design against the Righteous their great aim and business is to destroy all Foundations 2. That in these designs of the Wicked against the Righteous all that the Righteous can do is to trust in God 1. That in the mischiefs the wicked design against the Righteous their great aim and business is to destroy all Foundations And here we shall have to consider 1. What the Foundations are the wicked are so solicitous to destroy 2. What the Interest and true grounds are which move them to such attempts 3. With some reflections on their great folly in such their designs 1. As to what the Foundations are the Wicked are so solicitous to destroy what can these be but the Foundations as I may say which would otherwise destroy them and those are whatever it is on which is built the Stability either of Church or State Such are with respect to the One all Civil Government and the Laws by it Enacted with respect to the Other the Principles of Faith and true Religion And very well may these be called Foundations because what Foundations are to any Fabric by upholding and securing it from becoming a Ruinous and Disordered Heap that are these with reference to Human Society as serving to support the several Members and parts of it in a Settled Regular and Establisht dependence on each other 'T is by Government Good Laws and Religion that this Rational Building is held up That the Whole world is preserved from falling back into a worse disorder and confusion than that Natural Chaos that void formless State was out of which 't was Genes i. 2. at first taken Hence the Royal Psalmist reflecting on the Corruptions which in his time had prevailed in Church and State When He was put by the exercise of his just Authority speaketh of them as of what tended to the utter dissolution of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof Psalm lxxv 3. and of Himself to whom the Care of their Laws and Religion was committed as bearing up the Pillars thereof And in the lxxxix Psalm 14. he tells us speaking of God himself that Judgment and Justice are the habitation of his Throne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Hebrew It 's Foundation or Establishment So that we see what it is we are to understand by Foundations namely those Hieronymus Leges interpretatur quas ait dissipatas tum fuisse Tyrannide Saulis Righteous Laws which are necessary to support the Government of God and Man and serve to hold the several parts of the Rational Creation from starting aside from the Square and Rule by which they subsist the next thing we have to consider is 2. What the Interest and true Grounds are which move the wicked to their attempts against the Righteous and that is nothing else but their being wicked i. e. Those dissolute ungovern'd wretches who can themselves set no limits to the Extravagancies of their ill Life and are so heinously offended that the Laws do it for them That These are the Hook put into the Nose of the Violent and Oppressor the Bridle to check the Lust and Vices of the Intemperate and Unchast of the Backbiter and Reviler How doth it grieve them that Authority hath set those Bounds and Landmarks to the Property of their Neighbour which the unjust cannot remove without invading his own quiet That there is that Yoke on the Neck of the Sons of Belial which will gall the Disobedient and Rebellious in all their strugglings against it That to resist the Scepter their Lawful Soveraign holds over them is but to turn it into a Rod of Iron And as in Civil Matters so in Matters of Religion How are these the unacceptable Remembrances of God and the service due to him and in the neglect thereof of a day of Reckoning of that fearful expectation of Judgment which is always shaking the Rod over them This is that which makes them so much concerned to destroy these Foundations at once to quit themselves of those Fetters which not only tye their hands from outward wrongs but what is much severer bind up their minds too So perplex and intangle their Consciences that they can have no comfort no freedom in their most prosperous Mischiefs Alas could they but once cast off these cords from them and break these Bonds asunder Psalm ii 3. Were there no heir of restraint as the Magistrate is stiled Judg. xviii 7. No King in Israel to hinder every man from doing that which was right in his own Eyes Judges xvii 6. None to curb the humour or fury of the multitude Might they but have the pleasure to ruin themselves and others without controul what a happy Liberty of Conscience were this to these men This 't is true is what wicked men would fain be at and without which they cannot hope to compass their mischievous designs against the Righteous Forasmuch as 't is for the safety of such that all Laws are made in their defence that Religion inforces them And how have they in all Ages laboured to root out the Principles of both How Zealous have they been to quarrel at the most Prudent and Sober Decrees of their Superiors and what is much more at his Decrees who is higher than the highest What Leviathans have there been still to rise up against God and his Providence What endeavours either wholly to efface or at least corrupt the Notions which are implanted in the minds of Men of the Deity and his Government How hath Religion too been brought in to serve a purpose and the very Liberty of the Gospel corruptly applied to maintain Schism and Rebellion Nay the very Spiritual part of Christianity the worshipping God in Truth i. e. in the heart and inward man made use of by the Enthusiast and Fanatick to discharge them from all Conscience of their Duty And can there be any grosser Scandal cast upon the Gospel than to make it thus contrary to the Law Is there any greater indignity can be offered to our good Master who was himself so observant of all the Laws of his Nation so tender of his Obedience to the Magistrate as by a Miracle to pay Tribute to Cesar Matth. xvii 27. Rom. xiii 1. 1 Pet. ii 17. 2 Pet. ii 10. Jude 8. Prover viii 15. and hath by himself and his Apostles so strictly injoined subjection to the higher Powers than that either he by whom Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice or his Religion should be traduced as destructive of both And 't is a reproach I confess which sticks on some who call themselves by his name I would to God those many of them who in shew and outward appearance run out so much in their Zeal against them were not their greatest Factors God forbid I should judg any man but let every one lay his hand on his heart and seriously consider in his own Conscience whether the Heats and Divisions the Jealousies and Heart-burnings which are at present so much among
against the Righteous all that they can do is to trust in God is because of the honour of his Justice likewise concerned for them As He whose Throne is in Heaven sits there as the just recompence of their doings a to rain Snares Fire and Brimstone V. 6. and an horrible Tempest on the Wicked And certainly if any thing can satisfie the Opprest That they shall not always be so that there will be a time when Right shall be done them nothing is more likely to do it than when they shall consider that God the just the holy the powerful the Omniscient Lord of all hath reserved to himself the Correction of their Enemies That however they may at present go on smoothly in their Wickedness yet that their Prosperity it self their most Fortunate Mischiefs are but their Snares that as Solomon describes the madman Prov. 26. 18. casting about Firebrands and saying am I not in sport yet 't will not be so when retumed in this Fire and Brimstone when the Storms they delight to raise here shall end in a more horrible Tempest to themselves and the Cup however they now mix all with jollity which is to be their Portion shall be only that of everlasting trembling and amazement This as to the first part of that Trust the Righteous are to put in the Lord as it signifies their relying upon him for safety and deliverance as he is their Holy their Powerful their Wise their Just Protector the second thing to be consider'd in this Trust is 2. Their behaving themselves so towards the Lord in whom they are upon all these forementioned Reasons to trust as to do nothing whereby they may put themselves out of his Protection For that may be the case of God's own People How often did this befall the Jews that God cast them off and deserted them Was it not their sad Fate as in all their Captivities abroad so in all their Superstitions and Idolatries at home What was it gave them up at any time into the hand of their Enemies but that they first delivered up themselves to their sins And if the Christian shall write after this Copy if they who have all these Reasons for their Trust and Faith in God shall be such Infidels in their Duty as to forget that they are the Righteous only who have any title in them if as 't is Hosea 10. 2. they will thus be found faulty be such an empty Vine as the Allusion there is v. 1. as to bring forth Fruit only to themselves none to that God from whom they expect this safety what then as it follows v. 3. should a King do unto them Nay what can God himself do unto or for them if they put it out of the Power of either to be their Saviour In vain do men talk either of the Excellency of the Government or Laws they live under and the Protection they look for thence if they despise both In vain to boast the Religion we profess if we are not resolv'd to live up to the Rules of it In vain to hope for security from the Altar if we give not that that same Priviledge we pretend to by it To speak plain We live in Times of great difficulties and danger wherein every one would be glad to provide for his own Peace but what are the Methods we take to procure it We can talk with great noyse and zeale of and for the Protestant Religion but do our Actions and Tongues speak the same Language What is it we inveigh against in that Church whose Errors we seem so much to detest Is it not that Primacy of the Pope which sets up above all that is called God Is it not that Infallibility whereby we think he too arrogantly assumes the determining matters of Faith and Religion and what are we advantaged by the Invective if every private person such is the Ungoverned License of the Age we live in usurps these to himself I am not so rigid to deny every man the use of his own judgment the exercise of those discerning Faculties he is endowed with as a reasonable Creature but sure 't is a great difference between being wise to Sobriety and imposing every Conceit and Rom. 12. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whimsey of our own upon the Publick A very vast difference between submitting to God's Providence in the Government he hath set over us and being every day preparing for I know not what Alterations in Church and State Men may if they please call this trusting in the Lord and committing their Religion to his Providence but would it not do very well to take some of the Rules of that Religion along with them to bethink themselves of that Peaceable Meek Humble Charitable Temper which ought to be the Badg of every good Christian and if they do so they would then find That to trust in the Lord were to wait upon him in his own way to expect safety and deliverance only in doing their Duty If in Power then to consider that the Foundations they are to maintain are the LAWS and RELIGION If in the Capacity of Subjects what they are then to contribute to this is to be Obedient to both Not to think themselves all Princes any otherwise a Gen. 32. 24. than Israel was by a wrestling with God in Prayer by appplying to him in their daily Devotions for his Blessing on the Publick and endeavouring to make their Devotions effectual by so living that themselves be not the Curse of it That for their Sins their Discontents Murmurings and Repining for their Disobedience and Injustice their Intemperance and Wantonness their Prophaneness and Irreligion they do not provoke God to give us up to those Judgments they are so forward to charge upon the miscarriages of others That if it should be the Irrepairable Fate of this Nation which the good Lord of his Mercy avert I hope those warnings he hath given and is still giving will have that effect upon us that we may timely apply to him to do it that I say if it should be the Irrepairable Fate of the Nation to have its Foundations destroy'd as the Old Translation reads it we might be able to put the Question What hath the Righteous done and to answer it in the Innocent and Inoffensive Carriage of good men those for whom God will find Mercy in the midst of his Judgments that there is nothing they have done to bring on the Ruine No they are the good men who are the Safeguard of them amongst whom they live God could not destroy a Gen. 19. Sodom till Righteous Lot was departed thence It may be the case of a Land as 't is threatned Ezekiel 14. 14. that though Noah Daniel and Job were in it and I trust in God there are many such in this Nation in this City they should deliver but their own Souls by their righteousness However let that be our study that we may think at least of delivering our own Souls 't is worth our care were there no benefit to redound to the Publick by it worth our care if b 1 Pet. 4. 17. Judgment must begin at the house of God that the sin which brings it on begin not there That when it shall be ask'd What have the Righteous done only our Prayers and Intercessions for the good of the Nation Our Litanies for Mankind for our Enemies for them who would destroy all Foundations Our meek and charitable Behaviour to all Our Blessing them that Curse us doing good to them that hate us praying for them that despitefully use Mat. 5. 44. and persecute us Our Constancy to the Reform'd Faith Our Renouncing the Principles and Errours of our Adversaries Our Duty and Loyalty to our Superiours Our equal Detestation of Sacriledge and Idolatry That these with all those other Christian Vertues and Graces which we profess and teach may be the Answer we have to return to such a Question And then I am sure whatever become of the Foundations si fractus illabatur Orbis should the World it self dash in pieces about us impavidos ferient ruinae the Ruines that strike upon us could not touch our Courage and Resolution any more than our Innocence No there 's a firmer Bottom on which all stands even the a Isa 26. 4. For so what in the common reading is everlasting strength is to be render'd according to the Hebrew Rock of Ages That God whose Holiness whose Power whose Omniscience whose Justice will in his due time do us Right If not here at least in that Heaven where his Throne is In that holy Temple from whence he now looks down to encourage the Conflict and applaud the Triumph of our Patience and having by what ways he thinks best prov'd and prepar'd us for himself will take us up into that of his and our Glory To which happy state he in his mercy bring us all through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be praise honour and Adoration now and always Amen FINIS
his Protection 1. In all the Designs of the Wicked against the Righteous it is the Duty of the Righteous to rely upon God only for safety and deliverance and that they will find they have great reason to do as they consider how many ways their gracious God is as I may say obliged to deliver them How His Holiness His Power His Omniscience His Justice are all concern'd in the Protection of the Righteous 1. God is in his Holiness concern'd for the safety of the Righteous and that whether by his Holiness we understand the Purity of his Essence or of his Religion The Immaculate Perfections of his own Nature or the Imitation of these he requires from all who ingage in his service agreeable to what is so particularly urged in the words immediately after the Text of his being in his holy Temple For how can we imagine that He who is himself of the greatest Purity should not favour those who endeavour to make good the Image and similitude of God in which they were made by cleansing themselves as the Apostle expresses it 2 Cor. 7. 1. from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Can there be any thing more acceptable to the Divine Being than to see such a Resemblance of his own perfections in his Creature Or with reference to his Religion to be exercis'd in his holy Temple can there be any thing more reasonable than for them to expect the Blessings of the Temple who are so faithful to attend its Worship Was not this the place towards which under the Law his eyes were open'd night and day as we read 1 Kings 8. 29. the place where he put his Name where a Ps 26. 8. his honour was said to dwell the place b King 1. 8. 30. towards which whoever and in what condition soever did but pray was sure to be heard in Heaven So that whatever were the Trespass between man and man c ibid. v. 31. here was the place to decide it whatever the affliction under which they were whether led Captive into a strange Land or punish by Famine Sword or any other of God's just Judgments for their sin in their own if they had but thoughts of returning to his Religion and Service He who had set apart the godly to himself as 't is Psalm 4. 3. could not but in the defence of his own Name and Honour which he had made to dwell there likewise distinguish them in his care and uphold them in the work to which he called them Such was the Protection the Holiness to which they were separated then gave such the security of flying to the Altar that the very Oblation of their Wills their true and earnest desire of appearing there before God was a Sacrifice he would not refuse 2. A second Reason why the Righteous should look upon it as the only Remedy against the Treatment they meet with from the Wicked to put their trust in God is because of the honour of his Power concern'd in their deliverance 'T is with respect to his Soveraign Dominion and Rule over all that his Throne is in the next words said to be in Heaven and certainly that is not a Throne that can be establisht by iniquity Heaven as 't is a place where no injustice can enter so much less can it prevail against it nothing can resist the Power and Supremacy of him who sits there Changes Alterations and Vicissitudes may be in things below but to the Heaven in which his Throne is it belongs only to over-rule not feel these He who dwells above may for the purposes of his own glory permit the Cruelty and Oppression of the Violent but so that his permitting and converting these to his own glory is none of the meanest instances of his Power that in all the Motions which are made about it all the Commotions which are made against it yet still his Throne is in Heaven the place of Bliss and Holiness and they who hope to interrupt the Righteous in either do but thereby prepare themselves for a severer Sentence at this Tribunal Which of how great moment must it be to the good man thus to consider the over-ruling Power of him in whom he trusts that if as 't is v. 1. the wicked say unto his Soul flee as a Bird unto your Mountain Heaven is that Mountain whither he can flee there the Hills from whence cometh his help Psalm 121. 1. 3. A third Attribute which ought to incourage the Righteous to trust in God is that of his Omniscience for so the Psalmist adds in the same verse His eyes behold and his eye-lids try the Children of men Did not God know as the Psalmist brings in the Wicked making his boast against the Righteous Psalm 73. 11. and were there no knowledge in the most High there were then some reason why his people should spare some of their over-forward confidence and abate of that so full and absolute trust they put in him because whatever his Holiness is to detest whatever his Power to avenge injustice yet what would all this signifie if he had no privity of the Fact But then on the contrary for the Wicked as well as the Righteous to be always under his eye to be seen and detected in their closest Devices to have their very Imaginations lye open before him their secretest Councels and most hidden works of darkness still in the light of his Countenance to have pardon the lowness of the comparison as you may have sometime seen in excellent Pictures where the Archer is so painted as in every posture of the Beholder to direct his Arrow at him to have I say this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eye of Vengeance always aiming at the Offender Him who must be his Judge to be still present not only at the committing but the first designing of the Crime to see to watch and over-awe him in every motion How must this be cause of joy and transport to the Righteous in his greatest Sufferings as being hereby assur'd that nothing can befall him as without the Cognizance so which is one signification of the Eye without the Pity and Compassion of his good God That 't is He who knows and sees all things who permits the Enemy to design against him He too of whose Omniscience this must be one Effect that he knows what 's best for him that as his Eye-lids try the Children of men in general so in particular they try the Righteous as the Refiner doth his best and most valued Mettals to bring them more clean and purged freer from dross and dregs out of the Fire that 't is only to make them fitter Objects for his own Love and Favour that whom with the rest of Mankind his Eye cannot but see as 't is Verse the last of the Psalm his Countenance may behold i. e. encourage and approve 4. The last Argument I shall take notice of in the Psalm why in the Designs of the Wicked