hath given us such a Deliverance as this from our Enemies and from the Hand of all that hate us not by using Them as they would have done Us had we fallen under their Power with great Insolence and Rage and Cruelty but with great Moderation and Clemency making as few Examples of Severity as will be consistent with our future security from the like Attempts upon our Religion and Laws And even in the Execution of Justice upon the greatest Offenders let us not give so much countenance to the ill Examples which have been set of Extravagant Fines and Punishments as to imitate those Patterns which with so much reason we abhor no not in the Punishment of the Authors of them And let us endeavour for once to be so wise as not to forfeit the fruits of this Deliverance and to hinder our selves of the benefit and advantage of it by Breaches and Divisions among our selves As we have no reason to desire it so I think we can hardly ever hope to understand Popery better and the Cruel Designs of it than we do already both from the long Trial and Experience which we have had of it in this Nation and likewise from that dismal and horrid View which hath of late been given us of the true Spirit and Temper of it in One of our Neighbour Nations which hath long pretended to the Profession of the most refin'd and moderate Popery in the World but hath now at last shewed it self in its true Colours and in the perfection of a persecuting Spirit and have therein given us a most sad and deplorable Instance of a Religion corrupted and degenerated into that which if it be possible is worse than None And since by the undeserved Mercy of God to us we have upon such easy terms in comparison escap'd their Rage and Fury let us now at length resolve never to join in affinity with the People of these Abominations since our Alliances with them by Marriage have had so fatal an Influence both upon the publick Peace and Tranquility of the Nation and upon the Welfare also of private Families I have known Many Instances of this kind but hardly ever yet saw One that prov'd happy but a great many that have been pernicious and ruinous to those Protestant Families in which such unequal and as I think unlawful Matches have been made Not that such Marriages are void in themselves but yet for all that sinful because of the apparent Danger and Temptation to which those of our Church and Religion that enter into them do evidently expose themselves of being seduc'd from their Religion not by the good Arguments which the other can offer to that purpose but by the ill Arts which they have the Confidence and the Conscience to make use of in the making of Proselytes And let us pay our most hearty and thankful Acknowledgments chiefly and in the first place to Almighty God the Blessed Author of this Deliverance and under Him to that happy Instrument whom God hath been pleased in great pity to this sinful and unworthy Nation to raise up on purpose for it his Highness the Prince of Orange and to that end did in his All-wise Providence lay the Foundation of our then future Deliverance in that auspicious Match which was concluded here in England about eleven years ago between this Renowned Prince and our Excellent Princess This is that most Illustrious House of Nassau and Orange which God hath so highly honoured above all the Families of the Earth to give a Check to the Two Great aspiring Monarchies of the West and bold Attempters upon the Liberties of Europe To the One in the last Age and to the Other in the present As if the Princes of this Valiant and Victorious Line had been of the Race of Hercules born to rescue Mankind from Oppression and to quell Monsters And lastly let us beseech Almighty God all whose Ways and Works are perfect That he would establish that which he hath wrought and still carry it on to further and greater Perfection Which after such an Earnest of his Favour and Good Will to us we have no reason to doubt but that he is ready to do for us if by our own fickleness and inconstancy disgusting the Deliverance now it is come which we so earnestly desir'd before it came if by our ingrateful Murmurings and Discontents by our own foolish Heats and Animosities kindled and carried on by the ill designs of some working upon the tenderness and scruples of others under the specious pretences of Conscience and Loyalty I say if by some or all these ways we do not refuse the Blessing which God now offers and defeat and frustrate the merciful Design of this wonderful Revolution God will still rejoice over us to do us good and think thoughts of Peace towards us thoughts of good and not of evil to give us an expected end of our long Troubles and Confusions But if we will not know in this our day the things which belong to our Peace our Destruction will then be of our selves and there will be no need that God should be angry with us for we shall be undone by our own Differences and Quarrels about the Way and Means of our being saved and so be angry with one another till we be consumed Which God of his infinite Goodness give us all the Grace and Wisdom to prevent for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ to whom with Thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Thanksgiving and Praise both now and ever Amen Of Forgiveness of Injuries and against Revenge A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE HALL March 8. 1688 9. Of Forgiveness of Injuries and against Revenge MATTH V. 44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you THE Gospel hath promised forgiveness of Sins to us upon two Conditions That we sincerely repent of the Sins which we have committed against God and That we heartily forgive to men the injuries and offences which they have been guilty of towards us I shall at this time by God's Assistance treat of the latter of these from the Words which I have recited to you which are part of our Saviour's excellent Sermon upon the Mount In which he doth not only explain but enlarge and perfect the Moral and Natural Law by adding to it Precepts and Prohibitions of greater perfection than either the Law of Moses or the Natural Law in their largest extent did contain He forbids Polygamy and Divorce except only in case of Adultery and likewise Revenge none of which were forbidden either by the Law of Nature or by the Law which was given by Moses And to these Prohibitions our Blessed Saviour adds several new Precepts of greater perfection than any Laws that were extant before But I say unto you love your enemies The Jewish Law commanded them
all things on all sides to bring the thing which the Providence of God intended to a happy issue and effect And we must not here forget the many Worthies of our Nation who did so generously run all hazards of Life and Fortune for the preservation of our Religion and the asserting of our ancient Laws and Liberties These are all strange and unusual means but which is stranger yet the very counsels and methods of our Enemies did prepare the way for all this and perhaps more effectually than any counsel and contrivance of our own could have done it For even the Jesuits those formal Politicians by Book and Rule without any consideration or true knowledge of the temper and interest and other circumstances of the People they were designing upon and had to deal withal and indeed without any care to know them I say the Jesuits who for so long a time and for so little reason have affected the reputation of the deepest and craftiest States-men in the World have upon this great Occasion and when their whole Kingdom of Darkness lay at stake by a more than ordinary infatuation and blindness so outwitted and over-reach'd themselves in their own counsels that they have really contributed as much or more to our Deliverance from the Destruction which they had designed to bring upon us than all our wisest and best Friends could have done And then if we consider further how sudden and surprising it was so that we could hardly believe it when it was accomplish'd and like the Children of Israel when the Lord turned again the Captivity of Zion we were like them that dream When all things were driving on furiously and in great haste then God gave an unexpected check to the Designs of men and stopp'd them in their full cariere Who among us could have imagin'd but a few Months ago so happy and so speedy an end of our fears and troubles God hath at once scatter'd all our fears and outdone all our hopes by the greatness and suddenness of our Deliverance O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men And lastly If we consider the cheapness and easiness of this Deliverance All this was done without a Battel and almost without Blood All the danger is lest we should loath it and grow sick of it because it was so very easy Had it come upon harder terms and had we waded to it through a Red Sea of Blood we would have valued it more But this surely is great wantonness and whatever we think of it one of the highest provocations imaginable For there can hardly be a fouler and blacker Ingratitude towards Almighty God than to slight so great a Deliverance only because it came to us so easily and hath cost us so very cheap I will mention but one Circumstance more which may not be altogether unworthy our observation That God seems in this Last Deliverance in some sort to have united and brought together all the great Deliverances which He hath been pleas'd to work for this Nation against all the remarkable attempts of Popery from the beginning of our Reformation Our wonderful Deliverance from the formidable Spanish Invasion design'd against us happen'd in the Year 1588. And now just a hundred years after God was pleased to bring about this last great and most happy Deliverance That horrid Gun-powder Conspiracy without Precedent and without Parallel was design'd to have been executed upon the Fifth Day of November the same Day upon which his Highness the Prince of Orange landed the Forces here in England which he brought hither for our Rescue So that this is a Day every way worthy to be solemnly set apart and joyfully celebrated by this Church and Nation throughout all Generations as the fittest of all other to comprehend and to put us in mind to commemorate all the great Deliverances which God hath wrought for Us from Popery and its inseparable Companion Arbitrary Power And we may then say with the Holy Psalmist This is the Lord 's doing it is marvellous in our eyes This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it Secondly As the Case in the Text is much like Ours so let us take heed that the Doom and Sentence there be not so too If after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass and since God hath punish'd us less than our iniquities did deserve should we again break his Commandments and join in affinity with the People of these Abominations would He not be angry with us till he had consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping What could we in reason expect after all this but utter ruin and destruction We may here apply as St. Paul does God's Dealing with the People of Israel to the Times of the Gospel for he speaks of it as an Example and Admonition to all Ages to the end of the World Now these things says the Apostle were our Examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted Neither be ye Idolaters as were some of them c. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents For the explication of this passage we must have recourse to the History which gives this account of it And the People spake against God and against Moses Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the Wilderness c. impeaching God and his Servant Moses as if by this Deliverance they had put them into a much worse condition than they were in when they were in Egypt And the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the People and they bit the People and much People of Israel died \ But how was this a tempting of Christ Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted that is let not us now under the Gospel tempt our Saviour and Deliverer as the Israelites did theirs by slighting that great Deliverance and by speaking against God and against Moses Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the Destroyer And how far this may concern Us and all Others to the end of the World who shall tempt Christ the great Patron and Deliverer of his Church and murmur without cause as the Israelites did at the Deliverances which He works for them and against the Instruments of it the Apostle tells us in the next words Now all these things happened unto them for Ensamples or Types and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come Let us not tempt Christ who is now beginning the Glorious Deliverance of his Church from the Tyranny of Antichrist To draw now towards a Conclusion I will comprehend my Advice to you upon the whole matter in as few words as I can Let us use this great Deliverance which God
over let us say Peace be within thee For the House of the Lord our God for the sake of our Holy Religion and of that excellent Church whereof we all are or ought to be Members let every one of us say I will seek thy good And what greater good can we do to the best Religion how can we better serve the interest of it in all parts of the World than by being at peace and unity among our selves here in England upon whom the eyes of all the Protestants abroad are fixed as the Glory of the Reformation and the great bulwark and support of it That so under the Providence of Almighty God and the conduct of two such excellent Princes as He hath now bless'd us withal The One so brave and valiant and Both of them so wise so good so religious we may at last arrive at a firm establishment and become like mount Zion that cannot be moved the perfection of Beauty and Strength and the admiration and joy of the whole Earth which God of his infinite goodness grant for his mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory dominion and power thanksgiving and praise both now and ever Amen A Conscience void of Offence towards God and Men. IN A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February the 27 th 1690 1. A Conscience void of Offence towards God and Men. ACTS xxiv 16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men THese words are part of the Defence which St. Paul made for himself before Faelix the Roman Governour In which he first of all vindicates himself from the charge of Sedition ver 12. They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man neither raising up the People neither in the Synagogue nor in the City that is they could not charge him with making any disturbance either in Church or State After this he makes a free and open profession of his Religion ver 14. But this I confess that after the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Here he declares the Scriptures to be the Rule of his Faith in opposition to the Oral Tradition of the Pharisees More particularly he asserts the Doctrine of the Resurrection which was a principal Article both of the Jewish and the Christian Religion ver 15. And I have hope also towards God that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and the unjust And having made this declaration of his Faith he gives an account of his Life in the words of the Text ver 16. And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Herein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in this work do I employ my self or as others render it in the mean time whilst I am in this World or as others I think most probably for this cause and reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this reason because I believe a Resurrection therefore have I a conscientious care of my life and all the actions of it The Discourse I intend to make upon these words shall be comprized in these following Particulars I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practice to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course to have always a conscience void of offence III. Here is his earnest care and endeavour to this purpose I exercise my self IV. Here is the principle and immediate Guide of his Actions which St. Paul here tells us was his Conscience V. I shall lay down some Rules and Directions for the keeping of a good Conscience VI. Here is the great motive and encouragement to this which St. Paul tells us was the belief of a Resurrection and of a future State of Rewards and Punishments consequent upon it for this cause because I hope for a Resurrection both of the just and unjust I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men I shall speak but briefly to the three first of these Particulars that I may be larger in the rest I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practice It hath regard to the whole compass of his Duty as it respects God and Man I exercise my self says St. Paul to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men And this distribution of our Duty under these two general Heads is very frequent in Scripture The Decalogue refers our Duty to these two Heads And accordingly our Saviour comprehends the whole Duty of Man in those two great Commandments the love of God and of our Neighbour Matth. 22.38 Vpon these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets that is all the Moral Precepts which are dispers'd up and down in the Law and the Prophets may be referr'd to these two general Heads II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course St. Paul says that he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continually at all times in the whole course of his life We must not only make conscience of our ways by fits and starts but in the general course and tenour of our lives and actions without any balks and intermissions There are some that will refrain from grosser Sins and be very strict at some Seasons as during the Time of a Solemn Repentance and for some days before they receive the Sacrament and perhaps for a little while after it And when these devout Seasons are over they let themselves loose again to their former lewd and vitious course But Religion should be a constant frame and temper of mind discovering it self in the habitual course of our lives and actions III. Here is likewise a very earnest care and endeavour to this purpose Herein do I exercise my self says St. Paul The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here render'd exercise is a word of a very intense signification and does denote that St. Paul applied himself to this business with all his care and might and that he made it his earnest study and endeavour And so must we we must take great care to understand our duty and to be rightly informed concerning good and evil that we may not mistake the nature of things and call good evil and evil good We must apply our minds in good earnest to be thoroughly instructed in all the parts of our Duty that so we may not be at a loss what to do when we are call'd to the practice of it And when we know our Duty we must be true and honest to our selves and very careful and conscientious in the discharge and performance of it I proceed in the IV th
more particularly for a most glorious Victory at Sea vouchsafed to Their Majesties Fleet in this last Summer's Expedition For several great Mercies and Deliverances For a wonderful Deliverance indeed from a sudden Invasion design'd upon us by the inveterate and implacable Enemies of our Peace and Religion which by the merciful Providence of God was happily and strangely prevented when it was just upon the point of execution Next for the preservation of our Gracious Sovereign from that horrid and most barbarous Attempt design'd upon his Sacred Person And from those great and manifold Dangers to which he was exposed in his late tedious Expedition And for His safe and most welcome Return to us And lastly For a most glorious Victory at Sea The greatest and the cheapest that ever the Sun saw from his first setting out to run his Course The Opportunity indeed of this Victory was through the rashness and confidence of our Enemies by the wise Providence of God put into our hands But the improvement of this Opportunity into so great and happy a Victory we owe under God to the matchless Conduct and Courage of the Brave Admiral and to the invincible Resolution and Valour of the Captains and Seamen This great Deliverance from the design'd Invasion and this glorious Victory God vouchsaf'd to us at Home whilst His Sacred Majesty was so freely hazarding his Royal Person abroad in the Publick Cause of the Rights and Liberties of almost all Europe And now what may God justly expect from us as a meet return for his Goodness to us What but that we should glorifie Him first by offering praise and thanksgiving and then by ordering our conversation aright that he may still delight to shew us his Salvation God might have stood aloof from us in the Day of our distress and have said to us as he once did to the People of Israel so often have I delivered you from the hands of your Enemies but ye have still provok'd me more and more Wherefore I will deliver you no more He might have said of us as he did of the same People I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be For they are a very froward generation children in whom is no faith Our resolutions and promises of better obedience are not to be trusted all our Repentance and Righteousness are but as the morning cloud and like the early dew which passeth away Nay methinks God seems now to say to us as he did of old to Jerusalem Be instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee and I make thee desolate a Land not inhabited We are here met together this Day to pay our Solemn acknowledgments to the God of our Salvation who hath shewed strength with his Arm and hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart Even to him that exerciseth loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the Earth In Him will we glory as our sure Refuge and Defence as our Mighty Deliverer and the Rock of our Salvation And now I have only to entreat your patience a little longer whilst I apply what hath been discoursed upon this Text a little more closely to the Occasion of this Day I may be tedious but I will not be long And blessed be God for this happy Occasion The greatest England ever had and in the true consequences of it perhaps the greatest that Europe ever had of Praise and Thanksgiving You have heard two sorts of Persons described in the Text by very different Characters The One that glory in their Wisdom and Might and Riches The other that glory in this that they understand and know God to be the Lord which exerciseth loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the Earth And we have seen these two Characters exemplified or rather drawn to the Life in this present Age. We who live in this Western part of Christendom have seen a mighty Prince by the just permission of God raised up to be a Terrour and Scourge to all his Neighbours A Prince who had in perfection all the Advantages mentioned in the former part of the Text And who in the opinion of many who had been long dazzled with his Splendour and Greatness hath pass'd for many years for the most Politick and Powerful and Richest Monarch that hath appear'd in these parts of the World for many Ages Who hath govern'd his Affairs by the deepest and steddiest Counsels and the most refin'd Wisdom of this World A Prince mighty and powerful in his Preparations for War formidable for his vast and well disciplin'd Armies and for his great Naval Force And who had brought the Art of War almost to that perfection as to be able to Conquer and do his business without fighting A Mystery hardly known to former Ages and Generations And all this Skill and Strength united under one absolute Will not hamper'd or bound up by any restraints of Law or Conscience A Prince that commands the Estates of all his Subjects and of all his Conquests which hath furnish'd him with an almost inexhaustible Treasure and Revenue And One who if the World doth not greatly mistake him hath sufficiently gloried in all these Advantages and even beyond the rate of a mortal man But not knowing God to be the Lord which exercises loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the Earth How hath the pride of all his Glory been stain'd by Tyranny and Oppression by Injustice and Cruelty by enlarging his Dominions without Right and by making War upon his Neighbours without Reason or even colour of Provocation And this in a more Barbarous manner than the most Barbarous Nations ever did carrying Fire and Desolation wheresoever he went and laying wast many and great Cities without necessity and without pity And now behold what a terrible Rebuke the Providence of God hath given to this mighty Monarch in the full Carrier of his Fortune and Fury The consideration whereof brings to my thoughts those Passages in the Prophet concerning old Babylon that standing and perpetual Type of the great Oppressors and Persecutors of God's true Church and Religion How is the Oppressor ceased the exactor of gold ceased He who smote the People in wrath with a continual stroke he who ruled the Nations in anger is himself persecuted and none hindreth The whole Earth is at rest and is quiet and breaks forth into singing The grave beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming it stirreth up the dead for thee even all the Captains of the Earth it hath raised up from their Thrones all the Kings of the Nations all they shall speak and say unto thee art thou also become weak as we are art thou also become like unto us how art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer Son of the morning How art thou cut down to the ground that didst weaken the Nations For thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my