be reckoned and esteemed of by Him which is more then if all the world besides had us in estimation The Lord He viewes and looks ever the whole City takes notice of every Company Congregation Family Person in it and he pleases Himself in the thoughts of them as they are any thing more serviceable to Him There 's such an one mourning and weeping in secret for the publick abominations I le set my mark upon him There 's such an one active and zealous for the truth and the cause of Religion I le set my seal upon him There 's such an one full of bounty and liberality to my poor Saints I know where to finde out him as I have occasion to make use of him Look as some Prince or Magistrate that has occasion for the supplies of money he knowes all the rich Men in the City and for a shift can single them out one by one there lives such an one worth so many thousands and there lives another worth as many and so of the rest Even so it is with God here as concerning his people He does mark them and set them out to himself and makes account of them and reckons of his Church as so much the richer and better for them A double Adjunct And he does it with a double adjunct or concomitancy which is here considerable in it first of Expectation from them And secondly of Resolution for them Of Expectation from them This man was born there therefore I look for so much service and duty at his hands Of Resolution for them This man was born there therefore accordingly Ile be the more tender and regardful of him 1. Expectation First of Expectation from them The better any are or may be the more does God look for from them according to their Abilities and according to their opportunities And so here That man which was born in Sion he has had more Grace bestowed upon him whereby he might be inabled to Good and he has had more Mercy shewn unto him from whence he might be incouraged to Good and therefore is so much the greater good expected to be done by him 2. Resolution Secondly There 's here also considerable in this Account betwixt God and his people His Resolution for them and that singular Affection which he seems to bear unto them The Lord shall count when he writes up the people that this man was born there Selah Therefore I must make another reckoning of him then of some ordinary person There are distinguishing Mercies and Priviledges which God reserves for his children and servants which every one is not partaker of and that upon this account even because they are his children as in Mal. 3.17 There was this followed upon the Book of Remembrance And they shall be Mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that Day when I shall make up my Jewels Mine not only as to interest as having relation to me but mine also as to successe and as receiving protection from me as it followes afterwards in the vers And I will spare them as a man spaneth his own son that serveth him God counts Himself in a manner concern'd to do somewhat more for his people then for the ordinary rank and rout of the world for those which are born in Sion at least in the Mystical acception which are regenerate and born again above those which are born in any other place besides And accordingly may those which are so expect it from him He does not altogether neglect them for he writes up the people He does not forget them for when he writes up the rest of the people he takes notice of them more especially nor he does not suffer others to forget them neither but does register them and put them upon record to all Generations and as he establishes Sion it self so establishes likewise the memorial of all such as are born in it The Lord will count when he writes up the people That this Man was born there That 's the second Branch of this second General to wit the Celebration of the priviledge on Gods part by way of Record and so I have done with the whole Text it self The Application of the Text to the occasion BUt yet I have not done with You which are my proper Hearers this Day I have a word or two farther to you and so I have done To you which were born within the limits of this honourable City The blessed Apostle St. Paul wisht himself sometime to be Anathema Rom 9.3 i. e. Accurst or separate from Christ for his Countreymen whom he cals his Brethren and kinsmen according to the Flesh Indeed that was a very high strain of affection and such as it is more then every one is able to reach so perhaps more then every one is bound to perform I will not therefore presume to promise so much for my self But this I will be bold to say in his words in another place in the following chapt Brethren it is my hearts desire and prayer to God Rom. 10.1 for LONDON that they might be saved and I should count it a great favour from God to me if I might let fall any thing at this time tending and conducing thereunto I must confess I may seem to be under a common disadvantage in this regard as our blessed Saviour was before me who complains He could do no great good amongst his own people He came to his own and his own received him not Joh. 1.11 and so laies down a General observation to this purpose That a Prophet is not without honour saving in his own Countrey and in his Fathers House Mat. 13.57,58 It is the great unhappinesse oftentimes of us which are Ministers to have least acceptance there where we have most cause to expect it and to have greatest discouragement there where we have least cause to receive it But you have taken this off from me at this present time as I may say by the contrary extreme in your call and invitation to this work especially having so much better choice as you elsewhere had amongst so many of my Reverend Brethren But then hereby as you have put me in hope of doing some good amongst you so you have likewise ingaged your selves to attend to what is spoken by me I shall reduce it to two Heads even the two parts of the Text viz. The Priviledge and Celebration of it First As to the Priviledge that ye be carefull to look to this and to see that you are interested in it that is born in Sion according to the sense now explain'd Not only Professors and Protestants at large but regenerate and true Beleevers who have the seed of God remaining in you and are made partakers of his sanctifying Spirit 1. Real Christians This is one thing and the first which we here in this City have cause to be admonisht of To be sure that we be reall Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
have in those words This man was born there The celebration of this priviledge that is twofold 1. On Mans part by way of Report in the 5. vers And of Zion it shall be said 2. On Gods part by way of Record in the 6. The Lord shall count when he writes up the people that c. We begin with the First viz. The Priviledge it self which is here presented to us with all the advantage that may be First In its threefold Repetition in one verse after another Repetitions in Scripture are for the most part very significant and do import some very great matter in the things themselves which they are applyed unto And so as to this particular passage amongst the rest it is not vainly or without very good cause thrice repeated here in the Text. This man was born there This man was born there This man was born there In the 4. vers In the 5. And in the 6. Secondly In the word of Attention which is annext unto it Selah Which if according to some it be a meer Musicall note to provoke an elevation of the voice yet according to others more probably is a note of speciall Animadversion to intimate the excellency of the matter and the one grounded upon the other the more excellent matter requiring a more excellent note to be put upon it To which I may add a third according to some readings of the Text and that is the Particle of excitement prefixed unto it Behold Loe there was he born A double Emphasis The passage it-self according to a different Accent or Emphasis which may be laid upon the words hath a different notion with it upon There This. For it may be laid either upon There or upon This. If ye lay the force upon There then it is an advancement of the person taken from the place This man was born THERE If ye lay the force upon This then it is an advancement of the place taken from the person THIS MAN was born there We may take it if we please according to either of these Notions and we shall consider it at this time in both as which will best agree with our purpose and sute to the present occasion which we have now in hand 1. Upon There And first In the former viz. The advancement of the person taken from the place This man was born there There Where was that I told you before that it was delivered a little obscurely But we must resolve it by consulting with the Context both in the words preceding and following and that will shew it plainly to be Zion all along It is here declared as a very great priviledge for this man who ever he be to be born there Now that it may really appear to be so indeed it is requisite for us to enquire what this Zion was where this man was born The Scripture exhibits it to us under a double Representation Zion twofold Either as the City of David or as the City of God If we take it as the City of David so to be born in it does denote a temporal priviledge If as the City of God a spiritual 1. The City of David First Take it as the City of David We shall find Zion thus to be called 1 King 8.1 The City of David which is Zion And so it is by a Synecdoche put for Jerusalem which was the Metropolis or Mother-City of the Kingdom The same is LONDON to us not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City of Habitation i. e. a populous City Psal 107.7 But also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The City of our Solemnities i. e. a stately and magnificent City Isa 30.20 And to be born in it as so considered it was not without its honor and dignity as belonging unto it No more but that There is a Civil respect which does adhere to men in regard of their births which are not meerly casual but have a special hand of providence which is operative in them As to their Parents so to the places of their Nativity and as that they are born thus so that they are borne there There in opposition to a meaner place and more obscure That it is there and not there there is somewhat which is considerable in it and accordingly hath been so esteemed of by intelligent men It was such as the Apostle himself made very much of as he had occasion for it Act. 21.39 But Paul said I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus a City in Cilicia A citizen of no mean City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Act. 22,28 He mentions it as a speciall priviledge wherein he excelled the Chief-Captain in his Roman freedom that whereas the other got it by purchase With a great sum obtained I this freedom he had it by birth But I was free born namely in Tarsus which was a Colonie to Rome and so according to custome had that priviledge annexed unto it as pertained to those Cities This I say simply considered hath its advantages in it Therefore let us learn to blesse God for such providences as these are where we partake of them which though they are but of ordinary and inferiour consideration yet are such as deserve to be observed and taken notice of by us It is true they are nothing to speak of as we shall hear more afterwards if we lay them with better things but yet in themselves they are somewhat worth They are nothing comparatively but they are somewhat absolutely They are nothing as to matter of Pride but they are somewhat as to matter of Thankfulness and due acknowledgement as many other things besides of the same nature with them Riches and Honors and Parentage and Dignity and Authority and the like they are poor matters for any one to set his heart upon them or to be puft or lifted up with them but yet they are such as a gracious heart will be thankfull for and learn to understand Gods dealings in his dispensing of them to him Proud and envious spirits where they see any others to excell in any thing above themselves they are apt there to throw some contempt and disparagement upon it and upon those which are partakers of it but yet for all that it 's never the worse for the parties themselves who notwithstanding all such carriages are themselves to be affected with them yea and to blesse and praise God for them If God casts outward priviledges upon us we are not to despise them but to enjoy them with humility and fruitfulnesse though they are not the things which we are to value or measure our selves by The Apostle Paul was a man of as great and many external accommodations as any man else besides If any have confidence in the flesh I more Phil. 3.4 but he knew both when to stand upon them and when to neglect them And so should we do with him When any of these things came once in competition with the Gospel of