few Moments hears no Voice, but that of an Angry God and howling Devils? But he that rejoyceth in the Lord, in the way that David did, leaves a Throne to an Advantage: He dies to be ftill greater., Tho' it is like to be no better with Him than Other Believers, yer his Remove is into a brighter Mansion, and into Rev. i. 6. purer Company, where they are all Kings and Priests unto God and our Father.

2. I own that David in his Joy came down into a lower Occafion. He did it not only as a Saint, but as a King. He rejoyced in the Lord, as the Author of his Advancement; thus he faith in another Pfalm, Pfal. xxi.The King fhall Joy in thy Strength, O Lord, and in thy Sal vation how greatly fhall be rejoyce? For thou hast made ver. 6,7. him most blessed for ever. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance, for the King trufteth in the

I.

71,72.

6.

Lord, and thro' the mercy of the most high he fhall_ne ver be moved. He had the firft Promife from God, Pf.lxxviii, who took him from following the Sheep great with young that he might feed Ifrael his. People. There was a Divine Circle around him in all his Dangers, between pouring the Oyl on his Head and putting the Sceptre into his Hand. His Wandrings were numbred and guarded from Above. He had great ExamPfal. xlii. ples of a Providence within that time, and could remember God from the Land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites, and from the Hill Mifar. The narrow Scapes he had from his Enemy are what he puts into the Songs of Praise, and after the tiresome Years Pfal.xviii, that he spent this way, the Lord bowed the Heavens and came down. He fent from above and took him. Thou haft 6. given me the Shield of thy Salvation, thy Right Hand hath holden me up, thy Gentleness hath made me great; the Lord liveth, and bleffed be my Rock and let the God of V. 46, 47. my Salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me Ver. 50. and fubducth the People under me: Great Deliverance giveth he to his King, and showeth Mercy to his Anointed, to David, and to his Seed for evermore.

1.

Ver. 9. 6. given

'TIS true, in that Pfalm he speaks of God's fending out his arrows to fcatter them, and his lighti

Viscom

fit them, but you are not to understand it as if the Revolution was produced only in a Miraculous Way: as if there was no Confent of the Tribes, and no Refiftance to the Enemy: fo far from that, that his Ar

my had a daily Increase till it became like the Host of 1 Chr. xii. God but however he owns that it was a Divine 22.

:

Bleffing that gave the People, firft an Inclination to chufe him, and fecondly, a Courage to defend him. They wished for a fair Opportunity in Saul's time to change their King, and fome Designs were laid to bring it about then, as Abner reminds them. He had 2 Sam.iii. communication with the Elders of Ifrael, faying, Ye fought 17. for David in time past to be King over you, now, then do it. But as it is the hand of the Lord that turns the hearts of Men like the Rivers of Water. fo the King rejoyceth in Him as the Author of this Mercy.

3. THIS Joy in the Lord must comprehend in it both a Knowledge and Approbation of thofe Directions that God had given him to Govern by. He that 2 Sam. Ruleth over Men must be Just, ruling in the Fear of the xxiii. 2, 3. Lord. Greatnefs is nothing elfe but a Capacity of doing Good, and therefore when this does not meet with a 'right Inclination; it makes a Man more like the Devil;who is the God of this World, not to fave it, or to do any Divine Offices of Love and Bounty, but to fill it with Sin and Mifery. And fo he is the Prince of the Power of the Air; not to clear the Sky, or fan the Earth, but for a profufion of Thunder and Vengeance. His Empire is for nothing else but Ruin to those that are under it. And can a Greatness like his produce any Joy in the Lord? No, It is with a hatred of him, and an Enmity to the Juftice and Goodnefs of his Nature that thefe People live. Can a Man delight in Blood, drive his Subjects into Corners, break them upon the Wheel, let them groan in Gallics, and rot in Dungeons, and yet rejoyce in the Lord?

INDEED how far the Confcience of a Perfecutor may be at the command of his Luft, I cannot tell : efpecially fince I have read of one King in Spain who in his laft Will recommends himself to the Virgin

C

Mary

Mary from his Zeal to promote the Inquifition. But certainly the Holy Spirit never meant that she should be the Patronefs of Cruelty, when we read that all Generations fhall call be Bleffed: No,Such aDoctrine as that 1 Joh. iii. had better be traced from the Parent of Cain,who was of that Evil one and flew his Brother, than the Mother of Jefus who came not to deftroy Mens lives but to fave them.

12.

4. THIS Rejoycing in the Lord takes into it a Regard to the Divine Glory as the End of all his Government. 'Tis the way to debase our Thoughts both of God himfelf and the King, that he fets up, if we fuppofe that he does it only to diftinguish one Man from another. Does he take Delight in the Vanities of a Court? Is it fo Worthy of him to make one Perfon Great, and a whole Community Miferable? Hath he Eyes of flesh, or feeth be as Man feeth? When He pulls down One and fets up Another, is that all that He means by it, that Providence fhall pay its Compliment to this as a King, and pour Thunder upon a whole Nation that are to be his Subjects? No, that be far from him. He loved David and gave. 2 Sam. v. him a Throne, but the Reafon, why he Established it, was for his People Ifrael's fake. 'Tis but a very little Jobxxxiv. thing with Him who accepts not the Perfons af Princes, how Great they are, but how Good they will be, and therefore he that rejoyeeth in the Lord muft have an honeft View to the Divine Glory.

12.

19.

AND how can this be, when the Worship of God is polluted, and his People opprefs'd? He fuppofeth fuch Ufage of them to be a Slur upon himself. Ma. lii. 5. They that take them Captive make them howl, and my name continually every Day is blafphemed. 'Tis but a wretched Ufe of Government, if a Man can only fay that he hath made grear Additions to it, and perhaps done it by Fraud, Cruelty, and Force. Is this acting to the Glory of God? Nay, is it not rather an Avowance of Atheism, that such a one lives as without a God in the World? And what Joy can those Monarchs have in the Lord, who will foon fetch them to his Bar, that have advanced themfelves with a Ruin to his In

tercft,

tereft, and have made Tenderness for his Worship High-Treafon against their Crowns? 'Tis eafy turning the Argument as a wicked Heart would have it, when they have Divinity and Law of their own chufing; but fhall thefe Authorities be of any Weight with him, Who fruftrateth the Tokens of Lyars and makes Ifa. xliv. Diviners mad; who turneth wife Men backwards, and 25. maketh their Counfel foolish? Whatever Maxims they are Guided by I know not, but I will refer you to one that they must be Judged by. To crush under his Feet Lam. iii. all the Prifoners of the Earth, to turn afide the Right of a 34, 35,36. Man before the Face of the most High, to fubvert a Man in his Caufe, the Lord approveth not. He that indeed rejoyceth in the Lord, puts his whole Affairs into better Measures, as you will fee from the other Parts of my Text, to which I proceed.

II. YOU find there is not only a true Happiness for the Prince, but Security and Honour to the beft of his Subjects; Every one that Swears by him, that is, by the fame God in whom the King rejoyces, (every fuch Perfon) fhall glory. I fhall here confider,

1. THE Defcription we have of this People; They fwear by the Lord.

2. THE Benefit defign'd for 'em ; They fhall glory. And,

3. THE Extent of this Favour: It reaches as far as the Character, to the whole Body of thote that Swear by the Lord, Every one of them shall glory.

1. THE People who may have Hopes of this Bleffing, are defcrib'd by one folemn Part of their Religion, That they Swear by the Lord. Surely none can be fo grofs as to think thefe Words are capable of an Application either to falfe or profane Swearing. They that make ule of this dreadful Name in Oppofition to Truth, have no fhare in this Glory, bur muft look for their Dad in the latter Part of my Text, the C 2 Mout

Mouth of them that fpeak Lyes fhall be stopped. Nor can that Perfon think himself within the Defign of this Promife, who takes the Name of the Lord his God in vain. That Sort of Swearing is upon fome Accounts viler than downright Atheism; for I could rather deny a God than ridicule Him. If there is such a Being, if He is my Creator and my Judge, He will never be my Jeft. He has not given me His awful Name to lard a common Sentence, or heighten it with a little more Sound.. This is a Practice fo vile and daring, that whilft it continues a National Sin, it both finks the Glory of a People, and puts an ill Prefage upon the Face of Publick Mercies.

IS it likely that thofe Perfons fhould be either the Patrons or the Profeffors of Liberty, who fuffer their Tongues, upon all Occafions, to be tip'd with Hell and Blafphemy? They may glory indeed, but it is in their Shame. God fometimes ufes them to Serve an Intereft which they can never Honour; but it leaves a worfe Countenance upon our National Bleffings; it does not make 'em look fo well and lively as we would have 'em, when they are in the Hands of thofe, who live with an open Contempt of the God that gives 'em. So that this cannot be the Meaning of the Words. But I take their Swearing by the Lord to fignify three Things. It may be underfood of,

1. THEIR Allegiance.

2. THEIR Religion. Or,

3. THEIR Troubles.

1. PERHAPS their Swearing by the Lord. may include that Allegiance they paid to the King. The Affurance they gave him of Homage and Duty, was laid upon a Divine Ground. They did it in a Sacred Name;

1. WITH an Appeal to God as he Witnefs of their Integrity,

ITH