over us especially in stormy times when the Kingdoms of the Earth are under such violent concussions But how shall we do to insure our God to us We have heard of some who have chain'd their gods to their Pedestals that they might not depart from them A conceit suitable enough for Idol gods what ever need there was of it But ours is an Almighty God no material chains can hold Him But yet by our devotions and obedience the Almighty himself may be secured So powerful was Moses in this kind that God is pleas'd to express Himself as struggling to get loose from those fetters that holy Mans prayers had cast upon Him Let me alone saith God that my wrath may wax hot against this people Exod 32.10 2. If God be King it will concern us to own Him in his Authority to honour his Name observe his Laws and punish those that transgress them For if sinners are suffer'd to go unpunish'd sin then becomes National The Magistrate himself shares in the guilt and the whole body stands obnoxious to the Divine vengeance When vice is grown impudent it is then fit only for the Magistrates rebuke and the great King will severely require it at their hands if they be not faithful to their trusts Those that are ashamed of Him and his Cause of such He has declared that He will be ashamed before his Father and the holy Angels Luk. 12.9 The Laws of God are the Laws of the Kingdom let Magistrates look to the Crown and Scepter from whence they receive their Commission they will find the Cross there advanced the Badge of Him who is our Kings King and from whom all Authority is deriv'd 3. We have seen that if God has a more particular regard for any Nation it is for the sake of his Church and true Religion amongst them The Church is the Palladium the safeguard of the State the best way therefore to secure the State is to preserve the Church in its purity and so conformable to the primitive pattern as God may know it to be his own Church and not be provoked to remove his Candlestick from us Tho' the Spiritual curse thereof would not perhaps be much regarded by harden'd sinners yet let such know that the Temporal Guard and Fence of the Nation goes along with the Candlestick and God leaves such a Nation to its own confusions or the ravage of its Enemies History and experience abundantly confirm this When the Jews forsook God God forsook them The Angel of the presence departed out of the Temple with a loud voice saying Let us be gone hence Jos de Bel. Jud. L. 7. c. 12. as their own Historian informs us And then presently follow'd that fearful destruction such remarkable vengeance as never was the like from the foundation of the world nor shall be till the day of Judgement We might call in for witness all those Countries where Christianity once flourish'd places which were once famous in History and renown'd but since their degeneracy and falling off from the faith they have continued for many years in obscurity and slavery and their Countries in great measure desolated are become an habitation for Thieves and Robbers for Owls and Jackals To be sure the more we have been Gods favourites the worse will our condition be when he comes to cast us off Nothing provokes more than despised favours You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities punish you with an emphasis Amos 3.2 What the measure of a Nations iniquities is I know not He only can tell who knows how far He will be pleas'd to extend his own mercies Most certainly where the light of the Gospel shines brightest the date of Mercy will soonest there be out if not complied with If so I am afraid we may read our own destiny and I almost tremble to enquire into it Tho' my self an unworthy Member of the Order I must do my brethren that right as to own that the Gospel of Christ was never since the Apostolick age more substantially and usefully preach'd than in this our age and Nation and the Press too did never more abound with pious and discreet practical discourses And yet to our horrid shame never did wickedness more abound and this not common wickedness for it is not enough now to be wicked except it be in a way of triumph over Religion Vice insults amongst us it is the part of virtue to blush and sneak The Devil seems to be here trying his master-piece and shewing to what heighth he can possibly advance his Kingdom of darkness in the midst of the greatest Gospel light as tho' it were his ambition to nose God in his own Kingdom where Christ appears most of all to reign and to bid defiance to Him so impudently do's vice rage in our streets Scarce do's a good Man now dare to venture into a mix'd company for fear of having some horrid oath or some hellish curse belch'd into his face it is great odds but he hears the name of God presently blasphem'd or some lewd dull jest upon a sacred text of Scripture or some such filthy discourse as Sodom would have blush't at And as tho' Comorrha and all that cursed Sisterhood were sprung again out of their ashes and transplanted into England we may see bargains for lusts driven in our streets and the family-whore as publickly own'd perhaps jointur'd as the wife And do not these things call aloud for some speedy remedy For the Cities sake for God the keeper of the Cities sake we begg it And yet this is not all tho' a wicked life be the worst of Heresies yet to carry on all the despite that Hell can possibly manage against God our Age and Nation grows now also infamous for the greatest Heresies The conceited grinning Atheist laughs at the belief of a God and scornfully pities the Psalmist for taking him for a fool For great is the power of a jest in some heads neither good sense or reason can stand against it The malice of others is particularly bent against the Son of God for attempting to save them from eternal perdition some under the title of Theists deny his being and deny his Gospel as a Fable others make Cabals against His Godhead and upon one pretence or other the whole blessed Trinity is scoffed at as a Monster And all this besides a swarm of innumerable croaking Sects amongst us who have some of them destroy'd all difference between good and evil and have weeded the most frantick opinions and wildest dreams into their Religion And dare we still plead our priviledge with God as His Church and claim the right of being his favourites All our hope then is That there are still some righteous left in Sodom some who stand in the gap who by their prayers and tears in secret do screen the Nation from vengeance do wrestle with God and prevail not to cast us yet out of His protection To conclude Lastly If God keep the City with what confidence may a good people triumph in their keeper Let them but take care to continue His favour to them what can in reason affright or dismay them Fear of any thing besides God seems inconsistent with the Christian faith even in the midst of the most pressing eminent dangers Peter was sharply rebuked as one of little faith Matt. 14.31 for fearing when just sinking almost swallowed up by the Sea Their case cannot be desperate or without remedy who have a God engaged to rescue and defend them Nothing but sin can be the ruine of such a people as Achior wisely told Holofernes It is in vain to assault them Judith 5.20 21. if their God be not first angry with them it is kicking against the pricks Happy are the people that are in such a condition blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God In perpetual triumphs they securely live rejoycing in the Lord always Nothing to cloud the serenity of their minds nothing to disturb the cheerfulness the gaiety of their humours nothing to damp the briskness of their delights their full satisfaction in their God and Patron Let them but pray and Kings with their Armies fly and they divide the spoil They only stand still and see the Salvation of their God in the confusion of their Enemies They as upon a safe shore sit viewing those storms with which the world is toss'd spectators of the destruction and calamities of sinners and approving of Gods righteous Judgments but the name of their God is to them a strong Tower They run to it and are safe Under their Vines and Fig-trees they entertain themselves with songs of praise and thanksgiving telling their pleasant stories of all Gods wonderful works and mighty deliverances Rejoycing always in His Salvation and in the name of their God setting up their Banners Thus is it with the City which God keeps so shall it be with the people which the King of Kings delights to honour Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen FINIS
and Protection I shall farther observe Thirdly That God watches over some Cities with a peculiar and distinguishing care We begin with the First I. That the care of the Watchman is not alone sufficient to keep the City which is very evident 1. Because the Watchmans care is not sufficient to keep himself except the Lord keep him he stands in a very unsafe place and is likely to make but ill work of it Had Man continued in a state of Innocence there would have been but little need of government For where love and universal Benevolence had been the general practice of the World and the only prevailing ambition who should be most kind most beneficial There would have been no need of the Magistrate to decide the quarrels of Love no use of the Sword to punish where there were no faults or injuries Apparent therefore it is that sin brought into the World the use of an armed Magistrate When mens appetites grew irregular and boundless and reason was not sufficient to restrain then something more sharp and terrifying was requisite to check the outrages and villany of fools and madmen But herein lay then the infelicity of Mankind had God left them to themselves that very sinfulenss of nature which made Government necessary render'd man unfit to govern For impossible it is that he should govern others well who has not first obtain'd the government of himself the dominion over his own passions For if a Prince take his lusts with Him into the Throne what mischief then will naturally insue the history of those Nations will inform us where out of judgement to the people God has left such a Prince to the wildness of his own spirit Little are most men aware how much corruption lies lurking in their natures and what great enormities they might be guilty of did God but place them in suitable temptations and leave them to the conduct of their own foolish hearts It is a common observation how much the sentiments of men usually change with the alteration of their condition Tu si hic sis aliter sentias Then was then and now is now Many mens vertues hold out pretty well in a private life where they meet with few or but vulgar temptations which would miserably fail them were they more exposed to stronger assaults This admonishes us therefore not to be over-confident of our own integrity and present resolutions and to cast a mantle over the miscarriages of those above us who stand at difficult posts and in slippery places perhaps where they trip we should have fallen When the Prophet had by divine inspiration acquainted Hazael 2 Kin. 8.12.13 what a villain he would prove He astonish'd at the ugly character of himself rejected it with abhorrency but the Prophet to make good his charge only told him Thou shalt be King over Syria such an alteration of condition if by God not duly qualified for the high Office was enough to make him do he knew not what what He could not at present believe true of himself The necessary Royalties of a Crown do carry a violent temptation with them That high Honour that Sovereign Authority and Power and those large Revenues which are requisite for the ends of government to be invested in the person that manages it are not themselves to be duly managed but by a mind extraordinarily fitted by the Father of Gifts and Graces Small men have many restraints upon them to keep them within due bounds The lash of the Law the frown and rebuke of their Superiours the fear of blasting their reputation and hopes of preferment The narrowness of their Fortunes may be a check to many not well perhaps affording the necessary expences of vice for many vices are costly at least if enjoy'd to the best advantage But to a Prince vice comes ready drest set off with all the witchcraft that cursed art and wealth can furnish it withall Nature is rack'd to treat him with the most luscious and exalted pleasures He is continually courted with gaudy temptations improved to the utmost by the Devils care and industry for it is his master-piece to debauch a King the greatest interest of his Kingdom so many are the ill consequences of it Add to this that He is free from most of the common restraints of other men the many hellish instruments also that He has about him to provoke and inflame his appetites none to check or curb them So that if He be not caught in the snares it is a sign He has a good keeper To what insufferable pride would his high Honour inflame the minds of meaner men To see all the World to stoop and bow before Him and caress him with awful solemnity would be a strange poison to a common soul it would infect it with giddiness and a most absurd vanity It requires a mind rarely well pois'd fortified with sovereign antidotes to preserve it self untainted from the most subtle penetrating charms of praise and flattery But above all his temptations methinks his necessary power is a most dangerous weapon nothing seems harder for man than to use great power well Never to oppress the Innocent or justifie a bad cause by might argues a generous mind a Soul free from corrupt prejudice or partial affection Great power is only fit for God or for those that are like Him that have Wisdom and Goodness to govern it Power and ill nature are the essential qualities of a Devil It is not in man Necessary it is therefore that the Watchman be taught of God to use his sword aright That the Vicegerent bear the Image of his God as well in his gracious qualities as in his Authority 2d. The care of the Watchman is not alone sufficient to keep the City because his best care cannot be commensurate to his work It is too great it exceeds his abilities it transcends the natural power and reach of his Faculties So various are the affairs of a Kingdom as that they even overwhelm an humane understanding It must be always upon the rack distracted with perpetual cares and thoughtfulness how to remedy this evil prevent that threatning danger His own understanding as humane is subject to infirmities and mistakes and of what boundless ill consequence may a mistake prove in matters of such high importance where the interfering interests of so many thousands are wrapt up His own eye was it infallible cannot be every were He must for the most part see with other mens eyes and they may deceive Him In his circumstances it is hard not to be deceiv'd Some men out of their own ignorance or mistake deceive Him others out of designe As his eye so neither can his hand be every where to execute his purposes Instruments therefore He must have but honesty is not always ingraven in the lines of the face It is therefore a difficult matter for a Prince to know his Friend and who is fit to be trusted Let him be never so wise
advantages When wise Politicians are infatuated and caught in their own snares When hellish plots and inhumane Murthers are brought to light none knows how Hab. 2.11 betray'd by a stone in the wall When persons notoriously wicked are pursued by a secret vengeance tumbled down from their height of honour and power into extream disgrace and misery When Tyrants and bloody Persecutors are observ'd to die by violent deaths Lactant. de mort Pers and usually under horrid tortures of Body and anguish of Mind When things are grown insufferable and nothing but a black prospect of evils present themselves to view then to see affairs turn gently about without visible force or some unthought of Deliverer start up and breaking through innumerable difficulties rescue a Nation from slavery and bondage When the Stars fight in their course and the winds and weather and natural Agents which are only in the hand of God concur to promote the cause and disappoint the Enemy These and such like do demonstrate God to be concern'd in the event The truth is if God do not exercise a National Providence I know not what business we have here Publick worship supposes or proves Gods care of the publick or proves it self to be vain and absurd But if all this be not yet enough to assure us of the care of God in keeping the City will his own word be a sufficient testimony He is in his own book frequently set forth as King of Kings Lord of Lords King of the world Governour of all the nations of the earth Ruler over the kingdoms of men Pulling down one setting up another Judge of all Nations Dan. 2.21 his eyes beholding all the kingdoms of the earth That the battel is not always to the strong Eccles 9.11 That salvation is only of the Lord. Tell it among the Nations that the Lord reigns let the earth rejoyce It would be endless to quote particular Texts to this purpose In like manner the Historical and Prophetical books of the Bible are full of most glorious Prophecies concerning the Rise and Fall of Empires The Prophets are big with the burthen of the Nations as well as of Gods own people We there see the reason of Gods proceedings with the Kingdoms of the earth For the Spirit of God which indited those holy books knew the mind of God In other Histories we have naked matters of fact barely laid down but here is declared the Counsel of God the Wisdom and Justice of his disposal of Kingdoms Solomon has in short given the fundamental rule of Gods dealing with them Prov. 14.34 so that by righteousness a Nation is exalted Never was there any Nation but flourish'd whilst it was victorious but sin is the ruine of any people it is the natural as well as the meritorious cause of it Having thus I hope sufficiently proved Gods care of the City in general and consequently their safety I now proceed to observe III. That God watches over some Cities with a peculiar distinguishing care Tho' the Providence of God extends to all his Creatures yet for some God is pleas'd to own a particular regard and in a special manner to charge his Providence with them For instance such as are in distress and want that have no friend in the world when there is no help in Man no comfort in the Creature then are they fit objects of Gods care then is his season to appear It pleases Him therefore to be stil'd a Father of the fatherless an husband to the widow a refuge for the oppress'd When the poor cry the Lord heareth them and delivereth them from him that is too strong for them Prov. 22.23 He pleads their cause Which holds as well of distressed Nations as single persons for there are many miraculous deliverances on record which God has sometimes vouchsafed to a distressed people from the jaws of a proud insulting enemy snatching the trembling prey from between their teeth So also for the Good and Pious for those that love and fear God He has a professed kindness No harm shall come nigh their dwelling The wicked shall not approach to hurt them The righteous cry and the Lord heareth them and delivereth them from all their trouble Good men by reason of their good qualities stand in nearer relation to God than that of Creatures they resemble God as children their Father and have a title therefore to his Paternal care So in the old World those pious families which retain'd the worship of the true God were called the sons of God in opposition to the sons and daughters of Men and when the world was reduced to that pass as to have but one righteous family as we know of with what an amazing Providence were they saved when the whole world beside was drown'd for their wickedness And if we proceed on farther in the History of the world when mankind was again relaps'd into an universal Idolatry and Apostacy from God so that he seem'd in a manner justled out of his own world so had the Devil every where usurp'd upon him ingrossing all the worship of it to himself Then as the best expedient to preserve himself a light to the world was God pleas'd to pitch upon one family even that of Abraham to enter into a particular Covenant with him and his posterity That if they would be his people He would be their God He then gave him an explicite promise of the Redeemer the foundation of all mercies and upon condition that he would walk before him and be perfect God promised that he would be his Shield his Protector from all his enemies his exceeding great reward Accordingly we afterwards find as if God had forgotten all the rest of his Creation The Lord of Heaven and Earth Oh wonderful Honour assumes the name of Abraham and his family into his own great Title and was pleas'd in an eminent manner to stile himself The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. In prosecution of these glorious promises made to their Fathers we afterwards find Moses caressing their posterity with their transcendent priviledges their near relation to God and his particular love to and care for them So Deut. 7.6 Thou art a holy and separate people unto the Lord thy God The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth So again Exod. 19.5 If you will obey my voice then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine yet I reject them all in comparison of my love and care for you In like manner the Psalmist sings The Lord hath chosen Jacob to himself Ps 135.4 and Israel for his peculiar treasure to this purpose in many other places they are courted in the most indearing terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Segullah of God In which word is included the most