SERMON XIII.a ON THE GUNPOWDER-TREASON. SERM. Ver. 5. PSALM LXIV. 9, 10. And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory. IF F we should search about for a case parallel to that which we do now commemorate, we should, perhaps, hardly find one more patly such, than is that, which is implied in this Psalm: and if we would know the duties incumbent on us in reference to such an occasion, we could scarce better learn them otherwhere than in our text. With attention perusing the Psalm, we may therein observe, that its great author was apprehensive of a desperate plot by a confederacy of wicked and spiteful enemies, with great craft and secrecy, contrived against his safety. They, saith he, encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? That for preventing the blow threatened by this design, (whereof he had some glimpse, or some presumption, grounded upon the knowledge of their implacable and active malice,) a Nov. 5, 1673. XIII. Ver. 2. he doth implore divine protection: Hide me, saith SERM. he, from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. That he did confide in God's mercy and justice for the seasonable defeating, for the fit avenging their machination: God, saith he, shall shoot at them with an Ver. 7. arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. That they should themselves become the detectors of their crime, and the instruments of the exemplary punishment due thereto: They, addeth he, shall make Ver. 8. their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away. Such was the case; the which, unto what passage in the history it doth relate, or whether it belongeth to any we have recorded, it may not be easy to determine. Expositors commonly do refer it to the designs of Saul upon David's life. But this seeming purely conjecture, not founded upon any express words, or pregnant intimations in the text, I shall leave that inquiry in its own uncertainty. It sufficeth to make good its pertinency, that there was such a mischievous conspiracy, deeply projected, against David; (a very great personage, in whose safety the public state of God's people was principally concerned; he being then king of Israel, at least in designation, and therefore in the precedent Psalm, endited in Saul's time, Ps. Ixiii. is so styled;) from the peril whereof he, by the special providence of God, was rescued, with the notable disappointment and grievous confusion of those who managed it. The which case (at least in kind, if not in degree) beareth a plain resemblance to that which lieth before us. And the duties, which upon that occasion are II. XIII. SERM. signified to concern people then, do no less now sort to us; the which, as they lie couched in our text, are these: I Wisely to consider God's doing; 2 To fear; 3 To declare God's work; 4 To be glad in the Lord; 5 To trust in God; 6 To glory. Of which the first three are represented as more generally concerning men; the others as appertaining more peculiarly to righteous and upright persons. These duties it shall be my endeavour somewhat to explain and press, in a manner applicable to the present case. I call them duties; and to warrant the doing so, it is requisite to consider, that all these particulars may be understood in a double manner; either as declarative of event, or as directive of practice upon such emergencies. When God doth so interpose his hand, as signally to check and confound mischievous enterprises, it will be apt to stir up in the minds of men an apprehension of God's special providence, to strike into their hearts a dread of his power and justice, to wring from their mouths suitable declarations and acknowledgments; and particularly then good men will be affected with pious joy; they will be encouraged to confide in God, they will be moved to glory, or to express a triumphant satisfaction in God's proceedings. These events naturally do result from such providential occurrences; for production of these events such occurrences are purposely designed; and accordingly (where men are not by profane opinions or affections much indisposed) they do commonly follow. But yet they are not proposed simply as events, but also as matters of duty: for men are obliged XIII. readily to admit such impressions upon their minds, SERM. hearts, and lives, from the special works of Providence; they are bound not to cross those natural tendencies, not to frustrate those wise intents of God, aiming at the production of such good dispositions and good practices: whence if those effects do not arise, as often notoriously they do not in some persons, men thereby do incur much guilt and blame. 13; xiii. xix. 20. It is indeed ordinary to represent matter of duty in this way, expressing those practices consequent in effect, which in obligation should follow, according to God's purpose, and the nature of causes ordered by him. As when, for instance, God in the law had prescribed duty, and threatened sore punishment on the disobedient, it is subjoined, And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no Deut. xvii. more presumptuously: the meaning is, that such II; exemplary punishment is in its nature apt, and its design tendeth to produce such effects, although not ever, questionless, with due success, so as to prevent all transgression of those laws. So also, When, saith the Prophet, thy judgments are in the Isai. xxvi. land, the inhabitants of the world will learn rightcousness: the sense is, that divine judgments in themselves are instructive of duty, it is their drift to inform men therein, and men ought to learn that lesson from them; although in effect divers there be, whom no judgments can make wiser or better; such as those of whom in the same Prophet it is said, The people turneth not unto him Isai. ix. 13. that smiteth them; and in another, In vain have Jer. ii. 30; I smitten your children, they received no correc- Neh.ix.29. tion. As therefore frequently otherwhere, so also 9. v. 3. SERM. here, this kind of expression may be taken chiefly XIII. to import duty. To begin then with the first of these duties. I We are upon such occasions obliged Wisely to consider, (or, as the Greek rendereth it, Zuviéval, To understand, or To perceive, as our old translation hath it) God's doing. This I put in the first place, as previous in nature, and influential upon the rest: whence (although in the Hebrew it be knit to the rest, as they all are to one another, by the conjunctive particle ve, and, yet) we do translate it casually, For they shall wisely consider, for they shall perceive; because indeed without duly considering and rightly understanding such occurrences to proceed from God, none of the other acts can or will be performed: attentive consideration is needful to beget knowledge and persuasion; these to breed affection and practice. There are many who, in such cases, are nowise apprehensive of God's special providence, or affected with it; because they do not consider, or do not consider wisely and intelligently. Some are very inobservant and careless in regard to things of this nature; so drowsy and oscitant, as not to attend to whatever passeth, or to mind what God acteth in the world: such as those Isai. v. 12. of whom the Prophet saith, The harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands: that is, their minds are so amused by wanton divertisements, their hearts are so immersed in sensual enjoyments, as nowise Ps. xxviii. 5; X. 4. |