all his benefits so especially for that of our Redemption By the right performance of this duty we begin our heaven on earth for the proper exercise of heaven is PRAISE blessed ar they that dwel in thy house for they ar still praising thee The blessed spirits are still singing blissing and glory and honour and power and wisedome c. Beside thanksgiving for former benefits is a secret and real prayer drawing down new benefits it preserveth the benefits we have receaved and procureth the increase of them wheras Vnthankfulnes depriveth us both of that which we have and of that which we ought to have looked for Iustly therefor saieth CHRISOST that thanksgiving is great wealth and treasures an unexhausted good which while a man hath he hath aboundance although he had lost all other thing Hast thou lost thy means and yet doest thou praise God thou hast gained thy soule and GGDS favour in greater measure then before When all other things was taken from IOB yet having an heart to praise God and to say The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be his Name He was most rich even in that his povertie Let us therefore earnestly apply our hearts and minds to this praise of God And let every one in his temple think speak of his glory Wee proceed now to the next duty And unto thee shall the vow be performed As Praise so vowes and the performance thereof belongeth to Thankefulnesse And therefore these two are ordinarly joyned in scripture For clearing of this point we will shortly shew what is a Vow 2. How it belongeth to Thankefulnesse For the first A Vow is a religious promise made to God willingly of a thing acceptable to him It is a promise A purpose to do a thing is not sufficient to make a Vow which is a kinde of Contract betwixt God and man obliedging a man to the performance of something by way of fidelity which obliedgment cannot be without a promise or practical kinde of speech as Schoolmen speak whereby a man tyeth himself as he tyeth another by his commandement Secondly It is a Promise made to God Vnto thee saieth my Text shall the vow be performed Vow pay your vowes unto the Lord psal 76. 11. Offer unto God thanksgiving pay thy vows unto the most High psal 50. 14. In a word everiewher in holy scripture we find vows made to none but to God And yet this day the practise of the Roman Church is to make vows to saints And their Doctours labour to justifie this practise It is acknowledged by Bell. That a vow in holy scripture is ever taken for a promise made to God And yet saieth he vows are rightly made to saints A strange thing How can these two consist Heare I pray you his answere When the scripture was written saieth he vowing to saints was not in use This certainly is true but to confesse it what else is it but to condemne their own practise as an innovation whereby the honour due to God alone is given to the creature O saieth he The saints are Gods by participation They in a most excellent manner are partakers of his naturall glory but by no distinction may the honour due to God be given to any other by the same shift they might alleadge offering of sacrifice to saints with which making of vows is cōmonly joyned in scripture Thirdly I say It is a religious Promise VOWING is a proper act of Religion or the worship of God As by an Oath which is an proper act of worship we profess God to be the supream truth and the Maintainer of it so by a vow wee professe God to bee most good and to be well pleased with the doing of good and indeed a vow is not much different from a promisarie oath except That the Oath is made to man but the vow is made to God 2. To vow to a false God should be Idolatrie and therefore a vow to the true God is true religion and worship which shall hereafter more appeare Fourthly It is a promise made willingly God loveth a cheerfull giver repelleth that which is done by constraint or vnwilingly A vow is as it were a private Law whereby a man bindeth himselfe and differeth in this from a general Law that a general Law bindeth a man whether he be willing or unwilling but so doeth not a vow therefore if made without the use of reason or through ignorance or fear it obliedgeth not Fifthly It must be of a thing acceptable to God That is of such a thing the doing thereof is better then the not doing of it If the thing vowed cannot serve for an good purpose it is but the sacrifice of fools If 〈◊〉 a thing evil as was that of these who vowed not to eat or drink till they had killed S. Paul Act. 23. 12. It maketh the vow abominable for beside the wickednes of intending or doing such a thing he that voweth it cōmitteth akynd of blasphemy in so far as by vowing it he confesseth that God is pleased with such an evil The matter therefore of a vow must be a thing that may be done acceptable to God but these things are of two sorts some are not necessare in particular to be done by such or such a person some againe are necessare Of both some doubt is made whether they bee a fit matter of vow Some Papists affirme that our Divines deny that a vow may be made of a thing not cōmanded or not necessar but this is a calumnie Our learned Divines acknowledge that ther at some things which if a man omitt he shal not sinne yet to do them were better then not to do them and consequently that a man may vow to do such a thing For example such or such a man should not sin not to give such a summe of money to the poo◠or pious uses yet if he would give it he should do better and may vow so to do The same may be said of Fasting or abstinence at such and such times That such things may be vowed is cleare from scripture which everie where almost speaketh of such vows Deut. 23. 21. 22. The Lord cōmands That if a man mak a vow be shal perform it but saith the Lord If thou forbeare to vow it shall not be sinne unto thee To give such or such a summe of money to the poor is a good work without a vow and pleasing to God being an act of charitie why then should it not be pleasing to God when a Vow is passed upon it That which our Divines condemn in such vows is That men ascrive Merite unto them account them works of supererogation and by making them rashly ensnare their own Consciences These and like abuses being removed they acknowledge that vows made of such things are hinderances of sinne nourishments of devotion and profitable exercises whereby the minde is confirmed in good and keeped
it self Hee is not content to say simply that he will praise God but useth sundry pregnant words to this purpose to signify the vehemencie and fervencie of his desire to honour God First he saieth I will extoll thee or exalt thee Wee cannot exalt God by making him higher for he is most high and we are low and base There can be no accession to his Hignesse and though there could yet cannot we contribute to it We are said to exalt him in that sense that we are said to magnifie glorifie and sanctifie him This we do by acknowledging proclaiming worshipping his Greatnesse Glory Holinesse So we exalt him when wee acknowledge his infinite Highnesse and Excellencie when we most highly esteeme of it most highly love it and most humbly submitt our selves unto it Thus I will extoll thee is as if hee had said I will most highly praise thee reverentlie worship thee magnificently proclaime and incomparably prefer thy Highnesse and Excellencie to all others Secondly he saieth He will blesse Him and his Name BLESSING is a wishing of good to another and the bestowing and conferring of it when it lyeth in our power IT comprehendeth two acts the one of the Will the other of the Vnderstanding By the first wee wish or will good by the other we conferre it and so it is a practicall kinde of speech This Blessing as it proceedeth from God is ever effectuall If he speak good to us it is done his word is able to do whatsoever he willeth As when a King hath the honours of a kingdom in his own hand If he say to one be thou a Duke to another be thou an Earl it is so by vertue of this his speech these honours are conferred But it is not so with our blessing especially of God His good is either inward or outward as for his inward good it is in himself in infinite perfection Hee laiketh nothing nor can wee contribute any thing in that kinde All that wee can do in respect of this good is to congratulate and expresse our joy at this that he possesseth in himself all good As for the outward good which belongeth to him namlie the knowledge the love the feare and worship of his Name unto that we may and ought to contribute by his grace Wee should not only wish that good but so much as lyeth in us should endeavour to procure it Thus when DAVID promiseth to blesse him and his Name he meaneth that he wished all to know to feare to love him and that hee would to the uttermost endeavour to effectuat what he wished Thirdly Hee promiseth to praise Him PRAISE is a proclaiming of the excellencie that is in any by reason of his actions and worthie deeds So God is often praised for his acts of mercie justice and power The excellencie that is in any by nature is rather honoured then praised saieth the Philosopher yet often men are praised for naturall excellencies as engyne beauty strength c. And God here and often elswhere in scripture is praised for his Naturall excellencies Infinite greatnes goodnes power mercie c. Lastly DAVID promiseth thus to exalt praise and blesse God and his Name Every day for ever and ever He will beginne it now but is never to end it So long as hee lived hee did praise him and now being dead doeth praise him on earth by this other songs of praise and in heaven doeth and shall for ever blesse him Beside this he promiseth to do it without intermission Every day saieth he which signifieth that nothing should befall no change no trouble that should divert him from this exercise Whence we may learne this profitable instruction that it is our duty in every estate whatsomever befall us to praise and blesse God No trouble or temptation should make the praise or blessing of him to depart from our mouth nothing should make our courage to quaile our patience to wearie our tranquillitie to cease or stay the lifting up of our hearts to blesse his holy Name For this should be done by us every day and at all times Psal 34. 1. Thou should blesse him in the day of thy sicknesse aswell as in the day of thy health in the day of thy want aswell as in the day of thy aboundance in the day of desolation aswel as in the day of consolation in the day of adversitie aswel as in the day of prosperitie What great matter is it saieth holy AUGUSTINE upon this place that thou blesses God in thy joyfull day when all things flow to thee according to thy heart What if a sorrowfull and melancholious day appeare will thou not blesse him then also If thou will not thou did not truly say Every day will I blesse thee How many and how grievous evils came upon Iob and that how suddenlie yet did hee not intermitt the praising of God in that his most sorrowfull day When all the evill tydings had come unto him hee worshiped and said The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. Thus ought we all to do and the reasons are manifest For first If God be thy God then thy heart is upon him thou places in him thy soveraigne good which is to be found in him alone Now no crosse or trouble can bereave thee of him unlesse thou thy self forsake him Iob his hudge wealth was taken away and his children for whom he keeped it were taken away but God who gave the one and the other and was able to restore that and infinitly more could not be taken from him Thus the day of worldlie sorrow cannot take our God from us and so we have the ground and matter of our true and chief joy and consequently have reason still to blesse him 2. Whatsomever God doeth to his own he doeth it for the best He maketh all their sorrows and troubles to work for their good yea oftentimes promoveth their good by sicknesse want adversitie more then it should have been advanced by health aboundance prosperity LAZAR us sores poverty wer more profitable to him then all the wealth dainties of the Rich-man were to him Both found it to be so in end when the Rich-man was laid in flames of fire was faine to beg one drop of water which yet he could not have and when Lazarus was carried by the angels into the bosome of ABRAHAM Wee may not judge of these outward evils by our own sense but by the word wisdome goodnes and power of God which maketh them all to serve to our good Now if it be so we have reason in the midst of all our worldlie sorrowes to blesse and to praise the Name of our God Happy is he that can do so this is a most happy holy way by which a man may go through all the sorrows of this life to heaven rejoycing and exulting The Lord grant that we may so do
in a most divine manner at length he descriveth In the first verse that I have read The Thankfulnesse of the Church is expressed Praise waiteth for thee c. In the second an excellent benefit is set down for which God should be praised and vowes should be performed to him Praise waiteth for thee c. Praise is the proclaming of the Excellencie of any especially manifested by worthe deeds This David saieth waiteth for God The word rendered to waits signifieth properly to be silent but for the similitude and agreement of silence expectâ—â—â—â— is rendered here to waiâ—e or expect And if we so expound the word the sense is That God doth so loaden his 〈…〉 and by 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 every morning furnish such matter of Praise Thà nksgiving that praise in the Church continually as it were waiteth on to honour him If wee render the word to be silent as it properly signifieth and which our Interpreters have put on the Margent the meaning is That the benefits of God bestowed upon Sion or his Church are so great and so many that even our Praise through astonishment becometh as it were silent notable to reach to the due commemoration and esteeme of Gods bountie and benefits And indeed so it is The benefits of God toward his people are such and so many daylie and hourly bestowed upon them in generall in particular known and unknown that no minde can sufficiently conceive nor tongue utter them In him wee live move and have out being Hee maketh his sun to shyne and his rain to fall upon us Hee hath endued us with reason and understanding When we were lost he did not forsake us but even when blinded with our own ignorance and wickednesse and so his enemies Hee redeemed our life from destruction and to this effect sent his own Son which the Church now clearly knoweth to bee born and suffer and by his most perfect sacrifice to purge all our sinnes and withall sendeth his Spirit in our heart to guide us through all difficulties till we attaine to the blessed sight and joy of his Countenance Thus he compasseth and crowneth us with loving kindnesse and tender mercies for which if wee had a thousand hearts and a thousand tongues could wee give him sufficiently praise and thanks No Praise it self is forced as it were to stand here astonished and silent And the saints say with DAVID O Lord What shall thy servants say What shall we render unto thee for all thy benefits towards us But where is this waiting of praise and the admiration of it In Sion DAVID had translated the Ark of God unto Sion There was Gods Sanctuary and there was he woâ—shipped and therefore Sion here signifieth the Church of God then and in all following ages This is added for great reasons First the PROPHET signifieth that Sion or Gods Church hath reason ought to praise God beyond all others whom hee hath not chosen to be his people for Gods chief benefits are poured down upon Sion It is the perfection of beauty and out of it God shyneth Psal 87. God loveth the gates of Sion more then all the habitations of Iudah It is the City of God and glorious things ar spoken of thee O City of God saieth DAVID in the same psalme Of Sion it shall be said such and such a man was born there The Lord Himself counteth and writeth that such a man was born there saieth DAVID in the place mentioned All the true Citizens of Sion are written in the book of God even in the book of life by his own finger and nothing is so great a matter of Thanksgiving and Praise as that Rejoyce not in this saieth our Saviour that the devils are subjectunto you but rather rejoyce in this that your names ar written in heaven So then in Sion justly should praise wait for God The Citizens of it are a chosen generation a royall Priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people to set forth the praises of him who hath called theÌ„ out of darknes unto his marvellous light 1. Pet. 2. 9. Secondly As Sion should so Sion only can praise God righly Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner saieth the Wise-man Ecclesiast 15. IT standeth not so much in the words of the mouth as in the devotion of the heart He that would rightly praise must be affected with that which he praiseth truly believe it haue an inward taste feeling of it Except therfore he hath tasted seen how good the Lord is he cannot praise as he should on the other part God also looketh not so much to the mouth as to the heart of the praiser He respecteth not so much the tongue as the Conversation What availeth it to blesse God with thy mouth and blaspheme him with thy life this is an abomination and therefore it is truly said by holy August that a wicked man cannot praise God The discord of his life from his word marreth all the sweetnesse of his song of praise maketh it unpleasaÌ„t ungracious in the eares of God Thirdly As Sion should and onely can so also she will undoubtedly praise God and therefore rightly saieth the PROPHET that praise waiteth for God in her as if he would have said O Lord albeit all other men would hold their peace of thy praises yet Sion or thy church thy servants and saints will not Though other men haue not eyes to see nor minds to consider thy benefits but bury them in ignorance or oblivion yet thy own people will set forth thy praises and magnifie thy Name Hence we may clearly see how necessare is this duty of praise and thanksgiving Gods Worship standeth chiefly in this that we be not unthankefull unto him saieth holy August in his book of the spirit and latter chap. 11. when God first made the world he sequestred one day of every week as for his service so particularly for a thankfull remembrance of the benefit of Creation Under the law he appointed one day in the month to wit the first which was the feast of the new moone for a thankfull remembrance of the benefit of conservation of the world he ordained the feast of the passover for celebrating the benefit of bringing his people out of Egypt The feast of Pentecost for remembring the benefit of giving the Law The feast of Tabernacles for remembrance of protection in the wilderness and commanded that yearly the first fruits of the land should be offered to him be way of thanksgiving Thus under the law the duty of thanksgiving was most necessare and acceptable to God Under the gospel now I may say it is yet more necessar The proper sacrifice of ChristiaÌ„s is the sacrifice of praise thanksgiving every wher vehemently urged in the new Test Our blessed Lord did institute the blessed sacrameÌ„t of his body blood giving thanks and for this end that we may give thanks to God as for