how careless and negligent Christian Princes are grown as to the enlarging of Christs Kingdom and those that have made some attempts that way have gone about it with sinister designs how others had rather spend their time at home in picking and feeding Quarrels in the Church than advance the Unity of the Faith abroad and how the generality of Christians have learn'd to mind the World more than Heaven and are become lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God and the Religion that is left among them is either mixt with Idolatry or gross Superstitions or some other notorious Abuses and is become a Carnal rather than a Spiritual Worship and a Formal rather than a Rational Service and how many of the Heathens and Mahometans exceed Christians in Vertue and Morality and how that Charity Love and Peace which was once the great Character of Christs Disciples is banished and the Seamless Coat of Christ torn in a thousand pieces and those Dissentions cherish'd maintained encouraged and how Religion is become a meer Politick thing I say he that shall consider all this will not wonder so much that there are no more Christians in the World as admire there are so many and that the greatest part of them are not consumed or led into Captivity when they abuse and so grosly abuse the best the noblest and the most excellent Religion and reproach and dishonour that God who sent his Son into the World to Reveal it thinking Surely they will reverence my Son It was Self-denial contempt of the World and invincible Patience under Injuries Stupendous Charity and very great strictness of Life that first spread the Christian Religion and the Apostles having shewn us the way we should have trod in their steps and if we had we should without all peradventure have had the same success for God works by Means and those having been the Means in the beginning of Christianity they may justly be supposed to be the genuine Means at this day and where those are neglected it 's part of VVisdom to punish Men for their wilful neglect of those Means by suffering Heathenism and Mahometanism not only to continue unmolested but to grow and advance every day more and more to the weakening of the Christian Interest for no wounds provoke so much as those which are given God in the House of his Friends as we see by Gods proceedings with the Jews both in their first and second Captivity So that notwithstanding this seeming inequality of Providence Gods VVisdom continues unspotted and we have reason to give it the highest Encomiums and Celebrations 3. The Lord reigneth Let 's not despair when either Publick or Private Calamities fall upon us God is our Refuge a present help in the time of trouble therefore will we not fear though the Earth be moved and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea though the VVaters thereof roar and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Ps. 46. 1. with this Psalm Pachomius is said to have chased away a Legion of Devils from his Cell and I see no reason but it may serve to support the Soul in the greatest dangers However things go God is still good to Israel to them that are of a clean heart what ever Tumults arise Go tell the Righteous saith God it shall be well with him What comfort must this be to a serious Christian though every thing goes contrary to his wishes and expectations yet he may be cofident that from those contrarieties of Providence his Soul shall be refresh'd The Prophet therefore had reason to cry Es. 50. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God From such a chearful Confidence we may promise our selves great matters for God looks upon himself as concerned to reward our extraordinary Faith with an extraordinary Providence as we see in the poor VVidow of Sarepta who had the courage to give the remainder of the Meal and Oyl she had to the man of God and was therefore miraculously supplied in the time of Famine Christ could do no mighty works in his own Countrey because of the Peoples unbelief Mark 6. 5 6. it 's our diffidence in the time of danger that makes God stay his hand and our unbelief keeps the former and latter rain of his favour from us To trust God when the Figg-Tree doth not blossom and to rely upon his goodness when the labour of the Olive doth fail is the way to see Miracles and a preparative for the richest Mercies Let come what will come upon us nothing can come but by the order and Providence of God infinitely Good and infinitely VVise And what is there that can come amiss if it come from these two Fountains If Infinite Goodness sends that which the VVorld calls Misery upon me most certainly there can be no hurt in it and if Infinite VVisdom sends it most certainly it must be best for me for if Infinite VVisdom thinks it so my shallow Understanding hath reason to submit to its most solid Judgment God denies me what I would have because he would fain give me what I should have That which he takes away may be I do not want and that Grace I stand in need of may be I cannot have without the other be taken away A Temporal Blessing sometimes stands in the way of a Spiritual one and if the lesser be taken away to make room for the greater it 's no more but what mine own VVisdom would approve of in more trivial concerns God would have me follow him not for the Loaves but for the Miracles of his Love and if to make me enamoured with him he sees it necessary to take away the Loaves it 's no more than what a VVise Physician doth to a Patient from whose Lips he takes away the pleasant Draught to make way for a more wholsom Potion The Lord reigneth Rejoyce Christian Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him and let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King Fear not thou Worm Jacob when affliction when trouble when anguish comes when the VVaves and Billows of the VVaters of Marah rise Thy God reigneth thy King watches over thee the All-sufficient God is thy refuge and thy hiding place Surely he shall deliver thee from the Snare of the Fowler and from the noisom Pestilence He shall cover thee with his Feathers and under his Wings shalt thou trust his Truth shall be thy Shield and Buckler Thou shalt not be afraid for the Terrour by Night nor for the Arrow that flieth by Day nor for the Pestilence that walks in Darkness nor for the Destruction that wasteth at Noon-day a thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy Right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Nothing can hurt a good Christian for whom is
for three things for Bread for a Spunge and for a Cittern for Bread to support his fainting Body for a Spunge to wipe away the Tears he had shed for the loss of his Royal Grandeur and for a Cittern to rejoyce in his Experience that all is vanity The fickleness of these outward Glories is an Argument of their emptiness and in that like Glasses they are so easily broke and crackt Wise Men see that they are but bubbles were they lasting Men would fancy them to be Heaven and their uninterruptedness would tempt poor Mortals to say of them as the surpriz'd Disciple of Mount Tabor It 's good for us to be here let 's make Tabernacles Indeed in the midst of their inconstancy Men are apt to promise themselves substantial satisfaction and while they see them slip through their Fingers they are so unwise as to adore them What would they do were they really what they seem to be and had they beside their dazling Dress Eternal duration to make them amiable God hath laid up other Felicities for Rational Creatures and they lie out of the Common Road that Men might take pains to get them We must not think God bestow'd Immortal Souls upon us that we might fix them on Sensual Objects and when we find that they are capable of securing such Riches and Pleasures as fade not away we must suppose that to do so was the principal End of their Creation God hath made these lower things changeable as the Moon that like the Woman in the Revelation chap. 12. vers 1. we may set our Feet upon them and aim at Delights which transport Souls ravish Angels and force Seraphim into Extasies The deceitfulness of outward Glories appears no where so plain as in publick Disorders and Confusions and they are the best Glass to shew us what unsatisfactory things they are For though in private Families disappointments and changes happen every day yet they are too inconsiderable for a Multitude to take notice of them but Publick Disorders convince a Kingdom of the Imperfection of these External Comforts and the more notorious they are the more all sorts of Men are perfwaded into a belief of that Imperfection so that Confusions of this nature are Sermons preach'd to a whole Nation and Speeches from Heaven whereby God intends an Universal Reformation 4. Sometimes it is to try the Good and to brighten their Faith and Hope and Constancy which like Gold is best Polished and Refined by Fire And this Reason God himself gives Ps. 81. 7. It is in this case as in matter of Heresies which must be That those which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. 19. To adhere to a good Cause when it sleeps under the soft Wings of Peace and order may be Policy but to espouse it when discouraged is an argument of true Honesty and Ingenuity He that can defend it when it meets with Opposition we may conclude is guided more by its Equity than his own Interest and he that sticks to it when Tempests threaten to overwhelm it discovers that it hath not only his bare Approbation but his Heart and Affections too To Salute Christ when all Jerusalem cries Hosannah may be a piece of Civility but to speak for him when he is Crucified is a sign of true Christian Simplicity Till Persecution came the Son of God had innumerable Flatterers but when that Fire began the number soon dwindled away into a small Company of Followers It happens so sometimes that the good cannot be distinguished from the counterfeit Professors of Religion and while all meet in the Publick Assemblies the Wheat and Chaff seem to be one but Troubles and Disorders like the Wise Shepherd make a distinction between the Sheep and the Goats and discover the Integrity of the one and the Deceit and Hypocrisie of the other To follow David when all Israel runs after Absalom is a Mark of Loyalty but with Achitophel to shrink when Heaven seems to frown on the right side is base Treachery Troubles like Aqua Fortis make a separation betwixt Metals and shew which is the Silver and which the contemptible Mineral Those that are good grow better by them Those that seem only to be so in the hour of Temptation fall away That Sap certainly is strongest which preserves the Leaves of a Tree green and verdant all the Winter and nothing is so great a sign of strength and hardiness as to be able to endure the rude assaults of Frost and Snow and unseasonable Weather It 's a Character of Infamy the Evangelist imprints on the chief Rulers among the Jews who indeed believed in Jesus but for fear of the Pharisees durst not confess him Joh. 12. 42. True Goodness like Lillies thrives though Thorns and Bryars do surround it and Salamander like can live in Fire The late Kings Piety shines the brighter because he durst maintain it under Temptations to forsake it The Troubles that came upon him it 's confest added little to his outward Pomp but rendred his Goodness more charming and amiable to the Prudent Spectator It had never arrived to that Renown and Glory if those Confusions had not been the Touchstone and when like Lawrel it could stand those Thunders it was evident that an Almighty Power did uphold it Had he lived Prosperously all his days his Vertue would have made him a Saint but the constancy of it in the severest Tryals gave him the Character of a Martyr Had he professed and express'd Meekness while his Subjects were submissive and respectful the excellent Qualification might have challenged suitable Commendations but to practice it when his Servants became his Masters and instead of Honouring loaded him with Indignities and Reproaches this deserves our wonder To be true to the Church against his Temporal Interest was that which gave him the greatest Credit and to forgoe a Crown rather than part with his Religion an act which force the World into admiration The greater Man he was the greater was the Tryal and for such a Tryal perhaps nothing was so fit as Royal Vertue The Disorders he lived to see made him more sensible of Gods assistance than all his Sunshine did and he had never tasted of that degree of sweetness in Gods favour if Persecution and a Prison had not increased the relish This gave him a clearer sight of Gods goodness than the high Specula of his Palace and his Solitariness afforded him such Contemplations as he must never have hoped for in the Crouds of Courtiers This made him look into Paradise and see the Suffering Jesus on his Throne and taught him that a Man might be the Son of God in the very Garden of Gethsemane This furnished him with Lessons which the greatest Kings are Strangers to and with Moses directed him to behold him that was Invisible This made his Faith with Abraham believe even Contradictions and raised his Confidence that though he Died he should live for ever This made him
stand amazed at his own Vertue and while he saw he was able to do what he thought had been impossible admire the immense power and goodness of God when grace was thus sufficient for him and made his strength proportionable to his burden This made him find by blessed experience what the Saints of old felt in their Chains and Tortures and assured him that to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory in the midst of Flames was no Fable This made him see that the things Invisible are the most desirable Objects and find with the great Apostle that there is a great difference between being Persecuted and forsaken 5. Such Disorders are sometimes permitted to discover the ill Principles of some Mens Religion who are like to seduce others by their specious Pretences that Men who are in good earnest resolved to be saved may be aware of them and not fall into the same condemnation 2 Tim. 3. 1 5 9. Men who suppose that gain is godliness when troublesome and Perillous times do come and Disorders rise serve themselves of these Tumults and under a shew of Piety grasp what they can and betray their Carnal Ends which in such times cannot be hid when there are opportunities and temptations to call them out into Action for as in such Disorders commonly the Right Cause or the Party that have most Justice on their side are oppressed and come by the worst so the other make advantage of their Misery and their Blood and Tears give the other Growth and Stature It 's possible Beloved Hearers you may remember times when Men walked in Sheeps Cloathing but within were Ravening Wolves and while their Voice was exactly like Jacobs their Hands continued rough as Esau's when Men cryed The Temple of the Lord and yet at the same time Murthered those that opposed their Insolencies and talked of the good Cause while they meant nothing else by it but enriching their own Purses when Men pretended a thorough Reformation and made their own Souls as black as Hell and gave out that they fought for God when it was only to maintain what they had unjustly purchas'd when Men sighed and groaned to get the Prey into their Net and laboured much for a Spiritual Kingdom to make a surer settlement of their Temporal Possessions When Men under a shew of seeking a World to come did what they could to enjoy this present and left no Stone unturned to Establish Religion that thereby they might Establish themselves the better in their Unrighteous Acquists when Men to pull down Idolatry as they called it set up Robbery and Sacriledge in the room of it and instead of doing things better than they had been exchanged only one Sin for another when Men call'd that Zeal which was in good earnest nothing else but inordinate Passion and termed that Charity which was no more but Kindness to their Brethren in Iniquity when Men called others Dumb Dogs that they might more securely Bark at them and represented them as lazy Droans that they might carry the Honey those Bees had made to their own Hives when Men undertook to resolve Cases of Conscience while themselves had seared their own and under a pretence of taking Scruples out of other Mens Breasts felt none for the monstrous Injuries they had been guilty of to their Neighbours when Men gave out they pittied the Divisions of the Church while themselves were the Causes that began them and talk'd of Works of Mercy while they shew'd none to those they had turned out of their Livings when they trampled on the Pride of Prelates with a greater of their own and ran like mad from Babylon to be consumed in the Fire of Sodom and Gomorrah So I have seen some gaudy Flowers arrayed more gloriously than Solomon but when dismantled have been nothing but unsavoury and unprofitable Stalks so the deadly Night-shade looks fresh and green as other Plants but carries Poison in its Bowels so the Prince of Precious Stones the Diamond by its Rayes promises so many Springs of Light but its Powder kills without Remedy so Gold and Silver dazle the Eye yet are no Steams more odious or loathsom than those which rise from the Mines they are digg'd out of so the Butterfly is striped with several Paints yet is no more but a squallid Animal so the Glow-worm looks like a creeping Star yet if you behold it by day light it is a very homely Creature These are the true Emblemes of some Mens Religion in the World and their partial Obedience in times of Disorder and Confusion tells the Considerate part of Mankind that what they profess is Varnish not Substance Glass not Natural Chrystal Shadow not Reality for how can that be true Religion where I give to God the things which are Gods and deny to Caesar the things which are Caesars where I am conscientious to the Creator and unjust and perfidious to the Creature where I offer Sacrifice and envy my Brother in my heart where I express love to my Maker and yet do not give all their due Custom to whom Custom Tribute to whom Tribute Fear to whom Fear and Honour to whom Honour or in St. Peters Phrase Fear God and do not Honour the King And these Sophistications God commonly discovers in Confusions intending them as Sea-marks to give warning to the Ships that see them afar off not to come near those Sands lest they split their Vessel and lose their Goods which with great cost and labour they have purchased But it 's time we proceed and enquire 3. How Gods Providence appears in these Disorders and Confusions 1. God puts bounds and limits to the rage of Men that cause and encourage those Disorders The proud Senacharib Es. 37. 24. talks big he had already put Jerusalem into Consternation and boasted of greater mischiefs he intended By the multitude of my Chariots saith he am I come up to the height of the Mountains to the sides of Lebanon and I will cut down the tall Cedars thereof and the choice Fir-trees thereof and I will enter into the height of his Border and the Forest of his Carmel But he that sits in Heaven laughs at him and the great Jehovah derides the little talking Insect assures the Prophet that beyond such a Field he shall not step and as he saith he doth Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest When Maxentius had filled Rome with Murthers and the People feared not only greater Injuries to their Persons but a total Desolation so great was the fury of the Monster the Almighty sets bounds to his brutish Courage and sends the great Constantine to remove him and with him the Yoak he had laid on the trembling People And thus hath God dealt with most Tyrants who have thought to crush the World by their