Vol. I.

.

Had there been any thing more dazling upon Earth than Royalty, the Spirit of God would have described the Felicity of Heaven by it; but fince, there is not, he is content to call the Reward of Righteousness a Crown; the State of the Glorified a Kingdom, and themselves Kings and Priests to God for ever: But let not this Metaphor ferve to debase our Notion of that State. This is no King dom of fecret Fears and fplendid Trou bles, of wakeful Cares, and glittering Dangers: No, 'tis a Kingdom of Philofophy and Love, of Knowledge and Righteousness, of Beauty and Perfection, of Joy and Triumph, of Tranquility and Reft; not bred like that of the Am bitious, fometimes either by Satiety, Difappointments, or an Increase of Years, but refulting purely from Security and Extafie. In one word, as God is his own Heaven, fo next to that, which results from the Injoyment of him, every one of the Bleffed will be a Kingdom to himself, being an Image of God drawn in little. And yet after all this, how little is it of Heaven that we yet know; It's Joys, for ought I know are as boundless as the Perfections of God from whence they flow. Ages may run by, while we each day furvey new Scenes

Scenes of Wonders, and tafte each day Serm. 5.
new Worlds of Pleasures. Ah! I can
not wonder that fuch as were poffeffed
with the Belief and Expectation of this
State, were willing to quit Mefopotamia
or an Egypt for an Heaven, Nets and
Fisher-Boats for Crowns and Kingdoms,
Trifles for Treasure, Moments for an
Eternity. Ah! did not Luft fully the
Idea of Heaven; did not fome degree of
Infidelity undermine our Belief of it,
what Dangers, what Difficulties fhould
we not defie in order to fecure it? Did
doing Good expofe us to as many Re-
proaches from without, as doing Evil
doth from within? were the state of the
Righteous as uneafie as that of the Wick-
ed, who are as the troubled Sea when it
cannot reft; yet what would not a Man
do, what would he not fuffer, were his
Soul fired with the Belief and Hopes of
fuch a Heaven? How much more fearless
and active would Zeal be than Ambiti-
on? how much more wakeful and inde-
fatigable Charity than Luft or Covetous-
nefs, Revenge or Envy, (Ah! with
what Tranfport would Man pour out his
Time, his Treasure, his Strength on this
one defign of Doing Good) had he but a
Heaven always in his Eye?

Let us then, that we may neither
fhrink,

Vol. I. fhrink, nor tire through any Difficulties or Hazards which may attend us in this Race of doing Good, look up daily unto Jefus, till our Faith be turned into Vifion; and make Heaven our Meditation, till God make it our Reward: To whom be Glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The

The Righteous Man's Support.

PSALM cxii. 7.

He fhall not be afraid of evil tidings, his
Heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

T

His Pfalm prefents us with the Character and Bleffings of a Righteous Man: His Bleffings, according to the ftile of the Old Teftament, which we must exalt by the Spirit of the New, are Riches, Victory, long Life, a flourishing Pofterity, an honourable and lafting Memory. His Character is made up of a Constellation of Vertues: First, the Fear of God, as the Fountain and Principle of all the rest then a delight in his Commandments, Difcretion, Juftice, Mercy, Beneficence, Bounty; and lastly, Faith, or Confidence in God, which unites his Character and his Blessings together: For as it is defcrib'd in my Text, I can hardly tell whether it partakes more of the one or the other; whether I ought to call it the Vertue or N

the

Vol. I. the Happiness of the Righteous Man He shall not be afraid, &c. In handling thefe words, I'll obferve this Method.

1. I'll make fome Reflection upon the commonnefs and unavoidableness of Evil, which is fuppofed in my Text; the Righteous Man not being exempt from evil Tidings.

2. I'll fhow you, that the Favour and Patronage of God is the only Support and Comfort of Man against Evil. This is that which fortifies the Righteous Man in my Text against Evil Tidings; Heart is fixed, trufting in the Lord.

His

3. I'll conclude with an Exhortation to Righteousness, as that alone which can entitle us to the Favour of God,and warrant our Confidence in him.

1. Of the commonness and unavoidableness of Evil. Were there no Sin to merit Evil, no God, or none concern'd to inflict it, yet confidering the State and Nature of this World, a wife Man could not promise himfelf much from it. All things without us, are mixt, empty, uncertain, tranfitory, and we our felves confift of Mortal Bodies, and Mutable Minds, Diseases infect the one, and Palfions the other, fo that Error and Ignorance, Baffles and Difappointments, Loffes, Changes, Sickness, Death, reign

;