Sermons (LXXX Sermons etc.); Holy Sonnets

2 COmTmS i. 3. Blessed he God even the Father of out Lord Jesus Christ» the Father of mercies and the God of ail comfort. TR. was never army composed of so many several nations, the tower of Babel itself, in tho confusion of tongues, gave hot so many several sounds, as are uttered and mustered against God, and his religion. The atheist denies God: for, though David call it a foolish thing fo do so, (The fool bath said if in his heart) and though David speak it in the singular number, the fool, as though there were hot many so very fools, as to say, and to say ia their hêart, There is no God, yet some such fools there are, that say it in their very heart, and have ruade shift to think so indeed; but for such fools as say it in their actions, that is, that lire as though there were no God, stultorumplena sunt omnia; we have seen fools in the court, and fools in the cloister, fools that take no calling, and fools in all callings that tan be taken, fools that hear, and fools that preach, fools at general councils, and fools at council-tables, stultorum plêna sunt omn ia, such fools as deny God, so far, as to leave him out, are hot in David's singular number, but superabound in every profession: so that David's manner of expressing it, is hot so much slngular, as though there were but one, or few such fools, but emphatical, because that fool, that any way denles God, is the fool, the veriest fool of all kinds of foolishness. 1Now, as God himself, so his religion amongst us bath many enemies; enemies that deny God, as atheists; and enemies that multiply gods, that make many gods, as idolaters; and enemies that deny those divers persons in the Godhead, which they should confess, the Trinity, as Jews and Turks: so in his religion, and outward worship, we have enemies that deny God his house, that deny us any church, any sacrament, any priesthood, any salvation, as papists; and enemies that deny God's bouse any fiarniture, any stufl any beauty, any ornament, any order, as noncontbrmitans; and eneanies tlaat are glad to sec God's house richly furnished tbr avhile, tlaat they may corne to the spoil thereot as sacrilegious usurpers of God's part. But for atheistical enemies, I call not upon theaaa here, to answer me; let them answer their own terrors, and horrors alone at naidniglat, and tell themselves whence that proceeds, if there be no God. For papistical enemies, I call hot aapon thena to answer me; let them answer out laws as well as oaar preachin e, because theirs as a religion naixed as well of treason, as of idolatry. For our refractory, and schismatical enemies, I call not upon them to answer me neither; let tlaean answer the churcla of God, in what nation, in what age was tlaero ever seen a church, of that form, that they have dreamt, and believe their own dream. And for our sacrilegious enemies, let them answer out of the body of story, and gave one example of prosperity al)on sacrilege. But leaving all these to tlaat wlaich bath laeretotbre, or may hereafter be said of them, I have bent nay naeditations, tbr those days, wlaich this terre will aflbrd, upon that, which as the character and mark of all Claristians in general, tlae Trinity, the three persns in one God; not by way of subtle disputation, as to persons that doubted, but by way of godly declaration, as to persons disposed to naake use of it; hot as tlaough I feared your tkith needed it, nor as though I laoped I could naake your reason comprehend it, but because I presume, that the consideration of God tlae Father, and lais power, and the sans directed against God, in that notion, as the Father; and the consideration of God the Son, and his wisdona, and the sans against God, in that apprehension, the Son; and the consideration of God the Holy Ghost, and his goodness, and the sans against God, in that acceptation, may conduce as nauch, at least, to our edification, as any doctrine more controverted. And of the first glorious person of this blessed Trinity, the Almighty Father, as this text, Ble»ed be God, &c. In these words, the apostle having tasted, having been fed with the sense of the power, and of the mercies of God, in his gracious delivemnce, delivers a short catechism of all out duties: so short, as that there is but one action, benedicamu», let us ble»: nor but one object to direct tlaat blessing upon, beoedicamus 1)eum, let us

SERoXXXV|.] IREACHED ON "£RINITY SUNDAYo bl« GoJ. It is ut one God, to exclude an idolatrous multiplicity of goûs, but it is one God notie an mnifested to us, in • a triplicity of Persons; of which the first is literally expresoed he, that he is a Father. And him we consider i Paternitate wterna, as he is the eternal Faflmr, e.ren the Father OE our Lord Jesus Christ, says our text; and then in Paternitate interna, as we have the spirlt 'adoption, by u'hich u'e cry, Abba, Father; as he is Pater mlserationum, the Fatker  mercies; and as he expresses the mereies, by the seal and demonstmtion of comfort, as he is the 6'OE  comfort, and totius consolationis, OE all co»ort. Reeeive the sure of this, aud 11 that arises from it, in this sho pamphra; dle duty required of  Christinn, is bleiny, praise, thanksgiving; to whom[ To GM, to Goal only, to the ouly God. There is but one; but this one God is such a tree, as hath divers boughs to shadow and refi'esh thee, divers branches to shed fruit upon thee, divers arms fo spread out, and vach, and embrce tllee. And here ho visits thee as a Father: from ail ernity a Father OE Christ Jesus, and now thy Fathcr in him, in that vhich thou needest most, a Fatker  mercy, when thou wast in mioery; and n (i OE co»brt, when thou foundest no eomfort in tbis world, and a GOE ofall co»ort, even of spiritual comfort, in the anguishes, and distresses of thy conscience. Blessed be G, eren the Father, &c. First tlmn, the duty which God, by this apostle, requires of man, is a duty arising out of that, which God hath a'ought upon him: it is hot a consideration, a contemplation of God sitting in heaven, but of God working upon tire earth; hOt in the making of his erlml decree there, but in the execution of those decreos here; hOt in ying, God knows who are hi and therefore they cannot rail, but in saying in  reetified conscience, God, by his ordinary marks, lmth let me know that I ara his, and th'efore I look to my ways, that I do no fall. St. Paul out of a religious sense what God had dono for him, cornes fo this duty, to bless him. There is hot a better grammar to learn, than to learn how to bless God, and therefore it may be no levity, to use some grammar tcrms herein. God blesses man dati«è, he gives good to him; man blcss God ol)tatirè, he wislles well fo him; md he blc,es • "OL. 11. K him vocatirè, he spcaks well of hiln. Fol', though towards God, as well as towards laaan, real actions are called blessings, (so Abigail called the present which she brought to David, a bles- içq , and so Naaman called that which he ofliered to Elisha, a blessin.q 2) though real sacrifices to God, and lais cause, sacrificos of allns, sacrifices of arms, sacrifices of money, sacrifices of sernions, advancing a good public cause, may corne under the naine of blessing,)'et the word hel'e, «5o9,'a, as properly a blessing in speech, in discourse, in couference, in words, in praise, in thanks. The dead do hot praise t]ee, says David; the dead (lllen civilly dêad, allegorically dead, dead and buried in an useless silence, in a cloister, or colleg.e, nmy praise God, but not in words of edification, as it as required llere, and they are but dead, and do not praise God so; and God ia wt the God o.f the dead, but o.f ttte liring, of those that delight to praise and bless God, and to declare his éoodness. We represent tbe angels to ourselves, and to the world with wings, thcy are able to fly; and yet when Jacob saw them cending and descending, even those winged augels had a ladder 2, they went hy del'ees: there as an ilnlnediate blessing of God, by the heart, but God l'equires tbe tonéue too, because that spreads and diffuses lais glol'y upon others too. Calici benedictionis benedicim«s, says the al»ostle', T]e cap which we bl«ss, as a CUl» of blessig; when we have blessed it, according to Chl'ist's holy institution, then it derives holy blessings upon us; and when we bless God according to lais comlnandment, he blesses us according to his pronaise, and otar desire. Vhen God elnployed Moses , and when he elnployed Jerelny', ]Ioses and Jerelny had no excase, but the unreadiness of their tongues: he that hath a tongue disposed to God's service, that will speak all he can, and dates speak ail he should to the glory of God, as fit for all. As St. James says, The toçque as bot a little wmber, b«t boasteth great thin.os; so truly, as little as it is, it does great things towards our salvation. The Son of God, is X6/oç, verbum, the word; God ruade us with his word, and with our words we make God so far, as that we make up the mystical body of Christ Jesus with out prayers, with our whole litu%7., and we make the natural body of ('hrist Jesus appliable to our sîuls, by the words of consecration in the sacrament, and our souls apprehensive, and capable of that body, by the word preached. Bless him therefore in speaking to him, in your prayers: bless him in speaking with him, in assenting, in answerin that which he savs to you in his word: and hless him in speaking of him, in telling one another the good things that he hath done abundantly for you. I will ble.«s te Zord at all rimes, says David '. Is it at ail rimes, says St. Augustine, Cm eireu»fluunt omnla, at ail times, when God blesses me with temporal prosperity  ç'um m;nus nascm, tur, cure ,ata dilabuntur, says that father, lVhen thy gain ceases for the present, when fi]at that thou hadst formerly got, wastes and perishes, and threatens penury for the thture, still bless thou the Lord, Quia ille dat, ille tollit, sed seipsum à benedicente se tollit; The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, but the Lord never takes away himself from him that delights in blessing his naine. Biess, praise, speak; there is the duty, and we bave donc with that which was out first part: and bless thou God, which is our second part, and a part derived into many branches. Blessed be God, eeen, Here first we see the ohject of out praises, whom we must bless, bênedict,s sit Deus, God. First, solu« Deus, God only, that is, God and hot man, and then Deus solus, the only God, that is God, and not many gods. God only, and hot man; hOt that we may hOt bless, and wish well to one another, for there is a blessing from God, belongs to that, Benedicam benedicentibus tibi, says God to Ahraham , I u'ill bless them tat bless thee: neither is it that we may not bless, that is, give due praise to one another; fi»r as the vices and sins of great persons are hOt smoflwred in the Scriptures, so their vignes, and good deeds are published with praise. Noah's drunkenness, and Lot's incest is hot disguised, Job's righteousness and holy patience is hot concealed neither; Do tkat u'hich is 9ooE1, says the apostle, and thou shalt have praise for tke same", Neither is it that we may hot bless, that is, pray for one another, of what sort soever; for we are commanded to do that, for out superiors; inferiors mav blêss superiors too; nor that we shoul.l hot bless, that is, pray to one another, in petitioning and supplicating out superiors for those things which are committed to their dispensation; for the importunate suitor the widow, is hOt blamed in the Gospcl for her importunity to the judge'; it is true, the judc is blamed, for withholding justice, till iml»ortmfity extorted it. ]ut to bless, by praise, or prayer, the man without relation to God, that is, thc man, and hot God in the man, to determine the lory in the person, without contributing thereby to the lory of God, this is a manner of blessing accursed here, because blessin is radically, fundamentally, originally, here reserved to God, to God only, benedict«s »it Deux, be ble88eà. For, properly, trulv none is to be hus blessed by us, but he upon whom we nlay depend and rely: and ean we depend and rely upon nlall? upon what man?. upou priuces. As far as we can look for examples, round about us, iii out next neighbours, and in:France, and lu Spain, and farther, we have seen in out age kings discarded, and we have seen in some of them, the discarded cards taken in again, and wiu the gaine. Upon what lnan wilt thou rely. upon great persons iu favour with princes. Have we aot seen often, that the bed-chambers of king. bave back doors into prisons, and that the end of that greatness hath been, but to bave a greater jury to condemn thenl? SVilt thou rely upon the prophet, he eall teach thee; or upon thv brother, he does love thee; or upon thy son, he should love thee; or the wife of thv bosom, slle will say she loves thee; or upon thy friend, he is as thine o,Vll soul? vet Moses puts a case when thou must depart fronl ail these, hot consent, no hOt conceal, not pardon, no hot reprieve, Thou shalt surely kill kim, says Moses TM, even this prolohet, this brotker, this o», this ei.?è may inelino thee fo the errlce ofothergods; thou canst hOt rely, and therefore do hot bless, hOt with praise, hot with prayer and dependence upon him, that prophet, by what naine or title soever he be called; that brother, how williugly soever he divide the inheritance with thee; that son, how dutiful soever lu civil things; t Luke xviii. 5.  Deut. xiii.

that wife, hov careful oever of ber own honour, and thy children; that frient|, how free soever of his favours, and of secrets, that inclines thee to other gods, or to other ser'ice of the truc God, theu is truc. (Jreatness is hot the objeet of this blessing, for greatness is often eclipsed by the way, and at last certainly extinguished in death, and swallowed in the grave. Goodness, as it is IllorM, is hot the objeet of this b]essing; but bless (Jod only; God iii t]le foot, in himself, or God exemplifled, and manif'ested in godly men: blcss God in them, in whom he appears, alld in thcm who appear for hhn, a]d 8o thou dost bless wltru Detw, God only. ïhis thou must do, bless God on]', hot man, and then the only God, hot othcr gods. For this was the wretehed and pcmtrious narrowness to whieh the (ntiles wer reduced, that being unable to eonsider God entirely, they broke God iu pieces, and erumbled, and seattered God into as many several gods, as thcre are powers in God, nay a]most into as many several gods, as there are ereatures fronl (Jod; and more than that, as man)" god as thcy eou]d faney or imagine in making ehimeras of their own; for hot on]." that which was hot God, but that whieh was hot at ail, was madc  god. _And theu, as itl narrow ehannels that cannot eontain the water, the water overflows, and yet that water that does so overflow, flics out and spreads to such a sha]lowness, as wil] hot bear a boat to any use; so when by this narrowness in the Gentiles, God had overflown this banl, this limitation of God in ail unity, ail the test was too shalIow to bear any such notion, any sueh consideration of God, as appe]oEained to him: the" could not thinl< him an omnipotent God, when if one god would hot, another would, nor an intïnite God, when they had appea]s from one god to anothcr; anti without omnipotence, and without infiniteness they eould hot truly concei'e a God. They had cantoned  glorious moltarehy into petty states, that colld hot subsist of themselves, nor assist another, and so imagined od for evcry state and every action, that a man must bave applied hhnse]f to one god when he shipped, and when he landed to another, and if he travel]ed farther, change his god by the way, as often as he changed coins, or post-hores. But, tte«" 0

14 PREACHED ON TRIIITY SUNDAY. SER. XXXYIo Israel, te Lord y Gd s one God . As though this were ail that were to be heard all that were to be learned, they are called to ea, and then there is no more said but that, te Lord God is oe God. There are men that will say and swear, they do hot mean to make God the author of sin; but yet when they say, that God madc man therefore, that he migllt havc something to damn, and that he nlade hhn sin therefore, that he might bave something to damn him for, truly they COllle too near making God the author of sin, for ail their modest protestation of abstaining. So there are men that will say and swear, they do hot mean to make saints gods: but yet when tlley will ask the saine things at aaintç hands, which they do at God's, and in the same 1)hraso and manner of expression, when they will pray the Virgin Mary  assist her Son, nay to command her Son, and make hcr a chaneellor to mitigate his common law, truly they eomc t near making lnore gods than one. And so do we toe, when we give particular sins dominion over us; Quoi eitia, rot Deos recent«s, says Hierome: as the apostle says, Co¢etousness is idolatry, aays that father, is voluptuousness, and licelltiousuess, and every habitual sin. bn alienum says God, Tho shalt hare no other God but me, but, Q«is similis, saya God too, lVho is like Ho will have nothing ruade like him, not ruade so like a god as they make tlleir saints, lmr ruade  like a god, as we make our sins. XVo thiuk ont king sovereign enough, and Olm frieud eounseHor enough, and one wit hell)er enough, and he is stangely insatiable, that thinks hot one G, G enough: especially, sineo wheu thou hast ealled tllis God what thon eanst, he is more than thon hast aid of him. Cure d'nitar, ipse sua definitione crescit'; Wheu thon hast defined him to be the God of justice, and trenlblest, he is mo than that, he is the God of merey t, and givea thee eomfort. When thou hast defined him to be ail eye, he secs ail thy sins, he is more than that, he is ail patience, and covers ail thy sins. And tllough he be in llis nature incompreheusible, and inaccessible in his light, yet this is his ildlnite largeness, that being thus infinitely one, he hath manifested himself te us iu three Persoas, te be the more easily discerned by us, ud the more closely and effectually applied te us. New these notions that we have of God, as  Father, as . Son, as . Holy Ghost, as a Spirit working in us, are se mauy handles by which we may take hold of God, and se many breasts, by which we may suck such a knowledge of God, as that by it we may grow up into him. And as we cannot take hold of . torch by the light, but by the staff we may; se though we cannot take tmld of God, as God, who is incomprehcnsible, and inapprehensiblc, yet s a Father, as a Son, as a Spirit, dwelling in us, we cau. There is nothing in nature that can fully represent and bring home the notion of the Trinity te us. Thcre is an elder book in the world than the Scriptures; itis net well said, in the world, for it is the world itselt; the whole book of creatures; and indeed the Scriptures are but a paraphrase, but u comment, but an illustration of that book of creaturcs. And therefore though the Scriptures only deliver us the doctrine of the Trinity, clearly, yet thcre are seine impression«, seine obumbrations of it, in nature too. Tuke but one in ourselvesç in the seul. The understanding of man (that is as the Father) begets discourse, ratiocination, and thut is as the Son; and out of these two proceed conclusions, and that is as the Holy Ghost. Such as thcse there are many, many sprinkled in the school, many scattercd in the futhcrs, but, God knows, poor and faint expressions of the Trinity. But yet, Prwmi»it Des naturan ma.qistram, submi»u»'u» et lrolhetian , Though God meant te give us degrees in the university, tlmt is, inerese of knowledge in his Seriptures after,)'et he gave us a pedagogy, he sent us te sehool in nature before; ut.]àcilius credas prophetioa discipulus natur«v, that eoming out of that sehool, thou mightest profit the better in that university, having well considered nature, thou mightest be established in the Seriptures. Ho is therefore inexcusable, that eonsiders net Goal in the ereature, that coming into a fuir garden, says only, Here is . good gardener, and net, here is a good Goal; and when he secs any great change, says only, This is a strange accident, and net n strange jndgment. Itence it is, that in the books of the Platonie

136 .AC» on m.'lT¢ sv..«'. [sr.m xxxv. l,hilosophers, and in others, much ancienter than they, (if the books of Hermes Trismegistus and others, be as ancient as is pretended in their behalf) wo find as clear expressing of the Trinity, as in the Old Testament, at least; and hence is it, that in the Tahnud of the Jews, and in the Alcoran of the Turks, though they both oppose the Triuity, yet when they handle no that point, therc fall often from them, as clear confsions of the three Persons, as from any of the elder of those philosophers, who were altogher disinterested in that controversy. But because God is seen per creaturas, ut per »eculum, per verbum utTer lucem, in the creature, and in nature, but by reflection, in the SVord, and in the Scriptures, directly, we rest in the knowledge which we bave of the plurality of the Persons, in the Scriptures; and because we are not now in a congregation that doubts it, nor in a place to multiply testimonies, we content oumelves (being already 1)ossessed with the belief thereof) with this illustration from the Old Testament, tha the naine of our one God, is expressed in the plural number, in that place, which we mentioned before, where it is said, The Lord thy God is one God ', that is, Elohim, unus Dii, one Gods. And though as much as that seem to be said by God to Moses, Eris Aaroni i lohim, Thou shalt be as Gods to Aarona; yet that was because Moses was to rcpresent God, all God, all thc Peinons in God, and therefore it might as well be spoken plural]y of Moses, so, as of God. But because it is said, Gods appeared unto Jacoba; and again, Dii,Sçtncti ipse est, tle fs tke Holy Gods; and so also, Ubi Deus]àctores mei? lFkere is God my 3Iakers°? And God says of himself, aciamus hominem, and actus est sicut unus ex nobls, God ffs, Let us make man , and he sauts,)Ian is become as one t«s , we embrace humbly, and thankfully, and profitably, this, shall we ca it giationem ansarum, this making out of handles or protuberationem mammarum, this swelling out of breasts  or erminationem emmarum, this putting fonh of buds, and blossoms, and fruits, by which we lnay apprehend, and see, and taste God himse]f, so as his wisdom hath chosen to communicate himself to us, in the notion and manifestation of divers

Persons.  Of which in this text, we lay hold on him, by the first handle, by the naine of Father. E[essed be God, eren Farder, &c. ow we consider in God, a two-fold paternity, a twfold fatherhood: one, as he is Father to others, another as to us. And the firs is twoetbld too: one essentially, by which he is a Father by creation, and so the naine of Fater belongs to ail the three Persons in the Trinity, for, There is one God, and Fath«r of ail, who is abore all, and throçqh ail, and in you ail , which is spoken of God gathered into his essence, and not difliscd iuto persons. In which sense, the Son of God, Christ Jesus, is called Father, nto us a S'on is ffiven, and his naine shall be the ererlctstin f«ther': aud to this Father, evcn to the Son of God, in this sense, are the faiththl ruade sons, Son, be of ood cheer, thy sins areforiven thee , says Christ fo the paralytic, and Dauhter, thy faith bath nade thee whole ', says to the woman with the bloody issue; thus Christ is a Father; and thus Ter flliationem restlgii, by that impereion of God, which is in the very being of every creature, God, that is, the whole Trinity, is the Father of every creature, as in Job, Q«is pluri«, Pater? ath the tain a Father? or who ath beotten tc drol)S OE dew? and so in the prophct, IIae we hot ail one ftther? bath hot one God created us ? But the second paternity is inorc mystcrious in itself, and more precious to us, as he is a Father, not by creation, but by generatiou, Eren the 1,tther of out Lord Jesus Christ. 'ow, Generatlonem istum çuis enarrabit? Vho shaH declare this generation  Vho shall tell us how it was  Vho was there to sec it  [ Since the first-born of ail creatures, the angels, who are almost six thousand years old, (and much elder in the opinion of many of the tthers, who think the angels to bave been creatcd long before the geueral creation) sincc, I say, these angels arc but in their svathing clouts, but in their cradle, in respect of this cternal generation, who was preseut¢ Qds enarrabit? Vho shall tell us how it was [ Vho shall tell us whell it was, whell it was so long belote any tinle was, as that, when time shall be no more, and that, after ail end of time, we shall have lived infinite  Eph. iv. 6.  Isaiah ix. 6. a» Matt. ix. 2. t« Mark v. 34.  Job xx. 28. v Mal. ii. 10.  Isah ifi. 8.

millions of millions of geerations in heaven, yet this eneration of the Son of od, w as lon before that immoral lire,  that immoality, and everlastiness sha]l be after this life It caunot be expressed, nor conceiçed how lon o lire shaH be after, nor Gow long this eneration was before. This is that Father, that Bath a on, and yet is no elder than that Sox, for he is a Ptr«, but hot ot Pr«m", but so from the Father, as he is hot after te Father: he ath tom pri«iId«m orinale, but hot bitiale , a root from whelce ho sprung, but no spring-time, when he sprung out of that foot. Blessed be God eren te Farder  our Lord Jesus Crist. Vherefore bleed[ Quia potuit? Because he could have a Son[ vw yenerarit potentia, sed at«ra; God d not beget this Son because he had alwys a power to do so; for then, it' this Son ha eçer been but iv »otentia, only in such a condition, as tht he ]night haro been, then this had been an eternal generatiolt, for if tlley were a rime, when only he might hve been, at that time he was hOt. He is not blessed then because he could, is he blessed (that is, to be blessed by us) because he would beget this Son [ A yenera6t &atate, sed nattera: God did not beget this Son, then when he would, that is, had a wiH to do so, for, if his wiH determined it, now I wiH do it, then till that, thel'e had been no Son, and so this generation had not been eterlal neither. But when it was, or how it was, Te ratiocinare, yo »irer, mys St. Augustine, Let others discourse it, let me admire it; T« disp«ta, çqo credam, Let others dispute it, let believe it. Ald when all is done, you bave do, e disputiltg, and I have done wondering, that that briligS it nearer than either, is this, that there is a paternity, not by creation, by which Christ and the Holy (host are Fathers too, nor by generation, by which God is, though inexpreibly, the Father even of our Lord Jesus Cist, but by adoption, as in Christ &sus, he is Father of us ail, notified in the next apl)ellation, Pater mierationum, The atAer  merciea. In thh alone, we diseern the whole Triniy: hero is the ater, and here is mercy, 'hieh merey is in he 8on; and the efle of this merey» is e birit of «dotio, by cicl «Io ce crl,, • o -.  Biel.

A bba, Fer  too. Vhen Christ would pierce into his Father. and melt those bovels of compsion, he enters with that word, Abba, ather, all things are possible to thee; take away tkis cup from me . Vhen Christ apprehended an absenee, a derelietion on God's part, he ends not upon him by this name, not Father, but 2Iy God, mg God, u'hy kast thou forsaken me"'? But when he wotfld ineline him to merey, merey to others, merey to enemies, he eomes in that naine, wherein he eould be denied nothing, Father; Father forgive them, they know hot what do . He is the Lord of kosts; there he seattem us in thunder, transpos us in tempests, enwraps us in confusion, astonishes us vith stupefaetion, and consternation; tke Lord of kosts, but yet the Father of mercies, there he reeeives us into his own bowels, ls out emptine, with the blood of his own Son, and ineorporates us in hitn; tke Lord of kosts, but the Fatker of m«rc. 8ometimes out natural fathers die, before they ean gather any smte to leave us, but he is the immoral Father, and all things that are, as soon as they were, were his. Sometilnes our natural fathers lire to waste, and dissipate that state which was left them, to be lcft us: but this is the Father, out of whose hands, and psession nothing Call be removed, and who gives inestimably, and yet remains inexhaustible. Sometimes out natural fathers lire to need us, and to lire upon us: bnt this is that Father whom we need every minute, and requires nothing of us, but that poor rent of Benedictus sit, Blessed, praised, glorificd be this Father. This Fathcr of mercies, of mercies in the plural; David God, Miserlcordiam suam, His mercy; a at once: God God ofmy mercy': God is all ours, and ail mercy. P«rdon this people, says Mose¢,cundam m«çqnitudinem misericordi«e, Accordiny to the yreatness of thy mercy . Pardon me, says David, Hace mercy uToa me, Acundum m ukitudinem mi«ericordiar«m, A ccordi«y fo the multlt«le of thy mercies: his mercy, in largeness, in number, extends over a; it was his mercy that we were ruade, and it llis mercy that we are not consumed. David calls his mercy, [tiFlicatam, and izcatm, It is anifold, and it is marvellous, miraculous: 'ow ty marrellous rinç kindness; and therefore David in several places, carries it super jticium, above his judgment »uper ca,los, above the heavens, ser omnia opera, above all his works. And for the multitude of his mercies, (for we are now upon fle consideration of the plurality thereof, Pater mierationum, Father of mercles) put together that which David says, 7bi misericordiw tuw antiquw? IVere are tky ancient mercies'° IIis mercy is as ancient, as te ancient who is (;od himself, and that which another prophet says, Omni ¢nane, IIi mercie are new eeer morning, and put between these two, between God's former, aud his fnture mercies, his present mercy, in bringing thee this minute to the consideration of them, and thou hast round multiplicatam, and mir(flcatam, manifold, and But carry thy thoughts upou these three branches of his mercy, and it will be enough. First, that upon Adam's fall, and ail ours in him, he hilnself would think of sueh a way of merey, as from Adaln, to that man vhom Christ shall find alive at the last day, no man would ever have thought of, that is, that to show mercy to his enemies, he would deliver his own, his only, his beloved So, to shame, to torments, to death: that he would plant ffermen Jehorw in sereine ntul&ris, the blossom, the branch of God, in the seed of tho woman: this mercy, in that first promise of that Messiah, was such a merey, as hot only none eould have undeaken, but none could bave imagined but God himself: and in this promise, we were eoneeived in risceribus Putris, iu the bowels of this Father of mercies. In flese bowels, in the womb of this promise we lay four thousand years; the l,lood with which we were fed then, was the blood of the sacrifices, and tle quickeaing which we had there, was an inanimation, by the often refreshing of this pronfise of that Messiah in the lrophets. But in the fnbwss of rime, that infallible promise came to an actual perforlnance, Christ came i» tbefle.h, and so, reuimus ad pro'tutu, in his birth we were born; and that was the second mercy; in the promise, in the performance, he is _Pater miseratlonnm, Fatker « merei«s. And then there is a  Psalm xvfi. 7.,o Ptlm xxxix.

third mercy, as great, that he having sent his Son, and having re-assumcd him into heaven again, he hath sent his Holy Spirit to govern his church, and so becomes a Father to us, in that adoption, in the application of Christ to us, by the Holy Ghost; and this is that which iæ intended in the last v«ord, Deu totius con«olationls, The God of al[ comfort. I may know that there is a 5Iessiah l)romised, and yet ho without comfort, in a fruitless expectation; the Jews are so in their dispersion. XVhen the Jews will still postdate thc comings of Christ, when some of them say, There was no certain time of his coming designed by the prophets; and others, There was a time, but God for their slns prorogucd it; and others again, God kept his word, the lIessiah did corne when it was l»romised he should corne, but for their sins, he conceals himself ri'oto manifestation; when the Jews will postdate his first confing, and the Papists will antedate his second coming, in a comhlg that cannot become him, that he cornes, even to his saints in torment, belote he cornes in gIory, that when he cornes to them at their dis.olution, st their death, he cornes hot to taire them to heaven, but to cast them into one part of hell, that the best comfort which a good man can have st his death, is but puratory,,liserable coiforters are t]ey al[. How fair a beam of the joys of heaven is true comfort in this lire. If I know thc merciei of Goal exhibited to others, and feel them not in myself, I am hot of David's church, not of his choir, I cannot sçq of the mercles o.f God". I nlay see thenl, and I may sigh to see the mercies of God deternfined in others, and hot extended to me; but ] canno, sing of the mcrcies of God, if I find no mercy. But when I corne fo that, C'ousoh«tiones tuœe lo,tifica'eruut, I the multitude of rny touyhts within me, thy conorts deliyht my soul", then the true Comforter is descended upon me, and the Hol!/Ghost hath over-shadou'ed me, and ail that shall be born of me, and proceed from me, shall be holy. JBlessed are they that mourn. *, says Christ: but the blessedness is hot in the mourning, but because they shall be co»ortd. Blessed ara I in aile sense of my sins, and in the sorrow for them, ]ma blessed therefore, because this sorrow leads me fo lny recon-

I PREACIIED ON THINITY 8t'.NDAYo [tEHo XXXVIo ciliation to God. and the consolation of his Spirit. P'herea., if I sinl in this sorrow, in this dejection of piriti thouh it were wine in the }>einnin, il is lees, nnd tnrtar in the end: inordinate sorrow grows iuto slnful melanchly, and that melanch]., into an irrecove»'able deeration. The XVise-men of the East, l»v a less liht, round a yreatcr, by a star. they fo»une! the Son of glory, Christ Jesns: but by darkne.s, nothing: by the beams of comfoioE in thi. lire, we corne to the body of the sun, by the rivers, tÇ the ocean, bv the cheerfulness of heart here, to the briyhtness, to the fulness of joy hereafter. For, beloved, salvation itself being so ofteu presented to us in the names of ylory, and ofjoy, we eannot think that the way to that g}ory is a sordid lire afl'ected here, an obscure, a beg_-,arly, a negligent abaudoniny, of all wavs of l,referment, or riches, or estimation in this world, for the glory of heaven shines down in these beams hither; neither can men thiuk, that the way to the joys of heaven, is a joyless severeness, a rigid austerity; for as God }oves a cheerful giver, so he loves a chee»-ful taker, that takes hold of his mercies and his comforts with a cheerful heart, hot only without grudging, that they are no lnore, })lit without jealousy and suspicion that they are hot so nmch, or hOt enough. But they must be his comforts that we take in, God's comforts. For, to this purpose, the apostle varies the phrase; it was The Father of nerciea; to represent to us gentleuess, kindness, favour, it was enough to bring it in the naine of Father; but this coin-.fort, a power to erect and settle a totterivg, a dejected sou}, an overthrown, a bruised, a broken, a trodden, a -,round, a battered, an evaporated, an annihilated spirit, this is as an act of such might, as requires the assurance, the presence of God. God knows, all men receive not comforts, when other men think they do, nor are all things comforts to them, xvhich we present, and mean should be so. ¥our father may leave you his inheritance, and little knows he the little comfort you bave in this, because it is hot left to yÇu, but to those creditors to whom you bave engaed it. ¥our wife is officious to you in your sickness, and little knows she, that even that ociousness of hers then, and that kindness, agravates that discomfort, which lies upon thy soul, for those injuries which thou hadst forlnerly multiplied

;ER. XXXVI.] PREA('HED ON TR[NITY 8UND.kY. ]-3 against ber, in the bosom of strange womcn. Except the Gd of comoe give it, in that seal, in peace of conscience, Nec n$«s, n subtu, nec circa te occurrit cosolatio, says St. Bernard; n »ubtus, hot from below thee, from the reverence and acclamation of thy inferiors; non circa, not from ubout thee, when all places, all preferments are w]thiu thy reach, so that thou nmyest lay thy hand, and set thy foot where thou wilt; no infus, hot from wthin thee, thongh thou bave an inward tes6mony of a nmral constancy, in al] afflictions that tan fall, yet llOt YOnl below thce, hot ri'oto about t]lee, not ff'oto w]thin thee, but from above must corne thy comfort, or if is mistaken. St. Cllrysostom notes, and Areopata had noted it before hhn, Ex benoEcik acceptls nomlna Deo an[fimus, We give God names accordng to the nature of the benefits which he bath given us: so when God had given David victo T in the wars, by the exercise of his power, then, Ftitudo ea, and.firmamentum., The Lord is my ock, and »y castle": when God discovered the plots and practiees of his enemies to him, then Dominus illuminatio, The Lord is 1 liyht, and my salratloa "». So wllensoever thou take in any eomfo, be sure that thou have it from him that ean give it; for this God is Deus toti co»olationis, The God f all co»fort. Preciosa dh'ina consolatlo, nec omnho tribuitur admittentibus alienam«: The comforts of God are of a preeious nature, and they lose tlleir value, by being nlingled with baser eomfos, as gdd does with alloy. Sometimes we make up a sure of gold, with silver, but does any man bind up farthiug tokens, with a bag of gold? Spiritual eomforts which bave always God's stamp upon them, are his gold, and temporal eomfos, when they have his stamp upon then], are his silver, but comfos of out own eoining, are COUllterfeit, are eopper. Beeause I ara weary of solitariness, I will seek eompauy, and my eompany shall be, to make my body the body of a harlot: because I ara drowsy, I will be kept awake, with the obseenities and seurrilities of a eomedy, or the drums and ejulations of a tragedy: I will smother and suflbeate sorrow, with hill upon hill, course after course at a vo]uptuous feast, and drown sorow in exeess of wine, and eall tllat sickness, health; and all this is no comfort, for God is te God of all co»'ort, and this is hot of God. We cannot say with any colour, as Esau said to Jacob, Itt thou but one blesdn 9, my f«ther'L For he is the God of ail blessings,.'tnd lmth given every one of US many more than one. But yet Christ bath given us an abridgment, Unum est necessarlum "8, There is but one only thing necessary, and David, in Christ, took knowledge of tllat before, when he said, Unum petii, One thbçq hare I deslred of the Lord , what is that one thing. All in one; That I ay dwell in the bouse of the Lord (hot be a stranger from his covenant) all tbe days of zay 1oEë, (hot disseised, hot excommunicate out of that house) To behold the beauty of the Lord, (hot the beauty of the place only) but to inquire in his temple, (by the advancement and advantage of outward things, to find out him) and so I shall have truc comforts, outward, and inward, because in both, I shall find him, who is the God of all comfort. Jacob thought he llad lost Joseph his son, And all his sons, and ail his datghters rose up to conort klm °, Et noluit consolationem, says the text, IIe would hot be comforted, because he thought him dead. R«chel u'«Tt for ber childre and would hot be comforted, because tkey were hot . But what ailest thou. ls there anything of which thon eanst sa)', It is hOt . Perehanee it is, but thou hast it hOt: if tllou hast him, that hath it, thou hast it. Hast thou hot wealth, but poverty rather, hot honour, but contempt rather, hot health, but daily summous of death rather yet. onne omnia loossidet, cui omnia cooloerantur in bonum? Il" thy poverty, thy disgraee, thy siekness bave brought thee the nearer to God, thou hast all those things, whieh thou thinkest thou wantest, beeause thou hast the best use of them. All thin9s are yours, says the apostle»; Why.  by what title. _For you are Chrisfs, and Christ is God's. Carry baek your eomfort to the root, and bring that eomfort to the fruit, and eonfess, that God who is both, is tke God of all co»brt. Follow God in the exeeution of this good purpose upon thee, to thy vocation, and hear him, who hath left east, and west, and north, and south, in  Gen. xvii. 38.  Luke x. 42.  lallu xxvii. 4. -,o Gen. xxxvii. 35.  Matt. il. 18.: Bernard. oz 1 Cor. fii. 23.

sn. xxxvi.] Pn.ACtED O TaL%'Ty SV-DAV. ]45 ther dmness, and dumbness, and deafness, and hath called thee to # DaiciDaton of himse]f n hs c]mrch. Go on wth hm to thyjusfificaton, that when n the congreaton one s]ts at thy rght hand, and beleves ut hstorcally 0t may be as true whch ]s said of Christ, as of Villiam the Conqeror, and as oç Julius Coeur) and another at thy left hand, and believes Christ civilly, (it was a religion well invented, and keeps people well in order) and thou between them believest it to salvation in applying faith; proeeed a step farther, to feel this tire burning out, thy faith deelared in works, thy justification grown into sanctification, and then thou vilt be upon the last stair of all, that great day of thy glorification will break out even in this lire, and either in the possessing of the good things of this world, thou shalt see the glor}h and in possessing the eomforts of this world, see the joy of Heaven, or else, (which is another of his ways) in the want of all these, thou shalt have more comfort than others have, or perehanee, than thou shouldest have in the possessing of them: for he is te God  ail comfort, and of all the ways of coin fort; and therefore, Bles, ed be God, eee te Father,

1 PETER i. 17. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's 'orks, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. You may remember, that I proposed to exercise your devotions and religious meditations in these exercises, with words which might present to you, first the several Persons in the Trinity, and the benefïts which we receive, in receiving God in those distinct notions of Father, Son, and tIoly Ghost; and then with other words whieh might present tlmse sins, and the danger of those VOL. ll. L sins whieh are most partieularly opposed against those several Persons. Of the first, concerning the person of the Father, we spoko ]ast, and of tho other, eoncerning sins agains the Father, theso words will occasion us to speak now. It is well noted upon thoso words of David, re mercy vpon me, 0 God , that tho word is Elohim, which is Gods in the plural, are mert uon me, 0 çods: for David, though he conceived not divers Gods, yet he knew threo divers Perns in that ono G, and he knew that by that sin which he lamented in that Psalm, that peccatum complicatum, that manifold sin, tha sin that enwrapped so many sins, he had oflnded ail those three Persons. For whereas we consider principally in the Father, potestatem, power, and in the Son, sapientiam, wisdom, and in tho Holy Ghost, boMtatem, goodness, David had sinned agains the Father, in his notion, i potestate, in abusing his power, and kingly authority, to a misehievous and bloody end in the murder of Uriah: and he had sinned against the Son, in his notion, in saieztia, in depraving and detorting truo wisdom into craft and treaehery: and he had sinned against the Holy Ghost in his notion, iu boMtate, when he would not be content with the go- ness and piety of Uriah. who refused to ake the eaoes of his own bouse, and the pleasure of his wife's bosom, as long as God himse in his anny lodged lu tents, and stood in the face of the enemy. Sins against the Father then, we consider especially to be such as are in otesmte, either in a neglect of God's power over us, or in an abuse of that power whieh we have from God over others; and of oue branch of that power, partieularly of judgment, is this text prineipally intended, If ye ca o the Father, u'ho without,respect  psonsjudgeth, &c. In the words we shall insist but upou two paoEs, first, a counsel, which in the apostle's mouth is a commandmen¢; and then a reason, au inducement, which in the apostle's mouth is a forcible, an unresistible argument. The counsel, that is, the commandment, ia, If ye call on the Father, fiar k im, stand in fear of him: and the reason, that ia, the argument, is, the naine of Father impliea a great power over you, therefore fear hiln; and amongst other powers, a power of jttd9i.q you, of calling you to an  Pst. i. 1 acconnt, therefore fear him: in which judgment, this Judge accepts no persons, but judges his sons a his servants, and therefore fear him: and then, he judges, sot upon words, outward professions, but upon work, actions, accordiy to ezery and therefore fear him: and then as on his part he shall certainly call you to judgment when you go hence, so on your part, certainly it cannot be long before you go hence, for your time is but a 8ojournin 9 here, it is not a dwelling, and yet it is a sojourning here, it is hot a postlng, a gliding through the world, but such a stay, as upon it out everlasting dwelling depends; and thereforo that we may make up this circle, and end as wo begun, with tho fear of God, pass that rime, that is, ail that rime, infear; in fear of neglecting and undervaluing, or of over-tempting that great power which is in the Father, and in fear of abusing those limbs, and branches, and beams of that power which he bath ¢ommunicated to thee, in giving thee power and authority any way over others; for these, to neglect the power of the Father, or fo abuse that power which the Father bath given theo over others, aro sins against the Father, who is power. If*je call on the Father, &c. First then, for the firat part, the eounsel, A'i in,otarie, I.fye call on the Father, in timore, do it in fear, the eounsel hath no voluntary condition, and arbitrary in ourselves annexed to it; if you sali, then fear, does sot import, if you do sot eall, you need no fear; it does sot import, that if you profess a partieular form of religion, you are bound to obey that ehureh, but if you do not, but bave faneied. religion to yourself without preeedent, or a way o salvation without any parfieular religion, or a way out of the world xvithout any salvation or damnation, but eandle, if you ean think thus you need sot fear, this is sot th meaning of this OE in this place, If you call on the _Father, &c. But this /.f implies a wonder, an impossibility, that any man should deny God to be the Father: if the author, the inventor of anything useful for this lire be called the father of that invention, by the Holy Ghost himself, Jubal wa8 the father of such a dwell in tents, and Tubal kis brother the father of usic , and so Horace cal]s Elmius the.[àtker of ose kind of poem: how abso-  Gen. iv. 20.

Jt8 PREACIIED ON TRINITY SJNDAYo [SEHo XXXVIIo lutely is God vur Father, who (my I say ) invcnted us, ade us, round us out in the depth, and darkness of nothing st all He is Pater, and Pater luminum, Father, and Fatker of liyhts , o all kinds oî lights. Lttx lttcca, as St. Austine expresses it, The light from which all the lights which we bave, whether of nature, or grace, or glory, hve their emanation. Take these Liyhts of which Goal is said to be the Fak, to be the angels, (so some of the fathers tke it, and so St. Paul calls flem anyels light'; and so Nazianzen clls them,çecundos splenres primi »plendi« administros, Second lights that serve the firs light) or take these lights of which God is said to be the Father to be the ministe of the Gospel, the angels of the church, (so some fathers gake them too, and so Christ savs to them, in the apostles, are the Içqht  the corM,) or take these liyts to be those îithful servants of God, who have received an illustration in themselves, and a cogestion towards others, who by hving lived in the presence of God, in the household of his fithful, in the tme chuoeh, are become, as John Baptist was, bt«rniny and shininy lamps, (as St. Paul says of the faithful, You shine as liykts in tMs «orld', and as Moses had contracted a glorious shining in his face, by his conversation with God) or take this liyt to be  fainter light thon that, (and yet that which St. James doth most literally intend in that place) the light of natural understanding, that which Pliny calls,çerenitatem animi, Vhen the mind of man, disencumbered of all eclipses, and all clouds of passion, or inordinato lovo of earth]y things, is enlightened so far, as to discern Goal in nature; or take this liykt to be but the light of  shadow, (for Umbrw non sunt tenebrw, s densior lux, Shadows are hOt drknesses, shadows are but a grosser kind of light) take it to be that shadow, that design, that delineation, that obumbrtion of God, which the creatures of God exhibit to us, that which Pliny calls Coeli loetitiam, When the heavens, and all tt they embrace, in an openness and cheerfulness of countenance, manifest God unto ; tke these liyts of which St. James speaks, in any apprehension, any way, angels of heaven who are ministefing spirits, angels of the church, who aro spiritual ministers, take it  Jami. 17. "2 Cor. xi. 14.  Iatt. v. 14.

SER. XXXVI1.] PREACHED ON TRINITY SUNDAYo for the light of faith from heariug, the light of reso from discoursing, or the light flowiug from the creature to us, by contemplation, and observation of nature, every way, by evcry ]iht we see, that he is Pater luminum, Te Fter  iyts; all these ]ights are from hinh and by ail these lihts we see that he is 3 Fther, and out Father. So lhat as the apostle uses this phrase in another place,,'i opertum Erangelium, ff tke Gospel be kid , with wonder aud admiration, is h poible, ean if b tha tlfis Gospel should b« hid  So it is here,,çi invocatis, If ye call God atker, that as it is certain you do,  it is imssible but you should, beeause you eannot aribe to any but him, your being, your preservation in that being, your exaltation in that being to a well-being, in the psession of all temporal, and spiritual eonvenienees, and then there is thus mueh more çoree in this partiele si,  whieh is (as you bave seen) si concessionis, non dubitationis, an OE" that implies a confeion and aeknowlednent, hot a hesitation or a doubt, that it is also si pro9res»ionis, si co»dusioni», an OE'that earries you çarther, and that eoneludes you at last, " you do it, that is, since you do it, since yot do call God Father, sinee you bave pasd that t of reeognition, sinee not only by having been produeed by nature, but by having been regenerated by the Gospel, you eonfess Goal to be)vur Father, and your Father in his Son, in Christ Jesus: sinee you make that profession, Of kis orn u'ill beyat ke us, with tke word OE trutk , if you eall him Father, sinee you eall him Father, thus, go on farther, Timete, Fear him; Ifye cag him Fatker,ar him, &e. Now, for this fiat OE God, whieh is the beyinning OE wisdom, and the end of wisdom too, we are a little too wise, t let, toe subtle, sometimes iu distinguishing too narrowly between a filial fcar, and  servile fear, as though this filial fe3r were nothing but a reverend love of God, as he is good, and not a doubt and su pieion of ineurring those evils, that are punishments, or th3t produee punishments. The fear OE the Lord is to kate eril', it is a holy detestafion of that evil whieh is Malum cuIpw, The evil of sin, and it is  holy trembling under a tender apprehension of that other evil, which we call M«lum pwnw, The evil of punishment for sin. God presents to us the joys of heaven often to draw us, and as otten the torments of hell to avert us. Origen says aright, As Abraham had two sons, one of a bondwoman, another of a free, but yet both sons of Abm'aham; so God is served by two fears, and the later fear, the fear of future torment, is hot the perïect ïear, but yet even that fear is the servant, and instrument of God too. Quis tare insensatus °, ,Vho can ,o abolutely divest ail sense, Qui wn fluctuante ciritate, imminente naufragio, But that when the whole city is in a combustion and commotion, or when the ship that he is in, strikes desperately and irreeoverably upon  rock, he is othervise affected tovard God then, than when every day, in a quietness and calm of holy affections, he hears a sermon . Gehennw timor (says the sanie father) re9ni nos aért coronam, Even the fear of hell gets us heaven. Upon Abraham there fell A horror of 9reat darkness , and Moses hid kis face, for he was eoEraid to look upon God '. And that way, towards that dejected look, does God bend his countenance; Upon tkis man will I look, eren to him that is poor, and of a contrite siirit, and trembletk at my u'ord . As there aro both impressions in security, vicious and virtuous, good and bad, so there are both in ïear also. ThÇre is a wicked secufity in the wicked, by which they make shift to put off all providence in God, and to thiuk God like themselves, indifferent what becomes of this world; there is an iii security in the godly, vhen for the time, in their prosperity, they grow ill husbands of God's graces, and negligent of his mercies; I ny I, rosperity (says David himself, of himselt) I said, I shall «ot be mo'ed '. And there is a security of the faithful, a constant persuasion, grounded upon those marks, which God, in his vord, bath set upon that state, That neither heiyht, nor dqoth, nor any creatnre shall separate us from God: but yet this seeurity is never diseharged of that fear, whieh he that said that, had in himself', I keep uder m v bodg, le, t when I hae preached to other,, I mg, elf,kould be a ca,tacay'; and which he persuades others, how safe soever they o Chrysostom.  Gen. xv. 12.  Exod. iii. 6. s Isaiah xvi. 12.  Psal. xxx. 6.  1 Cor. ix. 27.

were, llTork out your salration with fear and trem31ing te, and, Let /lira tlat tldMcetl tle standeth, talle leed lest As then there is a vicious, an evil security; and that holy security which is good, is not without fear: so there is no fear of God, though it bave some servility, (so far, as servility imports but a fear of punishment) but it is good. For, Timor est amor incloativus 'B, The love of God begins in fear, and then Amor timor consummatus, The fear of God ends in love; whieh David intends when he says, Rejoice with tremblin 9'°; conceive no such fear as excludes spiritual joy, conceive no such assurance, as excludes an humble and reverential fear. There is a fear of God too narrow, when we think every natural cross, evel'y xvorldly accident to be a judglnent of God, and a testimony of his indignation, which the poet (not altogether in an ill sense) calls a disesse of the soul, Q«o morbo metem concusse? timore Deort«m; he imagines a man may be sick of the fear of God, that is, hot distinguish between natural accidents, and immediate judgments of God; between ordinary declarations of his power, and extraordinary declarations of his anger. There is also a fear of God too large, too far extended, when for a false fear of offending God, date not off'end those men, who pretend to corne in his naine, and so captivate my conscience to the traditions and inventions of men, as to the word, and law of God. And there is a fear of God conceived, which nec'er quickens, but putrefies in the womb before inanimation; the fear and trembling of the devil, and men whom he possesses, desperate of the mercies of God. But there is a fear acceptable to God, and yet bath in if, a trembling, a horror, a consternation, ail astonishment, an apprehension of God's dereliction for a rime. The law was given in thundering, and lightening, aud the people were afaid °. How proceeds Moses with them. Fear hot, says lac, for God is corne to proee you, that his fear mi.qht be belote your j'àces. Here is a fear hot, that is, fear not with despair, nor with diffidence, but yet therefore, that you may fear the law; for, in this place, the very law itself (which is given to direct them)is calledfear; as in another place, God himself is ealled fear, (as he is in other places called e Phil il. 12.  1 Cor. x. 12. m Augustine. ] Psal. il. I 1. ° Exod. xx. 20.

lofe too) J«rob swore 1 the fear of his fatker Isaac'; that is, by him whom his father Isaae feared, as the Chaldee paraphraso rightly expresses if. Briefly, this is fle differenee between fearfulness, and fear, (for o we a fain to eall tlmiditatem and timorem) timidity, femçulness, is a fear, where no cause of fear is; and there is no cause of fear, where man and man only threatens on one side, and God commauds on the other: Fear hot, thou worm  Jacob, I will elp thee, saitl, the Lord thy Redeemer, the IIoly One  Israel . Moses's parents had overcome this feaffulness: They hid him, says the text , Et »on metnerunt edictum rais, ThoE feared hot the p»ochtmat&n  the kin, because it was directly, and evidently, and undisputal,ly against the manifest will of God. Queen Esther had overcome this feaulness; she had fted, and prayed, and used ail prescribed and all possible means, and then she entered the king's chamber, against the proclamation, with that necessa T resolution, Si peream, peream, If I perish, I perish'; not upou  disobedient, not upon a desperate undertaking, but in a rectified conscience, and well established opinion, that either that law was hOt intended to forbid her, who was his wife, or that the king was not rightly informed, in that bloody eommand, which he had given for the execution of »il her countr)maen. And for those who do not overcome this fearfulness, that is, that fear where no cause of fear is, (and there is no cause of fear, where God's cause is by godly ways promoved, though we do not always discern the ways, by whieh this is donc) for thoso men that frame ima.Tinary fears to themselves, to the withdrawing or discouraging of others in the service of God, we seo where such men are ranked bv the Holy Ghoet, when St. John says s, The nnbelieebça, the murderer, the whoremon9er, the »orcerer, the idolater, shall bave their port&n in the lake brimstone, which la t second death: we sec who leads them all into this irrecoverable precipitation, the fearful, that is, he that believes not God in his promises, that distrusts God in his own eae, as soon as he seems to open us to any danger; or distrusts God's instruments, as soon as they  anothcr way. than he would have them go. To end t Gon. xxxi. .  Isaiah xi. 14.  eb. .  Esther iv. 16.  Rev. . .