A Thanksgiving-Sermon FOR Deliverance of this Kingdom FROM Popery and Arbitrary Power The Publisher to the Reader THIS Sermon had been published sooner had not the Carrier â—ept it several Weeks in his Hands before he delivered it yet I hope the pious Reader will not think it comes too late for publick Vse when he considers the Occasion and the Matter of it and how excellently well it is managed by the Reverend Author So great and amazing are the Providences of God towards us in England in delivering us from Popery and Arbitrary Power by the glorious Conduct of the Prince of Orange now our Gratious King that discourses of this Nature which so well represent the Glories of this Deliverance should never be esteemed unseasonable and 't is hop'd the Wisdom of the Nation will make the Duty of Thankfulness anniversary on this account that so the present and future Generations may praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to us the Children of Men in this Island I heartily wish our present Murmurers commonly called Grumbletonians would but seriously consider how conspicuously the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God appear in the late Revolutions I think then they would be convinced if they do not wilfully shut their Eyes against the Beams of Divine Majesty how great their Sin is in provoking the great God at the Red-Sea even at the Red-Sea of our Deliverance by hankering after the Onions and Garlick of Egypt I pray God open all our Eyes that we may know in this our Day the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from us Amen ENGLAND's CALL TO THANKFULNESS FOR Her Great DELIVERANCE FROM POPERY and ARBITRARY POWER By the Glorious Conduct of the Prince of Orange now King of England in the Year 1688. In a Sermon preach'd in the Parish-Church of Almer in Dorsetshire on February the 14th 1688 / 9 By JOHN OLLIFFE RECTOR there LONDON printed for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX PSALM cxxvi ver 3. The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad THE Design of our assembling together at this time is to render Thanks to Almighty God for the late great Deliverance which he has wrought for us from the subtile and dangerous Attempts of our Popish Enemies to subvert our Government and Religion and to implore his farther Blessing and Assistance that that may be perfected which is so happily begun And surely if we have been awake to take notice of things if we have had our Eyes open to see and observe the several Transactions of Providence which have been in our Behalf in this respect we cannot but think this a very reasonable Service And you will easily perceive the Words which I have read to you out of the Psalmist to be a fit Subject of my Discourse upon this occasion This Psalm was composed as appeareth by the subject matter of it at the return of the Jewish People from Babylon after their long and hard Bondage there which was a Mercy of so great and strange a Nature that it filled them with Admiration and Astonishment to consider of it that they could scarce believe their own Eyes and Ears in what they heard and saw but were so surprized with it that they thought it to be but a Dream or Delusion of their own Fancies ver 1. When the Lord turned again the Captivity Sion we were like them that dream And the Heathen were as much amazed and startled at it as they ver 2. For then said they among the Heathens The Lord hath done great things for them It was the wonder of all that an Heathen Emperour of his own free motion should set at Liberty a captive People and send them to their own Land a People despised and scorned of all when it had been esteemed the Policy of all the former Kings to destroy and ruin that singular sort of Common-wealth that was separate from all People that had been the great Eye-sore of all the Nations about And this mighty Prince doth not only freely discharge them and send them back into their own Country but assists them in the building of their Temple and setting up the Worship of the true God of Israel whose Ordinances were different from all People well might they therefore be amazed and wonder at so strange a Revolution and turn of things And here in this verse now they ascribe and attribute all to God they own it to be his Work though Cyrus was the Instrument and that it was a great Work indeed which rightly called for Joy and Thankfulness The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad And that which the Jews here say in their Thanksgiving and Praise I think we of this Nation have cause likewise to say at this time viz. That the Lord hath done great things for us and that there is justly due to him a Tribute of delightful Praise now as there was from them then Let us consider therefore I. The great Things that God hath done for us And II. The Praise that is due to him for the same I. Let us consider the great Things that God hath done for us which will appear to be great indeed if we consider them even nakedly in themselves and much more if they are considered in their Circumstances First The Things which God hath done for us are very great in themselves For it is no less than the saving of our English Government from apparent Ruin the recovering of our Rights from Arbitrary Invasions the securing of our Liberties and Properties and above all the preserving our Religion which was in manifest Hazard of being undermined and destroyed and the preventing the Massacres and Bloodshed which probably must have attended the same It is agreed on all hands that the English Government was in the way to ruin the force of Laws even in themselves as Laws was enervated and many mortal Blows were given to the Legislative Power it self in its very Fundamentals and the Rights of Men imbodied in Corporations and the particular Liberties of Persons were no longer secure to any when once they stood in Competition with Popish Designs But this inslaving of our Bodies and depriving us of our outward Rights was the least of those Miseries that were growing upon us and which we were already in part groaning under That which is worse is the Inslaving of our Souls and Consciences by a mighty Power which goeth to check-mate it with Almighty God himself This was coming on us amain like an overflowing Deluge invading the Land. For those that think most moderately of the Administration of things before must allow that all that Liberty that was promised or given was no farther intended than as it was hoped it might be an Introduction to a more Arbitrary Invasion of our Laws and a means of Establishment and Increase of the Romish Religion among us And it is well known what the
so with us Why should not Deliverance and Holiness go together And then might we hope that we should dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure Dwellings and in quiet resting places And Surely if ever any Nation had cause to love and serve the great and Holy God we ought to think our selves under the strictest Obligations in the World to do so For as Moses once said to the Jews What Nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for What Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous And what Nation is there that hath had so great Communications of Light and Love as we have had How early were the Thoughts of God for good to us in the days of our Fore-fathers for many Generations past How soon did the Sun of Righteousness arise upon this Ionesom Isle this ultima Thule at the Ends of the Earth and the day-spring from on high did visit us when many other Nations for a long time sat in Darkness and saw no Light How soon had Christianity here a legal Establishment and the supream Authority and Power embrac'd and encouraged it when in other places our Holy Religion was frowned at and persecuted by those that should have been nursing-Fathers and nursing-Mothers to it And when for the Negligence and Sins of its Professours a long Night of Darkness had overtaken us as it had also in most other Churches yet now blessed be God for a good while this Night hath been spent and the Lustre of Divine Truth hath gloriously arisen again and shone upon us And when in many other places this blessed Reformation hath continually had the Powers of the Earth contesting against it so that it could never get into the Throne here it was begun at first and hath been carried on and protected by publick Constitutions by our Princes and Laws so that the Profession of that Religion that hath been a matter of great Trouble and Difficulty to others because of the Discountenance and Oppositions it hath met with from those in Authority hath been hardly a Virtue to us who have had the Laws and Authority to encourage us to embrace it whereby it hath become as well our Interest as our Duty And notwithstanding all the repeated Designs the deep and close Combinations of our Enemies to overturn overturn overturn all again yet how little have they been able to prevail He that sitteth in the Heavens hath laugh'd the Lord hath had them in Derision The Archers have sorely grieved and have shot at us and hated us but our Bow hath abode in Strength and the Arms of our Hands have been made strong by the Hands of the mighty God of Jacob who hath helped us and blessed us We have had the Blessings of Heaven above and the Blessings of the deep that lieth under we have had the Blessings of the Breast and of the Womb we have had the upper and nether Springs and our Blessings have prevailed above the Blessings of our Progenitours And the Lord hath still established us an Holy People unto himself that all the Earth may see that we are called by his Name We have been a Nation that hath flowed with Riches Wealth and Honour so that we have been both the Admiration and Envy of many about us We have wanted nothing we have had Plenty of all things we have had Glory and Power we have been able to help our Friends and have not feared our Enemies Now indeed we were almost fallen had not our Almighty Deliverer graciously prevented us and found out help for us who used to have the Honour in that kind to give and not to receive But now if after all this Kindness that hath been showed us if after all this that hath been done for us we should sin against him and should cast his Commandments behind our Backs what Tongue were able to express our Ingratitude Surely God hath planted us a Noble Vine and in a very fruitful Hill. And never was any Vineyard so fenc'd and secured and watched over as we have been by our careful Protectour In a Word What could have been done more for us than what God hath done for us But now when he look'd that we should bring forth Grapes have we not brought forth wild Grapes Hath not our Vine been degenerated and become as the Vine of Sodom and of the Fields of Gomorrah And have not our Grapes been Grapes of Gall and our Wine the Poison of Dragons and the cruel Venom of Asps Therefore may we not wonder that God hath not taken away his Hedg that was about us and laid us waste As he threatned once to do to the Jews for the like reason Isai 5. But now he is pleased to wait a while longer upon us but if after all we do not answer his Labour and Cost let us look to our selves He is prevailed upon by the Prayers of his Servants as we find it in the Parable of the barren Fig-tree to try us a while longer Luke 13.8 9. Lord let it alone this Year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear Fruit well and if not then after that thou shalt cut it down Our Fruitfulness under our Mercies must prevent our Ruin. We find in the Epistle that was written to the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.1 c. that though that Church had suffered much for their Profession and was free from those gross Corruptions that had insected other Churches by the Errours of the Nicolaitans Yet I have somewhat against thee saith our Saviour Because thou hast left thy first Love and for that he is much displeased Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent saith he or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent But we are not only fallen from our first Love but have been grown greatly corrupt We have quite lost our Fore-Fathers Zeal and instead of being better by our former means we are become worse and worse The old English Gravity and Seriousness is gone and we have strived to out do the deeds of the Wicked And yet we are spared and delivered God threatned to spue out of his Mouth the Church of the Laodiceans for being neither hot nor cold Rev. 3.15 And surely if Lukewarmness in Religion be such a Provocation 't is a wonder that this had not been our Lot. We have been hot indeed where we should have been cold hot in our Wickedness Uncharitableness and unbrotherly Carriage but in true Godliness Love and doing good to Men we have seemed to be as if there were neither Life nor Soul in us And as was said to the Church of Sardis Have we not also had a Name to live and yet are dead Surely at best our Works have not been perfect before God. And there he threatned to come on them
of that Society and Order of Men that have been cryed up in this laste Age for being expert in all the Arts of Policy They have been framing and laying and turning and winding this Plot of extirpating the Northern Heresy for a long time The Softness and Fearfulness of the first of the two Royal Brothers was indeed some Hindrance to them but now they had got a Prince whose eager and fiery Spirit animated with Popish Zeal resolved to accomplish the Design or himself to die a Martyr for the impious Cause Some of them in the former Reign have been heard to say that the Plot was laid so deep that all the Devils in Hell were not able to hinder it And indeed so far they were partly in the right for then Satan should have been divided against himself it being the Interest and Business only of that black Kingdom but they have found there is a God in Heaven that hath been able to frustrate all their Designs But they however were confident and big with Expectation of Success and some have given out very bold Words that we must either burn or turn and that it were the better way to come over to them in time by Perswasion than stay till we were compelled by Force For the Design that was laid was the Fruit of their long and best Counsels so that now at last they little doubled but all would be theirs and they began already in Imagination to divide the Spoil among themselves Now to have all these Hope 's disappointed and to have all these Counsels disannulled is certainly a very great thing Then consider on the other side that we were almost hopeless of finding any Remedy A Faintness and Dispiritedness had seized the Nation they having been so long time used to Infringements of their Rights to Burdens and Oppressions that the bearing of them now was almost grown natural by being common and so became to be the more easily endured Many indeed of Superiour Quality and of tender Resentments could not but look on with Discontent but knew not how to help On their parts 't is true there had not been many Converts but what they could not get in Persons of their own Religion they found in such as had none at all who being therefore put in places of Judicature and Trust would serve their Designs as well or better than their own most Religious Votaries So that the Law was perverted to favour their side There were Armies and Troops to prevent Insurrections A great number of the best Protestants were lulled asleep by the present Ease that they had like Persons wearied after long Labour and now were glad to sit down and be at rest Others had been hamstrung with pretty uncouth Doctrines that though they were in pain yet had no mind to move either hand or Foot. And then above all there was a mighty Nimrod beyond the Seas to espouse and carry on the Project and is one who had been long flush'd both with Cruelty and Success So that what could we hope unless Help should come from the Clouds And we had no thought of Miracles But such indeed and no less hath appeared in these great Things that God hath done for us Consider again Here is a Deliverance sudden unexpected hardly thought of so that it may be well applied what is here said by the Jews at their Deliverance out of Captivity we are like them that dream when our Adversaries Confidence and our own Fears would not give us leave to hope God hath been seen in the Mount just when we were appointed for Sacrifice and our Soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler the Snare is broken and we are escaped Consider moreover the manner in what a strange and unheard-of way it hath been as well as sudden and unhoped for All this glorious Scene of Counsels and Arts is taken down as it were in a Moment and almost disappears That which we have seen contriving and promoting for so long time how soon is it unravelled and the Work of so many Years is undone almost before you can think how And yet hardly any Blood spilt in the case or but very little when we could not have thought but that a Sea of Blood must have flowed in upon us before the Banks of Right and Justice could have been set up again which were fallen down But though our Adversaries storm and fret never so much our Deliverance is wrought and those whom we had cause to fear most from as the Instruments of our Mischief come to be our Helpers whereby the long Train of Popish Contrivances is blown away like Chaff and the Pit which they had digged for others they are fallen into themselves and the proud Scorners have been filled with their own ways Yea our Deliverance hath been carried on farther than we could expect even after it was begun and we have hopes of more yet and those things which have seemed to be Hindrances and Lets in the way may prove the greatest Furtherances to the most happy End. It is to be hoped that all will grow wiser after all that long dear-bought Experience which we have had of the evil of our Divisions and that neither Party will think so hardly of one another for the time to come as they have done But that ways will be found out to compose our Religious Jars and Differences that we may like Brethren live together in Unity And then shall we become as a City compact within it self which is never in so great Danger as from intestine Fouds and Quarrels But now that the Mercy which we have received may be more inherent in our Apprehensions compare the Condition of our poor Brethren in other parts and what they have suffered whilst we are delivered We have had a Cloud over us that hath been no bigger in Comparison than a Man's hand though others have been gathering about and have had but a few Drops in comparison falling upon us whilst it hath been with them a Day of Blackness and Darkness of Gloominess and thick Darkness the whole Heavens have been filled with Clouds and Rain with Storms and Tempests so that they have not seen the Sun nor Stars for many Days a very bitter Cup hath been wrung out to them which we have hardly sipt of but they have drunk the very Dregs and who can tell what may be the Portion of our Brethren in the Neighbour Kingdom under the same Government with our selves who must needs be sighing still in fearful and dreadful Expectations whilst to us it is a good Day We have an early Help and Salvation wrought which they can see yet but at a Distance And 't is well if their Hopes can over-ballance their Fears And must we not say then that all this is a mighty Work and that God hath done great things for us Long and lasting Miseries and Calamities did sorely threaten us neither could we see any present Help