and Pray to him 1. Love him VVHo can do other then love God in whom he lives and moves and hath his Being How can we refrain loving that Infinite Wisdom and Power and Goodness which hath made the Universe and wonderfully disposed it in a beautiful Harmony and mutual correspondence and doth so sweetly govern and carefully sustain all the parts of it Beside David knew Love to be the sum of Gods Law and the Compendium of mans Duty to him and could not be a Man after Gods own heart without doing this before and then what new thing doth he promise in my Text Further To love God for his Benefits onely is but to love our selves and our own conveniences to love him as we do fair weather and sweet air as we love meat drink and sleep And the insincerity of such a love would be sure to appear upon the tryal which Satan desired to put on Job J b 1.9 10 11. While God maketh a hedg about its and blesseth all that we have perphas we shall love him But if he put forth his hand and take all we have our Love being grounded on no other Principle will go away with our goods and we shall be in danger of Cursing him to his face We are to love God for his own Excellencies We are to love him because he requires it and the more Because having a just Right and Power to exact from us the most painful hard services He is so gracious as to demand no more but that we love him that we be not so much his Servants Jâ—hn 15.15 as his Friends This is our standing ordinary Duty Indeed this is all we can perform We can do no more then love God That is both the Perfection of our Obedience here and shall be of our Happiness in Heaven But yet this love is capable of degrees The affection may and must be at sometimes and on some occacasions more intense then at others and the acts more lively and vigorous when our hearts are impregnated and our services called forth by signal extraordinary demonstrations as instances of Gods love to us We ought ever to love God with all our Souls that is heartily and entirely yet this hinders not but that the love which was always true and void of Hypocrisie proceeding as S. Paul derives it out of a pure heart 1 Tim. 1.5 and a good conscience and faith unfeigned may now be more ardent then usual That the fire which was alive in the Embers before may now burn out and flame with a Seraphick heat and brightness when God hath descended thus to stir it up to invite and court and even ravish our affections with the abundance of his favours This David intimates in the very Text For though we have it onely I will love yet the Original expression signifies I will ardently or affectionately love thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of my Bowels or from the bottom of my heart will I love thee Ex intimis viscerâ—hus Trâ—mâ—l and so some of the best Translations render it To t'ameâ—ò affettuâ—sa mente Dio dati Well then if this be the Scale and Standard of our Duty in this behalf that our Love ought to rise in proportion to the Benefits we receive As our Saviour indeed sets it in the Gospel Luke 7.47 where he tells us that the most obliged person will love most and were it not so there could be no such sin as Ingratitude in the World that odious inhumane Crime would lose all the ground and reason both of its guilt and shame Then it will presently be evident to all men how much we of this Nation ought to love God who hath so abounded in his favours to us But how much we do love him is hard to say for the expressions of our affection are very untoward Lâ—ke the Course and rude Caresses of Russian Husbands to their Wives our kindness looks much more like to Anger and ill nature then Love If to disobey dishonour injure and affront to do every thing that will displease God and grieve his Holy Spirit be Love then we love him extreamly But if there be any Truth in what Common Sense and the Uniform Voice of Mankind affirm of Love That it is an active vigorous Principle working mightily in the hearts of Men Provoking and even constraining them to do every thing which may be agreeable to those they Love and accordingly hath produced wonderful Prodigious effects in Humane Friendships If the Holy Scriptures and Histories of Times truly Christian deceive us not in representing the sincere Love of God as an affection which can neither be dissembled nor suppressed being always cheerfully and indefatigably employ'd in his service If it devoureth Difficulties casteth out (a) 1 John 4.18 Fear (b) Psal 119. saepe Rendreth Labour easie and desireable delighting not onely in the sweat of its Brows but in the most Bloudy Agonies and Conflicts breaking through the Briars and Thorns of an accursed World and the many flaming swords which Satan draws against it making it self a Paradise and Heaven upon Earth in the doing Gods Will in walking with and (c) 1 John 4.15 16. dwelling in him For which reason Love is called The (d) Rom. 13.10 fulfilling of the e Gal 5 10. Law The keeping God's (f) 1 John 5.3 Commandments That whereon all the Law and the Prophets (g) Mat. 22 40 depend The (h) 1 Jâ—hn 4 7.8 knowing God and being known of him The (i) Eâ—h 3.17 Root and Ground of Religion and the choicest most excellent (k) Gaâ—â—5 22 Fâ—uit of the Spirit If this be the true Character of that Divine Vertue as indeed these are the Lineaments and Features by which it was most eminently discernible in the unparallell'd Example of our dear Lord and Saviour and in the first Copies taken from thence the Primitive Martyrs and Confessors Then may something like to it be found in our Fancies our Discourses or Professions but not the least shadow of it appears in our Lives and Conversations Unhappy Nation that we are for whom the essences of things and the Definition of Duty must be quite changed ere we can pretend to that disposition towards God which Nature dictates and the bare apprehension of a Deity exacts I am not willing to utter words of ill Omen this day but thus much I cannot refrain from saying That had God expressed his kindness to us no otherwise then we have done our returns of Love to Him we had not now been here Surely David lov'd God at another rate else we should not have found him in one Psalm panting and languishing after him like an emboss'd spent Dear Psal 42. 1â— 2. Grieved and afflicted for being kept from his presence Psal â—20 84 2.69.9 Languishing and fainting with desire to get into his Temple burnt up and devour'd with Zeal for it in others Not onely his Book
stanza of a Psalm otherwise then in general terms so David could not satisfie himself but by crowding in all the general words and Appellatives which plain or figurative speech afforded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. in Locum accompanying doubtless every several word with a proper distinct act of Devotion a new heat and flame of love and zeal so that all together like the Milky way they seem one Celestial fire but are many That we may see how well such a full acknowledgment would become us how well all these Names and Titles attributed by David to God would sound in our mouths if we would ascribe them with Davids Devotion and Affection Give me leave to look back not so far as he does to the whole life of a Man but to that new Epocha of our lives the new Birth and Restauration of all things to us Methinks that should be remembred every Thanksgiving-day without which we should never have had any Thanksgiving day at all Consider then in what condition we were this time seven years when the last Effort we could make or Project for the recovery of our Country was miserably defeated Shall I say by the Treachery of some the folly and cowardize of others or rather by the good Providence of God who designed to shew us the vanity of all our contrivances and the impossibility of our being saved by any other means then the miraculous interposition of his help and thereby make us humble enough for such a Deliverance You cannot but remember That we did not then draw our Breath otherwise then Precariously and at the mercy of impotent Fanatical and now enraged Tyrants from whose Principles as well as malice nothing was to be expected but Robberies Massacres and Desolations private mischiefs and publick Ruine Men that could not possibly agree to establish themselves and besides that they conspired to undo all but themselves their very disagreement had they designed nothing towards it must necessarily have destroyed the Nation Who would have expected that through this black Cloud a comfortable light and day of Salvation should dawne and break upon us within a few Months Who durst hope or almost Pray in so deep a despair that out of this horrid Chaos a World of Beauty and Order should arise so soon and we be surprised as in a dream with a perfect rescue from all we feared and a quiet enjoyment of whatsoever we could wish This was clearly the Work of God and God alone a meer miracle of Mercy wrought in despight of so much actual force at home so much Councel of all States and Princes abroad and the yet more dangerous oppositions of our own Provocations perversly and insolently contending against Gods goodness and making it far more reasonable for us to look for a hand upon the Wall writing a visible inreversible sentence of extirpation then secretly and powerfully working our deliverance behind it And therefore were there nothing else in our case we must confess that this alone hath filled all the expressions of David in my Text and we shall think our selves bound for ever to celebrate our Good God as our Refuge and Defence our Deliverer the Horn of our Salvation and our High Tower c. TO come close and home to our present business When the impudent injustice of our Neighbours made this War necessary we soon saw we should be engaged to contend with the most powerful enemies in the World without the assistance of any friend And perhaps this little world of ours were it unanimous and entire vigorously exerting all its force might be able to defend it self against so much of the greater But we are full of Caprice and humorous Emulations and Piques which trouble and discountenance and worse things which hinder and obstruct Publick Enterprises The infirmities of some and the wickedness of others weaken our hands and make us little more then half our selves One sort do no good and others all the harm they can So desperately mad are they Liv. l. 2. that like Appius his Legions they would rather be destroyed by any Enemy then live to see their Prince have the honour of saving and defending them These things shame us and disadvantage our Cause but they exalt the Glory of God and make his help afforded us more conspicuous For notwithstanding all this He gave us the last year a glorious Victory which brought forth good fruit and great effects And this year he hath not been wanting to us In the First Fight he brought us off without dishonour nay perhaps with more honour the circumstances of the Battle considered then a full Victory could have challenged had we been evenly matched And your Enemies Behaviour then will teach you how to value the Victory you have now Lord how did they insult and brave it all over Europe How unable were they to govern themselves when they pretended to have mastered us If Bonefires and Dutch Wit French Brags and some English Despondence could have conquer'd us we had been utterly undone But now behold how the Scene is changed we have seen our Conquerors fairly beaten and they who lately told the World that the narrow Seas were become as subject to them as their own Ditches and talked as if like Xerxes they would bridle and fetter the Captive Ocean are shamefully fled like him broken and shatter'd through those very Seas and left them to the possession of their ancient rightful owners And now their countenance is alter'd with their fortune Heretofore they were like the Grecian Wrastler who being thrown would spring up nimbly from the ground and confidently aver that he had given his adversary the fall Now they are more ingenuous and modest but not more quiet their Rants and Huffs are exercised among themselves And having by a calm escaped an imminent ruine at Sea they are shaken by Tempests and Storms at Land Revilings and accusations fly like Broadsides among their great Captains and the wise men cannot make the valiant ones agree which of them contributed most to their being beaten That all this hath been done for us and in a time while the devouring Pestilence rageth in our bowels and kills far more at home then our Enemies can abroad That the spreading Contagion which hath seized all quarters of our Land hath been restrained from hindring our great business either in the Fleet the Court or this City is of the wonderful goodness of God who though he will chastise will not destroy us though he take us into his own hand to correct us for our amendment yet suffers us not to fall into the hands of Man but both in Judgment and Mercy approves himself our Strength our Deliverer the horn of our Salvation and our high Tower and all this to try us by one experiment more whether when we have found him as good to us as he was to David we will be as thankful to him as David was Love him Trust in him Praise him
of Psalms but his whole life could not otherwise have been so full of jealousie for God's Honour Delight in his Commands and every thing that may express a Will knit and united to that of God as the Chaldee hath it here which is the true and proper effect of Love Indeed David could not without such a love of God have perform'd well those acts of Piety and Devotion which he promiseth in my Text Could not Trust in him Praise him or Pray to him acceptably with hope to be saved from his Enemies Nor can we however our Fancies and Dreams of Religion deceive us and therefore must be sure to take it along with us throughout And first to help us and give us ground and foundation for our Trust in God the next thing in my Text. TRust we know is an act of Friendship and the greatest fruit it yields Mutual Confidence springing naturally from Mutual Affection I can safely rely upon that Person whom I therefore love because I esteem him so good that he will not fail any just expectation and whose affection to me is my double Pledg that he will surely answer mine But if I doubt either of these two things Love and Trust vanish together so that we must both love God and believe that he loves us before we can Trust in him For though God's Goodness be Infinite and have wonderfully abounded to us yet being free in its exercise it will be presumption and folly not trust to expect any thing further from him but according to the methods of his Wisdom revealed unto us in his Promises and he hath promised his favours onely to those that love him And if we love him then shall we Trust in him both with a steady and humble Confidence Not murmuring when we want the success we expect nor growing insolent when we have it Love will not suffer us to suspect his Goodness if every event come not up to our wishes Nor censure his Wisdom though sometimes we discern not the reason of his Providence Much less shall we justle him out of his Throne and put in for our share in governing the World setting up a Counter-Deity of our own Councel and Force These are generally the two great faults of men in our Condition Not submitting to the Wisdom and Goodness of God And relying too much upon the Arm of Flesh And have we never been guilty of either of them Have we never quarrelled and grumbled if there were a ship less taken then we had predestined in our Fancy Any thing fallen out otherwise then we had set it down in the Gallery or the Coffee-house Do we not in the computation of our strength for the War make false Musters passing our own Force and Courage twice over upon the Rolls and leaving God quite out Imagine our selves sufficient Deliverers and Saviours to our selves and forgetting that God is our Strength The Rock of our Defence and the Horn of our Salvation I fear something of this may have been the Provocation which hath mov'd God to Discipline us with his own Sword the Plague at home while he saves us from that of the Enemy abroad Lately to shew us danger in an unequal Encounter and even now to check our Victory and snatch much of its fruit out of our hands when we were just grasping it and seem'd to our selves almost possess'd of a full and final Conquest And this hath he done not by animating our drooping Enemies with new Courage or strengthning their feeble hands with fresh force and activity but meerly by withholding the Breath of his Wind that we may be convinced upon how Particular and constant attendance of Providence upon us our felicity depends which if it be suspended but for one moment we presently falter if the influence of God's Power and Goodness that soul of our affairs do not exert it self in every instance immediately our nerves are relaxed and our spirits damp'd and we begin to languish without strength or motion This being duly considered I hope will engage us not onely to Love God more ardently and Trust in him more entirely and firmly but doing both to Praise and Pray to him more affectionately That so we may both now and always be safe from our Enemies I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised So shall I c. I fear there is not so much of my time left as of my Subject Wherefore I will join these two Duties of Prayer and Praise in my Exhortation as the Chaldee and Greek do in the Text it self who read both of them Praising I will Pray And they cannot be more joint and united in any Expression then they are in their own natures Praise being one and the most noble Part of Prayer that which is most peculiarly and eminently the Worship of God For though when we Petition him for the Benefits we desire or against the Evils we fear we do tacitly and by consequence acknowledg both his Power and his Goodness yet do we more expresly and directy Honour and Glorifie God when our souls are pour'd out in cheerful Hallelujah's hearty and joyful celebrations of his holy Name who is the Lord Blessed for ever Whoso offereth me Thanks and Praise he (a) Ps 50.23 Honoureth me saith David and how much David thought so appears by this that all his Psalmes are so full of those oblations as in the Original they are justly called The Book of Praises And why are not our lives as full of them too We mistake our selves if we think this Duty confined to great Festivals and solemn Thanksgivings to depend upon our Calendars or the Kings Proclamations Holy Job in the depth of his sorrows and the midst of his great distresses when he had at once lost both his Wealth and his Children all the supports and comforts of this life Even upon the Dunghil (b) Job 1 21. Blesseth the Name of the Lord his God who had both given and taken away To teach us that we can never be in a condition so wretched and uncomfortable wherein we may not find somewhat for which we ought to Praise God and adore and magnifie his goodness towards us not onely although we be afflicted and cast down but even because we are so Would we allow our selves some time to meditate seriously on the incomprehensible Excellencies of the Divine Nature To consider how all God's Attributes have been employed and exercised for our Good To understand what it was at first to be created out of nothing and put into a capacity of hapiness What need we had of Mercy and how unworthy we were of it when by a foolish Disobedience we had obliged and confined our selves to endless wo and then at what a rate our Redemption was procured That by the Bloud of Christ not onely Pardon but Eternal Happiness was purchased for us Would we recollect the several instances of God's Care and Providence in the preservation of our lives and
all our worldly concernments but especially the continual endeavours of his Grace and Holy Spirit to conduct us safe to the enjoyment of that Blessedness which his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness have prepared for us Such Reflections as these would we suffer them to settle and fix upon us must needs fill our souls with the Love of God and our mouths with his Praises This would kindle in us a zealous Concern and Passion for the Glory of God and we should apprehend no happiness upon Earth but in the promoting his honour among men Our hearts would be like Altars of Incense with a perpetual Heavenly fire burning on them and sending up continually our Eucharistial oblations that odour of sweet smell made of holy Oyl and fragrant Spices Love and Joy in the Lord and the Cloud of this Incense would cover the Mercy Seat The assistant Angels would as the Jews say go up in this Cloud to offer our Lauds unto God and bring back from him Grace and Peace and Salvation in returns unto us 'T is for want of this because we are such strangers to God and our selves that the life of every Christian is not a continual Eucharist That we come so seldom and with such coldness and Indevotion to join with the Church Militant in her Sacrifice of Praise the Holy Communion Hebr. 13 15. that great peculiar instance of our Religion wherein Christ hath commanded us to continue a perpetual thankful remembrance of all God's Mercies and particularly of his Death which comprehends them all and there to connect our poor Prayers to his powerful eternal intercessions that so both our Petitions and Praises may be acceptable to God 'T is for want of this that the Children of God are so unwilling to have their Conversation in Heaven to join and communicate in this Honourable delectable Duty of Praising God with the Church Triumphant where Saints and Angels incessantly Praise God having nothing to ask or beg of him but in behalf of us We deceive our selves grosly and dangerously while we think we can be Religious without Praising God often and heartily and cheerfully in Private as well as Publick Alas our loud and clamorous Prayers how many or importunate soever they be separate from this are but Hypocritical Devotions terminated in our own interests not in God or his Glory And our Prayers would be as few as our Praises but that the love of the world and our selves which damps the love of God in our hearts and suffers us not to delight and rejoice in Praising him sometimes prompts us to call on him to fly to his help in distress make us look up like the Jews in the Wilderness when we feel our selves stung And this strange fire on the Altar looks like the True burns and blazeth for a while and makes us think our selves very Religious when alas we are onely very fore or very fearful and our necessities and distresses are devout not we I need not Press that further whereof every one hath a sufficient conviction in this that while our case is thus Devotion comes upon us onely by catches and starts and even as in an Ague we have as many cold Fits as hot When the violence of that impulse pulse which warm'd us is spent we freeze again when the Calamity or terror which put us into a hasty fermentation is taken off immediately we settle upon our lees VVhen he kills us then we seek him we turn early and enquire after God when we remember that God is our strength Psal 78. and the most High God is our Redeemer but as soon as the Judgment is removed and we have swallowed and digested the Mercy we turn back and tempt the Holy One of Israel VVe think no more of his Hand and of the Day wherein he delivered us from our Enemies VVhereas were a habit of Religion firmly setled in us rooted and grounded on the love of God and conscience of our Duty it would be both Permanent and Uniform in all its exercises VVe should not think to use God onely as a Property or Convenience but adore the Majesty of our Almighty Soveraign Lord and delight as much to Praise him for the Benefits we have received as to receive any new ones from his hand VVhat then shall I say Shall I reproach a Christian Congregation by exhorting them to love God I am ashamed to do that and I have said enough already if any thing be enough by telling you that without Loving God you ought not to Trust in him you cannot Praise or Pray to him your Praises will be but Flatteries and your Prayers indignities and affronts Shall I desire you to be more frequent and more zealous in your Praises Sure I need not request you if you mean to go to Heaven to practice that beforehand here which must there be your onely Employment to beseech you not to think that a trouble now which then will be your Happiness and Glory I will rather tell you that God needs none of all these things from you Your Love does not benefit nor your Praises exalt him He is the same Omnipotent Majesty Infinitely happy in Himself whether you depend on his Protection and beg your daily Bread and all other good things at his hands or whether neglecting both those Duties you live as without God in the World But He is pleased when you love and honour him because he is delighted in the obedience of his Creature and nothing is so agreeable to him as that we should give him those occasions to love us and do us good which if you thus qualifie your selves to receive his favour I can assure you he will do as the Prophet David here assures himself Upon these Terms we shall be safe from our Enemies So shall I c. SO shall I be safe otherwise I shall not VVe cannot promise our selves to be safe by our own strength For were it never so great it may be matched and exceeded And were we never so much Masters of our Enemies we are not Masters of Occasion We may and have been obliged to fight upon disadvantage We are not Commanders of the Seas nor of the Winds which God keeps in his Treasure Last year they were helpful to us They were otherwise this year And if we cannot protect our selves Who shall protect us I have heard that one of our enemies hath said with contempt and scorne enough We have no Friend But God! Does he make such But 's I pardon his raillery and heartily embrace the good Omen of it If we have no Friend but God then we have him and if he be our Friend I am sure we need not fear what man can do against us Neither they we have so oft conflicted with nor they who hover further off expecting an opportunity to fall upon us when we are sore can be able to do us harm He is too much a Coward that dreads any Enemy when he hath Omnipotence it self