the sight of the Lord upon which that same Father affirmeth It is not onely said he did what was right but it is emphatically added in the sight of the Lord as opposite to ostentation before Men Finally let Zachary and Elizabeth be our patterns of whom it is said They were both righteous before God Truly no righteousness will stand us in any stead but that which is so before God God seeth not as Man seeth and hence it is that many are just in the eyes of Men who are wicked in God's sight and those whom Men prize as Silver God rejecteth as Dross Whatever then others do let our eyes be upon God and our care that as we are beheld by so we may be accepted of him that so we now pleasing him he may one day please us and we here delighting him with the sight of our integrity in heart and uprightness in life he may hereafter delight us with the sight of his resplendent glory to all eternity To sum up this part if you will have in few words the extent of this walking before God comprized I cannot do it better than in words much like those of Lapide concerning walking with God To walk before or with God is to be frequent in drawing nigh unto him to set him ever in our sight and our selves in his according to our ability to fulfill his will and obey his precepts in all things to endeavour that we may please him approving our selves in sincerity of heart to him So that in this phrase we have as it were a brief dclineation of the Saint's walk the path it self is divine command the hedge to keep him in this path is divine presence the end which he proposeth to himself is divine acceptance and the foot whereby he walketh in this way to this end is an even and upright heart all which David resolveth upon when he saith here I will walk before the Lord I have done with the second pass we on to the last particular considerable in the duty to wit the place or time of performance 3. In the Land of the Living These words admit of a three-fold interpretation being understood By some especially for the Land of Judea By others eminently for the Jerusalem which is above By the most and most probably for this habitable Earth the present World 1. That exposition which Cajetan Lorinus with others give of the words would not be rejected who conceive that by the Land of the Living David here meaneth Judea in which or rather over which being constituted King he resolveth to walk before God and do him service This is not improbably that Land of the Living in which the Psalmist when an Exile believed to see the goodness of the Lord this is certainly that Land of the Living wherein God promiseth to set his glory Nor was this title without just reason applyed yea appropriated to that Countrey 1. Partly because it was a Land which afforded the most plentifull supports and comforts of natural life in regard of the wholesomness of the Climate the goodness of the Soyl the overflowing of Milk and Honey with other conveniences both for food and delight 2. Chiefly because it was the Land in which the Living God was worshipped and where he vouchsafed to place his Name whereas the other parts of the World worshipped liveless things of which the Psalmist saith They have mouths and speak not eyes and see not ears and hear not And though in this sense the words seem especially to concern David or at the furthest onely the Jews yet by way of Analogie it concerneth us in as much as this appellation upon the same reasons no less justly belongeth to our Land wherein our lines are fallen a Land enriched with all manner of abundance enamelled with variety of delights and which is far beyond all the rest blessed with the Dew of Heaven as well as fatness of the Earth God having been pleased for many years to vouchsafe the enjoyment of his Ordinances to this Land O my Brethren how great is our shame how sad will be our doom who are as barren Trees in so fruitfull a Soyl sit in darkness notwithstanding so glorious a Light yea remain in the Congregation of the Dead whilst in the Land of the Living No wonder if God have suffered so thick a Cloud to obscure the lustre of his Gospel among us and our Land seem at this day as it were dying and ready to give up the ghost 2. The Land of the Living is construed by the Antients to be that Heavenly Countrey the place of the Blessed Indeed this appellation doth most fitly agree to Heaven this World is Desertum mortuorum a Desart of Dead at least dying Men that onely is Regio vivorum a Region of living Saints He who is our life is in Heaven yea our life is hid with him in God and therefore we cannot be said to live till we come thither In comparison of that the natural life is not worthy of the name of life yea as Saints we may be rather said to dye to sin than to live to God on Earth in Heaven it is we shall possess that which is the truly vital and perfect life That is the Land of the Living as Gregory Nyssen elegantly where is no sin and therefore can be no death not this Earth which though it bring forth living Creatures yet such as must dye and return to this Earth whence they came And as Heaven best deserveth this appellation so in Heaven it is that we are most justly said to walk before the face of the Lord the Beatifical Vision being reserved for that Countrey Now we see saith St. Paul in a glass but then face to face here being at home in the body we are absent from the Lord but when absent from the body we shall be present with the Lord So the same Apostle Sweetly to this purpose St. Augustin and St. Hierom upon this text according to the vulgar reading observe that it is not placeo but placebo we do not in a strict sense please God here but we shall hereafter we do not now walk before his face of glory but we shall one day so that the very life of this mortal life consists in the hope of that immortal and in a certain expectation of that future Vision is all our present exultation In this sense no doubt that devout Bishop and Martyr Babilas used the words who being condemned by Numerianus the Emperour to an unjust death a little before his execution repeated this and the two preceding Verses with a loud voyce Nor is it unfit for any dying Saint to comfort himself with the like application of these words and say in a confident hope of that blessed sight I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living 3. But doubtless the literal and proper meaning of these words as hath been already declared is of
David's abode in this World during which time wheresoever he should be he would walk before God for that seems to be the emphasis of the plural number Lands according to the Original The World consists of many Countreys several Lands and it is possible for Men either by force or willingly to remove from one Countrey to another But a good Man when he changeth his Countrey yet altereth not his Religion yea wherever he is he resolveth to serve his God The better to illustrate this interpretation give me leave to proceed by these three steps 1. This present World is justly called the Land of the Living or as it is in the Hebrew a Land of lives In this Land it is that every Man enjoyeth a natural life and every Saint leadeth a spiritual life In this Land it is that as we enjoy a temporal so we lay hold on eternal life Indeed that life which the Saints lead in Heaven must be begun on Earth there it shall be manifested but here it 's conferred then is the consummation but now must be the inchoation of that life which shall never end And surely since this is the Land wherein not onely the life of nature but the life of grace is vouchsafed yea that life of glory is obtained assured and after a sort begun it may very well deserve this appellation of the Land of the Living 2. In this World it is that we are most properly said to walk in Heaven we shall be Comprehensores Possessors as in our Countrey on Earth we are Viatores Travellers as in the way there we shall be on Thrones as Conquerors here it is we march as Souldiers finally there we shall sit down resting from all our labours here it is we must work and walk The Temple a type of Heaven was fixed and so a place of rest where the People did settle and enjoy God's presence but the Tabernacle a type of this World was ambulatory removed from place to place after death we shall lye in Abraham's bosome but in this life it is we walk in Abraham's steps 3. Lastly and chiefly this present World is the place and this life the onely time wherein this duty of walking before the Lord is to be performed The term to which a Saint walketh is that other Land of the Living the Heavenly Mansion but the ground whereon he must walk is this Earthly Desart That which is here called the Land is in that parallel Scripture stiled the Light of the Living Indeed as our blessed Saviour saith When the night to wit of death cometh no Man can work the light the day namely of life is the time allotted us for working Not much unlike is that of Salomon There is no work nor device nor knowledgeâ— nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Onely this time whilst we are going to the grave is the season as of conversing with Men so walking before God Oh therefore let the Prophet's counsel be acceptable Seek the Lord whilst he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near that is according to the Caldee version whilst we live since as S. Bernard both wittily and piously After death there will be no time of calling upon God when God shall be so present to the godly that there will be no need and so remote from the wicked that there will be no possibility of calling on him Remember the advice which our blessed Saviour gave the Jewes Walk whilst you have the light which though there it be meant principally of the Gospel yet it may be secondarily referred to this life and whilst we have this light of life let it be our care to walk with God To this end be pleased to consider seriously these two things 1. This present is the onely time Whether we read the words I will please or I will walk both are to be performed here or not at all after death there is no place either for prayers or tears in the grave there is neither ability nor opportunity of walking It is said of Enoch that before his translation he had this testimony and so must we if at all that he pleased God to wit by walking before him It will be too late to begin this spiritual when we are at the end of our natural journey In vain is that salvation hoped for in the midst of Hell which was wrought in the midst of the Earth Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation the prize of glory must be won and the race of piety run now or never 2. The present time is but short very short Though the Inhabitants of this Land be onely living Men yet they are not long lived it is called by the Apostle and most apâ—ly a time of sojourning and therefore our stay cannot be long this whole World is but as a common Inne wherein some stay but a few hours the most but a few daies none can dwell alwaies O then as we must go on constantly so let us begin presently the way is long the day is short the work great the time little we need not grudge to hold out till evening we had need to set forth in the morning and whilst we have opportunity let us seriously resolve and speedily practice this duty of walking before the Lord And thus I have considered the words distinctly and absolutely in themselves representing to you both David's resolving upon a duty and the duty upon which he resolveth in the matter manner and season of performance it now remaineth that I proceed more briefly to a conjunctive and relative discussion of them as depending on the precedent verse that you may see what was the impulsive cause obliging reason inducing motive to put him upon this duty towards God namely God's mercy towards him Because thou hast delivered c. I will walk c. The sense of which connexion if you please take in this larger paraphrase as if David had said Oh my God thou hast wiped away tears from my eyes to thee therefore I will lift them up in thankfulness thou hast kept my feet from falling how can I imploy them better than in walking before thee thou hast delivered my soul from death to whom but thee should I dedicate my life it is thy free gift to me it is my due debt to thee I can give thee little if not thy own I have received as it were a new life from thee surely I will return it to thee by walking before thee in the Land of the Living 1. It lets us see in general that Beneficium postulat officium Mercy calls for duty and beneficence obligeth to obedience not onely the rod of God's correction but the staff of his protection hath a voyce and that double the one is that of Christ to the Criple Sin no more the other that of God to Abraham Walk before me and be upright For this reason no
Thankfulness in Grain OR A GOOD LIFE THE BEST RETURN Delivered in another Sermon on the same occasion in St. Dionis Back-Church Aug. 14. 1653. By NATH. HARDY Master of Arts and Preacher to that Parish Deut. 10. 12 13. And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his waies and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul To keep the Commandments of the Lord and his Statutes which I command thee this day for thy good Aug. Meditat. Oportet me Domine tantò magis tibi gratiosum devotum ad serviendum promptiorem existere quanto me de tantis beneficiis obligatiorem conspicio in reddendâ ratione Bern. Serm. cont. ingratitud Non verbo tantum vel linguâ sed opere veritate exhibeamus nos gratos ei qui dator gratiarum Dominus Deus noster qui est benedictus in secula LONDON Printed by T. W. for Nath. Webb and Will Grantham at the sign of the Black Bear in St. Paul's Church-yard near the little North-door 165◠Sermons preached by Nathanael Hardy M. A. and Preacher to the Parish of St. Dionis Back-Church JVstice Triumphing or The Spoylers spoyled A Sermon preached on the 5th of November in the Cathedral Church of St. Pauls The Arraignment of licencious Liberty and oppressing Tyrannie In a Sermon at a Fast before the Lords in Parliament in the Abbey-Church at Westminster Faiths Victory over Nature A Sermon preached at the Funerals of Mr. John Rushout Junior The safest Convoy or The strongest Helper A Valedictory Sermon before the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Bendish Baronet his Majesties Embassadour to the Grand Seigniour at Constantinople A Divine Prospective representing the Just Man's peacefull End A Sermon at the Funeral of the Right VVorshipfull Sir John Gayr Knight Love and Fear the inseparable Twins of a blest Matrimony A Sermon occasioned by the Nuptials between Mr. William Christmas and Mrs Elizabeth Adams Divinity in Mortality or The Gospels excellency and the Preachers frailty A Sermon at the Funerals of Mr. Richard Goddard Minister of the Parish of St. Gregories by St. Pauls Two Mites or A gratefull acknowledgement of God's singular goodness In two Sermons occasioned by the Author's late unexpected Recovery from a desperate Sickness Printed and are to be sold by Nath. Web and Will Grantham at the black Bear in St. Paul's Church-yard near the little North-door To the Right Worthy and his much Honoured Lady the Lady Mary Saltingstall present prosperity and future felicity Good Madam I Have now fulfilled your desire in publishing these weak notions I hope you will pardon me that withall I fulfill my own desire which is by these lines to let the World know my singular obligations to your Ladyship Among those many graces which adorn your truly Christian life your cordial love to the Orthodox Dispensers of the Gospel is not the least and it is so much the more amiable because in this apostatizing age wherein the love of many waxeth cold towards and the rage of some groweth hot against them Indeed as for my own particular I have far less reason to complain than many others of my Brethren and those far more deserving than my self it having pleased Almighty God both to restrain my Enemies and multiply my Friends beyond expectation And truly next to the infinite goodness of my God which I desire for ever to celebrate and the no less faithfull than skilfull endeavours of my worthy Physicians which I shall alwaies acknowledge I must attribute my late almost miraculous recovery to the fervent intercessions of my affectionate Friends at the Throne of Grace on my behalf To them all I return my hearty thanks and promise my daily prayers for them and more especially for you my honoured Lady whom I have reason to esteem as none of the meanest among them That your health may be prolonged and your troubles ended your Children blessed and your comforts enlarged finally that you may sparkle as a Diamond here in grace and hereafter shine as a Star in glory shall be the uncessant prayer of Your Ladyships real Friend and Servant in the Lord NATH. HARDY Psal. 116. v. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living MAns present Condition is subject to frequent alterations our life like the sea ebbeth floweth as the Moon waxeth and waineth and with the air is now Cloudie and anon cleer Nulla sors longa est dolor ac volupt as Invicem cedunt saith the Tragedian truly we continue not long in one state the day hath the vicisitude of an evening and morning the year of Winter and Summer health and sickness adversity and prosperity interchangeably succeed each other in this our earthly pilgrimage And now what more fit then that as our condition is mutable so our disposition should be answerable and our spirituall frame be suitable to our temporal estate To hope in adversity and to fear in prosperity for health to be thankfull and under sickness to be patient finally in afflictions to seek God with tears and after deliverance to walk before him with joy is a truly Religious temper Thus was it with this holy man David whom we find in this Psalm expressing this behaviour under both conditions when he found trouble and sorrow he called upon the Name of the Lord and when his Soul is delivered from death he resolveth upon walking before the Lord in the words of the Text now read I will walk c. At the mentioning of this Scripture I doubt not but you conjecture the reason of my choosing it and I hope beloved you will pardon me that as yet I preach to my self I shall be the fitter to preach to you nay let me tell you as in teaching you I speak to my self so in admonishing my self I speak to you what lately was and now is my condition either formerly hath been or shortly may be any of yours besides the duty of the Text is such as concerneth not only me but all here present to put in practise as being that without the performance of which no man can order his conversation aright Finally if you look back on the former subject that calleth for this and this answereth to that that is as the foundation this as the superstructure both required to a perfect fabrick that as the doctrine this as the use both requisite to a compleat Sermon and therefore having from the former Scripture commemorated the mercy I conceived it very fit to mind both my self and you of the duty from these words I will walk c. Indeed with little adoe we may find both in this text According to a different reading of the first words I shall and I will the clause puts on a severall sense if we read I shall walk they are words of confident expectation if I will they are
words of obedient resolution According to the former the Psalmist promiseth somewhat to himself from God according to the latter he promiseth somewhat of himself to God Both these constructions are probable and profitable so that I shall omit neither but yet having already drunk deep to you in the cup of Gods salvation I shall now onely give you a tast of that and hasten to take the other Cup into my hand to wit of gratulation and as I shall desire to begin my self so I hope you will all pledge me that so this saving health may go round every one of us resolving some for health continued others for health restored in the Psalmists words I will walk c. Begin we then with that sense which represents the words as a confident expectation of future preservation I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living Amplificat beneficium ab effectu liberationis saith a judicious expositor the benefit of deliverance mentioned in the former is amplified in this verse from the effect he hoped would follow upon it that having escaped so great danger his days on earth should now be prolonged So that in the words thus interpreted there are these two things observable the matter and the ground of his hope in that he looketh forward to what is to come in this backward to what was past that which he hopeth for is to walk before the Lord in the land of the living that whence this hope did arise was a singular deliverance already vouchfed from death teares and falling and of each of these with all possible brevity and perspicuity That which the Psalmist here promiseth to himself is double to wit walking in the land of the living and that before the Lord and so his hope appeareth to be both of a longer and a comfortable life 1. I shall walk in land of the living It is generally acknowledged by interpreters that this present world is here called the land of the living and it is so phrased in opposition to the grave which is the land of dead carkasses Silence oblivion darkness death and corruption are the dolefull attendants on those subterraneous parts but this earth is the land of commerce and light and life From this land of the living the Messiah is said to be cut off and in this it is that here David saith he should walk Walking is a continued progressive motion wherein step is added to step and so fitly resembleth prolongation of life wherein dayes are added to dayes The confidence David had of this is that which here he mentioneth with joy thereby intimating what esteem and account he had of this life to wit as a blessing to be hoped for and rejoyced in This will the more appear if we observe how earnestly when in danger he deprecateth death So in this Psalme Oh Lord I beseech thee deliver my soule and in another Psalme Oh my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes and againe Return O Lord deliver my soul oh save me for thy mercies sake all which plainly insinuate how pretious life was in his sight The like temper is observable in Hezechiah to whom when the message of death came it fetched tears from his eyes sighes from his heart and prayers from his lips nor was he less joyfull at the reversing than mournful upon the denouncing of the sentence witness the writing he pend upon his recovery Nor is this onely an old Testament spirit consult the practice of Christians under the new Testament and you shall finde them looking upon life and death with the same aspect witness S. Paul who speaketh of deliverance from death as a thing which he did trust and hope for and to that end desireth the concurrence of the Corinthians prayers Saint Peter concerning whose death Christ foretelling saith another should lead him whither he would not thereby signifying how unwelcome death would be to him What speak I of Saints when our Lord himself prayeth in the Garden Let this Cup pass and before that Father save me from this houre The truth is desire of life is naturall to all men and though grace do moderate yet it doth not extinguish naturall desire in good men Besides life saith the Philosopher is in its own nature good and being good in it self must needs be so to a good man yea to him most good and therefore most desirable It is a Meditation which seemeth to check the folly of those men who fancy a kinde of perfection in wishing hoping and praying for an untimely death and a speedy dissolution That this is but a dream will the better appear if you consider that 1. In some persons this is an argument of wickednes when men either through discontent at their present condition or impatiency under affliction or dispair of Gods mercy wish themselves cut off from the land of the living such desires are so far from manifesting strength of grace that they argue corruption to be prevayling To such persons that is very sutable which Chremes said to his son Clitipho who being cross'd in his desire would needs dye disce prius vivere let them first learn to live ere they desire to dy 2. In the best of Gods Saints it is many times an argument of weakness as being an act of passion and frowardnes such was Jobs expostulation when he saith wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soule And Jonahs prayer now O Lord I beseech thee take my life from me nor are those good men to be commended but condemned for those passions 3. Those desires which are the fruits of strong grace and argue full assurance of Gods love are 1. Not so much of death as of that bliss which attendeth upon it indeed Saint Paul saith of himself he had a desire to depart but he presently addeth and to be with Christ the dissolution of his person departure of his soul from his body was not could not be gratefull to him in it self but onely in order to that intimate union of his soul with Christ and yet more plainly when he speaketh of himself and his fellow Saints he expresseth it negatively as well as affirmatively not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life hence it is that these praeceding words in this we groan earnestly are by some expounded because of this to wit the dissolving of our earthly tabernacle we groane as being contrary to nature though we desire to be clothed upon wih our house which is from heaven this being suitable to grace The truth is it is not this death but the other life which a godly man wisheth for or if he may be said to desire death it is not because his will chooseth but necessit enforceth it Thus the case stands that eternall life cannot be enjoyed till death he passed thorough nor can the
robes of glory be put on till those rags of mortality be put off and on upon this account is death acceptable to a godly man 2. Not Absolute and illimited but conditionall and submissive When good men in a right way desire to dy it is with this proviso if it may stand with Gods will and tend to his glory a godly man though he be willing to dy he is neither weary of the troubles nor doth he undervalue the comforts of life and whilest he is desirous to dy for his own sake he is ready to live for Gods and the Churches Indeed if you would know wherein the perfection of grace in order to life and death consists it is in an indifferency to either as God shall determine to live and dy are acts of Nature but to be willing to live or dy as God will is an act of grace and that in strength So that indeed both these declare a great measure of grace on the one hand when Gods determination appeareth to be for death to rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and to be so far from fearing as in order to that glory to desire it on the other hand when Gods pleasure is manifest for life to rejoyce in hope of bringing glory to God and not onely to be well contented but well pleased with the continuation of our life as David here expresseth himself to be in saying I shall walk in the land of the living 2. But what is it that rendreth this life the matter of David's desire and hope Is it because as the Papists imagine the souls of the old Testament Saints ascended not to heaven presently after death but were detained in Limbo til Christ by descending thither freed them thence and carryed them with him to Heaven no beloved this opinion is raysed upon a rotten foundation as if the gate of Paradise were not open to believers before the comming and death of Christ whereas the Death of Christ Profuit antequam fuit was effectuall as to its merit before it was in time in which respect among others he is called the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world nay besides our Saviour expressely confuteth it when speaking of Abraham Isaac Jacob he saith they live to God the sense whereof can be no other but that in their soules they though dead live with God in bliss and againe when he supposeth Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be in the Kingdom of Heaven where he promiseth that many from the East and West shall sit down with them Or is it as some among our selves have fancyed that the Saints of those times had not a cleere Revelation of that other world nor attained any full assurance of their future happines no neither the Author to the Hebrews plainly affirmeth concerning Abraham that he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God of Moses that he had respect to the recompence of reward yea of all those Patriarchs that they dyed in faith and this of an heavenly Countrey and this so strong that it begat in them an earnest desire after it If you would know the true reason it is intimated in those words before the Lord which are interpreted as noting either a duty or a mercy and though the former acception belong properly to the other construction yet both may be fitly made use of in this Before God that is in his service or before God that is under his care 1. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living that is by continuing in this world I shall have opportunity of doing God service It was not because those holy men had less assurance of Gods love than we but because they had greater affections to Gods service then we that this life was so amiable in their eyes To this purpose the reasonings of David and Hezechiah concerning death and the grave are very observable Shall the dust prayse thee shall it declare thy truth so David The grave cannot prayse death cannot celebrate thee so Hezechiah they saw death would render them useless for Gods honour and therefore principally they prayed against it It lets us see what is the frame of a Religious man to rejoyce in life that he may walk before the Lord and minister to him in the place wherein he hath set him Indeed that joy hope desire of life which is founded upon this consideration is not onely lawfull but commendable and truly herein is a vast difference manifest between the wicked and the godly To walk in the land of the living is the wicked mans desire yea were it possible he would walk here for ever but for what end only to enjoy his lusts have his fill of pleasure and increase his wealth whereas the godly mans aime in desiring to live is that he may walk before God advance his glory and perform his service Upon this account it is that one hath fitly taken notice how David doth not say I shall now satiate my self with delights in my royall Citty but I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living 2. And most suitably to this interpretation this before the Lord is as much as under his carefull eye The words according to the Hebrew may be read before the face of the Lord by which is meant his presence and that not generall before which all men walk but speciall before which onely good men walk Indeed in this sense God face is as much as his favour and as to be cast out of his sight or face is to be under his anger so to walk before his face is to be in favour with him so that the meaning is as if the Psalmist had said I shall live secure and safe in this world under the carefull protection of the Almighty It is not then barely living with which David was so much in love but living under Gods tuition And this is the Confidence which he here seemeth to utter with so much joy that Gods gratious providence should watch over him the remainder of his dayes It is that which this holy man elswhere expresseth when he saith In the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me he shall set me upon a rock a rock is a place of strength and defence the tabernacle a place of safety and refuge this was Gods mercifull presence to David securing him from all dangers This is that which not he alone but all godly men may assure themselves of It is the positive assertion of the Psalmist the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous nay in the preceding Psalm he ushereth it in with an Ecce Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him there is an observing eye the eye of his knowledge which is upon all men so much is affirmed at the 13. verse of that Psalm the Lord looketh from heaven and beholdeth all the sons
of men but his preserving eye the eye of his Care is onely upon his righteous ones who fear him Their eye is upon him in duty as the eye of the Handmaid is upon her mistris to serve her his eye is upon them in mercy as the eye of the owner is upon his cattell to feed them One upon the Text conceiveth in this expression of walking before God an allusion to the practice of tender parents especially towards their little Children Omnis enim in nat is chari stat cura parent is Such is for the most part the love of parents to their Children especially when young that they cannot endure them out of their sight but would always have their own eye upon them in which respect the Children may be said to walk before their parents no less is the Fatherly yea Motherly affection of God towards his people whom he adopts for his children and keepeth ever in his sight Hence is that sweet expression of God to the Church Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me It is the command given to Israel concerning the Commandements Thou shalt bind them for a signe upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes whereby is intimated a sedulous care both in perusing and performing them not much unlike is this of Gods graving Israel upon his hands and setting his walls before his eyes the intent thereof being to express the singular Care and mindfull regard of God to his Church and which would not be past by it is not a writing that may be blotted out but an ingraving and this ingraving is not upon the back then it might be the sooner rubd off or worn out but upon the palms of his hands so firm and permanent is the Almighty's Care of his people To this purpose are those choice Metaphors which Moses useth concerning Gods Care of Jacob meaning his posterity he led him about to wit in the wilderness or as the septuagint translate and the Hebrew will beare it he compassed him about to wit with his love he kept him as the apple of his eye no part of mans body so strongly guarded by nature nor which men are so tender of as the apple of the eye so singular was Gods Providence towards Israel yea that he might most fully represent it he compareth God to an Eagle bearing her young ones not as her prey in her talents but on her wings wherby they are safe from all danger Finally upon this account it is that the godly man is said not only to walk before but to dwell in God and abide under his shadow and surely as there must needs be safety in those walls where salvation is appointed for walls so there cannot but be security in his dwelling to whom the most high 's secret becommeth an habitation How happy is the condition of a Saint whereas the Lord is far from the wicked he is nigh to the good Cain goeth out from the presence of the Lord David continually walketh before the Lord the ungodly are like stragling Chickens often snatch'd up by the devouring Kite whilest the godly are close under the hens wings those like stray sheep wander up and down exposed to variety of dangers whilest these being under the shepheards care feed securely Indeed no felicity like to that which is to be found in Gods affection nor safety to that of his Protection Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep saith the Psalmist that which Cain refused to be to his brother God is to his servants their keeper yea so watchfull a keeper that his eye is never off them day nor night it closeth not no not so much as winketh it sleepeth not by night nor slumbreth by day and therefore well may they lye down and sleep in peace yea rise up and walk without fear it is Saint Paul's challenge if God be for us who can be against us let it be the comfort of every Saint none can be so against him as to prevail because he walketh before God and so much shall suffice for the matter pass we on to the Ground of his hope which will the better appear by the connexion of the former verse with this because thou hast delivered I shall walk his confidence for the future is strengthened by his former experience It is that way of arguing which David often useth Thus in the 61. Psalm I will trust in the covert of thy wings is his resolution v. 3. For thou hast been a shelter for me so he reasoneth v. 2. and again Psal. 63. 7. Because thou hast been my help therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I reioyce and once more in the 1 Sam. 17. 37. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistin nor is he alone in this kind of argumentation Jacob being pursued by his brother Esau in his prayer for deliverance pleadeth with God that prosperity he vouchsafed him under Laban by which means he that passed over Jordan with his staff was now become two bands Josuah having beheld one miracle in the discomfiture of the Amorites from the ayriâ— heaven to wit great stones cast down upon them is bold to expect another from the starry heaven and therefore calleth upon the Sun to stand still in Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Ascalon For this reason it was that Daniel wrestling with God for the peoples liberation out of Babylon maketh mention of his bringing them out of Aegypt and thence emphatically inferreth a therfore now therefore Oh Lord heare the prayer of thy servant and from the same praemises S. Paul draweth a like Conclusion Who delivered as from so great death and in whom we trust he will yet deliver and again the Lord stood by me and strengthened me I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon and the Lord shall deliver me from every evill work And to name no more the whole Church upon this consideration addresseth her self to God with confidence Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou hast wrought all our works for us and which is not unfitly taken notice of upon Gods suspending of his wonted favours she expostulateth with him where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowells and of thy mercyes towards me are they restrained as if it were a strange and unwonted thing for God not to renew his mercyes where he had formerly conferd them Indeed with God the Collation of one blessing is a sufficient reason of bestowing more As Saint Gregory speaking of the signes of the last day saith sequentium rerum certitudo est praetâ—ritorum exhibitio the accomplishment of some assureth the fulfilling of all So it is no less true of divine benefits the donation of
to approve of them when made so to look after them how they are made good and let me tell you To prophane that heart which is once consecrated to God to faulter in the execution of what is solemnly resolved in Gods service is a fetching the sacrifice from the Altar and will certainly bring the Coal of fire along with it Hadst thou never put in for the title of a friend and votary with an Oh God my heart is ready to do thy will thou hadst not been perfidious though prophane but by breaking thy promise thou addest the guilt of unfaithness to that of disobedience and thy sin becommeth beyond measure sinfull and therefore look on David once again who as he saith here I will walk so elsewhere I have walked in thy truth there professing he had done what here he resolveth he will do To this end let us speedily performe what we have once deliberatly resolved As we do by a fickle and inconstant man take him at his word whilst we have him in a good vein lest in a short space he alter his mind So let us deale by our deceitfull hearts When thou vowest a vow to God defer not to pay it is the wise mans counsell and indeed it is very wise counsell defer not to put in action what Gods Spirit hath put into thy intention Nor let any man think to excuse himself by pleading inability and saying I would but I cannot fulfill my religious purposes rather let him joyne earnest supplications with his serious resolutions and not doubt but he that hath begun to work in him the will will also strengthen him to do Oh my God I would do what I ought Oh that I could do what I would thou hast in some measure wrought my will to thy command Oh work my power to thy will that I may not onely will to desire but do thy will thou hast been pleased to put Oh keep it for ever in the imagination of the thought of the heart of thy servant to walk before thee and so I am fallen on the duty which here David resolves upon namely to Walk before the Lord in the land of the living For the more methodicall discussing of which be pleased to observe these three particulars The matter the manner and the season or place of performing this duty So that here we have an answer to three or foure questions if you would know What he resolveth it is to Walk How he would walk before the Lord When and where in the Land of the living namely in this world which is the place or whilest he should be living in this land and so it notes the time of his walking before the Lord Of each of these in their order beginning with the matter of this resolve which is to 1. Walk In the handling of this both the verbe and the conjugation are considerable The verbe in its proper acception signifieth a motion of the body which we call walking but per metaphoram de vita moribus actionibus usurpatur Metaphorically it is applyed to the manners and conversations of men and that not without just reason Men sit at home but commonly when they walk it is abroad fitly therefore are our externall actions represented by walking So that that which here David resolveth upon is the same with what elswhere he calleth an ordering the conversation aright and this I will walk is as much as if he had said I will indeavour to lead a regular and orderly life It would not here be passed by the seeming contradiction in the Psalmists expressions At the seventh verse he saith return to thy rest Oh my Soul and here he presently saith I will walk how can these two stand together Motus quies privativè opponuntur saith the Philosopher motion rest are opposite now walking is a motion as being an act of the locomotive faculty How then could David return to his rest and yet walk an objection somewhat specious but the strength of it is easily enervated and the difference quickly reconciled To which end you must know that the walking and rest here mentioned being of a divine nature do not oppose each other spirituall rest maketh no man idle and therefore it is no enemy to walking spirituall walking maketh no man weary and therefore it is no enemy to rest Indeed they are so far from being opposite against that they are subservient to each other and it is hard to say whether that rest be the cause of this walking or this walking a cause of that rest Indeed both are true since he that rests in God cannot but walk before him and by walking before we come to rest in God Returning to rest is an act of confidence since there is no rest to be had but in God nor in God but by a believing assiance in reliance on him Walking before God is an act of obedience when we disobey we wander and go astray onely by obedience we walk Now these two are so far from being enemies that they are companions and ever go together confidence being a means to quicken obedience and obedience to strengthen confidence That confidence is not a spirituall rest but a carnall security which hopes in the promise and yet obeyeth not the Precept very observable therefore is both David's assertion and exhortation elswhere his assertion concernes himself I am like a green Olive-tree I trust the more in God intimating that the lamp of his confidence was fed with the oyl of good works his exhortation is to others Trust in the Lord and do good implying that a right trust in God puts upon doing good and a sedulous doing good emboldneth to trust in God so that these two not only may but must meet together in every Saint return he ought to his rest but withall he must walk To let this go and return to what hath been already hinted That which is here especially considerable is that David resolveth to look to the regulating of his life and the well ordering his externall actions If you cast your eyes on the first verse of his Psalme you find a profession of love I love the Lord if on the second a promise of prayer I will call on the Lord if on this verse a resolve of walking I will walk before the Lord There are three things should be the object of a Saints care the devotion of the soul profession of the mouth and conversation of the life that is the sweetest melody in Gods eares when not onely the voyce sings but the heart-strings keep tune and the hand keepeth time all of these are observable in good David with his heart he loveth God with his lips he calleth upon God in his life he walketh before God and truly this last ought not to be the least of our care and that in respect of God others our selves 1. It is our walking that glorifieth God So much our blessed
of our life so St. Ambrose readeth the second verse of this Psalm in omnibus diebus meis indeed no day no hour no moment which carrieth not with it a new obligation and besides even particular favours oblige to continued service it is not to be devout and zealous for a time whilst the deliverance is fresh and new but to set upon a constant course of obedience which true gratitude calls for that thankfulness is of the right dye and colour which is lasting nor must our obedience expire but with our life 2. You have seen the extent of the duty now take a short view of the mercy which doth thus oblige and that in this three-fold consideration 1. Thou hast delivered Of all mercies deliverances are the most engaging every deliverance supposeth a danger and the danger sweetneth the mercy the truth is we never so highly prize a blessing as when we either are deprived of or in danger to lose it How welcome was the spacious Land to Jonah when he had been Prisoner in the Whales belly VVhat kind greeting think you was there between Lazarus and his Sisters when he was returned from the dead It is not to be imagined with what readiness those hands of Abraham embraced his Isaac which were even now unwillingly stretched forth to kill him Health preserved and continued is a mercy but when restored and renewed it is far more acceptable No wonder if David being delivered resolveth to walk before the Lord 2. My Soul from death Every deliverance is a Bond but when from death the worst of outward evils it maketh our Debt the greater Every mercy hath a voyce but the greater the mercy the louder the call to obedience To this purpose both St. Bernard and Parisiensis It is no doubt but that every benefit obligeth the Receiver to the Giver and by how much the larger the gift by so much the stronger the tye and therefore in the service of God we ought to be so much the more solicitous by how much his love towards and care over us hath been the more gracious Thus St. Paul having obtained mercy more eminently laboured more abundantly than the rest Mary Magdalen loved much because much was forgiven her Jehosaphat being lifted up with riches and honour in abundance his heart was lifted up in the waies of the Lord and David having received a deliverance from so great danger as death promiseth to walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living 3. Lastly Mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Lo here a deliverance not from one but many dangers to wit death tears and falling Single deliverances are as Threds but when multiplyed they become as a Cord twisted of many Threds more potent to draw us to God Any one mercy is as a Link but many favours are as a Chain consisting of several Links to bind us the closer to our duty Vis unita fortior Frequent droppings of the Rain cannot but make an impression even on the Stone and renewed mercies may well prevail with the stony heart Parisiensis relateth a story of a Man whom notwithstanding his luxurious and vicious courses God was pleased to accumulate favours upon so that at last he cryed out Vicisti benignissime Deus indefatigabili tua bonitate Most gracious God thy unwearied goodness hath overcome my obstinate wickedness and from that time devoted himself to God's service No wonder then if David upon deliverance from such numerous and grievous afflictions maketh this his resolve to walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living To apply this VVhich of us my Brethren here before God this day have not experienced variety of mercies positive and privitive in our persons and relations yea which of us at some time in some kind or other hath not been blessed with deliverances and that from various yea desperate dangers And now Compensare credo Domino Deo nostro cultu honore reverentia beneficia quae ab eo accepimus adnitimur as Salvian of those in his time One would think having received so much love and kindness from God we should repay him in love and service worship and reverence being graciously delivered we should go to his House with praises renounce the sins of our former life vow to God new obedience and offer up our selves a sacrifice to him Thus indeed we ought to do but what do we are we not like the high-way side which returneth no crop though you cast never so much seed upon it yea like the Vineyard which though fenced and planted instead of Grapes brought forth wild Grapes Nay yet worse like the Earth that drinketh in the Rain and instead of Herbs meet for the Dresser bringeth forth Thorns and Briars whilst we either sit still living in idleness or else instead of walking before wander far from God by prophaneness nay walk contrary to God by rebellious wickedness It may be in the day of our distress we go to God but in the day of our deliverance we run from him As Antigonus his Souldier when sickly was valiant but when recovered turned Coward and as Aesop's Snake which lay still in the Frost but stung him who warmed it in his bosome So it is with the most of us in adversity we seem dovout but in prosperity we prove licencious and rebellious In the Tomb of Terrentia were certain Lamps which burned under ground for many ages but so soon as they were brought into the Air they went out never to be kindled again A fit embleme of our practice whiles we are kept in a Cave of darkness confined to a Vault of misery we are burning and shining Lamps but when God hath lifted us up from the Gates of death and carrieth us as it were abroad into the open Air that we enjoy this worlds allurements the light of our piety goeth out and we practice the works of darkness So that what Lactantius complained of concerning many in his daies who under pressing exigencies would call upon the true God but when the danger was over would return to their former idolatries the like may be charged upon many of us who in affliction remember but after restauration forget yea dishonour the God of our mercies That acknowledgement of the Psalmist we have all reason to make concerning God He crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies or he compasseth to wit round about with variety of compassions as a General doth begirt a rebellious City with a numerous Army of Souldiers But tell me do we yet yield to this gracious Siege these gentle Batteries nay rather do we not stand out the more rebelliously against him yea our unthankfulness striveth with Gods goodness for the victory as Absolom did with David whether the Father should be more kind or the Son more unkind Sad though just were those accusations of God against Israel by Moses Jesurun waxed fat and kicked by Isaiah I have
efficient often ask it self the like question What honour have I brought what service have I done to my God for this and such questions are the ready way to pious resolutions VVhen Joseph being sollicited by his Mistris to uncleanness remembred the kindness his Master had shewed him yea the gracious providence of God towards him he returneth her that excellent answer Behold my Master woteth not what is with me in the house and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand there is none greater in this house than I neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee because thou art his Wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Observable to this purpose is that connexion which David maketh between these tâ—â—o Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth These were two things this holy man had ever before him his own sins so elswhere My sin is ever before me God's goodness so here Thy loving kindness is before me they are both very imitable patterns VVell were it if we would every one keep a Catalogue both of the sins we commit and blessings we receive especially notorious sins and glorious deliverances that the remembrance of the one might keep us from wandring and of the other excite us to walk before God in truth 2. Often recollect the promises thou madest to God in thy distress and that will put thee on renewing and performing them after deliverance VVhen Sigismund asked Theodoricus what a Man should do to walk in the right way that leadeth to bliss he answered Si vitam tuam ita enstitueris ut te facturum promisisti dum calculus aut podagra sive alia valetudo adversa acrius to oppressit If a Man did so lead his life as he resolveth to do when the Stone or Gout or some other sore disease is upon him Call then to mind Oh Sinner those dark and cloudy daies in which the guilt of thy sins affrighted thee the pain of thy disease tormented thee the fears of death surprized thee and the sorrows of Hell caught hold of thee Remember how then thou didst pray and promise beg and vow that if the Lord would remove his rod thou wouldst forsake thy sins if he would spare thee thou wouldst serve him and if he would renew thy daies thou wouldst lead a new course of life Oh be not so perfidious as now that God hath upon thy promise granted thy desire thou shouldst by non-performance frustrate his expectation Be the same to God in thy health that thou wert in sickness else it will appear thou didst onely vow to amend thy life that thou mightest amend in health nor didst thou desire to recover that thou mightest glorifie God but onely promisedst to glorifie God that thou mightest recover 3. Frequently ponder thy own unworthiness acknowledge with Jacob I am less than the least of all the mercies and of all the truth that thou hast shewed to thy servant say with David What am I O Lord God and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto and in the sense of thy vileness thus reason with thy self I am unworthy to receive shall I be unwilling to requite the goodness of God I am not able to requite shall I not endeavour to return something to him for all his love I have deserved nothing but death and tears and falling shall I not be thankfull for deliverance from all these my former wandrings called for judgement instead of mercy destruction instead of preservation and shall I not answer so undeserved a recovery by future walking before God Thus would the consideration of thy antecedent demerit put thee upon an endeavour of subsequent obedience 4. Lastly Be much in prayer after as well as before thy deliverance not onely praise but prayer must wait upon mercy Hast thou then obtained health pray for that which is better than health grace to improve it in God's service why shouldst thou be blessed to thy cost nay thy curse say in this case as Abraham in another Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Lord what wilt thou give me if I go graceless It were better not to be delivered than not to have spiritual enablement with thy temporal deliverance to walk before God Let this therfore be thy own prayer for thy self yea for this desire the prayers of others To end all This is that request my dearly beloved in the Lord which I must now make unto you In the time of my sickness you were pleased to wrestle with God for my recovery Oh cease not to pray for me still I need your prayers I beg your prayers it will be your good as well as mine Oh therefore pray for me that I may lay out this health and strength which God hath restored to me in his service and that being delivered from death and tears and falling into the Grave I may be enabled both to resolve and perform that of which David here hath set both me and you a pattern in the words of the Text I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living FINIS ERRATA in the first Sermon PAg. 1. lin. 25. for un r. in 2. 30. after less d. the comma in the marg. for lu r. tu 3. 25. for warmness r. weariness 4. 16. for â—â— r. 〈◊〉 5. in marg. for saer r. ser. 6. 36. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in marg. for vo r. no 7. in marg. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 8. 27. for and r. both in marg. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 11. 8. for and r. are in the marg. after de r. triplici 12. 10. put Christ before est timos 14. in marg. for care r. cant. 17. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 18. 25. d. but nisi l. 26. after but put in nisi 20. 3. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} l. 7. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 21. 34. for ut r. et and for tur r. tor 24. 33. r. Christian 25. 22. d. to in marg. for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 26. 8. after to insert be 31. 12. put the comma before so in marg. after Bibl. r. e. for {non-Roman}