brings them to Glory even by such unlikely wayes He will have them to be train'd up with difficulties to strive and to wrestle with them that so their Fervour may shame the coldness and indifference of others who take no pains for their Salvation He will have them to go laden under the sense of their Corruptions that so finding their daily need of Christ they may still remember him who is their help and finding so much guilt in themselves they may apply themselves to his unspotted Righteousness for Justification and to his Word and Spirit for new degrees of Holiness that they may have experience of his Goodness and he of their Obedience and Love that they may know the Loving-kindness the Care and the Wisdom of that God that Pilots their Ship when it is covered with waves and stormes for stormes are the Triumph of his Art and he steers even the sinking Vessel to the Port. Secondly By being brought from the Grave a Man may be enabled to do much good to himself as well as to others that so he may at last with joy give an account of his Stewardship that he may increase his own reward and by Gods Grace make his Crown of Happiness more sparkling and more full of weighty Glory As no man ought to be satisfied with the lowest degrees of grace so every one may and ought by an Innocent Ambition and a multitude of good Works to indeavour to sit near to the Throne and not only to save himself but to carry others with him to heaven that may be his Joy and his Crown in that Day Reason 6. and Lastly There are several circumstances that may enlarge the kindness of being brought from the Grave and which ought to render us more thankfull for it Those that are good may have their iniquities visited with stripes and it cannot but be a terrible thing to fear that they shall be snatcht away whilest they are punisht with the rods which their own Sins have made As the Prophet was devoured by a Lion for his Disobedience to the command of God 1 King 13. 21. It is a great Mercy to live to see the good of his Chosen and it is a punishment to be taken away just when some great deliverance is coming to the Church It was a thing which Moses greatly desired to see the Promised Land and to go thither to see it indeed was granted him but to enjoy it was denied him because of the provocation at the Rock It is a Misery to see Plenty for others and not to taste thereof our selves like that Lord of Samaria who perished for his unbelief 2 King 7. 2. 17. 18. It is a great Mercy to be delivered after we have been afflicted and ready to dye when the terrors of God have amazed us and his fierce wrath has gone over us Psal. 88. 15. How sad a thing is it to dye under a sense of the weight of sin and to have no prospect of a Pardon to feel as it were the very scorching flames of Hell and to have no hope that these will ever be cool'd or remov'd but rather grow more hot and scorching to have no Comfort from Heaven or Earth no rest for the Body no composure for the Soul to be sinking and to have nothing to lay hold upon to stand shivering on the brink of destruction and to see no way of escape to be compassed in with sin behind and with Miseries before to be in darkness and to see no light not to know where our Lot will be fixt not to know but that it may be among the damned To be near to the Judgment Seat of Christ and to be afraid of appearing there This is a state in which no man would chuse to dye for it is inexpressably terrible and it is a most wonderful mercy to be delivered from a Case so sad as this For how uncomfortable is it to a mans self to be roaring in the disquietness of his soul not to be able to live because of the insupportableness of his Pain nor to dare to dye because of the greatness of his sins that are always before him and that are like to lye down with him in the dust How uncomfortable is it to the Relations and Friends of the sick and dying that see him strugling and crying under pains which tear him to pieces How uncomfortable is it to them to hear his doleful Expressions about his Eternal state to see the anguish of his soul and the arrows of the Almighty sticking in it which makes him a terror to himself and to those that are round about him How woful a thing is this and if a man get to Heaven at last by the mighty Grace of God yet it is a thing very undesireable to go thither as by the very gates of Hell for a man to have his days shortned and his strength weakned in the way Psal 102. 23. and to have his Sun go down at noon looks like the displeasure of God and no man would dye by the frown of God A man cannot be blamed who is loth to dye till he save some Hope that it shall go well with him for ever 'T is a sore Evil to be thrown aside as a broken vessel in which there is no pleasure Jer. 22. 28. It is a great mercy to be kept from raging violent distempers and to be deliver'd from such after we have long groaned under them It is a great Mercy to have such a sickness as will allow us time to exhort and direct and counsel others and 't is very desireable that we may by a Christian Carriage set our Seal to Religion and shew its Power and Reality 'T is a most glorious thing to dye in the Lord i. e. as one Paraphrases it in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit of Faith and Love in a Spirit of Elevation towards God which makes the dying believer to go towards Heaven with all his force and like his Saviour commit his soul with joy into the hands of his heavenly Father Du Bosc Sermons p. 354. We ought to pray that we may not be like the wicked in our death and that we may be found of our Lord in peace and that we may say with old Simeon when after long expectation he saw the Messiah and embraced him in his arms Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luk. 2. 29 30. This we may beg of God for it is not only for our happiness but for his Glory when we can trust him tho' we go into a state which he has promis'd indeed but which we never saw What a glorious thing is it when we are drawing near to the end of Life to be able to wait and not only to wait but to long not only to believe and hope but to rejoyce and triumph in the thought of seeing God To give to those that
PRACTICAL DISCOURSES ON Sickness Recovery IN Several SERMONS As they were lately preached in a Congregation in London BY TIMOTHY ROGERS M. A. After his Recovery from a Sickness of near two years continuance LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower End of Cheapside Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard and John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey MDCXCI To the Right Worshipful Sr. WILLIAM ASHURST AND Sr. THOMAS LANE Knights And Aldermen of the City of London Most Honoured AFter I had once resolved to let the following Discourses see the Light in hope that they might be some way serviceable to the Glory of God and the Good of Men especially of the Sick or such as are recovered I had no doubtful Thoughts to whom they should be address'd You were the Persons that I first thought upon and it is to You that I am obliged in a more than ordinary manner Therefore I take this occasion to make my Acknowledgments and to testify my Gratitude It was from your Kindness that in troubled and uneasy Times I did obtain many a pleasant and quiet Retreat In both your Houses in the Country I always met with a chearful Entertainment and had there an opportunity of Study which together with the benefit of your Conversation and a leisure to think without being diverted by the noise and burry of the disagreeing World made me to relish a very sensible Delight in being there It is to me and others a thing very observable that the Honours which you have received both from the King and your Fellow-Citizens have made no Alteration in your former ingaging Tempers and Carriage You are still as free as pleasant and as affable to your meaner Friends as you were before Whereas we daily see many Persons whom a little Honour or Advancement changes from all the good Qualities they once possess'd to Loftiness and Pride whom an high Station fills with as high Thoughts and who cannot from their more exalted Condition look upon such as are below them without Contempt and Scorn And tho this may not cause them to lose some outward Civilities from those that are dazled with their shining Grandure yet they do thereby lose all that Reverence and Esteem in the Minds of Men which other wise they might expect You are for the great Zeal you have manifested to the Good of your Country and more especially to the Liberties and Priviledges of this City justly beloved and the more so because you were always steadily resolved to promote the true Interest of both even in such a Season when some that had either no English Blood in their Veins or no true Love to their Country in their Hearts were willing easily to part with those excellent Rights which cost their Forefathers very dear who were in some sense worse than Esau for he sold his Birthright but they were willing to surrender and to give theirs away for nothing It comforts us when from our low Ground we look up to your higher Sphere and see you so well to fill your Orbs with Light And we daily pray that you may long shine there for the Common Good and that we may long be refresh'd with those Influences which have already been so comfortable to us You have now through the Providence of God an honourable Station but before that you were most honorably descended You derived your Birth not only from Families that had done worthily in Ephratah and were famous in Bethlehem but from such as were the Friends of God of a strict Piety and of an unblamable Religion some of which are now Citizens of a better Corporation even of that which is in Heaven What a Comfort is it to the Children of good Parents that they can pray to their Fathers and their Mothers God In Yours you have beheld the Amiableness of Religion represented to the Life in their good Example and the Holiness of their Conversation You may fire your Souls if at any time they begin to cool by the pleasant remembrance of that which they did for God You can remember with what Constancy and Fervour they prayed with what Reverence they read the Word and heard it preach'd with what Seriousness and Frequency they spoke to you of heavenly Things and of the Life to come with what watchfulness they managed their Prosperity with what Patience they bore Afflictions with what Meekness they forgave their Enemies with what Readiness they entertained all those whom they judged sincerely to name the Name of Christ. You see those who are yet alive worshipping and serving God and you can though not without sorrow for your own loss remember those who are dead and gone with what Faith they lived and with what Hope they died Give me leave humbly to desire you to continue to set often before your Eyes their heavenly Example and to keep the same good Order in your Families that they kept and to read the Scriptures with as much Frequency and Seriousness as they read them to be as conscientious in all the Duties of Religion as they were that so They and You may meet with Joy in the Great Day The Thoughts of Death as it is an Entrance into an Unalterable and Eternal State will very much promote all this It will help us to have our most delightful Conversation with those Persons with whom we desire and hope to be found when our Lord comes It will regulate our use of lawful Things and guide us in the management of our Pleasures and our Recreations it will keep both our Bodies and our Souls in a readiness for private Prayer the serious and reverent and lively performance of which will greatly promote our Growth in Gracê We give to our Friends large Portions of our Time every day and we should devote some part of it to converse with God and that not in a cold manner but endeavour to warm our Souls with a deep sense of our Wants and with some suitable foregoing Meditations This is that Duty to which you are no Strangers and You and all others that are in earnest for your Souls will preserve this as a strong Defence against all your spiritual Enemies and the manifold Snares and Temptations of the World for it brings to our Assistance the Help of God and of our blessed Redeemer There is no Pleasure that we have in our Friends or in our Diversions that is comparable to that Joy which an holy Soul finds in its humble and reverent Approaches to the Throne of Grace where God and the Soul meet together where God by his Spirit kindles heavenly Desires and where the Soul upon the Wings of those Desires takes its flight from this lower World when the Soul complains of the burden of Sin and God by his free and gracious Pardon takes the Burden off when the Soul pants and breaths for the living God and he is pleas'd to meet and to satisfy the
meet with Joy It will be a welcom day indeed when their Looks their Expressions their Carriage will all be changed for the better There will be no appearance of any thing that is dismal and grievous and it will be more welcom to us because we and our friends so suitable so loving and so perfect shall never part again Oh what a comfortable thought is this Oh what will our praises be when we are there where there will be no more sickness no more death for ever We shall behold what we were in our Mortal State how vain and how short-lived and what we are when we are made Immortal There will be no more restless and weary dayes nor nights as restless as the day not a sigh nor a groan will be heard in all the blessed place above What would one that is in great pain give for ease most readily would he give all he has in the World but upon our first entrance into that Land of pleasure and of health all our Diseases will be cured and so fully cured that we shall never Relapse nor be diseased again There will be no pain This to those that are at ease may seem a little part of Heaven but to those of us that have been in long and terrible sickness 't is a very sweet and reviving Consideration In this World one affliction is scarce past till another comes usually there is breach upon breach and a new sorrow treads upon the heels of the old one as one wave upon another We have scarcely dryed our eyes for one loss but another comes that will make us weep again but in the Heaven which we hope for there is no Language but that of Praise Here we are alwayes either bewailing our own Miseries or those of our Friends and Neighbours but there it will not be so God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21. 4. Oh what a joy will it be to us to be past death that is so terrible and to be for ever past it The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with sons and everlasting joy upon their heads tĥey shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Isa. 35. 10. We praise God indeed here and we have Cause to praise him but our Victories are not so compleat as to make a perfect Triumph we have one great Battel yet to fight and one great Gulph to shoot and a dark and a solitary way to go This is that which is grievous to our thoughts but oh what a joy will it be to us when we are past death and have dyed well who can express the mighty pleasure of it When the deliver'd Soul can say I that have been so furiously tempted so violently assaulted so siercely shaken by the blast of the terrible one shall be so no more all the Rage of Satan shall not come near me nor give me an unquiet thought for ever And I that griev'd and was disconsolate with tedious and uncommon pain shall never droop nor languish any more What a reviving prospect will it be when we stand on the other side of the Grave when the terrible forerunners of Death and Death it self shall be no more Then we may say indeed Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory What consternation fear and perplexity fill'd the hearts of the poor Israelites when they were going out of Egypt when they were environed with rocks with their Enemies behind and with the Sea before They were in great trouble and knew not what to do But how different were their looks and Apprehensions when they beheld the Sea to give way and by an unheard of Miracle stand as a Wall on either hand till they past thorough How delightful was it to them when they were on the firm Land to see those very Enemies that Pharaoh and those Cruel Masters that had for so many years kept them in cruel bondage to find a grave in that Element which yielded and made a way for them Exod. 15. 1 2. So will it be with us when we shall see all our diseases all our Fears all our Temptations all our sinking thoughts to be destroy'd for ever The day of our death that will convey us to the blessed State will be better to us then the day of our birth that brought us into such an evil World as this Our Eyes will then no more behold grievous objects our Ears will no more hear any sad or doleful news Here we have many National and Personal Deliverances but alass we sin again and so bring upon our selves new Judgements But there which every sincere Soul reckons to be a great part of Heaven we shall sin no more for ever I that am now speaking come to you as from the Grave and can give you an account of Pain and Sickness but am not able to give you so distinct an Account of the Holy Cheerful Employment that is above But if one were to come to you from Heaven if he were but enabled to tell what he felt and your Capacities enlarged to understand the pleasing Narrative how would your glad hearts melt with an Admiring Joy and your Souls be raised to Praise and Wonder they will be much more raised and more joyful when you have your compleat and final Deliverance Then you shall say with those in Rev. 5. 12 13. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing And again Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever The End of the Second Sermon The Third SERMON PSAL. 30. ver 3 4. O Lord thou hast brought up my Soul from the Grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the Pit Sing unto the Lord O ye Saints of his and give Thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness IF Deliverance from the Grave be so great a Mercy and for which we ought to be very thankful what cause have they to be thankful that are delivered from a Death in Sin As the Soul is much better than the Body so the Mercies that are bestowed upon it are much more valuable and without this spiritual Resurrection temporal Deliverance and Salvation would not be so great a Mercy A Soul under the Dominion and reigning Power of Sin is in a far more deplorable Condition than a Body that is consuming in the Grave the one suffers under a sort of innocent Misery which it cannot help the other suffers under a wilful Obstinacy and Impotence contracted by its own fault How sad a prospect is it to see Men far from God in whom alone there is Life a Separation from whom is far more terrible than the
cause to upbraid us as he did his Disciples Why are ye afraid O ye of little Faith But this will be most inexcusable in us whom God hath brought to the very grave and back again The remembrance and experience of so great a Mercy should for ever preserve us from the least distrust of our Benefactor Psal. 56. 13. Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before thee in the Land of the Living Psal. 23. 6. Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life Psal. 63. 7. Because thou hast been my help therefore in the shadow of thy Wings will I rejoice Psal. 71. 20. Fifthly Preserve those serious Thoughts now which you then had when you were near unto the Grave What a cold damp did the sight of death bring upon all our former joys What a low and contemptible thing did this so much adored World seem to be when we were just about to leave it How little charming then were all its gayest Smiles and how little terrible all its frowning Threats There did not appear then to be any thing that was enticing in a great Name and Reputation in pompous Honours or in vast Treasures We saw then that all our fellow Creatures and all that we our selves are apt to doat upon was very vanity All the Contentments and Satisfactions of our Appetites and all the Pleasures that we had ever taken in eating or drinking in our Travels or in our Recreations did all pass away like a Vision in the night Then we saw indeed the great worth of Faith and Patience and Self-denial and a Conquest of this World Then we could heartily wish that instead of all the vain Books we read we had more delighted in the Book of God That instead of all our unprofitable knowledge we had known Christ and him crucified That instead of all our Contrivances for this Body and the present state we had spent all our strength and our whole vigor to get Heaven and Eternal Life Then we were apt to say Oh that we had heard his Word with more attention whilst we had our day and whilst the joyful voice was sounding in our ears Oh that we had prayed in our Closets with more fervour whilst God called us to seek his Face Oh that we had bewailed our Sins with a more sincere and hearty Sorrow when we were called to the Duties of Repentance and Humiliation Let us do all those things now which we then wisht we had done Let it for ever dash all our confident and foolish Projects for this World remembring how by a sudden stroak all our Purposes were broke asunder Let us not trust too much in mortal Men for we can remember the time when as to us all the help of Man was vain Let us now prize all those divine Truths embrace those Promises and fear those threats which we then saw to be very true What did we then think of time when our glass was even running out and our day covered with the shadows of the night There was nothing in all the World that did appear to be of so great a value let us now prize it at the rate we then did What Company was it which we then most admired Whom did we esteem the most excellent and happy People Were they those that trample on the Laws of God that prophane his Sabbaoths that scorn his Word that defie his Threats and dare venture to go to an Eternal Hell or those that are afraid to sin that season their Entertainments with Spiritual Discourse that are sober in their Lives fervent in their Prayers conscientious in all their Dealings and that are going to Sion with their faces thither Surely these were the Men that we call'd Blessed and these are the Persons to whom we should now joyn our selves and have the most delightful Conversation and the greatest Familiarity Sixthly Perform all those things now which in your Distress you you resolved to do if God would but bring you from the Grave Psal. 116 13 14. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people When a Man seems to be just entring into Eternity then 't is a common thing to say If God would but give me another Trial if he will but save my Life and give me another year and another day of Grace I will amend my ways and serve him more and be better than ever I was When we have not enjoyed those opportunities that we now do have we not said within our selves If God will trust us again with his Gospel and the priviledges of his open Sanctuary we will acknowledge his Goodness and be more fruitful It concerns us to see that the Resolutions that were form'd in our Hearts in the day of our distress do not expire with our departing Trouble In Sickness and the Neighbourhood of Death Sin does appear to be quite another thing than we took it to be in the time of our careless Health its Aspect then is very formidable and its Wounds very deep In whatsoever disguise it may come to us hereafter let us in the fear of God and by his Grace couragiously resist it for it is the worst of Enemies and when it wraps it self in false and alluring colours let us remember what an hideous and frightful Look it had when Sickness took the mask away Let it still appear as an odious and abominable thing to us When we were near to Death what Seriousness what Zeal what Holiness did we then vow to God Was not this our Language If I may have but a few more Talents bestowed upon me I will emprove them better than I did before I will hear his Word with more Reverence and read it with more Care I will with more frequency and impartiality it search and try my own Soul Now the time is come that you wish'd for Let it appear that your serious resolutions were not the fruits of Fear but of Love Let not our sense of God and of Eternity decline as our Troubles wear away God will not be mockt He will observe and punish our hypocritical Intentions if all that we promise him in our Distresses prove but as Chaff before the Wind and as the Dew of Morning which is exhaled and scattered with the Rising Sun God has losed our Bonds but it is that we may be tied faster to himself Let us shine with as great a brightness as we hoped to do and said we would if God would but recruit our dying Lamp and pour in fresh Oyl again Oh let us now improve our Time as we then intended to improve it and let us among our other expences remember that we are then most prodigal when we waste this Treasure and that we give our Friends and Companions too much when we give them a great deal
the constant meekness and quietness of his Spirit contributed very much It was Mr. Burroughs his Opinion that Mr. Dod was the meekest Man upon the Earth in his time and speaking of him as then alive he says He is about fourscore and ten years old and lately preached twice every Lords-day and the constant health of his Body was such that he was able to continue heavenly discourse till midnight from day to day and to Preach all the day long his Spirit not failing at all And thus by keeping the constant frame of his Spirit he was hardly known to be in any Distemper of Spirit See Burroughs Serm. on Matth. xi l. 2. p. 358. Thirdly That we may not provoke God to cut us off our Lives must be laid out for his Glory If we live to our selves he may well throw us aside as a broken Vessel wherein he has no pleasure Which of us would suffer a barren and unfruitful Tree to Cumber the Ground for many years And do we think that his Patience will always let us alone and not after it has been the witness of our Idleness turn to Fury and cut us down If we do nothing for him and his Glory how can we expect that his Creatures should give us nourishment and strength that his Earth should bear us and his Sun shine upon us How can we ask our daily Bread from our most gracious Master if we lay not out the refreshment we receive from it in his own Service Which of you would keep a Servant in your Family and give him all necessary Accommodations and yet be content to see none of your Work done Would you not with Anger turn him off And do we deserve better usage at the hands of God Would we have him to spread our Table and to fill our Cup that we may sin against him What Prince is there that would give money from his Treasures to carry on a War against his own Crown or to support a Rebel If we oppose our Creator or forget him 't is no wonder if he throw us out of the câ—re of his Providence 't is no wonder if his Justice deprive us of a Life which we so vainly spend And indeed when we consider how little we do for that God who has done so much for us every one of us may lay his hand upon his breast and say Lord be merciful to me a sinner for I deserve to dye Whatever care and temperance we use in our Dyet our Exercises or our Recreations yet if we be unprofitable Servants he may be provoked to give us our last Summons and say Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward With what face can we pray to God to keep us from sudden Death and to prolong our Lives when the Language of our former Actions will declare this to be the sense of our prayers Lord give me a longer Life and I will sin against thee more And is that a frame that becomes a Creature and a Sinner to his great Creator and final Judge It may cause God to say It repent's me that I have made such a man whole and that I have brought him from the Grave Thirdly Live much in a little time 'T is no great matter if we arrive safe to Heaven tho we do not live so many years in the Body as others may attain to tho we lose the sight of the Sun Moon and Stars yet the first sight of the Face of God will make amends for that and all our other losses Let us therefore rouze up our selves let us cast off all our former sloath let us contend and strive with all our force with all the powers of our Souls that we may enter in at the strait gate and lay hold on Eternal Lise It is for Heaven and Salvation and methinks the very name of such a place and state should set our Souls on fire it should enflame our desires and quicken our diligence and raise our hopes Let us run with as hasty a pace as ever we can let us not stay to listen to the charms or pleasures of the World Let no Frowns discourage us no Difficulties startle us no Dangers keep us back 't is for a Crown of Glory Let us keep that in our Eye and let us consider who are the Spectators of our Race God looks on to help us here and to reward us at the last Angels applaud us the Saints on Earth pray for us and the World will admire us though our Diligence will condemn their Sloth How busie and how unwearied is the Devil for our Ruin and shall we shrink at any Labor when we have the advantage of that evil Spirit What he does is with Envy against us and with rage against God But we have hope and tho we toil to the very Evening and Conclusion of our Day we have a Master that will reward us very well How solicitous and how careful are Men for the Affairs of this present Life and shall not we be as much solicitous for those of the Life to come How will they rise early and sit up late for a good Bargain or a little Profit and shall not we do as much to save our Souls for ever Oh let us suffer no day to go over our Heads wherein we are not more watchful and circumspect in our Actions more fervent in our Prayers more concern'd for the Welfare of our Neighbour and our own than we were the day before Let us now do as much in a Week as we did before in a Month and as much in a Day as we have done in a Week before Let us indeavour to have more Light in our Understandings more Love in our Wills and a greater and more universal Warmth in our Affections Let us that have been sick consider what an interruption that Sickness has made in our Life When our sorrowful Months were upon the account of those Sorrows to us Months of Vanity wherein we were not able to pursue the true ends and business of Life Let us fill up the vacant space with an after Diligence And seeing our great Work in the World has had so long a stand Let us now fall upon it with a fresh Vigor and we may by running faster and by the Grace of God overtake some of our Fellow Christians that are at present a great way before us and who are many Paces before us on the way to Glory We have it may be formerly done some small service for Christ but now we must do more than we ever did When we have obtained so many Blessings at his Hands it would be inexcusable if we had not a Mouth to acknowledge his Goodness and an Heart to love him a Mouth to speak for him and for his Glory upon all occasions and an Heart to admire and depend upon his Promise We have done too little for him that has done so much for us Let the consideration of this
himself who in the night that he was betrayed was providing a Feast of Comfort for his poor Followers Fourthly T is very delightful to God when his Servants after the receipt of Mercies joyn their praises together If we had no experiences of his Goodness to us yet so excellent are the Perfections of his Nature that we ought even then to praise him much more when he is so kind to us who have deserved nothing He is pleased with with that homage which we give him by our Prayers and our hearing of the Word and when two or three are gathered together he is there It will also please him to see our Hearts and our Mouths full of Thanks for to this very purpose he gives his Blessings to us and it is grateful to him to see that they are not lost upon us As it is pleasant to an Husband-man to see a seasonable Harvest and that his Labour and Pains have not been in vain When there is a Consort of Musick there is the greatest Harmony and when a whole Assembly of sincere Christians joyn their Voices and their Hearts together with what a delightful sound do they go up before the Throne of God For as one observes the blessing and acceptance that Religion receives from the Divine Majesty is much greater for the publickness of it even in this sense two are better than one for they have a good reward for their labour In this sense their complicated services are more forcible their threefold Cord is not easily broken Not that God is prevailed upon to any change in himself or his Government by the services of his Creatures though in a multitude but he is pleased to found the occasions and opportunities of his most bountiful recompences in the drawing near of their greater numbers For as when God was pleased to communicate himself more freely he did it to a multitude of Creatures so he delights in receiving back the glory of having thus communicated himself from a multitude also and as there is more of himself in more of his Creatures whether of several sorts or of the same so there is more of his blessing in their approaches to him Whole Duty of Nations p. 9. What does the Great God obtain by all his Acts of Bounty to his Creatures but a Revenue of praise what other end does he design in all his Mercies therefore we should be most willing to pay him this easie Tribute Oh how pleasant is it to come into the house of God with the voice of joy and praise and with a multitude that keep holy day Psal. 42. 4. Private prayer does not honour him so much as publick this therefore as the now mentioned person expresses it it was the Policy of Nineveh's natural Religion to unite their Force in Humiliation Fasting and Prayer and to take advantage of joyning the mute desires of the Beasts that have a voice in the Ears of God Abraham's Servant made the Camels kneel down while he prayed to God And it was as he further observes Davids Art to gather up all the Praises even of the lowest of the Creatures that could so meanly give them and inspiring them with his own Reason made them as it were to follow his Harp and to unite in his own Halleluiahs Thus he served himself of them that making by them a greater Present of glory to God he might receive the greater Blessing from him We ought to be as eloquent in the numbring of our Mercies as we are in the compution of our Sorrows and our Praises ought to be as loud or rather louder than our Groans And yet alass how rare a thing is this mutual praise And it may be as a sign of it that so many desire Funeral Sermons to be preached for their departed Friends and few desire any Sermons for their own Recovery from Sickness and Death or for their Friends upon the like occasions 'T is strange that we should be more ready to mourn than to rejoyce and that our Sorrows should be more passionate and fluent than our joys that we are more enclined to bewail our Losses than to be glad for our Mercies especially when one has the advantage of pleasure on its side which the other has not we always meet and mingle our Tears together when our Friends are to be laid into the Grave and we should as solemnly meet when any of our Friends have been nigh unto Death and have escaped it that for so great a Mercy we may return to God our Common Praise Fifthly This mutual praising of God is a resemblance of Heaven In doing this we are beginning that blessed Work which we hope to be employed in for ever We poor Sinners here below are then something like to those Holy Souls that are above Will it not be a great part of Heaven to admire and adore and praise God for all his Deliverances granted to us to his Church and our fellow Saints There will be a common Joy and an Union of Praises for all his Mercies from the beginning to the conclusion of the World And then all the Myriads of his Elect being safely gathered into his own Kingdom shall keep a Thanksgiving-day and that Day shall be for ever It is to that pleasant and chearful Country that we at length hope to go Let us use our selves now to the Language of the Place and learn betimes to Sing the Songs of Sion Let us raise our Voices as high as ever we can in the Praises of our God and then knowing how unsuitable our highest Elevations are to his Excellent and Glorious Majesty let us long to joyn with Glorified Spirits in their louder and sweeter Hymns and being sensible of our own Weakness we may call to the blessed Angels to all Beings that are in Heaven or on the Earth in the Air or in the Seas to help us to praise the Lord. As we have the Example of David in sevèral Psalms and in the 103. 20 21 22. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word Bless ye the Lord all ye his Hosts ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominions bless the Lord O my Soul The Conclusion of the Whole AND now to finish what I design to say from these Words Having been delivered from a long and severe Sickness I would most earnestly beg of you all to help me to praise the Lord for his great Goodness and Mercy to me Long I was upon the very brink of the Grave and nothing in this World could ease my Pain or mitigate my Sorrows God himself hath wrought Salvation for me And 't is for your sakes as well as mine own that you may see an instance of his mighty Power and Goodness who as he hath delivered me can also deliver you when you come to Straits and Difficulties I heartily wish that seeing my