A SERMON PREACHED Before the King Queen AT WHITE-HALL In November 1692. By WILLIAM JANE D.D. Dean of Gloucester and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties Published by their MAJESTIES Command OXFORD Printed at the THEATER for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard London 1692. PSAL. CXIX 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments THE Prophet David spends this whole Psalm partly in recounting his own misfortunes partly in magnifying the study and meditation of God's Law as the greatest comfort and refreshment that he met with in all his distresses and persecutions He enlarges throughout upon the excellency the necessity and advantages thereof that the true and only felicity of man attainable in this life depends upon it and that so great was the satisfaction so chearful the reflections he derived from it that all the pressures and afflictions of the world were not able to make him miserable He frequently declares the high esteem and value that he had for it his stedfast resolutions to continue and persevere in the observance of it together with a constant intermixture of his earnest and fervent Prayers for Gods Grace and assistance to enable him so to doe In this verse we have a noble expression of an Holy and Couragious resolution flowing from the conviction of his Judgment and deeply rooted in his heart I have sworn and I will perform it or as the other translation has it I have sworn and am steadfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgments i. e. By my admission into the number of thy people I am entered into a solemn Sacramental Covenant to perform obedience to thy Commands Hammond in loc I do now acknowledge my self indispensably engaged to thy Service and withal renew my vows and resolutions never to depart from it The only inference I shall make from the words at present shall be only to shew of what great use benefit and advantage it is in the business of religion to lay down fixed and steady resolutions to undertake it and to pursue the designs of it with the whole bent and bias of the Soul And thus we find the Saints in Scripture have usually devoted themselves to the service of their God Thus David in another place my heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Ps 57.7 Thus Mattathias 1. Mac. 2.19 Tho all the Nations under the Kings Dominions shall fall every one from the Religion of their Fathers yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the Covenant of our Fathers Thus those in Jer. 51.5 Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten And this Barnabas recommends to the Converts at Antioch Acts 11. 23. that with full purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. A certain velleity a languid and incomplete will some zealous pang of devotion may be discern'd in Ahab and Herod Balaam and Agrippa I am almost perswaded to be a Christian says one and O that I might dye the death of the righteous says another but they were still destitute of the true foundation of religion a strong firm and well bottomed resolution they had not wrought their hearts to the Psalmists conclusion I have sworn and am steadfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgments In discoursing of this point I shall shew First What is required to the forming a firm and settled resolution Secondly The great moment and importance of such a resolution in the business of religion And 1. of the First of these what is required to the forming a firm and settled resolution And here first it is requisite that it be the result and issue of a mature and serious deliberation Now deliberation is an act or exercise of the practical Judgment or understanding employ'd and set on work by the will to consult and debate the proper means conducible to the end together with a due weighing and ballancing the several conveniencies and inconveniencies that attend them This is the work of deliberation in general and is of very great moment throughout all the actions of our lives In the present Case it is a thorow and impartial consideration of the Duties and difficulties of Religion the pleasures of sin for a season and the bitterness of them in the event and issue a due comparing of rewards and punishments the present and the future the sweetness of a good Conscience and the torments of a bad the beauties of virtue and the deformity of sin the shortness of time and the length of Eternity till upon a fair representation of the whole Series of things to our own minds we have at length brought the debate to this determination that all the advantage lies on the side of religion that the reward of obedience has infinitly more weight to perswade than all the hardships we must grapple with have to dishearten and discourage us that there is no proportion between a moment and eternity and that all the pleasures profits and honours of the World are of no account at all when they are laid in the ballance with the everlasting concerns of our immortal Souls This method of the workings of our own minds in forming a setled resolution Divines have very fitly represented by Joshuas dealing with the Children of Israel Jos 24. where he summons the people together and plainly sets before them the great obligations they lay under to forsake all strange Gods and faithfully adhere to the Worship and Service of the God of Israel He represents to them on the one hand what great things God had done for them and what greater things he would still doe if they continued steadfast in his Covenant On the other hand he acquaints them with the difficulty of God's Service the accurate purity and strictness which was required for the performance v. 19. Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an Holy God To this he adds the dreadful Judgments he would bring upon them in case they should transgress his Covenant and goe and serve other Gods for he is a jealous God he will not pardon your transgressions nor your sins And at last after a great many arguments to this purpose and those repeated and inculcated to make the stronger impression upon their minds he refers the matter to their own choice v. 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve Not that he hereby set them perfectly at liberty as if it were a matter indifferent whether they serv'd God or Idols For his whole design had bin hitherto to confirm them and their posterity for ever in the worship of the true God and in Case they had revolted from it he would never have suffer'd their Apostacy to go unpunished In the words therefore he eloquently insinuates to them the gross inequality of the Comparison that being stir'd up with indignation at so vile a choice as the preferring dumb
directs the same lesson to the great multitude that follow'd him Luke 14. v. 25. And there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them If any man come unto me and doth not hate his father and mother wife children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me he cannot be Disciple The necessity of this method for the fixing a thorow resolution he there more fully illustrates in two apposite comparisons he that will build a tower must first be able to compute and calculate the charges and the means to defray them otherwise to begin being unable to make an end is to make himself ridiculous to the world of scorners for an unadvised and foolish undertaking A Prince likewise that will go to war must first sit down and consult with himself whether he be sufficiently provided with all necessaries for the expedition whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand Otherwise it will be better for him to keep peace if he have it or being engaged to get it if he can For else he will thrust an advantage into the hands of his enemy and procure nothing but disgrace and poverty to himself The conclusion of there two parables our Saviour repeats again v. 33. So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple i.e. he will never be able to hold out and so had better never pretend to such a glorious profession The sum of which short inference is briefly this that ere we can upon sure grounds resolve upon a religious course or safely proclaim war against Satan it will be necessary to make over all interest in our lives or whatsoever is near and dear to us to love all persons and things less than our Saviour which will then appear when we suffer none of them to make us desert his service or flinch from our purposes and resolutions to obey him When the young man in the Gospel came to Christ to shew him the way to eternal life our Saviour replies sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me Upon this says the text he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions This soon discovered the weakness and insufficiency of his pretended resolution that he had only cheated his own soul with a bare appearance of religion which was not truly seated in his heart for his heart was in his treasure and so he could not endure to think of selling it and entring upon a poor and persecuted religion And this was the case of a great many more besides him and has been the cause of many fearful shipwracks of faith and a good conscience to this day This temper our Saviour has represented by the stony ground in the parable of the sower Matt. 13. Men may receive the doctrine of the Gospel into their hearts with joy but for want of a good soil where it may take deep root for want of an entire resolution to bear whatsoever the Gospel requires of them they last but a little while For tho they seem to thrive and flourish for a while yet assoon as persecution arises because of the Gospel when any chargeable duty is exacted of them immediately they are offended i.e. galled and discouraged from any further progress which notes unto us that when secular interest outweighs duty when Christ is forsaken because of persecution then that imaginary resolution which men before made shew of was not founded in the true motives of religion which are the same at all times nor upon any other ground but such as is contrary to persecution i. e. their secular interests and advantages And then no wonder if the change of their interest alter their resolutions and the same motive which makes men zealous for the temple at Jerusalem be at another time of equal force for the calves of Dan and Bethel But a true Christian resolution is built upon a fixt and immoveable foundation that has no dependance upon times or seasons upon fair or fowl weather and makes a man uniform and constant in his course whatever betides him the same in a storm as in the Sun shine he will receive the word with joy though it be also in much affliction And surely that man much undervalues God and so cannot resolve to serve him as he ought who deems any thing comparable to him or fit to be considered when he comes in competition He that holds his body dear says the Philosopher must count honesty but little worth and it is impossible that a man should earnestly fix his thoughts or settle his resolutions upon the pursuit of things above unless he first wholly take them off from all things here below and be indifferently affected towards all outward comforts and complacencies The whole of this consideration is summ'd up in that comprehensive advice of the wise man My son when thou comest to serve the Lord prepare thy soul for temptation count the cost as our Saviour bids thee forethink the worst of it consider well what thou wilt do when things come to the push and this will be a great help with Gods grace and assistance to plant such a firm resolution of piety and obedience in the bottom of thy heart as shall enable thee to devour all difficulties to break through all discouragements and to hold out manfully till thou hast finisht thy course to the end notwithstanding the fiercest oppositions thou shalt meet with by the way 3. It is requisite to a well grounded resolution that it be entire and comprehensive of our whole duty not taken up in a humour against this or that particular sin but equally set against all known sins and uniformly bent to walk in all the good ways of God without any exception or reservation David is our example here in several places of this Psalm Thus v. 101. I have refrained my self from every evil way that I might keep thy word and v. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments and v. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way The Jews had entertained a corrupt notion among them that God at the last day would put our good works and bad into the balance and according to the heavier scale determine our condition in the world to come so that if the most part of a mans actions were holy and just though in others he sinn'd often yet the greater ingredient should prevail and the bigger number of his observances of the law should outweigh the lesser of his deviations from it Nay some went a great deal further and taught that if a man observed but one command well it was not absolutely necessary that he should keep the rest and
so left men at liberty to take to themselves what part of duty they pleased and let the rest alone But surely a truely religious resolution is founded upon a general and universal reason which takes in all our concerns and equally extends it self to all sins and duties whatsoever And this is one sure way to discover the strength and soundness of mens resolutions in religion This was the Case of Jehu notwithstanding all his flourishing pretences for a thorow reformation He made great shew for a while of Zeal for God and his worship and Jonadab must needs go along with him to see it Come see my Zeal for the Lord of hosts he destroyed Baal and his worship out of Israel very couragiously But he presently discovered the selfish principle that he was acted by For he gave way to the Calves no less abominable in the sight of God and cleav'd to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin The like was the Case of Herod Mark 6.20 He stood in some awe of John knowing him to be a just man and Holy and because he would be esteemed religious and would seem to respect him he heard him often and upon his motion did many good things and it is like enough that he reformed many things amiss which John found fault with either in his Court or in himself So fair a testimony does the Evangelist give him of many specious performances in matters of religion But no sooner was he touch't in that tender point in his Herodias in his darling his reigning sin but the mask of a sudden falls off and he presently discovers the base and corrupt ends of his former zeal and reformation There are many partial principles and ends in men which will oblige them to abstain from some sins and be very careful in some duties as shame of the world the fear of temporal punishment and the hope of temporal advantage the power of custom the influence of education their particular temper and constitution the affectation of popularity and natural ingenuity the terrors of an affrighted conscience and even the antipathy of sins and inconsistency that is often found between one sin and another But if in the mean time there be no Care nor conscience of other sins where there appeareth no influence from these and the like considerations the principle is still defective we are as much under the universal reign and dominion of sin as ever and are far removed from such a resolution as will prove a solid permanent foundation of vertue and religion For it is founded barely in particular reasons and so has no more strength than is derived from them But a true resolution is uniform absolute and universal free from all by and sinister respects all concealed and hypocritical reservations It enables a man to abstain from sin out of an entire hatred of An as such and to yield obedience to the law of God out of a sincere esteem of the authority of the Legislator And therefore he cannot be perswaded to pick and chuse what particular duties to observe such as may be most for his own advantage For he looks upon the whole law of God as one and the same rule impartial constant and unvariable and that it was given us by God to direct our actions and not to be bow'd and accommodated to the lusts and interests of men Satan is well aware of this and so is not much concern'd to see men observant of many duties so long as he holds possession by one single sin This is enough at any time to maintain his authority and secure his interest in the Soul He knows well enough that the cherishing of one lust will corrupt and vitiate all other laudable performances that one Achan could bring a Curse upon the whole Congregation that one sin is enough to ruine us or if it were not yet while he holds that one fast he will quickly make way for a whole Legion to enter in And thus I have shown what things are required for the forming a religious resolution It remains that I add a word or two of what great use and moment it is in the business of religion And 1st a resolution thus framed will have a powerful influence over the whole Soul to keep it fixt and intent upon its duty to engage all the faculties thereof to proceed immediately to act according to their respective offices and apply and put forth their forces with vigor and constancy for the attainment of that end which it has fixt and determin'd to its self As we see in other resolutions when a man resolvedly intends his profit pleasure advancement or whatever state in this life how doth it set the whole man at work 't will employ all his thoughts his cares his endeavors 't is the business of his parts his study his whole life to pursue it he sticks at nothing that may promote or further his design he spares no pains neglects no means that may tend to compass it all the powers of Soul and Body yield a chearful obedience to this commanding resolution The like effect we should perceive in the business of religion if men were but as earnest resolute and intent upon it as upon their worldly advantages and satisfactions For were our wills fixt to it did our affections concenter in it how eager should we be in the pursuit how lively and vigorous in our actions and performances for then it would be nothing more but following the natural tendences of our own Souls to act suitably to our tempers and inclinations our duty would become our choice and our delight and 't would be force and violence to be drawn from it So that if once we are arriv'd thus far that virtue is become the matter of our firm purposes and resolutions when the heart is set upon it it will sweeten all our Cares make all our labours easy and natural breath life and Spirit into our works and actions For it has won the principle that commands them all as the spring of a watch imparts a motion to all the wheels of it And therefore Deut. 26.17 we find this to be the great argument which Moses presses upon the men of Israel Thou hast voucht the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his waves and to keep his statutes his Commandments and his Judgments and to hearken to his voice He thought this a mighty enforcement of the obligation they lay under that they had then resolved upon it they had plighted their fidelity and engaged their truth to God so that the very shame of being false to such an avowed solemn resolution should oblige them even in point of honour to make it good For this is evident that resolution with its own strength would be able to effect that for want whereof the greatest part of mankind prove so often successess in their undertakings We see by experience the force of it in other