Faith else it may justly be returned upon us in any of our duties of Religious Worship as God saith to the wicked What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee And therefore we shall find it alwayes prescribed by God and practised by his People in any time of distress and danger when they needed Gods Salvation to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly to make their peace with God by Repentance of sins that were past and by entring into a new engagement by renewing their Covenant for their good abearing for the time to come 2. The right ordering our Conversation as to what is future consists in new obedience Attending on the duties of Religion and Righteousness To frame their doings so as to turn to their God from whom afore time they have fallen by their iniquity yet now they must come up to a resolution to do so no more The wrath of God which is revealed from Heaven is against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and therefore the way to enjoy the Salvation of God and avoid the wrath which is to come requires us in the first place to live godly in the present World of which there are two Branches 1. A religious observance of all the duties of Gods Worship God expects to be worshipped after a due manner by all those that desire to see his Salvation That God who is the Creator of the ends of the Earth alwayes required homage from the Inhabitants thereof and those Families are destined to his Curse and Vengeance that live in the neglect thereof as the Prophet Jeremy speaks Chap. 10.25 Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Such therefore as restrain Prayer and call not on the Name of the Lord are so far from seeing his Salvation that they may justly fear they shall feel his Indignation Abraham was called the Friend of God for whose sake he reproved Kings giving them in special charge not to work him any harm where ever he came to sojourn The first thing you hear of him is his building an Altar and calling on the Name of the Lord as may be seen in the first part of his Pilgrimage Gen. 12.7 8. 13.4 18. Nor was Abram the first who was noted for this Religious care of Gods Worship For we read that Noah as soon as ever he came out of the Ark built an Altar and offered Sacrifices thereon out of those few clean Beasts that were left alive after the great Deluge Probably he might conceive that it was in great part for the neglect thereof that a Deluge of Water was brought upon the World For ever since the dayes of Seth when first there were found People enough to make publick Assemblies they began to call upon the Name of the Lord and so continued till the degenerate Off-spring of the succeeding Generation had through their great Impiety in a manner wholy laid aside In like manner was it observed as most commendable in David that as soon as ever he was settled in his Kingdom the first publick design he takes in hand is the bringing home the Ark of God to the Tent which he had prepared for it at Jerusalem as well knowing that his establishing the Worship of God would be the directest means to establish the Kingdom in his possession for the work of God had been sadly neglected or but slightly managed ever since Saul was called to the Kingdom Jeroboam that had so large a promise for settling of the Kingdom in his prosperity yet lays the Foundation of his and their ruin in his Idolatry and false Worship which proved in like manner a fatal stumbling block in the way of all the succeeding Kings though in many things else never so hopeful and commendable in themselves It was the neglect of the Worship of God that lost Jehu and his Family the Kingdom and which at last cost the ten Tribes their Countrey For how zealous soever Jehu was in abolishing the Worship of Baal he was as remiss as the rest in setting up the Worship of the Lord. For t is said He took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord it must in a special manner be understood as to the Idolatry of the golden Calves for in other things he was careful very exactly to fulfil that will of the Lord as in punishing the house of Ahab as the Lord had commanded him Thus was it foretold by the Prophet Joel That whosoever called on the Name of the Lord should be saved What was it that ruined the Gospel Church but Idolatry and false Worship The suffering of false Worship as to â—he Object and will-worship as to the manner of their Devotion hath alwayes proved fatal to Christian Families and Churches This was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mr. Mede calls it in the Church of Rome Then if you would your selves or desire that yours should see the salvation of God look to maintain and carry on the Worship of God in your Assemblies Families and in your own hearts and closets The Worship of God was ordered aright in David's and Solomon's time and in the first part of Rehoboam's Reign And so long things went well but when Reheboam and his People forsook the Law of the Lord God forsook them and left them in the hand of their Enemies nor did any of the following Kings ever see the Salvation of God longer than they were careful to maintain and carry on the true Worship of God as may be seen in the History of Asa Jehosaphat Hezechiah and Josiah Kings of Judah For by the Idolatry and false Worship of the other Kings their Kingdoms became low and broken till at last they were broken to pieces were carried Captive to Babylon and were never restored to the honour of a Kingdom afterward 2. The second part of our Religious care must be to maintain Purity and Holiness in heart and life that the Holy God not only be Worshipped but that he be worshipped in an holy manner Reverend and Holy is his Name and he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him else he will sanctifie himself upon them and they shall by that means be far from seeing the Salvation of God as was the case of them that offered strange fire upon Gods Altar Thus the Prophet Haggai tells them and convinces them out of the Law that the impurity of their hearts and lives rendred all they did as to the external part of Gods Worship unclean For where the mind and conscience is defiled and unclean all the service that such perform must needs be defiled thereby It is the lifting up of clean hands that must obtain Gods Salvation he threatens to hide his eyes from beholding those hands that are defiled with blood or any other wickedness for which-out sincerity in our worship and
excellent spirit the Hebrew is of a Cool i. e. Sedate Composed temper not too much over heated with the fire of Anger Be not hasty saith he also to go out of the presence of him who hath power to do what he pleaseth David was too sudden in his determination about Mephibosheth case thou and Zibah divide the Land before he had taken so much time as to hear the allegations on either side Audi alteram partem i. e. hear the other side was a maxime of wisdom in antient time So was that also Secundoe cogitationes sunt meliores or second thoughts are better David had leisure enough afterward to repent of his sudden rash command to Joab to number the people The next or shortest way to the end is not always the best and safest It is better sometimes to march about to gain the wind than to fall directly upon the Enemy as David at Baal-Perazim So 't was said Charles sir-named the wise King of France overcame our Edward the third by Policy and Deliberation which his Father could not do by all his power 8. Wisdom teacheth men to govern their passions our passions both of love and hatred are violent and must be restrained else they may endanger the whole man Solomon calls them Fools who suffer anger to rest in their bosom He that lets the Sun go down upon his wrath may be like to have the Devil for his Bed-fellow saith one Samson's violence in his love makes him lose his life and his liberty in the issue many do by their Souls as the Mariners did by their Ship wherein Paul sailed for so losing Rudder bands of Reason they spread the Sail of all their power and endeavours and to commit themselves to the winds and waves of their passions which violently drive them upon the Rocks or Sands where they suffer Ship-wreck of all that is Embarqued Abigail who had been the prudent Wife of a rich Fool wisely reproves David for his passion who at other times was counted wise as an Angel of God 9. Wisdom makes men humble and lowly of heart in imitation of him in whom are hid all the Treasures of wisdom as well politically as spiritually for so our Saviour convinces the Pharisees of their folly as well as pride in taking the uppermost seats at the first hand as they come into the Feast whereas if they had wisely taken lower Seats at first they might with honour have been advanced whereas afterwards some of them were forced with shame to give place to their betters Wise men cannot but see great reason to be humble because a double promise is annexed thereunto both by being advanced by God himself and of being taught by him also Therefore seeing God himself hath made humility the way to honour he is not a wise man that shall refuse to walk therein A poor and wise Child is preferred before an old and foolish King that is too high to receive an Admonition A wise mans head will never be broken by a reproof Out of the Prison the wise Joseph and David cometh to Reign when he that may be is born Heir to a Kingdom becometh poor by his Pride as did Absalom and Amaziah 10 Wisdom makes men confident and bold as well as Righteousness because they trust in the Lord and build upon the sure Foundation of his Word who is the Rock of Ages Hence are they called wise Builders that build on this Foundation as they are also called wise Virgins that lay such foundation of their hopes as will bear them up in times of greatest dismaying for such shall not be afraid of evil tidings because they are fixed in the truth trusting in the Name of the Lord. If these be properties of a prudent Man the greater must their loss needs be who have lost a Commander Counsellor Companion Husband Father Friend or Benefactor so qualified which losses God sometimes brings upon an unthankful World to punish them for ingratitude and upon his people to teach them to live by Faith and not to lean upon broken Reeds of humane wisdom and power God doth not need the wisdom of a Solomon or counsel of an Achitophel or policy of a Machiavel to govern the World by although he doth sometimes diffuse here and there more radiant beams of that excellent quality to make others imitate their Examples and Virtues It still may be an enquiry a virtuous or prudent Man or Woman who shall find their price is about Rubies for wisdom is Gods special gift not an acquirement of our own endeavours therefore we must ask it of God VSE See what cause of lamentation is before us We have been sadly bereaved of Men of such Worth as is expressed in the Text many of excellent endowments in other respects are yet great strangers to Prudence which is a lamentation and should be for a lamentation There are but few men born into the World in any age in whom all these desirable qualities are eminently met together And none in these parts of the World if that be not too great a word to say in whom so many or more of such honourable endowments were joyned together in such a degree The greater is our sorrow who are now met together to solemnize the Funeral of a person of so great worth enriched with so many Excellencies which made him neither live undesired nor die unlamented nor go to his Grave unobserved Former Ages of the World knew not how to bestow Elogies high and large enough upon those whose wisdom transcended the reach of ordinary Mortals or whose Heroick and worthy Acts either in time of War or peace rendred them so useful and beneficial unto others Hence David call'd upon the Daughters of Israel to weep over Saul and Jonathan who clothed you in Scarlet with the like lamentation doth the same David lament over Abner the Captain of the Host Is there not a Prince and a great man faln this day in Israel so in a sense may it be said here A great man is fallen in our little Israel And David himself while he lived was honoured as the Angel of God for his wisdom although his exiquies were attended with a less degree of mourning because of the illustrious Wisdom of his Successour that began so early to appear to the dazling the eyes of all beholders before his Fathers Sun was quite set The Globe of the natural World made up of Heaven and Earth is a fit resemblance of the state of the Moral or Rational World and the transaction of Affairs therein where some men are as far exalted above others as the Heaven is above the Earth for what makes the visible Heavens so conspicuous and glorious above the opake dark body of the Earth beneath but the bright glittering Stars with which it is bespangled some of which are continually setting beneath as others are ascending above the Horizon yet may it safely be said that if all the Stars of the first magnitude were
14 15. the former in comparison of this latter being in a sense to be rejected and laid aside without it as insignificant in the account of God if it be not accompanied with the other And hereupon is a digression made unto the wicked in the 16 verse to tell them that they can expect no benefit by attendance upon the Ceremonial Worship of God so long as they hate to be reformed in their lives which the covenant of God principally requires The more to affect this sort of men the Psalmist personates them in their wicked words and works from ver 17 to the 22d where he seeks to recal them from their sinful wayes and bring them back to repentance by the fear of Gods inevitable wrath in that verse and then shuts up the whole discourse of the Psalm by a solemn Epiphonema in the last verse consisting of two parts in the first of which is shewn how acceptable to God is spiritual Worship he that sacrificeth praise glorifieth me in the latter is seen how profitable to man is moral obedience To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God These are the last words of the Psalm but are not of least moment and importance for they contain the sum and substance of the whole Psalm foregoing The Textual difficulties in this last clause of the verse are not above three or four and in a few more words will be all cleared If it be enquired therefore First what is meant by the Conversation It is Answered that according to the Original word nothing is intended therein but the way or course of a mans life according to the Metaphor usual in the Scriptures where a mans works or the course and frame of his life is compared to a way or path that leads from one place to another with this difference only that as there are many places in this lower world whither men may repair so there are many paths or wayes that directly lead thereunto but as to the other World there are but two places to which all our actions tend and to one of which they will certainly bring all that persist therein viz. either Heaven or Hell Life or Death Salvation or Damnation such as are our works here will be our reward hereafter The way which we have designed to our selves and persist in will certainly in the issue bring us to the good which is promised or the evil threatned in the Word of God There is no other word in the Hebrew to express our conversation but this of our way In the Greek Testament there is a word properly answers Conversation which comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Versari huc illuc as Horse-men in a Battle that turn this way and that way as occasion serves yet still aims to carry on the main design at first intended Thus the Apostle saith he was made all things to all men that he might by all means save some 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. So must every Christian in a sense shape his course according as the Wind and Current of providence shifts or sets this way or that way by doing and suffering bearing and forbearing keep on in the way of obedience joyning the wisdom of the Serpent with the innocence of the Dove or as the Seamans Phrase is when they pass through difficult and dangerous passages on either hand aloof for one and bear up for another yet still keeping on in the direct way that leads to the Haven of rest and happiness Secondly What is it to order our way aright The Hebrew word properly signifies to put dispose Mercer renders the Word Arte curâ ordine ponere aut disponere and therefore it is fitly rendred in our Translation order aright It is used to express a singularis observantia in reference either to the acts either of the body or mind There is need of a great deal of skill and artifice as well as care and industry in the ordering the frame of our lives Not to seek the first that should be left to the second place as our Saviour bids us seek first the Kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof Mat. 6.33 He that seeks other things in the first place and leaves the care of his Salvation with Felix when Paul discoursed of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come to a more convenient season doth not order his way aright for that will bring him to an ill end at last Thus Jehu ordered his way aright to the Kingdom of the ten Tribes but quite wrong as to the Kingdom of God when all his care was to walk in the way of Jeroboam's Idolatry but took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart 2 King 10.31 This ordering the way aright may imply a threefold act of a Christian First of the mind to judge and apprehend what is the right or the wrong way that leadeth unto life To discern what is the principal thing to be desired Secondly an act of the affection to embrace desire that way which is the most necessary and excellent Thirdly An act of the Will for purpose and resolution to pursue that which is in it self most necessary and desirable One thing have I desired of the Lord saith David and that will I seek after Psal 27.4 And our Saviour tells us There is but one thing necessary and he commends Mary for making her choice of that and not cumbring her self with other things that were not necessary Thirdly What is that Salvation of God which they shall see who order their way aright By salvation unto the people of God under the dispensation of the old Testament was generally signified preservation or deliverance from any temporal evil that at any time they were pressed withal with obtaining the contrary good Yet so as thereby in a spiritual and sublime sense was signified Deliverance from all evil both of sin and judgment temporal or eternal which they had made themselves obnoxious unto by their disobedience with the obtaining the favour of God towards them in the peaceable enjoyment of the good land which they were possessed of till they came to obtain happiness of Gods Kingdom in the other World of which the land of Canaan was a standing type and shadow So Salvation is most frequently taken in the old Testament The obtaining of all that good both temporal and eternal which was necessarily required to make any people or person prosperous and happy with deliverance from all the evil which is contrary thereunto This is called Gods Salvation not only as that which is in it self most eminent or excellent as excellent Cedars are called Cedars of God but because 1. It is a Salvation which God only can give as the Psalmist saith elsewhere Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man Psal 60. And so he speaks of looking unto those Hills from which cometh his help
the captivity who were left then in the province were in great affliction and reproach which made him sit down and weep and mourn many dayes that in all that long tract of time from Cyrus his dayes to that time there was still remaining nothing but the former ruthful spectacle of the old seige The wall of Jerusalem was not yet repaired nor the gates set up and which was yet worse there appeared no hope of bettering their condition for the People of that Land as is said in Ezra 4.23 Still weakened their bands and hired Counsellours against them and hindred them all the remainder of Cyrus his time and all the following Kings till the reign of Darius when they obtained a decree to force them to desist from the work And in the time of Nehemiah they invented and fomented false reports against them that they intended to rebel which was the reason rendred why they were so intense about rebuilding the wall and when that would not do some were hired by their malicious enemies Sanballat Tobiah to dishearten them by lying prophesies when God sent them not only they were set on by others to put him in fear that the work might not be carried on Had Nehemiah been a man but of an ordinary courage he might have been affrighted and fled away to hide himself but he was a man of so much magnanimity as not to be affrightned with great words or letters though reiterated so many times over but Nehemiah's confidence is in God to whom he looks to save his People from those malicious attempts of their enemies Haman afterwards prevailed so far by lying and false accusations as to bring their neck unto the block The day was appointed the decree was sealed the nation of the Jews was distressed and the whole City was perplexed it was God only who was able to save them by turning Hamans as formerly he did Achitophels counsels to foolishness and turning the snare those great Polititians had laid for others into an halter wherewith to hang themselves There is no new thing under the sun saith Solomon that which hath already been done and at present is the like will be put in practice while there is a devil in hell to tempt and wicked men in the world to disquiet and disturb the building of God's Church upon earth Report they say in Jeremiah's time and we will report it invent a Rumor and we will blow it up and spread it abroad It is reported among the Heathen and Gashmues saith it that the Jews think to rebel Was it not so in the former age Did not Pulpits and Presses abound with invectives against Protestants in Germany Hussites in Bohemia Hugonots in France Lollards in England the scene it may be is now changed other persons have since ascended the Stage It was Puritans before and now Fanaticks The names are differing the spirit is the very same with which they are pursued they proclaim these men are no friends to Coesar Never was there any age since Christ's time yea since enmity was put between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent but those that fear God had cause to look up to him by servent Prayer and so wait upon him by ordering their wayes aright that they might be made to see the Salvation of God VSE 2. Salvation is from God only It is his Salvation that his People only expect They say with the Psalmist Psal 60. Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man They still are praying and waiting that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Sion for God dwels in Sion and hath his habitation in Jerusalem and from thence must his People look for Salvation I will look unto the Hills from whence cometh my help It is God only who is able to cloth his People with Salvation The Lord Jesus who is the only Saviour of his People is brought in by the Prophet Isaiah as one astonished that there was none to be found on earth that would save his Church I looked and there was none to help I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore his own arme brought him salvation If we look round about the world amongst the Princes and Potentates of the Earth how few friends hath Sion among them all yea few of her Sons are forward to take her by the hand God's Church at this day is not much unlike the man that was found between Jerusalem and Jericho that fell among thieves who stripped him who wounded him and left him half dead The Priest and the Levite who are most engaged by their relation and profession to help in stead of that pass by on the other side that they might not see or take notice If God should not put it into the heart of some good Samaritans what would become of the poor Church of God Some have power in their hands to effect it and may seem to be called to the helm in their kingdoms for that very end yet are not willing to put their hand to the Lords work Some it may be are willing but question their call or their power so to do If the case be so that the promotion and salvation comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but from God only let all his People say with Jacob we have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. Let that be the answer to be returned to the Messengers of the nations that come to enquire or solicit about leagues or engagments that God hath founded Sion and the poor of his People shall trust in her God not only hath the hearts of Kings in his hand to turn them as he pleases but he hath also the Devil under his authority if not to turn him yet to chain him up that he shall not hinder the Salvation of his Church Such troubles may befall them that no other hand can save them from but their comfort is that although the powers of darkness may conspire and the gates of hell combine yet they shall not prevail against them Greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world The experiences of all former ages give in full evidence to this that it is God only who is the Salvation of his People Solomon had received a double portion of his fathers spirit prosperity yet David tells them in Psal 127. Vnless the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain and that the workman laboured in vain except the Lord built the house So it is God alone from whom cometh our Salvation VSE 3. This may comfort the People of God who though they sin and suffer for their sinning yet they need not sin in their sorrows for there is a way thaâ— they may be made to see God's Salvation There is hope in Israel concerning thiâ— thing His People may draw water witâ— joy out of the wells of Salvation Cistern are apt to be broken and the brooks oâ—