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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81219	The saints thankfull acclamation at Christs resumption of his great power and the initials of his kingdome. Delivered in a sermon at Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons, upon the day of their solemne thanksgiving unto God, for the great victory given our armie, under the command of the noble Lord Fairfax, at Selby in Yorke-shire and to other the Parliaments forces in Pembrock-shire, April 23d, 1644. By Joseph Caryl preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1644 (1644)	Wing C787; Thomason E48_1; ESTC R7648	36,302	59

man abuses God everytime he gives him thanks at the best he doth but bungle and make uncomely worke of it The beautifull garment of praise put upon such is as beauty upon a woman without discretion a jewell of gold in a Swines snout Prov. 11. 22. A second consideration importing the fitnesse of the Elders for this duty is their ability for the duty They are most able yea they only are able to performe this duty Without Christ we can doe nothing Beasts and stones can praise God analogically in a manner Hypocrites and prophane men can praise God formally after their manner Elders and Saints only can praise God properly after his manner Praise is worship and worship is the sole worke of Saints yea praise is the most spirituall part of worship it is the spirit of worship the highest and noblest act of worship 't is Heaven-worship Heaven-worke all the worke and worship that is reserved for Heaven It requires more then a state of regeneration even a state of perfection Grace is not sufficient it cals for the strength of glory to praise the Lord. Here we can complaine over our wants and blubber over our sinnes and sufficiently cry over our troubles But how short and low-hearted are we at best in rejoycing over our mercies in singing the loving kindnesse and crying up the glory of our God God will be above our praises when we are above how much is he then above them while we are below And if the Lord be above the praises of the holiest who are below in the state of grace how infinitely is he above their praises who are below in the state of nature Thirdly The Elders are fittest in respect of the Lords acceptation Praise doth not please God brought by every hand The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Prov. 15. ● the Lord Prayer is sacrifice and so is praise this is so abominable that it is abomination when presented by the wicked From them though never so curiously flourisht in words it is but like the offering of Swines flesh and the Isa 66. 3. cutting off of a doggs necke Some great Princes have forbid all to draw their pictures in colours or cut their statues in stone but some speciall Artists of their own appointment they would not accept this service from any others Grace only hath art enough to limbe out to the life the excellencies of God no creature can do God right but others do him wrong His Saints cannot reach him yet they please him Others doe not only come short of but blot the name of God with the pensil of their most studied praises These things laid together clear the first Reason why praise is the Elders duty they are fittest for this service it becomes them best they are best enabled for it and accepted in it Againe the Elders have most cause to praise the Lord. Second Reason For first their mercies are greater then the mercies of others All creatures have cause to praise the Lord for their being Psal 148. All men have cause to praise the Lord for the excellencie of their being The worst of men have cause to praise God that they are no worse and the most miserable men on earth because they are not more miserable even arrested with the miseries of hell yea some affirm that the most miserable in hel have reason to praise God because their hell is not more miserable All these have cause to blesse God but the Saints have more they have right-handed mercies full-handed mercies greater mercies and better mercies both qualitie and quantitie commends them they have choice mercies and a Benjamins messe Now as where God sows there he looks to reap so where he sows much he looks to reap much and where he sows most he looks to reape most None receive so much mercy as the Elders and none bound to pay so much praise as they Secondly the Elders have prayed and dealt with God most for the obtaining of publike mercies They have often gone forth weeping in daies of humiliation bearing precious seed of prayer and therefore they shall as a priviledge and they ought as a duty come againe with rejoycing bringing their sheaves of praise with them Psal 126. 6. They that sow in teares shall reape in joy that 's the promise of God and they ought to rejoyce when they reape that 's the duty of man The Elders falling upon their faces in praier had wrestled for obtained these mercies and now they fall upon their faces to praise the Lord for these mercies Further the Elders have bin active in their severall stations to serve the providence of God for the procuring of these mercies Prayer makes them industrious They pray as if God were to doe all and they endeavour as if themselves were to doe all They pray as knowing they can doe nothing without God and they labour as knowing that usually God will doe nothing without them This engages them to praise God when they see through his concurrent blessing the fruits of their counsels and watchings when they eate the labours of their hands Lastly none have such cause as they for the vowes of God are upon them Praise is the paiment of vowes Thy Psal 56. 12. vowes are upon me O Lord saith David I will render praises Psal 65. 1. unto thee And againe when he had said Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion presently followes and unto thee shall the vow be performed Praying daies are vowing-daies and praising-daies are vow-performing-daies Vowes are the dedication of our mercies to God before we receive them and praise is the dedication of our mercies to God after we have received them When Hannah was in bitternesse Sem 1. 10 11 of soule and prayed unto the Lord for a child she vowed a vow and said O Lord of Hosts if thou wilt indeed looke upon the affliction of thy hand-maid and remember me and not forget thine hand-maid but wilt give unto thine hand-maid a man child then I will give him unto the Lord all the dayes of his life Her prayer was heard she hath a sonne In the same Chapter her praise-offering is upon record and the paiment of her vow She brings her child to the High-Priest 1 Sam. 1. 26 27 28. and said O my Lord as thy soule liveth my Lord I am the woman that stood by thee here prayeng unto the Lord For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my Petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth The holy Elders may name most of their mercies Samuels that is asked of God yea and vowed to God This causeth them to come with praise-offerings and say in the great Congregation for this mercie we prayed unto the Lord and the Lord hath given us our petition therefore also we have lent this and our selves to the Lord as long as we live Whatsoever good

THE SAINTS Thankfull Acclamation AT CHRISTS RESVMPTION OF HIS GREAT POWER AND THE Initials of his Kingdome Delivered in a Sermon at Westminster before the Honourable House of Commons upon the day of their solemne Thanksgiving unto God for the great victory given our Armie under the Command of the Noble Lord Fairfax at Selby in Yorke-shire and to other the Parliaments Forces in Pembrock-shire April 23d 1644. By Joseph Caryl Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne Psal 68. 1. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered 1 Thess 5. 18. In every thing give thankes for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you LONDON Printed by G. M. for Giles Calvert at the signe of the black-spread-Eagle neare the west end of Pauls 1644. Die Martis 23 April 1644. IT is this day ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That Mr Ashe and Sr Peter Went-worth doe give thanks to Mr Pearne and Mr Caryll for the great paines they tooke in the sermons they preached this day at St Margaret Westminster at the intreaty of the House it being a day of Publicke Thanksgiving for the great Victory God hath given to the Lord Fairfax over his Enemies at Selby in Yorkshire and to the Parliaments Forces in Pembrookeshire and to desire them to print their Sermons And it is Ordered that no man shall presume their or either of their Sermons to print without he have licence under their hand writing H. Elsyng Cler. Parl. D. Com. I Appoint Giles Calvert to print my Sermon JOSEPH CARYL Errata Pag. 4. marg read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 42. l. ●8 dele the. p. 44. l 7. dele in TO THE HONOVRABLE HOVSE of COMMONS assembled in Parliament at Westminster MErcies are obligations to dutie Every Deliverance writes us Debtor and victorie over our Enemies servants to the living God It is good to receive a blessing but it is better to use it well And a thankfull heart is a greater Favour then any outward Favour for which we give thankes When the hand of providence workes gloriously with us our Tongues should render the providence of God glorious Successes and Events cannot make a bad Cause just or good But they make a good Cause beautifull and adde lustre to the Iustice of it Though God should not goe forth with our Armies as sometimes he did not with the Armies of his people but should make them turne their back upon the enemie though he should make us a reproach Psal 44. to our neighbours and a derision to them that are round about us though he should smite us into the place of Dragons and cover us with the shadow of death yet we ought not to forget his name or deale falsely in his Covenant Yea wee ought to blesse his Name and give him thankes that he hath laid our bones and powred our bloud into the Foundation of so honourable a worke It is a sinne and a shame not to honour Christ when in his work we are put to shame How shamefull then would our sinne be if we should not honour him while he gives us honour in carrying on his worke There is nothing more undutifull then for a people to humble God while God is exalting them Not to acknowledge mercies is at least an humbling if it be not an Abasing of God Wherefore Honoured Senators let your hearts be ever lifted up in the waies of God and let God be lifted up in all your hearts Let your pietie be as zealous in keeping dayes of praise and thanksgiving to record blessings as it hath bin in keeping daies of Prayer and Fasting to procure them God could tell the sraclites in the Booke of Judges how often and from what enemies by name he had delivered them Let your records be as exact in this point to the best of your observation as Gods are He knowes still when and what victories he gives he knowes by whom and over whom Chap. 10. he gives them Let your registers be as counterpanes of those reserved in heaven yea as the copies of all those volumes of love and care which God hath transcribed from that originall of his secret counsels by the visible hand and pen of providence in the actions of these latter dayes They that retaine the memorie of mercies seldome loose the fight of mercies and God never breaks off for evill from doing them good who speake good of his name How many successes what victories have been given you since you paid this debt of praise You and we have had joy upon joy then add Thankfulnes to Thankfulnesse till yours and our joyes be full This filling up the Nation joy is and Christ assisting shall be the great desire and earnest prayer of Your Servant in the work of the Lord Ioseph Caryl A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable House of COMMONS at Westminster upon the 23. of Aprill 1644. being a day appointed for solemn Thanksgiving unto God for the late successes and victories attained by our Armies in York-shire and Pembrock-shire REVEL 11. v. 16 17. Ver. 16. And the foure and twenty Elders which sate before God on their seates fell upon their faces and worshipped God 17. Saying we give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned THis Chapter may be well entitled the compendium or Breviat of all the Prophecies contained in this booke concerning the state of the Church whether sadly gro●ning under or gloriously triumphing over Antichristian Tyrannie God hath ever even in times of thickest errour and grossest Apostasie reserved a remnant to himself for the asserting of his Truth These are called by way of excellency his Witnesses These being small in number are express'd by the smallest number Two Witnesses These being thus few are yet enow to give a compleat Testimonie For in the mouth of Mat. 18. 16. two or three Witnesses every word may be established The worke of these Witnesses in the nature of it is very spirituall and divine therefore called prophesying I will give power to my two Witnesses and they shall prophesie v. 3. The continuance of their worke is very long so long That it is shorten'd in words by a figure reducing a year to a day A Thousand two hundred and threescore daies Propheticall daies every yeare being as short in words as a day and every day as long in sence as a yeare A Ezek. 4. 6. day for a yeare So Ezekiel was taught to count and so are we The outward condition wherin they prophesied was such as might have caused them to reckon every day a yeare and yet the inward comfort and assistance was such as might make them reckon every yeare but as a day To be cloathed in sack-cloth is to be cloathed with sorrow to be wrapt about with affliction The habit of these Witnesses was an Embleme of actuall mourning They prophesied cloathed in sack-cloth v. 3.

And as sorrow attended them all the time of their witnessing so death attends the accomplishment of it And when they shall have finished their Testimonie the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomelesse pit shall make warre against them and evercome them and kill them v. 7. As we have learned the length of their daies from Ezekiels Kalender so we may learne the kind of their death from Ezekiels vision his dry bones Chap. 37. can speake as well as heare v. 4. and tell you that to die is sometimes to be in great distresse in captivity and under the power of mercilesse men This is to die daily to be in deaths often As to live in sinne so to live in sorrow is to be dead while we live Yet this death cannot swallow up these dead but shall it self be swallow'd up in victory The grave had no victory at all over them and death had but a short one The people shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves v. 9. And after three daies and a halfe the spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet v. 11 Christ arose the third day His witnesses arise after three dayes and a halfe All the servants of Christ shall enter into their Masters joy and these eminent ones are admitted in the letter within halfe a degree of their Masters priviledge As in Scripture language imminent dangers are a death so eminent deliverances are a resurrection What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead Rom. 11. 15. And because the justice and goodnesse of God will not be satisfied with the bare reparation of his oppressed servants for their wrongs and a putting of them in statu quo But he will give them an addition of double honour in every land where they have been put to shame Therefore these witnesses shall not only arise but they shall ascend Christ will make them what they were and more They ascended up to Heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them v. 12. Great changes produce great effects The blessing of God upon his people portends a curse to his enemies That act of mercy which raiseth Sion ruines Babylon Every advancement of the truth is the downfall of error No sooner doe these witnesses ascend But the same houre there was a great earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell v. 13. And so great is the fall thereof that presently the seventh Angell sounds This sound produces a second effect great voices v. 15. And there were great voices in Heaven saying c. These voices have a double sound in them First The sound of faith and holy confidence in God Secondly The voice of joy and thankfulnesse unto God The voice of faith is so confident as if it spake from the dictates of sense and saw yea enjoyed all in these beginnings as already done The Kingdomes of this world are become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall raigne for ever and ever v. 15. This heightn'd faith brings forth joy as its immediate issue joy is the fruit of faith This joy brings forth praise to God praise is the Reuben of joy its first-borne the beginning Prov. 27. 16. of its strength the excellency of its dignity Joy cannot be silent it is the ointment in the Saints right-hand which bewrayeth it selfe in perfuming the Name of God in making his Name like an ointment powred out The Saints were so full of holy joy that they could not keepe their seates And the foure and twenty Elders which sate before God on their seates fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty c. The studies of the learned both Antient and Moderne have been very great and their conceptions as various about the meaning of this prophecy All that I shall say is That I beleeve the providence of God is now about to open and give the unerring interpretation of it The actions of these times are now a making and will shortly make a full exposition of this Scripture I am sure the businesse of this day will be as a Comment upon that part of it read unto you For though we should not now hit the very nick of time about that I will not strive which the Spirit of God aimes at in this solemne Hallelujah of these Elders Yet this duty becomes the Elders at all or any of those times wherein they behold the Lord God Almighty taking to himselfe his great power and raigning The generall subject of these words is the praise of God about which they hold out foure things distinctly Division of the text considerable First the persons who performe this duty of praise to God 2ly The manner in which they praise God 3ly The notions under which they praise God 4ly The grounds or reasons for which they praise God 1 The persons are described in those words And the foure and twenty Elders which sate upon their seates This description of the persons hath three things observable First the number of the persons Four and twenty 2ly Their State or Qualitie they were Elders 3ly Their posture or condition They sate upon seats before God 2. In the manner of their praising God we may note two things 1. Their praises were very humble and devout They fell upon their faces and worshipped 2. Their praises were vocall and explicit They spake out Saying we give thee thanks 3. The Notions under which they praise God are two 1. His omnipotency O Lord God Almighty 2ly His eternity Which art and wast and art to come 4. The grounds or reasons moving them to this duty of praising God are likewise two First the assuming of his power Thou hast taken to thee thy great power 2ly The setling of his kingdome And hast raigned And the four and twenty Elders By these Elders we may Explication of the text understand all the faithfull people of God especially their chiefes and leaders godly Magistrates and godly Ministers going before stirring them up and directing them to magnifie the name of the Lord. Among the Saints some are Elders by Office many in regard of Age all in regard of that reall gravity and dignity which spirituall wisdom and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 16. ●1 holinesse casts upon them Wisdome and holinesse are the gray-haires of young-men The hoary head is a crowne of Glory when it is found in the way of righteousnesse And the wayes of righteousnesse are a crowne of glorie upon the greenest head These Elders are numbred foure and twenty either first in allusion to that distribution of the Levites who attended the service of God or of the people attending the service of the King each being cast into twenty foure divisions 1 Chron. ch 24. Chap. 25. Chap. 26. Chap. 27. From whence Mr Brightman concludes thus Seeing therefore the whole Bright in Apoc c. 4. v. 4. company of the children

thing the Lord gives us by prayer we should lend it to the Lord by praise Every blessing received is best enjoyed by man when it is lent unto the Lord. How wonderfull is the course of Gods love and the recourse of mans dutie He gives to us that we may lend to him and this lending is the paiment of our vows to him Then blessed be God who hath put into the hearts of Application our Elders to pay their vowes this daie and praise the Lord. It is a sweet thing when dutie and practise goe together When our obedience touches the command and when our will is in consort with the Will of God This makes the most pleasant harmonie such musicke as is the delight of God the joy of angels You are met this day Honourable and Beloved to bring your Presents to the Lord who ought to be feared to dedicate your victories and your spoiles unto the Lord who ought to be feared to the Lord glorious in holinesse fearfull in praises doing wonders Yee are arisen from your seats of judgement on which you sit every day before the Lord and are sitting upon your seats of worship before the Lord readie to fall upon your faces and worship saying We give thee thankes O Lord God Almighty Yee are as the common center from whom the lines of direction are carried for the managing of all publicke affaires throughout the land And therefore how sutable is it that from your both pious example and Authoritative Direction Lines of praise should be carried into all the land for the successes of those affaires As the worke is specially yours so also is the fruit of it and so also are all the duties which that fruit cals for Your hands and tongues are chief in procuring National blessings your hearts and tongues ought to be chiefe in acknowledging National blessings And blessed be God that we are all here this day to give him Thanks for victories which we see coming-in at the great and beautifull gate of our Nationall Councell and publike deliberations not at the trap-door of secret plots or personall passions Our victories are not the issues of a warre raised upon the distemper'd heate of green heads or upon the discontented humours of an enraged multitude but upon the coolest consultations of our Elders the saddest resolutions of a grave and steddie Senate Object Yet some thinke rejoycing and praise unbecomming the successes of this warre The light of nature taught Heathen Rome better then to triumph in the victories of a Civill-warre Answ I confesse ours is a sad warre because it is a Civill-warre yet be not offended For first in some cases where nature bids us agree the Gospell bids us divide in some cases where nature bids us grieve the Gospel bids us rejoyce Christ the Prince of Peace hath told us that he came not that it was intended but occasioned by his Ma● 10. 34 35 36. comming To set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against the mother in law and a mans enemies shall be they not only of his own kingdome but of his owne house Though the opposition of Gospel truths and priviledges are not held forth by the enemie as the appearing ground of this warre yet I beleeve they lie in the bottome of it And that our Civill laws and liberties were so much infring'd chiefly as they were the fence of our spirituall Oppressions upon our temporall estates doe sometime begin at the doore of the Sanctuary and they are often intended to end there Nationall Religion usually followes the State and when the spirit of a people is subdued their consciences seldom stand out Secondly all warres are either just or unjust If a warre be unjust we have reason to hide our trophies and be ashamed of our victories though attained upon the most forraigne and remotest enemy He that thanks God when he prospers in sinne makes God a patron yea a partner in his sin But if a warre be as ours hath bin prooved and appeared over and over to unbyast consciences a just warre I know no reason but we may yea we ought to rejoyce in the prosperous successe of it though against our nearest naturally or civilly related Friends The good successe of a just warre is the highest sentence of divine Justice And it becomes us to glorifie God whensoever he glorifies himself and releeves us by the manifestations of his justice The Saints are Revel 15. 3 4. described singing the Song of Moses saying who would not feare thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name c. for thy judgements are made manifest We are not this day rejoycing in the bloud and ruine of men but in the justice of God upon them and in his goodnesse to ourselves Lastly our joy is not I am sure it ought not to be and was not intended to be a riotous loose joy but a religious regulated sober joy Joy with a temperament of holy feare we are called to rejoyce not as men much les as vain men but as Christians we are not called to sacrifice to our nets or burne incense to our draggs to boast in an arm of flesh in the strength of horses or in the skill and courage of their riders but in the Lord of Hosts and in the power of his might Onely serious joy becomes Elders Such was the joy and praise of these Elders in the text whose practise may be our patterne and teach us how to manage this important duty by a three-fold direction Three Rules taken from the text to direct us in praising God First the Elders in giving thanks to God fell upon their faces The face is the seat of beautie the throne of dignity the image of the mind you may reade much of man in the lines of his countenance He that fals upon his face hides his owne glorie Then the Elders by this act teach you to give thankes very humbly with much self-deniall yea with self-abasement To doe so is to fall upon your faces while you sit upon your seats and to be prostrate while you stand upon your feet In this sence let all our Armies be as fallen upon their faces Let our Parliament be as fallen upon their faces Let us hide the strength the valour of the one the wisdome and councels of the other Let us put all in the dust let nothing be seene nothing be heard of this day but the wisdome and strength of Christ They that goe forth in Christs name will make mention in their returnes of his strength and righteousnesse only Praise is a self-emptying and a God-exalting dutie When we are lowest in our selves we lift up God highest Usually God exalts a people most when they are lowest in a necessitated lownesse He doth great things to set on Iob 5. 11. high those that be low And when a people are lowest in a voluntary lownesse they exalt God most He

be delivered yet because it is the awakening of his power and the putting-on of strength which is most visible in our deliverance therfore in worshipping let us say We thanke thee O Lord God Almighty Here is yet another Attribute in contemplation wherof these Elders praised the Lord and so must we this day namely his eternitie Which art and wast and is to come is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Periphrasis of eternity Time is the moveable Image of Eternitie Eternity is a fixed instant and time is a fluid instant I am is the proper name of eternitie Which is and was and is to come is a name borrowed from the image of it Time Hee who is at once and in one instant all the Exod. 3. 13 14 Tradunt doctij simi Haebraeorii c Verbum Ehejeh tria tempora complecti praesent praeteritum futurum eoque perfectam omnibus nume ris absolutam Dei stabilitatē significari Bez. Anno● in 1. cap. Apoc. v 4. Sciendum est Apostolum ita exprimere voluisse quod scriptum est Exod. 3. 14. divisions of time must needs be eternall When Moses was sent by God to deliver Israel Moses desires to be instructed by what name he should make him known to Israel Tell them saith God I am hath sent me unto you The Hebrew is Ehejeh Tell them that One Ehejeh hath sent thee The learned Jewes and Talmudists assure us that this word Ehejeh containes those three times present past and to come and is the very same in sense with this in the Text which art and wast and is to come God is as much what he was and what he is to come as what he is I am in All and therefore God is all stabilitie and perfection It is very observable that the same Title in which he revealed himselfe a deliverer to his Church from literall Egypt by the same he is magnified as the deliverer of his people from mysticall Egypt The Elders Which art and wast and art to come is Moses his Ehejeh I am expounded This Attribute is most sweetly taken into our praising meditations What is it that carries the Lord thorough in all he hath done and doth and is to do even this He was and is and is to come Eternity tryumphs over all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence the same word in Hebrew signifies strength victorie and eternitie In the first of Samuel Chap. 15. 29. The Text reades The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent the Margin reades the Eternitie and victorie of Israel will not lie nor repent So the Vulgar Triumphator Israel c. Perpetuall durance prevailes over all He that is eternall will certainly have the last word and the last blow Then certainly Conquerour is his Name He must triumph over all It releeves some men to thinke that though they cannot carrie a businesse at one time yet they may at another It is one of the grand principles of Jesuiticall policie Take time and you may doe any thing He that is and was and is to come may take what time he pleases and upon this ground he hath done and will doe what he pleases This is it which makes Sion rejoyce and all the Elders who dwell in Sion give thanks Iesus Christ is and was and is to come He is the true semper Idem his goodnesse and love to his Church his power and strength for his Church the same for ever He can never be surpriz'd His preparations in regard of strength and his resolutions in regard of love stand eternally at the same height and upon the same bent We may be sure of him at all times Man may be able to doe much to day and nothing to morrow Fuimus Troes we were brave men Time was now the case is alter'd Man may be willing to doe much to day and nothing to morrow Time was Now his mind is alter'd Men one day are very zealous hot and high as if they were all spirit in the prosecution of a designe come to morrow you may find them cold and flat as if they had no spirit at all These were but they are not and who can tell what they will be in time to come But herein lies the strong consolation of the Elders that the hand of Christ never shortens that his mind never changes that his zeale never cools he can act over all his works of power and love againe and againe a thousand times againe and will if his people stand in need of it If Christ were not alwayes the same his Church could not be at all the same Let us therefore under this notion rejoyce in and praise the Lord. He was in our former mercies He is in our present mercies He is to come readie yet to give as emergencies call for them future mercies It had bin sad with us this day if we had a God to praise of whom we could onely say He was Englands deliverer Englands protector in 88 in 1605. He was the Lord of our Hosts in former battels But in this we triumph that we can say this day the Lord is he is our deliverer our protectour the Lord of our Hosts and the God of our battels And with what misgiving if not bleeding hearts should we blesse him this day if we could not with as much assurance as we say he is say also he is to come surely we have troubles yet to come and dangers yet to come and battels yet to come and if we had not a God to come what would shortly become of us What of our Parliament What of our Armies We praise a God who is with us when trouble is present and who will not be farre off when trouble is neare at hand Is not this comfortable that our dangers can never come faster or sooner then our deliverer can come His comming is so unfailable that his name is That art to come He is what he was and he will be what he is Doe not your hearts leape for joy while you give thanks to him whose very name assures you as much of what you want as of what you have of what is behind in your hopes and expectations as of what is this day before you in your sight and gratulation So much of the duty contained in the three former branches of the Text. I now passe to the ground of the duty laid down in those latter words Because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast The latter part of the Text explained raigned Quest But what meaneth this Was Christ weake and without power before Or did he now first of all begin to raigne All power was committed into his hand he was made both Lord and King did he divest himselfe delegate his power unto others Or did they despoyl him of it Did he ever resigne his kingdome or was he driven from his throne Answ I answer the power of Christ is ever the same and his throne above the invasion