last Day for where the Spirit it self is not its Operations cannot be expected 'T is true indeed that Sinners and Infidels shall rise again as S t Paul says Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Vnjust Those that crucified Christ in the days of his Flesh and those that crucifie him by their Wicked Lives now in his Glory shall rise no less than True Believers than his holy Apostles and Martyrs But how and to what Resurrection shall they rise Even to such a Resurrection as is no other than a Second and Worse Death a Death not of Extinction or annihilation but a Death of Eternal Duration in Torment Non-Existence being not the State of the Second Death but Endless and Insupportable Misery insomuch that they shall wish that the Grave had for ever swallowed them up that as they liv'd like the Beasts that perish so they had also dyed like them without the Expectation of any After-Being So that the Resurrection of the Wicked is but an Aequivocal Resurrection as the lifting up of the Head of Pharaoh's Baker on the Gallows and the hanging Haman fifty Cubits high were but Aequivocal Advancements The Bodies of the Saints that rose after the Passion dy'd again the same Death but those that shall rise at the Last Day not having the Spirit shall dye again not the same Death that would be a Happiness but a Death that shall have no End and the Miseries of which we can no more describe than we can the Joys of Eternal Life but we must suffer a Change and be endued with new Powers and Faculties before we can support the Bliss of the one or the Torments of the other The second Property of an Inhabitant or Dweller in a House is to Command and Rule 'T is the Saying of every man to those that withstand the Exercise of their just Authority or but their Civility Give me leave to Command in my own House The Spirit of God must Rule and Command where it dwells we must not only give it House-room but Dominion look upon him as a Tenant but revere as our Land-Lord resign our Actions Wills Affections the Whole Man to his Dispose and Guidance Faith invites the Holy Ghost but Obedience and Submission to his Gracious Motions perfumes his Habitation and makes him delight to stay in it The Spirit of Love Meekness Purity and Holiness will not reside but where these and the like Vertues bear the Sway. Let the Word of Christ says S t Paul dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom So let the Spirit of God dwell in you Richly in all Wisdom it will not Cohabit with the Sons of Men unless it be Richly i. e. in the Abundance of its own Divine Graces and Operations If we will have the Spirit of God quicken our Mortal Bodies hereafter we must suffer him to quicken our Souls in this Life if we hope to reign by his Power in the World to come we must submit to his Dominion in this present World The third Property is Residence and Mansion our Houses are called our Manours and Places i. e. the Places where we ordinarily abide and where the Law presumes we are to be found so that if a Writ be delivered to any of the Houshold or but fastned to the Ring of the Door 't is counted the same thing as if given into our hands Thus our Hearts must be the Holy Spirit 's Manour or Place for what David says of God's constant Abode in his Temple on Mount Sion This is the Hill which God delights to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever the like must be said of the constant Abode of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts This is the Habitation of the Holy Spirit and if we grieve him not nor drive him away by our Sins he will delight to dwell in us for ever When we were devoted to God in Baptism we devolved and made-over to his Holy Spirit an Estate in our Hearts even the Whole Term we had to live in this World and if we make good this Grant or Demise he will never abandon his Tenements till he has raised them up to Eternal Glory The Reason that a Great Schole-Man gives Why God punishes the Sins of Men which were but Temporal with an Eternity of Torments is Quia peccaverunt in suo aeterno because they sinn'd out all the Eternity they had i. e. all the Time God allowed them in this World and had he continued their Lives to the End of all Ages they would have continued still the same Wicked Persons The like Reason may be given for God's rewarding the Temporal Obedience of the Righteous with Eternal Glory Quia obedientes fuerunt in suo aeterno because they were Obedient all that little Eternity he allowed them in this World and would have persever'd in their Obedience if he had drawn out their Lives to the last Period of Time Abiding and Persevering in Righteousness is that which will give us Immortality if we give up the Possession of our Souls to the Dispose and Conduct of the Blessed Spirit the Whole Little Aeternum we have in this World we shall certainly obtain an Eternity that shall have no end in the next And thus I have shew'd the Manner of the Spirit 's Dwelling in every Christian and they that pretend to his In-dwelling without these Properties boast of an In-mate which they have not and as they want this Divine Guest so they will want the Blessed Effects and Consequence of his inhabiting in them the quickning of their Mortal Bodies at the last Day to Glory Which is the second thing I propos'd to explain The Effect or Consequence of the Spirit 's dwelling in us If the Spirit dwell in you He that raised up Jesus from the Dead shall quicken your Mortal Bodies The Words suggest two things to our Consideration 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies 2. Who shall be the Author to effect or bring this to pass He that raised up Jesus from the Dead 1. What shall be done to such Persons in whom the Spirit dwells 'T is said He shall quicken their Mortal Bodies Our Bodies are Mortal three Ways by Natural Death the Dissolution of the Substance of them by Eternal Death which succeeds the Natural that Riddle of a Death which by its Existence is in truth a Life but by the Torments belonging to it may deservedly be called a Death and by Spiritual Death which is the Cause of the other two Now our Mortal Bodies may be quicken'd or reviv'd again to three Lives To a Life of Eternal Duration to a Life of Eternal Joy and to a Spiritual Life or a Life of Grace which is the Cause in us of the other two Lives Some understand these Words shall quicken our mortal bodies only of Spiritual Proselytism of the raising us from the Death of Sin and
faithful God will continue to be favourable while they serve him he will protect them while their Righteousness is immutable their State shall be invincible at least their Foundations shall not be destroyed in their greatest Dangers they shall have a Refuge in their highest Exigents they shall know what to do The Time and Occasion of writing many Psalms are utterly unknown and we have nothing but the bare Conjecture of Expositors for them grounded upon the fansy'd comporting or agreeing of some Words in the Psalm with some Historical Passage and in the great Obscurity and uncertainty of the Occasion of the present Psalm before us all I can say is It seems thus to have stood with David when he wrote it He had cast the Jebusites a Nation of the Canaanites out of their Strong hold the City of Jerusalem flank'd with the Fortress of Sion which he made his Habitation the Seat of his Kingdom and of the Worship of his God But as it is said of the foul Spirit in the Gospel that when he was cast-out he was restless as in a Desart till he had regain'd his Possession So it far'd with the Jebusites here they could not sit down with the Loss of their Power and Dominion digest the Disgrace of their Deities and the baffling of their Confidences hear the taunting Scoff of the Lame and the Blind which themselves had Ironically utter'd of their Idols according to the Sence of the Hebrews not their own retorted and verify'd on them These things prickt and stung them to the heart and they could find no peace till they had restored their Gods to their Glory and themselves to their Country and Reputation and that by destroying David and his Foundations One while therefore they sought to subdue him by Force another while by Stratagems and treacherous Practices another while by Parley and friendly Advices representing to him the Danger of his Condition surrounded by so many Nations of a Contrary Religion to induce him to forsake his own and to fly as a Bird to their Mountain But he whose Heart was fixt and rooted in his God at once encourages himself and confutes his Enemies with this Fundamental Principle That God is the sure Rock and Refuge of the Faithful beats them with his Argumentation and Reasoning out of their Sophistry as he had before by his Arms out of their Strong-holds The Demonstration which he uses is that which Logicians call leading to an Absurdity and is the Strongest of all others for it evinces That if such an Assertion be not granted then some thing must which is a Contradiction to a confest Principle For example If the Foundations which I rely upon may be destroyed then this Absurdity will follow That the Righteous may be destitute of a Refuge brought to that pass as not to know what to do The Minor which for brevity is omitted and ought to be subsum'd is this But the Righteous cannot be destitute of a Refuge brought to that pass as not to know what to do therefore the Foundations I rely upon cannot be destroyed If the Foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do In the Words thus explain'd we may observe these two General Parts I. The Design of David's Enemies It was to destroy his Foundations II. The Absurdity of such their Design or the Impossibility of it For otherwise the Righteous would not know what to do I begin first with their Design Which was to destroy David's Foundations And what were the Foundations which the Psalmist here speaks of For the Word is in the Plural Number and the Foundations of a Kingdom may be many Some Material and Visible as Fortresses Armies Rocks Mountains c. Others Immaterial and visible only in practice as Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical which are its Moral Fortifications for the Laws of a Land support it no less than its People Wealth Bulwarks and whoever seeks to subvert these though he attempts nothing against the Magazines and Strong-holds yet he undermines the very Foundations There is also an Invisible Foundation of a State which is God's Favour and Defence pointed at by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 4. ver 5. in these words Over all the Glory shall be Defence And though David had a regard to all his other Foundations this was the Chief the Surest Rock in which he trusted as himself professes 2 Sam. 22. The Lord says he is my Rock and my Fortress he is the God of my Rock and saveth me from violence His Rock was strong but the God of his Rock was stronger his Habitations stood upon the Rock of Sion but then Sion again was founded upon God And thus as Ezekiel's Vision was rota in rota a wheel in a wheel so David's Foundation was Fundamentum in Fundamento a Foundation upon a Foundation The Heathen had also in their Superstitious Way an Invisible or Divine Foundation for as out of jealousie to their Neighbours they chose to plant their Cities upon Rocks and Hills so they dedicated again those Rocks and Hills to the Protection of some Deity which was the Rock of their Rock and Moses seems to allude to this Deut. 32.31 where he says Their Rock is not as our Rock even our Enemies themselves being Judges Now in the first place the Design of David's Enemies was to destroy All his Foundations not only his Material and Visible ones but also his Immaterial of his Laws and his Invisible of the Deity in which he trusted For the Gentiles had a conceit that the Gods themselves were conquerable They had a Sort of Godlings or lesser Gods which they assign'd to the Guardianship of Springs and Trees as Nymphs and Dryades which they thought Mortal and extinguishable with those Springs and Trees Other Great Gods again which they set over Kingdoms and Cities and though they believ'd these last to be immortal yet they fansy'd when the Cities or Kingdoms over which they presided were subdued that these Deities were also subdu'd Secondly As the Design of David's Enemies was to destroy all his Foundations in general of what kind soever So it was to destroy them Finally and Vtterly For as our Lord says of the Providence of the Children of this World in Temporal things That they are Wiser than the Children of Light So they are also in their Malice and Mischievous Designs they lay the Axe to the Root they dig as deep to destroy as others do to build Says S t Paul As a wise Master-Builder I have laid the Foundation but these on the contrary as Master-Destroyers aim to rase the Foundation knowing this to be the speediest way to make an absolute Destruction for the Super-structures must follow these Thirdly The Ways which the Enemies of David took to effect his Destruction are exprest to be three Parley Violence and Stratagem Parley is implyed at the first Verse In the Lord put I my trust how say ye then to my Soul Flee as a Bird to the Mountain Violence is
miscarry'd in their Journey We may therefore say of those that affect to be Proselytes to this Mountain what S t Paul says of the Corinthians That they more gladly submitted to those that took of them that brought them into bondage than to those that were Sincere towards them and abounded in labour for them Or else we may upbraid them as the Prophet Hosea did Ephraim Ephraim is like a silly Dove without heart they call to Egypt they go to Assyria i. e. to the places of their Captivity and Oppression So these delight in those that plume them and tyrannize over them that seal up their Eyes in Darkness and make them believe they towre towards Heaven and the Regions of Glory till they find themselves in the Precincts of Eternal Night And as Ephraim was not only made a Prey but a Scorn for their Folly This shall be their Derision says the Prophet in the Land of Egypt so those among us that call to go to the Spiritual Egypt shall be mock'd in the Day of Great Accounts as well as Condemned For what remains for those that would not be warned but to be laugh'd at for those that chuse Destruction but to be derided when they are fallen into it In the mean time let our Adversaries triumph in the Victories they obtain by their threefold Machinations Parley Violence and Stratagem for though they sometimes prevail upon Unstable Souls prepar'd by their own Vanity for Ruine yet they cannot prevail against our Cause they may deceive some particular Persons but they cannot overthrow our Foundations no more than the Enemies of David could his Which brings me to my second General Part The Absurdity or Impossibility of the Design of David's Enemies To destroy his Foundations for then the Righteous would not know what to do If the Foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do What shall I do is the Expression of a Person driven to the greatest Exigence and knows not which way to turn himself in the Difficulties he is in they are the Words of the Unjust Steward in the Gospel when he was turn'd out of his Stewardship What shall I do says he Dig I cannot and to beg I am ashamed The only two Means of Livelihood left to those that are reduced to the Extreamest Poverty Labour and Begging were taken from him the one by Shame and the other by a Soft Education Such an Utter Distress as this the Words of my Text imply they being a Negative by way of Question which is the strongest kind of Negative What can the Righteous do i. e. They can do nothing And if any say Yes the Unjust Steward had still recourse unto his old Arts of Cheating and False reckoning and so David and other Righteous men in case their Foundations be destroyed may make some shift they may fly as a Bird to the Mountain of their Enemies I answer That this is not to be admitted Unlawful Remedies come not so much as into the Consultation of the Righteous be their Distress never so great what is Wicked is to them Impossible and what they cannot do justly they cannot do at all How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God said Joseph when his wanton Mistress tempted him i. e. I cannot possibly do it He could have done it actually but he could not do it honestly and what was impossible to his Vertue he resolv'd to be impossible to his Practice But the Supposition here it self is vain That the Foundations of the Righteous can be destroyed But how some will say not possible to destroy their Foundations Why Commanders will affirm that no Place is impregnable and consequently that there are no Foundations but may be destroyed When Philip of Macedon was told of a strong Place which by reason of the steepness rockiness and narrowness of the Ascent to it was Inaccessible he ask'd in derision If an Ass laden with Gold could not get up to it Intimating that no place was impregnable to Force and Fraud both But the Distinction I gave before of a Visible and Invisible Foundation answers all such Objections David beside his Rock as ye have heard had the Rock of his Rock namely his God 'T is the Invisible Divine Foundation that is the Security of the Visible No City or Fortress is safe by its natural or artificial Strength for as the Psalmist says A horse is but a vain thing to save a man so Rocks and Bulwarks are but vain things to save a City Except the Lord keepeth it the Watchman waketh but in vain But on the other side if he be the Rock and Defence if he be the Sion himself unto Jerusalem no Force no Stratagem whatsoever can prevail against it but Jerusalem on Earth shall be as invincible as Jerusalem in Heaven whose Builder and Maker is God And if any say What is this to us who are not to promise our selves the Priviledges of Israel I answer If we be Faithful like them we may promise our selves God's protection no less than they For as Saint Peter says God is no Respecter of Persons but in every Nation they that fearh im and work Righteousness are accepted by him We have a Kingdom thanks be to Providence more strongly fortify'd by Nature than Israel was founded as the Psalmist says the World is upon the Waters He laid it in the Waters and founded it upon the Flouds And though our Foundations be moveable and fluctuating yet their Mobility and Mutability being only Local and not Substantial they are not less permanent We may compare our Political Foundations also with Israels But be our Material or Moral Foundations what they will our Invisible is the same with theirs For God is not only our Founder but our Foundation too he has not only founded us By but On himself He brought us one of the first of the Nations out of the Darkness of Paganism to the Light of the Gospel and again one of the first of the Nations out of the Bondage of Spiritual Babylon to the Liberty of the Truth and free Use of his Word and he has not only given us more Excellent Ordinances than he did to his people Israel but many Advantages even above our Fellow-Christians and no Church can boast more truly than ours That 't is built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himself being the Chief Corner-Stone and what is this but to be Founded on God himself And 't is our Reliance on this our Invisible Foundation which makes us with David not to fear the Designs of our Enemies upon our Material and Visible For though God has made us no particular Promise concerning our Temporal Prosperity in case we keep his Commandments as he did to Israel yet we may rest assured on his Holy and Divine Nature and Promises in general which are to Love and Protect the Righteous and not only Israel as the Psalmist says but all that put their Trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Sion which shall not be removed but standeth fast for ever And the truth is that which is said of Temporal Kingdoms Justitia Thronum firmat Justice supports the Throne may be affirmed of God's Spiritual Kingdom in the World his Justice and Goodness establishes his Dominion in the Hearts of Men. For if it were not so That the Lord regarded the Righteous this great Incongruity would produce another great Incongruity and Irregularity The Righteous as the Psalmist says would put their hand to Iniquity i e. they would be no longer Righteous they would make Justice and Piety no more their Business and Concern if there were no Regard in Heaven for these things and so God would lose his Obedience when he neglected Good Men. Let us therefore be careful of our Duty and we need not be solicitous for our Safety let us firmly rely upon God in well-doing and believe that our Trust in our Divine Invisible Foundation is not merely Chimerical or Imaginary and while we fail not it it will never fail us but the Business of this Day shall be the business of the Year round viz. to praise and magnifie our Foundation for protecting and preserving our Foundations and these Lauds and Thanksgivings if they be Cordial and Real will create us new Occasions of Lauds and Thanksgivings even daily Mercies and Blessings I say if they be Cordial and Real not only Verbal and Vocal not only express'd in Bells and Bonfires Noises and Excesses but in true Piety and Devotion as our Prayer of General Thanksgiving teaches us In shewing forth God's Praise not only with our Lips but in our Lives by giving up our selves to his Service and so forth For though 't is impossible to solemnize Publick Joy and Thanksgiving without Publick Expressions of them yet these Publick Expressions should be but the Outward Signs and Significations of the Inward Sence we have of God's Benefits and the Gratitude that dwells in our Hearts and which ought chiefly to be shew'd in the Duties of Religion in the Acts of Mercy and Charity in a Day of Mercy and Deliverance in the Reformation of whatsoever is contrary to the Divine Will in us and the like 'T is not enough therefore that our Streets resound with Festivity and Joy or yet that we celebrate God's great Mercies in Psalms and Hymns sung to the Organ by Asaph and other Chief Musicians but every Faithful Person must be a Musician and every Grateful Heart that has been delivered an Instrument of God's Praise To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Sixteenth Sermon JOHN xvi 23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you THESE Words are part of our Lord's Farewel-Speech to his Disciples when he was to leave the World the unexpected News of which did so afflict them that they had not the power as himself takes notice ver 5. so much as to ask him any Question concerning it But now I go to him that sent me and none of you ask Whither goest thou but because I have said these things unto you Sorrow hath filled your heart And very deservedly for what more amazing more Ominous Tidings could they have heard than that he for whom they had forsaken all they had should after that forsake them than that he that had put Enmity between them and the World should abandon them to the World he in whom they had plac'd all their Ambition all their Hope should at last leave them in a Riddle A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me To raise therefore their drooping and disconsolate Spirits he promises them a double Advantage by his Departure and which could only arrive to them by his Departure 1. That they should receive the Holy Ghost who would establish their Faith and wonderfully rejoice their Hearts by assuring them of the truth of the Doctrines he had taught them and of their own Divine Mission 2. That they should be under the immediate Care of the Father by reason of whose Almighty Protection they would have no Cause to deplore his Absence or in the least to wish for his Corporal Presence again for they would find their Dependance on the Father much more happy than the following his Steps through the Cities of Palestine The Words of my Text relate to the latter of these two Advantages Their being under the immediate Care and Protection of the Father While our Lord abode with his Disciples he supply'd all their Wants solv'd all their Doubts stopt the mouths of all their Maligners but he let them know that his Father was Greater than he and would perform all these things in a more uncontroul'd and unlimited manner than he had done when he acted only in the Flesh by his Commission that the Using only of his Name to the Father would be more Beneficial to them than his Person had formerly been for though in many things he had been kind to them there was nothing so Precious nothing so Difficult nothing so Wonderful but if they pray'd for it in his Name the Father would bestow it on them Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you In this Singular Priviledge and Prerogative promised by our Lord to his Disciples there are three things very remarkable I. The Person with whom they are to have it The Father he will give it you II. The Measure in which they were to have it it is a Measure indeed unlimited and without Measure Whatsoever ye shall ask ask what you will he will give it you III. By what Means they are to obtain it by asking in Christ's Name Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name I begin with the first of these The Person with whom they are to have this Singular Priviledge The Father This was a comfortable Promise of our Lord 's to his Disciples if they had then understood it as they afterwards did but when the Words were spoken they were but as a Parable or Proverb to them as 't is ver 25. These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs the time will come that I shall speak no more unto you in Proverbs but I shall shew you Plainly of the Father How was that in what fashion did he afterwards shew them plainly of the Father By his Charismata the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which they received from him and which bore the very Character of the Father stampt upon them For every Good and perfect Gift as S t James says is from above and cometh from the Father of Light And thus he shew'd them more plainly and convincingly of the Father than he did to Philip when he said Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father For he