St. Paul's Thanksgiving: Set forth in a SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable House of PEERS in the Abby-Church Westminster, on Thursday May 10. being the day of solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God for His late Blessings upon this KINGDOM. By James Buck, B. D. Vicar of Stradbrook in Suff. and Domestic Chaplain to the Right Honourable Theophilus Earl of Lincoln. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— There is nothing so takes God, as to be thankful not only when things go well, but in their contrary carriage. Chrys. in Psal. 116.8. Psal. 42.5. The King shall rejoice in God, every one that sweareth by him shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, Psal. 63.11. LONDON, Printed by J.G. for John Playford at his Shop in the Temple, near the Church door, 1660. Die Veneris, 11. Maii 1660. ORdered by the LORDS in Parliament assembled, That Mr. Buck is hereby desired to print and publish the Sermon that he preached the 10. day of this instant May, in the Abby-Church before the Lords of Parliament, for which he hath their Lordship's thanks, and that no person shall reprint the same without his approbation. Jo. Browne, Cleric. Parliamentor. I do appoint John Playford to print this Sermon, James Buck. To the Right Honourable the LORDS Assembled in PARLIAMENT. My Lords, YOur Lordship's pleasure is the sole producent of the publication of this Sermon, which therefore makes lowly address to your most honourable House, that seeing your will hath given it a public existence, it may not lie idle and fruitless in open view, but remain a lively and lasting monument of true thankfulness, by your Lordship's good example and precedence. My Lords, though in this juncture of the greatest benefits, the whole Kingdom is bound, more than any Nation, to be thankful, yet in the common blessings the Peers are especially obliged to gratitude, by reason that others suffered with you, only in their estates, your Lordships alone suffered in your Honours. The forces, that so far as in them was, abolished Kingship, put Peerage down as useless, and left you bare titles of honour without influences of activity in your sphere of government: and no wonder, when the fountain of honour was obstructed, that the riverets should be dried up, when the Crown did not flourish, how could the Coronet? The Moon would go for an obscure body, if by monthly returns she were not replenished with new light from the Sun: During the Kings eclipse your Honours were under a cloud, but by a renewed conjunction with his Majesty, your titles of honour be significant, your lustre is repaired, your beams cheer your country, and you act the prime part in the grand Council and affairs of State. Sad experience may serve for a remembrance that the concernment of the Nobility is to keep up Majesty, for the King cannot be lessened in his legal rights and prerogative, but the Nobles will be diminished in their native privileges and dignities. My Lords, considering how easy it was with God to lay the highest honours low, even by and under contemptible creatures, now that his favour shines again upon you, let ingenuity persuade your Lordships to walk officiously with our dear Lord, and sacrifice thankofferings beseeming Christian grace and English grandeur; in which kind Almighty God throughout his Law calls for regard of the poor, respect to the Levite: On behalf of the poor, I beseech you give me leave to remind your Lordships what floodgates of sin it will stop, and what a door it will open for amending the manners of the most necessitous, and the training up their infantry to industry and virtue, to anticipate all begging by fit relief, and setting all able hands to some task towards their living. There be indeed excellent laws already to this purpose, but nevertheless I am an humble suppliant to your Lordships, that a course may speedily be took for a possibility to effectuate those laws, by work-houses and sufficient stocks in these populous and wealthy cities, from which the pattern will soon issue forth into all the land. As for due countenance to the Levite, I held it neither opportune nor needful to solicit your Lordships in my Preaching, because the propensity and inclination of your noble Souls is transparent, that His Majesty shall no sooner be repofed in his regalities, and the Kingdom resettled in its laws and liberties, but your Honours will show yourselves munificent Patrons and providers for the Church, and the reverend Fathers and very learned Ministers thereof, that be supervivors, to the manifold sufferings and injuries, which have been illegally inflicted on them these twenty years bypast: Undoubtedly the estimate of a Clergy cannot be upheld without endowments, benefits and salaries, whereby some eminent Divines may proceed equal to the most famous of other liberal Sciences, in their rewards and perquisites; otherwise the finest wits and brave spirits will betake themselves to other professions, if Physicians for the body advance higher than any Physicians for the soul, and if the Gospel cannot prefer as much as the Law: How can your Lordships wish a learned, pious and painful Ministry in every corner of the Realm, unless a competency be fore-prepared for their maintenance and encouragement? Wherefore when once your Lordships shall have reestablished the fundamentals of the State, you will credit your memories in all posterity, to accommodate the Church with necessaries for decency of degree in Churchmen, and contrive a bountiful conveniency for the Pastor of every parish, by uniting small adjacent Live and like expedients, which so wise a Council will not fail quickly to find out, when they intent it as a serious piece of their business. For which provisions for the poor in honest labour, and for ecclesiastics in godly work, your Honours shall inherit the benediction of the Church, and the blessings of the poor, (two notable promises in holy Scripture) together with the prayers and praises of all God's people, and the faithful services and devotions of, My Lords, Your Lordship's most humble, and most devoted, and most obedient Servant, JAMES BUCK. SAINT PAUL'S THANKFULNESS. ROM. 7.25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. SAint Paul being encumbered with the relics of sin, and thereupon crying out in the Verse immediately before, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? very abruptly bursts forth in this clause, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord: But this inference is not without a mystery, and insinuates three things. Sect. 1 Why St. Paul abruptly breaks into thanksgiving. 1. How Prayer discharges the heart of troublesome cares and anxieties, and reposes it in the safe custody of divine peace: Phillip 4.6, 7. Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Thus we find David in many Psalms beginning with mournful ditties, unexpectedly to break into joyful Hymns and gratulations, Felinus in Psal. 17. as if some Angel had in the midst of Prayer all on the sudden brought him better news from heaven. 2. That our Apostle practised such a duty as Lansperg bravely frequented. Toties te edoro & Laudo, toties pro illis laudes tibi suavissimas cano, & praecipuè eas quas spiritus ille reprobus, qui mihi talia nunc suggerit, modò caneret, si in bono perstitisset, ut vel hoc modo in tui laude illius expleam vices In Pharetra Divini amoris, p. 23. So oft as wicked suggestions are forced upon me unwilling, so oft I adore and extol thee, so oft because of them I sing thy most sweet praises to thee, and chief those which that reprobate spirit, who now suggests such things to me, would have sung if he had persisted in good, that even by this means I may supply his course in praising thee. Did Christians constantly deal thus with the Devil, they would make him weary of his part in tempting. 3. Blessed Paul hath no sooner uttered his distressed mind in petition, Who shall deliver me? but he is instantly enlarged with matter of thanksgiving, and therefore praises God, as feeling some ease. In agonies with concupiscence the Lord can in a moment transport the soul from the bottom of anguish to the top of delight: Esa. 65.24. Psal. 10.17. The Lord hears the desire of the poor, D●siderium pauneris exaudit Dominus. Scilicet dum adhuc aliquid est in desiderio, to wit, while a thing is yet in the desire. God prevents the words of his Orators, attends their desires, minds their prayer in the fieri, whiles it is forging in the seed of desire he prepares relief. And a blessing hath so much the more of contentation, by how much the less it was in expectation. Hence the signal mercy of restoring the right Heir to the three Crowns, deserves the greater honour, by how much the more it is equal to our wishes, and far superior to our late hope and expectances: Who had the heart a few months since to promise himself to see such a day as this? That the Honourable Houses of Peers and Commons should quietly meet and consult the Interests of Church and State, without the least control, and recognize and proclaim the rightful King, with wonderful triumph and acclamations of all the people, and solemnize this day of Thanksgiving for the same, with the greatest and most unanimous satisfaction that ever was perceived in England? This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes, and fills every true Englishmans mouth with Saint Paul's words, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Which contain these five Propositions: That all thanks and praises are due to God. That due praising and thanks to God cannot be performed and given without Christ. That it is peculiar to the Regenerate, whom S. Paul represents, to pay through Christ their debt of thanks and praises unto God. That victory over temptations, and spiritual blessings, are the main objects for which the Regenerate thank God in Christ. That such Thank-offerings are the highest sacrifice of the Church, Militant or Triumphant. These I shall handle briefly in their order. Sect. 2 That all thanks and praises are due to God. 1. That all thanks and praises are due to God. And our Doctors thanking of God is nothing else but his referring unto God all the good that he had, or could conceive or wish, as a small moiety of his immense perfections. It is true that the Philosopher writes, In the first of his Ethics, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Praise is too low an expression for God's acts; Honour, and some more lofty style must be used in speaking of his Divine Majesty and excellencies. Neh. 9.5. His glorious name is exalted above all praise. Higher epithets belong to him then those of Praise, and all our terms of glory, respect, worship. But God is pleased that poor mortals speak of him the best that they can. That is an observable locution, Psal. 71.23. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee. Which to understand, be pleased to take notice, That Joh. 7.38. the heart is called the belly of the soul, as the receptacle of grace and heavenly refreshments, and as it is enabled to communicate to other parts, and send forth streams of love and duty. Now as in Nature, which is well discovered by Bartholinus an eminent Anatomist, Ventriculus habet membranam— nervosam, in quam vasa term nantur esophaguses, oris & labiorum tunicae continuam, ut nihil ventriculo ingratum recipiatur,— binc quando in ventriculo bilis, communicatur linguae amaritudo & flavedo; e●cont●a ●tiom oris & linguae vitia oesophago & ventriculo. Anato. l. 1. c 9 the ventricle hath a membrane or coat full of nerves, which is continued with the tunicle or skin of the mouth and lips, whence they sympathise mutually, and distempers in the mouth, lips, tongue, affect the stomach, and choler in the stomach causes bitterness and yellowness in the tongue: So in Reason and Grace, the matters that be in the belly of the soul affect the lips and tongue with vehement tinctures; and when the belly is full of the sweetness of God, it qualifies the lips and tongue with a divine gust and relish, and the name of God and his Christ is melody in the ears, Melos in aurc, m● in ore. honey in the mouth. As Bonaventure, a devout Scholastic, relates of his Master, that he was so enamoured therewith, that in rehearsing of the Psalms, when Gods name occurred in them, In vita Francisci c. 10. Prae suavitatis dulcedine labia sua lingere videbatur. out of the flavour of sweetness he seemed to lick his lips, and to be in a rapture when our Saviour was named. It is impossible to have any worthy thoughts what an infinite amiable good the Almighty is, but that it will alter the soul and body with affects of the sweetest savour. The Jews have all along had a godly usage, upon any occasion of naming God in their writings, to insert an abbreviature of praise, the holy one, the blessed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark the spirits of the principal Apostles St. Paul and St. Peter, S. Chrys. de incomprehen sibili, serm. 3. they cannot let the mention of God pass occasionally from them in their Epistles, without a Parenthesis of thanksgiving and praise, Rom. 1.25. Who is blessed for ever, Amen; 1 Pet. 4.11. alleging that God may be glorified through Christ, he interposes, To whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever, Amen: If any duration could be more than ever, he would have God honoured for evermore; as if he should say, in all eternity we cannot fully praise God; if there could be more than one sempiternity, he would long to have them all replenished with the endless praising of God. And so you have a little taste that all thanks and praises be due to God. Sect. 3 That due praise and thanks to God cannot be exhibited without Christ. 2. Our second task is to show, that due praise and thanks to God cannot be exhibited without Christ, I thank God through Jesus Christ. Mat. 11.27. None knoweth the Father but the Son; he only understanding the universal goodness of God, is alone able condignly to praise him, with praises equal to his supreme worthiness: The praises of all men and Angels fall short, and have no proportion to the divine goodness, and therefore all Angels and men ought to prefer their praises as well as their prayers in Christ. Again, Thanksgiving is a part of divine Worship, and St. De Trinit. l. 1. Sine Deo Christo, unum Deum confiteri irreligiositas sit. Hilary teaches right, It is Paganism and irreligion to worship God out of Christ, in whom alone he is well-pleased, and out of whom praises are natural, not Christian, not spiritual, and therefore in no order to life eternal. In Christ the thanksgiver renders praises to God cordially and reverently; cordially, for Christ is truth, and nothing void of sincerity can rise to his hand, to be thereby given unto God: none must imagine lip-labour shall serve, because thanksgiving is expressed by fruit of our lips, Heb. 13.15. The Latins do finely circumscribe thankfulness by Gratus animus, the hymn that praises God must be sung with grace in the heart, Col. 3.16. which makes melody in the heart, Ephes. 5.19. when all the strings thereof, all the faculties therein, are tuned by the holy Spirit to consent in Gods will and blessing him, as the strings in an Instrument are fitted to consent in Music. Very divinely St. Athanasius the Great, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— ad Marcellum. p. 756. Reason would that a man should not be in discords with himself: As the best instrument gives an harsh sound if all the strings be not tuneable and in mutual harmony; so our actions and praises yield an unpleasant sound in God's ears, unless our whole spirit, soul and body, in all their parts and powers be in conformity to his will, and united in his praise. Reverently, as Paul performs it here, like a sacred duty of divine adoration, and holy worship, with spiritual elevation in Christ: Psal. 111.9. Holy and reverend is his Name, and therefore not to be mentioned but with religious and awful reverence: we must wash our mouths in Christ laver, before we presume to take God's praises into them, Tingebat calamum linguae fonte Sancti Spiritus, ut mundas Deo laudes diceret. as Paschasius writes of the worthy Prince St. Adelhard, that was uncle to Charles the Great, he dipped the tip of his tongue in the fountain of the Holy Ghost, that he might utter pure praises to God. This observation serves for warning, for learning, and for quickening. For warning, that God is, Exod. 15.11. dreadful in praises; which reproves them that take the name and praises of God in vain, that lightly and inconsiderately use thanksgiving, and tremble not in recounting Gods holy and venerable praises; bold people, that are not afraid to have the glorious praises of God at their tongue's end, and thank the Lord at every second word perfunctorily, without advancing of their spirits and praises to him in Christ, or regard agreeable to acts of divine worship, have their consciences charged with the guilt of great irreverence. As for us, we are not worthy to take the high praises of God into our mouths, and defect in offering them, if we shall dare to present them by themselves without joining Christ's praising with them; or if we shall presume any acceptation of our praises without Christ's merits, which who so do must look to answer for ill setting forth and counterfeiting the divine virtues. For learning, whence the Saints come to have such sense and feeling of their own poverty and insufficiency in praising God, Psal. 72.20. the Psalmist having poured forth his spirit to the utmost in praising the divine favours, and finding himself extremely short of them, Defecerunt laudes David filii Jesse. daintily subjoins, The praises of David the son of Jesse are finite and ended; which sentence is curiously contrived for the conclusion of the second book of David's Psalms, (the whole Psaltery according to the Jews consisting of five Books) and for insinuation that all hymns are of too narrow limits to correspond in any degree unto the infinite glories and praises of God, And hereupon inspired men, out of their longing that God might be duly praised, not only sum up all their own parts and appurtenances, Psal. 57.8. Awake my glory, awake Lute and Harp, I myself will awake, but also invoke the aid and concurrence of all creatures, to assist them by their several virtues, excellent properties and abilities, Psal. 148.— the religious soul conceives so highly of God, as to burn in desires, that all creatures in the whole Universe would lay their forces together, and especially, that in the world of pure praises the holy Angels and perfected spirits would busy themselves in extolling him: But for us poor and ingrate souls, when we repeat the clauses wherein all creatures are invited to associate with us in setting out the praises of God, we may profitably remember that of Arnobius junior, We excite, provoke and exhort all creatures to the praising of God, and unhappy we sleep ourselves; behold, all things that we call upon, come together, saying, Why do you call upon us? we are come together that we might praise God, and we find his holy name, blasphemed only by your fault, your seat and place is only vacant in the Chorus. For quickening in Christ's supply not to despair of our praising God: Tacitus writes judiciously, Beneficia cô usque laeta sunt, dum videntur exolvi posse, si multum antev●nere, pro gratia●adium redditur. Anal. 5. Favours are so far satisfactory as they seem returnable; if they much exceed that, hatred is rendered for good will; good deeds are burdens when they be above men's possibility of requital. For this cause being our own thanksgivings are defective, and the praises of all creatures in earth and in heaven itself incompetent, sufficiently to glorify God, that our aspiring worthily to honour God may be satisfied, we must be sure to get Christ's praises conjoined with ours, and offer ours in union and merit of them; That whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to the glory of God, 1 Cor. 10.30. Mingle Christ's odours with our works of grace and nature, of Christian vocation and common calling, and so present them to God as a perfume compounded of sundry fragrant scents, Cant. 1.13.— make a posy of Myrrh and the other odoriferous ingredients of our Lord's ointment, and by their mixture put value upon our praises. It were envy not to commend this passage of Androtius, We cannot present ourselves in sacrifice to God without Christ's assistance, and though a man should offer himself a thousand times, it were little; therefore that we might have what to render to God for all his benefits, Christ himself, as by dying on the Cross he offered himself to the Father, Traidd ti etiam se homini, ut ab homine possit cum meritis & amore suo infinito tanquam hostia pro peccato, & tanquam oblatio pro beneficiis, Deo offerri, & sic homo potest patri offerre infinitum precium meritorum Christi, & ipsum Christum. Androtius de pass. & morte Christi, c. 5. v. c. 11. tradidit etiam se homini— hath made over himself also to man, that by man he might be offered to God with his deserts and infinite love, as a Sacrifice for sin, and as an Oblation for benefits, and so man may offer to the Father the infinite price of Christ's merits, and Christ himself, which is the proper work of the regenerate. Sect. 4 And so I am arrived at our third station, That it is peculiar to the regenerate, whom Paul represents, (and in whose person he speaks as well as in his own) to pay through Christ their debt of thanks and praises unto God. Psal. 33.1. Only the regenerate pay through Christ the debt of thanks and praises unto God. Praise is comely for the upright, it beseems the godly and holy to praise the God of holiness. But it is unhandsome that the wicked should pollute God's praises with their impure lips, Psal. 50.16. The brave Roman held that only for a praise, which came, à viro laude dignus, from a man worthy of commendation; and should God have his praises pronounced by men of unclean lips? Hence it was, that Thankfulness, that precious virtue, hath ever been so rare and such a stranger in the world, that the learned Languages of Greek and Latin have no proper word for it; the thing not appearing, their ingenuity left it nameless; but unthankfulness, as every where frequent, got a name in all tongues, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a good Greek word, and ingratitudo a good Latin, so is not gratitudo, which sprang up after the purity of Latin speech was exspired, about the time of Tiberius, when they coined for compliments words without experiments. Humility and gratitude are virtues proper to Christianity, in Believers and Martyrs above others, to act not in themselves but in their Mediator; and when they have actually showed the greatest thankfulness and charity, and died for their Lord, and are crowned for so doing, Apoc. 4.10. to prostrate their Crowns before his throne, and acknowledge him the onely-worthy of all glory, and honour, and that in his power and grace they conquered and triumphed. Because this office is appropriate to the godly, the holy Scripture sets them to this work by name, Offer to the Lord thanksgiving, Psal. 50.14. thus we see David, the man after God's heart for sincerity, love, devotion, to be the sweet singer of Israel, 2 Sam. 23.1. and the especial Trumpeter of God's praises: And there is nothing that David so varies in his Psaltery in sundry ways of repetition, as his Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, beginning and ending divers Psalms therewith, ending every verse of some with invitation thereto, as the 150th. the last verse excepted, which hath it doubled in the close; and in the 136th. Ut quicquid operam Dei percurritur, ideo intelligatur ●ffectum, ut honitatis & misricordiae ejus intelligatur aeternita●. S. Prosper 1b. paying six times at the end of every verse thankful acknowledgement of everlasting mercy, which manageth all Gods proceed with his people: This moved the devotional King David, that prayed three times a day, Psal. 55.17. to give thanks seven times a day, Psal. 119.164. as the principal work of the sanctified: And because we have more reason to give thanks for free mercies than to crave undeserved kindnesses, and God is more worthy to be praised than any thing in heaven or earth to be desired, and our fruitions exceed our wants, the vouchsafements which regenerates enjoy are above all they can desire, and more than all they need, the imitation and entering into the state of true grace harder than the progress, Vid. S. Chrys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. him. 3. the new birth more difficult than the growth, the first conversion hath more of the creating hand than all proficiency and perfection. Sect. 6 That regenerates are the most obedient Subjects, and most thankful for Kings and Princes. As none are thankful for Supernaturals but only they that have Christ's grace, so neither are any equally thankful for terrene and political blessings, as the orthodox and truly pious; none so obodient to Princes, in as much as it is part of their faith that humane laws bind Conscience, Rom. 13.5. And they consider the benefit of government and Kingship, what instruments and ministers they are of public tranquillity and repose: Sects and schisms are the issues of pride and contention in the Church, and so naturally prone to breed and foment divisions and disturbances in the State; but Orthodoxality is a daughter of obedience in the Church, and consequently frames the spirits of men to be quiet and orderly in the State: Grace harbours not malignity towards equals or inferiors, to misconstrue, be jealous, suspicious, and interpreting all things to the worse; much less can it abide such humours against our Superiors, but ever hopes the best of governors, and takes their do in the fairest sense: You have a most imitable temper for Subjects, 2 Sam. 3.36. Whatsoever the King did, pleased all the people, and that induced Almighty God to give the King a mind in all things to gratify the people, 1 Chron. 13.2. And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good to you let us do so, and so,— confidence of Subjects excites trust and compliance in Kings. Further, conscientious people look upon it as a duty imposed on them from heaven, freely to contribute to the royal support of their Kings, Rom. 13.6, 7. render all their deuce, Tribute to whom tribute is due, which in St. Augustine's judgement is the way for a Nation to grow rich: M●j●res nostr ideo copiis omri●us abundabant, qui Deo decimas dabant, & Caesari censum ●eddebant. hom. 48 Our Ancestors (the Christians of the primitive & best ages) therefore abounded in all plenties, because they gave tithes to God, and subsidies to Caesar; and well may your Honours confirm the tithes to God, who hath quit you of the danger of DECIMATION; and well may you leavy tributes for the King, who makes you masters of your Contributions, and frees you from the bondage of paying whatsoever fanatics would pretend that Providence did act them to exact: The little finger of an Usurper is thicker than the loins of a lawful possessor; nor can a voluntary people grudge to afford a third of that for the maintenance of a right Owner, which was forcibly took from them to keep in an Intruder. He that another day shall feel in himself a tentation of unreadiness to pay taxes to his Prince, let him record this day, wherein after many years' slavery under the tyranny of servants, our Sovereign Master being owned, there was as universal and as real a thanksgiving, as ever was known in England, and he for one hearty cried out, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sect. 6 That spiritual blessings are the main objects for which the regenerate thank God in Christ. And so we are conducted to our fourth restingplace, That spiritual blessings are the main objects for which regenerate thank God in Christ. As our Apostle here thanks God for the delivery from sin; and the Psalmist quickens all his powers to unite their faculties in praising God for remission of sin, and for sanctification, Psal. 103.1, 2, 3. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy Name,— who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thine infirmities. This Truth is considerable for distinction, for discretion, for devotion: For distinction, this differenceth the Church and the world, The love of the Father is not in the world, 1 John 2.15. the Nations have some love of God as the prime good and being, but it is without any consideration of Gods existing a Father to Christ, and us in him; therefore at the best it is but Philosophical love, it is no Christian nor Theological charity; Mat. 15.31. They glorified the God of Israel, not the God of heaven and earth, as he was discerned in light of Nature to the world, but the God of Israel, as he was discovered by light of sacred Scripture to the Church: In the Old Testament the Lord is familiarly styled, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not of Europe, Asia and Africa, nor the God of the four Elements, etc. to intimate, that the saving knowledge is not by manifestation from the creature, but by revelation to the Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, etc. Ephes. 5.20. true thanksgiving and accepted with God is in the name of Christ, to God and the Father; to God, not barely considered as God, but to God as eternally the Father of our Lord Jesus, and in good time our Father through Christ, Col. 3.7. as Christians apprehend him, and assume all the benefits for which they praise him, qualified in the relation of a Father, and the mediation of a Redeemer: Let me add this to your meditations, Psal. 4.6, 7. the world many time's word and mouth some thanks to God for Corn, and Wine, and Oil, but never is thankful about any oblations of praise to God for succours purely Evangelical, victory in tentations, assistance against sin, which ravished Paul into this doxology. Carnal men may for self-love really beg favours, and pray, give and forgive, they cannot for Gods love cause their hearts to say, hallowed be thy name, because thou leadest not into temptation, but deliverest from evil, which is the effect of the Apostles thanksgiving. For discretion, to be entirely thankful we must distinguish betwixt our tentations and our sins; Paul was grievously buffeted by motions to sin, so as to wax weary of his life, but all the while he resisted; it was his infelicity not, his fault; it was concupiscence that sinned, not St. Paul, Rom. 7.17. and therefore in abatement of the agony he bursts out in thanksgiving. Vid. in ●●tis Sanctorum. Ap. 29. Catherine of Senes, a spiritual woman in her Age, having been vexed with all manner of blasphemous thoughts and horrid suggestions, after some release and Christ's gracious return, inquires in a soliloquy, Where wast thou, dear Lord, when my poor heart was pierced with fiery darts, and harased in woeful wise? and had for answer, Fui in medio cordis tui, I was in the centre of thy heart, rendering those injections abominable, withholding thy consent, and enabling thee to stand out in resistance. For devotion, not to rest till we attain Christian inspiration and expirtion, and be able with St. Paul to breathe Gospel-ayrs; Eph. 1.3. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in which we are incomparably more happy than in any worldly enjoyments, which then only are matters of true content and thankfulness, when they are embraced as tokens of Gods good will, paternity, and gracious reference in Christ. Sect. 6 That our temporals require many thanks of Englishmen, and our spirituals many more. The occasion of this solemnity calls upon me to insist a while upon this subject, that our temporals require many thanks, our spirituals many more. Our temporals require many thanks, Psal. 12.1. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were as them that dream: It fares with us now as it did with the Jews discharged from their captivity in Babylon by the gallant Emperor Cyrus, the turn was so unlikely, that an helpless poor company of Bondmen should get out of the hands of the mightiest Lords in the world, that when the Proclamation of Cyrus set them all free, and encouraged his loyal subjects to relieve them for their passage, and commanded his Officers to allow the expenses for rebuilding the Temple out of his Imperial Exchequer, it was so much beyond the hope of the distressed Jews, that it looked more like the dream of one asleep, than the vision of one awake: Likewise we, in these our excessive joys, can scarce believe our senses, and hardly think ourselves well awake, that our vouchsafements are in reality, and not the airy imagination of dreamers. Far be it from me to rip up, and publish in a Pulpit, the foul proceed, which the goodness of our most gracious King, the wisdom of the Parliament, the charity of the Nation, would have buried in forgetfulness by an Act of oblivion; give me leave only to propose the Parable of Jotham, Jud. 9.9.— The Trees would needs be making themselves a King, and tender the Kingship to the Olive-tree, the Figtree and the Vine severally, which are trees of the best quality and fruit; but they all jointly refuse to take supreme dominion; then they offer it to the Bramble, no tree but a sorry shrub, and the Bramble at the first moving assumes domination; that which the most noble Families trembled to hear of, a younger sprig of a stock in the Gentry boldly ventures upon, and mounts into the throne and seat of highest Majesty and State; what is the issue? verse 15. fire proceeds out of the Bramble, and devours the Cedars: Mark the profundity of divine Scripture in Similes; Lyranus out of Isidore informs us, the Bramble is a petty bush, Rhamnus est dumus parvus, qui vento agitatus ex se enittitignem. which tossed up and down, to and fro by the wind, emits and springs fire out of itself; in the hotter regions and countries, the Bramble at times, by the agitation of the wind, conceives fire, and wastes itself and all the wood about it; of which also our compatriot Edmund Bunnie avouches that himself had seen some experience. In his Head Cornerstone, l. 1. c. 11. sect. 4. p. 235. The Bramble that domineered over these Kingdoms, tempested with choler that the great ones that chose and advanced him did not confide in his shadow and Protectorship, in a rage of heartburning fosters discontents, and contrives an inhibition against the meetings of the grand Officers of the Army without licence from him, which kindled such a combustion among them, that the Bramble was presently pulled out of the fence by his own allies and nearest affinity; but the fire stayed not there, but seized on the Cedars and chiefest of the Swordmen, and made them so hot one against another, that they were all soon down, and the whole Malignant party quashed and laid in the dust; and because they are in the dust, I shall not trample on them. But your Lordships are assembled to give God the glory of this overture and stupendious revolution, and that for great cause; considering, that as God was blasphemed, his Truth questioned, his Religion disparaged, inasmuch as men of most erroneous principles and most injurious practices triumphed and bore up by misapprehension of a continued series of Providences, (which were only testimonies of God's displeasure at our sins, walking unworthy of a good government and our profession, they were no hints of Gods approving their whimsies, fancies and pretensions:) So now on the contrary, by this miraculous dispensation, our Lord is glorified with us at home, and with others abroad, declaimers are silenced, and beholders compelled to wonder at the marvellous out-going of God in the Land. In Homer, Laertes being sure that his son Ulysses after twenty years' absence was indeed returned, and had quelled the abusers of his wife and family, the old man exclaims, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Odyss. ult. High Jove, father of heaven, well then, yet you gods are still about the wide world! How then shall not Englishmen, observing how our gracious Sovereign, after many years' expulsion and exile out of his Dominions, is in the turn of God's right hand, when we were in desperate consusions, without any foreign help, or effusion of blood, suddenly admitted to his just and hereditary rights, with the incredible satisfaction of the generality of his subjects, lift up our voices and say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth, Psal. 57.12. And neighbour-Nations must needs say, Psal. 126.2. God hath done great things for them: I, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad, and do now keep a Festival, and shall for ever rejoice. Honourable and beloved, no King upon the face of the earth hath such characters and demonstrations of heavenly favour to him, as our Sovereign Lord King Charles, which give more than humane assurances that God designs his most excellent Majesty a great blessing to these. Nations, and as glorious an ornament to Christendom as was Charlemaigne. May we not then justly take in the two readings of this my Text, gratia Deo and gratia Dei? Lately we might have said, Wretched men that we were! who shall deliver us from this slayery, base than ever any gallant people suffered? and now by God's mercy we may say, gratia Deo, We thank God— And again we may say, Wretched men that we were! who or what hath delivered us from the basest tyranny? and must answer ourselves, gratia Dei, the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ye have heard how great and many thanks our temporals require, now please to listen in a word, that our spirituals require many more: Psal. 144.15. When David had held forth in most ample circumstances the felicity of a Kingdom in peace and plenty, he closeth with this Epiphomema, Happy are the people that are in such a case, and immediately corrects himself, Yea, happy are the people whose God is the Lord: So then, our greatest happiness in a gracious King, and mighty Kingdoms abounding in wealth, and strength, and policy, and state, and unanimity, is but an emblem of the welfare and riches of a soul that can appropriate God to itself: Micah 4.9. Now why art thou contracted in sorrow, or is thy counsellor perished? and if thou hast the invincible King for thy defender, why dost thou fear? and if the eternal Spirit be thy Advocate, and his Law thy Counsellor, how canst thou miscarry? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Septuagint divinely turn that Psal. 129.1. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion, we were as them that are comforted, for that greatest contents, redemptions and bodily deliverances, are but a shadow to the freedom of the soul from the dangers of sin; and the solaces of the most prosperous are mere umbrages to the unutterable joys in the holy Ghost, and peace of Conscience which passeth all understanding; and the fore-tasts of the holiest in this world, of heavenly contentments, are but quasi gaudia, as they speak in the Civil Law, or, as they phrase it in the common Law, misprisions of joy, to the consolations in the world to come, wherein they shall eternally sing praises and thanksgivings unto God. Sect. 8 That thank-offerings to God through Christ, are the highest sacrifice of the Church, militant or Triumphant. And thus we are brought to the last Stage, That Thank-offerings to God through Christ are the highest sacrifice of the Church, militant or triumphant: whereas the praise of God is the sovereign end of all creatures being and continuance, the praising of God, which is the nearest relation, and next acting to that end, must of consequence be the most superexcelling work of heaven and earth, the quintessence of all Divinity, the flower of all Theological duty and Divine service, and clearly our best and highest office. We shall improve the Use of this Doctrine for Information, Admiration, and Exhortation. 1. For Information, That it is the most noble state and height of the renewed soul, not only to be patiented and contented, but delighted and thankful in all conditions. When the regenerate recollecting how God causes all things to work together for his glory, the good of the Universe, the salvation of predestinates, do comply with him in absolute accommodation, and in reverential respect of his gubernation, accept from his divine hands prosperity, adversity, influences, desertions, good and evil, with indifferent minds, and with equal thanks. Job 2.10. Shall we receive good at the hands of God, De amico & amato, sect. 7. and shall we not receive evil? As Blaquere alleges for proof of his loving God, Quoniam inter laetitias & tribulationes, quas mihi donas, non facio differentiam: That he put no difference between the joys and tribulations which God confers. Psal. 25.10. All the ways of God are mercy and truth: There are no forth go of his providence towards men, that have not for their original, eternal mercy, and the fidelity of his gracious covenant in Christ, for whose sake all things are intended, guided and collated for our good, if we would so take them; that whether God give or take, whether he afflict or enlarge, we may always say with patiented Job, The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken, as it pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass, blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever, Job 1.21. 2. For Admiration; the kingly Prophet saying, Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee, Psal. 119.175. declares not only that he desired life, for no other cause in chief but that he might therein give thanks and glorify God, but also that the praises of God's children here have in some respects prelation above the hymns of glorified spirits. Which Hezekiah also affirms, protesting that Hell cannot praise God, but the living, the living he shall praise God, Esa. 38.18. whereupon those religious Kings, notwithstanding the trust they had to celebrate among the Father's immortal thanks, petitioned that they might abide here to praise God. In pirke avoth, It was a wise apothegme of Rabbi Jacob, that one hour of repentance and good works in this world is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 better than all the life of the world to come, and one hour of refreshment in the world to come is better than all the life of this world. The complete praises of the other world are without comparison diviner than our imperfect thanksgivings upon earth, in regard of the acts themselves; but praises here have their privilege, in that they be exemplary to sinners, and converting praises, not seldom attracting others from vanity to be companions in the true worshipping of God; as godly Hezekiah hints in those words, The father to the children shall make known thy truth. Moreover, divine praises here be operative and efficiently antecedent to our glory there; After death the blessed rest, Apoc. 14.13. and cannot promote in bliss; and the state of glory in heaven is proportioned to the measure of virtue and praise upon earth: whiles we are in the way every praise adds to the treasury of our future glory, when we come home into our country we take up our standing, and can proceed no further; here must we furnish our everlasting mansions, here must we lay up in store for ourselves a good foundation for the future, 1 Tim. 6.19. and procure that degree of honour wherein we would sempiternally praise God. 3. For Exhortation, urging us above all studies to intent thanksgiving, and frequent Gods praises; as in our Lord's prayer we are taught to begin our petitions with praying first and principally, Hallowed be thy name, enable us and all thy creatures to glorify and praise thee; and in the close annexed in many Greek copies to that prayer, Mat. 6.13. to ascribe Kingdom, Power and Glory to God, as the father of lights, and donor of every good and perfect gift, which is the summary of thanksgiving. The hellishness of hell, and most horrible evil there, and that which most terrifies the godly in their contemplations is, that the damned perpetually gnash their teeth, Psal. 112.10. and blaspheme and curse God that is blessed for ever; Apoc. 16.10, 11. They gnawed their tongues in pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains,— and repent not of their evils; if reprobates do so on earth, what will they ●o in hell? And this is to the minds of them that fear God the heaven of heaven, that there is no cessation nor end of praising God there; Apoc. 5.13. none is silent in the heavenly Chorus, Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, heard I saying, Blessing, honour, glory and power be unto him that sittteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever, Apoc. 7.9, 10. Sect. 9 suasives to thanksgiving. Will you be pleased to ponder the commendations heaped upon sacred thanksgivings? Psal. 147.1. It is good to sing praises unto God, it is pleasant, and praise is comely. It is good, and by consequence hath force to draw and allure every rational will, as convenient for it; vox hominem sonat, it is a speech for a man to men, who will show us any good? therefore God commends this duty to us as men, it is good, it is right, Eph. 6.1. it hath all reason for it. It is pleasant, not only pleasing to God (whose pleasure is more acceptable to the pious than any life) but pleasant to the thanksgiver, a duty which cannot possibly be performed without pleasure on his part. For that our good Lord would have us rejoice evermore, 1 Thes. 5.16. Be always cheerful, he passes an injunction, that we should in every thing be thankful, verse. 18. Would any learn to go easily away with his burden? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. In pareticis c. 35. let him hearken to Saint Nile, In adversity give thanks, and the yoke of afflictions will be easy and light; when and wherein soever we are discontent, we detain praises in unthankfulness, and give not God the honour of governing all things for the best. Thank God unfeignedly for thy portion, for thy corrections, for all thy trials, and the Lords dealing ceases to be any longer displeasant to thee. It is comely, there is nothing so unseemly and odious as ingratitude, nothing so amiable and decent in all eyes as thankfulness; how then doth it become Psal. 51.12. the free, ingenuous and princely spirit wherewith we are sealed, to officiate in this divine service, and sacrifice continual thank-offerings to the God of our praise, who hath made us his praise in preeminence of heavenly collations. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P● Martyr. Ju●●●●m. O happy David for an heroic spirit in practising Divinity! Psal. 116.12. What shall I render unto God? which is wisely expended by St. Basil, to be the voice of one that was bravely in straits, and saw his penury on all sides, that he had nothing fit for retribution; but to the utmost of his power he was willing to lay out himself, and spend and be spent for God, and that he was glad of an opportunity to serve his generation, and advance the interests of his maker. Honourable Lords, there is no higher decorum than to study grateful returns, do something worthy of God, and your Nobility, and this day of your triumph and joy. And whereas your goods and goodness cannot reach to God, but may reach to his substitutes, the receivers and takers of the King of heaven, let me beg leave to speak a word for Christ's poverty in our Land, that in reception of so transcendent blessings you would remember the poor, and signalise this happy year with a provision, that there may be no complaining, no begging in our streets, and work-houses may be erected in these rich and populous cities, that all that are able to work, may be blessed in eating the labour of their own hands, Psal. 128.2 and all that are absolutely impotent, be otherwise sufficiently relieved; a work that all mankind must necessarily acknowledge excellent. Hodieque in captivitate nullos mendicos habemus qui stipem postulent, sed onnes aut Synagogarum proventibus, aut divitum liberalitate sustentantur, ita ut necessaria iis nunquam desint. Menasses Ben-Israel conciliator, p. 223. The Jews can provide for their poor throughout Christendom without begging, may not Christians much better do the like? Some neighbouring people in foreign parts prevent all need for their poor to beg, what hinders this magnificent Kingdom to do the same? Other Parliaments (as fame goes) have had this religious design under consideration, but have left you the glory to complete the work, and put it in execution. Your Honours have raised such extraordinary hopes in these three Nations, that they promise themselves from these two Houses the greatest benefits that can be procured by the best Parliament, and therefore I had the boldness humbly to propose this motion to you. And when I shall in three words have touched upon three motives that exalt thanksgiving above all other service, I will dismiss this honourable audience to the festivities of this joyful day. 1. It is very remarkable that ever and ever is adjoined to the close of the Doxology, Mat. 6 13. because thanksgiving only is an eternal and everlasting office; prayer is a duty of time, thanksgiving is a service of eternity; after the day of Judgement petitions shall cease, when once all desires are accomplished, but giving of thanks shall be sempiternal, Agobard ad c●mores occ●esiae Lugd●●ens. V 612. that God hath filled up all our faculties of desiring, and left us no more space nor room for prayer. 2. Thanksgiving is an Angelical office, therefore to set an estimate upon sacred hymns and praises, Esa. 6.2, 3. You have the Seraphims of the supreme order veiling their faces and feet in token of reverence, and flying as they sing in testimony of affection, and longing to draw near to God; and they being, as it were, chief chantors and leading the song, all the Chorus of Angels accompany them with harmonious and according voices, and with incredible gladness and exaltation of spirit. 3. Thanksgiving as it is a Saintlike and Angelical performance, so it is the proper service of heaven, as it is the place of everlasting repose: Hence Luke 2.14. they sing glory to God in the highest (heavens) as the seat of eternal praises. Petition oft tends to our own good, thanksgiving looks entirely at God's glory, which therefore is the grand duty and product of charity, and the peculiar office of heaven, where having whatsoever they can wish, they have no other employment but to bless the fountain of their blessedness: Prayer pertains to viators, and praise to comprehensors, as satisfied in good, and secured of eternity in bliss. Dionysius Carthusianus, Deum laudere est actus praeclarior quam Deum orare; 1. qunniam actus ille est magis Angelicus; 2. quia actus ille est simplicior ac purior, quia per illum m●gis purè in Deum convert●mur, per orationem vero ad nos ipsos aliquo modo reflectimur. De S. Catharina sen. 1. a godly and learned Writer, shall conclude for me, To praise God is a more eminent act than to pray unto God, both for that it is a more Angelical act, and because it is a purer and more sublimated act, as in which we are purely inclined and converted to God; whereas in prayer we reflect in some sort upon ourselves. This then of all other is a most celestial function, to sing Hallelujahs, to coassist with the heavenly inhabitants in praising God; this is to be in Paradise, to taste the first fruits, and in a manner to have the exercises and fruitions of heaven upon earth. Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and all the company of heaven, let us thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. FINIS.