a dread of his glorious Majesty of his mighty Power of his severe Justice of his glorious and fearful Name it should instil into our minds a reverence of his excellent Wisdom his exceeding Goodness his perfect Holiness it should breed in our Souls a solicitous care of displeasing and provoking him it should cause us in our hearts to shake and tremble before him Then is that of the Psalmist to be put in practice Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. Such dispensations are in their nature declarative of those Divine Attributes which do require such affections they are set before our eyes to cast us into a very serious and solemn frame to abash and deter us from offending by observing the danger of incurring punishments like to those which we behold inflicted upon presumptuous transgressors upon those who do hainously violate Right or furiously impugn Truth or profanely despise Piety who earnestly prosecute wicked Enterprises who prosecute the Friends of God with outrageous violence or treacherous subtilty Upon infliction of such punishments All the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously saith God himself declaring the nature and drift of them They do plainly demonstrate that there is no presuming to escape being detected in our close Machinations by God's All-seeing Eye being defeated in ourbold Attempts by God's All-mighty Hand being sorely chastised for our Iniquity by God's impartial Judgment Extreamly blind and stupid therefore must we be or monstrously sturdy and profane if such experiments of Divine Power and Justice do not awe us and fright us from sin When the Lion roareth who will not fear when the trumpet is blown in the City shall not the people be afraid Shall he at whom the mountains quake and the hills melt whose indignation the Nations are not able to abide at whose wrath the Earth doth shake and tremble at whose reproof the pillars of Heaven are astonished shall he visibly frown shall his wrath flame out shall he shake his rod of exemplary Vengeance over us and we stand void of sense or fear If so then surely a brutish dotage or a Gigantick stoutness doth possess us III. We are in such cases obliged to declare God's work that is openly to acknowledge and avow to applaud and celebrate the special Providence of God with his adorable perfections displayed in such Events to the glory of God's Name in expression of our reverence and gratitude toward him for the common edification of men for which uses they greatly serve to which purposes they are designed We should not view such providential occurrences like dumb beasts with a dull or careless silence as if we did not mind them or were not concerned in them we should not suppress or stifle the knowledge of them in our breasts as if they were barely matters of private consideration and use we should not let our observation and resentment of them be fruitless so as to yield no honour to God no benefit to man But we should propagate and convey them into others in so loud a tone in so lively a strain we should vent them as thereby to excite the notice to enflame the affections of all men within the reach of our voice provoking them to conspire with us in acknowledgment of God's Power and Wisdom in acclamation to his Justice and Goodness This is the due improvement of our Glory that peculiar excellency wherein chiefly except in our Reason we do surpass all creatures that without which our Reason it self is more then half unprofitable that whereby we put our best Member to its best use For this we have the devout Psalmist his pious Resolutions his exemplary Performances his zealous Wishes his earnest Exhortations to guide and move us I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power So did he signifie his Resolution I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy Loving-kindness and thy Truth from the great Congregation So his conscience testified of his Practice Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men that they would offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and declare his works with gladness So doth he pour forth his Desire O clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph Sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his salvation from day to day Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people Come and see the works of God Sing forth the honour of his Name make his Praise glorious O give thanks unto the Lord call upon his Name make known his deeds among the people So doth he summon so doth he urge us to this practice and in his deportment we may see our Duty IV. It is peculiarly the Duty and practice of good men upon such occasions to feel and to express religious Joy The righteous shall he glad in the Lord. Good men indeed then have great matter and much cause on many accounts to be glad It becometh them to rejoyce as having an universal complacence in God's proceedings as gratefully relishing all dispensations of Providence They as pious are disposed to bless and praise God for all things incident and cannot therefore but rejoyce Joy being an inseparable companion of Gratitude and Praise Hence Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Hence The voice of salvation and rejoycing is in the tabernacles of the righteous Hence Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright is an exhortation backed with a very good reason They cannot but find satisfaction in observing God's Providence notably discovered to the confirmation of their faith and cherishing their hopes together with the conviction of infidelity and confusion of profaneness Our heart saith the Psalmist shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his Holy Name I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation The righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth It is to them no small pleasure to behold God's holy Perfections illustriously shining forth and the Glory of him who is the principal object of their love their reverence their hope and confidence to be conspicuously advanced Rejoyce saith the Psalmist O ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Zion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy
of passion and tedious vexations of body it maintains our minds in a chearfull calm quiet indifferency and comfortable liberty On the other side things of real worth and high concernment that produce great satisfaction to the mind and are mainly conducible to our happiness such as are a right understanding and strong sense of our obligations to Almighty God and relations to men a sound temper and complexion of mind a vertuous disposition a capacity to discharge the duties of our places a due qualification to enjoy the happiness of the other World these and such like things by discovering their nature and the effects resulting from them it engages us highly to esteem ardently to affect and industriously to pursue so preventing the inconveniences that follow the want of them and conveying the benefits arising from the possession of them XIII Wisedom distinguishes the circumstances limits the measures determines the modes appoints the fit seasons of action so preserving decorum and order the parent of peace and preventing confusion the mother of iniquity strife and disquiet 'T is in the business of humane life as in a building a due proportion of bigness a fit situation of place a correspondency of shape and sutableness of colour is to be observed between the parts thereof a defect in any of which requisites though the materials hap to be choice and excellent makes the whole fabrick deformed and ugly to judicious apprehension The best actions if they swell and exceed their due measure if they be unskilfully misplaced if in uncouth manner performed they lose their quality and turn both to the disgrace and disadvantage of life 'T is commendable to pray but they that would always be performing that duty by their absurd devotion procured to themselves the title of Hereticks and they that will stand praying in places of publick concourse deserved our Saviour's reprehensions and those men who against the custom and ordinary use would needs pray with their faces covered you know S. Paul insinuates of them that they were fond and contentious persons Friendly admonition is very laudable and of rare use but being upon all occasions immoderately used or in publick society so as to encroach upon modesty or endammage reputation or when the person admonished is otherwise employed and attent upon his business or being delivered in an imperiously-insulting way or in harsh and opprobrious language it becomes unsavoury and odious and both in shew and effect resembles a froward malicious exceptiousness 'T were infinite to compute in how many instances want of due order measure and manner do spoil and incommodate action 'T is Wisedom that applies remedy to these mischiefs Things must be compared to and arbitrated by her standard or else they will contain something of monstrous enormity either strutting in unwieldy bulk or sinking in defective scantness If she do not fashion and model circumstances they will sit ugly on the things that wear them if she do not temper the colours and describe the lineaments the draught of practice will be but rude and imperfect and little resemble the true patterns of duty but if she interpose and perform her part all things will appear conformable neat and delicate XIV Wisedom discovers our relations duties and concernments in respect of men with the natural grounds of them thereby both qualifying and inclining us to the discharge of them whence exceeding convenience pleasure and content ensues By it we understand we are parts and members of the great Body the Universe and are therefore concerned in the good management of it and are thereby obliged to procure its order and peace and by no irregular undertaking to disturb or discompose it which makes us honest and peaceable men that we proceed from the same primitive stock are children of the same father and partake of the same bloud with all men are endowed with like faculties of mind passions of Soul shape of body and sense of things that we have equally implanted in our original constitution inclinations to love pity gratitude sociableness quiet joy reputation that we have an indispensable need and impatient desire of company of assistence comfort and relief that therefore it is according to the design of nature and agreeable to reason that to those to whom our natural condition by so many bands of cognation similitude and mutual necessitude hath knit and conjoyned us we should bear a kind respect and tender affection should chearfully concurre in undergoing the common burthens should heartily wish and industriously promote their good assist them in accomplishing their reasonable desires thankfully requite the courtesies received from them congratulate and rejoyce with them in their prosperity comfort them in their distresses and as we are able relieve them however tenderly compassionate their disappointments miseries and sorrows This renders us kind and courteous neighbours sweet and gratefull companions It represents unto us the dreadfull effects and insupportable mischiefs arising from breach of faith contravening the obligations of solemn pacts infringing publick laws deviating from the received rules of equity violating promises and interrupting good correspondence among men by which considerations it engages us to be good citizens obedient subjects just dealers and faithfull friends It minds us of the blindness impotence and levity the proneness to mistake and misbehaviour that humane nature necessarily is subject to deserving rather our commiseration then anger or hatred which prompts us to bear the infirmities of our brethren to be gentle in censure to be insensible of petty affronts to pardon injuries to be patient exorable and reconcilable to those that give us greatest cause of offence It teaches us the good may but the evil of our neighbour can in no wise advantage us that from the suffering of any man simply considered no benefit can accrue nor natural satisfaction arise to us and that therefore 't is a vain base brutish and unreasonable thing for any cause whatsoever to desire or delight in the grief pain or misery of our neighbour to hate or envy him or insult over him or devise mischief to him or prosecute revenge upon him which makes us civil noble and placable enemies or rather no enemies at all So that Wisedom is in effect the genuine parent of all moral and political vertue justice and honesty as Solomon says in her person I lead in the way of righteousness and in the midst of the paths of judgment And how sweet these are in the practice how comfortable in the consequences the testimony of continual experience and the unanimous consent of all wise men sufficiently declare But farther XV. The principal advantage of Wisedom is its acquainting us with the Nature and reason of true Religion and affording convictive arguments to persuade to the Practice of it which is accompanied with the purest delight and attended with the most solid content imaginable I say the Nature of Religion wherein it consists and what it requires the mistake of which produceth daily
Doctrine for reducing Charity and Peace for reviving the spirit of Piety and bringing Vertue again into request for preserving State and Church from ruine we can have no confidence or reasonable hope but in the good Providence and merciful succour of Almighty God beside whom there is no Saviour who alone is the hope of Israel and Saviour thereof in time of trouble we now having great cause to pray with our Lord's Disciples in the storm Lord save us we perish Upon such Considerations and others whereof I suppose you are sufficiently apprehensive we now especially are obliged earnestly to pray for our King that God in mercy would preserve his Royal Person and inspire his Mind with Light and endue his Heart with Grace and in all things bless him to us to be a repairer of our breaches and a restorer of paths to dwell in so that under him we may lead a quiet life in all godliness and honesty I have done with the First Duty Prayer for Kings upon which I have the rather so largely insisted because it is very seasonable to our present condition II. The Other Thanksgiving I shall but touch and need not perhaps to do more For 1. As to general Inducements they are the same or very like to those which are for Prayer it being plain that what-ever we are concerned to pray for when we want it that we are bound to thank God for when he vouchsafeth to bestow it And if common Charity should dispose us to resent the Good of Princes with complacence if their Welfare be a publick benefit if our selves are interested in it and partake great advantages thereby if in equity and ingenuity we are bound to seek it then surely we are much engaged to thank God the bountiful Donour of it for his goodness in conferring it 2. As for particular Motives suting the present Occasion I need not by information or impression of them farther to stretch your patience seeing you cannot be ignorant or insensible of the grand Benefits by the Divine Goodness bestowed on our King and on our selves which this day we are bound with all grateful acknowledgment to commemorate Wherefore in stead of reciting trite stories and urging obvious reasons which a small recollection will suggest to you I shall only request you to joyn with me in the practice of the Duty and in acclamation of praise to God Even so Blessed be God who hath given to us so Gracious and Benign a Prince the experiments of whose Clemency and Goodness no History can parallel to sit on the throne of his Blessed Father and renowned Ancestours Blessed be God who hath protected him in so many encounters hath saved him from so many dangers and snares hath delivered him from so great troubles Blessed be God who in so wonderful a manner by such miraculous trains of Providence did reduce him to his Country and re-instate him in the possession of his Rights thereby vindicating his own just Providence declaring his salvation and openly shewing his righteousness in the sight of all people Blessed be God who in Him and with Him did restore to us our antient good constitution of Government our Laws and Liberties our Peace and Quiet rescuing us from lawless Usurpations and tyrannical Yoaks from the insultings of Errour and Iniquity from horrible Distractions and Confusions Ever blessed be God who hath turned the captivity of Sion hath raised our Church from the dust and re-established the sound Doctrine the decent Order the wholsome Discipline thereof hath restored true Religion with its supports advantages and encouragements Blessed be the Lord who hath granted us to continue these sixteen years in the peaceable fruition of those Blessings Praised be God who hath not cast out our prayer nor turned his mercy from us Praised be God who hath turned our heaviness into joy hath put off our sackcloath and girded us with gladness Let our mouth speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever The Lord liveth and blessed be our Rock and let the God of our salvation be exalted Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who onely doeth wondrous things and blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. The Eleventh Sermon PSAL. 64. 9 10. And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider of his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory IF we should search about for a Case parallel to that which we do now commemorate we should perhaps hardly find one more patly such then is that which is implied in this Psalm and if we would know the Duties incumbent on us in reference to such an Occasion we could scarce better learn them other-where then in our Text. With attention perusing the Psalm we may therein observe That its great Authour was apprehensive of a desperate Plot by a confederacy of wicked and spitefull enemies with great craft and secrecy contrived against his safety They saith he encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them That for preventing the blow threatned by this design whereof he had some glimpse or some presumption grounded upon the knowledge of their implacable and active malice he doth implore Divine protection Hide me saith he from the secret counsel of the wicked from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity That he did conside in God's Mercy and Justice for the seasonable defeating for the fit avenging their machination God saith he shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded That they should themselves become the detectours of their crime and the instruments of the exemplary punishment due thereunto They added he shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away Such was the Case the which unto what passage in the history it doth relate or whether it belongeth to any we have recorded it may not be easie to determine Expositours commonly do refer it to the designs of Saul upon David's life But this seeming purely conjecture not founded upon any express words or pregnant intimations in the text I shall leave that inquiry in its own uncertainty It sufficeth to make good its pertinency that there was such a mischievous Conspiracy deeply projected against David a very great personage in whose safety the publick state of God's people was principally concerned he being then King of Israel at least in designation and therefore in the precedent Psalm endited in Saul's time is so styled from the peril whereof he by the special Providence of
as not to discern God's Hand when it was made bare raised up and stretched out in the atchievement of most prodigious works not to reade Providence when set forth in the largest and fairest print such as those of whom 't is said in the Psalm Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Aegypt and those of whom 't is observed in the Gospel Though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not such as the mutinous people who although they beheld the earth swallowing up Corah with his Complices and a Fire from the Lord consuming the men that offered Incense yet presently did fall a-charging Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the People of the Lord. No wonder then if many do not perceive the same Hand when it is wrapp'd up in a complication with inferiour causes when it is not lifted up so high or so far extended in miraculous performances The special Providence of God in events here effected or ordered by him is indeed commonly not discernible without good judgment and great care it is not commonly impressed upon events in characters so big and clear as to be legible to every eye or to any eye not endued with a sharp perspicacy not implying an industrious heedfulness the tracts thereof are too fine and subtil to be descried by a dimme sight with a transient glance or upon a gross veiw it is seldome so very conspicuous that persons incredulous or any-wise indisposed to admit it can easily be convinced thereof or constrained to acknowledg it it is often upon many accounts from many causes very obscure and not easily discernible to the most sagacious most watchful most willing observers For the instruments of Providence being free agents acting with unaccountable variety nothing can happen which may not be imputed to them with some colourable pretence Divine and humane influences are so twisted and knit together that it is hard to sever them The manner of Divine efficacy is so very soft and gentle that we cannot easily trace its footsteps God designeth not commonly to exert his hand in a notorious way but often purposely doth conceal it Whereas also it is not fit to charge upon God's special hand of Providence any event wherein special ends of wisedom or goodness do not shine it is often hard to discover such ends which usually are wrap'd in perplexities because God acteth variously according to the circumstances of things and the disposition capacity or state of objects so as to doe the same thing for different ends and different things for the same end because there are different ends unto which Providence in various order and measure hath regard which our short and narrow prospect cannot reach because God in prosecution of his ends is not wont to proceed in the most direct and compendious way but windeth about in a large circuit enfolding many concurrent and subordinate designs because the expediency of things to be permitted or performed doth not consist in single acts or events but in many conspiring to one common end because we cannot apprehend the consequences nor ballance the conveniencies of things in order to good ends because we are apt to measure things by their congruity to our opinions expectations and affections because many proceedings of God depend upon grounds inaccessible to our apprehension such as his own secret Decrees the knowledge of mens thoughts close purposes clandestine designes true qualifications and merits his prescience of contingent events and what the result will be from the combination of numberless causes because sometimes he doth act in methods of Wisdom and by rules of Justice surpassing our capacity to know either from the finiteness of our nature or the â—eebleness of our reason or the meanness of our state and circumstances here because also the Divine administration of affairs hath no compleat determination or final issue here that being reserved to the great day of reckoning and judgment It is further also expedient that many occurrences should be puzzling to us to quash our presumption to exercise our faith to quicken our industry to engage us upon adoâ—ing that Wisedom which we cannot comprehend Upon such accounts for such causes which time will not give me leave to explain and exemplifie the special Providence of God is often cloudy is seldom so clear that without great heed and confideration we can perceive it But however to do so is plainly our duty and therefore possible For our Reason was not given us to be idle upon so important occasions or that we should be as brute Spectatours of what God doeth He surely in the Governance of his noblest creature here discovereth his Being and displayeth his Attributes we therefore carefully should observe it He thereby and no otherwise in a publick way doth continually speak and signifie to us his mind and fit it is that we his subjects should hear should attend to the least intimations of his pleasure To him thence glory should accrue the which who but we can render and that we may render it we must know the grounds of it In fine for the support of God's Kingdom for upholding the reverence due to his administration of Justice among us it is requisite that by apparent dispensation of recompences Duty should be encouraged and Disobedience checked very foolish therefore we must be if we regard not such dispensations So Reason dictateth and Holy Scripture more plainly declareth our obligation to consider and perceive God's doings To doe so is recommended to us as a singular point of wisedom whose is wise and will observe these things they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth Who is wise and he shall understand these things prudent and he shall know them For the ways of the Lord are right c. We are vehemently provoked thereto Understand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise They are reproved for neglect and defailance who do not regard the work of the Lord nor the operation of his hand The not discerning Providence is reproached as a piece of shameful folly A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand and of woful pravity O ye hypocrites ye can discern the face of the Skie but how is it that ye cannot discern this time To contemplate and study Providence is the practice of Good men I will meditate on all thy works saith the Psalmist chiefly respecting works of this kind and The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein It is a fit matter of Devotion warranted by the practice of good men to implore God's manifestation of his Justice and Power this way O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy self lift up thy self thou
Providence may signifie lightness to father on God the mischiefs issuing from our sin and folly may savour of profaneness but to ascribe every grand and beneficial event unto his good Hand hath ever been reputed wisdom and justice It hath been saith Balbus in Cicero a common opinion among the Ancients that what-ever did bring great benefit to mankind was never done without Divine goodness toward men And well may they deem so seeing to doe so is most agreeable to his nature and appertaining to his charge and may appear to be so by good argumentation à priori For that God doth govern our affairs may be deduced from his essential Attributes and consequently that he doth in especial manner order these things which are the most proper and worthy objects of his governance God indeed doth not disregard any thing he watcheth over the least things by his general and ordinary Providence so that nothing in nature may deviate from its course or transgress the bounds prescribed to it He thereby cloathes the grass of the field He provideth for the raven his food and the young lions seek their meat from him without his care a sparrow doth not fall to the ground by it all the hairs of our head are numbred But his more special hand of Providence is chiefly imployed in managing affairs of great moment and benefit to mankind and peculiarly those which concern his people who do profess to worship and serve him whose welfare he tendreth with more then ordinary care and affection He therefore hath a main stroke in all revolutions and changes of State he presideth in all great counsels and undertakings in the waging of war in the settlement of peace in the dispensation of victory and good success He is peculiarly interested in the protection of Princes the chief Ministers of his Kingdom and in preservation of his people the choice object of his care from violent invasions and treacherous surprises so as to prevent disasters incident or to deliver from them It is he that as the Psalmist saith doth give Salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword It is he that continually keepeth Israel without ever sleeping or slumbering who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof who is in the midst of her that she shall not be moved who hath declared that he will help her and that right early that he will not cast off his people nor forsake his inheritance that no weapon formed against his Church shall prosper that salvation belongeth to the Lord and his blessing is upon his people When therefore any remarkable event highly conducing to the publick good of Church of state supporting them in a good condition or rescuing them from imminent danger doth appear it is most reasonable and most just to ascribe the accomplishment thereof to God's Hand When any pernicious enterprize levelled against the safety of Prince and people is disappointed it is fit we should profess and say The righteous Lord hath hewen the snares of the ungodly in pieces 4. Another like mark of special Providence is the Righteousness of the case or the advantage springing from events unto the maintenance of Right the vindication of Innocence the defence of Truth the encouragement of Piety and Vertue God naturally is the Judge of right the Guardian of innocence the Patron of truth and Promoter of goodness The Lord is a refuge to the oppressed He is a Father of the fatherless and a Judg of the widow He will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor He executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed He blesseth the righteous and compasseth him with favour as with a shield He preserveth the souls of the righteous and delivereth them out of the hand of the ungodly All his Paths are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies When-ever therefore Right is oppressed or perillously invaded when Innocence is grossly abused or sorely beset when Piety is fiercely opposed or cunningly undermined when good men for the profession of Truth or the practice of Vertue are persecuted or grievously threatned with mischief then may we presume that God is not unconcerned nor will prove backward to reach forth his succour And when accordingly we find that sig nal aid or deliverance do then arrive it is most reasonable to suppose that God particularly hath engaged himself and exerted his power in their behalf For seeing it is his proper and peculiar work seeing it most becometh and behoveth him to appear in such cases affording his helpful countenance when he doth it we should be ready to acknowledge it In such a case The hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies saith the Prophet 5. Another character is the Correspondence of Events to the Prayers and desires of good men For seeing it is the duty and constant practice of good men in all exigencies to implore God's help seeing such Prayers have as S. James telleth us a mighty energy it being God's property by them to be moved to impart his powerful assistence seeing God most plainly and frequently hath declared and obliged himself by promise that he will hear them so as to perform what-ever is expedient in their behalf seeing we have many notable experiments recorded in Scripture as those of Asa Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Elias Daniel and the like of Prayer bringing down wonderful effects from Heaven with which the testimonies of all times and the daily experience of good men do conspire seeing the presumption of such efficacy is the main ground and encouragement of Devotion we have great reason whenever Events are answerable to such Prayers to ascribe the performance of them to God's Hand great reason we have in such cases to cry out with David Now know I that the Lord saveth his Anointed he will hear him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand just cause have we according to his pattern thankfully to acknowledge God's favour in answering our petitions The King said he shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce For thou hast given him his heart's desire and hast not withholden the requests of his lips 6. Again The proceedings of God especially in way of judgment or of dispensing rewards and punishments discover their original by their kind and countenance which usually do bear a near resemblance or some significant correspondence to the actions upon which they are grounded Punishments saith a Father are the forced off-springs of willing faults and answerably Rewards are the children of good deeds and God who formeth both doth commonly order it so that the children in their complexion and features shall resemble their Parents So that the deserts
judgments O Lord. For thou Lord art high above all the Earth It is to them ground of exceeding comfort to receive so clear pledges of God's Love and Favour his Truth and Fidelity his Bounty and Munificence toward them expressed in such watchful care over them such protection in dangers such aid in needs such deliverance from mischiefs vouchsafed to them Such Benefits they cannot receive from God's hand without that chearfulness which always doth adhere to gratitude I will saith David sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me Because thou hast been my helper therefore in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoyce My lips shall greatly rejoyce in thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble and hast known my Soul in adversities The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them They are also greatly refreshed with apprehension of the happy fruits sprouting from such dispensations of Providence such as are the Benefit of mankind the Peace and prosperity of the Civil State the Preservation settlement enlargement advancement of God's Church the support of Right the succour of Innocence the maintenance of Truth the encouragement and furtherrance of Piety the restraint of Violence the discountenance of Errour the correction of Vice and Impiety In these things they as faithful servants of God and real friends of Goodness as bearing hearty good will and compassion to mankind as true lovers of their Country as living and sensible members of the Church cannot but rejoyce Seeing by these things their own best interest which is no other then the advantage of Goodness their chief honour which consists in the promotion of Divine Glory their truest content which is placed in the prosperity of Sion are highly furthered how can they look on them springing up without great delight and complacence O saith the Psalmist sing unto the Lord for he hath done marvellous things He hath remembred his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God And Sing O heavens cryeth the Prophet and be joyful O earth and break forth into singing O ye mountains for the Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted And When saith he ye shall see this the comfort of God's people your heart shall rejoyce and your bones shall flourish like an herb and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies Even in the frustration of wicked designs attended with severe execution of vengeance on the contrivers and abettours of them they may have a pleasant satisfaction they must then yeild a chearful applause to Divine Justice The righteous saith the Psalmist shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance and Let the wicked saith he perish at the presence of God but let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Whence at God's infliction of Judgement upon Babylon it is said in Jeremy Then the heaven and the earth and all that is therein shall sing for Babylon and at the fall of Mystical Babylon in the Apocalyps 't is likewise said Rejoye over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her Farther V. The next Duty prescribed to good men in such cases is to trust in God that is to have their affiance in God upon all such like occasions in all urgencies of need settled improved and corroborated thereby This indeed is the proper end immediately regarding us of God's special Providence disclosing it self in any miraculous or in any remarkable way to nourish in wel-disposed minds that Faith in God which is the root of all Piety and ground of Devotion Such experiments are sound arguments to perswade good men that God doth govern and order things for their best advantage they are powerful incentives driving them in all exigencies to seek God's help they are most convincing evidences that God is abundantly able very willing and ever ready to succour them They saith the Psalmist that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee And I saith he will abide in thy tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy wings For thou O God hast heard my vows thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy It is indeed a great aggravation of diffidence in God that having tasted and seen that the Lord is good having felt so manifest experience of Divine goodness having received so notable pledges of God's favourable inclination to help us we yet will not rely upon him As a friend who by signal instances of kindness hath assured his good will hath great cause of offence if he be suspected of unwillingness in a needful season to afford his relief so may God most justly be displeased when we notwithstanding so palpable demonstration of his kindness by distrusting him do in effect question the sincerity of his friendship or the constancy of his goodness toward us VI. Good men upon such occasions should glory All the upright in heart shall glory Should glory that is in contemplation of such Providences feeling sprightly elevations of mind and transports of affection they should exhibit triumphant demonstrations of satisfaction and alacrity It becometh them not in such cases to be dumpish or demure but jocund and crank in their humour brisk and gay in their looks pleasantly flippant and free in their speech jolly and debonair in their behaviour every way signifying the extream complacency they take in God's doing and the full content they taste in their state They with solemn exultation should triumph in such events as in victories atchieved by the glorious Hand of God in their behalf in approbation of their cause in favour toward their persons for their great benefit and comfort They may not as proudly assuming to themselves the glory due to God but as gratefully sensible of their felicity springing from God's favour se jactare se laudibus efferre as the Hebrew word doth signifie that is in a sort boast and commend themselves as very happy in their relation to God by virtue of his protection and aid They may not with a haughty insolence or wanton arrogance but with a sober confidence and chearfulness insult upon baffled impiety by their expressions and demeanour upbraiding the folly the baseness the impotency and wretchedness thereof in competition with the wisedom in opposition to the power of God their friend and patron For such carriage in such cases we have the practice and the advice of the Psalmist to warant and direct
and fat by digesting the thin air with what regard then shall his free and faithful advice be entertained Shall not his moderate confidence be accounted impudence his open sincerity of speech be styled unmannerly presumption his minding others of their duty adjudged a forgetfulness of his own condition or a disorderly transgressing the due limits thereof If he be not ashamed of the truth will not the truth be ashamed of him Shall he not prejudice more by the meanness of his garb then further by the force of his reason that good cause which he maintains Will men respect his words whose person they despise will they be willingly counselled or patiently reproved by him whom they esteem yea whom they plainly see so much their inferiour No the same words which proceed from the mouths of men in eminent dignity are not the same when they are uttered by those of base degree Weak and ineffectual are the most eloquent harangues of beggarly Oratours obscure like themselves and unobserved the most notable dictates of poor mercenary pedants The authority of the speaker doth usually more incline then the weight of the matter It was the observation of the wise Son of Sirach When a rich man slips he hath many helpers he speaketh things not to be spoken and yet men justifie him the poor man miscarried and they farther rebuked him he spake discreetly and yet could have no place When a rich man speaketh every man holdeth his tongue and his words they extol to the clouds but if a poor man speak they say Who is this and if he stumble they will help to overthrow him And Solomon himself notes the same The poor man's wisedom is despised and his words are not heard Not onely those that swell with pride and swim in plenty but even the meanest of the people will be apt to contemn his instructions whom they perceive in few or no circumstances of life to excell them If the Preacher's condition be not as well as his Pulpit somewhat elevated above the lowest station few will hear him fewer mind his words very few obey him Job's Case deserves well to be considered While he flourished in wealth and reputation all men attended to his counsell and admired his discourse The Princes saith he resrained talking and laid their hand on their mouth The Nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth When the ear heard me then it blessed me and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me Unto me men gave ear and waited and kept silence at my counsel After my words they spake not again and my speech dropped upon them So officiously attentive were all men to Job in his prosperity But when the scale was turn'd and he became depressed in estate no man minded either him or his discourse except it were to despise and scorn both But now saith he they that are younger then I have me in dirision whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock I am their song yea I am their by-word They abhor me they fly far from me and spare not to spit in my face Because he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me If Job a person who so equally and moderately yea so humbly and courteously and bountifully used his prosperity as we find he did was notwithstanding in his adversity so generally slighted and abhorred what shall their lot be who never enjoyed those advantages what regard shall their wholsome advice find what efficacy their most pathetical exhortations obtain what passion their faint breath raise in mens benummed hearts No more certainly then their mean condition shall procure among men either of friendship or esteem We see therefore how Almighty God that he might conciliate credit unto and infuse a persuasive energy into the words of his Prophets and Apostles was pleased to dignifie them with extraordinary gifts of foretelling future events and doing miraculous works their Doctrine it seems though of it self most reasonable and plausible being not sufficient to convince the hearers without some remarkable excellency in the Teachers challenging the people's awful regard and exciting their attention Otherwise how pitifully-scant a draught those poor fishers of men had caught by the common allurements only of innocent life and rational discourse I leave you to imagine And where such extraordinary commendations are wanting is it not reasonable that the need of them should be supplied by ordinary and probable expedients I might further add how a necessitous and despicable estate doth commonly not onely disturb the mindes and deject the spirits of men but distempereth also their Souls and viciateth their manners rendring them not onely sad and anxious slavish and timorous but greedy also and covetous peevish and mutinous rude and ignorant engages them in sordid company and tempts them to unworthy courses From which one cause how scandalous effects and how prejudicial to the Churche's both honour and safety have proceeded I need not for to say since wofull experience too loudly proclaims it I might adde more-over that the Priests do confer to the good of the State which is secured and advanced by the sincere instruction of men in duties of Obedience Justice and Fidelity and by maintenance of good Conscience among men So that if things be rightly considered it will be hard to find a better Commonwealths-man then a good Minister Seeing therefore the good of the Church upon various accounts is so much concerned in the Priests encouragement welfare and respect 't is very fitting they should have them Which Consideration I conclude with that serious Admonition of the Apostle to the Hebrews wherein the substance of what hath been spoken on this point is contained Obey your Rulers or Guides and submit to them for they watch for your Souls as they that are to give an account that they may do it with joy and not with complaint for this is unprofitable for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for this pays no taxes quits no scores turns to no account is no-wise advantageous for you but rather for there is a Miosis in those words is hurtfull and detrimental to you But farther III. Common Equity and the Reason of the Case exacts that Safety competent Subsistence and fitting respect be allowed to the Priests If you consider their Personal qualities who I pray do commonly better deserve those advantages then they Those qualities I say which result from a liberal a sober a modest Education in the Schools of Wisedom and under the influences of good Discipline If Birth that is at best an imaginary relation to the gallantry of an Ancestour entitle men to Honour if the cheap favours of Fortune be so highly prized and admired if Riches that is the happy results of industry in trivial matters do easily purchase respect what may they not pretend to whose constant and not always unsuccesful endeavour it