judged for their Sins and shall not those to whom he has revealed his Laws and his Righteousness on whom he has heaped his Blessings be judged more severely He that knoweth his Masters Will says our Lord and doth it not shall be beaten with many Stripes As the Heathen therefore were chastised for their Offences Israel was utterly ruined and Un-nationed And this was not only God's proceeding under the Law but 't is the same still under the Gospel For he has Known or favoured Believers in Christ not only above the Gentiles but even above the Jews themselves and if Judah be trod down and the Temple destroyed for the Sins and Ingratitude of that People the seven Churches in Asia lye under a Sadder Desolation at this Day for their Disobedience to Christ Travellers being scarce able to discern so much as the Places where they stood These Examples of God's Wrath both on Single Persons and whole Nations teach us this Lesson That 't is never so dangerous to offend against God as when he has been Gracious to us his former Benefits being so far from priviledging any to transgress that he is sure to punish those most he has done most for But 't is not enough to shew the quod sit the Truth of the Proposition that it is so I proceed in the next place to shew the cur sit the Reason Equity and Merit of it why it should be so The Reason why it should be so This Position That God punishes with heavier Judgments those whom he has chosen to fix his Favours on if they offend against him than others seems to have something in it contrary to the Nature and Disposition of Men who are apt to delight in the Persons on whom they have placed their Benefits to love the Creatures of their Advancing no less than those of their Begetting So S t Augustine affirms the like Disposition is found in God who speaking of his Rewards to Men says Coronat opera sua non merita nostra God crowns his own Gifts and Graces not any Merit he finds in us and Moses makes it a Plea for his Mercy to Israel that he would not destroy them after he had done them so much Good alledging his former Bounty as a Motive for his Pardon and Forgiveness In satisfaction to this I answer We must consider in God's Benefits to men not only his Love but the Purpose of his Love he confers his Gifts upon us with a Design to make us more holy Persons and for the Favours he bestows he looks for a Return of Obedience and Righteousness on our part and where he fails of this Return he does not only cease to give but hates in a manner his Gifts and destroys them for the Parties sake on whom they were bestowed Says S t Paul Ephes. 1.3 God has blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Christ and why that we should be holy and without blame before him in love But then if this Design be defeated and made void and we are not holy and without blame before him in love we may assure our selves that all his purposed Bounty is also made void and that is hated which is loved thought fit to be destroyed that was intended to be built and the rather because it was not found fit to be built There are three things which are observed to provoke Anger and Indignation in the most Patient First An affront to a Mans Person all vilifying and despising as Aristotle the best Describer of Passions says being a just Cause of Choler Secondly The Loss of a Mans Labour as when a Professor of some Curious Art arrives to great Perfection in it and reaps no Advantage by it is Excellent but yet notwithstanding Poor and Neglected ravishes all for Example with his Musick or Poetry and wants Bread this will make him hate his Muse and break his Strings reek his Revenge upon the Instrument of his Profession because he cannot reach his unfortunate Profession it self Thirdly The Loss of a Mans Love and Good-Will exasperates him more than all the rest and turns his Kindness into Fury Neglect of Worth and Personal Contempt though they be deeply resented yet they touch not so to the Quick as the Contempt of Affection for indeed the Contempt of Affection includes in it both the Contempt of the Worth and of the Person and he that despises a mans Love despises all that he has and all that he is But what then must the Provocation be when all these Causes concur as they do when either a Nation or a Single Person returns God Disobedience after he has shewed them his Extraordinary Mercies and Favours For First His Person is affronted Regard is not had to the Great God of Heaven and Earth condescending to do Good to his own Sinful Creatures and the Greater the Person is the Greater is the Contempt and consequently the Greater Anger and Evil Effects of it Revenge and Punishment may be expected Says S t Paul Of how much Sorer Punishment suppose you shall he be thought worthy who has trod under foot the Son of God viz. than he that has only trod Moses under his feet Secondly God loses his Labour on such Persons and that enrages him yet more he likens Israel to a Vineyard on which he had bestow'd great Cost and Husbandry fenced and gathered out the Stones and planted it with a Choice Vine but after all when he lookt for Grapes behold it brought forth Wild Grapes Grapes which instead of delighting the Taste set the Teeth on Edge What does he do therefore upon so unexpected a Frustration and disappointment of his Hopes Why as a Person much Incensed shews many times a Wild and Frantick Behaviour so God puts on a seeming Transport and Fury breaks out into a Tragical Song to vent his Indignation I will sing says he a Song of my Beloved touching my Vineyard in which he utters both his Displeasure and his purposed Revenge The Issue of God's Labour lost upon a People can be no less than the Perdition or Loss of those People First He complains but after that lest he should seem to be Master'd or Mock'd by his own Creatures he sends Destruction and Desolation on them Thirdly His Love and Kindness is despised which provokes his Anger above all the rest When God has shew'd Singular Goodness and Mercy to a Nation eminently delivered them or otherwise Blessed and prospered them and they return him nothing but contempt and Neglect disregard his Laws and violate his Commandments esteem his Worship a Burden and his Service a Slavery reflect upon their late Infelicities and Deliverances as the Common Vicissitudes of the World or only as False or more Wary and Masterly Steps made by themselves in Points of Policy Thus like Israel sacrificing to their own Net and burning Incense to their Drag Or as another Prophet representeth them ascribing all the Good things they received from God to the Idols of Canaan to Baal and
our Lord for his Violent and Untimely Death I say there was nothing strange or hard to be digested by either of them in this thing For 't was the Practice of them both to sacrifice the Innocent for the Guilty the Unoffending Victimes for Offending Men Nay 't was usual among the Gentiles for the Noblest and most Sacrosanct Persons their Kings and Generals and holy Virgins to devote themselves to Death for the Preservation of their Country Why then should the Devoting of Christ for the Salvation of the Whole World be held irrational and foolish by them Why did they despise in another Religion what they held Honourable in their own And the Jews had yet less reason to be scandaliz'd especially the most Learned among them who were yet only offended who saw their Messiah daily slain before their Eyes in so many Rites and Mysteries the Paschal Lamb the Scape-Goat the Goat for the Sin-Offering in a word all their Expiatory Sacrifices were Prefigurations of Christ's Passion Beside those that were Learned were sensible That the Way of propitiating God by the Bloud of Beasts was of it self Irrational and had no Efficacy in it but as it related to the Bloud of Christ. The Jews therefore with less reason than the Gentiles disclaimed the Messiah coming in the Guise of a Sacrifice and drencht in his own Bloud when 't was his Bloud alone that sanctify'd all their Forefathers and their own Offerings and distinguisht their Temple from a common Shambles or Slaughter-house The reason that the Cross of Christ has given such Scandal in all Times and that so great a Part of the World have thought it Monstrous That a Divine Person should undergo an Ignominious Death arises from the Slight Apprehension Men generally have of Sin and their ignorance of the Malignity of its Nature they look upon it as a mere Transient Act and think that the Guilt of it passes away as soon as the Fact they have no Unkindness to their own Wicked Ways and fansie God has none neither that any Trifle will make Compensation for them or that God will pass them by without any Compensation at all But if they would weigh the Odiousness of Sin to God by its Contrariety to his Holy Nature and the fearful Judgments he has denounc'd against it and that it cannot go unpunisht if God be just and true i. e. if God be God Again if they would consider that the Greatness of an Offence arises in proportion to the Greatness of the Person Offended and then compute what would be a Competent Satisfaction for offending an Infinite and Eternal Deity they would not think it monstrous ut medela responderet morbo that a Divine Person should be found only worthy to do Right to a Divine Person Men may well be astonisht at the Goodness of God and adore his Mercy that he vouchsaf'd to give his Son to be a Ransom for Sinners but none can justly wonder that he requir'd so Honourable an Amends for the Violation of his Majesty or that a less Sanctity than Christ's was sufficient either to intercede for or to Counterpoise the Guilt of the Whole World But as there are those that despise the Cross of Christ and count the Bloud of the Covenant as the Apostle speaks an unholy thing so there are those again on the other side who are no less Enemies to it by ascribing to it what was never the Will or Meaning of our Lord that they should and these are of two Sorts Those of the Church of Rome who Superstitiously and Idolatrously Worship the Cross ascribe to it the Power of driving away Devils conferring Divine Graces and the like The others are those among us who teach That since Christ has Suffer'd all Guilt and Condemnation for Sin is taken away in respect of Believers like those in the Apostles time who affirm'd That after the Faith of Christ was once entertain'd all that was necessary for Salvation was perform'd and men need not be sollicitous for their future Behaviour whether 't were Righteous or Unrighteous But S t Paul Heb. 10.26 stops the mouths of all such as thus pervert the Grace purchas'd by Christ's Death If we sin wilfully says he after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation As if he would have said Although Christ cannot be Cut-off any more in his Person yet he may and will be Cut-off again in the Fruits and Benefits of his first Cutting-off from those that abuse them Which Words though spoken of Apostates to the Faith will hold true also of Subverters of the Faith And there is a Passage in this Chapter of Daniel before us well worthy the observation of all those who sin now presumptuously under the Gospel which is this When the Angel had reveal'd to Daniel the Time when the Captivity in Babylon should expire and that the People should return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple and not only so but that the long-promis'd and much-desir'd Messiah should be given them and the Prophet thought all was now well and nothing could be added to the Felicity of the Nation immediately it follows that after so many Weeks again for the succeeding Transgressions of the People the so-long'd-for Prince and Saviour the Messiah should be cut-off as if he had never been So that he should be given in a manner and not given unto the Nation but be the Cause of a Second and Greater Destruction than the foregoing Captivity even the final Rejection of the House of Israel And 't is dreadful to consider that the giving of a Saviour to many Christians shall have the like Success that by reason of their Presumption of I know not what Favour and Election of God's and their Continuance in their Unreform'd Lives this Blessing shall be turn'd into a Curse and He that was cut-off For them shall be again cut off From them and the Private State of their Souls like the Publick State of the Jews shall be much more Calamitous after their Redemption than before And now what Use shall we make of this first Branch the Substance of the Angels Prediction the Excision of the Messiah He shall be cut off Shall I exhort you after the manner of the Church of Rome to set before you Pictures of our Lord's Passion representing his macerated and dilacerated Body hanging on the Cross between two Thieves and attended by his Virgin Mother fallen into a Swoun and expect that the like Effects of an o'r-whelming Sorrow may be seen in you No I shall rather desire that all such Pageantry and Ostentation of misplaced Grief may be remov'd far from you and as our Lord directed the Women who wept for him when he bore his Cross to Mount Calvary to spend their Tears on the right Object Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and your approaching misery So let
Prospera in plebem ac vilia ingenia deveniunt a constant even Prosperity is the Lot of mean Persons and Spirits the Noble and Magnanimous are oppos'd to the Storms and Outrages of Fortune nor are they otherwise to be distinguisht from the Vulgar than by these Encounters That Great Person says Seneca that never prov'd Adversity is like a Champion that enters the Lists without an Antagonist Coronam habet Victoriam non habet He may gain a Crown but he never got a Victory In a still Calm of Affairs God himself gets less Glory he has no Field to shew his Power his Wisdom and his Goodness in the Opportunity is not afforded him to frustrate the Counsels of the wicked and to bring the Preparations of the Mighty to nought 'T is true He governs all things at all times but every Act of his Providence is not a Victory over his Enemies and though he disposes Crowns and Scepters as he pleases 't is when the wicked resists that he says Yet have I set my King And so I pass to my Third Part God's Glorying in his Establishment of David The Holy Ghost in this Second Psalm sets down the Method which the Enemies of David used to prevent his succeeding in the Throne which is also the Scheme ordinarily of all Sedition and Rebellion First The Heathen did rage i. e. The Neighbour Princes were jealous and angry out of apprehension of their own Estates and this is commonly the ground of Defection and Rebellion For a King 's own Subjects though they be malecontent and bear him ill-will in their hearts yet they often want Courage or Opportunity to execute it till they are backt by a Foreign Power But then Secondly The People i. e. the Prince's own People begin to imagine vain things which may either mean false things which shall not take Effect or Wicked which shall for in both sences Vain is taken in the Hebrew In the Third place The Kings of the Earth and the Rulers take counsel together i. e. The Neighbour Kings and the Magistrates and Great Ones of the Realm fall into Combinations and Associations And then Fourthly Nothing remains but open defection the breach of all Covenants and Contracts and Sedition is heard in every mans mouth as Verse 3. Let us break their Bonds asunder and cast away their Cords from us Their Bonds and their Cords i. e. both of the Lord and of his Anointed all Obligations both Humane and Divine are Cancell'd By Bonds may be understood the softer and gentler Tyes of Natural Love and Loyalty which every Subject owes unto his Sovereign by Cords the stronger Obligations of Oaths those Sacramental Chains that bind men like Iron Shackles and Fetters But both these are broken and for fear they should be again united cast quite from them And why was all this as the Question is deservedly ask'd at Verse 1. with wonder and indignation Why did the Heathen rage Why did the prople imagine a vain thing Why did they take Counsel together David was just to his Allies abroad and gracious to his Subjects at home God prosper'd him and made him Victorious in all his Enterprizes Why Lord To answer in the Words of another in a like Case Odiorum causae acriores quia iniquiores their hatred was the sharper and more implacable because it was the â—â—juster Innocence is abhorr'd by the Wicked more than Injury and Violence The Religion and Piety of David was more insupportable to his Enemies than the Yoke of Tyranny and Oppression and they chose rather to bear the Iron Scepter of the Nations or of a base Usurper than his holy and righteous Scepter And this it was which made the Establishment of David so difficult because there was no Why no Just Cause for the Aversion of his Enemies had there been a Reason it might have been remov'd had there been a Wrong there might have been a Reparation but Perverseness and Impiety only govern'd and God utters himself as if he had broke through some great Obstruction in setting David on the Throne Like one that for a long time roll'd a Stone against a Hill which often return'd upon him or Row'd against a strong Tide which forc'd his Boat back and when at last by many a weary stretch and Strain of his Arms has got the better sits down and reflects on what has past congratulates his labour and tells himself what himself has done Yet I have planted my Stone upon the Top of the Hill or yet I have stemm'd this Churlish Stream and got my Boat a-head of it So God is pleas'd to speak in the Restoring of David as if he had been hard put to it and groan'd under the performance and Glory'd in having at last carry'd it through Yet have I set my King But perhaps some will say Is there any thing difficult to the Almighty Could not he have crusht the Cockatrice in the Shell Dasht the yet Infant-Plot against the Stones Scatter'd his Enemies in their first Imaginations Why did he suffer them to Combine before he confounded them Confederate and grow to strength before he cast them down and had them in derision as 't is said ver 4. Even for this very reason That he might not spoil such his Scene of Laughter prevent the Glory of his Triumph obscure the wise Dispensations of his Providence that David might see the whole Wonder of his Deliverance and his wicked Adversaries the whole Folly of their Enterprize A wise General will not presently give on the Charge upon an Enemy passing a Ford till a considerable Party have gain'd the Bank that he may not only shew his Courage but his Conduct and cut off the adverse Power as well as repulse it Thus though God had it in his hands to dissipate and discourage the first Attempts of his own and David's Opposers he chose rather to let them proceed and prosper to a degree that he might not only obstruct their wickedness but defeat it disturb the Conspiracy but confound the Conspirators And our Blessed Lord practis'd this piece of Policy when he suffer'd the Devil by his wicked Instruments the Jews to take away his Innocent Life and lay him in the Grave For after Satan flatter'd himself that he had surpriz'd his strong Foe he let him see he was surpriz'd by him that instead of receiving a Captive he had receiv'd a Conquerour within his Gates one that sack'd and despoil'd his Kingdom dismantled his Forts and raz'd his Strong-holds And this was a performance worthy of that Triumphant Speech O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory A down-right Defeat is not so renowned to the Conquerour or so grievous to the Conquered as to turn his Stratagems upon himself and to overthrow him by his own Subtilty and Treachery Again to Mock and Vex an Enemy is a further degree of Revenge than to destroy him When the Pyrates of Cilicia began to treat some Passengers of Italy with the
diligent Execution of his Apostleship Feed my Sheep And the Method which our Lord here prescribes to Peter must be observed also by us in advancing the Kingdom of God When thou art converted says he strengthen thy Brethren We must first set up the Kingdom of God in our own hearts before we attempt to erect it in others As he is unfit to be a Teacher that is not first well instructed himself So he is not fit to be a Reformer that is not first reform'd himself for his Evil Manners will certainly defeat his Sermon and instead of making others righteous by his preaching he will render himself ridiculous 'T is a Noble Undertaking to bring others to the fear of God but 't is an indispensable Duty to serve God our selves says S t James He that converteth a Sinner from the Error of his ways shall save a Soul from death that 's an Heroick Action and shall hide a multitude of Sins that 's a necessary Concern Self-reformation is the most Effectual Step we can make to promote God's Glory 't is such a Giantly Step as I may say as reaches from the Setting out of the Course to the End of it 't is like the first Step of the Sun above the Horizon which darts Rays to the furthest Circumference of it and fills the whole Hemisphere with Light and Vigour which these Words of our Lord seem to allude to Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Nothing so illustrates the Gospel nothing so powerfully converts Sinners and brings them to glorifie God as the Holy Lives of the Faithful But I urge not this to exclude other Endeavours to propagate Righteousness but to shew the great Force and Prevalence that Righteousness has to produce Righteousness I proceed to the Objects of our Love which are two God and our Neighbour 1. God Saint John speaks as if there were some difficulty in this Part of our Duty Our loving God says he He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Implying though the Ear be Janua Scientiae the Gate of Knowledge the Eye is Janua Amoris the Gate of Love and that to excite this Passion 't is requisite some Visible Beauty be display'd But we may say to this Though we do not see God yet we may love him by what we see and hear of him nay with good reason we may be the more enamour'd on him because his Perfections transcend not only our mortal Senses but even all humane Conception and thus we may fall in love as Blind Men often passionately do by report and hear-say But more particularly there are three Motives why we should love God comprehended in the very Object The Lord thy God 1. Because he is God For that 's the Name of the highest Excellence and Perfection and they are only Glorious and Illustrious things that stir Love and Admiration in us we run not out to gaze upon Common Persons but upon those that are famous for Greatness Learning Beauty Prowess and the like Now there is nothing Rare or Admirable of any kind but 't is in God in its Fullness and Perfection and for this reason Epicurus though he believed no Providence or that Men received any Good or Evil from the Gods yet he adored them and sacrificed to them merely because they were Glorious Beings Had we no other Cause to love God but for the Stupendous Perfections that are in him it were sufficient But we have greater reason to love him from the Second Motive Because we have the Honour of Relation to him he is The Lord Our God The Psalmist thought it a high Obligation to praise him because he was created by him I will praise thee because I am fearfully and wonderfully made But we have not only the Obligation upon us of Creation and Conversation which is a kind of continual Creation in common with all Creatures to love God but other Extraordinary and Distinguishing Favours viz. his calling us to the Knowledge of the Faith and the Blessed Consequences attending it and this ought to tune our Harps yet higher and to be the Subject of many Hymns and Psalms more But then Thirdly Our greatest Motive of all to love him is Because he Redeem'd us after we were lost restor'd us when by our Sins we were in a manner uncreated again when we had defac'd the Image of God in us our Innocence and Righteousness forfeited all our Felicity and were become the Bond-slaves of Satan then he rescued us from Eternal Damnation and made us again the Children of God So that as he is Deus or God to all Mankind to Christians he is also over and above Dominus a Lord i. e. a Redeemer and Saviour There is nothing so much obliges as Love and Benefits Celsus the Physician speaking of Philtres or Love-potions says Amor est naturale Philtrum Love is a Natural Love-potion and more powerful than those that are compounded of Drugs and by Incantations The most stupid of Creatures the dull Oxe and Ass the wildest and fiercest the Lion and Tyger are brought to love by good Usage though they know not the Nature of a Man they know if they receive Meat at his hands and be well treated by him and will love him and be obsequious to him And men were more insensible than the Brutes if when they have received of the Riches of God's Bounty and Goodness they refuse to love him because they have not seen his Person and cannot comprehend his Essence And God Isai. 1.3 complains of this stupid Insensibility in Israel The Oxe says he knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider We love God as S t John says because he loved us first he began with us and our Love to him is at best a Gratitude or Retaliation if therefore the innumerable and inestimable Benefits of God work no return of Love in us to him we deserve not only to have our Names rased out of the Number of Men but to be allowed no place among the better natur'd Beasts but to be rang'd with Devils who are the only Enemies of God for his Goodness and Haters of him for that which is Excellent and Amiable in him The next thing I am to shew is In what Measure or Degree we are to love God The Words of the Commandment are Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul with all thy heart and with all thy mind On which three Expressions Commentators have many Observations and Criticisms but more nice than profitable for as Saint John says of the three that bear witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Bloud these three are one so I may say of these three Expressions in the Commandment however diversify'd that in importance they are but One and may be summ'd up
the Pusillanimity or Undisciplin'd Temper which soever it is of such Believers one of whom could say If our Misfortunes proceed from our Enemies we ought to bear them with Fortitude if from God with Patience Others again expound Why does a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sin Why does any man complain or murmur at his Punishment and not rather at himself for doing such things as brought the Punishment upon him In this Variety of Interpretations I shall adhere to that which I toucht upon in my Introduction as the fullest and most comprehensive of the rest viz. Why does any man amuze himself with idle and fruitless Bewailing the Punishment of his Sins and not rather set to remove the Punishment by putting away his Sins Or as the Prophet speaks By searching and trying his ways and turning again to the Lord. And so the Words have these two Parts I. A Condemnation of the Course which Men ordinarily take under God's Judgments sent on them for their Sins They complain II. The Recommendation of a better Course which is To search and try their Ways and turn to the Lord. I begin first with the Prophet's Condemnation of the Course Men ordinarily take under God's Judgments sent on them for their Sins They Complain The Complaint of a man under the Punishment of his Sins may be blameable in many Respects and deserve the Check imply'd in this Question Wherefore doth a living man complain But I shall insist only on three 1. It may be blameable in respect of the Complaint it self For if it be a mere Complaint without any Endeavour to get out of the Misfortune 't is either an Action without all Design and Purpose and so is irrational and foolish or else it pronounces that there is no Redress of the Evil a man lyes under and then the Complaint is false for there is no Case and Condition at least of a Faithful Person so miserable as to be also Desperate and helpless but as Saint Paul says of Temptation That God will not suffer his Servants to be tempted above what they are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape So in the Punishment of Sin God does not inflict any so irreversibly that there is no Evasion out of his Displeasure but if the Sinner make due Application to his Goodness he will remove it or so support and comfort him under it that it will countervail a Deliverance That therefore which is here tax'd in the frequent Practice of men is a lazy fruitless bemoaning themselves as if they were excluded all possibility of future Comfort as well as the present possession of it a vain and affected Delight to ask our Prophet's Question Chap. 1.12 of all they meet but without just cause Was there ever Sorrow like my Sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me insinuating that great Severity is exercised towards them which they have not deserved and that they are of the Number of the Innocent that are afflicted of the Noble that are Unfortunate and they complain in this fond manner till at last they grow in love with their Complaints find a Consolation in the Want of Consolation the conceived Singularity of their Condition converting their Disasters into Glory and a kind of Shadow of Comfort But if these Persons in the mean time would search their own Hearts and make Inquisition into their Lives past they would find Cause enough for God's Wrath and confess that their Sufferings were the least part of their Demerit and their Plumes of Vanity would flag and sink this fond Imagination That Satisfaction was rather due from God to them than from them to God would be changed into a sad Repentance and they would seek a Solid Comfort by humbling themselves before his Divine Majesty in Sack-cloth and Ashes and not in the vain Complacencies and Ravings of an abused Fancy But such is the Folly of men like the Prodigal Son before he came to himself they set themselves to feed on Husks when in their Father's House the very hired Servants have their fill of Bread they mourn and suffer misery when Musick and Feasting a Ring and Robe of Honour i. e. the highest Content is prepared for them and attends only their sueing for it 2. Mens Complaints may be blameable and reproveable in regard of the Persons against whom they make them Men commonly complain against Fortune as if the World were governed as blindly as they govern their particular Affairs against their Enemies when their Enemies have no more power over them than their Sins give them and God over-rules the most Potent Malice and makes a Good Mans Enemies to be at peace with him they complain against themselves as if their Misfortunes proceeded only from some false or imprudent Step which they had made and that they were the Efficient as well as Meritorious Cause of their Sufferings or what is yet worse and more dangerous they charge themselves with Unkindness to themselves that they are not indulgent enough to their own Content deny themselves the Satisfactions that are in their power and this makes them often seek to drown their Cares as they call them in Wine to alleviate their Misfortunes by Debauchery as Thetis in the Poet perswades her Son Achilles to comfort his approaching Fate with the enjoying of young Women But Sin is a sad Refreshment of Sorrow and the Enlargement which men endeavour to procure from the Arrests of God's Judgments by letting loose the reins of Lust is like the Relief an Hydropick Person seeks in large Draughts of Drink which gratifie his Thirst but quench withal the little Spark of Life remaining to him and remove not his Distemper but make it incurable Or else we may liken this wicked Course which Men take to ease their Sorrows to Saul's seeking Counsel from the Witch when the Oracles of God were silent he learned by such his Apostasie his approaching Destruction but he assured it also The Church of Rome has as many appropriate Saints as they have Needs and Distresses and every Complaint of theirs has a Patron to redress it S t Christopher at Sea S t Roch in the time of Infection S t Anthony when their Cattel are diseased our Lady of Good-Succour for Women in Child-bed c. But God is all the while pass'd by and all these that I have named deservedly forfeit Help from him that can only give it while they perversly seek it where 't is not to be had 3. Mens Complaints may be blameable in respect of the Nature or Manner of them when though they be rightly Addressed i. e. to God yet the Complaint it self is not Right not qualify'd with the Conditions God requires with Faith Holiness Humility c. First If men complain without Faith they complain to God as they do to their Fellow-Creatures they tell him a Tale of their Wants and Discontents unload their Breasts of their Evils but find no Redress and we
to bring it low Good and Gracious Souls who can give the Lie to their King and Country to justifie Villains make no scruple to rescue Traitors from the Bar and to set the Judges in their place to acquit Schismaticks and Regicides and to arraign the whole Loyalty of the Realm And with what reason beside their secret favouring of the Guilty Forsooth some of the Condemned Persons denied their Treason to the last Moment of their Life and expired in Protestation of their Innocence Their False Principles and Impious Tenets were their Innocence and the Good Opinion they have of their Wicked Designs is all the Uprightness and Integrity they insist on O foolish Galatians says S t Paul who has bewitched you when the Christians among them Judaized And we may say to those that countenance Sectaries and Schismaticks among us O insensati O fautores O mad and besotted Favourers of your greatest Enemies who has fascinated who has bewitched you Are these indeed those truely Illuminated Persons they pretend to be and are you your selves those Reprobated People they call you that you think the Terms easie to involve the Kingdom in Bloud and Ruine to be of their Number This is no time to convince this Frenzy but I instance in these Important and even Incumbent Evils to shew we are not without Just Causes of Complaint and so little does the Nation want Complaints that Complaints are one of the greatest Grievances we complain of namely the Complaints of those who at present have no power to do further Mischief but with false Surmises and feigned Lamentations endeavour to fill the Unwary with Jealousies and Fears Against all these Complaints the Prophet's Advice in my Text is a Sure Armour and Defence If we turn unto the Lord by Repentance and holy Lives he will turn our Dangers into Security our Troubles into Peace and Prosperity I laid me down and slept says the Psalmist and rose again for the Lord sustained me If we lye down and repose our Trust in the Lord in well-doing though there be Trayterous Cabals and Midnight Conspiracies against us our Sleeps shall be as Safe as Sweet a false Brother or a Misgiving Conscience a faint Heart or an Unwary Word let slip shall betray all Nay Means most remote and unlikely no way relating to the Design on foot shall overthrow the whole Machination a casual Fire shall drive the King into his Safety and leave the Traytors in the Destruction they contrived against him and the like If we secure our Duty God will secure our Peace and Safety To whom be ascribed all Honour Glory c. FINIS ERRATA PAge 14. Line 29. for in read by p. 16. l. 30. r. vouchsafed p. 32. l. 16. for that r. they p. 36. l. 32. r. Secular Enjoyments p. 121. l. 19. r. prov'd an Adversary p. 195. l. 18. r. Transgression p. 228. l. 23. for were r. are p. 266. l. 14. r. be a defence p. 269. l. 2. dele and. p. 330. l. 12. r. Humour p. 333. l. 2. for so this r. says the. p. 335. l. 10. r. where the battel p. 341. l. 6. r. washings p. 344. l. 4. for or r. are p. 354. l. 1. r. Endowments p. 363. l. 26. for Conversation r. Conservation p. 378. l. 24. r. of so easie A Catalogue of some Books Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick THE Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the Holy Communion together with sutable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and for the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour In four Parts The Eighth Edition corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to God Or A Book of Devotions for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane Life The Fifth Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth In two Parts in Octavo The Book of Job Paraphrased in Octavo The Book of Psalms Paraphrased in Octavo The Truth of Christian Religion in Octavo The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love to it in Octavo The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with the Arguments of each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting A Paraphrase upon the Books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon With Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon In Octavo New A Book for Beginners Or A Help to Young Communicants that they may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-Conformist In Two Parts The Sixth Edition Corrected and Enlarged A Treatise of the Necessity and Frequency of receiving the Holy Communion With a Resolution of Doubts about it In three Discourses begun upon Whitsunday in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh In Twelves New The Works of Doctor Hammond in Four large Volumes viz. Vol. I. A Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical Vol. II. A Collection of Discourses in Defence of the Church of England 1. Against the Romanists 2. Against other Adversaries Vol. III. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament Vol. IV. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the Books of the Psalms A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the ten first Chapters of the Proverbs MS. Thirty one Sermons Preach'd upon several Occasions With an Appendix to Vol. II. The Free-holders Grand Inquest touching our Sovereign Lord the King and His Parliament To which are added Observations upon Forms of Government Together with Directions for Obedience to Governours in dangerous and doubtful Times By the Learned Sir Robert Filmer Knight The End of the Catalogue