Laus Deo

Sprinkled throughout the Diary of Samuel Sewall, which he kept from 1674 to 1729, one finds the Latin phrase Laus Deo, "Praise God." He often wrote this short ejaculatory thanksgiving after returning safely from a trip and finding "all is well," reporting on the healing or comfort of the sick, or receiving other good news. For example,

Monday, about 3. mane, June 4 [1688]. My wife is taken very ill with pains like travailing pains, of which afterward has an abatement. Laus Deo.

Wednesday, Augt. 9 [1693]. There falls a plentifull Rain after a long distressing Drought. Laus Deo.

Jany 31 [1703/4]. Second day of the week, about four hours before day, my Daughter Hirst was delivered of a Living lively Daughter. Her mother went to her after the forenoon exercise Jany 30. Mother Hirst came the evening before. We have an Answer of Peace to our many Prayers. Laus Deo.

Feria tertia, March 25, 1707....Am well notwithstanding my journeying in the Rain, and find mine well; Laus Deo!

Lord's Day, June, 15th [1707]. I felt my self dull and heavy and Listless as to Spiritual Good; Carnal, Lifeless; I sigh'd to God, that he would quicken me.
June, 16. My House was broken open in two places, and about Twenty pounds worth of Plate stolen away, and some Linen; My Spoon, and Knife, and Neckcloth was taken: I said, Is not this an Answer of Prayer? Jane came up, and gave us the Alarm betime in the morn. I was helped to submit to Christ's stroke, and say, Wellcome CHRIST!
June, 19th. The measuring Bason is found with Margaret Barton just carrying of it to Sea, to Hingham; said she had it of James Hews, he gave it her to sell for him. Mr. Secretary sent her to Prison.
June, 21. Billy Cowell's shop is entered by the Chimney, and a considerable quantity of of Plate stolen. I give him a Warrant to the Constable, they find James Hews hid in the Hay in Cabal's Barn, on the Back side of the Common; while they was seising him under the Hay, he strip'd off his Pocket, which was quickly after found, and Cowell's silver in it. At night I read out of [Joseph] Caryl on Job, 5. 2. The humble submission to the stroke of God, turns into a Kiss -- which I thank God, I have in this instance experienced. Laus Deo.

June, 30 [1711]....Just as I had written this I went to look of the Rain at my East-Chamber, and saw a perfect Rainbow. I think the setting of the Sun caus'd its Disappearance. Laus Deo.

In reviewing the three volumes of Sewall's Diary, published in 1878-1882 in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, I came across about 113 instances of this expression of praise and thanksgiving over a 55-year period. Many more instances, I suspect, went unrecorded. In this way, Sewall exemplified the Apostle's injunction to "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thess. 5.18).

Rainbow Meditation

Alexander Smellie, In the Secret Place: A Book of Daily Devotional Meditations, p. 272 (September 4):

A RAINBOW IN THE SKY.

I do set My bow in the cloud."—Gen. ix. 13.

Does my heart leap up when I behold a rainbow in the sky ? It ought to do so.

The rainbow preaches the friendliness of God's thoughts. It is itself a heavenly thing; I know nothing that is heavenlier. But it is eager to come down and touch and kiss the earth. It does not dwell high in the blue vault, remote, unapproachable. It is a bridge whose two piers descend to plant themselves on the ground, although its keystone is far away. That is like God. The Old Testament shows Him merciful and gracious, anxious that He and men should be separated by no estranging gulf. But Christ dispels every doubt. In Him the sky bends to the earth, embraces the earth, dignifies and redeems my poor and sinful and self-destroyed earth.

The rainbow preaches the wideness of God's mercy. When I see it in its entireness, its span travels across the breadth of my horizon. The fields nestle under it, and the streams, and the strip of dark-green wood, and the village with its homesteads and little gardens. It sheds its benison impartially on them all. That, too, is like God. His love is catholic and vast, though the Jews were slow to believe in its largeness. Jesus places it beyond dispute. To His cradle came Magi from the East as well as shepherds from the Bethlehem pastures. On His Cross the title was written in the Greek and Latin of the West no less than in the sacred Hebrew. Even me He will in no wise cast out.

And the rainbow preaches the completeness of God's perfection. Its seven colours make up the radiant and unsullied white. My God is as manifold and as pure. On the outside, there is the violet of His power; nearer the centre, the blue of His holiness; farthest in, the red of His grace. Again Christ teaches me best. Violet of power, blue of holiness, red of grace: if I would study them to most profit, I must go out to the place where the Cross of my Saviour stands. In the dark cloud over Calvary the bow shines.

And the rainbow preaches the timeliness of God's comforts. Noah saw it after the terror of the pitiless waters and the imprisonment of the ark. It banished fear. It soothed sorrow. It came in a seasonable hour. Ah! my Father often whispers His best tenderness when pain and loss are brooding near. I should have no doubt of it since Jesus went through a desolation and a heart-break compared with which those of Old Testament saints were slight. Moses tells his children a story, and it ends in flocks and herds and milk and honey; Christ tells His little ones a story, and it ends in a shameful and accursed Tree. But He changes the sackcloth into the garment of praise.

So I pray that I may always "trace the rainbow through the rain" [George Matheson, "O Love that Wilt not Let me go"].