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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A SACRED RECORD To be made of GODS MERCIES TO ZION: A<HI> Thanke&s;giving </HI>Sermon Preached to the two Hou&s;es of Parliament, the Lord Major, Court of Aldermen, and Common-Councell of the City of<HI> London, </HI>at<HI> Chri&s;t-Church, June </HI>19. 1645.</P>
<P>Being the Day of their Publike Thank&s;giving to Almigh|ty God for the Great and Glorious Victory obtained by the Parliaments Army under the Conduct of Sir<HI> THOMAS FAIRFAX </HI>in<HI> Na&s;eby</HI>-field.</P>
<P>By<HI> Stephen Mar&s;hall </HI>B. D. Mini&s;ter of Gods Word at<HI> Finching-field </HI>in<HI> ESSEX.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL>Exod. 17. 14.</BIBL> <P>And the Lord &s;aid unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> Write this for a Memo|riall in a Booke, and rehear&s;e it in the Eares of <HI>Jo&s;hua.</HI></P>m</Q>
<Q><BIBL>P&s;al. 44. 1.</BIBL> <P>Our Fathers have told us what Works thou did&s;t in their dayes, in the times of Old.</P></Q>
<Q><BIBL>P&s;al. 78. 4.</BIBL> <P>Wee will not hide them from their Children, &s;hewing to the Generation to come the prai&s;es of the Lord, and his &s;trength, and his wonderfull Works that he hath done.</P></Q>
<P><HI>London, </HI>Printed by<HI> Rich. Cotes </HI>for<HI> Stephen Bowtell, </HI>and are to be &s;old at the &s;ign of the Bible in<HI> Popes-head-Alley.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE<HI> LORDS </HI>and<HI> COMMONS </HI>A&s;&s;embled in PARLIAMENT.</HEAD>
<P>_YOur time is &s;o taken up with the important Worke of re&s;cuing the&s;e bleeding Kingdomes, and the Church of Chri&s;t in and with them, that I am &s;ure you are not at lei&s;ure to read long Epi&s;tles; and were I able in a Dedication to write what might very much kindle your zeale, provoke your whole inward man, and thereby further your great Work; I conceive it were onely to tell the world what coun&s;ell I thought might doe you good; and therefore in &s;tead of &s;tudying to pre&s;ent you with an Epi&s;tle, which few of you would read, I doe onely obey your Order, and at your Command publi&s;h to the view, and for the u&s;e of all, and pre&s;ent unto your &s;elves this plaine Sermon, Preached unto you upon the day of your late Thank&s;giving unto God for one of the greate&s;t mercies (the Victory, and what came with it duly con&s;idered) that God hath be&s;towed upon our unwor|thy Nation the&s;e many yeares. What el&s;e I de&s;ire to have pre&s;&s;ed upon your hearts, I chu&s;e to doe it when I am called at any time to Preach unto you, or rather to beg it for you at the Throne of Grace; where you, and your great Work are every day (as by many thou&s;and others) humbly remembred by</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your mo&s;t obliged Servant
STEPHEN MARSHALL.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="license">
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<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Die Veneris</HI> 20. <HI>Junii,</HI> 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>IT is this Day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament A&s;|&s;embled, That Mr. <HI>Mar&s;hall</HI> one of the A&s;&s;embly of Divines who Preached ye&s;terday in <HI>Chri&s;t-Church, Lon|don,</HI> before the Members of both Hou&s;es of Parliament, and in the pre&s;ence of the Lord Major, Aldermen, &amp;c. of the City of <HI>London;</HI> is hereby thanked for his great pains that he took in the &s;aid Sermon, it being a day of Pub|like Thank&s;giving within the &s;aid City, and Lines of Communication, for the late pro&s;perous &s;ucce&s;&s;e of the Parliaments Forces under the Command of Sir <HI>Thomas Fairefax.</HI> And that he is hereby de&s;ired to Print and Pub|li&s;h the &s;aid Sermon; which none &s;hall pre&s;ume to Print or re-print, but by Authority under his own hand.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Jo. Brown Cleric. Parliamentorum.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Die Veneris,</HI> 20. <HI>Junii,</HI> 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>ORdered by the Commons a&s;&s;embled in Parliament, That Sir <HI>Peter Wentworth,</HI> and Sir <HI>William Ma&s;ham</HI> doe returne the Thanks of this Hou&s;e to Mr. <HI>Vines,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Mar&s;hall,</HI> for the great paines they took, in the Sermons they ye&s;terday Preached at the intreaty of both Hou&s;es, before the &s;aid Hou&s;es, the Lord Major, and Aldermen, at <HI>Chri&s;t-Church</HI> in <HI>London.</HI> And that they be de|red to Print their Sermons: And it is Ordered that none &s;hall pre&s;ume to Print their Sermons, but &s;uch as &s;hall bee authorized un|der their hands writing.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>H. El&s;ynge Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="privilege">
<P>I doe appoint<HI> Stephen Bowtell </HI>to Print my Sermon.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Stephen Mar&s;hall.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
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<HEAD>A THANKESGIVING SERMON PREACHED To the two Hou&s;es of Parliament, <DATE><HI>June</HI> 19. 1645.</DATE></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>PSAL. 102. 18.</BIBL>
This &s;hall bee written for the Generation to come: and all the People which &s;hall bee created, &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honourable and Beloved,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Introduction.</HI> Shewing the fitne&s;&s;e and &s;cope of the Text.</NOTE>_I Have formerly in two Sermons ope|ned the two Ver&s;es immediately  going before this Text; The fir&s;t of them before the Right Honou|rable the Hou&s;e of Peeres; The latter before the Honourable Hou&s;e of Commons; and there &s;hewed at large that the&s;e two Ver&s;es did containe two Cir|cum&s;tances
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which alwayes accompany the Lords Work of building up of his Church; and they are rendered as two Arguments, why all the world &s;hould &s;tand in ad|miration of it.</P>
<P><HI>The one</HI> is, becau&s;e, when ever the Lord builds up <HI>Zion, Hee dotb appeare in his Glory;</HI> hee appeares like him&s;elf, magnifying all his Attributes.</P>
<P><HI>The other,</HI> that he does then return a gracious an&s;wer unto the Prayers of his afflicted People.</P>
<P>The&s;e two were handled in the valley of <HI>Baca,</HI> the valley of Teares, upon dayes of Humiliation; that out of them you might receive &s;ome &s;trength in your mourning after the Lord, to help you to wait upon him while you are at his Work, building the Street and Wall of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9. 25.</NOTE> <HI>Hieru&s;alem</HI> in a trouble&s;ome time: But now the Lord having in great mea&s;ure given a gracious experience, and fruit of tho&s;e two, in this late great and unexpected Victory and Mercy, wherein God hath appeared in his Glory, and an&s;wered his Peoples Prayers, in our excee|ding low condition; his Providence having al&s;o called me by your choice, to meet you in the valley of <HI>Beracah,</HI> the valley of Ble&s;&s;ing to prai&s;e God for this; I could not thinke of a fitter Text then of the very next words to tho&s;e that helped you in the dayes of your Mour|ning, which containes the u&s;e which the Church in all ages &s;hall make of the Lords building up of <HI>Zion.</HI> And though my time for preparation hath been very &s;hort; yet I am incouraged, becau&s;e I have been taught of God, that a Peace-Offering to him&s;elf is ea&s;ily found: And I have often found from you, that my poore endea|vours, how weak &s;oever (being the be&s;t I have) have ne|ver been rejected: And therefore without further A|pology and Preface, let us con&s;ider of the words as
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they thus lie. <HI>This &s;hall bee written for the Generation to come: And the People which &s;hall bee created, &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Here are you &s;ee, two Sentences: And for the Inter|pretation of them, &s;ome Expo&s;itors doe conceive, that the fir&s;t Sentence containeth the u&s;e that the Genera|tion who receive this Mercy &s;hall make of it; <HI>They &s;hall Write it for the good of Po&s;terity.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd (they think) containes the u&s;e that the future Generation &s;hall make of former Mercies that are thus written; and and tran&s;mitted to them, <HI>The Peo|ple tbat &s;hall bee created, &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord;</HI> the unborn Generation &s;hall prai&s;e God for it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">The meaning of the words.</NOTE>But others (and I think more rightly) doe conceive,  that both &s;entences are meant of the &s;ame individuall People; and that the one of them is but an Exegeticall interpretation of the other: or rather, the fir&s;t of them is an expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>one way,</HI> how the redeemed of the Lord &s;hall glorifie him; by <HI>writing</HI> the Mercies they have received, and tran&s;mitting them to po&s;terity: and the other is a comprehen&s;ion of their <HI>whole Work,</HI> that they &s;hall not re&s;t in any one way of manife&s;ting their care to glorifie God, but &s;hall make it the &s;um of their whole life, they being created to no other end; <HI>The People that &s;hall bee created, &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord.</HI> And I rather incline to this, becau&s;e this expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>The People that &s;hall bee created;</HI> does ordinarily in the Scripture &s;ignifie a People brought from an extreame low, de&s;picable condition, to a &s;tate of happine&s;&s;e and ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, fit to &s;erve God. The&s;e are &s;aid, A people <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 43. 1, 2. Jer. 31. 22. Ephe&s;. 2. 10.</NOTE> created for Gods prai&s;e.</P>
<P>But Beloved, wee need not bee &s;olicitous about it, chu&s;e which of them you plea&s;e, the difference will not
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be materiall in re&s;pect of the practicall Ob&s;ervations a|ri&s;ing from them, both of them afford many and the &s;ame helps for a day of Thanke&s;giving: Some few whereof I &s;hall endeavour (by the Lords a&s;&s;i&s;tance) in one houre, or a little more, to &s;et before you.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t, and the maine, and that which (indeed) is <NOTE PLACE="marg">The fir&s;t mo&s;t generall Ob|&s;ervation.</NOTE> the comprehen&s;ion of the whole Ver&s;e, is this;</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">The great work of Gods redeemed Peo|ple is to prai&s;e him.</NOTE>That <HI>when God appeares in his Glory to build his Church, and gratiou&s;ly an&s;wers his Peoples Prayers; their whole work &s;hould hee to prai&s;e him:</HI> That is the generall.</P>
<P>They have then nothing el&s;e to doe, but to make it the work of their life, to give prai&s;e, and glory to him; This paying of the Rent-penny of prai&s;e to our God, this worke of Thanke&s;giving, which is the end God aimes at in all his workes; which is the end why Man at fir&s;t was created; why the Church was redeemed; why the Saints are called: This, that is the onely hea|venly work that can bee done upon earth; this, which is the onely joyfull imployment, that &s;hall la&s;t to all E|ternity in another life: This work which &s;hould ever waite for God in <HI>Zion, Prai&s;e waiteth for thee O God in Zion:</HI> This whereof the Church &s;hould bee the Maga|zine, <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 65. 1. Ephe&s;. 3. <HI>ult.</HI> E&s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> 46. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE> the Store-hou&s;e and Trea&s;ury, <HI>Unto him be Glory in the Church by Chri&s;t Je&s;us, throughout all ages,</HI> and the Church is therefore called his Glory, <HI>I&s;rael my Glory:</HI> Not onely becau&s;e hee glories in it; but becau&s;e it glo|rifies him: This Duty (I &s;ay) of Gods redeemed ones <HI>To prai&s;e him,</HI> can never be handled often enough, never pre&s;&s;ed enough on Gods people. But truly, it hath been &s;o frequently, and &s;o fully in all the branches of it, delivered unto your &s;elves, upon &s;uch joyfull dayes as
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the&s;e are, wherein you have had the whole in&s;titution of a thankfull people, and all their work; that I know not what to adde to that which heretofore hath been delivered; &s;ave onely, that what is &s;aid of our En|gli&s;h laws; That we have abundance of good Lawes, and need but one more, that is, to put all the re&s;t in execution: the &s;ame I may &s;ay, that there are abundance of Sermons of Thanke&s;giving extant, and we need but one more, and that is, to have our hearts inflamed to practi&s;e them; which I &s;hall endeavour this day, by the Lords help, by handling &s;ome more particular Ob&s;erva|tions which this Ver&s;e affords, very &s;uitable to the con|dition whereinto the Lord hath brought us at the pre|&s;ent. And there are three things in the Text, from whence (as from &s;o many Well-heads) may flow &s;everall in|&s;tructions, &s;ea&s;onable and u&s;efull for our pre&s;ent bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">More particu|lar Ob&s;ervati|ons.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, &s;omewhat I &s;hall collect from the <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> who  &s;hould perform this work; <HI>The People that &s;hall be cre|ated:</HI> that is their Epithet.</P>
<P>Secondly, from the <HI>Work</HI> which the&s;e Per&s;ons &s;hall imploy them&s;elves in: that is, to endeavour, that <HI>God may have his Glory from them&s;elves, and &s;ucceeding ages.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, and principally, and that which I &s;hall mo&s;t in&s;i&s;t upon, from the way and meanes which this crea|ted people &s;hould take, that God might have his due glory from them&s;elves and &s;ucceeding ages; and that is this great Mercy of God in building his Church, and hearing his Peoples Prayers, <HI>&s;hould bee Recorded by them; This &s;hall bee written for the Generation to come.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fir&s;t, from the per&s;ons who &s;hall doe it.</NOTE>In the fir&s;t of the&s;e, which I &s;hall onely point at;  <HI>the Per&s;ons from whom</HI> God doth promi&s;e him&s;elfe the
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performance of this great Duty, <HI>The People that &s;hall bee created.</HI> Many excellent Collections might be made.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Thence I ob|&s;erve the con|dition of God. people whe~ de+prived of Gods Ordinances. And when they injoy the libertie of them.</NOTE>One is, that which Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> ob&s;erves upon this Text:  <HI>viz.</HI> Wee may here di&s;cerne what (in the Judgement of Gods People) is the &s;tate of the Church when they are deprived of Gods Wor&s;hip and Ordinances, and &s;catte|red among the Heathen: and what their e&s;tate is, when God is plea&s;ed again to &s;et up his Tabernacle among&s;t them.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t of the&s;e conditions they were as if their <HI>Creation were annihilated;</HI> as if they were re&s;olved into their fir&s;t principles. But when God was plea&s;ed from Heaven to looke upon them, with a re&s;tauration of his Temple and Wor&s;hip, and bring them again into a Re|ligious Common-wealth: then they looked upon them|&s;elves as a People that were <HI>new created,</HI> that had a new being be&s;towed upon them. Their outward condition was much alike in both, for the things of this life. Bond-men they were in <HI>Babylon,</HI> and Bond-men they were when they returned into <HI>Canaan,</HI> the &s;ame Em|perours and Kings bore &s;way over them, and kept them under; and for ought I can learne, they were richer in their captivity, then in their own Countrey; but when they were brought back, to have liberty a|gaine to &s;erve God in the way of his Ordinances, then they looked upon them&s;elves as people that had a new <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.</NOTE> being. Thus they con&s;tantly judged of them&s;elves; when their Temple was burnt, and they &s;cattered among the Heathen, then they judged of them&s;elves, as <HI>dead and ary bones,</HI> as tho&s;e who&s;e bones <HI>lay &s;cattered,</HI> as when one cutteth chips about the pits mouth; but when they had againe got a naile in Gods Sanctuary, and might enjoy the liberty of his Sabbaths, Fea&s;ts, Sa|cri&s;ices,
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&amp;c. it was as the founding of a <HI>new Heaven and a new Earth</HI> unto them. This I onely mention.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Ob&s;ervat.</HI> A people re|deemed from low condition mo&s;t fit to prai&s;e God.</NOTE>Another is, That when the Lord would engage his  Servants to give him his prai&s;e and glory for their de|liverance, hee chu&s;es to call them by this Name, <HI>A peo|ple created:</HI> that is, reduced out of nothing, brought to a ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate, from a low and meane condition, from a people whom God calls by this Name, hee promi&s;eth him&s;elf his glory and prai&s;e; whoever forget him, yet the people who &s;hall thus <HI>bee Created</HI> will prai&s;e him: And that affords this Le&s;&s;on:</P>
<Q>That <HI>the People whom God in Mercy brings from a low and meane condition, are the People from whom God pro|mi&s;es to receive prai&s;e and glory.</HI></Q>
<P>Indeed, &s;uch is the &s;elfi&s;hne&s;&s;e of our corrupt Nature, that if we are any thing, or doe any thing, we are prone to forget God, and &s;acrifice to our own nets, and burn Incen&s;e to our own yarne; in&s;omuch, that when ever God finds a people who &s;hall either tru&s;t in <NOTE PLACE="marg">Zeph. 3. 11, 12, 13. P&s;al. 22. 24, 25, 26.</NOTE> him, or prai&s;e him, it mu&s;t be an <HI>an afflicted and poor peo|ple,</HI> or a people brought from &s;uch an e&s;tate; Free Grace is ever mo&s;t valued by &s;uch people. And if you looke all the Scripture over, you will find, that all the prai&s;es, and Songs of deliverance that have been made to God, have proceeded from a people that have thus judged of them&s;elves, as tho&s;e that were brought to nothing; but God in mercy had brought the~ back again from the gates of death, and u&s;ually untill they had &s;uch apprehen&s;ions of them&s;elves, they never gave unto God the glory due to his name. I could give you a cloud of witne&s;&s;es to e|vidence the truth of it; but I intended only to point at
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this. Onely give mee leave before I pa&s;&s;e from it, to make a &s;hort Application of it to our &s;elves in the&s;e two particulars:</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. I came one great cau&s;e why our mi&s;e+ries continue: We are not yet brought low in our eyes.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, that hence wee may certainly learne one cau&s;e why our calamities doe continue thus long; why &s;till  wee are brought lower and lower; why though wee bee lifted up one day, or one moneth, wee are &s;uddenly brought and ca&s;t back again into as forlorne a condition as ever we were in: God would bring us to &s;uch a judg|ment of our &s;elves, that wee might prai&s;e him when we are delivered. I am per&s;waded God does intend to have a People here in <HI>England</HI> that &s;hall bee for his prai&s;e, and wee doe not yet looke upon our &s;elves as a people out of meere Mercy brought from nothing; in the time of our calamities we &s;eek him, and &s;ay, he onely is our rock and our &s;alvation: But it is too evident that the pride of our Nation is not yer laid low; &s;till our Armes of fle&s;h are prone to bee exalted. It is with us, ju&s;t as it was with the I&s;raelites, when God brought them out of <HI>Egypt,</HI> hee made account that hee had done enough to make them know their dependance upon him, that they were created as out of nothing, by &s;uch a mira|culous breaking the yoke of their bondage, and bringing them through the red Sea into the Wilderne&s;&s;e, and in that howling Wilderne&s;&s;e giving them bread from Heaven, and water out of the Rocke; but the people had not <HI>yet</HI> learned it, they were high and proud, they were too rough pieces to bee &s;o ea&s;ily hewed; one yeares leading them in the VVilderne&s;&s;e would not teach them their dependance upon God: and therefore <HI>God</HI> con|tinued to lead them in the wilderne&s;&s;e, and kept them out of <HI>Canaan</HI> till they had learned it. VVhat they would not learne in one yeare, God made them learne
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in forty yeeres. And &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> told them, <HI>Deut.</HI> 8. 23. That the <HI>Lord led them forty yeeres in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, and tryed them, and &s;uffered them to hunger, that hee might humble them, and make them know that they lived by eve|ry word that came out of his mouth:</HI> And till they had learned that le&s;&s;on, God never made an end with them. And &s;urely it is &s;o with us; were wee but once come to that pa&s;&s;e; that wee looked upon our &s;elves as a forlorne Nation, as a people void of wealth, of Coun|&s;ell, of Strength, of Ability to carry on our Work, and would lie at Gods feet, and acknowledge that it is hee that mu&s;t doe it, or we are di&s;&s;olved, and undone; God would &s;oone make an end with us, then hee would tru&s;t us to prai&s;e him; a people who thus look upon them&s;elves, will give him the prai&s;e and glory due to his Name.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">How great the &s;inne of &s;uch people is, when they for|get this duty.</NOTE>Another thing that I as briefly commend to your con|&s;ideration  from it is this, That becau&s;e God Almigh|ty doth expect that a people brought from nothing, a people new created will prai&s;e him; therefore if <HI>&s;uch</HI> a people, for whom the Lord hath done &s;uch things, &s;hould faile him; if they &s;hould prove ungratefull, it would aggravate their &s;in beyond all apprehen&s;ions, beyond all expre&s;&s;ions. It is thus among men, we ex|treamly abhorre to &s;ee a Begger mounted on Hor&s;eback, and riding proudly: <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ayes, It is one of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 30. 21, 22</NOTE> things that the earth cannot bear, to &s;ee a Handmaid made heire to her Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e; A <HI>Hagar</HI> laid in her Ma|&s;ters bo&s;ome, and then &s;hee to prove in&s;olent; this among&s;t <HI>Men</HI> is intolerable: Beleeve it, it is much more with <HI>God,</HI> when God &s;hall take a People, as from a dunghill, from a de&s;perate and forlorn condition, and (as it were) create them for his glory, and they &s;light
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him, and undervalue him, and deale ungratefully with him: Thus <HI>Ezra</HI> judged, <HI>cap.</HI> 9. 13. <HI>When we have recei|ved &s;uch a deliverance as this, &s;hould wee againe breake thy Commandements and prove ungratefull; would&s;t thou not bee angry with us till thou had&s;t con&s;umed us?</HI> This was the ground of that unappea&s;able wrath that was kindled in God again&s;t the people of I&s;rael, in the 1. of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1. 2. Ezek. 16. 4, 5, 6, 22.</NOTE> <HI>Heare O Heavens, and give eare O Earth; I have nou|ri&s;hed and brought up Children, and yet they rebell again&s;t mee.</HI> And e&s;pecially in <HI>Ezekiel</HI> 16. Where hee told them, I found thee in thy mothers wombe, thy na|vel not cut, no eye pityed thee, as a ba&s;tard ca&s;t out in the time of her nativity; and there I took thee from a dunghill, and bred thee, and trained thee up to be my wife, and thou played&s;t the whore again&s;t mee; and <HI>in all thy abominations</HI> (&s;ayes hee) <HI>thou never remem|bred&s;t how I found thee de&s;olate and naked.</HI> This made God judge her after the manner of harlots. And be|leeve it, &s;o will it prove with us, if the Lord &s;hould go on thus mercifully to deale with <HI>England,</HI> and cre|ate us again, to rai&s;e us out of the&s;e gulfes and quick|&s;ands, and to e&s;tabli&s;h us to bee a people, if we then &s;hould goe and &s;acrifice to our owne Net, or burne Incen&s;e to our owne yarne, prove ungratefull to him, kick with the heele again&s;t him; the wrath of God would bee kindled again&s;t us &s;o farre, that there would bee no remedy. God expects better things from us, hee looks, that a people <HI>&s;o created,</HI> &s;hould be for his prai&s;e. But this fir&s;t branch I intended onely to point at; The <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> that &s;hould doe this work, <HI>The people that &s;hould bee created.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Part.</HI> The work it &s;elfe;</NOTE>The &s;econd follows, wherein I &s;hall bee a little lar|ger,  and that is, <HI>What their work &s;hould bee;</HI> This &s;hall
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bee written for the generations to come, and this crea|ted <NOTE PLACE="marg">That God might in all a|ges have the glory of this great work.</NOTE> people &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord: The &s;umme whereof is, That God having done thus much for them, they &s;hould wholly apply them&s;elves, that in all generati|ons, both the pre&s;ent, and tho&s;e to come, his glory may bee given to him, both by them&s;elves, and by all po&s;terity; what&s;oever was po&s;&s;ible for them to doe, &s;hould be faithfully endeavoured by this thankfull re|deemed people, That <HI>glory might bee given unto God for this great Work throughout all ages, world without end.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;ervat.</HI> 1. Ephe&s;. 3. 21. In all ages <HI>God</HI> will have a people to prai&s;e him.</NOTE>VVhence fir&s;t ob&s;erve briefly by the way, that which  is &s;ufficiently intimated in the Text, and noted by &s;e|verall Expo&s;itors; <HI>That in all ages God will have a peo|ple for his prai&s;e;</HI> no generation pa&s;t, or to come, but there &s;hall bee a people for Chri&s;t to prai&s;e and glo|rifie him: it is not &s;o with other Monarchies and Em|pires, one carries it a great while in the world, and then it is di&s;&s;olved, and their people remaine not to them; <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2 44.</NOTE> but are either de&s;troyed or delivered over, and left to &s;ome other Governour; <HI>but this Kingdome of Chri&s;t &s;hall</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102, 25, 26, 27, 28.</NOTE> <HI>never leave its people to any other Conquerour:</HI> It is with <HI>other Kingdomes,</HI> as my Text a little after tells you, it is with <HI>the Earth, and Heavens,</HI> as a garment, they all wax old, <HI>as a Ve&s;ture they change, and rot, and come to nothing;</HI> but the Kingdome of Chri&s;t like him|&s;elf, hath never any end, and <HI>the Generation of his Ser|vants &s;hall ever continue in his &s;ight.</HI> The Church is &s;ometimes <HI>more,</HI> and &s;ometimes <HI>le&s;&s;e vi&s;ible:</HI> The peo|ple that prai&s;e God are &s;ometimes more in number, and &s;ometimes fewer; but they alwayes <HI>are,</HI> in all ages: God will have them that &s;hall give him his glory, and &s;ing him prai&s;es in the Churches. This I onely mention.</P>
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<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;ervat.</HI> 2. The whole work of Gods redeemed peo|ple, is, to pro|vide that God may have his glory in all a|ges.</NOTE>Secondly, another which more concernes us, is, the  works they &s;hould attend unto; that the glory of this great deliverance might be alwayes rendred unto him. Which affords us this le&s;&s;on,
<Q><HI>That a People who are truly thankfull for Gods building up of</HI> Zion, <HI>and hearing the prayers of his afflicted ones, will endeavour by all meanes po&s;sible, that all ages pre|&s;ent and to come, may glorifie God for it.</HI></Q>
Or more briefly take it thus,
<Q>The whole work of Gods redeemed people, is to provide that God may alwayes, and every where have the glory of it.</Q></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Proved by ex|ample of the Saints.</NOTE>Expo&s;itors ob&s;erve upon this Text, that this redee|med  Church take no thought <HI>concerning them&s;elves,</HI> a|bout their own <HI>ea&s;e, plea&s;ure, wealth, gaine,</HI> or any thing el&s;e might accrew unto them&s;elves by this deliverance, to make their own life ea&s;ie or &s;weet; but their thoughts and &s;tudies are wholly laid out, how the pre&s;ent and &s;ucceeding Generations &s;hould give all glory to <HI>God</HI> for it. And hee that runnes may read it in the practi&s;e of many others recorded in Scripture. The time would faile me to give you a catalogue of the Churches Kings, Prophets, Prie&s;ts, and other holy men of God, who have been like minded: Their care was as <HI>Joabs</HI> at the <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">2. 27.</NOTE> taking of <HI>Rabbah</HI> of the <HI>Ammonites,</HI> that <HI>David</HI> might have the glory of it. Thus did <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> when they were brought out of the <HI>Egyptian</HI> bondage, Thus <HI>Deborah</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. Judg. 5.</NOTE> and <HI>Barak</HI> after the di&s;comfiture of <HI>Jabin.</HI> Thus did <HI>Hannah,</HI> 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2. and innumerable others; who in all <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 4. 13, 17 18.</NOTE> the Lords admini&s;trations to them, whether inlargements <NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. 7. 6, 7, 10.</NOTE> or pre&s;&s;ures, have been &s;tudious of nothing &s;o much, as how in all things God might have his glory pre|&s;erved
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and &s;pread. <HI>David</HI> the man after Gods own heart <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 116. 10</NOTE> exceeded all others in this thing, <HI>Quid retribuam?</HI> what &s;hall I render unto the Lord? was his u&s;uall &s;tudy; and hee never thought his own parts, his wit, fancy, thoughts, tongue, pen, &amp;c. &s;ufficient for it; but when hee had &s;tirred up all within him, <HI>Ble&s;&s;e the Lord, O my &s;oule, and</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 103. 1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>all that is within mee ble&s;&s;e his holy Name:</HI> Hee would al&s;o &s;tirre up all without him, <HI>all the Church, Ble&s;&s;e the</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118. 23. P&s;al. 100. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Lord yee hou&s;e of I&s;rael; let I&s;rael &s;ay, let all that feare God &s;ay, His mercy endureth for ever:</HI> All the Nations, <HI>make a joyfull &s;ound unto God, all ye Lands:</HI> All the Angels, <HI>Ble&s;&s;e the Lord yee his Angels, all yee his Ho&s;ts:</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 103. 20, 21.</NOTE> Yea, all Creatures, <HI>ble&s;&s;e the Lord all his workes, in all places of his Dominion,</HI> whether above or below, animate, or inanimate; <HI>The Sun and Moon, the Starres of Light, the Dragons and deeps, fire and haile, Snow and va|pours,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 48. <HI>per to|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">um.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Mountaines and hills, fruitfull trees and Cedars, Bea&s;ts and all cattle, creeping things, and flying Fowles,</HI> hee layes a tax upon them all, to come in, and contribute their utmo&s;t, that God might have the glory due to his Name, for <HI>exalting the horne of his people, even the</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 14.</NOTE> <HI>children of I&s;rael, the people neere unto him.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">And by rea&s;on.</NOTE>And there are three &s;peciall Rea&s;ons why this &s;hould  bee the great worke of the Lords &s;aved and re&s;cued people: and why indeed they can doe no other then &s;tu|dy thus to exalt him.</P>
<P>One is, becau&s;e they well know that the Lord hath re&s;erved nothing to him&s;elfe but onely his glory; the benefits hee gives to them, all the &s;weetne&s;&s;e and ho|ney that can bee found in them, hee gives them leave to &s;uck out; but his glory and his prai&s;e is his owne, and that which hee hath wholly re&s;erved, of that hee is <HI>jealous,</HI> le&s;t it &s;hould either bee denyed, E|clip&s;ed,
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dimini&s;hed, or any the lea&s;t violation offered to it in any kind: All <HI>Gods</HI> people know this of him, and therefore they cannot but indeavour to pre&s;erve it for him.</P>
<P>Secondly, be&s;ides, they know, as God is jealous in that point, &s;o it is all the work that hee hath ap|pointed them to doe; he hath therefore &s;eparated them to him&s;elf out of all the Nations of the world, to be his peculiar ones for this very end, that they might give him all the glory and prai&s;e of his mercy; <HI>I have</HI> (&s;aid God) <HI>created</HI> him, <HI>formed,</HI> and made him <HI>for my glory, E&s;ay</HI> 43. 7. This is the law of his <HI>new Crea|tion,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 43. 7.</NOTE> which is as powerfull in them, as the law of <HI>Na|ture,</HI> or the <HI>fir&s;t creation</HI> is in the re&s;t of his Works. And therefore with a holy and &s;pirituall naturalne&s;&s;e (if I may &s;o call it) the hearts of all the Saints are car|ryed to give God the glory, as really, as the &s;tones are carryed to the Center, or the fire to fly upwards; this is fixed in their hearts, the work of grace hath moulded them to it, that they can doe no other but endeavour to exalt God, it being the very end why their &s;pirituall life, and all their other priviledges are conferred upon them.</P>
<P>Yea, thirdly, they know their owne Intere&s;ts are much concerned in Gods glory, they never are lo&s;ers by it: if in any work of God, he want his prai&s;e, they will want their comfort: but if God bee a gainer, they &s;hall certainly bee no lo&s;ers. What&s;oever is powred upon the head of Chri&s;t, what ointment &s;oever of prai&s;e or glory, it will in a due proportion fall downe to the skirts of his garments; nor is there any other way to have any &s;weetne&s;&s;e, comfort, prai&s;e, or glory to bee derived unto them&s;elves, but by giving all unto
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him, to whom alone it belongeth, and then, although hee will never give away <HI>his</HI> glory, the glory of being the <HI>fountaine,</HI> the <HI>fir&s;t, &s;upreame, originall giver</HI> of all good; yet they &s;hall have the glory of In&s;truments, and of fellow workers with him, which is a glory and prai&s;e &s;ufficient.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Application. Exhortation.</HI> 1. To the Par|liament to doe this.</NOTE>This is a le&s;&s;on of &s;ingular u&s;e to all Gods redeemed ones in many particulars. But the onely thing I &s;hall  at the pre&s;ent in&s;i&s;t upon, is to direct how we may be&s;t improve the mercy of this day; and how we may do &s;omething worthy of this dayes meeting; the Lord hath turned our heavine&s;&s;e into rejoycing, hath took off from us the garment of mourning, and put upon us this day the garment of &s;alvation.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">How they may doe it.</NOTE>And I am per&s;waded this honourable A&s;&s;embly hath  not for a long time had a more reall rejoycing heart then you now feele, for the mercy which this day wee meet to celebrate and commemorate. Now would you know what you &s;hould doe, what you &s;hould render un|to the Lord, what would bee the comelie&s;t, and mo&s;t excellent &s;acrifice in this day of your prai&s;e and re|joycing before God: Surely there is nothing compa|rable to this, <HI>That you provide that of all tho&s;e great things which the Lord hath wrought for us; all po&s;sible prai&s;e and glory may bee &s;et upon the head of our Lord Je&s;us, and abide unto &s;ucceeding Generations.</HI> Some &s;uch work as might pre&s;erve his honour in the pre&s;ent and &s;uccee|ding ages, were worthy &s;uch a great a&s;&s;embly, worthy of the name of a day of their Thanke&s;giving.</P>
<P>I am per&s;waded your hearts are &s;o warmed with the unexpected Victory, that you would readily &s;wear with <HI>David,</HI> to take no re&s;t untill you were doing that very Work; if once you knew what it were, I &s;hall
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tel you, <HI>Even in doing that where in his glory is mo&s;t concer|ned in all ages; and that is the &s;etting up of his Kingdome,</HI> the purgation &amp; reformation of Religion, &s;etting up his Ordi|nances in purity, providing that his Church may bee go|verned and ruled by his own laws according to his owne Word. This would indeed bee a la&s;ting Monument of your thankfulne&s;&s;e. This wee &s;hould all &s;tudy, and to this every thankfull heart may contribute &s;omething, but none &s;o much as <HI>you,</HI> Right Honourable Lords and Commons A&s;&s;embled in Parliament, by who&s;e appoint|ment, and for whole furtherance in this work I &s;tand here this day. God hath put into your hands the greate&s;t opportunity, and meanes of providing for all the glory that he expects from <HI>England</HI> while the world &s;tands, that he did put ever into the hands of any. The mea|&s;uring line, and plummet of his hou&s;e is put into your hands as once it was in the hand of <HI>Zerubbabel.</HI> From you he &s;eems to expect what <HI>portion</HI> him&s;elfe &s;hall have in <HI>England</HI> for time to come, what kind of Subjects hee &s;hall have, what <HI>Wor&s;hip</HI> &s;hall bee offered to him, what kind of <HI>Gue&s;ts</HI> &s;hall &s;it with him at his Table; by what <HI>lawes</HI> his hou&s;e and people &s;hall be governed; hee &s;eems now to put into your hands, what unto the end of the world hee may expect from the Kingdome of <HI>England,</HI> in the way of his <HI>Ordinances;</HI> not onely the managing of a Kingdome of men, but of the Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &s;eemes now to bee in the hands of the two honourable Hou&s;es of Parliament.</P>
<P>Now, when &s;uch opportunities as the&s;e are in your hands, to doe &s;uch great things for God, how &s;ilent &s;hould all &s;le&s;h be, till this worke be done? how hu&s;h't and laid a&s;ide &s;hould all your other bu&s;ine&s;&s;es bee; your own e&s;tates and priviledges, and private intere&s;ts, or a|ny
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thing that concernes your &s;elves, names, or families; how &s;hould they all be waved and &s;et a&s;ide, till all that bee done, from which Je&s;us Chri&s;t &s;hall receive glory in all ages. If then (Right Honourable and Beloved) any of you &s;hould after all the mercy God hath be&s;towed upon you, make it your worke to feather your own ne&s;ts, build your owne Hou&s;es, and let the Hou&s;e of God lie wa&s;te, or hinder the &s;etting up of this Work in purity and perfection; if you &s;hould make a &s;light bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Worke of Religion; and cau&s;e the authority of the Go&s;pel, and Kingdome, and Ordinances of Chri&s;t, to vaile bonnet to the lu&s;ts and liberties of poore &s;infull Men, and decline the &s;etting up of the authority of his Scepter; le&s;t the corruptions of Men &s;hould be brought under the yoake more then they are willing, you will provide ill for Chri&s;ts honour, ill for the Church, wor&s;t of all for your owne &s;ouls, in betraying the cau&s;e of Religion, and &s;poyling the mo&s;t glorious opportunity of advancing the honour of Chri&s;t, that ever men were betru&s;ted with, the&s;e thou&s;and yeares. But if you &s;hall re&s;olve &s;o to goe through with it, that there &s;hall not need a reformation to come the &s;econd time, I meane in &s;tabli|&s;hing the rule for Faith, VVor&s;hip, and Government as neere as can be found out by the VVord (all carnall con|&s;iderations &s;et a&s;ide) &s;hould you but doe this, that it may bee &s;et up in the Kingdome, and tran&s;mitted to po&s;terity: God will then acknowledge you really thankfull, and that you have done as much for his honour as hee ex|pects from any mortall men, and po&s;terity &s;hall con|fe&s;&s;e that as you are the mo&s;t remarkable Parliament for Gods owning you, protecting and &s;aving you, &s;o God received more glory from you, then from any former Parliament; <HI>Jo&s;iahs</HI> prai&s;e &s;hould be verified of you, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e|ver</HI>
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<HI>the like went before you, or followed after you.</HI> I there|fore humbly be&s;eech you, Right Honourable Lords, and noble Gentlemen, whil&s;t now your hearts are warm with this mercy, &amp; all of you are ready to &s;ay with <HI>David, what &s;hall I tender to the Lord?</HI> what &s;hall I give the Lord for all his mercies towards us? take <HI>this cup of &s;alvation,</HI> re&s;olve to pay your vowes, the vow you made, that you would endeavour the reformation of Religion, according to the word of God; and to the neare&s;t conformity with the be&s;t reformed Churches. Goe on zealou&s;ly and im|partially with it; let the &s;ucce&s;&s;e bee what it will, work belongs to us, &s;ucce&s;&s;e belongs to God; therein &s;hall you in truth give unto God, and our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that <HI>glory and pra&s;e which a Parliament</HI> &s;hould give him; other people mu&s;t come &s;hort; though wee all are intere&s;&s;ed in this Mercy, and are equally bound to provide for his honour, yet our meanes are &s;horter, wee move in a nar|rower &s;pheare.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Motives thereunto.</NOTE>Some of our endeavours mu&s;t bee in our own Fami|lies, to make them better: Others in a Pulpit to make  our Congregations better; few of us, though rai&s;ed to our highe&s;t, are able to do any great things for his glory; but if the Lord enlarge your hearts to doe your worke a|right, the whole Chri&s;tian world in her &s;everall ages &s;hall be able to give glory unto him, by your improvement of the&s;e mercies which our God hath given us.</P>
<P>And a little further to provoke you unto it, con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly of the&s;e three things.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fir&s;t Motives. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. God chiefly minds this.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, in all our great conflicts, the&s;e huge &s;hakings of the Nations, and combu&s;tions, the Lord hath no de|&s;igne  in any of them, but onely the building up of his Church, and an&s;wering his peoples prayers, his heart is &s;et upon nothing el&s;e: You indeed contend for Li|berties
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and Laws, and ju&s;tly you may doe &s;o; and the rather, becau&s;e the liberty of your Religion &s;tands and falls with your laws; but God can looke upon <HI>England</HI> as well if it were in &s;lavery, as in freedome, he regards neither of them further then &s;lavery and freedome hath <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> relation to his Church, and the welfare of it; if all other his works were buryed (as one day they &s;hall re&s;olve into the Chaos out of which they were taken) God cares not one whit, &s;obeit that bee done his heart is &s;et upon, record his work of building of <HI>Zion,</HI> and let what el&s;e &s;o ever be forgotren, it matters not; ought yee not to be like minded unto our Lord?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. This onely will end our troubles.</NOTE>Secondly, let me a&s;&s;ure you, there is nothing el&s;e will  ever appea&s;e our troubles, but the vigorous carrying on of this work: A great many are afraid le&s;t the quick e|&s;tabli&s;hing of Religion (through the multitude of mens divided thoughts, and ungodline&s;&s;e of many mens minds) &s;hould make our troubles and conflicts, more then they have been; but be ye a&s;&s;ured, the Lords King|dome being provided for in the right way, God will prepare &s;alvation for walls and bulwarks; hee <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 26. 1.</NOTE> will be the &s;afety of that Kingdome, which advan|ceth his Kingdome; the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, it is a Kingdome of Peace, (as him&s;elfe is a Prince of Peace:) It will never make tumults, it will appea&s;e tumults in a Kingdome where Chri&s;ts Scepter prevailes: whare hee &s;trikes the Earth with the rod of his mouth, Cockatrices <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 11. 3.</NOTE> will be charmed, and all enemies &s;hall bee hu&s;h't and quiet. It will I &s;ay make no tumults where it is recei|ved: but let mee tell you, Chri&s;ts heart is &s;o &s;et upon the advancement of his Kingdome, that where it is not received, him&s;elfe will breed tumults enow for them that oppo&s;e him: and the &s;tone cut out of the mountaine
<PB N="20" REF="13">
without hands, will da&s;h a&s;under all men, and all things, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.</NOTE> all Kingdoms, &amp; all States that &s;hal not give way to him.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">3. This will be the everla&s;ting honour of them who do it.</NOTE>I adde further concerning your &s;elves, that there is nothing will bring &s;o great and everla&s;ting glory to you, as to have been in&s;truments in your generation, to fur|ther  the work wherein Chri&s;ts honour is &s;o much con|cerned; you have read Books, and know the world; I be&s;eech you tell me out of all the ages of the world that are pa&s;t, cull out the choi&s;e&s;t among men in their gene|rations, and &s;ay, who among them was really an eminent Man, if it were not for being an in&s;trument in help|ing forward the Church of Chri&s;t: multitudes have made &s;tately buildings, Fi&s;h-ponds, Gardens, Palaces: Some have erected Kingdomes, what is become of them all? <HI>Jam &s;eges e&s;t ubi Troja fuit</HI> is the doome of all of them, they are all turned into vanity, and &s;o are the Makers of them. Con&s;ider the greate&s;t, wi&s;e&s;t, riche&s;t, learned'&s;t of all who have lived; if they were not for Chri&s;t and his Church, what glory doth now remaine to any of them? how much &s;o ever they magnified them&s;elves, or were flattered by others, who now wil honour them? who now extols <HI>Pharaoh</HI> for a wi&s;e King, <HI>Ab&s;alon</HI> for a compleat Courtier, <HI>Achitophel</HI> for a politique State&s;-man? who now would have the lot of a|ny of them? do they not all lye buried ingloriou&s;ly? hath not the Lord made the moth &amp; corruption to rot them al? But now look into Gods Book, and read all Chronicles, and you &s;hall find, that all they who have &s;et their hearts to this work, all Rulers, Coun&s;ellers, Parliaments, who have been for the Lord, and his Church and Kingdome, their memoriall is honourable and ble&s;&s;ed in all ages, they are &s;till eminent and glorious, and &s;hall bee &s;o to the worlds end, and in Heaven to all Eternity. Set therefore your hearts to this great work, &s;hew a reall defire to glo|rifie
<PB N="21" REF="13">
him who hath the&s;e great things for us.</P>
<P>This, Right Honourable Lords and Patriots, I had to &s;ay unto you; and as for you the re&s;t of this Honoured and Reverend A&s;&s;embly; very many things might bee &s;ugge&s;ted unto you, as means to exalt the glory of this our God and Saviour; but the onely thing I &s;hall at the pre|&s;ent commend unto you, is, to be often with God in the Mount, follow him with your prayers and &s;upplicati|ons; give him no re&s;t till hee hath carryed on this great and Honourable A&s;&s;embly to doe this work, that they may rai&s;e the foundations for many Generations.</P>
<P>This from the &s;econd part of the Text; The work that they &s;hould doe, not to &s;eek them&s;elves, but how the glory of God may be pre&s;erved in the pre&s;ent, and future Generations.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Part.</HI> 3. The meanes whereby they &s;hould &s;eek to perpetuate Gods glory.</NOTE>The third and la&s;t followes, which concernes the way they &s;hall take to perpetuate Gods glory for building his  Church, and an&s;wering his peoples prayers; what way &s;hall they take for it? <HI>This &s;hall be written,</HI> [in perpetuam reimemoriam,] <HI>for an eternall monument of it.</HI> The one|ly Le&s;&s;on which I &s;hall hence ob&s;erve, is this,
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;ervat.</HI> One great meanes to pre&s;erve and render unto <HI>God</HI> his due glory, is to re|cord his mer|cies. Proved by Scripture.</NOTE>That <HI>one great way of giving God his de&s;erved glory for his building of his Church, and an&s;wering his peoples prayers, is by cau&s;ing the&s;e wonderfull workes of God to be written for the generations to come.</HI></Q></P>
<P>For the truth of it, it is one of <HI>Gods Ordinances.</HI> You &s;hall finde it in the 78 <HI>P&s;al. ver&s;.</HI> 5. where the Prophet had exhorted them to give eare, and learne what God had done for them, that they might teach it to their chil|dren. This (&s;aid he) <HI>hee ordained for a Law, and a Sta|tute for I&s;rael:</HI> what was this Ordinance? <HI>that they &s;hould write</HI>
<PB N="22" REF="14">
<HI>it, and teach their po&s;terity to come,</HI> the wonderfull things which God hath done for his people: he commanded not onely them&s;elves to know him, and his works, and to talk of them; but to provide that the generations to come might know what God had done. So in the 17. of <HI>Exod.</HI> 14. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> When God had begun to appeare for his people in a Warre again&s;t <HI>Amalck;</HI> write it (&s;aid he,) in a Booke, a Book of the Warres of God for his Church, and again&s;t his enemies, mu&s;t bee written and kept as a record from age to age. So al&s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> comman|ded them in the 31 of <HI>Deut.</HI> 19. <HI>ver&s;. Now therefore write ye this Song for you, and teach it the Children of I&s;rael.</HI> A &s;ong mu&s;t be written and learned to expre&s;&s;e what God had done for a people who were mo&s;t un|worthy of the Mercies be&s;towed upon them: So like|wi&s;e <HI>E&s;ter, E&s;t.</HI> 9. 32. The great work of Gods de|feating the con&s;piracy of <HI>Haman,</HI> and deliverance of his Church, was recorded, not onely by an anniver&s;ary fea&s;t, but it mu&s;t <HI>bee written in a Booke.</HI></P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee, the Lord hath often enjoyned his peo|ple to record and tran&s;mit to po&s;terity the great things which hee hath done for them. And as he hath com|manded it, &s;o his Spirit hath ordered and brought to pa&s;&s;e, that it hath been &s;o. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Samuel,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Prophets have done it; what &s;hould I trouble you with a di&s;cour&s;e of particular in&s;tances, &s;ince the whole Book of God is nothing but a Chronicle Book of Acts and Monuments of the Lords wonderfull works in gathering, and building protecting, and &s;aving, and do|ing good to his Church, and de&s;troying their Enemies? And they did it many wayes; &s;ometime they made Eucha|ri&s;ticall <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 15.</NOTE> <HI>Songs,</HI> which they taught their children; &s;ome|time they wrote them upon their <HI>Childrens names;</HI> &s;ome|time <NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 5</NOTE>
<PB N="23" REF="14">
by giving names to the <HI>places</HI> where the mercies <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 41 51. Gen. 22. 13: 1 Sam. 7. 12. He&s;ter 9. <HI>M. Arrow&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">nih&punc; Ebenezert.</HI></NOTE> were received; &s;ometime erecting <HI>&s;tones and pillars;</HI> &s;ome|time by appointing <HI>yearly Fea&s;ts</HI> of remembrance. Many of which wayes were pre&s;ented unto you the la&s;t &s;olemn meeting you had in this place upon a like ble&s;&s;ed occa&s;i|on.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">And by rea&s;on&punc;</NOTE>And the grounds or rea&s;ons why this ought to bee  done, why the&s;e things &s;hould bee recorded, are ne|ce&s;&s;ary,</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fir&s;t, in relation to God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Secondly, in relation to the Generation who receive the&s;e mercies.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Thirdly, in relation to the po&s;terity that are to come after.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Gods glory is hereby pre|&s;erved and &s;pread abroad, P&s;al. 111. 4.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, <HI>in relation to God and his glory.</HI> As the works of God are <HI>all</HI> worthy to be regi&s;tred and remembred, &s;o  the work of building the Church, and an&s;wering his peoples prayers, is the <HI>mo&s;t worthy,</HI> the <HI>mo&s;t excellent:</HI> be|cau&s;e the&s;e are his ma&s;ter-pieces; in all the&s;e works, God appeares in his glory; all his excellent perfections &s;hine forth in their beauty: and therefore none &s;o wor|thy to be written. And as this work is mo&s;t worthy, &s;o there is no way or meanes &s;o excellent and effectuall for the perpetuating of the honour and glory due to him, as the faithfull recording of it, and delivering it from hand to hand in all generations; which el&s;e will &s;oone bee forgotten and lo&s;t, as loo&s;e pearles and pretious &s;tones: But when they are recorded, they are like pretious and excellent pearles put upon a golden thred, and thereby ea&s;ily kept together and pre&s;erved, and his glory thereby made everla&s;ting. His Works are all Eternall, <HI>&agrave; parte ante,</HI> in his decree; this writing and regi&s;tring of them, will make them &s;o: <HI>&agrave; parte po&s;t,</HI> in the eternall commemo|ration
<PB N="24" REF="15">
of them. Thus &s;hall be fulfilled to his glory that which <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ays, <HI>I know what&s;oever God does, it &s;hal be for ever;</HI> it &s;hall la&s;t for ever to his glory. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 3. 14.</NOTE></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Thus people who receive them are here|by bettered. And the in&s;tru|ments imploy|ed by God, are had in due re|membrance and honour.</NOTE>Secondly, <HI>in relation to them who receive the&s;e mer|cies,</HI> the pre&s;ent age that enjoyes them, may al&s;o bee great gainers by it, for it makes the favour  and mercy deeplier written in their owne hearts in indeleble characters: and the frequent reading of them would keep the mercy alwayes fre&s;h and green, alwayes of the &s;ame efficacy and vertue unto them who have re|ceived it.</P>
<P>And be&s;ides, tho&s;e excellent In&s;truments whom God hath employed to helpe in the great worke of building the Church, &s;hall thereby enjoy the honour and prai&s;e which God is willing to have conferred upon them: (for hee would have the righte|ous in everla&s;ting remembrance) when in all ages it &s;hall be known, not onely <HI>what</HI> the Lord hath done for his people; but al&s;o <HI>who</HI> they are whom God hath been plea&s;ed to employ in this great Work: wee know the old &s;aying, <HI>Multi ante Agamemnona fuere fortes, &amp;c.</HI> there were many valiant Commanders and Souldiers before <HI>Achilles,</HI> or <HI>Uly&s;&s;es,</HI> but none of them are famous to po&s;terity, becau&s;e they wanted a <HI>Homer,</HI> their wor|thy deeds are not recorded: but by &s;uch a faithfull re|gi&s;ter the Lords worthy in&s;truments are in all ages made partakers of a glory which is next the glory of Hea|ven.</P>
<P>But chiefly my Text leads to the third; in relation to po&s;terity. The&s;e things <HI>&s;hall be written for the Gene|rations to come,</HI> and for their &s;akes they ought to be writ|ten. <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. The gene|rations to come have their due, the&s;e works concern them.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e they are their <HI>due,</HI> and the pre&s;ent generation
<PB N="25" REF="15">
cannot without inju&s;tice deprive po&s;terity of a faithfull record of Gods mercies, for in all the&s;e things he &s;peaks to all the ages to come, as well as the pre&s;ent. You have it in <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> 12. 3. where <HI>Jacobs</HI> wre&s;tling with God and meeting with him in <HI>Bethel,</HI> are mentioned: <HI>There</HI> (&s;ayes the Church) <HI>hee &s;poke with us;</HI> what he &s;poke to <HI>Jacob,</HI> hee &s;poke to I&s;rael, that lived in <HI>Ho&s;ea's</HI> time, a|bove a thou&s;and years after it; and what <HI>Paul</HI> &s;pake, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 11. concerning Gods Judgment, <HI>All the&s;e things hap|pened unto them for en&s;amples, and are written for our ad|monition upon whom the ends of the World are come;</HI> is as true of all his works of mercy; they hapned unto them for our&s;akes, as well as for their owne; and the Pro|phets knew this, <HI>unto whom it was revealed, that not un|to them&s;elves, but unto us they did admin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ter the things which are now reported.</HI> Now look as it is with Parents who though them&s;elves know they cannot live long, and per|adventure &s;ome of them are but termers in their &s;tates and Honours; yet their Evidences of their Lord&s;hips or Mannors, wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ch belong to their children, they dare not but tran&s;mit the Copies of them to tho&s;e who &s;hall inherit their Lands after them. Since then the records of the&s;e things are their due, wee cannot deny them to po&s;terity, unle&s;&s;e we would rob them of that which God will have them receive from us.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">And may ma|ny wayes be gainers by them.</NOTE>Nay, &s;econdly, it is their gaine as well as their due,  yea, it may prove an infinite and invaluable gain to po&s;te|rity; for by the recording of the&s;e great and excellent Works, po&s;teritie may learne to <HI>know</HI> God, to <HI>tru&s;t</HI> him, to <HI>feare</HI> and <HI>&s;erve</HI> him; they may out of the&s;e learne their duty, and read their de&s;tiny. This was the very end why God made that law, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 78. 5. That the Parents &s;hould tran&s;mit unto their children, the wonderfull works
<PB N="26" REF="16">
which hee had done, <HI>That they might &s;et their hope in God, and keep his Commandements, and might not bee as their fathers, a generation who&s;e &s;pirit was not &s;tedfa&s;t with God.</HI> The like cau&s;es of writing the&s;e things, you &s;hall find, <HI>Rom.</HI> 15. 4. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 11. Look as it is with them <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15. 4. 1 Cor. 10. 11.</NOTE> that travaile at Sea (take for in&s;tance <HI>Columbus,</HI> or <HI>Drake,</HI> or any of tho&s;e famous Sea-men, that have di&s;covered unknown tracts in the deep waters) when they them|&s;elves had pa&s;t them, if they had come home again without making a Sea-mans Chard, who had been the better for all their voyages? whereas now, ordinary Sailers by help of their Chard, can compa&s;&s;e the world round a|bout; becau&s;e they know where the &s;afe chanels, and where the rocks and dangers lye. So in the faithfull Stories of the works which God &s;howes to his people in one generation, the generations to come &s;hall before their eyes be able to read the right way, by the fall of others they &s;hall know where lies the rocks and &s;tum|bling blocks; by the deliverance of others they &s;hall know where out-gates are to be found. The reading of a record of <HI>Mordecays</HI> good &s;ervice, was a meanes to &s;ave all the Church of the Jews at one time, <HI>E&s;t.</HI> 6. 1, 2. The remembring of <HI>Micah</HI> his prophecy, &s;aved the life of <NOTE PLACE="marg">E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ra 9. 10. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc;</NOTE> the Prophet <HI>Jeremy,</HI> at another time, <HI>Jer.</HI> 26. 19. the re|membrance of the cau&s;es why I&s;rael was carryed captive out of their owne Land, was a meanes to bring them to repentance at another time. The records of Gods dealing with <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> have &s;uccoured Gods people in their di&s;tre&s;&s;es ten thou&s;and times; the particular wayes how the Church hath profited by them, are not to bee numbred; inexpre&s;&s;ible is the gaine which may be gotten by them: therefore the Lord would <HI>have them written for the generations to come.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="27" REF="16">
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>&V;&s;e</HI> 1. If po&s;terity, then much more they who receive the&s;e deliverances &s;hould prai&s;e God for them.</NOTE>For Application of this: Fir&s;t, if the Lord will have his  great Workes recorded to <HI>po&s;terity,</HI> that <HI>they</HI> may give him his glory; &s;urely, then the <HI>pre&s;ent</HI> age &s;hould ob|&s;erve them, and glorifie him; if our pre&s;ent mercies &s;hall bee the wonderment of the world in after ages, how ill would it become us who receive them, to pa&s;&s;e them over unregarded, or put them into oblivion? what a ca|talogue &s;hould every one of us have, how full &s;hould all our memories and records bee, who receive them thus by heapes upon heapes? how excellent and comely a thing were it, if every one wee meet with in the &s;treets, and fields, could bee able to tell us the Story of Gods dealing for <HI>England</HI> the&s;e three, or foure, or five yeeres; beleeve it, it is our &s;hame that wee are not able <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exhortation to all to doe it.</NOTE> to doe it. What a &s;hame and unworthy thing is it to lay up in our memories tra&s;h and vanities; write downe in our Books, our pa&s;&s;ions, toyes, and fooleries, and have no records of the&s;e glorious VVorks of God? how &s;hall wee lift up our heads before God, when he &s;hall reckon with us for this ingratitude? O that every one of us could endeavour to have our records of the&s;e mercies, as perfect as Gods are; he ob&s;erves and keeps account of all, let us doe &s;o likewi&s;e, let our books and memories, be trea&s;uries of the&s;e works and wayes of God; let our tongues talk of them, let us be all good Hi&s;torians, at lea&s;t of the&s;e latter yeares, &s;ince the beginning of this Parliament, be able to count all our journeys and pitch|ing places, our deliverances and Victories from <HI>Kynton</HI> un|to this day: yea, and when wee think or &s;peake of them, let it bee with admiration, which is the <HI>individuus comes,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;pecially for mercy.</NOTE> the in&s;eparable companion of prai&s;ing God: wee ne|ver can duly tender his prai&s;es for the&s;e mercies, un|le&s;&s;e our under&s;tanding &s;ee it &s;elfe conquered by that
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which it contemplates; and be compelled with <HI>David,</HI> againe and againe to cry out, <HI>O Lord our God, how excel|lent is thy Name, how wonderfull are thy workes!</HI> Doe the&s;e things daily, but doe them this day more careful|ly: this day is &s;eparated for his prai&s;e and glory, but in a more peculiar manner let him have the glory of this <HI>la<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e great, and unexpected Victory;</HI> and let us con&s;ider <NOTE PLACE="marg">The greatnes of this Victory.</NOTE> &s;eriou&s;ly what kind of mercy it is, which wee this day come to ble&s;&s;e the Lord for. I &s;hall not goe about by o&s;tentation of words, and hyperbolicall expre&s;&s;ions to elevate it above its height, had I Rhetorick and words to doe it, this A&s;&s;embly would not be taken with &s;uch kind of language; but &s;imply and plainly bee plea&s;ed to behold this great work of God, both for the &s;ub|&s;tance and circum&s;tances of it; for the thing it &s;elf, for the &s;ub&s;tance of it; Granted it is, to bee one of the greate&s;t Victories that ever the Lord be&s;towed <NOTE PLACE="marg">Both in the &s;ub&s;tance</NOTE> upon us &s;ince the beginning of our troubles; wherein all the enemies Foot, all their Carriages, all their Am|munition, &s;o many of their Hor&s;e were taken in the field.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">And circum|&s;tances which greatly magni|fie Gods mercy in it.</NOTE>But there are foure Circum&s;tances accompany it, which  maks this mercy mo&s;t wonderfull.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fir&s;t, the <HI>Time</HI> when this mercy was be&s;towed upon us.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Secondly, the <HI>Place</HI> where it was be&s;towed upon us.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Thirdly, the <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> by whom it was wrought for us. And,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Fourthly, the <HI>Manner</HI> how God did it for us.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. The <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> when it was done.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, the <HI>Time</HI> when it was done; truly, when <HI>we were very low,</HI> exceeding low in our <HI>Spirits,</HI> low in our <HI>Coun&s;els,</HI> low in our <HI>Trea&s;ures,</HI> low in our <HI>Arms,</HI> low through our mutual <HI>Divi&s;ions</HI> &amp; jealou&s;ies; wondrous low (I think) as we have
<PB N="29" REF="17">
been almo&s;t at any time &s;ince the beginning of our trou|bles: at a time when the <HI>Enemy</HI> was extream <HI>high,</HI> high in their <HI>Spirits,</HI> high in their <HI>confidence,</HI> high in their <HI>&s;corn,</HI> high in their <HI>re&s;olutions,</HI> &s;o high, as if they had already &s;wallowed all, boa&s;ting that our Armies were crumbled to nothing, and wondering we were &s;o fooli&s;h, as not to re|&s;ign up all. Yea, done in a time when we had newly prayed and &s;ought God, when the Honourable Hou&s;es had cal|led the City and the A&s;&s;embly of Divines to lie in tears and du&s;t before God, to wre&s;tle with him: this was the time when the Lord remembred us, agreeing with that <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 125. 33.</NOTE> of the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>Who remembred us in our low e&s;tate, for his mercy endureth for ever.</HI></P>
<P>I may adde one more concerning the time, it was in the ri&s;ing of the yeare, almo&s;t in the Spring, when yet we have foure or five moneths before there be any nece&s;&s;i|ty of winter Quarters; in which time, if God give us wi&s;edome to follow it, and him&s;elf plea&s;e to goe on with us, who knows what a ble&s;&s;ed period our troubles may have?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. The place.</NOTE>Secondly, and <HI>the place where</HI> is remarkable. Where  was it done? truly, in that part of the Land where the Enemy had lately wrought outragious villanies. I &s;peake not of taking a Town in a ho&s;tile way, but of murde|ring of women, of ravi&s;hing wives and maidens; where the Commanders could boa&s;t what liberty they had gi|ven to their Souldiers, though not to murder the women, yet to ravi&s;h as many of them as they could: where the Country groaned under the bla&s;phemies, and outrages that they wrought; that the <HI>Lord</HI> &s;hould have it &s;o or|dered that where they had plundred and &s;poiled, them|&s;elves &s;hould be plundred and &s;poiled, that thither they &s;hould <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">y with &s;hame, hardly daring to look in where
<PB N="30" REF="18">
all the&s;e cruelties and in&s;olencies had been wrought by them.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">8. The per&s;ons by whom.</NOTE>Thirdly, and take in the <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> by whom. Of whom I  will &s;ay two things, which you will all grant to bee true. They were an Army <HI>de&s;pi&s;ed</HI> by our Enemies, and little le&s;&s;e then <HI>de&s;paired</HI> of by our Friends, as men from whom little was to bee looked for; Gods glory is the more con|&s;picuous; this is according to his own manner of work|ing, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1. 27, 28 29.</NOTE><HI>Who delights by weak things to confound the mighty, and by things which are de&s;pi&s;ed, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no fle&s;h might glo|ry in his pre&s;ence:</HI> This is the Lords doing, let it be wonderfull in our eyes.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">4. The manner how.</NOTE>Fourthly, and <HI>the manner</HI> how is very remarkable, how God did it; truly &s;o, that the men &s;hould doe what men  can doe, that they might have the prai&s;e of In&s;truments, giving them valour, courage, wi&s;dome and faithfulne&s;&s;e: and yet withall letting them be &s;o overborn, one wing in a manner broken, and many of the Foot routed, and all in danger to be lo&s;t; that <HI>it might appeare</HI> (as hath been in the re&s;t of our Victories) <HI>that the thing was wrought by God:</HI> Now can you looke upon all the&s;e things together, &amp; not with admiration cry out, <HI>This is the Lords doing, this is wonderfull in our eyes: Non nobis Domine, non nobis, Not unto us Lord, but unto thy Name give the prai&s;e and glory?</HI> Overmuch to extoll men, God would not have you, they would not have you doe it, you would wrong them and your &s;elves and your God, if you &s;hould looke upon them otherwi&s;e then as in&s;truments. But O that you could ad|mire this mercy, that God hath given in, that you could &s;ee all the mercies that are in the wombe of this mercy! how many have already &s;prung from it, <HI>Leice&s;ter</HI> taken in againe, and other tydings are come out of other parts of
<PB N="31" REF="18">
the Kingdome, &s;ome mercies about <HI>Taunton,</HI> others about <HI>Che&s;ter,</HI> hath our God ca&s;t them in, that this day might be as a day of Jubilee to us. Shall not God have glory for all this? &s;hall not our hearts bee lifted up to give him prai&s;e? Would God have a Chronicle written, that the ages to come may &s;tand amazed at it; and &s;hall we that &s;ee the&s;e things, and enjoy them thus unexpectedly, con|fine and pen up our prai&s;es to one day of Thank&s;giving, and not have our whole heart, and our whole life filled with &s;tudies and endeavours to exalt him? let this be our fir&s;t U&s;e, if we &s;hould write them in a Book to provoke o|thers, then &s;urely we &s;hould write them in our hearts to provoke our &s;elves to prai&s;e him.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>&V;&s;e</HI> 2. Exhortation to record the&s;e Mercies for the Generation to come.</NOTE>The other U&s;e I would make of it is <HI>this:</HI> That &s;eeing  the <HI>Lord</HI> would have his wonderfull Works written for the Generations to come; Let the Honourable Hou&s;es of Parliament looke upon it as a duty they owe unto God, and to the pre&s;ent and future age, to provide that the&s;e glorious and admirable works which God hath done for <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> &s;ince the beginning of our troubles, may faithfully bee tran&s;mitted to po&s;terity; you hear God hath appointed it for a law and an Ordinance, that the ge|nerations to come &s;hould know his wonderfull Workes, and it's both due and expected by one age from another; it hath been the received Opinion of wi&s;e men, that the World is more beholding to them who write Hi&s;tories, then to any men living, except onely tho&s;e that did the ex|cellent Works which the others writ. <HI>Tully</HI> tells you, that Hi&s;tory is the witne&s;&s;e of time, the light of truth, the life of memory, the &s;chool-Mi&s;tris of ourlife, &amp;c. When yet, ala&s;&s;e, all their Hi&s;tories were written with ignorance, va|nity, pa&s;&s;ion, partiality, and gave very little help to our main bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, to teach us the admini&s;trations of God, and
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the way hee hath taken in carrying on his Church, which is the Kingdome of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t. But now by the true and faithfull &s;etting forth to the World what the Lord hath done for us; you &s;hould honour God and advantage his Church as much as in any thing that you can po&s;&s;ibly doe, unle&s;&s;e it be the building of the Church it &s;elf. Never could more excellent things tending to advance the goodne&s;&s;e, wi&s;dome, power, and mercy of God bee manife&s;ted to the world, then this &s;tory of our times would afford. The Jews have a &s;aying, That when God de&s;troyed all the World, there was a Copy of all kept in the Arke with <HI>Noah;</HI> and after the Floud was gone, this Copy was re-printed and &s;pread over all the world. The meaning was, that the Creatures that were kept there, did fill all the world with Creatures of the &s;ame nature that the World had before. Truly, I have often thought, that were all the Copies in the world lo&s;t, of Gods admirable dealing with an unworthy people (except only tho&s;e mentioned in the Scripture, there might be a re-impre&s;&s;ion of them out of the admirable things that God hath done for us &s;ince the&s;e publike caelamities came upon us; and all the world might learn &s;ufficient out of our Story, what a God our God is, and learn to know, and tru&s;t, and fear him forever; give me leave onely to name &s;ome <HI>Capita rerum,</HI> &s;ome heads of things, which is fit the World &s;hould read and know: They &s;hould read of a <HI>Parliament</HI> called together by a &s;trange providence; and when they were called, God dealt with them, as hee com|manded <HI>Ezekiel</HI> to deale with his own haire, <HI>Ezekiel</HI> 5. one third part of it to be thrown away into the wind, a|nother to be burnt in the City, and another to be againe purged and refined, and kept in the skirt of his garment. They &s;hould read of 4 or 500 Commons, and multitude
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of Peeres, &s;ome of them pa&s;&s;ing through the fire, &s;ome &s;cattered into all the corners of the land, &s;eeking to de|&s;troy the Nation that had entru&s;ted them; and a remnant left behind, fined and refined, and humbled again and a|gain, and kept to do wonderfull things for the Lords glo|ry, and his peoples good. They &s;hould likewi&s;e read of Army after Army, and fight after fight, which wee have had with our Enemies; of every one whereof they &s;hould be able to &s;ay, what my Noble Lord &s;aid immediately af|ter <HI>Kynton</HI> fight, <HI>That there was never any thing wherein there was le&s;&s;e of man, and more of God.</HI> They &s;hould ac|knowledge in all wee have done, there was little of man, and much of God. There they &s;hould likewi&s;e read, how this famous City, and all the Countries where the Go&s;pel had prevailed, have faithfully &s;tood to God and his cau&s;e even to their owne exhau&s;ting, in the mid&s;t of infinite di&s;|couragements; and how the re&s;t that were nur&s;ed up under Popery and &s;uper&s;tition, both Lords and Commons, and Gentlemen, and whole Counties did endeavour to fight them&s;elves into &s;lavery, and labour to de&s;troy the Parlia|ment, <HI>that is,</HI> them&s;elves, and all that is theirs. There they &s;hould read how God broke all our crutches we lea|ned upon, our Coun&s;els, our Trea&s;uries, our Armies; and never pro&s;pered us really, till he had deeply humbled, and made us to look to him&s;elf onely for help; how he brought the two Nations into a Covenant with him, and &s;et them upon a work of Reformation of Religion, and carryed on that work in a trouble&s;ome time, in a time of Warre, bet|ter then (in likelihood) it would have been in a time of Peace. There they &s;hould read the fruits and effects of Prayer; how he &s;uffered his Almighty hand to be, as it were, directed by it. They &s;hould &s;ee what &s;trange Plots were di&s;covered, prevented, detected; how God made &s;ome of our &s;trong Holds to be ea&s;ily delivered, and
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others of no &s;trength little le&s;&s;e then miraculou&s;ly pre&s;er|ved again&s;t all the Force of the enemy; how u&s;ually God made our lo&s;&s;es to bee our gaine, and did us mo&s;t good by undoing us; compelling us often to &s;ay, <HI>Peri&s;semus ni&s;i peri&s;semus,</HI> wee had been undone if we had not been un|done; and how our enemies, that ro&s;e again&s;t us, ever|more found their gaine to prove their lo&s;&s;e; and that which rai&s;ed them up highe&s;t, in&s;tantly laid them lowe&s;t. What &s;hall I &s;ay? they &s;hall in a thou&s;and particulars read in this Story our folly and Gods wi&s;dome, our weaknes and Gods &s;trength, our divi&s;ions and confu&s;ions, and Gods ordering them all to &s;erve his holy ends. They &s;hould read &s;uch things as (I am confident no Hi&s;tory in the world) is able to hold out the like. Now I be&s;eech you, is it not pity that the&s;e things &s;hould be lo&s;t? &s;hall we deprive the world &amp; po&s;terity of the&s;e things; <HI>Serimus arbores,</HI> we plant Trees which may beare fruit to after a|ges, and &s;hall we not doe this, which like <HI>Nebuchadnezzars</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 4.</NOTE> tree would beare fruit to all the world; or &s;hall wee ha|zard them to bee written by a lying or unskilfull hand? written they will be without all que&s;tion, <HI>Scribimus indo|cti doctique,</HI> Diurnalls, and Weekly Intelligencers under|take to &s;et them all down; but &s;hall po&s;terity bee left to make their computatio~, &amp; draw their e&s;timate of the Lords dealing by &s;uch Books as the&s;e? &s;hould not we rob God, our &s;elves, his Cau&s;e, &amp; his Church in al ages, if we &s;hould leave it to &s;uch Hi&s;torians as the&s;e. God forbid, rather let &s;ome of the choice&s;t men in the Land be &s;et about it: It was &s;aid of <HI>Claudian,</HI> that he wanted matter to write of &s;ui|table <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 10.</NOTE> to his wit; but what wit is &s;uitable to this matter. <HI>Who is &s;ufficient for the&s;e things? who can tell the loving kindne&s;&s;e of the Lord? who can &s;hew forth all his goodne&s;&s;e?</HI> My humble &s;uit therefore to the Right Honourable Hou&s;es, is
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(a thing which I am a&s;&s;ured God expects from you) even that you would provide that &s;ome worthy, faithfull heart, and heads, and pens bee &s;et on work, who may undertake this Work, and have leave (as Mr. <HI>Fox</HI> had in Queen <HI>Eli|zabeths dayes)</HI> to &s;earch all the Regi&s;tries; and be enabled to hold forth all the light that may bee, that the Genera|tions to come may &s;ee a true picture, a faithfull Story of the&s;e three or foure la&s;t years: And let him doe it faith|fully, let him not be di&s;couraged with the Politicians fear, <HI>That it is dangerous to write truth in the pre&s;ent age, not &s;afe to come too neere the heels of truth, le&s;t it kicke out his teeth:</HI> But as the Penmen of the Scripture, wrote mans folly, and Gods goodne&s;&s;e; &s;o let him bee encouraged to let the world know great things God hath done for us, and how little we have done for our &s;elves: no gratious man &s;hall have the le&s;&s;e glory in Heaven, by letting God have his glory by us on earth, though it be in publi&s;hing our weak|ne&s;&s;es and follies. I once again humbly be&s;eech you the thing may bee done. And yet further to provoke you, con&s;ider that in all ages the eminente&s;t men have been employed in this kind of Work. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> wrote the dealings of God for 2500 years from the Creation to their entring into <HI>Canaan;</HI> and afterward it was carryed on by other chiefe In&s;truments; above half the Old Te&s;tament is a Chronicle of the things done by the Lord in War and Peace for his people. In the New Te&s;tament four Evan|geli&s;ts wrote the &s;tory of Chri&s;t; <HI>Luke</HI> writing the <HI>Acts of the Apo&s;tles,</HI> and how ill could the world have wanted one of the&s;e? How mi&s;erable had we been, if we had been deprived of them? And &s;ince that time I appeale to all Scholars, whether the choice&s;t men in learning have not been imployed in this &s;ervice; and let all Engli&s;h men &s;peake, whether they think any book written in our Mo|ther
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tongue, hath brought more glory to God, and &s;tirred up more zeale for Chri&s;t, and encouraged people more to a holy life, and to own Gods Cau&s;e couragiou&s;ly, then Mr. <HI>Foxes</HI> books of Martyrs, the Acts and Monuments of the Church. In all this, I plead not for the honour of any man, or men, let them all be laid in the du&s;t, &s;o God may be glorified, they who doe worthily &s;hall have glory enough with God in Heaven; yet God would have them al&s;o had in everla&s;ting remembrance: but it is for God and his honour that I plead; there are &s;uch things of God, of his Wi&s;dome, Power, Goodne&s;&s;e, Compa&s;&s;ion, Mercy to be &s;et forth; that &s;hould the Lord move your hearts to re&s;olve upon it this day, it were a te&s;timony of your thankfulne&s;&s;e, next to the going on vigorou&s;ly in the Re|formation and &s;etling of the Church; and you can pitch upon nothing that &s;hall bring more eternall glory to the Lord, that hath done the&s;e great things for us, thn to cau&s;e the&s;e things to be <HI>written for the Generations to come, that the people not yet created may prai&s;e the Lord.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
