A SERMON Preached at the Meeting of Protestant Dissenters CALLED QUAKERS IN Turners-Hall LONDON On the 16th of the Second Month 1696. Being the Publick Day of Thanksgiving For the Deliverance of the King and Kingdom By GEORGE KEITH To which is added a Testimony of Fidelity and Subjection to King WILLIAM the III. from the aforesaid People on behalf of themselves and others of the same Perswasion with them LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil 1696. Isaiah xxxviii xix The Living the Living he shall praise thee as I do this Day Compared with Psal 18. 46 c. IT is a certain Testimony which the Holy Scripture gives concerning those that praise God according to the Words of that good King Hezekiah a Faithful Servant of the Lord For the Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth How is this to be understood Do not the Deceased Saints Praise God Yes certainly they do to wit their Souls and Spirits which die not Though their Bodies die their Souls Praise God Who then are these Dead which the Scripture testifies do not Praise God I Answer such as are dead in their Sins and Trespasses for Sin hath brought that Spiritual Death over Men and Women that they are not capable to Praise God nor serve him any manner of way acceptably till he breath upon them and quicken them by his Living Breathings and by that Living Vertue and Power which proceeds from him Now Holy David was very sensible of this when he saith in that excellent Psalm The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted That Man or Woman that can say this The Lord liveth from a true inward and Spiritual Sense of his Living Power and Presence that hath quickened them and made them alive made them sensible of his Power and Mercy of his great Deliverance and Preservation these are only fit to say Blessed be my Rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted But alas How few are there in comparison that can speak these words in sincerity of Heart and from true experience The Lord liveth Those that can speak it in an acceptable way from true experience they know the Revelation of Gods mighty Arm and living Power in their Hearts and Souls They know that the Lord is the only Living and True God There is no other God like to him The Idols of the Nations are false Gods The Psalmist speaks thus of them The Idols of the Heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not They have ears but they hear not neither is there any breath in their mouths They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them But David's God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he is the True and Living God Dead Idols can neither do good nor evil but God is a present Help in trouble God is the Living and True God they that have an Inward Sense and Experience of his Mighty Power that hath quickened them and made them alive they alone can praise him in an acceptable manner Those that are under the Power of Sin and under its Reign and Government they are under the Power of Death and the Dead cannot praise him Death reigneth over them Spiritual Death Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Death began from Adam God made him upright and in Innocency Death reigned from his Fall and Transgression when he transgressed the Commandment of the Lord. So now I desire you well to ponder and consider this great and weighty Testimony of the Holy Scripture who these are that are capable to praise God for his Mercies Deliverances and Preservations Those that he hath made alive and quickened those that can say from true Experience The Lord liveth and can call him their Rock and can say with the Psalmist Blessed be my Rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted And as he speaks in the beginning of this Psalm The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my Buckler the horn of my Salvation and my high Towre I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine Enemies And the Psalmist saith in another place Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Praise is comely for the Righteous It is as a beautiful and comely Garment it is an Ornament to them but it is as improper for the Unrighteous and for Wicked and Ungodly Persons as it is to take a Dead Carcase full of Stench and Corruption and cloth it with a rich and beautiful Garment so improper and uncomely is Praise and Thanksgiving in the Mouth of a Wicked and ungodly Person The Scripture gives no Allowance to such as are altogether unfit to Rejoyce and Praise the Lord they are called to mourn and weep and to be humbled for their Sins But some may object and say Is it not an universal Duty of all Men to praise the Lord Yes if they will forsake their Sins and turn to the Lord as the Prophet speaks Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Then the Lord will accept of a Sacrifice of Praise Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment c. Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll Then he will allow them to come into his presence and to speak unto him and to offer him praise for his Mercies Now there is this thing further that I would recommend to your serious Consideration Look through the whole Scripture and you shall find it hath been the manner and way of Gods People to praise him not only in general daily and constantly for his Mercies Favours Preservations and Deliverances but upon every New Occasion upon the receiving of any Extraordinary Mercies Blessings Preservations or Deliverances from Dangers and from Violence designed and threatned to Praise and Solemnly bless the Lord with Cordial Thanksgiving and we are to set Time apart for this Work and to excite and stir up our selves to magnifie and praise the Lord. Thus Holy David excites and stirs up himself to praise the Lord and prays to the Lord to quicken him Great are thy tender mercies O Lord quicken me according to
name which none know but them that have it It is a great folly in many Men that will argue so much about Perfection as if they had attained to Perfection and were already perfect when it may be they know little of it or are scarce advanced a few steps towards it It is as if a Child of three or four Years old should dispute and quarrel about the Perfection of a Man come to a full age and about the Wisdom and Strength of such a one as an Infant under age is not in a capacity to understand these things no more can many that talk so much of Perfection judge of the experiences of grown and eminent Christians The Apostle saith concerning such I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one VVe cannot attain to this high degree of praising the Lord with a perfect heart and a raised and heavenly mind as becomes those that sing the high Praises of God till the body of Sin in a great measure be destroyed mortified and crucified in us that Sin may not have dominion but that as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The motions of Sin in the Flesh are like a Rebel in a Country well governed There may be some Rebels in a Princes Country that is well governed and they may seek to do mischief so it is with some in whom a good work is begun he hath a Law in his Members that wars against the Law of his Mind to bring him into Captivity to the Law of Sin yet there is in him something that is good so that the Reign and Government of Sin is opposed and resisted and Sin hath not Dominion over him It is a good and blessed State a Man is in when he resists and strives against Sin to get the Blood of Sin he will resist Sin unto Blood to get the Blood of Sin Ye have not yet resisted unto blood saith the Apostle striving against sin There have been those that have resisted unto Blood not to shed the Blood of Mankind but have laid down their Lives in the Cause of God and have Sealed their Testimony with their own Blood and have witnessed against Popery and the damnable Heresies of the Church of Rome with the expence of their own Blood VVe have cause to bless God for those that are gone before us that have broke the Ice and prepared our way for us VVe have cause to bless the Lord that hath the hearts of Kings in his hands and turneth them as the Rivers of VVater Blessed be God that so inclined the Heart of the King and those in Authority that all in this Nation and all the three Nations that are Sober and Godly and of tender Consciences may enjoy the happy Freedom and Liberty to serve and VVorship God according to their Faith and Perswasion This is that God hath graciously vouchsafed to us which is a Marvellous and Signal Mercy never to be forgotten O how would we have prized this Mercy and Liberty some Years since when we could not meet and assemble together without great hazard and suffering when many were haled to Prison and many knocked down and had their Blood shed when they came together for the VVorship of God O that we could truly apply to our selves the Words of Holy David and say The Lord delivered us because he delighted in us He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me He brough me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me O that we could say that God hath delivered the KING and the whole Nation because he delighted in us and hath taken pleasure in us It may be said so concerning some I would to the Lord it might be so said concerning many among us David saith further in the following words The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity This is a very high strain of David he mentions his Innocency with respect to Saul we have it thus expressed in the title of the Psalm David the Servant of the Lord spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul David was proclaimed by Saul a Traytor and a Rebel Poor David Little David when he was a Shepherd little thought that he should be the King of that great Kingdom and after he was anointed King he did not conspire against Saul that pursued him for his Life as a Rebel but David was innocent with reference to him therefore he saith The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness and according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me This is not to be understood as if David relied upon his own Works or Merits but he had a Testimony in his own heart and the Lords Spirit bare him witness that he was Innocent with respect to Saul and the Lord accounted him Innocent he suffered for his sake The Lord chose him to be King without any Plotting or Contriving and David was tender of Saul he did not take the opportunity to slay Saul when some would have perswaded him But then there is an observable word which David speaks I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine Iniquity A strange word may some say How did he keep himself from his Iniquity The opening of this may be of use and service to some here It is thus to be understood David tho he was a good Man yet he did find and was conscious to himself that there was a Principle of Iniquity which lay very near to him to tempt him to Sin and to some particular Sin more than to others which he calls mine Iniquity he was not so careful and watchful afterwards when he came to be settled in the Kingdom He was not so watchful over his Heart as to keep himself from that principle of Lust that was remaining in him you know what appeared and brake out in the case of Bathsheba he walked upon the top of his Palace and was gazing abroad he was not upon his Guard did not keep his Watch and his Iniquity got Victory over him but before this happened when he was vigilant and jealous over himself with a godly Jealousie he could say I have kept my self from mine Iniquity this Expression declares to us thus much that he had some particular Sin that he had need to watch against he had some particular Enemy near to him according to those words of our Blessed Lord A Man's
greatest enemies are those of his own house So it was in this case David's worst Enemies were those of his own House he did not watch and keep his guard against them in the time of his Prosperity when he was advanced to the Crown and Scepter of Judah and Israel and his Enemies subdued under him after God had delivered him from the Hands of all his Enemies he should have kept himself from his Iniquity as he had done formerly when Saul hunted and pursued him as a Partridge upon the Mountains Men and Women commonly have some particular Sin and Lust which in a peculiar manner they may call their own Iniquity It is Voluptuousness and the love of Carnal Pleasure in some Ambition and Pride in others and Envy and Malice in some and Covetousness which is Idolatry in others Therefore let not Men Flatter and Deceive themselves and think that there is nothing of the Seed and Principle of Sin remaining in their Flesh I have heard of the Saying of a choice Christian a worthy Woman she had long experienced a blessed State of nearness to God I have heard a Person say that had it from her own Mouth that for the space of some Years the Grace of God did shine in her as the Sun at Noon-Day It was a constant thing with her to walk with God the whole Day from her rising up to her lying down and she enjoyed a lively sense of the Love of God and the Consolations of his Holy Spirit But it pleased the Lord afterwards to hide his Face and then she was troubled yet God did not utterly leave her for she Died a good Christian But He did withdraw and with-held from her those sensible Joys and Consolations she had rasted and felt in Communion with Him some have heard her say When it was so with me that the Light of God's Countenance was lifted up upon me and he had put gladness into my Heart I thought there was no Sin had any place or room in me but after those refreshing Joys and sensible Consolations were removed and the Lord did hide his Face from me who hath promised he will not utterly forsake his People whose Faithfulness doth engage him never finally to leave them tho' for some time he may seem to Desert them when I had said she those wonderful Joys and refreshings from the presence of the Lord I thought Sin had been quite gone but afterward I found it was but driven into a corner Many that think they are come to high Attainments may say For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing O wretched Creature that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I my self serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin The Work that God hath appointed to every Christian is like the work of a Gardener Dressing his Garden we are so to manage our Hearts and order our Conversations and Cultivate our selves that we may be as a Watered Garden to the Lord. A Dresser of a Garden must take great pains and labour hard to make it Fruitful if he doth not diligently and constantly employ himself Weeds will be springing up and hinder the growth of the Herbs and Flowers therefore the Gardener must lay his Hands to it and pluck up the noxious Weeds that they may not spread and spoil and overrun the Garden So we must labour and take pains with our Hearts and Souls I remember it was a saying of Bernard in a Letter which he wrote to some of his Friends Let your Soul be continually in your Hands as David said my soul is continually in my hands that is in a way of reliance and giving it up into the Hands of the Lord. But Bernard when he saith Let your Soul be continually in your Hands he means thus Let your Soul be continually washing and cleansing every Day more and more that you may be purified and kept unspotted from the World If we have a spot or speck upon a Garment we will take pains to rubit out And thus it ought to be with every one of us let our Souls be continually in our Hands let us be dressing our Hearts continually and keep them with all keeping keep them with all Diligence for out of them are the Issues of Life keep your Hearts with all keeping and our Lord Christ will refresh you with his Living Water as he told the Woman of Samaria Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of Water springing up unto everlasting Life There is a great Mystery in this God for Christ's sake and through Christ Jesus hath placed in us an inward principle of Divine Life We are oft refreshed with the Streams of this Living Spring that flows within us reviving us with the sense of the Love of God What is it that oft hinders this Well from springing up in us but the dirt and rubbish of Sin The Philistines stopped the VVells that Abraham and Isaac's Servants had Digged but they unstopped them again that the VVaters might spring up Let us keep our Hearts clear from the dirt and rubbish of Sin that this VVell may spring up in us to Everlasting Life VVhen our Saviour was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come He answer'd them and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation Neither shall ye say Lo here or lo there for behold the kingdom of God is within you Yet they were bad Men and Hypocrites It was in them as a very little Seed it was in them as if it were not in them as the Man that had one Talent he had it as if he had it not he did no good with it our Lord called him wicked and slothful Servant and said Take therefore the Talent from him and give it unto him which had ten talents For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath A Covetous Man wants what he hath as if he had it not Christ Jesus is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World I dissent from them that speak slightly of that Light which reproves Sin in the Consciences of Men and Women God hath put his Law in Mens Hearts and as the Great Law-giver he hath written it there with his own Finger and the Gentiles that have not the Law are a Law to themselves for if God had not writ his Law in all Mens Hearts they would have no sin where no Law is there is no Transgression God also writes his Laws in the Hearts of true Believers and softens their Hearts to take the impression of it but every Unbeliever and unconverted Man and Woman hath a