seasonable to sing unto the Lord a new Song to praise him in a high and exalted strain especially upon so signal a manifestation of Mercy and Judgment as that was which we celebrate this Day It was once said of Claudian That he wanted Matter suitable to the excellency of his Wit But where is Wit and Eloquence worthy of this Subject Who can utter these mighty Works of the Lord Who can shew forth all his Praise None so well as our chief Musician whose Tongue was as the Pen of a ready Writer And we cannot do it better than in a Psalm of his composing We have seen in Scripture how they were wont to praise God with Songs and Hymns And besides David we have instanced in Moses and Miriam Deborah and Barak c. and may add Simeon and Anna. In the Christian Church after they had ended their Love-Feasts they began their Hymns which were either taken from the Scriptures or of their own composition Which Pliny takes notice of as of a great part nay as of the whole in a manner of their Worship that they did Secum invicem carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere That they joined together in singing a Psalm to Christ as their God And indeed it hath been the general and authorised practice of all Nations in all Times by composed Hymns and panegyrical Elogies to express their Gratitude for the Gifts of Nature and for the Benefits indulged by Providence And shall not this stir our Emulation and kindle our Sacrifices Shall not our Devotion keep pace with if not outgo theirs Shall we not feel our Transports in so affecting an Occasion and in this sense give thanks unto the Lord among the Heathen and sing Praises unto his Name Surely if we consider the necessity as well as the comeliness and expediency of the Duty the Admonitions of the Prophets as well as the Precepts of Philosophers and the Examples of both if we consider the greatness and imminency of the Danger and consequently the blessing of the Deliverance we shall not want our Hallelujahs we shall not want any incitement to or assistance in this Duty of Thanksgiving but as we have great reason to bless God so I hope we shall make our boasts of him all the Day long What a deluge of Confusion were these poor Nations running into How deep were the Discontents of the People How ready the Tinder of unsatisfied Spirits in all Parts to take Fire and break out into a devouring and irresistible Flame Which would soon have made this good Land that was before them like the Garden of Eden to have been behind them like a desolate Wilderness How near was the Glory departing from our Israel How near was the Crown falling from our Head and all our Happiness expiring with the Breath of our Nostrils We know not where the Rage and Cruelty of our Enemies would have stop'd We know not how many besides his Royal Brother should have fallen on the Right and on the left Hand of the King But we know it was resolved to follow the Blow at Majesty with a Massacre and that several Persons of Quality and Place the Magistrates of our Great City and Subjects every where of most eminent and tried Loyalty were designed for immediate slaughter If this Conspiracy had taken place we should not in all likelihood have been so much as a People or a very miserable People if any at all For it is not so many Heads of Men jumbled together but so many placed in a due subordination under Rule and Government that make a People a Body or Society of Men. The very Life and being of a Nation are the Laws and Ordinances of it whether Civil or Sacred The Civil to make it a Kingdom and the Sacred to make it a Church When those are at any time demolished or dissolved we cease to be either Nation or Church and you may write Lo-ammi upon it yea Lo-ruhamah Hos 1.8 9. no People nor yet no Pity And these were destined to speedy destruction with all their sure Supporters by the Men of Violence we have before described Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce Gen. 48.7 and their Wrath for it was cruel yea rather blessed be the most High God who hath delivered these Enemies into our Hand and strangled all their teeming Hopes between the Womb and the World Indeed the horror of the Mischief intended may a little chill the Mirth of this Days Thanksgiving and cause us to rejoice with trembling even at this our Deliverance Yet may we hope withal that that which damps the Blaze will continue the Burning that such Abatements will help to keep Life in our Joy and prolong if not perpetuate our Sacrifice of Praise Perhaps the contrivance of this Bloody and Barbarous Design was therefore permitted that the disappointment might be had in everlasting remembrance and celebrated as it is this Day It may be this was done that we might say no more The Lord liveth who hath delivered us from the Treason of pretended Catholicks but the Lord liveth who hath delivered us from the Tyranny and bloody Rage of wild Fanatical Enthusiasts How should such Considerations as these the Considerations of our great Dangers and our gracious Deliverances enlarge our Hearts fill our Mouths act our Lives with the Praises of the Lord What Memorials and Monuments and Ebenezers should we every where erect And how seasonably may we at this time take to our selves words The words of the Royal Prophet David Blessed be the Lord Psal 124.6 who hath not given us a Prey to their Teeth Psal 68.20 He is our God even the God of whom cometh Salvation God is the Lord by whom we escape Death God hath shewed us his Goodness plenteously and God hath let us see our Desire upon our Enemies And after these the words of the Courtly Prophet Isay in a way of holy Triumph over our Enemies Associate your selves O ye People and give ear Isa 8.9 10. O ye of all Nations or rather ye of the several Sects and Parties in this Nation Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together Plot Conspire and it shall come to nought speak the word appoint one Time and Place after another for the execution of your bloody Purposes and it shall not stand for God is with us And that our glorying may not be in vain it will concern us very much to add Real Thanks to our Verbal not only to offer Praise but to order our Conversations aright Our Thanks must not stay in Words and Instruments but proceed on to return of Affections and Actions It must be Actio Gratiarum a doing a working of Thanks as one speaks When David had represented the difficulty if not the impossibility of giving God due and full praise Psal 106.1 Who can shew forth all his praise He tells us vers 3. who come nearest doing so viz. they that keep
Judgment and he that doth Righteousness Tacitus speaking of certain words of Tiberius saith they were praeclara verba sed non pro Tiberio very excellent words if Tiberius had not spoken them The like may we say of Psalms and Forms of Thanksgiving in the Mouths of ungodly Men they are good in themselves but not graceful in them For Prov. 17.7 excellent Speech becometh not a Fool nor is praise comely for any but the Righteous And Tacitus hit upon the reason of this too Nec enim ad hanc formam caetera sunt His other Actions accord not with these but found forth God's Dispraise and Dishonour in a louder accent than this wherein his Tongue and Lips speak his praise Canticum novum vetus homo malè concordant I think it is St. Bernard's The singing of a new Song without the leading of a new Life is a most unpleasant Discord in our Gratitude All Men the worst of Men are bound indeed to praise God for his Mercies common and special It lieth upon them as a Duty but it belongs not to them as a Privilege Vnto they Wicked saith God What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy Mouth Psal 149.3 But Israel may rejoice in God Let them praise him in the Dance in the Dance as well as with the Song in their Ways and Walkings before God as well as with their Words unto him in the regular Motions of their Lives as well as with the Chantings of their Voice or the Melody of Timbrel or Harp for the Lord takes pleasure in his People and in their Services It is their Honour and their Priviledg to serve him and he is pleased to own it as his Glory to be served by them He that offereth Praise glorifieth me Psal 58. ult i. e. if his Praise be attended with a well-ordered Conversation We then thank God as we ought for his Goodness when we become good our selves when we serve him with the Mercies we receive from him and the mortifying of one Lust will give more glory to God than the singing of a thousand Psalms We extol and honour God indeed when we look upwards our selves when we mind heavenly Things when we walk in a way which is above to the Wise Or in St. Basil's Expression Hom. in Psal 29. p. 181. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when we discreetly pursue or hasten towards everlasting Happiness When we live up to the Principles of our Religion and give God the Worship and Homage belonging to his Majesty We make great shews when we assemble and meet together as we do this Day to render Thanks to Almighty God for the Benefits received at his Hands And if this were to be performed with words only with Hosannah's and Hallelujah's and Gloria Patri's and Psalms and Hymns peradventure we should do it well enough but in the mean time by our Lives and Actions we provoke the Almighty with all variety of Offences We do daily and hourly such things as we know are highly displeasing and odious to him But we may assure our selves these things will not only marr the Musick of our Thanksgiving but render our Deliverances as insignificant as our Praises Yea every Sin after such a Mercy as this hath a double Guilt the Guilt of Ingratitude as well as Disobedience and therefore threatneth us with new and greater Punishments and to bring us nearer if it may be to Ruin than we were before Seeing thou O God Ezra 9.13 hast given us such a Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no Remnant nor escaping I will therefore with St. Jude ver 5. put you in remembrance though ye once knew this how the Lord having saved the People out of the Land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them that believed not Never any People held their Happiness by a fairer Charter than Jerusalem yet their Sins forfeited their Privileges and defaced their Glory And though God speak concerning a Nation to build and to plant it if that Nation do evil in his sight he will repent of the good wherewith he aid he would benefit them Let us therefore I beseech you not only thankfully acknowledg but piously improve our Mercies lest our Sins provoke God to let loose our Enemies again upon us and suffer them to strike Home to execute their Malice and quench the Light of our Israel Let us not grow careless Isa 14.29 because the Rod of him that smote us is broken lest out of the Serpent's Root come forth a Cockatrice Much less let us rebel against him who hath subdued our Enemies and so fall by that very Hand of his which delivered us out of Theirs or rather destroy our selves after so miraculous a Rescue and Preservation We learn this from the Heathen Historian Livy Omnia prospera eveniunt colentibus Deos adversa spernentibus It shall go well with those that fear the Lord whilst those that despise him shall fall before him Valerius Maximus attributed the Prosperity and Flourishing of the Roman Empire Non mirum si pro eo Imperio augendo pettinax indulgentia Deorum excubuit quod tam scrupulosâ curâ parvula quoque momenta religionis examinare videretur to their great care and scrupulous exactness in every Part and Ceremony of their Religious Worship Hence Religion and the Fear of God is by Plato stiled the Defence of Power The Kings and the Peoples Life-Guard both And Plutarch tells us that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Band of all Society and that we may as easily build a City in the Air as settle and establish a Common-wealth where there is no Fear of God to support it And the Wise King Solomon who spoke by Divine Instruction assures us that it is not only the Strength and Safety but the Glory and Honour of a Kingdom Righteousness exalteth a Nation puts a Dignity and Excellency as well upon a People as upon Private Persons Yea the very Shadow thereof Deus ostendit praeclaro Romanorum Imperio quantum valerent virtutes Civiles etiam sine vera Religione Epist 5. ad Marcellin hath proved like St. Peter's Healing to a State For it was St. Austin's Observation of the fore-named ample and glorious Empire that God prospered it for their Civil Vertues though they had no True Religion Yea the Son of Syrach seems to attribute much to a Negative Holiness Ecclus 35.3 To depart from Wickedness is a thing pleasing to the Lord and to forsake Vnrighteousness is a Propitiation Now if the upholding of Civil Order and the Publick Restraint of the Extravagant Appetites and Lusts of Men be such an Honour and safety to a Nation How much more is the Profession of True Religion and the Practice of Real Righteousness If Hypocrites have their Reward How much more will David's Integrity and Uprightness preserve both
it He gave this resolute Answer to the King of Persia Si propter ista me denegaturum Christum putas ista denuo accipe If you think I value my Honours above Christ pray take them from me again We have another Instance not altogether unlike this in St. Basil The Emperor sent to him to subscribe the Arrian Heresy Theod. and ordered his Agent to treat him at first with fair and enticing Speeches and the promise of great Preferments which he did but to them the good Man replied Alas these are Arts to inveigle Children but we that are nourished and taught by the Holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand Deaths than to renounce one Article of our Creed And when he that dealt with him proceeded from Entreaties to Increpations and told him He was mad his meek return was Opto me in aeternum sic delirare God grant I may be always thus mad that neither Enmity nor Friendship Fears nor Hopes may move me or draw me off from bearing Testimony to the Truth of Jesus We do not we cannot confess to God aright if we are not as ready to own him and glory in him among his Enemies as among his Friends when the Profession and Practice of the True Religion of our Saviour shall bring us to taste of his bitter Cup and we shall be hated of all that is of the generality of Men for his Name 's sake for adhering to his Truths as they have been delivered in the Scriptures and taught in the best and purest Ages of the Church Then and not till then will it appear that we are acted by David's Spirit when we are ready to speak if need be of God's Testimonies even before Kings that oppose them and not be ashamed of them Then do we approve our selves the Servants and Worshippers of Daniel's God when we own him with the hazard nay with the certain loss of Reputation Liberty and utmost danger of Life it self This Constancy and Courage for the Truth was it which denominated those Heroick Christians of former Ages Confessors namely their taking up their Master's Cross and owning him among their Heathen Persecutors My Brethren through the infinite Patience and Goodness of God towards us who have deserved no such thing we have been delivered from our Blood-thirsty Enemies Papists and another sort of Men who have made use of the Protestant Name as a Cloak to secure them in opposing of the Protestant Cause and undermining the Established Religion And we are at present exempt from those Sufferings and Martyrdoms which in other Ages and in our own Country have been the Lot of God's most faithful Servants But alas we know not how soon our Heaven may overcast again and the Clouds follow after the Rain The great Fear is lest the Papists should imitate the True Protestant Policy and either pursue their Old or set on foot a New Plot in hopes that if it do or do not take they may leave it at other Mens Doors and as easily now make the World believe that it was a Phanatick Plot as the Phanaticks could hope to perswade us that theirs was a Popish One and so the latter end of our Fears and Troubles may prove worse than the beginning It will be the wisdom of our Piety in the midst of our Jubilees and Triumphs to prepare for new Dangers and Trials and to resolve That the God of our Mercies and Deliverances shall be our God in every Condition that his Rod as well as his Staff shall comfort us and that we will put our whole trust in him as well when he slays as when he saves us This God shall be our God for ever and ever he shall be our Guide even unto death And this minds me of a Third Particular in this our Confessing and Acknowledging of God's Almighty Goodness in our Deliverance and that is Dependance upon him for relief and rescue in the like distress Let not our Courage sink our Spirits be disquieted or dejected with misboding Apprehensions of Future Evils but let us humbly trust in his continued Aid who hath been our present help in Trouble considering that Donando debet as St. Cyprian speaks God's past Blessings and Deliverances if we make a good use of them are Pawns and Engagements of Future I say if we make a due return for them and a right improvement of them Which brings me to the upshot of all the main Duty of my Text and of this Day especially II. The speaking singing living of Praises unto the Name of our God What we have spoken already concerning Confession unto God may denote a serious and wise consideration of his doings towards and dealings with us and some more silent shews of our Gratitude in our adherence to him and affiance in him I am now to speak of the Solemn Proclamations of his Greatness and Goodness which we are to make with the Voice of Thanksgiving When we have exercised our observing Faculty in regarding the Works of the Lord we must employ our Mouths to express the Thanks of our Minds and make known his Faithfulness to all Generations St. Basil in Psal 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Action must follow Contemplation in our Case And when we have considered the Operation of God's Hand our Mouth must praise him with joyful Lips not concealing his loving-kindness and his Truth from the great Congregation We must employ the best Organ we have our Tongue which the Royal Psalmist stiles our Glory in this best this heavenly this glorious Service of Praise And indeed if a grateful Affection live in our Hearts it will proceed forth of our Lips there will be a Conspiracy and faithful Correspondency between our Mind and our Tongue if the one be sensible the other will not be silent We shall talk of his loving-kindness in the Morning and of his faithfulness every Night uttering abundantly the memory of his great Goodness and singing of his Righteousness making known to the Sons of Men his mighty Acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom according to the Expressions of our sweet singer in sundry places Acknowledgments of the Divine Goodness and solemn Testifications of our thankful sense thereof how indisposed and averse soever our sluggish Minds are thereunto was always and ever will be the principal and most noble part of all Religion immediatly addressed to God It is the only Heavenly Work that can be done upon Earth the only joyful Employment which shall last to all Eternity and which should ever wait for God in Sion and upon all occasions be exercised here in the Assemblies of the Faithful When the ordinary effects of the Divine Providence do in any advantageous manner present themselves to our view when we peruse the Volumes of Story and therein observe the various Events of humane Actions especially the seasonable Rewards of Vertue the notable Protection and Deliverance of Innocence and the deserved Punishments of malicious Wickedness Then is it