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minds, towards one another; so as that men shall generally agree to "beat their swords into plough-shares, and th ir spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more," Isa. ii. 4. Such will be the powerful efficacy of this Divine knowledge, that it shall transform the world into love and kindness, benignity and goodness; as God himself is love, and the supreme and all-comprehending goodness.

2. We may also discern an aptitude in such means, as we speak of, to serve this end: that is, when there are favourable aspects of providence upon those that espouse the interest of God in the world; in opposition to the irreligion, the anti-christianity, and the unrighteousness; that obtain therein, and too generally take place. By the consideration of several things that concur, you may discern an aptness in such means to serve this end. As consider, (1.) That the minds of men do naturally sink into atheAnd we see also a passage in the prophecy of Isaiah, ism, or irreligion and a deep oblivion of God, when things which hath a more particular reference unto Christ: "Be- run on in one course and tenor with a still, uninterrupted hold my servant whom I uphold; mine elect in whom my stream. Nothing is plainer, or more obvious. Because, soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him, he shall from the creation of the world to this day, the course of bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nature hath been so constant, steady, and uniform; therenor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. | fore men have been apt to say, "Where is the promise of A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax his coming?" 2 Pet. iii. 4. And so when the series of shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto providence is generally equal to itself, or because men truth" (unto victory it is read in the New Testament, have no changes, therefore they fear not God, Psal. lv. 19. Matt. xii. 20.) "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till (2.) God hath himself declared, that in such a case as he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait this he will be known by the judgments which he executes, for his law," Isa. xlii. 1-5. How far we are concerned Psal. ix. 16. And when they are judgments of such a in that I shall not insist to show; though many have made kind, as to ensnare men in the works of their own hands, their observations upon that expression of the isles wait- (to use the following words,) and when men's violent doing for his law, and applied it to these islands that lie so ings are turned upon their own pates, the Lord is then near to one another, and wherein we are so much con- known by the judgments which he executes. I know not cerned. This however was a thing to be gradually done, the Lord, (said Pharaoh, Exod. v. 2.) neither will I obey but withal it was to be certainly and surely done; name- his voice; but by judgment upon judgment, and plague ly, that judgment should at length be set by him in the upon plague, he made him know him before he had done earth. This expression plainly imports the universality with him. He could at length say, "The Lord fighteth of the effect, and not as if it were this or that single spot, for Israel, against the Egyptians," Exod. xiv. 25. to which such an effect was to be confined; though, in strictness of speech, if it were any where known in the world, it would be known or set in the earth. But that cannot be the design of the expression as it is generally explained; but that the earth in general is to be the subject of this great effect: and the expressions, though they are wont to be applied to the case of particular souls, yet they have a more diffusive applicableness, which is not to be overlooked. "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." A meiosis is acknowledged in these words; the meaning of which is, that he shall be so far from bruising the reed, that he shall strengthen it; he shall be so far from quenching, that he shall more and more inflame, the smoking flax. This, I say, besides its being particularly applicable to the case of individual persons, must be understood also to have a general reference to the state of the Christian interest. That though it be low and languishing, and many times like a bruised reed, or a little smoking flax, where the fire is ready to expire and go out, yet it shall not be. That bruised reed shall grow stronger, and that smoking flax shall be blown up into a flame; and so will go further and further on, till the effect shall measure with the earth, and have no other confines and limits than that; till he shall set judgment in the earth, and have wrought that general transformation in the world, that all eyes shall see the salvation of God.

And when we are told in the book of Daniel (ii. 45.) of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, that should become a mountain and fill the earth; I think there is nothing in any time or age hitherto past, that can answer the import of such a saying as that is. This is a work yet to be done, and therefore yet in great part to be hoped for; that that stone Christ, Christianity, his religion diffused, and spread among all nations of the earth, by an almighty Spirit poured forth upon all, shall be so great a mountain, as to measure with the world, and to fill all the earth. But I know nothing as yet done, that answers the import of so great a word of prophecy, as this is.

Moreover, we are told that upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet (which most agree hath not been sounded yet) all the kingdoms of this world are to be the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, Rev. xi. 15. And this will be in answer to what was predicted long before, in the second Psalm. Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession, Psal. ii. 8. So that as to the end we have a great deal of reason to hope for it, which I proposed to represent to you in the first place.

(3.) Men are more confirmed in their atheism, or in undue thoughts of God, (which comes upon the matter all to one,) when the course of providence seems to favour unrighteousness; or to run counter to a righteous cause. Then it is that they say, "God hath forsaken the earth; and if there be any God at all, he is surely a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness; he liketh our violence, our injurious and wrongful dealing to mankind; and even to them, who call themselves after his name." Thus because judgment, upon men's works of that kind, is not speedily executed, therefore are the hearts of the sons of men fully set in them to do evil, Eccles. viii. 11. For they say, "Tush! God seeth not, neither is there any knowledge in the Most High;" as such men are brought in speaking in the tenth and ninety-fourth Psalms: that is, this is represented as the sense of their hearts, which to him, who reads the sense, immediately impressed upon the mind, is equal to speaking; for he doth not need that they should put it into words. God reads it as it lieth there. But then,

(4.) When the course and tenor of providence in these respects alter, it tends both to revive and rectify the notions of God in the minds of men; I mean, when it alters so as to animadvert upon manifest and palpable unrighteousness and iniquity in the world, and to favour a righteous cause.

This, I say, tends to revive the notions of God in the minds of men; for every body, in his distress, is apt to think of God. There are certain semina, certain principles of natural religion in the minds of all; which, though some take a great deal of pains quite to eradicate, yet they can never quite do it; nature is too hard for them but those principles that they cannot extinguish, they make a shift to lay asleep. Lust is too strong for light. A propension to, and a resolution of, being wicked, are for the most part victorious, generally governing in the minds of men; so as that the truths they hold, they hold in unrighteousness, Rom. i. 18. But affliction, and the cross rencounters of providence, revive the sleeping principles of religion; which are bound up in a torpid and stupifying state. Men begin to bethink themselves, when they find themselves in perplexity and distress. And when the wise man in Ecclesiastes (chap. vii. 14.) bids us in the day of adversity to consider, he speaks according to the natural tendency of the thing; because there will be a greater aptitude in the minds of men to consider, when things are adverse to them, and run quite contrary to their inclination. And,

The notion of a God is not only hereby revived, but in some measure rectified too. They, who before thought God did countenance their way, now find, that this was a

a

weak, infirm argument, and that it proves no such thing. | by terrible things; being displeased with the wickedness, They cannot now any further satisfy themselves, that that the atheism, the irreligion, the unrighteousness of men in Deity (which they cannot altogether disimagine) is fa- this world; if then there be a discovery of his reconcilevourable to unrighteousness; but that if there be a God, ableness, of his willingness, or readiness to be at peace he is such a one, to whom right and wrong are not indif- with the world; in what a preparation may the minds of ferent things. They begin, I say, to apprehend so now. men be supposed to be to receive such a doctrine, as that An ungodly frame and disposition of spirit had obtain- of the Christian religion! a discovery of God in Christ ed, to a very great degree, amongst Joseph's brethren; but reconciling the world to himself. Do but observe, therewhen they meet with a series of cross providences, these fore, that method of representing the great Christian docremind them of their unrighteous dealing with their bro- trine of the Gospel, of free justification by faith in Jesus ther: the thoughts of which had slept with them long, but Christ, which the apostle takes in the epistle to the Ronow they revive; and they now begin to return to a right mans. He begins it with the discovery of the general wickmind concerning that very matter. But what comes near-edness of the Gentile world, and afterwards of the Jews. er our case is that Assyrian tyrant, who had been so As to the former he saith, The wrath of God is revealed long the plague and pest of the world, and wrought such from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness a destruction among the people of God. When provi- of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, Rom. i. dence came to animadvert upon him, and he lay under 18. And what is all this for? It is all to prepare and God's rebukes and frowns, he fancied himself a beast; and make way for the revelation of grace. We have proved, became like one, by the power of his own imagination, (as saith he, both Jew and Gentile to be under sin; and therethat is most likely to be understood,) till he was capable of fore that there can be no such thing as reconciliation to understanding, that the Most High did rule in the king- God and acceptance with him, but it must be by the interdoms of men, and give and dispose of them as he thought vening righteousness of another. And so nothing, in the fit, Dan. iv. 17. And as I noted to you before, Pharaoh way of means, doth so dispose the minds of men to receive would not know God, neither obey his voice to let Israel the Gospel, as when God, in the methods and course of his go, after a series of cross providences following one ano- providence, doth appear terrible against wickedness, the ther; till at length he saw himself surrounded with wa-impiety and the injustice of men: nothing, I say, in point ters, that gave a safe passage to the Israelites, but a continual threatening and terror to him and his army; but when he found their chariot-wheels taken off, he cried out, "Now we must all fly, God is fighting for the Israelites." Then he bethought himself of a God, who did not like such a course as his was of oppression and tyranny, over a people more righteous than himself.

Not that we are to think, that successes and favourable aspects of providence are themselves, and considered apart, a measure of right and wrong, in the world. That can by no means agree with what we have supposed already. There are the greatest variations of providence imaginable, but there cannot be variations of what is right and wrong for what is right, always will be right; and what is wrong, will always be wrong. But supposing that a cause be in itself manifestly righteous on the one hand, and unrighteous on the other; (which may be known by other measures,) then providence falling in with that which in itself is apparently right, revives and strengthens the apprehension of such a Deity, as approves of that which is right and equal, and disapproves the contrary. And so it tends at once, as I proposed to show, both to revive and rectify the thoughts of God. And hereupon,

(5.) The great commotions of nations, when the world hath been long before in a deep dream, and a drowsy sleep, taking no notice of God that rules the world, and governs the kingdoms of men when, I say, there are great agitations; collisions of interests, and concussions of nations; nation dashing against nation; if in this case an apparently righteous cause receives countenance, and is under favourable aspects from heaven, God comes to be a great deal more thought of in the world than he was. He is then also thought to be such, as indeed he is; a God who takes not pleasure in wickedness, nor approves of unjust or unrighteous practices, though he may have forborne, and spared those for a time that used them. But further, when hereupon the thoughts of God are revived, and rectified in any measure in the minds of men, they become so much the more susceptible of superadded revelation from him; such as that which is contained in the Scripture. For it is to no purpose, when the world is generally atheistical, and have either buried the notion of a God, or perverted it, so as that to think there is a God, or that there is none, is all one with them; it is, I say, to little or no purpose for men to go up and down among such persons, in such a state of things, with a Bible; for they disbelieve such a kind of Deity as that book reveals. But if the thoughts of God be recovered and rectified in the minds of men, they are a great deal more susceptible of superadded revelation from heaven. And especially,

(6.) If that revelation be, as that of the Gospel is, a revelation of grace. For when God hath discovered himself

a Nebuchadnezzar.

of means can be a greater preparation for the diffusion of the grace and light of the Gospel, and the more ready and successful spread thereof. And I add,

(7.) That by such favourable aspects of providence upon them that espouse God's interest in the world, the great obstructers of the progress of the Gospel come to be debilitated, and that power of theirs weakened, and retrenched; by which they opposed to the utmost the diffusing of religion, and the spreading the knowledge of God: making it their business as much as possible to extirpate that religion, which godly souls do so much desire to see spread in the earth. When the providence of God doth animadvert on such, as make it their business to destroy true religion out of the earth; so as that instead of its being known in all nations it shall not be known any longer in their own, as far as it is in their power to exterminate it: when such, I say, are animadverted upon, every eye seeth how this tends to prepare, and make way for, the freer diffusion of the Gospel light and knowledge among men. For they that would do such a thing as root out true religion out of their own nation, to be sure would be far from letting it spread in the rest of the world; and, if it were in their own power, there should be no such thing in the world at all. Thus it appears that favourable events to those who espouse God's interest, tend to remove obsta cles out of the way to the diffusion of true religion, and to promote the propagation of it in the earth. I therefore come now to show, in the

III. Place, That the hope of this issue and end should animate mightily our praises, and be the principal ground of thanksgiving unto God for such successes and favourable aspects of providence upon them, who espouse his interest in the world. This might be many ways made out, and indeed by such means as are most evident in reason, and most intimate to the very essence of religion. For in plain common reason it appears, that the creature is not to be his own end; much less are we to suppose, that God doth such and such things for the creature as his end. He that is the first, must be the last in all things. He that is the author of all things must be the end of all things. All this is plain to common reason. And if you go into the deeper in wards of religion, which are nearly allied to genuine and rectified reason, nothing is plainer, than that this is grounded in those great things of religion, which are most essential to it. Self-denial, for instance; I do not pray to, nor praise God upon my own account, so much as upon his. For if I be a Christian, if I be a disciple of Christ, I am taught to abandon myself, to nullify myself, and all interests and designs of mine, further than as they fall in with his, and are subservient thereunto. It is that which best agreeth with that great essential principle of all religion, the love of God, which is the noblest of all. By how edict of Nantz a few years before, and the terrible persecution of the pro

b The author alludes, I suppose, to the late French king's repeal of the testants in his kingdom.

rest.

to mourn for the loss of him! A strong hold hath alsc been taken, which a potent army came to relieve. Suppose the armies had fought; suppose the army that came to the relief of Namur had been victorious; and suppose there had been a total destruction of our own; think what the dreadful consequences would have been! when, instead of having the knowledge of God to spread further in the world, we should have had violence and tyranny in the height thereof deluging Europe! and threatening a deluge as general, as such power could extend unto! What hope could we have left to our posterity, that they should long enjoy that Gospel, which we enjoy; or profess that religion in peace which we profess in peace and tranquillity? I say, do but turn the tables; and consider what our case had been, if it were stated in a direct contrariety to what it is. There are many more things which I might have said, by way of particular use of this subject; but at present let us call upon God for a blessing upon what hath been now spoken.

much the more I love God, by so much the more is my | his preserving the life of our king. What, if we had been heart raised in praises, when I find events to happen that have any tendency to promote his glory; and to make him more known, teared, loved, and honoured in the world. And, to speak summarily unto this matter, do but consider these two things; which we may superadd to all the 1. That we ought to praise God for mercies, for the same reason that we pray for them. But we are not to pray for them ultimately for ourselves, but for God; that they may serve the interest of his glory, and be the means of diffusing the knowledge of him in the earth. It is not a real glory that can be wrought out for him; but it is manifestative glory; which stands in his being known and acknowledged by his creatures, the works of his hands, and so much the more by how much the more general it is. I have said we are to give thanks for mercies, upon the same terms that we are to pray for them. And how we are to do that, we are taught by that method of prayer which our Lord himself directed; in which the first thing petitioned for, is, "Hallowed be thy name," Matt. vi. 9. And that God may be glorified, is the thing which is to be first in our eye and design. It ought to be so in our seeking mercies from him; and consequently it ought to be so in our rendering acknowledgments and praises to him, for his kindness and mercies. And again,

2. We ought to praise God for mercies, for the same reason for which we are to apprehend he bestoweth them. But it is plain he bestoweth them not for our sakes, but his own, "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel," Ezek. xxxvi. 32. "I do not do these things on your account, but for my own name's sake; that my name may be known among the heathen, and that the world may more generally acknowledge me to be God."

SERMON XII.*

Joshua xxiv. 20.

If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

SOME few things I shall offer to your notice, by way of introduction to what I intend from this portion of Scripture. As in the first place,

for granted, and which every one would own; that all the good which had been done to them, proceeded only from him, who is the Author of all good. And again,

That the good which he did for this people was very peculiar, such as he had then done for no people beside. He gave his testimonies unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel; he had not done so to any people, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. Moreover,

That the peculiarity of his favourable dispensation towards them was resolvable only into good pleasure. No other account could be given of it, why he should be so particularly favourable to that people above other people, than, as our Lord says in another case, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 26. And lastly,

And according as things have this tendency and design, That the good which God had done this people, he was so let our praises be directed, this day, upon the same in confessedly the Author of it. He not only was really and ducement, and from this same spring; namely, the hope indeed so; but he was owned and acknowledged to be so. that God's ways shall be known upon earth, and his sal-There was not a doubt in the case. It was a thing taken vation unto all nations; and that the present favourable aspects of providence will some way contribute hereunto, as they have this tendency and design. If we do not consider the matter so, we disparage our own victories, when we should give thanks for them; we make them little and inconsiderable, and upon the whole matter to have nothing in them. For abstracted from the subserviency in such providences to the interest of God, and religion, and righteousness in the world, I pray what have they in them? All goeth for nothing, and will be as nothing in a few years. We cannot say that any thing is truly and rationally valuable, that runs not into eternity; that hath not a look to wards an everlasting state of things, and the interest of that kingdom that shall never end. When the world passeth away, and all the lusts thereof, they who do the will of God abide for ever, 1 John ii. 17. It signifieth very little to particular persons whether they be rich, or poor, for a few days, here in this world. And it signifieth as little to nations, whether their condition be opulent or indigent; whether they be under oppression, or in a state of liberty; it signifieth little, I say, when it is considered, that these are replenished with inhabitants made for eternity, and an everlasting state of things, and who must shortly pass into that eternal state. Nothing is really, or upon rational accounts, valuable with them, but what carries with it a signification of good, in reference to eternity. So it is to a person, so it is to a nation, and so it is to this world and all the inhabitants of the earth.

That though the destruction threatened unto one people, so and so offending against goodness and mercy, doth not import the certainty of such an event, in reference to another people, offending in the like manner; yet it imports the case of such a people to be very insecure, and that they are liable to the same destructive severities and consuming judgments, as if they had been the people immediately and directly threatened. I say they are liable, and cannot reckon themselves entitled to an immunity from such destructive judgments.

These things being premised, the ground of our present discourse will lie thus: That the good which God hath, of mere good pleasure, and in a peculiar distinguishing way, done for a nation, leaveth them liable to consuming judgments, if they grossly offend God, and generally revolt from him. In speaking to this, I shall,

FIRST, Give you the state of this truth, generally, and indefinitely considered. And then,

Therefore, while we praise God for the favourable as pects of his providence, which have such a tendency as this, generally and indefinitely considered, let us bring down this to the particular case before us. If we apprehend much is not done toward this great end, by this particular instance of a favourable providence, yet consider SECONDLY, Speak unto it with special application to this as a part, and as a step to more. And in order to our own case, and the state of things among ourselves. excite our praises the more, to heighten them, and raise FIRST, I shall give you the state of this truth, as con our spirits in this duty of praising God, let us, I pray, re-sidered more indefinitely. And therein,-I. Shall consider present to ourselves the contrary state of the case, even as that good, which God may be supposed to do a people to this particular thing that we praise God for; namely of his own good pleasure, and in a peculiar way; and—II

* Preached at Silver-Street, November 5th, 1695.

Their liableness unto his consuming wrath, upon the supposition here put; that is, if they should grossly offend, and generally revolt from God, or rebel against him.

I. Let us consider the good, which God may be supposed to do such or such a people, out of mere good pleasure. And here we shall consider, in what respects he may be supposed to do a nation good, and also upon what

accounts.

1. In what respects. And for this we shall take our measure from what we find, even in this very chapter, in reference to the people of Israel. The chapter, you see, begins with a large narrative and rehearsal of what God had done for them; and it is well worth your notice and observation. You must consider, that the time of Joshua's leaving them was now at hand. He was apprehensive of it, and therefore gathers the princes and heads of the tribes to him on purpose to take a solemn leave. They had been under his conduct by Divine appointment; and, as their general, he had led them into that good land, which God, by promise and oath to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had entitled them to as their seed, and now conferred upon them. He was apprehensive of the state of their case, after his departure; knowing well the terms upon which God had put himself under such bonds and obligations to them. Therefore he gathers the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for their elders, their judges, and officers, who presented themselves before God. Upon which he begins his narrative of what God had done for them; and in what particular respects he had favoured them, and done them good. "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac."

Joshua here begins with that which was the most observable thing, and was first in the Divine eye and intention; namely, his making this people a plantation of religion, when the world was generally overrun with idolatry and wickedness. He puts them in mind how God did select and sever the head of this people from the rest of the idolatrous world. As elsewhere the history acquaints us with his calling him out of his idolatrous family, saying, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee," Gen. xii. 1. And we are told that, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went," Heb. xi. 8. This is the fit posture of a devoted soul, and so inwardly had God touched his spirit, that he should upon his call readily answer him, and not dispute the matter, nor say, "Lord, must I go I know not whither? and into that state, and in that way I know not?" No, faith formed his spirit, not for disputation, but obedience. He obeyed, and went. "Here am I, thy ready prepared instrument; do with me what thou wilt." And that which God designed to do, was to make him the head of a religious people; among whom he would be known, when so gross and general darkness had spread itself over the rest of the world. This was the main and principal thing in God's design; and with this Joshua begins this narrative; and then continues it in showing in what ways, and by what gradations, God pursued the design which he had so graciously laid in favour of this people; out of whose line the promised seed was to arise, in which, at length, all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.

But, in the mean time, the more special notices of God were to be confined much within the limits of this people, or them that should be proselyted unto them. "In Judah was God known, and his name was great in Israel," Psal. Ixxvi. 1. And whereas this was finally a design of grace, the rest of the narrative showeth, how Providence did work in subserviency to that design; to multiply this people, to keep them entire, and unmingled with other nations: till that seed should spring out of them, in the appointed season, in and by which there was to be so universal a diffusion of blessings through all nations.

Therefore, the workings of Providence are recounted

afterwards, in subserviency to this design of grace, till he comes to show how by a succession of wonderful works, in a continued series, God had conducted them from Egypt (where they were oppressed, and multiplied at once) through a wilderness, where they were under his more immediate care: till at last, according to promise, they were planted in Canaan; the type of that heaven, into which the antitypical Joshua, our blessed Jesus, was to introduce all that should be adjoined to him as the great Captain and Prince of their salvation.

2. As we have seen in what respects God did thus do good to his people, so we may also see upon what account. And this matter is capable of being resolved into nothing else but the Divine good pleasure. It was upon such terms that this people were formed at first. The Lord did not set his love upon you, (said Moses,) because ye were more in number than any other people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, Deut. vii. 7, 8. And why did he love them? why did he so peculiarly favour them? The matter resolves itself; he sets his love upon you, because he loved you. Divine love, which is the original love of him who is the Fountain of goodness, is its own reason; for there can be nothing former to, or higher than, the first. And the same thing Samuel takes notice of after they were become a formed people. The Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people, 1 Sam. xii. 22. How came you to be made his people? Nothing can it be referred to, but that he was so pleased whose people you are. And that he makes the ground why he would never forsake them, in respect of their external constitution, otherwise than upon such terms as he himself did express before, even when he took them to be his people. Of which more hereafter.

And when their state was to be restored, after its being lost in great measure through their defection and revolts from him, it is still upon the same terms. He would indeed gather them again, re-collect them out of the several nations into which for their defection they had been scattered. But why? Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel; but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen whither ye went, Ezek. xxxvi. 22. So that still the matter is resolved into Divine pleasure and goodness itself, the prime import of his name, as he himself proclaimed it to Moses; The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Exod. xxxiv. 6. And so much concerning the good, which God may be supposed to do for such a people indefinitely considered.

II. We are next to consider the liableness of such a people, notwithstanding, to more severe, and terrible, and even consuming judgments in case of their general revolt from him, and rebellion against him. This we see plainly exemplified, in the course of God's dispensation towards this people. And we are here to consider, that whatever good he did for this people, it was but according to free promise; and that such promise was made, with a reserved liberty to make use of his own right to vindicate himself, when, by injurious wickedness, the design of all that goodness is frustrated, and perverted, as much as in them lies.

1. It is plain, that whatever good he did for this people, was according to free promise. But that is more than can be said of other people. They had such promised peculiar favours, as no other people ever had. That is, they had that good and rich country, which they possessed, given them by immediate grant from heaven, which no people under heaven ever had the like besides; and a promise ratified and sealed by solemn oath, over and over, unto their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose God he declared himself to be, and the God of their seed; by which he obliged himself to do them good in this respect, by planting them, as a distinct people, in a rich country; where they should have all the accommodations that were needful for answering the ends for which he would have such a peculiar people in this world. And though what he did for them was thus according to promise, yet,

2. In the very tenor of that promise he reserved to himself the liberty of animadverting upon their wickedness;

and of making a way (as he sometimes expresseth himself) for his wrath to break in upon them, till at length it came upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. ii. 16. So that when any such destructive judgments should befall them, they could not pretend to be surprised; it was nothing but what they might expect and look for, even by the express tenor of that very grant, by which they held what they did before enjoy. And thus they were foretold it should be, as you may see if you look into the course of God's treating and stipulating with them. " It shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul; that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season," &c. Deut. xi. 13. All suitable blessings are, upon that supposition, promised to them. But it follows; "Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them: and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you," Deut. xi. 16, 17.

Now according to the tenor of this word of his, which you may meet with in multitudes of other places, was the course of his actual dispensation towards them. For see how things were, between God and them, after Joshua's decease. He had seen them planted, and settled in that good land. And we are told that "when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. And the people of Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua; who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel," Judg. ii. 6, 7. But now, Joshua being dead, we find soon after, that "Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them; and they were greatly distressed," Judg. ii. 11-16. And afterwards, in the residue of this second chapter of Judges, is the summary given us of their deportment towards God, and of God's procedure towards them, under all the several succeeding judges, that governed them, till the time they had a king set over them by their own choice. Whereas before, their government was designed to have been an immediate theocracy; that is, they were to have lived in all points under the immediate direction of God himself. But they affected to be like their neighbours, both in civil and religious respects; and so God, having, in his first grant of special favour to them, reserved a power of doing himself right upon them, managed the course of his dispensation towards them accordingly.

And this we may take for an account of the state of this case, more indefinitely considered; forming our idea from what we find exemplified in this people. Great things were in a peculiar way of favour done for them; yet we find all this did not exempt them from the terrible severities of vindictive justice upon their revolts from, God, and rebellions against him. I come now,

SECONDLY, To consider all this with application to our own case, and the state of our affairs; in which application two things must be considered.

I. A commemoration, with great thankfulness and gratitude, of the good which God hath done for our nation, in a continued series and course of dispensations, through a long tract of time. And,

II. A representation, notwithstanding, how vain an imagination it would be that we are thereby exempt from a liableness to vindictive and consuming judgments, in case of a gross and general revolt from God, and rebellion against him. Of these two parts this application shall consist.

a Virgil, Ecl. i. 67.

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I. We are to make a thankful commemoration of the great good which God hath done for our nation even in a long continued course; as he did for that people, who have given us the ground of our present instruction And here we are concerned to say as we find the prophet speaking; "I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us; and the great goodness towards the house of Israel (we may say towards our England) which he hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses," Isa. Ixiii. 7.

And here we may go back a great deal further than Joshua could, at this time, in recounting God's favours towards Israel. They were not then of that antiquity. He had not so long a tract of time, as we have to reflect and look back upon from their beginning to be a people; that is, the time when God took Abraham out of his father Terah's idolatrous family, to make him the head of a people among whom there should be a plantation and nursery of true religion, from age to age, till the fulness of time. It was but a few hundreds of years, of which Joshua puts them upon the review; when he calls upon them to reflect upon and look back to the years of former time. We have a far longer time to reflect and look back upon. Ours is a country severed and distanced, as you know, from the rest of the world;

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos,a

and we are at so remote a distance, that it is to be reckoned among the miracles of providence, that the Gospel and Christianity should visit our island so soon.

It is true, the history of so early times is so much the more uncertain; but such as it is, it makes Britain to begin to be Christianized even in the first century, and as some have reported, by the ministry of Joseph of Arimathea, who had been under the ministry of our Lord himself, as the Teacher come forth from God, John iii. 2. And though afterwards this island of ours was invaded, first by one pagan, then by another; still Christianity kept its footing, so as never to be extinct. And when at last the Romish apostacy and corruption had spread itself, here did more ancient primitive Christianity contend long against it; and with that steadfastness, and earnestness, that they found it impossible to make proselytes, without making martyrs, even in those early days. And after a more general night of popish darkness had spread itself over this land of ours, (then unhappy indeed, as the greatest part of the Christian world was,) the dawnings or renewed light were earlier with us, than with a great part of the rest of Europe, where the reformation has obtained. We may count above three hundred years backward, wherein there was most express opposition among us, by the bright light which then shone against the worst of the popish abominations. And when that light was grown brighter and brighter, unto a more perfect day; by what wonders of providence has our day been prolonged, and the light of it extended for so long a space! With how indulgent an eye has Heaven watched over us to prevent the return of that enchanted night and darkness, out of which we had escaped! what designs have there been prevented from time to time, to bring us back again under both a darkness and a bondage worse than Egyptian!

And it is admirable to see and take notice, how Providence hath signalized the very seasons of our deliverance from those dark and horrid designs, which have been set on foot against us; that he should also twice put such marks upon such a year, and such a day; upon the year eighty-eight in one century after another, and twice upon the fifth of November in the same century; and at length draw two ancient mercies to meet together, as it were, upon one day, and in eighty-eight. This seems to be an artifice in wise Providence to accommodate itself to our unapprehensive and less retentive minds; that he should so mark out for us times and seasons, that when such a year, and such a day, reverted, we might recollect ourselves and consider, and also those that shall come after us: "Oh, how hath God signalized these days, by special favours and kindnesses to England! and all aiming at one

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