ENGLANDS THANKFVLNESSE OR AN HVMBLE REMEMBRANCE Presented to the COMMITTEE for Religion in the High Court of Parliament with Thanksgiving for that happy Pacification betweene the two KINGDOMES By a faithfull Well-wisher to this Church and Nation Wherein are summarily discovered A maine and most subtile Plot of the Pope and his Conclave against Protestancy Their true Method and Policy how to undermine the same The best and principall meanes of re-establishing the Palatin House and preserving all Evangelicall Churches As likewise Three speciall Instruments of the publike good in the wayes of Religion Learning and the preparatives for the Conversion of the Jewes LONDON Printed for Michael Sparke Senior dwelling in Green-Arbour at the signe of the blew Bible 1642. ENGLANDS THANKFVLNESSE Right Honourable WHen I consider what the Blessings are which God hath of late bestowed upon this Nation the end wherefore he giveth such things the duty of thankfulnesse due unto him for the same and the present occasion offered by his providence which calleth upon every one of us but chiefly upon you to discharge this Duty I cannot containe my selfe but needs must use with all dutifulnesse and humility this freedome which I take to put you in Remembrance of that which highly doth concerne your farther settlement in a safe prosperous and peaceable condition which as from my heart I truly wish unto you so I daily pray for it unto Almighty God Give me leave then because I have beene and will not cease to be instant to call upon him on your behalfe to call also upon you on his behalfe that you may be moved to call upon the rest of the Elders of this your Israel to the end that some joynt purpose and resolution may be taken how to answer the mercifull calling of your heavenly Father by making use of the occasions offered unto you in this acceptable day of his kind visitation You know that the Blessings bestowed upon this Nation are of no lesse worth then is their spirituall temporall life and liberty and all the comforts belonging to the same We see that the Gospel of Christ was in a manner lost but now is found again The Liberty thereof was wholly suppressed but now is enlarged more then ever The Gates of the Kingdome of Heaven were shut towards the State but are now set wide open and all the comforts and liberties of this present life which no man enjoyeth freely or could promise to himselfe hereafter in this Kingdome any more are now miraculously by the free mercie of God restored unto every one and will be as we hope transmitted unto our posterity and continue many ages so that whereas a little while ago we were in confusion and disorder now suddenly we find all composed in a comfortable condition whereas we were all in wofull distresse and anxiety for the sense of evils present and in dreadfull expectation of worse things to come now we find our minds refreshed and our spirits free from troublesome apprehensions and our mouths filled with laughter whereas we had all as it were received the sentence of death within our selves like a people given over and that by our selves to worke our owne destruction yet now behold we live and instead of desolation the breaches of old are repaired in stead of confusion the foundations are laid for many Generations to build upon and in stead of feare a great doore of hope is opened to us that we shall be firmly and fully setled in all abundance of peace and truth when by your wisdome the abuse of our Christian Liberty in some matters of consequence shall be taken away lest in many other things by little and little it may turne into a licentious dissolution of all true Government Now I beseech you consider first if any greater Blessings then these can be named And then if ever blessings were more seasonably more unexpectedly more acceptably and perfectly bestowed upon any Nation then these are upon us But this is not all for as the end in all things is better and more to be regarded then the meanes so in these blessings the perfection of their excellencie is the unspeakable goodnesse of Gods aime in giving them unto us For God is the onely good he can aime at nothing but at himselfe and himselfe his chiefe aime is the manifestation of the glory of his good will to mankind in Iesus Christ Therefore I conclude that his end in powring forth such great streames of Blessings upon you is to impart himselfe wholly unto you and to cause the glory of his goodnesse to shine forth powerfully in you and over you through the Love which he beareth unto you in Jesus Christ He doth intend then that the world should perceive that there is verily a God in Heaven who ruleth over all That this God doth see the actions of all men and considereth their thoughts that he laugheth to scorne the counsels of the wise and taketh the crafty in their owne devices that he executeth justice and judgement in the whole earth against the wicked and sheweth abundantly his loving kindnesse towards those that feare him and hope in his mercy That he is a God that can make at one instant all the enemies of the Gospel to lick the dust like Serpents That he is a God that readily pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his inheritage That he doth all this for his owne name sake lest it should bee prophaned amongst the Heathen That he doth it to uphold the Kingdome of his Sonne in the Church of his election and that he would have the world to take notice that he who doth all this is our God in doing all these things for us and consequently that wee are his people even a chosen Generation called to be his servants to propagate unto all the world the glorious goodnesse of his Kingdome This then is your great felicity and glory at this time that by the meanes of your deliverance you have a Call from God to impart unto others the knowledge of the perfect and acceptable will of God towards the children of his Kingdome that all may find and tast with you through the communion of Saints the unutterable sweetnesse of his love and his truth of his faithfulnesse and of all his gracious goodnesse From whence it may easily be gathered what the duties are which in thankfulnesse you owe unto him For that which wee know he will have us to intend in the worke of his service that is our duty to resolve upon and take in hand Now if we are not altogether destitute of the life of God we must needs know find and feele in conscience that he will have us to intend to shew our selves his servants that is to say to dedicate our selves wholly unto him So that from henceforth we should not any more live as private men of this world unto our selves but should offer our selves by all rationall endeavours as a living
your selves if ever you should be profitable unto your selves or truly thankfull unto God for all his benefits at this time bestowed upon you For as God is not the God of one man alone but of all so he giveth not his gifts unto any one in particular but by every one unto all Thus also he is not the God of one Church People or State alone but of all and therefore when he giveth unto any Church State or Nation extraordinary Blessings and Deliverances he doth it not that they should enjoy the same by themselves alone and live at their ease without the care of others but rather that they should impart and dilate his goodnesse unto their neighbours that by the communication of his Graces unto many manifold thanksgiving may redound by many unto his glory And the more this Sacrifice of thanksgiving shall bee offered unto God on your behalfe by others the more his blessings will be encreased and multiplied upon your owne heads Now the more you helpe to enlarge and disperse his goodnesse the more this Sacrifice shall be offered But if you should goe about as it were to ingrosse his good gifts and make them peculiarly your owne they wil vanish be taken away from you even as fire shut up without a vent is quenched There is then a necessity in this that you resolve upon a larger aime then that which is onely usefull unto your selves in your particular Common-wealth And when you have look'd on all sides beyond your selves you shall find none so neere as these whom I have named to be the fittest object of your charity even your Brethren the Protestants Not that I would have any that can partake of the Grace of God by your meanes excluded or neglected for we must suffer the Sunne to shine upon all but I would have you to aime at these expressely because I know that you are more obliged to extend your bowels unto them then unto others because they are more capable of the encrease of Gods Kingdome by your influence then others are because they have more need of the assistance you can give them then others have and because through the communication of your good things unto them all the rest may be more benefitted then if you should at once set your mind alike towards all indifferently For in these respects they ought to be ranked in the first place before all others in your intention Seeing the whole world would be a scope too large to be embraced as one time and Papists cannot be dealt withall in this nature nor is it wisdome to graspe too much at first lest nothing bee taken hold of and the burthen exceed your strength But the state of Protestant Churches is an object proportionall unto your Talents and most fit to receive the Testimonies of your thankfulnesse and yet the duties which ought to be performed towards those should be such as in due time may be dilated unto all not onely Christians but even Jewes and Pagans that the Kingdome of Christ may have a full progresse untill he possesse all Nations and the ends of the earth for his inheritance For except our endeavours come home to this end at last and be made fit to watch it we doe nothing to any purpose but labour in the fire as it were for that which shall be consumed when his Kingdome shall appeare But here the question will be what are the endeavours which may reach thus farre from Protestants unto all men in the Kingdome of Christ To which that I may answer I must suppose that if Protestants were but united so farre as to leave crossing one another as hitherto they have done and could be made to draw one line in the wayes of propagating Humane and Divine knowledge that then they could easily ferment throughly the rest of the world with Learning and Reformation For they being so great a party as they are and having so much commerce with all the Nations of the world as they doe it would be easie for them to worke first upon the rest of Christians a more perfect Reformation and then to propagate towards all other men the helpes of Learning and Religion which may be much bettered and improved above what now they are if some reall assistance were given to such as elaborate the wayes thereof Now that they may be so farre united and be brought to draw one line in the wayes of Knowledge and Reformation the possibility hereof may be made manifest by the principles of their States by the plaine tenour of their publike profession and practise and by the preparatives of their union already farre advanced both in Religion and Learning The principles of their State are to maintaine the Right of Magistrates as well over Ecclesiasticall and Civill persons as in all affaires of a publike nature concerning the outward profession of Religion and to stand to the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free in the profession of the Gospell and the Government of their Churches within themselves The tenour of their profession is to be seen in the publike Confessions of their Churches which are not different one from another in any fundamentall matter and their practise of Reformation is very evidently setled upon the same grounds of publike Edification and of opposition to Popery so that it seemeth not to be a hard matter to bring them being already so farre united to leave jarring about matters not fundamentall and crossing one another for things of no necessary consequence And so much the rather this may be done because the preparatives to bring them from the crosse course wherein hitherto they have walked both in Learning and Religion have beene in agitation these good many yeares not without some profitable and effectuall disposition wrought upon both sides towards a better intelligence of each other in these matters which in due time may be made very evident unto your Wisdomes if this motion be not altogether sleighted and neglected in many particulars whereof I will not make any mention at this time Onely the endeavours themselves whereby this great good may bee brought unto the state of Protestants must here be named somewhat more distinctly and they are but two or three The first is concerning their Schooles and the learning to bee delivered in them to bring the constitution and frame of their Schooles and the matter and manner of delivering Learning and teaching vertue therein to a true and fundamentall Reformation which may facilitate towards the younger sort the perfect wayes of education and towards the more ancient the true advancement of Sciences which my Lord of Saint Albanes hath wished and saluted afarre off The second is concerning their Churches and Church-men that a better correspondencie may be brought to passe amongst them for their mutuall edification in the the truth of Religion and for the taking away of Scandals which hinder greatly the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ To which two endeavours if
agreement about their fundamentals in Religion I say if the Papists can effect this any where before this be done amongst Protestants they will be able to constraine the weakened party of Protestants in Germany and in France also to yeeld unto what they list afterward by gaining a better pretence of quarrell against them then ever as yet they have had and having mastered the great Body of Germany where first Protestancy begunne they will subdue by little and little all the rest at their leasure But if we can take a course to make Protestant Divines correspond one with another to settle matters belonging to their fundamentall agreement in Evangelicall truths then we shall be ready to treat with them any way at a free Councell if it can be called and by the grace of God they may be beaten at their owne weapon and confounded by their owne plot Now then seeing this is a most certaine truth that this is their plot and that it cannot any other way but thus be disappointed seeing also you know that this is so not onely by this slight invitation but by your owne observation if therefore now you should neglect the opportunities which God doth put into your hand to prevent so great a danger when you are able and without trouble easily can doe it If I say you should now neglect this Duty you shall not be guiltlesse but have much to answer for unto Him who perhaps hath given you this great deliverance onely for this end that you might be herein steadable unto his afflicted and persecuted Churches But if you should not at all care to prevent this danger God is able to send deliverance another way and you and your houses will not escape the judgements denounced unto those that stand not up for the Lords cause to helpe him against the mighty The last consideration may be taken from the apparent workes of God in the world at this time who evidently doth intend to bring forth a new birth of States in Europe for what else can become of those sudden great and mighty changes which he bringeth upon these Nations and chiefely upon the aspiring State of Austria Now in these great changes of States to thinke that the outward condition of the Church will remaine the same is to deceive himselfe against the experiences of all ages and to take no notice that God doth all that is done in this world towards States onely for to prepare the meanes of advancing the Kingdome of his Sonne unto its perfection for certainely Babylon must fall and therefore as you have eyes to see the workes of God and minds to consider the operation of his hands you must needs perceive that the Church also is travelling in her pangs to bring forth the Man-child who should rule over the Nations when they shall be quieted Now then if you will neither be as a barren and unfruitfull member of the Church to bring forth nothing after so great a shower of Blessings nor as an unmercifull Midwife to withdraw your hand from helping the Church in her pangs when you are able without trouble to your selfe to further her in her delivery for behold the eyes of all other Churches and chiefly those of Germany are upon you and require helpe at your hands if therefore I say you will neither be found to be barren within your selfe nor cruelly unmercifull towards your sister Churches you must needs lay these endeavours seriously to heart which I have thus freely as in the presence of God proposed unto you Beleeve it I am free from humane respects God is hee that trieth the hearts therefore I take him to witnesse that all the interest I desire to have in this matter and all the aime I have in it is meerely the discharge of a good conscience first towards him then towards his whole Church and lastly towards you for the blessing of your present deliverance whereof I am also participant although I am afraid it will not prove in end a Blessing except those effects be wrought out by it Thus then I have performed on my part what at this time I am able to doe in this duty as a testimony of my thankfulnesse unto God on your behalfe that you may all whom it chiefly doth concerne be provoked also to doe your duty towards others according to the ability which God hath given you in your places entreating you that you would take my earnestnesse in good part and not thinke it a bold importunity but rather an effectuall zeale to Gods glory and your owne happy State the continuance the encrease and the full confirmation whereof as I doe wish from my heart so I shall never cease by servent prayers unto Almighty God and by the best abilities which his Grace shall supply unto me to procure the same Thus I take my leave beseeching the Lord to rule in this matter and in all other things to his glory all your thoughts and consultations Amen FINIS