A Freewill Offering, OR, A Pillar of Praise, With a thankful remembrance for the receipt of mercies, in a long voyage, and happy arrival. First Preached in Fen-Church, the 7 of September, 1634. now published by the Author, SAMVEL HIND. Exod. 17.14. Writ this for a memorial in a Book, and rehearse it in the ears of joshua. LONDON, Printed by THOMAS HARPER. 1634. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir WILLIAM COURTEN Knight, The Author dedicates both himself, and labours. SIR, IF I were a judge instead of a Counsellor, it should be my charge instead of my advice, to charge them that are rich in this world, 1. Tim. 6.17. that they trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Nor could such a charge concern any (for aught I know) more, than yourself, on whom the God of blessing hath heaped such affluence and abundance, as if both Sea and Land, the Christian and the heathen world had conspired to empty themselves into your coffers and warehouses. He said it that will maintain it, To whom much is given, Luk. 12.48. of them much shall be required: Your engagements to the God of Heaven are neither common, nor ordinary, but as if singled out for blessings, you have received a Benjamins portion above many others of your brethren. Gen 43.34. I know: the world knows, that you hide not these talants in a napkin, Lu. 19.20. thousands are bettered by their improvement, your employment. The following Manuel or Enchiridion, will only advertise you (not as if you wanted better discipline) that amongst all other your transactions and transmutations, you, return to the Caesar of heaven his tributary due of praise and thankfulness, from whose liberal hand you have received such ample testifications of favour and beneficence. This Pyramid of praise, this new erected pillar serves for no other end, Statuae Mercurii in competis & triviis, quae certis indiciis perplexo viateri, iter ostendebant A●l. Gel. but like the Statues of Mercury, to direct every traveller and voyager, or any else that are capable of mercies, to the ways of thankfulness, and to divert them from the paths of that Satanical sin, ingratitude: What was once planted in your ears, is now presented to your eyes, favour it with acceptance, read it with diligence, follow it with conscience, and the God of mercy give unto you what blessings the book can contain, or the Author wish, for this life or for a better. It was no dishonour to the great Peer and Lord of Syriah, 2. King. 5.13. Naaman, that he listened to the advice of his servants. Solvit inops diti Craeso quod debuit Irus. Owen. Epigr. lib. un. ep. 62. Rich Croesus disdained not to receive a debt from poor Irus. Accept you also of this my Offering, which, together with myself, is justly devoted to your protection and patronage. 'twas conceived in the womb of the vast Ocean, 'tis my Firstborn, which I can father on none but yourself, from whose influence next under God, I received what I have, or can present unto you. The injury were too public if I should be too tedious, Horat. Cum tot sustineas, ac tanta negotia solus, in publica commoda peccem si longo sermone morer tua tempora, etc. In brief then I commit this to you, and you to God, wishing what happiness or honour you do or can wish unto yourself, or successful progeny, health to your person, blessing to your endeavours, success to your enterprises, security to your body, salvation to your soul. So prays he that doth proffer and promise obedience to your laudable Commands and injunctions, SAMUEL HIND. The Author to the Reader. REader, in the perusal of the following leaves, thou shalt have some trial both of thy patience and judgement. My absence from the Press, with some delinquency of the transcriber, occasioned diverse errors, which either thy judgement may rectify, or thy patience dispense with. I endeavoured to purge it from some, which thou shalt find amended in the closure of the book. Let thy aim be directed to the matter, not the words, 'twill bring God most honour, thyself most benefit. Thy faithful friend and Monitor, S. H. A PILLAR OF PRAISE. PSAL. 107.23 They that go down to the Sea in ships, and do their business in great waters, PSAL. 107.24 These men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, etc. ☞ PSAL. 107.30 Then are they glad, ☜ Text. because they be at rest, and so he bringeth them to the haven where they would be. PSAL. 107.31 Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. THe son of jesse, and sweet singer of Israel in the general parts of this Psalm, summons up diverse sorts of debtors to the King of heaven to discharge their obligations, and make their appearance in the Courts of the King of glory, there to pay their vows and his dues of praise and thankfulness. Neither doth the Prophet's summons concern a few, or is the tribute of our heavenly Caesar to be levied of the remnants and outcasts of Israel, both are as large as the taxation of Augustus, Luke 2.5 wherein all the world was taxed. None that's clothed with humane flesh can free themselves from these obligations, except they can shuffle themselves out of the number of Prince or people, travellers by Land, voyagers by Sea, be they Sea men or Land men, Sick men or Sound men, Free men or Bondslaves, Rich or Poor: Let their persons be whom they will, their qualifications how they will, their conditions what they will, all are here wished and warned, sent for and summoned to praise the Lord for his goodness, and to declare the wonders that he, etc. But in these particular verses of this Psalm which I have singled out from the rest, like a Deer from the Herd: the Prophet of God, and the God of Prophets, address themselves to such only as go down into the Sea in ships, Verse 23. and do their business in great waters. Those painful voyagers as compass their livings and your livings in the fearful floods, and are daily spectators of his works and wonders in the deep, being brought to the haven where they would be, are here excited to testify their thankfulness, by the performance of a double duty, to praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men: This is the Prophet's wish, and Sea man's obligation; O that men would therefore praise the Lord, etc. Brethren and beloved in the Lord, I cannot exclude myself from the number of such whose obligations are infinite to the God of heaven for his favourable protection both by sea and land. I dare not like those unthankful Lepers, smother the mercy of an omnipotent God and beneficent Saviour, either in silence or ingratitude. Luk 17.17 Let those other Lepers of Samaria should rise up in judgement against me, who said amongst themselves; 2 King 7.9 This is a day of good tidings, we do not well to hold our peace; If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will befall us; now therefore come that we may go and tell the King's household. It were a piece of impardonable sacrilege to monopolise or engross the divine Elixir of my Masters and my Maker's mercies and miracles, works and wonders, that I have had experience of in foreign and fare distant Climates, Counties, Kingdoms, Lands, Provinces, Nations, People, Languages. Since than that God the Father requires no more of me than God the Son did of the dispossessed Demoniac, Mark. 5.19. Go and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee, I were unworthy of my tongue if I should not speak to you, of your ears if you should not hear what shall be delivered. May the God of heaven therefore open my lips, Mark. 1.17.34. and my mouth shall show forth his praise, say Ephphata to your ears, and they shall be opened for the wonders of the King of glory to enter in. In these words that I have read, and you have heard, there is an exact mixture and accurate composure of Dangers, Mercies, and Duties; these three are woven and plaited in the Text, and are the three Tabernacles of my meditation: here I build one for God, another for you, a third for myself, and such else as it doth concern. Here is dangers of such as go down into the deep, Mercies of him that made the Sea and all that therein is, Duties for such as have received these mercies, and escaped these dangers, and are brought to the haven where they would be. Heaven, earth, and waters roll and tumble up the billows of the Text, the woof and warp whereof is spun both of course and fine thread. Exra 8.16. Exod. 36.1 1 Cor 3.16 It would require the skill of jarib and Elnathan, men of understanding; the hand and loom of some Aholiab and Bezaleel, to make it fit work for the Tabernacle of the Lord, for the Temple of God, which Temple ye are; that while you hear of these dangers, ye may be brought to fear and awfulness: of these mercies, ye may be drawn to practise thankfulness, of these duties ye may be wooed to service and obedience. It wants not what skill I could bestow upon it according to my talant and ability, and my time and present opportunity, of which I may say as Philip of the five loaves and two fishes, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Alas, what are these amongst so many. Alas, what are these my meditations, these water-works, not able to express the shadows of that divine Majesty they do adore, and to which they are dedicated. Yet they should be seasonable, they have crossed many brinish billows and waves of salt water, and to you they should be acceptable. For as amongst you I preached my Vale and long farewell, so now by divine providence am I brought again once more upon this holy mount, The Communion day. to salute you with my primum salve, first salutation: what you can conceive not to be seasonable in regard of your time and meeting. You may freely correct it, 'twill show part of your judgement, which I conceive to be suitable in respect of my time and arrival, you may favourably accept it as part of my love. Incline therefore your ears to the tenor of the following Embassy, the arrant is Gods, the task is mine, the use is yours. Let your pious acceptance and patiented attention, be as Midwives to assist me in the delivery of these three dangers, mercies, duties, that struggle in the womb of my text, like the quarrelling twins that descended from the loins of Isaac from the bowels of Rebeckah. Gen. 25.22 The rough and hairy Esau comes first to view. I'll first speak of the dangers, joh. 2.9. reserving the other as the Bridegroom did his best wine until the last. They that go down into the sea expose themselves unto a danger, that like the mace of Neptune is three-forked. Danger threefold. All voyagers are liable to a triple danger, of the Sea, of the enemies in the Sea, of the enemies on the shore after their arrival. In any or all these three kinds was there never more danger than now since Noah's Dove was pilot unto Noah's Ark, Gen. 8.8. or since Saturn the King of Greece did first find out the Art of Navigation. The way of a ship in the Sea is one of those four things that proved a paradox to puzsle and nonplus the wise and great King Solomon, Pro. 30.9. and thousands more since his dissolution. He that commits himself to the custody of a three incht plank (for there's no more between death and us) had need to say with David, Psalm 108.1. My heart is ready, O Lord, my heart is ready: He had need to be ready for prosperity, ready for adversity, ready for liberty, ready for slavery, ready for the storms, tempests of vengeance, ready for the calms and favourable air of mercy He must look to be a sharer in the first, Phillip 4.11. he may hope to be partaker of the last. They that go down into the deep shall see a Sea whose billows bellow, whose surges swell, raging with tempests, roaring with whirlwinds, and be at once terrified with fearful thunderclaps, dazzled with terrible lightnings, amazed with airy fires and apparitions, astonished with eruptions and evaporations from the furnaces of heaven, with the clouds, those bottles of heaven, that sometimes empty themselves in such violence as if they threatened another deluge. With those winds that come from the treasuries and hollow concaves of the earth, which as is let lose for vengeance, like some accursed bandog, are more fierce for former cohibitions. These, besides many other sad apparences, are they liable to, that go down into the deep, which oftentimes affright them worse than the ghost of Brutus did him in his dismal and nocturnal vision. Plutarch. Cher. Now such as are humbled with these judgements, amazed with these wonders, astonished with these terrors, affrighted with these apparitions, can never disrelish the offers of mercy in such deliverances, they cannot but praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wonders that he doth for the children of men. I lived to see which now I live to declare and memorate, all the four elements in a combustion, Psa. 118 17 uproar and confusion, as if they had been to have been reduced to their former chaos. Frigida pugnabant calidis, Ovid. lib. 1● Met: humentia siccis, Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus. Having passed the dangerous and straight gulf of the danger, Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim: Ovid. in Loc. Not fare distant from the Trinacrian or Sicilian shore we sailed near an Island that burns like mount Sinai, Earth. yet not consumed with those blasts of fire, which proceed from Mines of brimstone by which they are nourished. The terrible and sulphurous flames do pierce the air above, Fire. that in the day time it seems to be covered with smoke, in the night with fire. The airy and tempestuous winds above, Air. enraged the billows and surges of the Sea below, Water. that as said the Poet: Ovid de Pont. jam iam tacturos sidera summa putes. So said the Prophet, so say I, sometimes we were lifted up to the heavens, and sometimes cast down again unto the deep, every element a messenger of death; The fire flaming, the earth smoking, the air storming, the water raging; Psa. 8●. 5. as if all the foundations of the earth had been out of course. The enveloped clouds descended round about us in shouts terrible to each beholder into the water, the water ascended into the clouds, and as a weaker vessel yielded to their violence. The fire burnt in the bowels of the earth, and the earth uncapable of resistance sent forth flashes and flames of fire and brimstone, as if Hell had no other chimney but Strumbelo, Strumbelo, Aetna Vulcan's temple, mount Soma or Vesuvia puteoli all burning mountains. and the adjacent mountains to vent her smoke. These things for commonness and familiarity to some Mariners the oftener they are seen the less they are regarded. But some freshwater spectator beholding them in their terror, would think perhaps as little of preaching in a Church of England, as ever did jonah in the streets of Ninive, when the sea was his death, the fish was his death, the wind and waves his death: Presentemque intentant omnia mortem. Virg in Luc. Yet that God that set jonah a shore upon the borders and lists of Syriah, hath brought us also to the Haven where we would be. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord, and declare the wonders that he hath done for us the children of men. These and all other dangers to which Seamen are subject have their end and use: For as the penance and mulct of Demosthenes did serve to adorn the altars of jupiter: so the miseries and troubles of such adventurers do work together for the best to them that love God, Ro. 8.28. and are called of his purpose. Here's some honour to adorn the altars of the God of heaven. For as storms do purge the air above, so they do or should purify men's hearts below. For now if ever the Mariners will deprecate their Deities, and call upon jonah to call upon his God. jon. 1.5.6. Now if ever the Disciples will awake their Saviour with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Master, save us, we perish. Mat. 8.26. Now every Turk betakes him to his sacrifice, every Christian unto his prayers. Even such as allow not or approve not of a Litany ashore would quickly learn to say and pray, From lightning and thunder from storms and tempests, from violence of wind and waves: God Lord deliver us. The soundest heart will disrelish this bitter Coloquintida, and quake to be fed with this unsavoury Hemlock, though but for a few days or hours, and after the storms are once blown over will prefer the case of a Christian to the wealth of an Arab or savage Indian: Quid maris extremos Arabas ditantia & Indos. Horace in loc. I, and conclude with Meander: Satius esse pauperem in terra vivere, quam divitem mari se committere: Its safer to live a poor man on shore, than a rich man at Sea. Neither are we more subject to the violence of winds at sometimes then to variety at other: Aul. G●l. li 2 c. 24. at night we sail Vento japige with Virgil's Western wind; Act. 27.14 ere midnight troubled with Paul's tempestuous Euroclydon which blew and blustered at midnight; ere morning, Virg. Aen. 1 Validus iactaverit austere in alto, turned with a Southern and after that a Northern gale, 'tis possible to see them and many more blow all at once according to the Poetical description, where each strives to get the mastery: Virg. una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, Creberque procellis Affricus, etc. Nor yet more troubled either with violence of winds or variety then a third time with want and scarcity. After heaven had seemed to frown and lower, she now doth laugh and smile at our former troubles and present helplessness. Now we have a breathing time, and our former sorrows be becalmed. It proves to many the increase of worse, who lie for want of wind in sight of their port but cannot come at it: Like Moses in the sight of Canaan but could not come near it. The first makes them a trouble to themselves which is storms of abundance; the last which is the calms of want do make them a booty and purchase for roving and ranging Pirates, 2. Danger of the enemy in the Sea. which is but the second part of Danger, at first proposed. One woe is past, Revel. 9.12 and now behold another woe is at hand: Sicut unda impellitur unda, Ou. I two more woes do follow it as one wave doth another. If there were no more woes or danger in the Sea than the opposition of our enemies, it were enough to make a voyage miserable: No day in the week, or scarce hour in the day, are we free from encounters or preparation to encounter with those Turks, Gods and our adversaries; those venomous Cantharideses do swarm in the Mediterranean and Adriaticke Seas. Sex quotidie millia lampadum ante Pseudo prophetae Mahometi tamulum, etc. Petr. Bess. Mr. R: Knows in his Turkish History. Millions of Christian souls have rued the terror of those (worse than debauched Saracins) worshippers of the false Prophet Mahomet, borne in an unlucky hour, whose body hangs up in their Sancta Sophia or chief Church of the City of Mecha, with six thousand lamps always burning before him. These his followers and worshippers are and have been the ruin of many thousand Christians on Land by war, on Sea by piracy. Neglecta solent incendia sumere vires. As fires neglected gather strength, and make way for their own fury: So doth their security give advantage to our ruin and their cruelty. They have already so long triumphed in mischief, that if we credit the annals or opinion of such who record it, they have got a greater part of Christendom than is left for to oppose them. Or if we believe but our own experience and ordinary probabilities, Hist. de destruct. & ruina Troiae we may expect that ere long like Aegcon the Greekish Pirate they will set upon the Navy Royal of jupiter himself. God stir up all Christian Princes to unity amongst themselves, and to unite their forces against this common enemy, herein would lie the safety of their own Monarchies, and security of their own Subjects: For now so many ships, so many fights, and funerals both of men and loss of ships if not overmatcht, so many squadrons, and fleets, so many fiends and furies armed to destruction. One half hour is the loss of many a Christians life and liberty. If they die, their bodies want what yours enjoy, the charitable honour of a grave. Propertius. Cuius honoratis ossa vehuntur aquis. Yet that's the least of sorrows: Rev. 20.13 for the Sea shall give up her dead as well as the Land; The fish in the Sea as the worms in the Land surrender all at the general audit, if they live they live to liberty, and need the help of your prayers; or to slavery and thraldom, and need the assistance of your purses to redeem them from their worse than Egyptian thraldom and servitude under Pharaoh Neco King of Egypt. Exod. 5.9. Brethren, its one thing to speak of Hannibal at Rome, and another to meet him in the field: its one thing to speak of their miseries in England, another thing to be liable to them, or behold them abroad; they are but shadows of compassion that are wrung from men that behold the miseries of slavery with other men's eyes, in comparison of what would be if you beheld them with your own; and saw either what they had which they would willingly want; or what they wanted which they would willingly enjoy. Suave mari magno, etc. Lucre. saith the Poet, It's an excellent object to stand upon some Tower and behold a battle in the Sea between two ships, or a shore between two Armies; But fare from any thoughts of pleasure or content is it for such as grapple with their adversaries now upon such disadvantages as usually happen to such as go down into the deep. Sea-fights now are not as they were between the Romans and Thracians, where they did end their quarrels with Darts and javelins, 1. Sam. 17.40. or as between David and Goliath with slings and pebble stones; But with the roaring and rending Cannon, that except our ships and sides were vengeance proof of force there must be effusion of blood, loss of ships, of men, their lives, their limbs, their liberties. There, Christian is forced to fight against Christian, Isa. 19.2. as Egyptian once did against Egyptian. He that is a bondslave against him that is a freeman, and those of our own nation and household are forced to be our worst enemies. Mat. 10.36 In these bitter and sad conflicts either with ships or Galleys. How many poor and miserable captives are there that cry out unto their Country men, as Lyncus the Prisoner of Hercules did upon Andromada, seeing him in another ship; O Andromada, H●st. Tro. save thy friend Lyncus, else I shall lose my liberty, and thou thy friend. But alas 'tis work enough for us to save ourselves, or if we could overmaster our enemies, yet our hands are manacled as were the Israelites, that they might not fight against the Moabites, nor Ammonites, nor Edomites. Deut. 2.5. There's them that have paid too dear at home, for damage done to their adversaries abroad. All evils of the Sea said one, is less than shipwreck, Eccles. 6.1. but this evil of slavery say I, is worse than that: and this evil have I also seen under the Sun, and to this one more, that Princes walk on foot, Eccles. 10.7. and vassals ride; the subjects and servants of honourable and Christian Princes walk on foot, when such vassals are mounted upon the pampered and jetting Steeds of honour and ambition, and triumph in number and insolency. This also would teach a man to prefer Minerva before Mars, and a certain peace before a doubtful victory. Hist. Tro. No indifferent man but would choose to live with Demo Gorgon in the Caves of Arcady, and live the life of the strictest Anchorite, rather than to expose himself to these dangers, or if necessity of employment do call him abroad, he will learn the second clause of the Sea man's Litany: From Battle, Murder, and from sudden death, or linger slavery; Good Lord deliver us. Certainly, there is not ordinary probability of escape for ships of indifferent force or burden, except they be delivered by his hand of power if they fight, of Providence if they meet not with their enemies; for they are mighty, we are weak; they are light and nimble, when we are dull and slow: we are men of peace when they are men of war. They are many, we but few, how can they choose but win, and we but lose the victory, Deut. 32.30. unless that God did encourage us, and discourage them; that one might put a thousand, and ten thousand to flight. Yet this is but the second stem of danger, our enemies at sea; the third follows which is worse than both the other, The third danger: Enemies ashore after our arrival. that is our enemies on the land after our arrival. There is not more danger of our corporal enemies at sea, than of spiritual ashore. Friars of all orders & disorders, Monks, Priests, jesuites, Inquisitors, these seize upon many a reformed Protestant, as the ravenous Vulture doth upon the helpless Chicken that's scattered from the wings of the Hen's protection, as the Wolf upon the Lamb, or as the greedy and eager Hound upon the helpless and breathless Hare. Oh that God had as faithful servants, as the Devil hath Clients, who like their Lord & master go seeking whom they may devour, 1 Pet. 5.8. Or that they were as sure God's friends as they are his enemies. Their care and diligence to gain a Proselyte is far greater than others to avoid it: Mat. 23.15 for how many men, travellers by land, voyagers by Sea, after all other escapes, by their bad Pilotage, come to make shipwreck both of faith and of a good conscience. 1 Tim. 1 9 Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. Horat. Such as desire to enjoy the benefit of foreign Countries, change not their mind, but their air, was once used as an ancient Adage. But now too many change their religion with their climate, and their God with both; yielding to the subtle insinuations and serpentine persuasions of those crafty Politicians, Wolves in sheep's clothing, Mat. 7.5. who send many men home to their native Country, laden with the vices, fashions, corruptions, and opinions of those Countries they have lived in, of those persons they have conversed with, of those arguments they have discoursed of, who having lost all shadows of sanctity, return to their own home like the weatherbeaten Bark of Athens, with never a Plank of the same wood they were first made of. All principles of Religion & grounds of faith being quite obliterate and defaced, they stamped in a new mould, having not so much as the relics of a reformed Christian, or half lettered monuments of their former profession; but like the Vane upon the Mast, or Weathercock on the steeple, are turned about with the wind of every vain doctrine. Eph. 4. 14●. They wander so fare, till Dinah like they lose their spiritual chastity and virginity. Gen. 34.1, 2. Quint. Curtius. Did they but with Alexander, change their habit only in every Country, who when he was in Persia, was clothed as a Persian; in Parthia, a Parthian; in Greece, a Grecian; we could and would allow them the liberty of the ancient Distich, Si fueris Romae Romano vivito more, Si fueris alibi vivito more loci. But too many turn Romans in heart as well as in habit: Luke 22.55. and while they are in the high Priests Hall warming their hands, pretending to make themselves fit and serviceable agents for their King and Country, they then cool their hearts, and suck in the filthy dregs of foreign opinions, split their souls upon those shelves of error; enter into the house of Rimmon, 2 Kin. 5.18 Rom. 11.4 2 King. 23.13. bow and bend the knees of their devotion and affection to Baal, run after their new invented Gods and Goddesses, as once offending Solomon, who bowed his knees to Ashta. roth, the Goddess of the Zidonians, and ran after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Worse than Alexander they change their habit, worse than Scipio and Sertorius, Val. Max. 2 Tim. 4.10 Luk. 22.57. They that turn Turks. they sergeant their religion: and which is worst of all, like Peter they deny, forswear, forsake their Saviour. There's some alive yet to be happy if they could imitate him in his tears as in his apostasy, in the reluctancy of his sorrow, as in the precipitancy of his zeal, who like Zeno the Athenian Philosopher, Dixit se nunquam foeliciori venio navigasse quam cum navis eius submersafuit quia tempestas ida suae tranquilli tatis existet causa. Plut in I●a. Psal. 120.5. Gen 9.27. pretend both happiness and content in their shipwreck, both of their faith and conscience; these are worthy of other men's tears, that have none of their own to wash away their woes while they are not constrained, but content to dwell in Mesech, and to have their habitations in the Tents of Kedar. God persuade every such japheth to return to the Tents of Sem from whence they are revolted. Are Abana and Pharphar, 2 King. 5.8 Rivers of Damascus, better than jordan? No, let the curse of your deathbeds light upon me, if I prefer not the streams of our jordan, the free and liberal use of the Gospel, in peace and tranquillity, before the Abana or Pharphar of their religion or inquisition: and which is more, judge 8.2. as Gideon said to the Ephramites, I prefer the glean of our Ephraim, before the vintage of their Abiezar, and far before it too, as Ulysses did prefer the smoke of Ithaca, before the immortality of the Gods: often wishing for the enjoyment of this our native freedom, with as great a desire as ever David could wish for to drink of the waters of the Well of Bethlem. 2 Sam 23.15. Oh that one would give me to drink of the waters, etc. And hearty saluting the sight of our English ground with as much joy as Achates and his confederates did their Italian — Humilem que videmus Virg. Italiam, Italiam primus conclamat Achates Italiam Laeto socij clamore salutant. He that hath escaped these triple and triple crowned dangers of the Sea, enemies in the Sea, enemies a shore, must needs be glad, because he is at rest, Text. and brought to the haven where he would be, etc. I and my floating Parishioners are not now to learn experience in any or all of these three dangers, yet the storms of our Sea are blown over, the danger of our enemy is already past, the share of the cunning Fowlers, Ps. 24.7. who catch nothing but blind Bats and Owls, is also broken, and we are delivered, and brought to the haven where we would be: Now we live to praise our God for his goodness, and to declare his wonders to the children of men. And in doing both to pay our vows of thankfulness in the midst of our jerusalem, Ps. 116 16. in the midst of thy Church and congregation which stands as in the midst of Zion; of which I have often said and prayed as Lot did of Zoar; Gen. 19.20 Oh let my soul escape thither; Is it not a little one and my soul shall live? The mercies that provoke us to thankfulness. But so much of our danger that must bring us to awfulness; now follows the mercy that must bring us to thankfulness. After the storms of displeasure, succeed the calms of mercy, the smooth issue of rough progenitors. For a moment doth he hide his face from us, but with everlasting mercy he doth embrace us. Look we to the present Text, it reduces God's mercy to two heads, that like Tanais and Volga, water the residue of our meditations; He makes the storms to cease, and bringeth them to the haven where they would be; two favours that include all other favours in them. If brevity may be any whetstone to sharpen your attention, or as holy water to sprinkle on your face and awaken your devotion, I'll put them both in one, and exemplify both these mercies to us, by examples and ample testifications of his mercies to others in the like miseries, which are the best expression of our own sorrows, or his favours. Have you read of Noah floating in his Ark without thought or fear of danger, Gen. 7.17. Gen. 7.21. when heaven and earth, the Sea and all that therein is, was in an uproar, when thousands perished in that common innundation of evils. The case was ours, the mercy Gods, that we also were delivered from those surges wherein many perish, and are brought to the Ararat of our desires, to the haven where we would be: O that men would, etc. Exod. 2.3. Have you read of Moses, crawling and sprawling in his Ark and Bark of Bul-rushes, when the waves could not drown him, nor Egyptian damage him. Exod. 2.5.6. We have been as helpless as Moses, and God as merciful to us as unto him: he was to us instead of Pharaohs daughter, ready to challenge our custody and protection. For by his mercy we are brought to the haven where we would be: O that men, etc. Exod. 14. ●●. & 28. Have you read of Israel's safe convoy through those seas wherein thousands after perished; the case is yet ours, we have passed those 〈◊〉 that cost many thousands both life and liberty, and are brought in safety to the Ca●…an of felicity, to the haven where we would be: He was our Pillar and Cloud: O that men would therefore, etc. Have you read of daniel's security amongst those Lions that afterward devoured his accusers, Dan. 6.23.24. their wives and children; we have been also even in the jaws of those Lions that have devoured many, Turks. Psal. 57 4. Psal 3.7. yet are we not delivered as a prey unto their teeth. But by the honourable convoy of his mercy, by the hand of his clemency, are we brought to the haven where we would be. Oh that men would therefore, etc. Have you heard and read of jonah embarked, en wombed, jonah 1.17. and entombed in the entrails of that great Leviathan, yet blessed with protection; Even we also have had the like menaces of winds and waves, storms and tempests, to make us fit morsels for those living mountains whose entrails and gorges would soon consume us to a jelly. jonah 2.10 But the mercies of the God of jonah are not yet diminished, for he hath brought us to the haven where we would be. Oh, etc. Mat. 8. ●3. 24. Lastly, have you heard both of sinners and Saviour both in one ship, covered with waves, tossed with tempests; he asleep, they awake; they fearful, he powerful; they as sufferers, he as a commander both of them, and what they feared. The case was ours, we have been though not in eadem nave, in the same ship, yet in codem praedicamento, Toto sonuerum aethere ●●mbi. Vir. in the same predicament. And when we cried in our distress, he heard us, when we went to awake him, he arose and calmed the waves, stilled the winds, stayed the spouts, repelled the gusts, rebuked the storms. And by his mercy are we brought to the Haven where we would be. Oh that men would therefore, etc. He that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth was our aid and helper, or if he have seemed to sleep, 'tis as he expounds himself, Cant. 5. Cant. 5.2. I sleep, but mine heart waketh: He seems to use sleep but his heart waketh, and himself is vigilant for our protection. Once indeed above all other times he seemed to us to sleep out a miserable and fearful storm, as if he had forsaken us, as once his Father had forsaken him, 'tis worthy the file and records of eternity; Mat. 27.46 In the mould of Genoa. In Genoa the eight of januarie last was such a storm and tempest as caused the Inhabitants to rake up the urns and bring forth the ashes of the deceased Saint john Baptist, as a propitiatory sacrifice to calm the raging Sea, I neither believe that they are, or that they are of some virtue, or that they have them if they were; yet there all the he Saints and she Saints, Angels, Lords, and Ladies of Heaven were sued unto, for mercy and deliverance. Mat. 8.27. In this never to be forgotten misery we cried unto the Lord our God, who seemed to sleep and be awakened, and both the winds and sea they did obey him. De profundis clamavi, out of the depth did I cry unto the lord Abyssus abyssum invocat, One depth calls on another, a depth of our misery caused for a depth of his mercy; he did neglect us but for a while for the greater manifestation of his mercy, and increase of our services. Oh that men would, Psal. 99 6. etc. Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, Noah, Daniel, and job, those spiritual Courtiers and favourites of the King of heaven in their distresses cried unto the Lord and he heard them, and delivered them, and his mercies are renewed to us every morning, and his compassions fail not. Lam 3.22. Psal. 86.1. He will have us know that when sinners bow their hearts, he will bow and bend his ears to their prayers and supplications And that he desires not the death of a sinner, but rather, etc. As I live, saith God the Father, as I die, saith God the Son, I desire not nor delight not in the death of sinners, no he is proner to mercy then to judgement. He was longer in destroying one City, I, in threatening to destroy it, than in building of the whole world. jonah 3.4. Exod. 20.11. Forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed, six days and the whole world was made, the heaven, earth, the sea, and all that therein is. Well may he forget to be angry with us, Psal. 30.5. Psal. 136.1. for the storms of his anger endure but for a moment; but he can never forget to be merciful, for the calms of his mercy endures for ever. So much for the two generals, viz. the Dangers that provoke us to awfulness; the Mercies that move us to thankfulness: 3 General, Duties to draw us to obedience. the third follows, which is duties to provoke us to obedience. And this obedience must reflect back again, and be seen and showed in the performance of a double duty, viz. The publication of his praises, and proclamation of his wonders. Text. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. This is all the Text will enjoin or the Prophet look for, or the God of Text and Prophet require after the receipt of his mercies, to yield unto him his tribute of praises. 'tis as much as he doth ask, 'tis as little as we can give; 'tis his due and our duty. Of both which a word or two, and there cannot much more remain. Hitherto we have but numbered the turrets and bulwarks of this text, as David wished the spectators of Zion, Psal. 48.1. Psalm 48. and have been stayed in Atrio templi, in the porch entrance and body of the Text. Now suffer me to lead you by the hand into the sanctuary of Sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holyes. He that will not lend an ear, deserves not that every Angel should move a wing, or descend the ladder, or look out of the windows of heaven to assist him either in his wants or wishes. Gen. 28.12 The first piece of our obligation consists in the publication of his praises, and to do this brings honour to God: He that offereth me praise he honoureth me. Psal. 50.23. The second is the declaration of his wonders, and he that doth not this, draws a curse and prophetical anathema upon his own head: which waits for such as regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands. Psal. 28.5.6. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare, etc. Those that have been most deeply interest in humane miseries, and the receipt of divine favours are called here to the performance of these holy services: And they only because there cannot be a greater argument of God's praise and our duty then escape from danger and receipt of mercy. This truth is firmly built upon the pillars of the Text. The conquering Romans in all their honourable and glorious triumphs, Hist. Rom. suffered none to make any triumph, to erect any Prophees, or to enter into the Temple of honour, where were Crowns, Garlands, Palms, Laurels, Robes, Aul. Gel. Rewards, Emblems; but they must first pass the Temple of virtue, where were Swords, javelins, Targets, Lances, Helmets, and other instruments of war, by which they must purchase their honour, and pass to their Temples: So read we 2 Tim 2 5. Nemo coronabitur nisi qui Legitime certaverit. Revel. 7. Read also our vision of that blessed Saint, who were those that were watching with crowns on their heads, Palms in their hands, Haleluiahs' in their tongues, adoration in their hearts, long white robes on their shoulders, emblems both of honour and victory. High sunt qui venerunt ex tribulatione, These have come out of tribulation, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7.14. They are fittest to be Heralds of divine praises, that have been the deepest interested in humane miseries. Thus I have long drank of those waters that are more bitter than the waters of Marah, more venomous than the waters of Nonacridis, are fittest to receive that double favour that Ascha the wife of Othniel begged of Culel: The springs above, Iosh. 19.15 & the springs beneath, blessings from heaven, and blessings from earth. They can but relish our bread and Mannah of heaven, King 22 that have long eaten and drank such as Ahab threatened to Micaiah the bread of sorrow and water of affliction. 1. King. 22.27. They are most glad when they are brought to the haven, Psal. 107.25. whose souls have most melted, and whose bodies have most suffered in the deep and dangerous waters. They are fittest for the calms and favourable airs of a merciful God, Hor. of the sons of Dia. Sunt quos E●ea domum reducet palma coelesiis. Thy sons like heavenly wights do come with an E●eon Garland home. 1. Cor. 9.24. that have been tossed and tumbled upon the surges and billows of a merciless ocean. In vain should the actors in the Olympian games have professed either their skill or abilities if they had not sometimes returned like the sons of Diagoras with an Elcan palm and Garland. In vain should we run, if we should not sometimes get the Crown. In vain should we wrestle, if not sometimes get the mastery. In vain should we be cast down into the deep, if not sometimes raised up again to the heaven, and after long be brought to the haven where we would be. And in vain should we be brought to the haven where we would be, if we should not praise the Lord for his goodness, or declare, etc. Exod. 15.1 When God mercifully delivered Israel from the hand of Egypt and Egyptian bondage, there followed a Song of praise, Exod. 15. When Christ mercifully delivered his Israel from the Egypt of sin and iniquity, Luk. 1.68. there followed a song of blessing; Blessed be the lord judg. 5.12. Deborah after her victory and Siseraes' overthrow may not sleep out such a favour, nor slumber out such a mercy. But Deborah must awake, and Baruke must arise to utter a song of triumph and victory, Awake, awake, Exod. 17.14. Deborah. Moses himself after his conquest and Amalecks' ruin, must write it in a book for a memorial, and rehearse it in the ears of josuah. Which he did and more, he erects an Altar enrowls the mercy thereon, offers it with thanks, hallows it with sacrifice. This priestly Prophet and Prophetic King David, as he hath many Psalms of prayer to express his misery; So hath he many of praise and thanksgiving for the receipt of mercy, witness those that he hath committed to the care of those chief Musicians, to jeduthun, to Gittith, to Neginoth, to Sheminith, and many more. Besides these holy men of old never was there any age that wanted such as did yield ample and large testimony of their praise and thankfulness, for the receipt of blessings and benefits. Caesar. All Caesar's actions ended in a triumph. Antonius Pius erects his Pillar, Antonius Pius. Traian. and Traian his, about which are engraven their victories and conquests: they both stand firm in Rome to this day. So should all men that God hath blessed with deliverance and victory, erect some pillar of thankful remembrance, and acknowledgement, that succeeding ages may be stirred up to leave the like monuments of praise in the like deliverances, and beholding our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven. Mat. 5.16. So was Themistocles animated the performance of many a noble action, Val. Max. by beholding the triumphs and trophies of Miltiades. And Alexander seeing the victories and conquests of Achilles engraven on his Tomb, was stirred up and provoked to an honourable emulation of the like valour and magnanimity. I, and Caesar when he saw the tomb of Alexander in the Temple of Hercules in Spain, and about the walls of the Church the conquests of the world, he wept to think how little he had done, and how much Alexander. In ea aetate qua iam terrarum orbem subegisset: It was worthy of Caesar's tears to consider if he had done nothing in the time and age wherein Alexander had conquered the world. Right even so may we (that will not be provoked by others patterns and examples, to a demonstration of our gratitude) be compelled to weep with Caesar, while we see how the lives and acts of mere moralists do shame us besides our own. None of us but have received favours of an higher nature than any of them. But alas, where are our erected pillars? where are our Hecatombs? where our holocausts? where the pyramids of our praises? where our smoking Altars? our burning Incense, our hallowed sacrifices, our holy services? Gen. 31.47. Tell me who with Laban hath erected a jegar-saha dutha, a Pillar of witness, between God and him, of God's mercy, and his thankfulness? Who with jacob hath built an Altar of acknowledgement, and entitled it, El-elhoim Israel? Gen. 33.20 Exod 17.14 16. to show that God is the God of Israel? Who with Moses hath registered the favours of his God and ruin of his enemies upon an Altar, and called the name of it jehovah Nissi? Who with jonah disgorged out of the bowels of the deep hath erected his pillars of praise? His one for jonahs' two, which yet stand firm on the confines of Syriah, and are called by the name of jonahs' Pillars, or near the place where the Fish set jonah ashore? Who with the holy woman hath poured out the ointment of her best praises upon the head of her Saviour? Mat. 26.7. Or with the woman that Christ cured of her bloody issue, hath left a double monument one of her own misery, another of her Saviour's mercy, joseph. Eccl. Hist. as we read she did in Ecclesiastical Histories. Who so is wise will ponder these things, and seek to make some benefit by these examples which I lay before you, Psal. 107. ult. as jacob laid his Rod of green poplar before the sheep of Laban, Gen. 30.37. when he laid speckled Rods, they brought forth speckled Lambs, but when he laid fairer and white rods they brought forth fair and white lambs. I lay before you not speckled but fairer and candid examples, of which I say to you as Moses concerning the building of the Tabernacle, Exod. 25.9 Fac secundum hoc exemplar. And as our Lord and Saviour to the questioning Lawyer, Go thou and do so likewise. Whatsoever things have virtues, in others will be no less eminent in the imitators. Wherefore than whatsoever things are honest, Phillip 4 8. just, good, virtuous, laudable, that follow, they will carry away a blessing. Shall the jews offer their children in sacrifice in imitation of Abraham? S. W. R. Hist. Or Agessilaus King of Sparta, offer sacrifice in imitation of Agamemnon, which was thrown off the Altar by the Theban Lords in Aulis: And shall not we be provoked by better examples to imitation, of better actions? God requires neither trophies nor triumphs, sacrifices nor offerings of us though we receive as great and greater mercies as our progenitors, who so testified their thankfulness. He asks no more of us but to be thankful, and to praise the Lord for his goodness, etc. Well said the servants to the Prince and Peer of Syriah, 2. King. 5.13. to their Master Naaman, when they would provoke him to follow the Prophet's order and advise. If the Prophet had required some great thing of thee, wouldst thou not have done it? how much more, when he bids thee but wash and be clean. So say I, if the Lord of Prophets should require some great things of you, would ye not do it? How much rather, when he bids you to wash yourselves from the foul spots of unthankfulness and be clean? Should God raise a Subsidy, and challenge but what is his own, and require of you that are Lords both of Sea and Land, to resign your Lordships in the one, your interest in the other, your title to both. Of you Land Lords to give up your rents and revenues. Of you rich men to give away your wealth, of you poor men to give away your alms, of you Officers, to give away your fees, of you Servants to give away your earnings, of you Mariners to give away your dear bought wages: I know that this would be Dui us Sermo, Luk. 18.23 a harsh and unreasonable request. But quis requisivit? Mic 6.3. who hath required those things at your hands? God hath not troubled you with sacrifices, nor wearied you with offer; no, the God of heaven hath another request unto you, which you may not, you must not deny him; and Saint Paul in God's name, and I in Saint Paul's name, Beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God, Ro 11.1. that ye present yourselves souls and bodies as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice unto God, for although the other were an unreasonable, yet this is but your reasonable service, Rom. 12.1. Caius Cotta that thankful Roman, Plut. vit. Ro. when he would show himself truly grateful to the Senate, he gave them his soul, and his reason was, vita & mors iura naturae sunt; Life and death are the rites of nature. We cannot better testify our praises and gratulations, than by giving our souls unto our Maker, whose they are by creation and redemption, saying with the Psalmist, Psal. 41.5. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. joseph charged his brethren to bring with them their little Brother Benjamin, else they might all have been left behind: So Christ our elder brother, Gen. 42.20. chargeth us to bring with us our little brother Benjamin of thankfulness, else all other services are of no value. Plut. in v. Thes. Aegeus, the Father of Theseus, sent his son to grapple with the Minotaur, and gave him one suit of black sails, and another of white, to be hoist only and worn in case he got the victory; which though he had got, yet he returns home with the black sails he went out with; at sight of which, his father threw himself from the Sigean Promontory, where he expected his son's arrival. In which history is lively moralised the natural dispositions of too many, who like Theseus, the son of Aethra & Aegeus, after a happy voyage and prosperous, do return with the black sails of ingratitude and unthankfulness, Eph. 4.30. and hereby grieve the spirit of their holy and heavenly Father, by which they are sealed unto the day of redemption: whereas if they did hoist the candid and white sails of gratulation and applause, they should rejoice both Angels and Cherubins that sit upon the scaffold of heaven expecting our victory and happy arrival. Luk. 15.10. Now that we may aright bless God for his mercies, let us in praising of him, offer this sourefold sacrifice. First, let us offer the sacrifice of charitable alms, as occasion is offered to us. To do good and distribute forget not, He 13.16. for with such a sacrifice God is well pleased: I, hereby we shall make ourselves Creditors to God, and him a debtor to us. Pro. 19.17 For he that giveth unto the poor, dareth to the Lord: he that putteth his money into the bank of heaven, shall make plentiful return in this world, Luk. 18.10 an hundred fold, and in the world to come, life everlasting. Secondly, offer to God the sacrifice of an humble penitence and contrition, Psal. 51.17. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit, Psal. 51.17 a broken and a contrite heart, O Lord thou wilt not, thou canst not despise. While your hearts are thinking of your sins, let your eyes be like the Pools of Heshbon by Bathrabim, Cant. 7.4. which were ever full of standing water, to wash away those soul spots, that sullage of Adam's clay that rests within us. Thirdly, let's sacrifice our wills, and make a perfect and absolute resignation of them to the will of God, whether it be paetiendo or faciendo, by doing or suffering, by a patiented sufferance of what he inflicts, by an obedient yeeldance to what he commands. In this we do no more than the Son of God and Saviour of the world, who subscribed to the will of his Father. Mat. 6.10, Not my will, but thy will be done. Fourthly and lastly, we must sacrifice our sins if ever we mean to bring any honour to God by yielding him his praise. This sin offering or offering of sin is equally necessary with them that went before. Even those that are as near to us as Isaac was to Abraham, must be sacrificed: those that are as near as our right eye or hand must be cut off, Mat. 5 29. pulled out and offered. Gen. 2●. 10 Sin is an Hagar that must be thrust out of doors, else Sarah our conscience shall never be at rest and quiet. 1. Sam. 5.4 Sin is a Dagon whose neck must be broke upon the threshold of repentance. 1 King 5.10. Sin is a Naaman that must be washed in jordan seven times in the vermilion streams of our Saviour's sufferings, seventy times seven times. Ion●. 1.15. Sin is a jonah that must be thrown over board; if ever we mean that the tempests of vengeance shall cease, or be bettered by calms of mercy. You that love your sins as judah loved Tamar, Goe 38.15. to enjoy your pleasures by them, as Saul loved David, to get honour by them, Goe 30.36. as jacob loved Laban, to get wealth and riches by them: You must part with all, in all, or none at all. One leg in the stocks will hold fast the whole body: one sin in the soul will hold fast both body and soul. In vain shall you praise God for his goodness, if you displease him with the continuance and increase of sin and wickedness. To what purpose will you offer to sing Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, if the noise of your sins drown the noise of your Psalms, as Drums in the sacrifice of Molech did drown the cry of the burning and tormented Infants, or as the ringing of the Bells doth drown the noise of the clock. How dare ye profess a subjection and loyalty to the King and Crown of heaven, if we nourish sin in our bosoms and hearts, a traitor both to him and us? Eccles. 5.1 Or offer the sacrifice of praise to please him, when we offer the sacrifice of fools to provoke him. This is the high way to enrage him, by whose power we are created, by whose providence we are preserved, to send worse judgements upon us than we have escaped. jud. 16.19. Such as with Samson will sleep in sin as in the lap of Dalilah, let them beware their locks. judg. 5.26 Such as with Siserah will short in this Iael's tent, let them beware their lives. If you will boys sail in all weathers, who can deplore your shipwreck? If you will run from Niniveh to Tarshish, jona. 1.3. who will pity you though you meet with a worse storm in your teeth than what you seek to avoid? D●str. Tr. So did Polydamas that son of Antenor, to avoid a storm, run under a ruinous rock that crushed him and killed him. So did the wise of Lot escape the vengeance of Sodom, Goe 19.26. yet continuing in her sin procured a worse and more peculiar, to be turned into a pillar of salt. And so shall all such as are not seasoned by her example, but will wilfully split themselves upon the Rock of their own sins, they are unworthy of my farther reproof or your farther attention. Such as will avoid both the sin and danger, must praise the Lord for his goodness; And such as will give unto their heavenly Caesar his tributary due of praise must do it, Mat. 22.21 by acknowledging him to be a Lord: So said jeptha to the men of Gilead, judg. 11.9. If I fight for you against the children of Ammon, shall I not be your head? As I say to all of you, whose faces seem to congratulate this day, whose attentions seem to entertain this doctrine; If he fight for us against our enemies, and deliver us, shall not he be our Lord? Yes! Let's first acknowledge him, and secondly let's apply him, all the merits of his active and passive obedience must be laid claim to by a peculiar and particular application: so did Thomas, who seemed to have engrossed him to himself, joh. 20.28 My Lord and my God. Thirdly, by obeying him as a Lord, in mercy for fear we find him to be a Lord in justice, Those mine enemies that will not I shall rule over them, Lu. 19.27. bring them hither that I may slay them: Heb. 10 31. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Lord. Fourthly, let's praise him as the only Lord of heaven and earth without a rival. For his glory he will not give unto another, nor his praise to graved Images. God in the frontispiece of his royal Law provokes, persuades his people Israel to have or serve no other Gods but him, because he, and no other God but he, Exod 20.1.2. had brought them out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. So let all such as the Lord hath redeemed out of the hands of the enemy, praise him alone as their sovereign Lord He that hath more than one God, or one Lord, hath neither God nor Lord. Alexander told Darius' King of Persia, Quin. Cur. offering to him half his kingdom that the Heaven had not two Suns, neither should the Earth have two sovereigns. One Alexander was enough for a world, Val. Max. one Phoenix enough for an age: Duos Alcibiades neque Attica neque Graecia tulit. Nor Greece nor Athens brought forth two Alcibiades. Sparta brought not forth two Lysander's, nor the world two such Lords. Let those fishermen that know no better sacrifice unto their nets, or Neptune, those husbandmen unto their dunghill, or to Ceres for their corn; others to Bacchus for their wines, to Pallas for their oils, to Apollo for their wisdom, to Minerva for their peace. Let the Turks thank their Mahomet for protection; the Persians go to their god Nergal for defence; the Hamathensians, to Asima for strength; the Babylonians to Succobenoth for deliverance: jer. 1●. 13. For according to the number of their countries are the number of their gods. Let them and all Atheists go to their false and foolish Deities; all Papists to their Saints; but let us go unto the Lord our God. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord. Oh that they would either cease to be men, or being men, would never cease to praise the Lord. Or yet if our tongues could be weary of the publication of his praises, yet let them be employed in the proclamation of his wonders. Text. And declare the wonders that he doth for, etc. We men are put upon the labour and task of Angels. To publish his praises, and proclaim his wonders is the office and theme of the Hyerarchy of heaven, who are ever singing their divine Carols of praise, ●●d rejoicing in the expression of his wonders. Had I the tongue of men and Angels, you the ears and wings of Cherubins, we could neither well enough nor soon enough extol his praises, or express his wonders. Of both I may say as the Psalmist said before me; Who can express the noble acts of the Lord, Psal. 106.2 or show forth all his praise? Yet since the royal hand of heaven vouchsafe not only to require, but requite our weak performances with acceptance; As we have begun with his praises, so let us go on a little also to declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. Duhartas. 1. day. The world's a book in Folio written all with God's great works in letters capital. This world is a book in Folio wherein are written the works and wonders of Gods omnipotent hand, the acts and monuments of our maker and preserver in his own proper characters; Not as Christ wrote when he wrote in the dust that spiritual paradox, joh. 8, 8. But as the Prophet jeremiah speaks in another case, jer. 17.1. Stylo ferreo in ungue Adamantino: As with a pen of iron, and point of a diamond. Man is no other but a concise abridgement of this book of the world, and an entire Index to show and point out the capital observations of the voluminous and massy pile. Would you see works of imitation, he turns you to the leaves and pages of Gods sacred Oracle, the Conclave of holy Scripture. Would you see works of Admiration, no page in this book of the world, no act in this great and high creation, but gives us occasion. I call you not to a tedious recapitulation of what I have spoken before in the expression of his wonders in the Sea, there are enough as yet remain unrelated. For it is above all creatures wonderful, whether in regard of the situation of it which is above the Land, and roars and rageth as if it would swallow up the earth, as the earth did Corah and his rebellious train. Num. 16.32. Yet he keeps it within his bounds with a Huc usque, or a Ne plus ultra, thus fare shalt thou go, and no farther. Or upon the nature of her ebbs and flows, job 38.11. her fools and wanes, her spring and neape tides; It hath puzzled the wisest Moralist, Q. Cur. concludes only that 'tis terrible, Fluxus refluxus maris terrorem incutit. Or upon the innumerable number of creatures that are within the bowels of that womb of moisture. B. Hall. There are those living and moving Lands the Whales, that for greatness of body, Psal. 104.6 infinicy of number, variety of forms, strangeness of shape, are above our apprehension or expression: These dance, roll, and tumble upon her fearful billows. Or upon the wonderful art of Navigation and sailing, which now is grown so excellent and so common, that we cease to bestow more wonder on it. That the water, a creature of fidelity, should firmly bear up all vessels, from the shallop to the ship, from the smallest carvel to the mightiest and greatest Carack: and with the help of propitious and favourable winds, convey them from climate to climate, from India in the East, to India in the West, if it were to the Antipodes themselves, to the benefit and commodity of their far distant owners. It's recorded to be the answer of a Traveller to one ask him what he had seen in his Alexandrian journey: Credit mihi fratres, ego ibi faciem nullius vidi nisi tantum Episcopi, etc. Believe me, brethren, I saw no face there, save the Bishops. So if I were in a few words to give an accurate and exact account of my two or three year's absence, Credit mihi fratres, etc. Believe me, brethren, I saw the face of none, save only of him that is the Bishop of our souls; For his face and Image is upon all the works of his hands, by Sea or Land. That look how Phydias, Didac de la Vega, jol. the cunning Artificer, had so curiously engraven his picture upon Minerva's shield, that none could look upon the shield, but he must look upon the picture of him that made it; for it could not be taken off without the ruin of the shield. Right even so (with reverence to the Majesty of heaven be it spoken) hath God, that great and cunning Artificer, of heaven engraved his picture upon all his works, that none can look beside it, nor beyond it, above it, or below it, all his works do both spread his glory and proclaim his Deity. Look we upwards, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work. The heaven of heavens that rowls so gloriously both above our heads, & apprehensions, Act. 7.50. is the royal palace and place of his residence, there is the Chamber of his presence, Psal. 123. There the guard chamber of Angels, Archangels, and Cherubins, Matt. 24.36. There the lodging Chambers and many mantions of those spiritual Courtiers, the glorified Saints; these do all declare the glory of God, and the firmament as an open Court or Hall for all comers, doth show his handy work. It would puzzle a Roman Antiquary, or Persian Sophy, or the most curious indagator of Nature's secrets, to show the nature, number, order of the greater and lesser lights and lanterns of heaven, the Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets, winds, thunders, lightnings, Meteors, vapours, which do there attend the pleasure of the King of glory, and fulfil his words, Psalm. 104.8. While I think, speak, or write of them, I must do it in the Prophet's language, Oh Lord how wonderful art thou in all thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all. Or if we look down from heaven which is his throne, Act. 7.49. to earth which is his footstool: even there also do we see the image of his goodness, For the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, and so is the broad sea also. Here we behold him in his goodness and wisdom, making one Country the helper and mutual supporter of each others welfare. He makes one the Granary to furnish her neighbours with corn, another the Armoury to furnish the rest with weapons, another the Piscary to furnish the rest with fish: another the Treasury to furnish the rest with gold. As Spain is famous for her Wines, Calabria and Apulia for their Oils; Sicilia and Turkey for their Corn; Newfound land for Fish; Greece for fruit; Italy for Arms; Russia for Furs; Barbary for Gold; England for all. Those blessings that severally make other Country's happy, are conspired to meet in ours. Whether it be by the proper commodity of our own native soil, or by traffic and merchandise with others, or by both. He that travels farthest, may sit down by the waters of Babylon and weep, Psal. 137.1 while he remembreth this our matchless Zion. O England, say I, happy for peace, happy for tranquillity, happy for a general conflux of all happiness that can make either soul or body blessed; Lu. 19.42. miserable only because she knows not her own happiness. Oh that thou wouldst know in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace. So should this peace rest long within thy walls, Psal. 122.7. and plenteousness within thy Palaces, and thou shouldest continue as thou art, the terror of thy foes, the glory of the world, the Mart of Nations. And thus while we wonder or declare the wonders that God doth for the children of men, Isa. 25.1. may we say with Esay, Thou art my God and I will praise thee, for i● thou hast done wonderful things. And with Moses, Exod. 15.11. Who is a God like unto our God, fearful in praises, doing wonders. And while we meditate of the works themselves, let's reflect our contemplative thoughts of Adoration upon that great Atlas of heaven, that supports them all with the two shoulders of his power and providence. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. And now I have waded thorough the three general parts of the Text; thus much only for the literal signification: the tropological is briefly this. The Church of God is this ship tossed upon the Ocean, tumbled upon the unconstant billows of this troublesome world; labouring with the boisterous winds of opposition, opposed with the enemies of God's grace and her peace; packed and posted from haven to haven, from country to country. Sometimes she is carried down to the deep and nethermost Hell, as in the times of Nero, Maximilian, Domitian, and other Roman Emperors, as also in the days of Queen Mary in England. Sometimes again she is lifted up into the heaven, by an happy and blessed tranquillity, as in the days and times wherein we live, and the Gospel flourisheth. The holy Bible is her armoury and place of defence, and 'tis like the Tower of David. Cant. 4.4. In which are weapons shields and targets, for a thousand, I, for ten thousand thousand valiant men. The Law as her forecastle to them that went before, wherein was placed the chase-pieces and thundering Cannons of legal austerities, discharged by her cunning marks-men the Prophets and Patriarches, against the bulwarks of heresy, and Babel's of sin in all ages. The Gospel is now our armoury and place of defence; and herein also are variety of weapons, which are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God to throw down strong holds, 2 Cor. 10.4.5. Here is the Helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and Breast plate of righteousness, the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Eph. 6.13. which will quench the fiery darts of the devil, that like a roaring Lion goes about seeking whom he may devour. In this ship of our English Church sits the sovereign Majesty of our Lord and King as supreme head and governor, his Nobles, Lords, judges, Councillors, as representative pieces of his own Majesty, sit in the steerage of estate, and to them is committed the helm of government. His reverend Clergy of all degrees are each of them another Palenurus, or all Pilots guiding you in the right and perfect way, informing your judgements, reforming your lives according to the card and compass of God's holy Word. The many promises of mercy, patterns of mercy, precepts of mercy, precedents of mercy, are as so many favourable gales and winds to further us till we come to the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls. All men are embarked in this ship of the Church, whose pretended voyage is to the Land of Canaan, but not all alike; Some as passengers receive neither wages nor content in this tedious and troublesome voyage, who desire a quick and speedy passage thorough this Baca of fears, this Bochim of tears, and with Saint Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is best of all. Others as Mariners in their own proper element, know of no other happiness, aim at no other felicity, than what the sea of this world affordeth them. The longer they stay, the greater their pay: they have their portion here in this life, and in the other, they receive only the wages which is due unto them; it were better they were without it; for the wages of sin due to the servants of sin, is death both of body and soul, when the former receive only the gift of God, which is eternal life. I had rather stand to his courtesy, than engage him to payment: Before we can arrive at our Canaan of felicity, our Port and haven of heaven, we must all pass through the straits of the last judgement. For we must all appear before his judgement sent, 2. Cor. 5.10. to stand to our trial at the universal inquisition, and then arrive at our desired haven, where for ever we shall spend our days in praising the Lord for his goodness, and in declaring his wonders to us the children of men. Angel's shall meet us with our Palms, our Robes, our Crowns; Archangels with triumphs and Carols of Celestial bliss, and while we are thus singing of our praises to the King of glory, the whole host and Choir of heaven shall say, Amen. But so much for the literal and historical meaning of the words. Pardon my willing error of tediousness, Polulogie is the common fault of travellers, my desire was this day to pay my vows, where I am most obliged, and to whom, and before whom; and to erect this Sermon as a Pillar of thankfulness, and an Altar of praise, that like the Prayers and Alms of Cornelius, might reach up to heaven. I should be sorry it should prove a Babel to breed confusion either in your patience or your memory. About this pillar are written these three things; Dangers, to draw us to awfulness; Mercies, to draw us to thankfulness; Duties, to draw us to obedience. And but three, as being most portable for your memory, easy for your judgement, ready for your use. Neither is this Pillar of Praise dedicated as was that Athenian Altar, Acts 17.23. with this inscription, Ignoto Deo, to an unknown God or Lord, but to a Lord of mercy, wisdom and power, who knows best, when, where, and how, to secure and relieve us. Let this serve both for present use, and future memory. Thus if we bless God, he will bless us. Blessed therefore be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed us his people. Let them whom the Lord hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, praise the Lord: Let them that are daily spectators of his wonders in the deep, praise the Lord, when they are brought to the haven where they would be. Let the house of Israel, and the house of Aaron accord in these holy and religious services to publish his praises. And what ever others do or do not; My soul praise thou the Lord, and forget not all his benefits, which saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness. The Lords holy name be blessed and praised from the rising of the Sun, to the going down of the same, and let all the people present say, Amen. So be it. FINIS. Errata. Pag. 4. lin. 24. read jest. 5. 16. Countries. 7 20. praise and thankfulness. 8. 21. my first. 9 2. what. 11. 4. and ibid. 6. airs. 12. 3. if. 13. 10. after danger, read, Scylla and Charybdis little injured by the Poets, in expression of its danger. 14. 17. spouts. 16. 15. so should they. 35. 10. the seas: ibid. 24. this. 41. 10. us to. 42. 3. such ibid. 5. their. ibid. 18. called. 45. 17. the. 47. 19 the. ibid. 11. walking. 48. 12. Those that. ibid. 18. Caleb. ibid. 23. best relish the. 50. 5. both. 53. 15. that. 55. 7. at, 56. 15. been virtuous. LONDON, Printed by Thomas Harper, 1634.