sins then we live minutes that with infinite patience endures not only our manifold infirmities and imperfections but our petulant follies our obstinate perversnesses our treacherous insidelities overlooks our careless neglects and our wilful miscarriages puts up the exceeding-many outragious affronts injuries and contumelies continually offered to his Supreme Majesty by us base worms whom he hath always under his feet and can crush to nothing at his pleasure To Him yet who as St. James saith giveth freely and upbraideth no man who calls us neither very frequently nor over-strictly to accounts who exacts of us no impossible no very difficult no greatly-burdensome or costly returns being satisfied with the chearful acceptance of his favours the hearty acknowledgments of his goodness the sincere performance of such duties to which our own welfare comfort and advantage rightly apprehended would otherwise abundantly dispose us To Him lastly whose Benefits to acknowledg is the greatest Benefit of all to be enabled to thank whom deserves our greatest thanks to be sensible of whose Beneficence to meditate on whose Goodness to admire whose Excellency to celebrate whose Praise is Heaven it self and Paradise the life of Angels the quintessence of Joy the supreme degree of Felicity In a word To Him whose Benefits are immensely great innumerably many unexpressibly good and precious For Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can shew forth his praise said he who had imployed often his most active thoughts and his utmost endeavours thereupon and was incomparably better able to do it To this God to this great to this only Benefactour of ours we owe this most natural and easie this most just and equal this most sweet and pleasant Duty of giving Thanks To whom if we wilfully refuse if we carelesly neglect to pay it I shall only say thus much That we are not onely monstrously ingrateful and horribly wicked but abominably foolish and deplorably miserable I shall repeat this sentence once again and wish it may have its due effect upon us To this great to this only Patron and Benefactour of ours if we do not in some measure discharge our due debt of Gratitude for his inestimable Benefits and Mercies we are to be adjudged not onely most prodigiously unthankful most detestably impious but most wofully stupid also and senseless most desperately wretched and unhappy I should now proceed to consider the Circumstance of Time determined in the word Always and the extension of the Matter implied in those words for all things and then to subjoyn some farther inducements or arguments persuasive to the practice of this Duty But the time and I fear your patience failing I shall reserve them to some other opportunity The Ninth Sermon EPHES. 5. 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God HAving formerly discoursed upon these words I observed in them Four Particulars considerable 1. the substance of a Duty to which we are exhorted to give thanks 2. the Term unto which it is directed to God 3. the Circumstance of time determined in that word always 4. the Extent of the Matter about which the Duty is employed for all things Concerning the Two former Particulars wherein the Duty consisted and wherefore especially related unto God I then represented what did occur to my meditation III. I proceed now to the Third the Circumstance of Time allotted to the performance of this Duty expressed by that universal and unlimited term Always Which yet is not so to be understood as if thereby we were obliged in every instant or singular point of time actually to remember to consider to be affected with and to acknowledge the Divine Benefits for the deliberate operations of our minds being sometimes wholly interrupted by sleep otherwhile pre-occupied by the indispensible care of serving our natural necessities and with attendence upon other reasonable imployments it were impossible to comply with an obligation to the performance of this Duty so interpreted And those Maxims of Law Impossibilium nulla est obligatio and Quae rerum naturâ prohibentur nullâ Lege confirmata sunt that is No Law or Precept can oblige to Impossibilities being evidently grounded upon natural equity seem yet more valid in relation to his Laws who is the Judge of all the World and in his dispensations most transcendently just and equal We may therefore observe that the Hebrews are wont in way of Synecdoche or grammatical Hyperbole so to use words of this kind that their universal importance ought to be restrained by the quality or circumstances of the matter about which they converse As when our Saviour saith Ye shall be hated by all men for my sake All is not to be taken for every singular person since there were some that loved our Saviour and embraced the Evangelical Doctrine but for many or the most And when David saith There is none that doeth good he seemeth only to mean that in the general corruption of his times there were few righteous persons to be found And so for ever is often used not for a perpetual and endless but for a long and lasting duration and always not for a continual unintermited state of being or action but for such a perseverance as agrees to the condition of the thing to which it is applied 'T is for instance prescribed in Exodus that Aaron should bear the judgment of the Children of Israel the Urim and Thummim upon his heart before the Lord continually that is not in absolute and rigorous acception continually but constantly ever when he went into the Holy Place to discharge the Pontifical function as the context declares And our Saviour in the Gospel saith of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I always taught in the Temple that is very often and ever when fit occasion was presented And the Apostles immediately after Christ's ascension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were as St. Luke tells us continually in the Temple praising and blessing God that is they resorted thither constantly at the usual times or canonical hours of prayer in like manner those injunctions of nearest affinity of rejoycing of giving thanks always and particularly of praying without ceasing as I have shewn more largly in another Discourse are to be taken in a sense so qualified that the observance of them may be at least morally possible Thus far warrantably we may limit the extension and mollifie the rigour of this seemingly-boundless term but we can hardly allow any farther restriction without destroying the natural signification or diminishing the due emphasis thereof As far therefore as 't is possible for us we must endeavour always to perform this duty of Gratitude to Almighty God and consequently 1. Hereby is required a Frequent performance thereof that we do often actually meditate upon be sensible of confess and celebrate the Divine Beneficence For what is done but seldom or never as we commonly say cannot be understood done always without a Catachresis or
Country till a long time after his decease How often did God profess for his servant David's sake to preserve Judah from destruction so that even in the days of Hezekiah when the King of Assyâ—ia did invade that Country God by the mouth of Isaiah declared I will defend this City to save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake We may indeed observe that according to the representation of things in Holy Scripture there is a kind of moral connexion or a communication of merit and guilt between Prince and People so that mutually each of them is rewarded for the Vertues each is punished for the Vices of the other As for the iniquities of a People God withdraweth from their Prince the free communications of his Grace and of his Favour suffering him to incur sin or to fall into misfortune which was the case of that incomparably-good King Josiah and hath been the fate of divers excellent Princes whom God hath snatched away from people unworthy of them or involved with such a people in common calamities according to the rule propounded in the Law of God's dealing with the Israelites in the case of their disobedience and according to that of Samuel If ye shall do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King so reciprocally for the misdemeanours of Princes or in them and by them God doth chastise their people For what confusions in Israel did the offences of Solomon create what mischiefs did issue thereon from Jeroboam's wicked behaviour How did the sins of Manasseh stick to his Country since that even after that notable Reformation wrought by Josiah it is said Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations wherewith Manasses had provoked him And how sorely by a tedious three years famine did God avenge Saul's cruelty towards the Gibeonites Nor are only the sins of bad Princes affixed to people conspiring with them in impiety for even of King Hezekiah it is said But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem So the pride and ingratitude of an excellent Prince were avenged on his Subjects And when good King David God averting his Grace from him did fall into that arrogant transgression of counting his forces that as Joab prudently foretold became a cause of trespass to Israel and God saith the Text was displeased with this thing therefore he smote Israel David indeed seemed to apprehend some iniquity in this proceeding expostulating thus Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbred even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed but as for these sheep what have they done But God had no regard to his plea nor returned any answer to it for indeed God's wrath began with the People and their King's sin was but a judgment executed on them for The anger it is said of the Lord was kindled against Israel by their sin surely which is the only incentive of Divine wrath and he moved David against them to say Go number Israel and Judah So indeed it is that Princes are bad that they incur great errours or commit notable trespasses is commonly imputable to the fault of Subjects and is a just judgment by Divine Providence laid on them as for other provocations so especially for their want of Devotion and neglecting duly to pray for them For if they constantly with hearty sincerity and earnest fervency would in their behalf sue to God who fashioneth all the hearts of men who especially holdeth the hearts of Kings in his hand and turneth them whither-soever he will we reasonably might presume that God by his Grace would direct them into the right way and incline their hearts to goodness that he would accomplish his own word in the Prophet I will make thy Officers peace and thine Exactors righteousness that we might have occasion to pay thanksgivings like that of Ezra Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers who hath put such things as this in the King's heart to beautifie the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem We are apt to impute the ill management of things and the bad success waiting on it unto Princes being in appearance the immediate Agents and Instruments of it but we commonly do therein mistake not considering that our selves are most guilty and blamable for it that it is an impious people which maketh an unhappy Prince that their offences do pervert his counsels and blast his undertakings that their prophaneness and indevotion do incense God's displeasure and cause him to desert Princes withdrawing his gracious conduct from them and permitting them to be miss-led by temptation by ill advice by their own infirmities lusts and passions into courses fit to punish a naughty people So these were the causes of Moses his speaking unadvisedly with his lips and that it went ill with him for their sakes of Aaron's forming the molten Calf of David's numbring the people of Josiah's unadvised enterprise against Pharaoh Neco of Zedekiah's rebellion against the Assyrians notwithstanding the strong dissuasions of the Prophet Jeremy concerning which it is said For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babylon Considering which things it is apparent that Prayer for our Prince is a great office of Charity to the Publick and that in praying for his safety for his Honour for his Wealth for his Prosperity for his Vertue we do in effect pray for the same Benefits respectively to our Country that in praying for his Welfare we do in consequence pray for the good of all our Neighbours our Friends our Relations our Families whose good is wrapped in his Welfare doth flow from it doth hang upon it We are bound and it is a very noble piece of Charity to love our Country sincerely to desire and earnestly to further its happiness and therefore to pray for it according to the advice and practice of the Psalmist O pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces We are obliged more especially upon the highest accounts with dearest affection to love the Church our Heavenly Commonwealth the Society of our Spiritual Brethren most ardently to tender its good and seek its advantages and therefore most urgently to sue for God's favour toward it being ready to say after David Do good O God in thy good pleasure to Sion build the walls of Jerusalem Arise O Lord and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Now these duties we cannot
Authority which enjoyns them It is an aggravation of Impiety often insisted upon in Scripture that it slurrs as it were and defames God brings reproach and obloquy upon him causes his Name to be profaned to be cursed to be blasphemed and 't is answerably a commendation of Piety that by the practice thereof we not onely procure many great advantages to our selves many blessings and comforts here all joys and felicities hereafter but do also thereby beget esteem to God himself and sanctifie his ever-blessed Name cause him to be regarded and reverenced his Name to be praised and blessed among men It is by exemplary Piety by providing things honest in the sight of all men by doing things honourable and laudable such are all things which God hath been pleased to command us that we shall be sure to fulfill that precept of S. Paul of doing all things to the glory of God which is the Body of that duty we speak of Secondly But there are deserving a particular inspection some members thereof which in a peculiar and eminent manner do constitute this Honour some acts which more signally conduce to the illustration of God's glory Such are 1. The frequent and constant performance in a serious and reverent manner of all religious Duties or Devotions immediately addressed to God or conversant about him that which the Psalmist styles Giving the Lord the honour due to his Name worshipping the Lord in the beauty of Holiness 2. Using all things peculiarly related unto God his holy Name his holy Word his holy Places the places where his honour dwelleth his holy Times religious Fasts and Festivities with especial respect 3. Yielding due observance to the Deputies and Ministers of God both Civil and Ecclesiastical as such or because of their relation to God the doing of which God declares that he interprets and accepts as done unto himself 4. Freely spending what God hath given us out of respect unto him in works of Piety Charity and Mercy that which the Wise man calls Honouring the Lord with our substance 5. All penitential Acts by which we submit unto God and humble our selves before him As Achan by confessing of his sin is said to give glory to the Lord God of Israel 6. Chearfull undergoing afflictions losses disgraces for the profession of God's truth or for obedience to God's commands As S. Peter is said by his death suffered upon such accounts to glorifie God These signal instances of this duty represented as such in Holy Scripture for brevitie's sake I pass over craving leave onely to consider one most pertinent to our present business and indeed a very comprehensive one which is this 7. We shall especially honour God by discharging faithfully those offices which God hath intrusted us with by improving diligently those talents which God hath committed to us by using carefully those means and opportunities which God hath vouchsafed us of doing him service and promoting his glory Thus he to whom God hath given Wealth if he expend it not to the nourishment of pride and luxury not onely to the gratifying his own pleasure or humour but to the furtherance of God's honour or to the succour of his indigent neighbour in any pious or charitable way he doth thereby in especiall manner honour God He also on whom God hath bestowed Wit and parts if he employ them not so much in contriving projects to advance his own petty interests or in procuring vain applause to himself as in advantageously setting forth God's praise handsomely recommending goodness dexterously engaging men in ways of vertue doing which things is true wit and excellent policy indeed he doth thereby remarkably honour God He likewise that hath Honour conferr'd upon him if he subordinate it to God's honour if he use his own credit as an instrument of bringing credit to goodness thereby adorning and illustrating Piety he by so doing doth eminently practise this duty The like may be said of any other good quality any capacity or advantage of doing good by the right use thereof we honour God for that men beholding the worth of such good gifts and feeling the benefit emergent from them will be apt to bless the donour of them as did they in the Gospel who seeing our Saviour cure the Paralytick man did presently glorifie God who had given such power unto men But especially they to whom Power and Authority is committed as they have the chief capacity so they are under an especial obligation thus to honour God they are particularly concerned to hear and observe that Royall proclamation Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name When such persons like King Nebuchadnezzar returned to his right senses do seriously acknowledge their power and eminency derived from God alone when they profess subjection unto him and express it in their practice not onely driving others by their power but drawing them by their example to piety and goodness when they cause God's Name to be duly worshipped and his Laws to be strictly observed when they favour and encourage Vertue discourage and chastise wickedness when they take care that justice be impartially administred innocence protected necessity relieved all iniquity and oppression all violence and disorder yea so much as may be all affliction and wretchedness be prevented or removed when they by all means strive to promote both the service of God and the happiness of men dispensing equally and benignly to the family over which their Lord hath set them their meat in due season providing that men under them may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty doing which is the business allotted to them the interest as it were of God which he declares himself concernedly to tender and by their ministry to prosecute when they carefully doe such things then do they indeed approve themselves worthy honourers of their High Master and Heavenly King then do they truly act God's part and represent his person decently When the actions of these visible Gods are so divinely good and beneficial men will be easily induced yea can hardly forbear to reverence and magnifie the invisible Founder of their Authority By so doing as they will set before mens eyes the best pattern of Loyalty as they will impress upon mens hearts the strongest argument for Obedience and respect toward themselves as they shall both more plainly inform and more effectually persuade people to the performance of their duty unto them then by all the law and all the force in the world as they will thereby consequently best secure and maintain their own honour and their own welfare for men will never be heartily loyal and submissive to Authority till they become really good nor will they ever be very good till they see their Leaders such so they will together greatly advance
Benefits the Jewish more then half in Eucharistical oblations and in solemn commemorations of providential favours and that of the ancient Christians so far forth that by-standers could hardly discern any other thing in their religious practice then that they sang Hymns to Christ and by mutual Sacraments obliged themselves to abstain from all Villany But I will rather wholly omit the prosecution of these pregnant Arguments then be farther offensive to your patience Now the Blessed Fountain of all Goodness and Mercy inspire our hearts with his heavenly Grace and thereby enable us rightly to apprehend diligently to consider faithfully to remember worthily to esteem to be heartily affected with to render all due acknowledgment praise love and thankful obedience for all his infinitelygreat and innumerably-many Favours Mercies and Benefits freely conferr'd upon us and let us say with David Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things and blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting And let all the People say Amen The Tenth Sermon 1 TIM 2. 1 2. 1. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men 2. For Kings and for all that are in authority SAint Paul in his preceding discourse having insinuated directions to his Scholar and Spiritual Son Timothy concerning the discharge of his Office of instructing men in their Duty according to the Evangelical Doctrine the main design whereof he teacheth to consist not as some men conceited in fond stories or vain speculations but in practice of substantial Duties holding a sincere Faith maintaining a good Conscience performing Offices of pure and hearty Charity in pursuance of such general Duty and as a principal instance thereof he doth here first of all exhort or doth exhort that first of all all kinds of Devotion should be offered to God as for all men generally so particularly for Kings and Magistrates From whence we may collect two particulars 1. That the making of Prayers for Kings is a Christian Duty of great importance S. Paul judging fit to exhort thereto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before all other things or to exhort that before all things it should be performed 2. That it is incumbent on the Pastours of the Church such as S. Timothy was to take special care that this Duty should be performed in the Church both publickly in the Congregations and privately in the Retirements of each Christian according to what the Apostle after the proposing divers enforcements of this Duty subsumeth in the 8th ver I will therefore that men pray every-where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting The first of these particulars That it is a Duty of great importance to pray for Kings I shall insist upon it being indeed now very fit and seasonable to urge the practice of it when it is perhaps commonly not much considered or not well observed and when there is most need of it in regard to the effects and consequences which may proceed from the conscionable discharge of it My endeavour therefore shall be to press it by divers Considerations discovering our obligation thereto and serving to induce us to its observance some whereof shall be general or common to all times some particular or sutable to the present circumstances of things I. The Apostle exhorteth Christians to pray for Kings with all sorts of Prayer with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or deprecations for averting evils from them with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or petitions for obtaining good things to them with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or occasional intercessions for needful gifts and graces to be collated on them as after S. Austin Interpreters in expounding S. Paul's words commonly distinguish how accurately I shall not discuss it sufficing that assuredly the Apostle meaneth under this variety of expression to comprehend all kinds of Prayer And to this I say we are obliged upon divers accounts 1. Common Charity should dispose us to pray for Kings This Christian disposition inclineth to universal benevolence and beneficence according to that Apostolical precept As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men it consequently will excite us to pray for all men seeing this is a way of exerting good will and exercising beneficence which any man at any time if he hath the will and heart may have opportunity and ability to pursue No man indeed otherwise can benefit all few men otherwise can benefit many some men otherwise can benefit none but in this way any man is able to benefit all or unconfinedly to oblige mankind deriving on any somewhat of God's immense beneficence By performing this good Office at the expence of a few good wishes addressed to the Sovereign Goodness the poorest may prove benefactours to the richest the meanest to the highest the weakest to the mightiest of men so we may benefit even those who are most remote from us most strangers and quite unknown to us Our Prayers can reach the utmost ends of the Earth and by them our Charity may embrace all the world And from them surely Kings must not be excluded For if because all men are our Fellow-creatures and brethren by the same Heavenly Father because all men are allied to us by cognation and similitude of Nature because all men are the objects of God's particular favour and care if because all men are partakers of the common Redemption by the undertakings of him who is the common Mediatour and Saviour of all men and because all men according to the gracious intent and desire of God are designed for a consortship in the same blessed Inheritance which enforcements S. Paul in the Context doth intimate if in fine because all men do need Prayers and are capable of benefit from them we should be charitably disposed to pray for them then must we also pray for Kings who even in their personal capacity as men do share in all those conditions Thus may we conceive S. Paul here to argue For all men saith he for Kings that is consequently for Kings or particularly for Kings to pray for whom at least no less then for other men universal Charity should dispose us Indeed even on this account we may say especially for Kings the law of general Charity with peculiar advantage being applicable to them for that Law commonly is expressed with reference to our Neighbour that is to persons with whom we have to do who come under our particular notice who by any intercourse are approximated to us and such are Kings especially For whereas the greatest part of men by reason of their distance from us from the obscurity of their condition or for want of opportunity to converse with them must needs slip beside us so that we cannot employ any distinct thought or affection toward them it is not
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
Judge of the earth It is God's manner hereby to notifie himself The Lord is known by the judgment that he executeth He for this very purpose doth interpose his Hand that men may know that it is his Hand and that the Lord hath done it that as it is in Esay they may see and know and consider and understand together that the Hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy one of Israel hath created it He manageth things so that men may be brought to know may be induced to acknowledge his authority and his equity in the management thereof that they may know that he whose Name is Jehovah is the most High over all the earth that they may say Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth In fine the knowledge of God's special Providence is frequently represented as a mean of nourishing our faith and hope in him as a ground of thankfulness and praise to him as an incentive of the best affections of holy joy and humble fear and hearty love toward him wherefore we ought to seek it and we may attain it There are consequently some distinctive marks or characters by which we may perceive God's Hand and such may these be which follow drawn from the special nature manner adjuncts and consequences of events upon which may be grounded Rules declarative of special Providence such as commonly will hold although sometimes they may admit exceptions and should be warily applied 1. The wonderfull Strangeness of Events compared with the ordinary course of things or the natural influence of causes when effects are performed by no visible means or by means disproportionate unsutable repugnant to the effect Sometimes great exploits are atchieved mighty forces are discomfited huge structures are demolished designs backed with all advantages of wit and strength are confounded none knows how by no considerable means that appear Nature rising up in arms against them panick fears seising on the Abetters of them dissensions and treacheries springing up among the actours sudden deaths snatching away the principal instruments of them As when the stars in their courses fought against Sisera when the winds and skies became auxiliaries to Theodosius when the Lord thundered with a great thunder upon the Philistines and discomfited them and they were smitten before Israel when the Lord made the host of Syrians to hear a noise of chariots of horses of a great host whence they arose and fled when the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir utterly to slay and destroy them and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir every one helped to destroy another when the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185000 men and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses when the mighty power of Antiochus was as it is said to be broken without hands and when as it is foretold a stone cut out of the mountain without hands should break in pieces the iron the brass the clay the silver and the gold Such Events do speak God to be their cause by his invisible efficacy supplying the defect of apparent means So likewise when by weak forces great fears are accomplished and impotency triumpheth over might when as the Prophet saith the captives of the mighty are taken away and the prey of the terrible is delivered when One man as is promised doth chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight when a strippling furnished onely with faith and a pebble shall knock down a monstrous Giant armed with a helmet of brass and a coat of mail with a huge target sword and spear when successes arrive like those recorded in Scripture under the conduct of Joshua Gideon Jonathan Asa Jehosaphat wherein very small forces by uncouth means did subdue formidable powers This doth argue that God doth interpose with whom as it is said it is all one to save by many or by few and those that have no power whose power is perfected in weakness who breaketh the arm of the wicked and weakneth the strength of the mighty and delivereth the poor from him that is too strong for him Also when great policy and craft do effect nothing but are blasted of themselves or baffled by simplicity when cunningly-laid designs are soon thwarted and overturned when most perspicacious and profound counsellours are so blinded or so infatuated as to mistake in plain cases to oversee things most obvious and palpable when profane malicious subtil treacherous Politicians such as Abimelech Achitophel Aman Sejanus Stilico Borgia with many like occurring in story are not only supplanted in their wicked contrivances but dismally chastised for them These occurrences do more then insinuate Divine wisdom to intervene countermining and confounding such devices For he it is who as the Scripture tells us maketh the Diviners mad turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprize taketh the wise in their own craftiness and turneth down the counsel of the froward headlong When-ever a just cause or honest design without any support or succour of wordly means without authority power wit learning eloquence doth against all opposition of violence and art prevail this signifieth him to yield a special countenance and aid thereto who to depress humane pride and advance his own glory hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that are with us in most request and esteem Again when Plots with extream caution and secrecy contrived in darkness are by improbable means by unaccountable accidents disclosed and brought to light a bird of the air as the wise man speaketh telling the matter the stones in the wall as it is in the Prophet crying out Treason The King cannot sleep to divert him the Chronicle is called for Mordecai's service is there pitched on an inquiry is made concerning his recompence honour is decreed him so doth Aman's cruel device come out Pity seiseth on a pitiless heart toward one among a huge number of innocents devoted to slaughter that he may be saved a Letter must be sent in that words inserted suggesting the manner of execution that carried to the wise King who presently smelleth it out so This day's Plot was discovered Such events whence can they well proceed but from the all-piercing and ever-watchful care of him whose eyes as Elihu saith are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the
workers of iniquity shall hide themselves For Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering Also when ill men by their perverse wiliness do notably befool and ensnare themselves laying trains to blow up their own designs involving themselves in that ruine and mischief into which they studied to draw others as when Saul exposing David's life to hazzard encreaseth his honour when the Persian Nobles incensing the King against Daniel do occasion his growth in favour with their own destruction when Aman by contriving to destroy God's people doth advance them and rearing a gallows for Mordecai doth prepare it for himself when it happeneth according to those passages in the Psalms The wicked are taken in the devices that they imagined In the net which they bid is their own foot taken He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealings shall come upon his own pate These are pregnant evidences of God's just and wise Providence for the Lord is known by the judgment that he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand All such occurrences containing in them somewhat if not down-rightly miraculous yet very admirable in like manner deflecting from the stream of humane affairs as miracles do surmount the course of nature most reasonably may most justly should be ascribed to the special operation of him who only doeth wonderful things 2. Another character of special Providence is the Seasonableness and Suddenness of Events When that which in it self is not ordinary nor could well be expected doth fall out happily in the nick of an exigency for the relief of innocence the encouragement of goodness the support of a good cause the furtherance of any good purpose so that there is occasion to acknowledge with the Prophet Thou didst terrible things that we looked not for This is a shrewd indication that God's Hand is then concerned not onely the event being notable but the connexion thereof with circumstances of need being more admirable Thus in time of distress and despondency when a man is utterly forlorn and destitute of all visible relief when as the Psalmist speaketh refuge faileth him and no man careth for his soul if then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opportune succour doth arrive he is then unreasonable and ingrateful if he doth not avow a special Providence and thankfully ascribe that event unto him who is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in time of trouble This is that for which in the 107 Psalm the Divine Goodness is so magnificently celebrated this is the burden of that pathetical rapture wherein we by repeated wishes and exhortations are instigated to bless God his wonderfully relieving the children of men in their need and distress this is that which God himself in the Prophet representeth as a most satisfactory demonstration of his Providence When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Jacob will not forsake them I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys c. That they may see and know and consider and understand together that the Hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy one of Israel hath created it So also when pestilent enterprizes managed by close fraud or by impetuous violence are brought to a head and come near to the point of being executed the sudden detection or seasonable obstruction of them do argue the ever-vigilant Eye and the all-powerful Hand to be engaged God ever doth see those deceitful workers of iniquity laying their mischief in the dark he is always present at their Cabals and clandestine meetings wherein they brood upon it He often doth suffer it to grow on to a pitch of maturity till it be thoroughly formed till it be ready to be hatched and break forth in its mischievous effects then in a trice he snappeth and crusheth it to nothing God beholdeth violent men setting out in their unjust attempts he letteth them proceed on in a full career until they reach the edge of their design then instantly he checketh putteth in a spoak he stoppeth he tumbleth them down or turneth them backward Thus was Aman's plot dashed when he had procured a Royal Decree when he had fixed a time when he had issued forth letters to destroy God's people Thus was Pharaoh overwhelmed when he had just overtaken the children of Israel Thus were the designs of Abimelech of Absalom of Adonijah of Sanballat nipped Thus when Sennacherib with an unmatchable host had encamped against Jerusalem and had to appearance swallowed it God did put a hook into his nose and turned him back into his own land Thus when Antiochus was marching on furiously to accomplish his threat of turning Jerusalem into a Charnel a noisom disease did intercept his progress Thus when the prophane Câ—ligula did mean to discharge his bloody rage on the Jews for refusing to worship him a domestick sword did presently give vent to his revengefull breath Thus also when Julian had by his Policy and his Authority projected to overthrow our Religion his Plot soon was quashed and his life snapped away by an unknown hand Thus when-ever the enemy doth come in like a flood threatning immediately to overflow and overturn all things the Spirit of the Lord doth lift up a standard against him that is God's secret efficacy doth suddenly restrain and repress his outrage This usually is the method of Divine Providence God could prevent the beginnings of wicked designs he could supplant them in their first onsets he could any-where sufflaminate and subvert them but he rather winketh for a time and suffereth the designers to go on till they are mounted to the top of confidence and good people are cast on the brink of ruine then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surprisingly unexpectedly he striketh in with effectual succour so declaring how vain the presumption is of impious undertakers how needful and sure his protection is over innocent people how much reason the one hath to dread him and the other to confide in him Then is God seen then his care and power will be acknowledged when he snatcheth us from the jaws of danger when our soul doth scape as a bird out of the snare of the fowler 3. Another character of special Providence is the great Utility and Beneficialness of Occurrences especially in regard to the publick state of things and to great personages in whose welfare the publick is much concerned To entitle every petty chance that arriveth to special
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
us In God saith he we boast all the day long and praise thy Name for ever Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work and I will triumph in the works of thy hands We will rejoyce in thy salvation and in the Name of our God we will set up our banners Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord. Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy Name and to triumph in thy praise Such should be the result upon us of God's merciful Dispensations towards his people I shall onely further remark that the word here used is by the Greek rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be praised which sense the Original will bear and the reason of the case may admit For such Dispensations ever do adorn integrity and yeild commendation to good men They declare the wisdom of such persons in adhering to God in reposing upon God's help in imbracing such courses which God doth approve and bless they plainly tell how dear such persons are to God how incomparably happy in his favour how impregnably safe under his protection as having his infallible wisedom and his invincible power engaged on their side This cannot but render them admirable their state glorious in the eyes of all men inducing them to profess with the Psalmist Happy is the people which is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. And of such a people that declaration from the same mouth is verified In thy Name shall they rejoyce all the day long and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of their strength and in thy favour their horn shall be exalted Such are the Duties suggested in our Text as suting these occasions when God in special manner hath vouchsafed to protect his people or to rescue them from imminent mischiefs by violent assault or by fradulent contrivance levelled against them I should apply these particulars to the present Case solemnized by us but I shall rather recommend the application to your sagacity then farther infringe your patience by spending thereon so many words as it would exact You do well know the Story which by so many years repetition hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on your minds and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You will easily discern how God in the seasonable discovery of this execrable Plot the master-piece of wicked machinations ever conceived in humane brain or devised on this side Hell since the foundation of things in the happy deliverance of our Nation and Church from the desperate mischiefs intended toward them in the remarkable protection of Right and Truth did signalize his Providence You will be affected with hearty Reverence toward the gracious Authour of our salvation and with humble dread toward the just awarder of vengeance upon those miscreant wretches who digged this pit and fell into it themselves You will be ready with pious acknowledgment and admiration of God's Mercy his Justice his Wisedom to declare and magnifie this notable Work done by him among us You must needs feel devout resentments of Joy for the Glory arising to God and the Benefits accruing to us in the preservation of God's Anointed our just Sovereign with his Royal posterity in the freeing our Country from civil Broils Disorders and Confusions from the yoaks of Usurpation and slavery from grievous Extortions and Rapines from bloudy Persecutions and Trials with the like spawn of disastrous and tragical consequences by this Design threatned upon it in upholding our Church which was so happily settled and had so long gloriously flourished from utter ruine in securing our profession of God's Holy Truth the truly Catholick Faith of Christ refined from those drossy alloys wherewith the rudeness and sloth of blind Times the fraud of ambitious and covetous Designers the pravity of sensual and profane men had embased and corrupted it together with a pure Worship of God an edifying administration of God's Word and Sacraments a comly wholsome and moderate Discipline conformable to Divine Prescription and Primitive example in rescuing us from having impious Errours scandalous Practices and superstitious Rites with merciless violence obtruded upon us in continuing therefore to us the most desirable comforts and conveniences of our lives You further considering this signal testimony of Divine Goodness will thereby be moved to hope and confide in God for his gracious preservation from the like pernicious attemps against the safety of our Prince and welfare of our Country against our Peace our Laws our Religion especially from Romish Zeal and Bigottry that mint of woful Factions and Combustions of treasonable Conspiracies of barbarous Massacres of horrid Assassinations of intestine Rebellions of forrein Invasions of savage Tortures and Butcherics of holy Leagues and pious Frauds through Christendom and particularly among us which as it without reason damneth so it would by any means destroy all that will not crouch thereto You will in fine with joyous festivity glory and triumph in this illustrious demonstration of God's Favour toward us so as heartily to joyn in those due acclamations of blessing and praise Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us a prey to their teeth Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped Allelujah Salvation and glory and power unto the Lord our God For true and righteous are his judgments Great and marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O thou King of Saints Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wonderous things And blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen The Twelfth Sermon PSAL. 132. 16. I will also cloath her Priests with salvation THE context runs thus The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David he will not turn from it Of the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy throne If thy children will keep my covenant and the testimony that I shall teach them their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore For the Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her poor with bread I WILL ALSO CLOATH HER PRIESTS WITH SALVATION and her Saints shall shout aloud for joy There will I make the horn of David to bud c. If all not only Inaugurations of persons but Dedications even of inanimate things to some extraordinary use hath been usually attended with especial significations of joy and festival solemnity with great reason the Consecration of a person to so high and sacred a Function as that of a Christian Bishop
same time and upon the same occasion with this Psalm and in the 89. Psalm the benefits of this same covenant are called the mercies of David O Lord God turn not away the face of thine Anointed remember the mercies of David thy servant saith Solomon And My mercy saith God will I keep with him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him and My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him that is my faithful or sure mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the LXX and S. Paul with them in the Acts render this place of Isaiah And in the Song of Zachary we have one passage of this Promise cited and applied to the times of the Gospel Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a horn of Salvation in the house of his servant David as he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets viz. by the mouth of this Prophetical Psalmist here where 't is said There will I make the horn of David to bud and in the parallel Psal. 89. In my Name shall his horn be exalted To omit those many places where our Saviour in correspondence to this Promise is affirmed to possess the throne of his father David and to rule over the house of Jacob for ever Moreover 3. That by the Sion here mentioned is not chiefly meant that material Mountain in Judaea but rather that mystical Rock of Divine Grace and Evangelical Truth upon which the Christian Church the only everlasting Temple of God is unmovably seated is very probable or rather manifestly certain by the Prophets constant acception thereof in this sense when they assign the character of perpetual durability thereto As in Isa. 60. where he thus prophesies of the Christian Church The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee The City of the Lord The Sion of the Holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many generations Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the breasts of Kings c. And the Prophet Micah speaking of the last days that is of the Evangelical Times when the mountain of the House of the Lord should be established in the top of the mountains saith thus And I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast far off a strong Nation and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth even for ever And the Prophet Joel speaking of the same times when God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh hath these words So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Sion my holy mountain then shall Jerusalem be holy and there shall no strangers pass through her any more All which places no man can reasonably doubt and all Christians do firmly consent to respect the Christian Church To which we may add that passage of the Authour to the Hebrews ch 12. v. 22. But ye are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem that is to the Christian Church 4. The manner of this Covenant's delivery and confirmation by the Divine Oath argues the inconditionate irreversible and perpetual constitution thereof for to God's most absolute and immutable Decrees this most august and solemn confimation doth peculiarly agree So the Apostle to the Hebrews seems to intimate Wherein saith he God willing more abundantly to demonstrate the immutability of his counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposed an oath We may therefore I suppose upon these grounds solidly and safely conclude that this Promise doth principally belong and shall therefore infallibly be made good to the Christian Priesthood to those who in the Christian Church by offering Spiritual Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving by directing and instructing the people in the knowledge of the Evangelical Law by imploring for and pronouncing upon them the Divine benedictions do bear analogy with and supply the room of the Jewish Priesthood From which discourse we may by the way deduce this Corollary That the title of Priest although it did as most certainly it doth not properly and primarily signifie a Jewish Sacrificer or Slaughterer of Beasts doth yet no-wise deserve that reproach which is by some inconsiderately not to say profanely upon that mistaken ground commonly cast upon it since the Holy Scripture it self we see doth here even in that sense most obnoxious to exception ascribe it to the Christian Pastours And so likewise doth the Prophet Isaiah And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord speaking as the context plainly declares of the Gentiles which should be converted and aggregated to God's Church And the Prophet Jeremiah Neither shall the Priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings and to do sacrifice continually Which Prophecy also evidently concerns the same time and state of things of which the Prophet Malachi thus foretels For from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered to my Name and a pure offering It were desirable therefore that men would better consider before they entertain such groundless offences or pass so uncharitable censures upon either words or persons or things But I proceed to the III. Particular which is the Matter of the Promise Cloathing with salvation Where we may observe First That the usual metaphor of being cloathed doth in the Sacred dialect denote a compleat endowment with a plentiful enjoyment of or an entire application to that thing or quality with which a person is said to be cloathed So is God himself said to be cloathed with majesty and strength And David prays that they might be cloathed with shame and dishonour that did magnifie themselves against him And in Ezekiel The Princes of the Isles being amazed by the ruine of Tyre are said to cloath themselves with trembling And that bitter adversary of David in Psal. 109. did cloath himself with cursing as with a garment And Job avoucheth of himself I put on righteousness and it cloathed me my judgment was as a robe and a diadem And S. Peter advises us to put on or to be cloathed with humility Finally Isaiah introduces our Saviour speaking thus I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with her jewels So that as by these instances we may
devested of sensible lustre Religion therefore must be well habited or it will be ill respected the Priests must wear a comely if not a costly livery or God their Master's reputation will be impaired in popular fancy Consider David's reasoning Loe I dwell in a house of Cedars but the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord remaineth under Curtains and compare such discourse therewith as this and judg candidly whether they have not some parity Loe my Attendents are clad with the finest purple God's Ministers are covered with the coursest sackcloath my People surfeit with dainties his Servants pine away for scarcity my Courtiers are respectfully saluted his Priests scornfully derided no man dare offend mine every one may trample on his Officers And lest we should imagine God himself altogether void of such resentments or such comparisons impertinent consider that disdainful expression of his If ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame and sick is it not evil Offer it now to thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hosts The same testimonies of respect that we shew our Governours God it seems expects from us in all kinds and may reasonably much greater Nor is it a matter of slight consideration how plentiful provision in the policy devised and constituted by God himself was made for the Priests how God assumes the immediate patronage of them and appropriates the matter of their sustenance unto himself The Priests saith the Law the Levites and all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren the Lord is their inheritance So that then it seems no man could withhold any part of the Priests maintenance without sacrilegious encroachment on God's own right and robbing him of his due which is the greatest security of an estate imaginable How likewise next to the Prince the highest dignity and authority was then conferr'd on the Priests to them the interpretation of Law to them the decision of doubtful cases did appertain with severe injunctions to comply with their determinations See how the business is inculcated If there arise a matter too hard for thee between bloud and bloud between plea and plea between stroke and stroke being matters of controversie within thy gates then shalt thou arise and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse And thou shalt come unto the Priests the Levites and unto the Judge that shall be in those days and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall chuse shall shew thee and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee According to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee thou shalt do thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God even that man shall die and thou shalt put away evil from Israel Observe with how eminent a power God then thought fit to endow his Priests And though we are not in all cases obliged punctually to follow those political prescriptions yet is the reason of them perpetual and the example venerable especially since the custom of all Times and the reason of all the World doth in a sort conspire to back it The first Priest we meet with in Scripture is Melchizedek a King also and such a one as the Patriarch Abraham a Prince also himself and what is somewhat more just then a Conquerour in the midst of his triumphal heights was not ashamed to acknowledge his superiour to honour him with a tribute of his spoils and to receive a benediction from him The next if I mistake not is Potipherah Priest of On whose Daughter was not thought by the King of Egypt an unequal match for Joseph his chief Favourite and the next in dignity to himself in that flourishing Kingdom Though such an alliance would perhaps he thought derogatory to the Worships of our days The third is Revel or Jethro Priest of Midian the Father-in-law likewise of the illustrious Moses a man as of approved wisdom so doubtless of considerable dignity too And the next to him in order of story is the venerable Aaron no meaner a man then the Brother of him who was King in Jesurun Thus all Nations wise and ignorant civil and barbarous were by one common instinct as it were of natural reason prompted by conferring extraordinary privileges of honour and convenience on their Priests to express their reverence of the Deity and their affection to Religion I will not ransack the closets of Antiquity nor with needless ostentation produce the Egyptian Hierophantae the Persian Magi the Gaulish Druids the Caliphs and Mufti 's of other Nations to shew what preeminencies of respect they enjoyed what powerful sway they bore in their respective countries how the most weighty affairs both of peace and war were commonly directed by their oracular dictates It shall suffice to observe that the gallant Romans whose devout zeal to religion Polybius himself no special friend of theirs could not forbear to admire and applaud I say that the most wise and valiant Romans did set so high a value upon the Priestly order that if their principal Magistrates the Praetors and Consuls themselves did casually meet with one of Vesta's Priests they caused immediately those dreadful Rods the ensigns of their Authority to submit and they themselves respectfully gave place as if they meant to confess those Priests in a manner their betters Nor did they among them of the most noble extraction and of the highest dignity in the Commonwealth even after many glorious exploits atchieved by them scornfully disdain but rather did ambitiously affect to be admitted into the College of Priests insomuch that after the dissolution of the Republick the Emperours thought good to assume the Pontifical dignity to themselves supposing the Office too honourable the Title too magnificent for a Subject For they wisely it seems and honestly adjudged it no debasement of their quality no diminution to their personal excellency to be imployed in the service of the immortal Gods whom they acknowledged the Patrons of their Country the Protectours of their safety Nor that they less deserved of the publick who rightly ordered their religious Devotions then they who prudently advised in the Senate or fought valiantly in the field for that the good success of publick undertakings did as much or more depend upon the favourable disposition of Divine