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A57234 A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London at the Guildhall-Chappel, September XVII, 1682 by Joshua Richardson ... Richardson, Joshua, 1649 or 50-1733. 1682 (1682) Wing R1389; ESTC R11880 10,424 34

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all manner of Fraud and Trick deceives and imposes upon and oppresses no Man and does nothing but what he can honestly stand to and justify and modestly own without a Blush Secondly Righteousness is used in Scripture in a more large and comprehensive sense as it takes in our whole Duty and includes whatever we are oblig'd to perform towards God our Neighbour or our Selves all Duty being properly Righteousness and so it comprehends all manner of Virtue and Piety Holiness and Sanctity To this purpose Deut. 9.4 5. Moses dissuading the People from a vain Opinion of their own Merit and the humour of attributing their Successes and Victories to any thing in themselves words it after this manner Speak not thou in thy heart after the Lord thy God hath cast them i. e. the Canaanites out from before thee saying For my Righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess this Land Not for thy Righteousness or the Vprightness of thy Heart doest thou go to possess their Land but for the Wickedness of these Nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee Where the Righteousness which he forbids them to assume to themselves must be supposed of an equal Latitude to the Wickedness with which he charges those Nations which was not merely their Idolatry or any particular sort of Vice but Wickedness in general And Rom. 6.13 the consecrating our selves entirely to the service of God and leading an holy and pious Life is called A yielding our Members Instruments of Righteousness And again Luke 1.6 Zacharias and Elizabeth having been said to be righteous before God the meaning of that Character appears in the immediately subsequent words viz. Walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless And according to this Acceptation of the word the righteous Man is he that fears God and keeps all his Commandments always that is Devout and Religious Holy and Virtuous and doth herein exercise himself to have always a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards Men. Now though it be true that Righteousness taken in the stricter sense for the Exercise of Justice and Honesty does highly contribute to and is indeed a necessary Instrument of the Maintenance and Support the Benefit and Advantage of Civil Societies yet because in the latter part of the Verse mention is made of Sin indefinitely and universally that the Opposition may be entire I presume the Righteousness set against it ought to be understood in the like Latitude Having said thus much towards the Explication of the Righteousness here mentioned and fixed that Notion of it which I conceive most agreeable to the Design and Import of my Text I proceed II. To make out each of the Assertions contained therein And First That Righteousness exalteth a Nation Now so far forth as any thing tends to make a Nation prosperous and wealthy and formidable so far it likewise contributes to exalt their Honour and Renown and that the exercise of an Universal Righteousness has a Tendency towards the former will appear in the following Particulars First In that it entitles them to the particular and extraordinary Favour of God Secondly In that it preserves their Union and Agreement among themselves Thirdly In that it removes the Grounds and Occasions of Fears and Apprehensions of Danger from abroad Fourthly In that it comprehends the practice of all those things that have a Moral Efficiency towards the producing the Honour of a Nation First The exercise of Universal Righteousness entitles a Nation to the particular and extraordinary Favovr of God and secures him on their side as a Bulwark and Defence a Patron and Benefactour to them Holiness and Justice and Goodness and Truth are the Perfections of the Deity and by imitating these we become like to God himself and are followers of him as dear Children resembling their Parents in Feature and Disposition we have the Similitude and Image of God renew'd upon us and are made Partakes of a Divine Nature And being so we have all the reason in the World to believe that God is very much delighted and pleased with us and has a peculiar concern and regard for us of which we may be assured to find the happy Effects For likeness is the Cause and Ground of Love and for the same reason that he loves himself viz. because he is Holy and Righteous Good and Beneficent c. he does certainly love those that imitate him in these Perfections The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his Eyes will with Complacency behold the upright Psal 11.7 So long as a Nation continue to be his People not only upon the unalienable Right of Dominion which he has over all his Creatures but by a voluntary Resignation and Surrender of themselves to be govern'd by his Laws so long they may hope upon good grounds that He will be Their God and accordingly exercise an especial and particular Providence over them They shall not only be partakers in common with the rest of Mankind of those Emanations of Divine Goodness that are diffused and scattered through all the World but the Rayes of it shall be contracted and fixed upon them They shall live under the warmer Influences of his Bounty and their Preservation be his more immediate Care Indeed it cannot be expected that in a numerous Body of Men every one should prove virtuous but when in a Society the honour of Religion is zealously maintained the public Worship of God strictly kept up Virtue encouraged and rewarded and Vice discountenanced and punish'd so that a general Vein of Piety runs through it these things do mightily advance it in the Divine Favour and the contrary as much depress it Almighty God declares to the Jews and considering that he always loves wisely and without any unaccountable Fondness it will hold good of any other People 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you be with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you And again which though it be in a particular Case yet may I suppose be without any Incongruity applied to a Community 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly regarded Now the Advantages that accrue to any Nation by having attain'd the Divine Favour are apparent and visible in this that he is to such as a Friend and Allie he prospers their State and defends their Cause he blesses and seconds their Endeavours espouses their Interests is a Friend to their Friends and an Enemy to all their Enemies he is their constant Patron and Benefactour and their assured Guardian and Protectour he is always in the midst of them and Encamps himself round about them he encreases their Basket and Store and puts them into such a Condition that they may lend to many Nations and need not borrow and he discovers all the sly Plots and Machinations and defeats all the unjust open Hostilities