Eben-ezer A Thankful Memorial OF GOD'S MERCY In preserving ENGLAND from the GUNPOWDER-TREASON 1605. Being a SERMON on 1 Sam. 7. 12. Prepared for Novemb. 5th to be Preacht at the Cathedral but Preacht for the most part of it at the Parish-Church of Temple in the City of Bristol on the 6th of Novemb. being the Lords Day By John Chetwynd M. A. Prebend of the Cathedral and Vicar of Temple in the City of Bristol Psal 118. 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Tho. Wall Bookseller at Bristol 1682. To the VVorshipful and his ever Honoured Friend and Kinsman John Harington of Kelston Esq one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Somerset SIR I Have made bold to direct these Papers to you as a Testimony of my respect and as being assured that you are a true Protestant of the Church of England established by Law As for such as falsly and with a contradiction so term and call themselves Roman Catholicks I expect no such Readers As for Protestants in Masquerade whose worldly designs make them sit loose to all Religions they may see what may reform them if not convince them But as for your self and such as are Protestants out of conscience you and they who are peaceable Sons of the most Apostolical Church of England may read what may confirm them in their true faith and Worship and what may comfort and support them under any fears dangers hardships that may attend them in and for their so being and doing God being still the same yesterday to day and for ever He that hath delivered doth deliver will deliver To his blessing I commend these Papers To his protection and guidance your self and second-self with all your Family And subscribe my self Bristol Novemb. 16. 1681. Your most Resepctful Kinsman and humble Servant John Chetwynd A Memorial of God's most gracious preservations of England from the Spanish Invasion and Gunpower Treason Of an unknown Author Found by me among my Father's Papers thus directed To my Posterity GOD's ancient Church Two solemn Feasts did keep On Two set days by his own word directed When Pharoah's Host was drowned in the deep And when proud Haman's Treason was detected Two works of equal grace but greater wonder The Lord hath done sor us past all mens Reason When Papist did attempt to bring us under By Spanish Armado and by Piercy's Treason I and my house these great things will remember And in remembrance sanctifie two days In Augustone * 3. the other in November †5. Both made by God for us to give him praise Dear children charge the children after you Still to observe these Feasts as I do now Eben-ezer A Thankful Memorial of God's preserving England from the Gunpowder Treason 1605. 1 Sam. VII 12. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Eben-ezer saying Hitherto hath God helped us TO regulate my discourse I have made choice of this Scripture as being in many particulars parallel to the occasion of the day and suitable to this great and solemn Assembly whose outward lustre and grandeur and other circumstances and expressions of rejoycing testifie our apprehensions of this day to be as it deserves to be with us a High Day a Holy day even a day which the Lord our God hath made marvellous in our eyes a Day to be had in everlasting remembrance never-to-be Ps 118 23 24. forgotten a Day of Gods making Some days may be said to be made by Gods flat Let it be made as all creatures besides man were But other days in which notable and memorable occurrences fall out may be said to be made with Gods faciamus Let us make as man was And such was this which God by saving preserving and delivering our King Church and State made marvellous in our eyes and calls for our rejoycing in it Such was the Jewish Passover such the day of our Saviour's Exod 12. Resurrection to which this Scripture is applied and such is this day The Memorial of the mercies on which exhibited we now celebrate Foelix fausta dies lux flava quinta Novembris And may it be for ever celebrated by us and our Posterity as long as the Sun and Moon endureth For this was the Lords doing and let it still be marvellous in our eyes So it was in David's day Thus it was in ours In David's a deliverance from great dangers all by Gods might all by Gods mercy and that not in small things as yet in them God is to be seen but usque Ps 118 12 15. ad miracula and that not only marvellous in it self for so all Zech. 9. 11. Gods works are which seem small because usual but wonderful in our eyes because rare In which we cannot but say Digitus Dei est hic And such was this our day In a most eminent manner Gods day both for the exceeding greatness of our danger and Gods gracious and wonderful deliverance when the Devils and the Jesuits and their bigotted Proselytes had laid their heads together to destroy our King and Church and State our Religion Liberty Lives when the Balak of Spain and the Balaam of Rome Thus far was the Preface to my Sermon prepared for the Cathedral on the 5th but our Reverend Diocesan preaching upon my desire in my turn I thought fit to preach it at Temple on the 6th being the Lords day in the afternoon omitting the foregoing Preface had conspired together our utter destruction We read Esther 9. 20 21. that Mordecai and Esther sent Letters with all Authority to all the Jews nigh and far that they should keep the 14th and 15th of the month Adar yearly as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies and the month which was turned from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a good day that they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending Portions one to another and of gifts to the poor because the Plot of Haman the enemy of all the Jews which he had devised against them was b◠Queen Esther's mediation to the King turn'd upon his own head and the Jews had ruled over them that hated them and Haman and his Ten sons were hanged Therefore the Jews ordained and took it upon themselves and upon their seed and upon all such as joyned to them so as it should not fail as it doth not to this day among them wherever dispersed though it be two thousand years since that they would keep these two days according to their writing and according to their apppointed time every year And that these days should be remembred and kept through every Generation every Family every Province Est 9. 27 28. and every City and that these days should not fail from among the Jews nor the memorial of them perish
from their seed Thus it was with the Jews And have not we as much cause to remember with thankful rejoycing the great deliverance vouchsafed our Fathers and in them of us Certainly we have and therefore God having by a Miracle of Mercy prevented the barbarous and inhumane Design of the Papists the implacable enemy of all Protestants especially of English Protestants it was then lookt upon as a principal part of their thankful resentment by King James of famous memory and the then sitting-Parliament To enact the observation of one day viz. the fifth of November yearly to be observed as a thankful memorial of that wonderful Mercy Now God having by his Providence so ordered that this present year his day the Lords day the day which he hath made for the Remembrance of Christs Resurrection and all the Blessings that accrue by him and all we enjoy whether spiritual or external temporal or eternal are all from him deliverance from Hell Death and Damnation of soul and body deliverance from slavery and bondage and all external pressures are all from him and it being the principal work of this day Gods Holy Rev 1 day the Lords Holy-day to celebrate the thankful memorial of his Mercies And this day of Gods appointing immediately succeeding the day of the Kings appointment I have not thought it unfit nor any way inproper to lay before you what was prepared for yesterdays Solemnity in another place That so though the outward Pomp a necessary circumstance in that day may be left Yet the reality of our thankfulness might be expressed in this more private Assembly and we all put in mind and be stirred up as the Jews by the two days of Purim so we of England and we now present by the Solemnity yesterday according to the Law of Man and by what shall be now spoken on this day the day of our Rest and Rejoycing according to the Law of God may be stirred up to rejoyceful thankfulness for Gods goodness vouchsafed to us And indeed the remembring declaring and rejoycing in Gods wonderful works of Creation and providence as well as of Redemption are to have a principal part in the due Sanctification of our Christian Sabbath For the helping you wherein I shall lay before you what the Text first read presents us with Having first shewn you That we of England have as much reason and as great cause to celebrate two days yearly in the memorial of our deliverance from the Powder Treason as the Jews have for their deliverance from Haman The design of Haman and prosecution of it against the Jews was not so dangerous and mischievous as this Conspiracy of the Papists was against the English and Protestant Religion as will appear by many particulars parallel Circumstances in their Purim and our Powder Treason And indeed ours may be called Purim from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies fire as that from the Hebrew word Pur that signifies a Lot 1. Theirs by the sword from whence some might have escaped Ours by a blast of fire that would have spared none 2 Theirs would have destroyed Queen Esther and her people ours King James Queen Prince Lords Commons the whole Flower of the English Nation met in Parlament 3. They had a set day which all knew ours uncertain secret known to none but themselves 4. Theirs was but an ordinary day ours a most magnificent day when the Kings Majesty and all the great States would have been in their Robes and greatest Glory 5. They poor captive Jews scattered and dispersed without power or policy living in subjection We a most flourishing Kingdom for wealthl power and policy under a most magnificent King Illustrious Nobles Reverend Prelates Honourable and worshipful and wealthy Knights Citizens and Burgesses even the Cream and Flower of the whole Nation 6. Consider the parties by whom their enemy was but one Haman a stranger by Nation a stranger in Religion an heathen Idolater ours no strangers by Nation all English men no strangers in Religion professing the same Christianity not Turks nor Pagans Infidels Moors or Indians though indeed much worse but Christians and such as would be thought true Catholicks yea the only Catholick Christians yea some of them which is among them more than Christians Jesuits Haman was wicked that is his title but these exceeded him in wickedness Haman was a declared enemy but these secret Vipers that eat through the bowels of their own Mother The malice of all men calling to it all the malice of the Devil did never invent the like in all ill Circumstances A degenerate Christian is the worst of men and the worst of men is the worst of Creatures and it 's grown into a Proverb amongst other Nations and these cruel treacherous Powder-Traytors gave too much ground for it An Englishman Italianate is a Devil incarnate 7. Consider we the colour and the cause of both Designs As all evil things usually have one thing for their colour and other for their cause In Haman the cause was Mordicai his not bowing The colour was they were of a different Law Hereticks They were not for the Kings profit In ours the Cause is not bowing to one viz. The Old Gentleman at Rome one prouder than Haman who have had Emperors to hold their Stirrups Kings to lead their Horses and kiss their feet The Colour pretended is zeal for Religion we were and still are in their accounts Hereticks and therefore must be kill'd blown up destroyed and they think they have St. Pauls Warrant for it for so it hath been urged Hereticum devita which we make but one word and that a Verb which we rightly translate avoid and they two words viz. a Noun and Preposition and so would have it signifie to kill De vita to take from life They consulted their Oracle the Provincial who answered them as Ahasuerus did Haman De populo fac quod libet Do with them as it seemeth good unto thee Esth 3. 11. 8. Consider we the event The Jews delivered Haman hang'd we preserved the Traytors suffered God was otherwise minded than Haman he would have destroyed a Nation but God preserved it Haman put the Lot into the lap but God drew it out And in this event consider 1. Means 2. Manner 3. Time 4. Issue 1. Means They to God by fasting and prayer to man by Queen Esthers Mediation to the King We used none nor could use any neither fasted or prayed suspected no evil and so could use no means to prevent it 2. Manner Though no means to God yet we had from God and so had they too but ours better both from and by a King Theirs from a King but from him came the Danger his Proclamation under hand and seal without which Haman could have done nothing Ours from a King but no danger from him He was as deep in the danger as we were Theirs by a King set right by Esthers Information in a regular
nulla secuta est Peace and Religion setled and maintained in the same Condition Traffick and Trading Merchandizing and Manufacturage encouraged and by a setled peace with Spain which before was always dubious now enlarged to the exceeding Advantage of the English Nation The old enmity and fear of enmity from Scotland now quite removed by the uniting of the two Diadems in one Person who was what his Motto chosen by himself speaks him Vere Pacificus Learning encouraged under a most learned King then indeed were Musae regnantes and all things in a most flourishing and most prosperous estate Favour was equally according to Demerits extended unto the Catholick Nobility and Gentry Books written by Catholicks to perswade the Papists to a quiet submission unto their Princes peaceable Government when all things carried a fair prospect to a glorious and happy Estate even then Latet anguis in herba Then the implacable enmity of Satan against all that is good and lovely then the infatuated zeal of Priest-ridden Bygots set them on work to contrive that work of Darkness that hath no parallel as to all its Circumstances in any History which was invented by the Prince of Darkness carried on by Children of Darkness and laid in a place of Darkness which when if had taken light by Faux's Match would have proved the blackness of darkness and it is to be feared considering the general security and impenitency of prosperous Mankind would have sent many a shattered body to the darkness of Death and many a poor unprepared soul unto utter Darkness and would have been suitable to an Italian Revenge the Distruction of soul and body Tantum Religio poterat fundere malorum 3. Our danger could have no preparation against it for as Ignoti nulla Cupido so nullus Timor The Israelites knew and provided all possible means against their danger by Humiliation Reformation Fasting Prayers praying to Samuel to pray for them and their own valour but alas none of these could or were put in use or were thought upon in our case The Preparations for the Grandeur of the first days Session of Parliament had put away the thoughts of Humiliation Feasting excluded Fasting and Complements and Courtship of Salutations Prayer And for any endeavours of our own the nature of our danger prevented all so that we must say That our Deliverance was digitus Dei alone no Samuel to pray for us no Army to go forth against our enemies whom we knew not nor where to find and as for the way of their malice by Gun-powder no possible escaping so that we must still say Non nobis Domine Not unto us c. And If the Lord had not been on our side they had swallowed us up quick Ps 115. And let this be our encouragement still That God is and 124. will be on the side of his faithful penitent and praying people to defend and preserve them even when care is not or cannot be taken from all the Contrivances and mischievous Plots of the implacable enemies of our Religion Laws Lives Liberties Consciences for it is certain That howsoever God be not in the beginnings of evil enterprises to set them forward yet at the end he must be or no end will be for Domini sunt Prov. 21. v. 16. exitus The Horse may be prepared for the battel the Lot cast into the Lap the Counsel of Ashitophel may be taken Haman may obtain the Kings Letters to destroy the Jews the great Fleet at Ezion Geber may be prepared Sennacheribs mighty Army may be listed the Lords of the Philistines may be upon their march the Powder and Billets and Match may be all laid and a wicked Faux ready with his dark-Lanthorn to put fire to it and how near was our late Popish Plot ripe for execution when it was discovered Yet God defeats them all for Counsel may be in the heart of man and words at his Tongues end and Acts at his fingers end the Match laid to the Powder yet nothing shall be said or done or take effect except God will have it so he giveth and denieth success as hepleaseth And as for Samuels Prayers or our own endeavour our Case and Danger was such as could not admit either in particular But the daily Devotions of righteous persons that would have kept fire from Heaven from falling on Sodom and Gods infinite free Mercy prevented their fire from Hell from doing execution so that for the greatness of our deliverance manifested in the greatness of our Danger we must still say Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory Ps 115. 1. for thy mercy and thy truths sake For had it not been the Lord who was on our side they had swallowed us up quick had their Fire been kindled it would Ps 11â— 1. have made but one mouthful of King and Kingdom But blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to 6. their teeth Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler 7. the snare is broken or loosed and we are escaped Now as St. Austin observes a thing is loosed two ways either after we are snared or before so a Captivity may be said to be turned two ways by an after-deliverance or a forehand prevention The Grecians express by Prometheus and Epimetheus the Latins by anteverta and postverta the Schoolmen by praeveniendo subveniendo The first is best A good buckler to keep off the blow is better than a good Plaister to heal the hurt And such was our deliverance a prevention concerning which we may say That the Destruction intended was the Devils doing and it is monstrous in our eyes the deliverance was Gods doing and let it still be marvellous in our eyes that we may be thankful at present and in the eyes of our Posterity the memorial of it perpetuated from Generation to Generation which thankfulness was Samuels practice at the present and care for the Children of Israels future remembrance of it and comes in the last place to be spoken to 2. Samuels present thankfulness expressed in these words saying Hiterto hath God helped us He acknowledgeth that God had helped them and had always helped them And herein indeed consists the proper form and essence if I may so speak of our Thanksgiving viz. To recount to his Honour what he hath been to us and what he hath done for us Instances whereof we have in many of Davids Psalms The 136. throughout and 145. which I shall only point to In the two first verses he tells us That he will extol God his King and bless his Name for and ever every day he would bless God and praise his name for ever and ever And how he did we may see it in the following verses by declaring of Gods 1. Greatness v. 3 4 5 6. 2. Goodness v. 9. 3. His Works and Saints v 10 11 12. And having reckoned up from the
fourteeenth to the twenty-first many particular Instances of his Acts of grace and goodness and greatness he concludes with declaring what was his own and what he desires should be of others My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever v. 21. Lo this is the Tenor of our blessing God and declaring our thankfulness to him when we recount to his Glory and Honour what he hath done for us Now this is a wide and comprehensive duty shall we pass over the imperate and only consider the elicite Acts of it such as flow from and constitute the very being of it All which we may find in this of Samuels expression of his and the Israelites for he was but their mouth thankfulness unto God Hitherto hath God helped us Now the elicite Acts of thankfulness are five 1. Observation 2. Remembrance 3. Confession 4. Valuation 5. Retribution 1. Observation For how can we be thankful for that we take no notice of This was Israels sin charged upon them that made them 〈◊〉 1. 1 2. worse than Ox or Ass The Kindness and the Circumstances of it must be observed by us Thus David Thou hast brought me hitherto what am I Thus Samuel Hitherto hath God helped 2. Confession with the tongue Thus Samuel he did not set a stone and say nothing but he called it Eben-Ezer saying hitherto hath God helped We must not stifle nor imprison the Apprehensions we have of Gods Goodness in our hearts but declare them to others Hence David Come my Children hearken unto me and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul And it is a Ps 92. 2. 3. good thing to sing praises unto thy name to show forth thy loving kindness in the Morning and thy faithfulness every night Hence he calls his tongue his Glory How is the mans tongue his Glory but as it is an instrument imployed in the glorifying Ps 16 9. of God wherein stands mans highest praise Acts 2 26. Meer speech is the glory of a man above brute Creatures Eloquent speech is the Glory of the learned above the untaught Gracious speech Language of Prayer and Praises is the Glory of a David a man after Gods own Heart 3. Remembrance Hence the Psalmist when he presseth his soul to praise God calls upon it not to forget any of his Ps 103 2. benefits Reflect we must on the mercies we enjoy or we shall never be thankful Hence God himself instituted Trophies Stones and Days and other Monuments to continue the memorial of them and we read it as a commendable and praise worthy deed of the City of Zurich who engraved the year of their deliâ—â—rance from the Romish Antichrist upon Pillars in Letters of Gold 4. Valuation A dâ—e estimate of the mercies we enjoy at Gods hands If once we think meanly of them we shall quickly be unthankful for them if we say as Hiran or the Cities which Solomon gave him What Cities are thâ—se we shall soon forget the kindness and brand with disgrace call them Cabul 1 King 9. 13. If once say with the Israelites Nothing but this Manna we should soon prove Murmurers against and not Praisers of God When Korah thought his being a Levite a small thing then he murmured Numb 16. 9. If Gods Consolation seems small our thanksgivings will be Job 15. 13. very slender 5. Retribution an essential part of thanksgiving hence the Psalmist quid retribuam what shall I render As Ahasucrosh askt What done for Mordecai so we should ask what done for God on his Command to his Glory Certainly all we are have can do suffer are less than the least of Gods mercies Yet an Obligation lieth upon us render we must give up our selves souls bodies all we are have yet all will fall short of what we owe to Gods Glory and we can give him but his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. Let us then own God in all we have and honour him by all we can do or suffer for him Own him in all our Mercies all our Deliverances this Deliverance our preservation And thus express our thankfulness as Samuel did by a due Observation Remembrance Acknowledgment Valuation and Retribution and by taking care as he did to transmit the memorial of it to Posterity which is the last that comes now to be considered 3. Samuels care for the continuance of the memorial in these words Then Samuel took a stone c. A practice that God himself had directed to continue the memorial of his great Acts and was practiced by Jacob and Josh 4. 5 6. here by Samuel which he named Eben-ezer the Stone of Gen. 28. 18. Help 31. 15. 35. 14. But because though stones be very durable and lasting Monuments yet time that is edax rerum may consume them or otherwise they may be removed therefore God was pleased to fix a memorial of his gracious Acts in time it self that so the renewing of that might perpetuate the Memorial of them To this end he had set apart fixt days as the Passover and the days of Purim The Trophies and Momuments of Stone or Brass though the materials may be and continue yet the Cause Author and Reason of their erecting may be utterly worn out As the Pyramids in Egypt and Stonehinge in Wiltshire no certainty why or by whom placed But when it 's fixt on days in time itself nothing can wear it out till time be swallowed in eternity There are three great National Deliverances mentioned in Scripture each of which had its memorial-day appointed 1. The Passover by Gods command Exod. 12. 2. Purim by Esther and Mordecai Esth 9. 3. Dedication of the Temple which Christ himself observed All these set apart as monuments of thankfulness for Israels Deliverance from Pharaoh's Bondage Hamans Plot and Babylons Captivity And should we parallel Englands old and late Deliverances with theirs we should find that they come short in nothing but are in some Circumstances more eminent and miraculous And therefore the Institution of the fifth of November for an high and holy day is a most justifiable Act and the observation of it a most necessary Duty on all true Englishmen good Subjects and sincere Protestants wherein we call to remembrance confer of and declare to others and stir up our own hearts to a thankful admiration of Gods wonderful works in our deliverance Let us say as Samuel Hitherto hath God helped us and with David O how great is thy goodness how terrible are thy works and consider with our selves what manner Ps 31. 15. 66. 3. of persons we ought to be in all holy and godly Conversation And with the Psalmist What shall we render And 2 Pet. 3. 11. what is more fitting Then since this is the Deliverance that God Ps 116. hath wrought let us do opus Dei in die suo Rejoyce and
be glad in it O let us joyfully thankfully and affectionately remember the Mercy of this deliverance vouchsased to us in our Forefathers reflect upon the greatness of our Danger and Gods wonderful goodness in our escape from it Our Case was that of the Church Men rose up against had Ps 124. swallowed us quick and their mischievous device like proud and overflowing waters against which there can be no defence had gone over our soul so that had not Gods mercy intervened we had been a prey to their teeth but blessed be God our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler The Net was broken and we were delivered and all by the help of the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth In which case of theirs as in ours were joyned Cruelty Malice Violence Policy Subtlety and an irresistable Force such as is the overpowring of Fire and Water that burns and destroys without Remedy And herein see and consider the greatness of Gods Mercy in this Deliverance It was a great State-Mercy but a greater Soul-Mercy for hereby the glorious Gospel of lesus Christ is continued to us O say not of this as Let of Zear It is a little one Gen. 19. 20. Let this Mercy then be writ in the Records of our hearts as well as Statutes that as what Mordecai had done was read by Ahasuerus so this may be by us not only that we may know it and minde it but that we may as Ahasuerus did for Mirdecai and say What hath been done for God What shall we do for him Let us therefore I beseech you answer God's expectation because of this and all other his former and latter Deliverances for therefore are we put in minde of them And know we that if we do not we may expect that God will expostulate with us as he did with Israel 8. I brought you out from Egypt and brought you forth out of Judg. 10. 8 9 10. the house of bondage 9. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed you and drave them out from before you and gave you to â—â—â—d 10. And I said unto you 〈◊〉 the Lord your God sear not the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell but you have not obeyed my voice Yea we justly may fear that he will answer us in our Intreaties and Dangers when we cry unto him as he did them 11. Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorties from the children of Aâ—â—â—â— and from the Philistins Judg. 10. 11 12 13 14. 12. The Sidonians also and the Amalekites and the Meabites did oppress you and you cried unto me and I delivered you out of their hands 13. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods wherefore I will deliver you no more 14. Go and cry unto the Gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation Change we the names and the things agree Let us then answer God's expectation since God by this great Deliverance hath continued his Gospel and O Lord continue it to us and our Posterities O let us 1. Prize it As that which exalts a Nation lifts it up as it did Capernaum unto Heaven He hath shewn his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel He hath not done Psal 147. 19 20. so with any Nation and as for his judgments they have not knewn them 2. Improve it Otherwise it will prove a Judgment to us yea the Judgment This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness The neglect of the Gospel Joh. 3. 19. casts down to Hell and makes our escape impossible Mat. 13 50. 3. Walk worthy of it answerable unto it and to God's expectation Heb. 2 3. from us because of it Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel Walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we Phil. 1. 27. Ephes 4. 1. are called And thereby adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in Tit. 2. 10. all things To these ends Joshua minds Israel of what God had done for them and amongst other things How Balak Son of Zippor Josh 24. 9. 10. King of Moab arose and warred against them and called Balaam the Son of Beor to curse them But he would not hearken unto Balaam but he blessed them still and delivered them out of Balak's hand And after many other signal Mercies shewed to them he concludes with God's expectation from them Now therefore 14. fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And as it was then so it is still God's expectation from us upon our Deliverancs is That we should serve hem without fear Luke 1. 74. 75. in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life Not that we might exclaim against the foulness of the Fact or inveigh against the Monsters that were the Actors of it or bless our selves for so fair an Escape or keep a day in the Memorial of it much less were we liberate that we should become Libertines To sit down to Eat and to Drink Healths after new and unseeming Modes and to rise up to Play But that we might serve God in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our life Serve we ought though we should not be delivered as the holy Martyrs did The three Princes in Daniel and Job resolved he would though God should kill him How much Job 11. 15. more ought we when we are delivered and that aforehand by way of prevention to render unto God Evangelical and acceptable Service and Sacrifice of Thankfulness and Love Serve Him we must then in Holiness and Righteousness and that not only in the sight of men but before him and that not for a spirt or fit but all the days of our Life Let not our Holiness be as the Pharisees in our Fringes and Phylacteries in outward expressions in hearing the Lectures of the Law no matter how we live Let not our Holiness be like the Sadducees live indifferently well but believe neither Spirit nor look for any Resurrection Not like Agrippa's who was half perswaded Not in Holiness only not in Righteousness only but in both and that for ever And as for our present deportment Let us rejoice in the day which the Lord hath made When God calls to fasting it is a sin to feast and when to rejoycing it 's a sin to mourn Isa 20. 13. Had this Plot taken effect to the desire and expectation of the Neh 8. 9 10. Projectors there would have been a Jubile in Askalon Shall we not then rejoyce and be glad outwardly in body inwardly in Spirit let our joy be such as may be seen and perceived by face voice
countenance habit and gesture bind the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the Altar Let our hearts Psal 118. 27. be glad and our Glory our tongue rejoyce Bless the Lord Psal 16. 9. in the Congregation Let the Singers go before and the Players Psal 68. 25. 26. on the Instruments follow after Let us say with the Psalmist My lips shall greatly rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed My Tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long for they are confounded they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt But let us be sure that our joy and rejoycing may be in the Lord such as God may be pleased with Not in the day of our Kings deliverance make our selves or others sick with bottles of Wine not sit down to eat and Hos 7. 5. drink healths and rise up to play for with such mirth God is Exod. 32. 6. not well pleased but doth threaten to spread the dung of such 1 Cor. 10. 5. feasts upon their faces and curse their Blessings Mal. 2. 3. Now that our rejoycing may please God we must begin with Halelujah and end with Hosannah David gives us a pattern Open to me the gates of Righteousness Psal 118. 19. 25. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. Save now O Lord I beseech thee I beseech thee send now prosperity Thus should we be joyful in Gods house of prayer but still Isal 56. 7. remember to rejoyce in trembling because we know not what a Psal 2. 11. day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Joyn we then praise and prayer thanksgiving for the mercies we have received and prayers for the mercies we still stand in need of All the Psalms are reducible to two words Halelujah and Hosanna not to be severed Neither of these if alone will prosper nor are acceptable when not united O then let us now do both praise God for our former and latter Deliverances from the many attempts of our Popish Adversaries the Spanish Invasion Gunpowder Treason many preservations of Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory and our own deliverance from their truly real Plot and intended Mischief which God preserve us from Pray unto him for the continuance of his gracions providence over us and protection of us For suppose that all were dead that sought our lives Say they are but is the Devil dead too If he be not it steds not much if they were His Powder Mill will still be going he will be as busie as ever in turning over all his devices in turning himself into as many shapes as Proteus and all to turn us to mischief And therefore we have and shall have always cause to follow our Halelujah's with our Hosanna's pray as well as praise in reference to our Popish Adversaries That God would abate their pride asswage their malice and confound their devices That the Life of our most Gracious King may be preserved the Protestant Religion our Lives and Liberties secured from all the devilish attempts of our implacable enemies the Jesuits and their Proselytes Oh let all that are now in the House of the Lord especially those amongst us that are of the House of the Lord earnestly and affectionately pray for our most Gracious King as in duty we are bound because God commands it and out of respect to 1 Tim. 2. 2. our own tranquility that is wrapt up in his safety that God would continue forth his goodness towards him and bless him with length of days with strength of health with the encrease of all Honour and happiness with Terror in the eyes of his Enemies with Grace in the eyes of his Subjects with whatsoever David or Solomon or any other King that was happy was blessed with a long continuance of the Peace and Glory of his Kingdoms on earth and with the eternal Kingdom of Glory and Peace in the highest Heaven To which God bring us all for his infinite mercy through Jesus our blessed Saviour Amen Amen FINIS