necessarily be a Consequence of his by the very Law as I may say of the Body or the Inseparable Conjunction of the Limbs to one another for it is not possible that the Head should be quickened and the Body mortified that the Head should be raised to Life and crowned with Glory and the Members remain in Death and Dishonour And 't is on this account that Christ is said To be the First-fruit of those that Sleep and not only in regard that none went before him but the First-fruit in relation to them that were to follow after him The First-fruits in the Law were Part of the Fruits of the Season one Sheaf of the Harvest which being lift-up and consecrated to God in the Name of the rest sanctified the Whole Crop So Christ being lift up as the First-fruit of the Dead consecrated and sanctified the Whole Harvest of the Dead And as Saint John says of every true Believer in point of Impeccability He cannot Sin because the Seed of God abideth in him i. e. none can be a Child of God's and a customary Sinner for these are irreconcileable So we may affirm with unspeakable Comfort in the point of our Immortality A true Believer cannot be held in Death because God's Seed abideth in him i. e. Death and a Seed or Principle of Immortality are inconsistent with one another And thus we see we have not only Matter of Congratulation for Christ's Victory over Death and the Grave but the highest Cause of Jubilee and Rejoycing for our own Deliverance from this heavy Curse and Punishment of Sin As Sin subjected us to the Dominion of Death the Spirit of Sanctification breaks the Bonds of the Tyrant asunder and enables us to conquer this Conquerour of Mankind as Disobedience shut the Gates of Heaven against us Obedience sets them open again Holiness of Life in the Faith of Christ in this World is the Ticket whereby we receive Happiness and Immortality in that to come The Young Phoenix is said to spring out of the perfum'd Ashes and Reliques of the Old but though this be never so fabulous I am sure we shall be renewed and quickned to Eternal Life from the perfum'd Reliques of a Holy Life the remaining Good Works and Graces the Spirit of God wrought in us which as S t John says can never dye but will follow us into the other World If therefore we give our selves up to be led and governed by the Spirit of Christ in this Life conform our selves in all things to his Divine Will if the Spirit of Christ conducts us safely to use the Psalmist's Expression through Fire and Water i. e. through the Sharper Tryals of Afflictions and the Softer Allurements and Temptations of the Flesh and the World he will carry us also safe through the Regions of Death and the Grave pass us indemnified by the Gates of Hell and neither the Malice of Devils the Weight of our Tomb-Stone the Load of our Flesh or the yet greater Load of our Infirmities shall hinder but our Bodies shall be raised and so winged that they shall overtake their Souls and be joined to them that took their Flight so long a time before them and both of them together shall be transported in Triumph to Heaven and crown'd with Immortality and Glory the Assurance and Pledge of which Christ has given us this Day in his own Resurrection To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Seventh Sermon PSALM ii 6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion WIsdome does not only do her Works well but perceives that she does so delights in their Beauty exults in remembrance of the master'd difficulty and triumphs over the conquer'd Opposition Thus God stood-off as 't were from his great work of the Creation when he had finish'd it applauded and bless'd it prided himself as I may say in his noble performance in that he had brought Light out of Darkness Order out of Chaos a World out of nothing In the like manner when he had here compos'd the Distractions and Confusions both in the Church and State of Israel by establishing David literally and Christ mystically on the Throne of the Kingdom he glories in having brought about his great Design laughs at the fruitless Opposition of his Adversaries at home and abroad of the Philistines the Moabites the Ammonites the Damascens the Amalekites of the King of Zoba and of all the turbulent and ambitious Spirits of the House of Saul delights to recount their Might and their Machinations the more to signalize their Overthrow and to make his Victory illustrious For after all their rage their malice their Counsels their Combinations their seeming successes against him the Issue was this Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion We may observe in the Words these three things I. The Person establisht My King i. e. David Literally so called and Christ Mystically II. His Establishment I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion III. God's Glorying in the Fact that he had done it with such a Non obstante notwithstanding such Opposition and Contradiction Yet have I set my King I. The Person establisht My King God's King Not only holy Scripture but the Writings of Heathens declare Kings to be Sacred Persons descended more immediately from the Gods and more particularly depending on them Kings are from Jupiter says Callimachus and nothing ever descended more sacred from him And Theocritus Kings are the special Care of the Gods And this Epithet's affected by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God lov'd Kings Indeed all Kings in general are God's derive their Authority from him govern by his Permission and Providence as himself testifies By me Kings Reign But then he delights in a more especial manner to style Good Kings his to appropriate their Persons and owne their Causes to interpret all things done to them as done to himself as at Verse 2. Why do the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed Conspiracies against the King are reckoned Conspiracies against God the resisting his Anointed the resisting himself And thus if it be a Glorious thing to be a King 't is a Blessed to be a Good King for as splendour attends Majesty and Greatness protection and safety and felicity and the love of Heaven attend Righteousness But let us see why David is here more particularly call'd God's King than others The First Reason we may say was Because he was a King of God's Making because he brought him to the Throne having no Title by Birth to it à Caulis Ovium tuli te I called him from the Sheep-hook to the Sceptre And as those Persons which are of our Election preferring or favouring we call Ours this is my Scholar my Souldier my Officer because he was of my nomination my chusing my advancing so David was called God's King
prophetick and presage the Vertue they ascribe and make him the Person they proclaim him S t Paul says Charity believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things i. e. those who have this Grace are easily induced to believe the good of another which they do not know to hope that which they do not believe and to suffer even when they can neither believe nor hope And if any man be not able to walk upon this profound Sea of Charity why does he like Peter rashly and unbidden cast himself into it Why does he presumptuously Intrude into his Masters company Who supported by a Divine Power shall stride Majestically o're the Waves and march through the storm in safety while the other disorder'd by every Gust and amaz'd at every Billow poorly sinks in the danger his Fancy only fram'd Will not such an one another day like him in the Parable that wanted a Wedding-Garment be speechless i. e. have nothing to say for himself when he sees his Prince as far above him in Glory as he was in his Station in this life And when 't is objected to him as 't was to Peter O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt But to proceed God set David on his holy hill of Sion Not to say that instead of one Fort of Sion God has garded our King with many strong-holds and Castles or yet to boast the Advantages of an Island above a Hill which is not only to be ascended before it can be assaulted but to be Sail'd to before it can be approach'd and fought for before it can be Sail'd to being defended by moveable Bulwarks stout Ships which must be subdu'd before the Inhabitants can be grappl'd with upon equal terms But to come to the Point in which the chiefest strength of Sion consisted in that it was a Moral and Spiritual Fortification a holy hill and God's hill If the Church of Christ be not inferior to the Old Tabernacle the Gospel to the Law the substance to the shadow when God not only set our King upon his Throne but restor'd the True Religion and plac'd him within the Protection of it he set him upon as Holy and consequently upon as strong a Hill as he set David and we may rest assur'd he delights as much to dwell here and that 't is as desperate an Enterprize to assault this his Habitation as 't was to assault Sion But alas some will say with a deep sigh Would we found these things to be so But what for a long time has been more infirm and unstable than the Condition of this Nation Not only ready to be broken in pieces by any Impression of an Enemy but even to dissolve and fall asunder of it self and the supports of Religion have been as weak as those of the Arm of Flesh. To which I answer This has not happen'd from the Weakness of the Divine Assistances which God has given us but from our neglect and contempt of them Religion does not guard men like a Palladium or Charm preserve those who have the luck only to wear it and be possess'd of it but those who practise it and live according to its Precepts they are not Sextons and Sacrists that are chiefly protected by Heaven those that keep Divine things under Lock and Key but that treasure them up in a faithful heart When David by sin dishonour'd God and defam'd Religion his fourfold Fortification little profited him but that security which the power of the Heathen united with the disaffection of his Subjects could not shake his rebellious Son alone drove him from and he fled ingloriously and left his impregnable Sion and all the Pledges of Gods favour and residence with him behind him confessing that when he had violated their Sanctity he had invalidated also their Power of Protecting and though he possess'd still the Curtains of the Tabernacle the Deity was fled from him And little will it profit us to have the Gospel among us nay to have it more purely Preacht than to any other People under the Sun if we are the worst Auditors of it of any other People under the Sun to have the Sacraments more rightly administer'd if we are the wickedst Receivers of them 'T is the holy Use of holy Ordinances that makes them a guard and defence Righteousness as 't is the Honour of the Soul so 't is the best Armour of the Body and does not only as the Psalmist says Bring peace at the last but as the Apostle teaches safety at present For who is he that shall harm you says he if you follow that which is good 'T was the Custom of the Ancient Heathen when they Besieg'd a City in the first place to endeavour to entice out the Guardian Deity by alledging the Injustice of the Inhabitants and inviting it to reside with a more holy People ut habeat te Vrbs melior acceptiorque Holding it impossible to prevail against the Out-works when this Divine Inward strength stood firm The Sanctity of a Christian is this little retir'd Deity in the Chappel which if it cannot be charm'd or entic'd out by Temptation the Malice of Earth and Hell cannot prejudice the Person in whom it dwells The Prophet Eliah was call'd The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel but much more deservedly may Justice Piety and Sanctity be styled The Chariots and Horsemen of a Kingdom And when God by the Restauration of his Majesty and true Religion gave us the Opportunity of exercising all Vertues Civil and Divine he put it also into our hands to be as safe and well fortifi'd as we cared or desir'd to be he made our Condition as secure as a Mortal condition could be made and if our Mountain be turn'd into a Wheel our Rock into a Rolling-stone 't is our sins that have unfixt and loosen'd its Roots and while we are led by Vanity what wonder is it that the Kingdom fluctuates after the manner of the Seas that surround it If we consider Lastly how great and difficult the work was to set the Kingdom again upon its Basis after it was so utterly subverted to raise up the Truth and Splendor of the Church so long a time deform'd and Opprest by Schism and Sacriledge we may allow God also as high nay a higher cause of Glorying in our behalf than for establishing the Church and State of Israel But the time suffers me not to insist on this particular neither is it very necessary to do it we having all here been Witnesses and Partakers of what was pass'd and this will be the properer Task of another Age. Instead therefore of dressing up a Triumph for God into which also our own Vanity or Spleen may be apt to insinuate it self I shall imploy the few words yet allow'd me to speak to excite our Thanks for these things And if the Benefits we have receiv'd are such as are worthy of God's Glorying undoubtedly they are Worthy of our highest acknowledgments I say of Ours
so well known that I shall not need to insist longer on it The Measure of the Love we are to shew him requires more Explanation We are to love him as our self And the Rule is so Excellent that I may say of it That if the like Freedom had been allow'd to Men to chuse a Standard of their Love to those of their own Kind as was allowed Isai. 7.11 to Ahaz to ask a Sign Ask thee a Sign either in the Depth or in the Height above i. e. in the whole Circuit of Heaven and Earth they could not have found a more apt and congruous than that which is here prescribed them The Love of their own selves Which I shall shew in four Regards or Respects 1. In regard of the Universality of it 't is a great Universality where there is no Exception S t Paul says of our Love to Our Selves No man ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it God implanted this Love in every man by Nature and that with singular Wisdom and Goodness that his Creatures loving themselves might conserve themselves in their Being and we see when this Love in any afterwards fails through Miseries which befal them and that they find no Amability in themselves they ordinarily make themselves away God therefore made choice of this Passion implanted in all men in general for Self-Preservation for the Preservation of our Neighbour that as our Love never fails to our Selves so it should never be wanting to others 2. In regard that this Rule is ever ready and at hand as present and officious as he in the Gospel that said to our Lord Master I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self is a Sociable and Concomitant Rule that is never absent an inherent Direction that prompts us from within when any Opportunity of doing Good is offered us Or we may liken it to the Foot of the Compass that stands fixt at home and guides and carries on the other that romes and circuits about so this quiescent resident Love we bear our Selves ought to be the Guide of that Love we extend or carry out to others 3. In regard that this Rule takes from us all Excuse of Ignorance in performing the Duties of Charity Men are often Churlish to one another too apt to say How must I love my Neighbour What must I do to him to be said to love him Nescio quid sit Amor as the Young Novice is made to speak I know not what this Enjoined Love is No why the Pattern of it is within thy self how dost thou love thine own Person dost thou not clothe it when 't is naked feed it when 't is hungry cure it when 't is hurt consult for it when 't is in Trouble or Danger c. Do the same for thy Neighbour There is no need here to turn over Books or to ask how the Learned have determin'd but to ask thy self what thou wouldst do to thy self in the like Cases What desirest thou Not What readest thou What God says of mens knowing his Laws under the Gospel I will put my Law into their Inward Parts and write them in their Hearts and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour saying Know the Lord for all shall know me may be affirmed of the Rule that is given us for the Love of our Neighbour It needs not be learned or copied out from any other for the Original of the Duty is a multiply'd Original in the Breasts of all Mankind 4. In regard of the Truth and Sincerity of the Rule No man loves himself with a False or Counterfeit Love but is truly Dear to himself will not hurt will not deceive himself David in the 22 th Psalm calls his Soul or Life his Darling Deliver my Soul says he from the Sword my Darling from the power of the dog How tender is David to David how David careth for himself Why every man does this as well as he and lo here is the Rule of our Love to other Men With the same Fidelity with the same Sincerity with the Same Tenderness we treat Our Selves we ought to treat our Other-Selves our Neighbours What David calls in this place his Darling is styl'd in the Margin his Only-One unicam meam Men are allow'd in a sense of Propriety to esteem their Own Souls their own Lives their own Interests to be their Only Ones yet in a sense of Charity they are obliged to make this Onlyness or Singularity become Plural and so to look upon themselves as their Only-Selves as to reckon all Men else their Multiply'd and Several-Selves Since this Commandment was given Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self all men are made in a manner One Man again as at the first Creation and I can no more count my self and my Neighbour to be two in regard of Charity than I can separate my self from my self seclude him from my Love than I can seclude my self from it I shall make but one General Reflection on all that has been said for Application and conclude my first General Part. Although these two Precepts Of loving our Neighbour As our selves and God Above our selves are founded in Nature re-inforc'd and bound straiter on us by express Commandments press'd further in the Gospel and declar'd to be the Summ and General Design of the whole Law yet there is one Rival one Opposite Vicious Principle which is able to with-hold us from paying Obedience to them I say One because whatever with-holds us beside may be reduc'd to this One and that is our Over-much Love of our selves Saint Paul 2 Tim. 3. reckoning many Vices which are causes of perillous Times brings them all out of the Belly of this Monster makes them all the Daughters and Spawn of Self-Love says he This know also That in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be Lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers without natural affection c. All the cursed Genealogy of Ungodliness and Uncharitableness draw their Extraction from this Stock The Immoderate Love of Our Selves From hence it is that we think it more reasonable to satisfie our vainest Desires and to gratifie our most Sinful Affections than to relieve the most weighty and pressing Distresses of our Brethren from hence it is that we set more by our own Opinions and Estimation than by the Truth it self or God's Glory by our Ambition or Revenge than by the Peace and Tranquillity of the Land The Rule that Divines give men when they seek Justification from God viz. That they go out of themselves and look upon nothing in themselves with a very small change will direct us in the Duty of Love that is commanded us We must go out of our Selves and look less upon what concerns our Selves if we will love God and our Neighbour as we ought to do Some men are praised and perhaps not undeservedly for being good Fathers they have laid up