last Day for where the Spirit it self is not its Operations cannot be expected 'T is true indeed that Sinners and Infidels shall rise again as S t Paul says Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Vnjust Those that crucified Christ in the days of his Flesh and those that crucifie him by their Wicked Lives now in his Glory shall rise no less than True Believers than his holy Apostles and Martyrs But how and to what Resurrection shall they rise Even to such a Resurrection as is no other than a Second and Worse Death a Death not of Extinction or annihilation but a Death of Eternal Duration in Torment Non-Existence being not the State of the Second Death but Endless and Insupportable Misery insomuch that they shall wish that the Grave had for ever swallowed them up that as they liv'd like the Beasts that perish so they had also dyed like them without the Expectation of any After-Being So that the Resurrection of the Wicked is but an Aequivocal Resurrection as the lifting up of the Head of Pharaoh's Baker on the Gallows and the hanging Haman fifty Cubits high were but Aequivocal Advancements The Bodies of the Saints that rose after the Passion dy'd again the same Death but those that shall rise at the Last Day not having the Spirit shall dye again not the same Death that would be a Happiness but a Death that shall have no End and the Miseries of which we can no more describe than we can the Joys of Eternal Life but we must suffer a Change and be endued with new Powers and Faculties before we can support the Bliss of the one or the Torments of the other The second Property of an Inhabitant or Dweller in a House is to Command and Rule 'T is the Saying of every man to those that withstand the Exercise of their just Authority or but their Civility Give me leave to Command in my own House The Spirit of God must Rule and Command where it dwells we must not only give it House-room but Dominion look upon him as a Tenant but revere as our Land-Lord resign our Actions Wills Affections the Whole Man to his Dispose and Guidance Faith invites the Holy Ghost but Obedience and Submission to his Gracious Motions perfumes his Habitation and makes him delight to stay in it The Spirit of Love Meekness Purity and Holiness will not reside but where these and the like Vertues bear the Sway. Let the Word of Christ says S t Paul dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom So let the Spirit of God dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom it will not Cohabit with the Sons of Men unless it be Richly i. e. in the Abundance of its own Divine Graces and Operations If we will have the Spirit of God quicken our Mortal Bodies hereafter we must suffer him to quicken our Souls in this Life if we hope to reign by his Power in the World to come we must submit to his Dominion in this present World The third Property is Residence and Mansion our Houses are called our Manours and Places i. e. the Places where we ordinarily abide and where the Law presumes we are to be found so that if a Writ be delivered to any of the Houshold or but fastned to the Ring of the Door 't is counted the same thing as if given into our hands Thus our Hearts must be the Holy Spirit 's Manour or Place for what David says of God's constant Abode in his Temple on Mount Sion This is the Hill which God delights to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever the like must be said of the constant Abode of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts This is the Habitation of the Holy Spirit and if we grieve him not nor drive him away by our Sins he will delight to dwell in us for ever When we were devoted to God in Baptism we devolved and made-over to his Holy Spirit an Estate in our Hearts even the Whole Term we had to live in this World and if we make good this Grant or Demise he will never abandon his Tenements till he has raised them up to Eternal Glory The Reason that a Great Schole-Man gives Why God punishes the Sins of Men which were but Temporal with an Eternity of Torments is Quia peccaverunt in suo aeterno because they sinn'd out all the Eternity they had i. e. all the Time God allowed them in this World and had he continued their Lives to the End of all Ages they would have continued still the same Wicked Persons The like Reason may be given for God's rewarding the Temporal Obedience of the Righteous with Eternal Glory Quia obedientes fuerunt in suo aeterno because they were Obedient all that little Eternity he allowed them in this World and would have persever'd in their Obedience if he had drawn out their Lives to the last Period of Time Abiding and Persevering in Righteousness is that which will give us Immortality if we give up the Possession of our Souls to the Dispose and Conduct of the Blessed Spirit the Whole Little Aeternum we have in this World we shall certainly obtain an Eternity that shall have no end in the next And thus I have shew'd the Manner of the Spirit 's Dwelling in every Christian and they that pretend to his In-dwelling without these Properties boast of an In-mate which they have not and as they want this Divine Guest so they will want the Blessed Effects and Consequence of his inhabiting in them the quickning of their Mortal Bodies at the last Day to Glory Which is the second thing I propos'd to explain The Effect or Consequence of the Spirit 's dwelling in us If the Spirit dwell in you He that raised up Jesus from the Dead shall quicken your Mortal Bodies The Words suggest two things to our Consideration 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies 2. Who shall be the Author to effect or bring this to pass He that raised up Jesus from the Dead 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells 'T is said He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies Our Bodies are Mortal three Ways by Natural Death the Dissolution of the Substance of them by Eternal Death which succeeds the Natural that Riddle of a Death which by its Existence is in truth a Life but by the Torments belonging to it may deservedly be called a Death and by Spiritual Death which is the Cause of the other two Now our Mortal Bodies may be quicken'd or reviv'd again to three Lives To a Life of Eternal Duration to a Life of Eternal Joy and to a Spiritual Life or a Life of Grace which is the Cause in us of the other two Lives Some understand these Words shall quicken our mortal bodies only of Spiritual Proselytism of the raising us from the Death of Sin and
and righteousness before him all the days of their life That men therefore may not mistake the principal Design for which Christ came into the World our Apostle plainly declares it at the 8 th Verse For this purpose says he the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Christ came not only to pardon Sin but to destroy it not only to absolve a wicked World but to make a righteous to take away the condemnation but the commission of Sin And therefore the second way I named of Christ's taking away our Sins From within us ought to be taken into our highest consideration For can it be imagined that he should descend from the Bosome of his Father and visit the Earth for no other end but to make a Gaol-Delivery as I may say to reprieve so many Rake-Hells only and condemn'd Persons and to turn them loose again into the World to commit more villanies The whole Tenor of the Gospel speaks otherwise that Christ was born in the Flesh that we might be regenerate and new-born of the Spirit that he was crucified that we might crucifie our vile Lusts and Affections dyed for the Guilt of Sin that we might dye to the Practice of it suffer'd to excuse us from suffering but not to excuse us in any wickedness he cast out the Hand-writing or Accusation of Satan against us to no other end but that we should cast out Satan himself and his Kingdom out of our hearts and erect in the place God's Kingdom or the Kingdom of righteousness So that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh to take away our sins imports no less than his rectifying that ugly confusion and disorder which Sin had wrought in the Universe and the deposing Satan from his Usurpation over the World than the restoring God to his Dominion and his Creatures to his Obedience the repairing his Honour and giving satisfaction not to one Attribute only his Justice but to all his other Attributes his Wisdom Truth Goodness Holiness c. And this was a Design worthy of the Incarnation of the Deity of the travel sufferings and all the other Glorious Works of the Messiah of his unhinging and unframing the Course of Nature by his Miracles for it was to no less end than to re-establish it again in the beautiful Frame and Order which God at first created it in before the Devil had disfigured and deformed it And for this Cause the Evangelists in relating the Passages of Christ's life often take us off from looking too intently on the Events which they record and call upon us to consider the Purposes of them rather than the Events themselves bidding us regard the Prophecies that went before of them frequently repeating that it might be fulfilled that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by such or such a Prophet And if we will make the best advantage of Christ's Incarnation we must not look so much on the Fact as on the design of the Fact what it intimates and preaches to us viz. the extinction and extirpation of Sin not only of the Guilt but of the reigning Power of it According to what S t Peter says As he has suffered for us in the Flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that has suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin This arming-our selves with the same mind and ceasing from Sin in the Flesh was that which God chiefly aimed at in his Manifestation of his Son in the Flesh To the end as the Apostle goes on that we should no longer live the rest of our time in the Flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God And to shew us yet further that the bringing of men to live righteously was the great aim of God in all Ages of the World says St. Peter For this cause was the Gospel preached also to those that are dead i. e. to those of the old World that they might live according to God in the Spirit Let every Christian therefore that professes the Faith of Christ's coming in the Flesh to take away Sin and yet lives in it hearken and attend to this Admonition Remember thy End In the Place where the Son of Syrach utters these Words he means the End or Consummation of our Days as we are natural men which is good Wisdom But remember thy end i. e. the Design and Purpose of thy Christian Profession and the Mysteries of it for this is yet a higher degree of Wisdom And before I yet leave this Point I shall give caution against two sorts of Men who greatly pervert this Advice And first Against the Papists who play and trifle with the weightiest Passages of our Salvation as Poets and Romance-Writers do with serious Histories turn them into Gauds and Entertainments of the Fancy make Models and Representations in their Churches of Christ's lying in the Manger at this holy Season and of his rising from the Grave at the Feast of Easter with all the circumstances belonging to them as if such Puppet-Shews were adequate and sutable Returns of Devotion for these Divine Dispensations Again they gather and hoard up the Nails and Fragments of our Lord's Cross as if they treasured to their Souls the Benefits of his Passion hug his Crucifix and weep over the Pictures of his Wounds as if this express'd a Seraphical Affection though they hug also at the same time the grossest Sins The second Caution is against those among our selves who yet worse abuse the Purpose of the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh making it to be more for the encouragement than the taking away of Sin fansying that he died to excuse them from holy living was made subject to the Law that they might be freed from the Obedience of it perform'd all righteousness that they should need to perform none and these men pray as they believe O Lord say they do thou all in us and for us and take thou the glory Thus exempting themselves from all Obligations to the Commandments and making the Faith a jest and scorn to Libertines and Unbelievers while they talk only more of a holy Life than they but practise it as little make the Cross of Christ not a Sanctuary to Penitent Sinners but a refuge for Hypocrites and Cheats in Religion and yet none are so righteous so much in God's favour in their own opinion as these But they will find at last to their great confusion That Christ was manifested in the Flesh not only to take away our Sins From us but also to take them away Out of us or from within us And he does this by three Means or Expedients By his Spirit by his Word and by his Example First By his Spirit After the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh his Suffering and being laid in the Grave he was quickned or raised to life again by the Spirit of God and exalted to have the Power and Prerogative of sending down the Spirit
and Erroneous Conceits in Religion I say are more pernicious to it and hateful to God than direct Opposition and Blasphemy against it and Turks Jews and Infidels have not hindred the Progress and Propagation of the Gospel so much as the Scandalous Dissensions and the Unsutable Lives of the Professors of it And all this while the Ways and Modes of serving God are not the Service of God it self but Holiness Righteousness Charity Obedience Meeknees Peaceableness and the like All Manners and Forms of Worship are good that are consonant to Scripture conduce to Edification and establisht by Just Authority I say and establisht by Just Authority for 't is not allow'd to Private Men to be the Fashioners or Chusers of the Publick Way of Worship if this were permitted the Issue would be only Confusion and the Dissensions about the Circumstances of Religion would destroy the Substance and Essentials of it Christ laid not down his Life to establish these or those Rites or Forms of Worship but as himself professes To destroy the Works of the Devil And this is that which ought to be the Business and Concern of his Followers that about which all their Care and Sollicitude should be employ'd against which their Anger and Animosity should be directed I say to abolish Sin and to make Vertue and Piety flourish in the Earth And they that lay not the Weight and Stress of Religion in this are Impertinent and Trifling in the Faith and Impious in their Zeal they understand not the most Material and weighty Part of their Profession and instead of receiving an Euge or Well-done from Christ at the last Day they will receive a Check or Increpation as the Blessed Virgin did in my Text and not only so but a Renunciation and a Condemnation God give us Grace to be Wise in a Wise Religion and Holy in a Holy Faith and to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory and Thanksgiving now and for evermore Amen The Fourth Sermon DAN ix 26 And after threescore and two Weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself THIS is one of the most clear and most Illustrious Predictions of the Passion of our Lord which is contain'd in Scripture it comprehending not only the several Stages of his drawing near to the World for its Redemption his Advances and Pauses but unfolding also the wonderful Mystery and seeming Contradiction in it viz. That the Salvation of the World should be wrought by the Cutting-Off or Destruction of its Saviour the Son of God made subject to the Violence and Out-rages of the Sons of Men. I call'd the Words a Prediction but I might have styl'd them a Description or Register of all the Passages in that strange and astonishing Transaction they declaring the Design and Circumstances the How and for Whose behalf and the precise Time however obscurely of the Death of the Messiah However therefore at this Day every Child is catechiz'd and perfect in this Point of Chronology imperante Augusto natus est Christus imperante Tiberio crucifixus est Christus in the Reign of Augustus Caesar Christ was born in that of Tiberius he was crucifi'd and none needs to have recourse to the dark Calculations of remote Ages for this matter yet with good Reason we may look back to Prophecies when they are fulfill'd and scan Aenigmatical Speeches even after they are expounded For though this seems to be seeking of Light in Shades and Darkness the retiring back again into Night and Obscurity after the Day-spring from on high hath visited us yet not only much Confirmation but much Illustration of things Believ'd may be fetcht from the remote Springs of Antiquity for not only the Evangelists write the History of Christ but also the Law and the Prophets in many things Evangelize as the Prophet Daniel does in my Text And after threescore and two Weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself We may observe in the Words these two General Parts I. The Angels Prediction to Daniel of the Death of the Messiah or Christ After threescore and two Weeks Messiah shall be cut off II. His Correction of what he had said or rather Direction for the right understanding of his Prediction and to prevent misappreheâ—â—â—on He shall be cut off but not for himself In the first of these two General Parts the Angels Prediction I shall observe more particularly two things The Substance of it the Excision of the Messiah he shall be cut off And the Circumstance of the Time of it when it should come to pass After threescore and two Weeks I begin first with the Substance of the Prediction He shall be cut off This Term of cutting-off does usually imply in Scripture three things 1. The untimely destroying a Person from the Land of the Living 2. The destroying him as a Criminal or Malefactor 3. The destroying him by God himself and if not always immediately yet by his Appointment I shall give but one Proof of this of the many that might be brought Exod. 31.14 God gives this Charge by the mouth of Moses Every one that defileth my Sabbath shall surely be put to Death that Soul shall be Cut-off from among his people In which Words are exprest the Person 's untimely Death that he dyes as a Criminal and that God is the Author that dooms him to it Now Death is call'd a Cutting-off for two Reasons First Because a Cutting-off is the discontinuation of a thing from that to which it was before united or Secondly A shortning of it from the Measure it had or would have arriv'd to Thus the Untimely Death of a Person is the shortning of the Days he might have liv'd to and the separating him from the Society of the Living of which he was a Member And however strange and wonderful it is such was the End of the Messiah after all the glorious Prophecies and magnificent Elogies relating to his Person and his Kingdom as that he should be call'd The Wonderful the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace that his Dominion should reach to the Ends of the Earth and to the End of Time he was Cut-off and Extinguisht like a Mortal Man after the fashion as the Psalmist speaks of common Princes Ye are styled Gods but ye shall dye like Men. Like Men nay he dy'd like a Malefactor and by God's Sentence and Decree And it was upon the account of his Tragical End and the misunderstanding of other Predictions of him especially that one Christ shall live for ever that both the Jews of old despised him and those of these Days blaspheme him calling him from the manner of his Death and the Structure of his Cross The Warp and the Woof It was by reason also of his Ignominious Death that the Heathen derided and reproach'd our Holy Faith saying We believ'd in a hang'd Man But neither Jew nor Gentile had any just Cause of Exception against
also taught however obscurely from the very Beginning That Sin was not to be abolisht without Satisfaction made for it and that no Competent Satisfaction could be made for it but by the Bloud of the Son of God or the Eternal Destruction of the Sinner And if we will make the best Use of this Doctrine we must observe That as the Parts of the Body are framed in so excellent a manner that they serve for more Uses than one as the Nose not only to breathe but to smell the Hand not only to lay-hold with but to strike c. So likewise that the Institution of Sacrifices for expiation of Guilt had two Excellent Designs in it First to shew God's Mercy to Sinners and secondly his Irreconcileable Hatred to Sin And if we look no further in this Matter than on God's Goodness only in accepting so favourable an Exchange as the Bloud of the Sacrifice for the Bloud of the Sinner we defeat one half of his Design which was to shew the Malignant and Mortiferous Nature of Sin in that it could not be purged away by any less Means than Death than either by the Destruction of the Sinner or of some Other in his behalf And therefore though God deal with us after that Royal Manner as the Children of Princes are dealt with who have another Punishment for their Faults or as he dealt with David after his Numbering the People past by in a great measure his Offence and took Occasion from it only to send a Plague on Israel for former Transgressions thus chusing rather to punish David's Ingenuity than his Person to afflict him with beholding the Afflictions of others than by sending any immediately on himself yet if we shew not the like Ingenuity which David did suffer not Our Selves for what we see another suffer when we were the Delinquents I say if as he cry'd out upon the Destruction of the People Lo I have sinned I have done Wickedly but these Sheep what have they done So if we cry not out in Contemplation of what our Proxy suffered on our behalf We have sinned we have done Wickedly but the Lamb of God what has he done to be sacrificed for us We shall forfeit both the Indulgence and Indemnity which God intended us and while we shew our selves Insensible of so high a Benefit we shall be deprived of it and in the next place we must Dye our Selves and Dye to all Eternity And thus we see as the Death of Christ paid to God as a Ransom for Sins ought to be the highest Object of our Joy So the Consideration again on the other side that Nothing but the Death of Christ could pay that Ransom ought to create in us no less than a horrour and Detestation of Sin But yet I know not how we see men precipitately and remorslesly run into all Impiety as if there were no danger in Sin as if Christ had suffered nothing for it as if it were as easily remitted as 't is committed the Price of Iniquity no more than what it cost the Wicked Person to purchase it For certainly if Men did consider at how dear a Rate God's Justice and Wrath were satisfied they would not think the gratifying of every Lust more valuable than the Compensation made for it they would not set more by the Savage Delight of Revenge or the Swinish of Drunkenness than by the Bloud of Christ prefer the Favours of a Light Woman before their Peace with God a cheap Sin before the dearest-bought Redemption A Fool can work a Mischief which may pose a Wiseman to remedy and every Weak Person when he is tempted can commit Sin but none but the Eternal Son of God can remove the Guilt of it when 't is done And 't is the light Reckoning that men make of Sin which brings God's heavy Displeasure upon them for it their thinking so cheaply of the Greatest Offences because the Pardon of them costs them little that provokes him to make them feel what the Weight of Guilt is For 't is but just that those who refuse to understand the pernicious Nature of Sin by the Punishment laid on an Other should understand it by undergoing the Punishment of it themselves who will not learn how Odious it is to God by the Death of his Son should be taught it by their own Confusion Who is there so Ungrateful and Insensible even among the Worst of Men that if a Friend hazard his Life for his Preservation will not acknowledge so great a Benefit and yet the Son of God did not only hazard but lay down his Life to redeem us from Eternal Damnation and few there are that consider it that have so much Compassion as but to ask the Question in my Text What are these Wounds in thy hands resentingly to say Was it possible so Divine a Person should be so Abus'd for me that the Son of God should be buffetted spit on derided torn with Scourges mangled with Tortures and at last nail'd to the Cross for my Disobedience There are those I confess in the Church of Rome who spend a great Part of their Lives in gazing on a Crucifix and weeping over the Pictures of our Lord's Passion in bemoaning his Sufferings and kissing the Representations of his Wounds but alas these do but haerere in cortice stick at the Bark and Husk of the Mystery out of a simple or affected Fondness express their Gratitude to Christ a Wrong Way lament his Sufferings now they are past and he in Glory at the Right Hand of his Father they do not penetrate into the true Purpose and Meaning of his Sufferings as they declare the Malignant Nature of Sin that could not be expiated at a less Rate than the Death of so Divine a Person For this is the true Return that Men should make Christ for his Passion not so much to consider What his Wounds were as For what they were and from thence fly that which was the Cause of his Sufferings The second Reason of the Necessity of Christ's Sufferings I said was To give Men an Example of Obedience The Apostle Heb. 2.17 gives another Reason for Christ's suffering in our Nature viz. that he might be a Merciful High Priest become Compassionate of our Infirmities by the Experimental Knowledge of them in his Own Person But the Reason or Purpose I now speak of is such as is in Reference to Men and not to himself that he might give an Example to the World that God commanded nothing but what was possible to be performed by Flesh and Bloud The last Effort or Endeavour of Heaven to bring Men to Salvation was now essaying and the shortest and most Efficacious Motive was thought to be to give them an Instance of the Fulfilling the Law Precepts are but cold Inducements but an Example fires the Soul with Emulation to do what it sees done before it and Men think it a Disparagement to give out in that which another has enterpriz'd with
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
prays well he preaches well he is ever arraigning Sin and the like but caetera sint paria do all things correspond does his private Practice comport with his publick Demeanour his inward Goodness with his outward Austerity as he is Severe against Sin is he merciful to Sinners as he is assiduous in his Calling is he Obedient to his Governours and faithful to his Prince as he exhorts the People to Church does he not debauch them with Factious Doctrines when they come there as he is not Scandalous in his Conversation so is he not Morose Proud or Covetous In a Word does he conform his Whole Life to the Tenor of the Gospel does he indeed do All things well All things that is in a Moral Sense and according to the Measure of a Sincere Honest Man If he does let him carry away our Euge's and our Sophos our Approbations and Applauses But if he does only two or three of these things and those hypocritically and upon Design to give credit to a Cause and to carry on an Interest the Pharisees made long Prayers that they might devour Widows houses and Herod heard John the Baptist gladly and did many things upon his preaching but continued still to live incestuously with his Brother Philip's Wife and at last gratify'd her Malice with the Baptist's head If a few Good Actions may set such a Colour and Varnish upon mens Lives that they ought to be accounted holy Persons the Scenes in our Theatres may pass for the Glorious Heavens and solid Edifices they represent when they are nothing but patcht Clouts and pasted Papers painted and shewed to an artificial Light Lucian's Image of Jupiter in Gold outwardly of a Majestick Form grasping a Thunder-bolt may be allowed to be the Deity that rules the World though it be nothing within but Dust and Cobwebs Soder and Cramps of Iron which hold the miserable Machine from falling asunder I say if we thus make Saints from Shews and Seemings we may fill the Kalendar with Red Letters but we shall adde but few Names to the Book of Life I shall therefore conclude this last Particular with our Lord's advice John 7. 24. Judge not according to Appearance but judge righteous Judgment And now what Use shall we make in general of the Peoples Testimony and Approbation of our Lord shall we likewise justifie his Actions assert his Divine Mission and say He hath done all things well To praise Christ to speak Honourably of him to vindicate him from the Aspersions of Jews and Gentiles and the like is our bounden Duty but all of us here present are his Disciples and Followers all of us Christianissimi Pretenders to be the Chiefest and most Eminent of his Worshippers and we acknowledge not only that he spake the Truth but that he is the Truth even the Eternal Logos and to take upon us to pass a humane Judgment on him and to censure him as one Man censures another to say He is no Seducer or the like were so far from honouring him that it were to be Irreverent and Insolent towards him and to set our selves above him for the Justifier is Greater than the Justified How then must we celebrate his Eternal Generation and Descent from his Father's Bosom for our Redemption in Magnificats sing his Victory over Death and Hell Yes this we must do but not this only for these are still but Empty Words we must adde Deeds to our Praises Obedience to our Magnificats Duty and Service to our Psalms and Hymns the Praises of a holy Life to the Acknowledgments of a thankful Tongue To praise God only with the Voice is to praise him like the Trumpets of the Sanctuary or the Organs of our Churches Or as the Psalmist calls upon the Sun and Moon Fire and Hail Beasts and feather'd Fowls to praise him which all do in a Figure and after a manner in that they are the Works of his hands and proclaim his Wisdom and Power thus also the Devils and Damned Spirits praise him while their Sufferings and Torments declare his Justice But we are to praise God not only passively occasionally and instrumentally like Inanimate Brute or accursed Creatures but intentionally primarily and affectionately as becomes Rational and Intellectual Beings Obliged and illuminated Persons and Believers And as the Faithful do best evidence their Faith by their Works so they best evidence also their Good Opinion of Christ by their Works viz. by following his Precepts then we give our true Approbation of him when we transcribe his Actions and tread in his Steps 't is the Life of a man that expresses his Thoughts of Christ if that be righteous and conformable to his Gospel he has set to his Seal that he is the Messiah and Son of God that was to come into the World proclaims indeed That he has done All things Well But if his Ways are Wicked and repugnant to his Gospel let him praise him never so industriously never so ambitiously with never so loud Vociferations he does but in Effect say He was an Impostor and deceived the People For as S t Paul says of False Teachers Tit. 1.17 They profess that they know Christ but in Works they deny him being abominable disobedient and to every Good Work reprobate So we may say of these false and counterfeit Extollers of Christ that in Words they Approve him but in their Works they Condemn him being abominable disobedient and to every Good Work reprobate How can a Strumpet praise Chastity Or the Sot that is fill'd with Drink like a Spunge say any thing in the Commendation of Sobriety Vertue is praised of her Followers and the best Verdict we can pass on Christ is to imitate him in all holy Conversation to live after his Example is the highest Encomium we can give him To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Eleventh Sermon AMOS iii. 2 You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities THIS Expression of God's knowing a Thing or Person is taken in Scripture in several Senses Sometimes it is meant literally and in propriety of Speech of the Knowledge of mere Perception and Discerning as when David says Thou knowest my thoughts long before and S t John God is greater than our hearts and Knoweth all things i. e. perceiveth and discerneth all things Sometimes again it is taken Figuratively not for mere Perceiving or Understanding a thing but for the Owning Approving Favouring Blessing of it or the like because these follow upon God's perceiving a Good thing Thou hast Known my Soul in adversity says the Psalmist i. e. Own'd protected and delivered it Again the Lord Knoweth the way of the Righteous and the way of the Ungodly shall perish Knoweth their way i. e. prospereth blesseth and will not suffer it to miscarry like that of the Ungodly
Jesus and their own Prophets and persecuted us and are Contrary to all men 2. Because Love easily forgives Injuries hardly perceives any can never possibly wrong the Party Beloved and the Object or Party Belov'd of Divine Love is all Mankind So that there needs no Admonitions here to suppress Malice or Uncharitable Inclinations for the first Motions of them never arise in the heart to be suppress'd 3. Because Love of all other Vertues of the Soul goes forth of a Mans self and places its Content in the Good it does to another that so hard a Duty to Flesh and Bloud which the Apostle commands 1 Cor. 10.12 Let no man seek his own but every man an Others Wealth is its Choice and Delight No Vertue therefore qualifies us equal to this to perform the Works of Piety Justice and Charity 4. Because of the wonderful Activity of Love in the Soul and enflaming it more than any other Vertue to Great Actions for indeed whatsoever is Vigorously performed is the Effect of Love This Grace is like a Fire in the Heart and makes it restless in what it conceives will be acceptable to the Person beloved it renders it also undaunted in the greatest Difficulties and Dangers and for this reason 't is Faiths chiefest Instrument to conquer the World and the Temptations of it This is the Victory that overcometh the World says S t John even your Faith but then 't is that Faith which as S t Paul speaks worketh by Love 'T is a strange word in the Original which the Apostle uses in that place for working by Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports as much as being possess'd with Love as a Demoniack is possess'd with an Evil Spirit which kind of Persons are ordinarily indued with an Unusual Strength to do things which naturally they could not do as the Demoniack that met our Lord out of the Tombs whom no Chains of Iron could hold but he brake them asunder Those that are acted by Love are transported after the like manner to perform things above their own and other mens Measures As the Spouse speaks in the Canticles Love is strong as Death i. e. conquers all things and nothing can stand against it 2 Cor. 5.13 S t Paul says again That for the Love of God and the cause of the Gospel and the sake of the Brethren he had done some things that in the Eye of the World appeared Wild and Extravagant But whether we be Beside our Selves says he it is to God or whether we be sober 't is for your Cause for the love of Christ Constraineth us For the Influence therefore Love has upon all other Good Works as well as for its own Good Nature it is that God so highly Esteems it and 't is no wonder that 't is the Favourite of his Graces when as S t John says God himself is Love and though he be no more Love essentially than he is Wisdom Justice Power or any of his other Attributes yet because he exerts and diffuses his Love more among men and is revealed and made known more by it than by another Attribute it is spoken of as his Sole Being And now after so many Excellent things have been said of this Divine Grace namely That 't is the Summ of the Commandments the Soul of all Vertue the Favourite of God and in a Sense God himself certainly it will be worth our best Endeavours to acquire it and how we may do this is the last thing I am to shew How we may acquire or attain Divine Love That we may take the right course to attain this Vertue we must look upon it as upon all other Vertues partly as a Grace of God's bestowing and partly as that which is to be acquired by our own Labour for there is something of Gift and something of Industry in it First We must look upon it as a Grace of God's Donation For what our Lord says of Faith That all men have it not and S t Paul That no man has it of himself but it is the Gift of God may likewise be said of the Love of God and of our Neighbour We have them not of our Selves but they are Heavenly Gifts born of a Divine Seed and we must not conceive that by our own mere Natural Power and humane Will we can acquire them to the Soul and that we have no more to do but to resolve to obtain them and the Possession will follow But we must seek them by devout Addresses from God and expect them from his Bounty they being as I say Graces as well as the Fruits of our Labour As our Church therefore sets before the Epistle of Charity a Collect or Prayer to God for it Send O Lord into our Hearts the most Excellent Gift of Charity without which all our doings are nothing worth c. we must also supplicate for this Grace before we can hope to attain it But then Secondly 't is also an Acquisition of Labour and to be arriv'd to as other Vertues or Habits by Industry There are that have written of the Art of Vnchaste Love and all the Mysteries of it taught men how to accomplish their Wicked Ends which it would have been happier for them if they had been ignorant of And the Art of Godly Love may be also taught Rules and Precepts given to make men Masters of it And the Way in general to raise our Affections to the Love of God is to take the same course which we do when we betray our selves into a humane Passion reflect on what is Excellent and Amiable in God meditate on his Unparallell'd and Glorious Perfections which are sufficient to ravish us from the Desire of all Earthly things The reason that the Love of many waxes cold and their Affection to God as I may say is without Affection without heat and ardour is because they understand not the Beauties of his Essence and the Glorious Operations of his Power Wisdom and Goodness Men profess to be Worshippers of God to be brought up and skill'd in the Knowledge of him and his Religion but generally they are Strangers to him and his ways and what the Psalmist says of the Ungodly That they care not for God neither is God in all their thoughts I fear without Injustice may be affirmed of most men That they care not for God neither is he in all their thoughts and then what wonder is it si ignoti nulla cupido if men have no longing after a Good that they are ignorant of or at least never weigh and consider The Spouse in the Canticles numbers up and runs over in her Thoughts the manifold Graces that are in Christ which made him so amiable in her own and others Eyes before she sigh'd out her Love for him My Beloved says she is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand again Because of the Savour of thy Ointments therefore do the Virgins love thee There must be some Fewel