon them otherwise then as instruments But O that you could admire this mercy that God hath given in that you could see all the mercies that are in the wombe of this mercy how many have already sprung from it
hand written they will be without all question Scribimus indocti doctique Diurnalls and Weekly Intelligencers undertake to set them all down but shall posterity bee left to make their computatioÌ„ draw their estimate of the Lords dealing by such Books as these should not we rob God our selves his Cause his Church in al ages if we should leave it to such Historians as these God forbid rather let some of the choicest men in the Land be set about it It was said of Claudian that he wanted matter to write of suitable to his wit but what wit is suitable to this matter Who is sufficient for these things who can tell the loving kindnesse of the Lord who can shew forth all his goodnesse My humble suit therefore to the Right Honourable Houses is a thing which I am assured God expects from you even that you would provide that some worthy faithfull heart and heads and pens bee set on work who may undertake this Work and have leave as Mr. Fox had in Queen Elizabeths dayes to search all the Registries and be enabled to hold forth all the light that may bee that the Generations to come may see a true picture a faithfull Story of these three or foure last years And let him doe it faithfully let him not be discouraged with the Politicians fear That it is dangerous to write truth in the present age not safe to come too neere the heels of truth lest it kicke out his teeth But as the Penmen of the Scripture wrote mans folly and Gods goodnesse so let him bee encouraged to let the world know great things God hath done for us and how little we have done for our selves no gratious man shall have the lesse glory in Heaven by letting God have his glory by us on earth though it be in publishing our weaknesses and follies I once again humbly beseech you the thing may bee done And yet further to provoke you consider that in all ages the eminentest men have been employed in this kind of Work Moses wrote the dealings of God for 2500 years from the Creation to their entring into Canaan and afterward it was carryed on by other chiefe Instruments above half the Old Testament is a Chronicle of the things done by the Lord in War and Peace for his people In the New Testament four Evangelists wrote the story of Christ Luke writing the Acts of the Apostles and how ill could the world have wanted one of these How miserable had we been if we had been deprived of them And since that time I appeale to all Scholars whether the choicest men in learning have not been imployed in this service and let all English men speake whether they think any book written in our Mother tongue hath brought more glory to God and stirred up more zeale for Christ and encouraged people more to a holy life and to own Gods Cause couragiously then Mr. Foxes books of Martyrs the Acts and Monuments of the Church In all this I plead not for the honour of any man or men let them all be laid in the dust so God may be glorified they who doe worthily shall have glory enough with God in Heaven yet God would have them also had in everlasting remembrance but it is for God and his honour that I plead there are such things of God of his Wisdome Power Goodnesse Compassion Mercy to be set forth that should the Lord move your hearts to resolve upon it this day it were a testimony of your thankfulnesse next to the going on vigorously in the Reformation and setling of the Church and you can pitch upon nothing that shall bring more eternall glory to the Lord that hath done these great things for us thn to cause these things to be written for the Generations to come that the people not yet created may praise the Lord FINIS Introduction Shewing the fitnesse and scope of the Text Dan. 9. 25. The meaning of the words Esa. 43. 1 2. Jer. 31. 22. Ephes. 2. 10. The first most generall Observation The great work of Gods redeemed People is to praise him Psal. 65. 1. Ephes. 3. ult. Esaâ— 46. ult. More particular Observations First from the persons who shall doe it Thence I observe the condition of God people wheÌ„ deprived of Gods Ordinances And when they injoy the libertie of them Ezek. 37. 2. Observat. A people redeemed from low condition most fit to praise God Zeph. 3. 11 12 13. Psal. 22. 24 25 26. 1. I came one great cause why our miseries continue We are not yet brought low in our eyes How great the sinne of such people is when they forget this duty Prov. 30. 21 22 Esay 1. 2. Ezek. 16. 4 5 6 22. 2. Part. The work it selfe That God might in all ages have the glory of this great work Observat. 1. Ephes. 3. 21. In all ages God will have a people to praise him Dan. 2 44. Psal. 102 25 26 27 28. Observat. 2. The whole work of Gods redeemed people is to provide that God may have his glory in all ages Proved by example of the Saints 2 Sam â—2 27. Exod. 1â— Judg. 5. 1 Sam. 4. 13 17 18. Jos. 7. 6 7 10. Psal. 116. 10 Psal. 103. 1 2. Psal. 118. 23. Psal. 100. 1. Ps. 103. 20 21. Psal. 48. per toâ—um Vers 14. And by reason Esa. 43. 7. Application Exhortation 1. To the Parliament to doe this How they may doe it Motives thereunto First Motives â— God chiefly minds this 1 Cor. 7. â—â— 2. This onely will end our troubles Esa. 26. 1. Esa. 11. 3. Dan. 2. 3. This will be the everlasting honour of them who do it Part. 3. The meanes whereby they should seek to perpetuate Gods glory Observat. One great meanes to preserve and render unto God his due glory is to record his mercies Proved by Scripture Exod. 15. Judg. 5 Gen. 41 51. Gen. 22. 13 1 Sam. 7. 12. Hester 9. M. Arrowsâ—nih Ebenezert And by reason 1. Gods glory is hereby preserved and spread abroad Psal. 111. 4. Eccles. 3. 14. Thus people who receive them are hereby bettered And the instruments imployed by God are had in due remembrance and honour 3. The generations to come have their due these works concern them And may many wayes be gainers by them Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 11. Eâ—ra 9. 10. â— Vse 1. If posterity then much more they who receive these deliverances should praise God for them Exhortation to all to doe it Especially for mercy The greatnes of this Victory Both in the substance And circumstances which greatly magnifie Gods mercy in it â— The 〈◊〉 when it was done Psal. 125. 33. 2. The place 8. The persons by whom 1 Cor. 1. 27 28 29. 4. The manner how Vse 2. Exhortation to record these Mercies for the Generation to come Dan 4. Psal. 10.