cruelty they used unto their other Prisoners they cry'd out They were Citizens of Rome at which the Pyrates pretended to start as awed by that formidable Name and commanded presently Gowns to be brought and put upon their Backs and Shoes on their Feet and then with a seeming lowly observance besought them To walk over the sides of the Ship and be free telling them by way of excuse for their Violation of such Venerable Persons When they met them next in that Attire they should not be ignorant of their Quality and with this derision threw them into the Sea when the unfortunate men refus'd to cast themselves And the Enemies of David were such as God thought fit not only to destroy but also to mock and vex as 't is said Verse the 4 th and 5 th The Lord had them in derision And vext them in his sore displeasure But How and after What manner did he mock and vex them By letting them a long time plot and strengthen themselves make a profuse expence of labour money and bloud by letting them perswade themselves they had prevailed that David was utterly excluded and then after all to shew them the despised and Rejected Son of Jesse set Gloriously on the Throne their Machine of Usurped Government made a Pageant for his Triumph all their endeavours all their glorying serve but for this Occasion of God's glorying over them Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion I have done with the Words which have been twice already eminently fulfilled Once as I have shewed in the Person of David And a Second time in the Exaltation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven after his Resurrection and setting up his Spiritual Throne in the hearts of men So that I may seem to essay an Impious thing to make a Third Application to any Mortal King whatsoever But while I shall not parallel or compare the Sufferings and Exaltation of the Divine and Mystical King but adore his Foot-steps there will be no danger to shew the Tracts and Lineaments that are between the Deliverance and Establishment of David and of our Gracious Sovereign for the awaking our Gratitude and magnifying God's mercies shewed to this Nation this Day And to observe the Method I began with For the same Reasons and Respects that David is called Gods King in my Text our King may pretend to the Title before all the present Kings of the Earth First He was a King of God's particular and singular Advancing and placing on the Throne though not call'd like David from being a poor Shepherd-Boy to Rule a Kingdom but descended of a long and glorious Race of Kings yet recall'd from a forlorn exil'd State and a deposd Condition to hold the Scepter of his Royal Ancestors by a no less Divine Favour So that whatever his Title to the Crown was we may truly say Had he not been God's King he had not been King of this Land Secondly David was not only call'd God's King as we have shew'd for his Eminent Deliverance of him but His Son And whoever considers the many Risques of our Sovereign's Life the Prodigies both of his Dangers and Escapes how God snatcht him out of the Battel led him safe through the midst of his Enemies conceal'd him many days by a Divine Providence after the manner the Ancients feign'd their Heroes were wrapt in a Cloud and then without the assistance of Armies by the same Invisible and Unresistable Hand fixt him in his Throne must confess we have not only reason to celebrate this Day for his coming into the World and his coming to the Crown for the Birth I say of his Person or the Birth of his Royal Dignity but for his being Born God's King and God's Son i. e. The King of his Preservation and the Son of his Promotion Thirdly As David was call'd God's King because he was more pleased with him than with others was the King of his liking as well as of his Preserving and Advancing So the Wonderful Testimonies of God's Love to our Sovereign warrants nay obliges us to believe and revere him as God's King also in this sense as the King of his liking and after his own heart And whom God has approv'd let no man judge whom he has Seal'd let no man dare to Censure no not in his thoughts Princes then for the most part want Goodness when the People want Candour and their defect of Vertue is their Subjects defect of Love and Loyalty But if those were God's Kings Kings of his liking Kings after his own heart that set up the True Worship and discountenanc'd the False that executed Justice and Judgment in the Land then Malice it self must confess our King is God's King David was renown'd for that one Merciful Speech upon his Return to his Kingdom Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel As if it had been a thing to be abominated to shew Severity when God had shew'd him such singular Grace But how many Shimei's how many Railers how many Cursers 't is but a small thing which I have said how many Capital Enemies how many Betrayers how many Covenanters against him and lyers in wait for his Blood did our David pardon upon his Return 'T was an Observation of Old regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio The King that returns after Exile will Reign for the Future in Blood and Revenge But our King contrariwise after his Exile regnabat Sanguine parco Reigns at this day as one Elected to a Kingdom that had a Crown bestow'd on him and not as one that had recover'd his own So that as the Virgins gave David the preheminence to Saul in the Songs of Victory and Triumph saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his Ten thousands We in the Songs of Mercy and Clemency may give our King the preheminence to David and say As David pardon'd one single Detractor our Gracious Sovereign gave life and opportunity of Repentance to thousands of Traitors and Murtherers and was truly in this Gods King and not only a King of his liking but a King that is like him resembling him in one of his Noblest Attributes that of his Mercy Those to whom Princes intrust the care of their Souls ought to be faithful to them and not only speak pleasing things but true to imitate good Surgeons who not always use Oyls and Lenitives but if need be Lancets and Corrosives But then let no man at a distance surmise Evil of his Prince lest while he denies him to be Gods King he sets to his hand to make him no King at all and while he strips him of his Righteousness strips him also of his Royal Dignity I speak not to the Kings Enemies but to his severer Friends if he have any The Sinister Thoughts and Censures of the Subject are often Ominous and Fatal to a Prince whereas their good Opinions are
Agreeable to him for his own sake And this Rule of Love to Men may teach us what Love we ought to pay to God for we ought to wish Well to God and to procure things Good and Agreeable to him And if any ask Wherein we can do this to God I need look no further for an Answer than the second Petition in the Lord's Prayer Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as 't is in Heaven It consists in the Execution of God's Will and the Extension of his Glory For all other things besides these are nothing to God as the Psalmist says My goods are nothing unto thee The Riches of this World and the most precious things in its account are contemptible in his Sight but these two which I have named he esteems and in some measure wants and desires possesses not perfectly and absolutely as he would All his Creatures do not acknowledge him honour him worship him delight in his Dominion pay a ready cheerful Obedience to his Commands as the Angels in Heaven do notwithstanding that they are reasonable honourable beneficial have more of Profit than of the Yoke in them But so it is there is another God of this World that blinds most men and leads them away captive with divers Lusts and they chuse rather to be Vassals and Drudges to this Usurper and Tyrant than to be Nobles and Princes even adopted Children to the King of Heaven and Earth And with good reason holy Men in every Age have pray'd for God's Kingdom i. e. the Encrease of Righteousness and of the Number of the Faithful for God is yet in a manner like those Princes which are outed of part of their Dominions and deny'd the Obedience of whole Nations of their People and his Loyal Subjects can no way shew their affection so much to him as by espousing his Interest abetting his Title employing their best Endeavours to reduce the Rebellious to Allegiance by wishing with the Psalmist That Kings and all People young men and maidens old men and children would praise and glorifie his holy Name 'T is the business of Great Ministers of State to understand the Strength and weakness of Foreign Princes the Commodities and Defects of their Countries that they make the most advantageous Alliances for their own Masters and they are held the best Politicians that do this best But if both those of the highest Condition and also of the lowest and meanest even all People would set to their Power to serve the Great Monarch of Heaven and Earth they would find no Policy comparable to this that the promoting of his Designs would be the most certain way of promoting their own whether publick or private they would find that they would thrive like Jacob that all things would prosper under their hands like Joseph that they would return with constant Victory like David and heap up Gold and Silver like Solomon Numa though a Heathen rely'd so confidently on this Policy that when he was told on a time That the Enemy was drawing up against him he answer'd And I am praying against them And when 't was said They were charging he reply'd and he was Sacrificing assuring himself the Gods would not neglect his Safety while he was solicitous for their Worship But you will say Is it needful that we should wish for the Encrease of God's Kingdom does he want the help of his Creatures No. Is he not Omnipotent and can bring to pass whatever seems good to him Yes Who has resisted his Will As the Question is ask'd None and yet it may be as truly said Who is there that has not resisted his Will What was spoken of Israel may be affirmed of all Mankind that they are a rebellious and gain-saying People God 't is true is Omnipotent and his Power never fails he brought the World out of nothing by his Word and by his bare Word can reduce it again to nothing if he had pleas'd he could have created a Generation of Men that should have served him regularly and constantly fatally and necessarily as the Fire burns and the Sun and the Moon move in their Courses But this is not the Service that God wants and which we are to pray for in his behalf 't is the Free and Voluntary not the Constrain'd Service of his Rational Creatures that Men would obey him out of Love and Choice as his Dominion is gracious that they would desire it as it is beneficial and honourable that they would delight in it Compell'd Righteousness is no Righteousness 't is in Obedience as in Charity he that gives grudgingly and of necessity does not give but is tax'd and he that obeys of Compulsion is a Slave and not a Votary 'T is reported of the famous Painter Apelles that when he had finish'd any rare Piece his custom was latere post tabulam to hide himself behind it that he might hear what Passengers said of it and that he car'd for no Approbation but what came in this free way After the like manner God exposes to the View and Consideration of Men his Works of Power and of Wisdom of Mercy and of Goodness and then delights latere post tabulam to conceal himself in his inaccessible Glory and to observe what free and unextorted Returns of Honour and Love they will bring him in all forc'd or feign'd Superstitious and Hypocritical Acknowledgments being odious to him And now after all that has been said in strict speaking God stands no more in need of our Obedience and Worship than he does of our Riches as 't is said Acts 17.24 He dwelleth not in Temples made by hands neither is he worshipp'd by mens hands The meaning of his being outed of part of his Kingdom and denied his full Dominion in truth signifies no more But that he has not yet extended the Salvation of Men to the Bounds his Goodness designed But to proceed We said Love did not only Wish but Procure things good and acceptable to the Person belov'd and we ought not only to wish the Execution of God's Will and the Extension of his Glory but to set-to our hands to Effect what we pray for as it is not sufficient in Point of Charity to give good Words only to the Poor to say Be thou warm be thou fill'd God assist thee and the like when we can supply what they want our selves so 't is not sufficient in our Love to God to say only Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven but we must zealously and industriously do his Will and endeavour all we can to promote his Kingdom Says our Lord to S t Peter Simon Peter lovest thou me Lord reply'd he thou knowest that I love thee And yet notwithstanding that he knew the Sincerity of his heart he ask'd him the same Question three times Why to grieve Peter or that he delighted in the repetition of the Profession of his Love No but to excite him to a more
all Christs and Apostles themselves believe because the first Evangelists were Fishermen that therefore all Fishermen and Fishermen-like are Evangelists because God can enable the most Unlearned and Ignorant to be Expounders of his deepest Mysteries that therefore the most Ignorant and Unlearned are the best Expounders of them in a word because want of Scholarship is no Obstruction to God's Omnipotent Power that 't is therefore the highest Qualification of a Person to preach Alas my Brethren though the Multitude could give Testimony to Christ's Miracles they could not preach Christ's Sermons though the People could say Diseases cannot be cured Devils cast out the Dead raised to Life by a Word speaking unless a Divine Power accompanied that Word yet even the Apostles were not able to understand the Prophecies which related to our Lord's Person and his Kingdom till he interpreted to them the Scriptures concerning himself and as it was a Speech of Ingenuity to say He hath done all things well he maketh both the Deaf to hear and the Dumb to speak so it had been no less than a Prodigy if the People had taught the Pardon of Sins through the Bloud of Christ Justification through Faith or any other revealed Doctrine When therefore the People in these Days take upon them to condemn the Doctrine and Worship of the Church they were bred in to reject all Antiquity and to expound the hardest Scriptures without Learning by their New-Lights 't is not enough for them to say The Apostles who were Handy-Crafts men like us did such things in the Jewish Church before us unless they can also shew the like Warrant and Commission from Heaven which the Apostles did namely unless they can speak all Tongues cure all Diseases utter such Wisdom as all the Learning in the World cannot withstand For we must not take out-of-Fashion Hats and Coats rude Behaviour Thouing and Theeing their Betters for Miracles and the Seals of a Divine Calling accept of Ignorance and Presumption for Gifts of the Holy Ghost Non-sence and Dreams of Inspiration for Inspiration In the days of the Prophet Zechary there arose a Sort of Mock-Prophets or Teachers like these who having no Divine Gift to countenance their pretended Mission from Heaven apishly imitated the Outward Garb and Free Speech of the True Prophets And the like Entertainment which the People of God gave to those Impostors ours deserve to receive For 't is recorded that the very Father and Mother that begat the False Prophet said unto him Thou shalt not live for thou speak'st Lyes in the Name of the Lord and they thrust him through and made him ashamed every one of his Vision and that he had prophesied so that they wore Rough Garments no more to deceive but were constrained to say I am no Prophet I am a Husbandman for men have taught me to keep Cattel from my Youth Zech. 13. To come at length to the Division of the Words they offer these two things in general to our consideration 1. Our Saviour's Performance He made the Deaf to hear and the Dumb to speak 2. The Verdict or Testimony of the People upon it He hath done all things well In our Saviour's Performance we may consider more particularly 1. The Substance of it Giving of Hearing and giving of Speech 2. The Ceremonies or Circumstances which he used in giving them set down ver 33. the Touch of his Finger his Spittle the lifting up of his Eyes and Sighing and the Word he utter'd Ephata or be opened The Testimony or Verdict of the People offers also three things to our consideration 1. The Appellation they give our Lord He or this Man 2. The Kind or Nature of their Verdict 't was an Approbation that he had done Well 3. The Extent of their Approbation that he had done All things Well I begin first with the Substance of Christ's Performance Giving of Hearing and giving of Speech Deaf and Dumb are in Effect one and the same Infirmity Evils so complicated that one is a necessary Consequence of the other and the Word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both Deaf and Dumb to cure also the one is to cure the other i. e. he that opens the Ear does with one and the same Act so far release the Tongue as to put it into a Capacity of recovering Speech But yet the People here very properly exprest these as two distinct Cures for though that which makes a Bar on the one Sense tyes a Knot likewise on the other yet they are really two Impotencies and the Operation of our Lord was as I may say a Single Double Miracle Single considering the necessary Complication of the two Evils Double considering the opening of the two Doors the Door of Audience and the Door of Utterance and the People with good Reason Separated as well as Extolled the Fact viz. that our Lord with the simple Clue or Key only of his Finger did perforate and discover all the subtile Wards and Meanders of the Ear and the hidden Vaults of the Mouth and so rectifie the Imperfections of them that Sound entered into the one and was formed and made to issue Articulately out of the other The Senses may receive Help from the Arts and Inventions of men but not Creation the Orator with a Pebble in his mouth might help his Pronunciation and by an Instrument conveying Sound the Hearing may be assisted but a total Privation or rather Privative Abnegation or Original Impotence that derides the Operations of the Surgeon and the Prescriptions of the Physician and the Cure can never be wrought but where the Finger of Christ is the Probe and the Salve But I have not yet declared the Greatness of the Miracle it was still more wonderful if as Interpreters conjecture and not without reason Christ did not only open the Ears and loosen the Tongue of the Impotent Person but also enricht his Understanding instructed his Mind as well as healed his Senses bestowed on him Knowledge which through defect of Hearing must needs be defective in him conferred on him Words as well as the Power to pronounce them and Conceptions as well as Words thus giving him linguam linguam not only a Tongue but also a Language infusing into his Soul the Dictionary or whole Treasure of Words in a Moment together with a Competency of Principles and Notions which even to those that have the Use of the Organs is opus dierum a Work of Time and Labour to acquire after the Miracle done upon the Deaf and Dumb Man there was need of Study and Industry to inform him when the Surgeon had done his Work there was place still for the Teacher As may be seen by him that was newly recovered of his Blindness in the following Chapter I see says he Men like Trees walking i. e. I see but I know not well what I see I cannot distinguish Men from Trees but that they walk Those that are endowed with the Senses
constantly terms them for no man can will a Wrong Action that is not Ignorant and Mistaken and whether the Mistake lye in the thing Chosen or in the Principle by which 't is chosen it matters not if it be still a Mistake and the grosser the Errour is the more pitiable still it is and if we can pardon Fools and Mad Folks Children and Sick persons and cannot likewise commiserate the Sick in Sin the Mad and Foolish in Wickedness we are as blind in our Anger as they are in their Actions How will that man stand before the Severe Tribunal of God who weighs every Grain and Scruple in his Brothers Trespasses against him who shews the exactest and highest Rigour of Justice in his Revenges and perhaps was never just in any other passage of his Life how will he be able to excuse his non-payment of the vast Arrears he is indebted to God who has exacted the utmost Farthing of his Brother Beloved we make our Condition in the World to come according to our Charitableness or Uncharitableness in this God will love us or hate us judge us or justifie us enlarge his Mercy or shut it up to us as we do these things to others if we be difficult in remitting our Brothers Faults he will be difficult in remitting ours if we forgive only small Offences he will not pardon our Great if we forgive only in part we shall not be absolv'd in the whole He shall have Judgment without Mercy as S t James says that shew'd no Mercy Let no man therefore seek an Excuse or be glad when he has found a Distinction to take him off from pardoning his Brother for what profit is there in that Wrath which does but treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath The Fourth Council of Carthage forbad that the Oblations of Contentious Persons should be received into the Treasury of the Church for the same reason that the High Priest refus'd to put the money return'd by Judas into the Treasury of the Temple because it was the Price of Bloud So this the Council Obligationes dissidentium Fratrum neque in Sacrario neque in Gazophylacio Episcopi recipiant As there is no place in the Church of God for Uncharitableness so we may be sure there 's as little in the Kingdom of Heaven I have not time to set forth all the Instances of Christ's Love but there is One which I must not omit and 't is that which differences and distinguishes Spiritual Love from Worldly and Carnal above all others and that is Christ's performing all he did merely for their Sakes for whom he did it Carnal Love or Dotage on outward Beauty can in a measure imitate the former things we have mentioned love first before it be beloved love without Merit in the Person affected digest all their Peevishness and Affronts and hang on still and leave no means unattempted to bring their Mind about but then they do this not for their sakes but their own to attain the Fruition of what they have so much desired But Alas what End what Design could the Creator of all things have on his own Creatures What Advantage could he receive by them As Christ therefore lov'd us not for his own Good but ours as it was our Salvation our re-estating in Immortality that he intended and not his own so in our Love to our Brethren we must not have an Eye to any Sordid Profit of our own we must not chaffer Kindness huckster as I may say friendly Offices Charity requires the mind of a Prince not of a Merchant and we must make a difference between Christianity and Factoring As I have loved you so love one another If it be here objected That the most Spiritual and Divine Love was never so abstracted as to be without all Intuition of Reward and that our Lord himself for the joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross and despised the Shame It will be enough to say in answer That as in a Kingdom or Commonwealth they are accounted Disinterested Persons and without all Designs who pursue only the Publick Interest and Honourable Designs So in the Kingdom of the Gospel those are counted to love without all Design who have no base and bye Design who love God and their Neighbour for Heavens sake are interpreted to love them purely for their Own sakes And let this suffice to be said of the Habit or Grace of Love enjoined by the Apostle I proceed next to speak of the Degree of it Have Fervent Charity The Word in the Original for Fervent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well the Continuation of Time as the Vehemence and Intenseness of the Quality the Constancy that should be in our Love as well as the Ardour I shall therefore handle it according to both Senses 1. In regard of the Time or Constancy of this Quality our Charity must not be Fantastick interrupted and uncertain there must not be several Weathers in our Affections they must not change like the Winds but move like the Heavens in one constant Circumvolution shedding and dispensing their favourable Influences For he that loves not always when he does love loves out of Humour not Vertue and we may account all the good Offices he does only the Fits and Starts of some momentany Passion and not the Actions of a settled and radicated Habit. Again this Vertue must not be taken up only at the Alarm of a Danger or Sickness at the approach of a Holy Season or by way of Preparation to the Communion for they are far from fulfilling the Law of Charity that lay down their Grudges and Quarrels to their Brethren out of some Affright or Design but as soon as these are over reassume them again imitating the Serpent that casts up her Poyson when she goes into the Water and as soon as she comes on dry Land licks it up again God accepts not those kind of Truces where Battel ceases but the hatred does not where the Weapons rest but the Affections still rage Though Charity ought to flourish more eminently at holy Seasons yet it must live and be exercised all the whole Year Our Saviour's Example will direct us here in the Continuation of our Love as formerly it did for the Manner of it of whom we read That having loved his own which were in the World he lov'd them unto the End 2. In regard of its Degree our Charity must be Vehement and Intense it must confess its Part in its Ardour the Holy Ghost which is call'd the Spirit of Love and has appeared oftener to the World in Fire than under any other Form Good will without Fervency is but the Endeavour of an imperfect Elementary Charity That we may know therefore the Just Degree and certain Temper that is required in our Love the best means will be to bring it to the Test and Tryal of the Rule which is given us to measure it by which is Thou shalt love thy
diligent Execution of his Apostleship Feed my Sheep And the Method which our Lord here prescribes to Peter must be observed also by us in advancing the Kingdom of God When thou art converted says he strengthen thy Brethren We must first set up the Kingdom of God in our own hearts before we attempt to erect it in others As he is unfit to be a Teacher that is not first well instructed himself So he is not fit to be a Reformer that is not first reform'd himself for his Evil Manners will certainly defeat his Sermon and instead of making others righteous by his preaching he will render himself ridiculous 'T is a Noble Undertaking to bring others to the fear of God but 't is an indispensable Duty to serve God our selves says S t James He that converteth a Sinner from the Error of his ways shall save a Soul from death that 's an Heroick Action and shall hide a multitude of Sins that 's a necessary Concern Self-reformation is the most Effectual Step we can make to promote God's Glory 't is such a Giantly Step as I may say as reaches from the Setting out of the Course to the End of it 't is like the first Step of the Sun above the Horizon which darts Rays to the furthest Circumference of it and fills the whole Hemisphere with Light and Vigour which these Words of our Lord seem to allude to Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Nothing so illustrates the Gospel nothing so powerfully converts Sinners and brings them to glorifie God as the Holy Lives of the Faithful But I urge not this to exclude other Endeavours to propagate Righteousness but to shew the great Force and Prevalence that Righteousness has to produce Righteousness I proceed to the Objects of our Love which are two God and our Neighbour 1. God Saint John speaks as if there were some difficulty in this Part of our Duty Our loving God says he He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Implying though the Ear be Janua Scientiae the Gate of Knowledge the Eye is Janua Amoris the Gate of Love and that to excite this Passion 't is requisite some Visible Beauty be display'd But we may say to this Though we do not see God yet we may love him by what we see and hear of him nay with good reason we may be the more enamour'd on him because his Perfections transcend not only our mortal Senses but even all humane Conception and thus we may fall in love as Blind Men often passionately do by report and hear-say But more particularly there are three Motives why we should love God comprehended in the very Object The Lord thy God 1. Because he is God For that 's the Name of the highest Excellence and Perfection and they are only Glorious and Illustrious things that stir Love and Admiration in us we run not out to gaze upon Common Persons but upon those that are famous for Greatness Learning Beauty Prowess and the like Now there is nothing Rare or Admirable of any kind but 't is in God in its Fullness and Perfection and for this reason Epicurus though he believed no Providence or that Men received any Good or Evil from the Gods yet he adored them and sacrificed to them merely because they were Glorious Beings Had we no other Cause to love God but for the Stupendous Perfections that are in him it were sufficient But we have greater reason to love him from the Second Motive Because we have the Honour of Relation to him he is The Lord Our God The Psalmist thought it a high Obligation to praise him because he was created by him I will praise thee because I am fearfully and wonderfully made But we have not only the Obligation upon us of Creation and Conversation which is a kind of continual Creation in common with all Creatures to love God but other Extraordinary and Distinguishing Favours viz. his calling us to the Knowledge of the Faith and the Blessed Consequences attending it and this ought to tune our Harps yet higher and to be the Subject of many Hymns and Psalms more But then Thirdly Our greatest Motive of all to love him is Because he Redeem'd us after we were lost restor'd us when by our Sins we were in a manner uncreated again when we had defac'd the Image of God in us our Innocence and Righteousness forfeited all our Felicity and were become the Bond-slaves of Satan then he rescued us from Eternal Damnation and made us again the Children of God So that as he is Deus or God to all Mankind to Christians he is also over and above Dominus a Lord i. e. a Redeemer and Saviour There is nothing so much obliges as Love and Benefits Celsus the Physician speaking of Philtres or Love-potions says Amor est naturale Philtrum Love is a Natural Love-potion and more powerful than those that are compounded of Drugs and by Incantations The most stupid of Creatures the dull Oxe and Ass the wildest and fiercest the Lion and Tyger are brought to love by good Usage though they know not the Nature of a Man they know if they receive Meat at his hands and be well treated by him and will love him and be obsequious to him And men were more insensible than the Brutes if when they have received of the Riches of God's Bounty and Goodness they refuse to love him because they have not seen his Person and cannot comprehend his Essence And God Isai. 1.3 complains of this stupid Insensibility in Israel The Oxe says he knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider We love God as S t John says because he loved us first he began with us and our Love to him is at best a Gratitude or Retaliation if therefore the innumerable and inestimable Benefits of God work no return of Love in us to him we deserve not only to have our Names rased out of the Number of Men but to be allowed no place among the better natur'd Beasts but to be rang'd with Devils who are the only Enemies of God for his Goodness and Haters of him for that which is Excellent and Amiable in him The next thing I am to shew is In what Measure or Degree we are to love God The Words of the Commandment are Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul with all thy heart and with all thy mind On which three Expressions Commentators have many Observations and Criticisms but more nice than profitable for as Saint John says of the three that bear witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Bloud these three are one so I may say of these three Expressions in the Commandment however diversify'd that in importance they are but One and may be summ'd up
miscarry'd in their Journey We may therefore say of those that affect to be Proselytes to this Mountain what S t Paul says of the Corinthians That they more gladly submitted to those that took of them that brought them into bondage than to those that were Sincere towards them and abounded in labour for them Or else we may upbraid them as the Prophet Hosea did Ephraim Ephraim is like a silly Dove without heart they call to Egypt they go to Assyria i. e. to the places of their Captivity and Oppression So these delight in those that plume them and tyrannize over them that seal up their Eyes in Darkness and make them believe they towre towards Heaven and the Regions of Glory till they find themselves in the Precincts of Eternal Night And as Ephraim was not only made a Prey but a Scorn for their Folly This shall be their Derision says the Prophet in the Land of Egypt so those among us that call to go to the Spiritual Egypt shall be mock'd in the Day of Great Accounts as well as Condemned For what remains for those that would not be warned but to be laugh'd at for those that chuse Destruction but to be derided when they are fallen into it In the mean time let our Adversaries triumph in the Victories they obtain by their threefold Machinations Parley Violence and Stratagem for though they sometimes prevail upon Unstable Souls prepar'd by their own Vanity for Ruine yet they cannot prevail against our Cause they may deceive some particular Persons but they cannot overthrow our Foundations no more than the Enemies of David could his Which brings me to my second General Part The Absurdity or Impossibility of the Design of David's Enemies To destroy his Foundations for then the Righteous would not know what to do If the Foundations be destroyed what can the Righteous do What shall I do is the Expression of a Person driven to the greatest Exigence and knows not which way to turn himself in the Difficulties he is in they are the Words of the Unjust Steward in the Gospel when he was turn'd out of his Stewardship What shall I do says he Dig I cannot and to beg I am ashamed The only two Means of Livelihood left to those that are reduced to the Extreamest Poverty Labour and Begging were taken from him the one by Shame and the other by a Soft Education Such an Utter Distress as this the Words of my Text imply they being a Negative by way of Question which is the strongest kind of Negative What can the Righteous do i. e. They can do nothing And if any say Yes the Unjust Steward had still recourse unto his old Arts of Cheating and False reckoning and so David and other Righteous men in case their Foundations be destroyed may make some shift they may fly as a Bird to the Mountain of their Enemies I answer That this is not to be admitted Unlawful Remedies come not so much as into the Consultation of the Righteous be their Distress never so great what is Wicked is to them Impossible and what they cannot do justly they cannot do at all How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God said Joseph when his wanton Mistress tempted him i. e. I cannot possibly do it He could have done it actually but he could not do it honestly and what was impossible to his Vertue he resolv'd to be impossible to his Practice But the Supposition here it self is vain That the Foundations of the Righteous can be destroyed But how some will say not possible to destroy their Foundations Why Commanders will affirm that no Place is impregnable and consequently that there are no Foundations but may be destroyed When Philip of Macedon was told of a strong Place which by reason of the steepness rockiness and narrowness of the Ascent to it was Inaccessible he ask'd in derision If an Ass laden with Gold could not get up to it Intimating that no place was impregnable to Force and Fraud both But the Distinction I gave before of a Visible and Invisible Foundation answers all such Objections David beside his Rock as ye have heard had the Rock of his Rock namely his God 'T is the Invisible Divine Foundation that is the Security of the Visible No City or Fortress is safe by its natural or artificial Strength for as the Psalmist says A horse is but a vain thing to save a man so Rocks and Bulwarks are but vain things to save a City Except the Lord keepeth it the Watchman waketh but in vain But on the other side if he be the Rock and Defence if he be the Sion himself unto Jerusalem no Force no Stratagem whatsoever can prevail against it but Jerusalem on Earth shall be as invincible as Jerusalem in Heaven whose Builder and Maker is God And if any say What is this to us who are not to promise our selves the Priviledges of Israel I answer If we be Faithful like them we may promise our selves God's protection no less than they For as Saint Peter says God is no Respecter of Persons but in every Nation they that fearh im and work Righteousness are accepted by him We have a Kingdom thanks be to Providence more strongly fortify'd by Nature than Israel was founded as the Psalmist says the World is upon the Waters He laid it in the Waters and founded it upon the Flouds And though our Foundations be moveable and fluctuating yet their Mobility and Mutability being only Local and not Substantial they are not less permanent We may compare our Political Foundations also with Israels But be our Material or Moral Foundations what they will our Invisible is the same with theirs For God is not only our Founder but our Foundation too he has not only founded us By but On himself He brought us one of the first of the Nations out of the Darkness of Paganism to the Light of the Gospel and again one of the first of the Nations out of the Bondage of Spiritual Babylon to the Liberty of the Truth and free Use of his Word and he has not only given us more Excellent Ordinances than he did to his people Israel but many Advantages even above our Fellow-Christians and no Church can boast more truly than ours That 't is built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himself being the Chief Corner-Stone and what is this but to be Founded on God himself And 't is our Reliance on this our Invisible Foundation which makes us with David not to fear the Designs of our Enemies upon our Material and Visible For though God has made us no particular Promise concerning our Temporal Prosperity in case we keep his Commandments as he did to Israel yet we may rest assured on his Holy and Divine Nature and Promises in general which are to Love and Protect the Righteous and not only Israel as the Psalmist says but all that put their Trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Sion which shall not be removed but standeth fast for ever And the truth is that which is said of Temporal Kingdoms Justitia Thronum firmat Justice supports the Throne may be affirmed of God's Spiritual Kingdom in the World his Justice and Goodness establishes his Dominion in the Hearts of Men. For if it were not so That the Lord regarded the Righteous this great Incongruity would produce another great Incongruity and Irregularity The Righteous as the Psalmist says would put their hand to Iniquity i e. they would be no longer Righteous they would make Justice and Piety no more their Business and Concern if there were no Regard in Heaven for these things and so God would lose his Obedience when he neglected Good Men. Let us therefore be careful of our Duty and we need not be solicitous for our Safety let us firmly rely upon God in well-doing and believe that our Trust in our Divine Invisible Foundation is not merely Chimerical or Imaginary and while we fail not it it will never fail us but the Business of this Day shall be the business of the Year round viz. to praise and magnifie our Foundation for protecting and preserving our Foundations and these Lauds and Thanksgivings if they be Cordial and Real will create us new Occasions of Lauds and Thanksgivings even daily Mercies and Blessings I say if they be Cordial and Real not only Verbal and Vocal not only express'd in Bells and Bonfires Noises and Excesses but in true Piety and Devotion as our Prayer of General Thanksgiving teaches us In shewing forth God's Praise not only with our Lips but in our Lives by giving up our selves to his Service and so forth For though 't is impossible to solemnize Publick Joy and Thanksgiving without Publick Expressions of them yet these Publick Expressions should be but the Outward Signs and Significations of the Inward Sence we have of God's Benefits and the Gratitude that dwells in our Hearts and which ought chiefly to be shew'd in the Duties of Religion in the Acts of Mercy and Charity in a Day of Mercy and Deliverance in the Reformation of whatsoever is contrary to the Divine Will in us and the like 'T is not enough therefore that our Streets resound with Festivity and Joy or yet that we celebrate God's great Mercies in Psalms and Hymns sung to the Organ by Asaph and other Chief Musicians but every Faithful Person must be a Musician and every Grateful Heart that has been delivered an Instrument of God's Praise To God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Worship and Thanksgiving this Day forth and for evermore Amen The Sixteenth Sermon JOHN xvi 23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you THESE Words are part of our Lord's Farewel-Speech to his Disciples when he was to leave the World the unexpected News of which did so afflict them that they had not the power as himself takes notice ver 5. so much as to ask him any Question concerning it But now I go to him that sent me and none of you ask Whither goest thou but because I have said these things unto you Sorrow hath filled your heart And very deservedly for what more amazing more Ominous Tidings could they have heard than that he for whom they had forsaken all they had should after that forsake them than that he that had put Enmity between them and the World should abandon them to the World he in whom they had plac'd all their Ambition all their Hope should at last leave them in a Riddle A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me To raise therefore their drooping and disconsolate Spirits he promises them a double Advantage by his Departure and which could only arrive to them by his Departure 1. That they should receive the Holy Ghost who would establish their Faith and wonderfully rejoice their Hearts by assuring them of the truth of the Doctrines he had taught them and of their own Divine Mission 2. That they should be under the immediate Care of the Father by reason of whose Almighty Protection they would have no Cause to deplore his Absence or in the least to wish for his Corporal Presence again for they would find their Dependance on the Father much more happy than the following his Steps through the Cities of Palestine The Words of my Text relate to the latter of these two Advantages Their being under the immediate Care and Protection of the Father While our Lord abode with his Disciples he supply'd all their Wants solv'd all their Doubts stopt the mouths of all their Maligners but he let them know that his Father was Greater than he and would perform all these things in a more uncontroul'd and unlimited manner than he had done when he acted only in the Flesh by his Commission that the Using only of his Name to the Father would be more Beneficial to them than his Person had formerly been for though in many things he had been kind to them there was nothing so Precious nothing so Difficult nothing so Wonderful but if they pray'd for it in his Name the Father would bestow it on them Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you In this Singular Priviledge and Prerogative promised by our Lord to his Disciples there are three things very remarkable I. The Person with whom they are to have it The Father he will give it you II. The Measure in which they were to have it it is a Measure indeed unlimited and without Measure Whatsoever ye shall ask ask what you will he will give it you III. By what Means they are to obtain it by asking in Christ's Name Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name I begin with the first of these The Person with whom they are to have this Singular Priviledge The Father This was a comfortable Promise of our Lord 's to his Disciples if they had then understood it as they afterwards did but when the Words were spoken they were but as a Parable or Proverb to them as 't is ver 25. These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs the time will come that I shall speak no more unto you in Proverbs but I shall shew you Plainly of the Father How was that in what fashion did he afterwards shew them plainly of the Father By his Charismata the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which they received from him and which bore the very Character of the Father stampt upon them For every Good and perfect Gift as S t James says is from above and cometh from the Father of Light And thus he shew'd them more plainly and convincingly of the Father than he did to Philip when he said Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father For he