gracious providence; his very afflictions meet in the

same point with his together for his good. the whole universe you can find a place of rest, a steady happiness in any thing, but in the love of God, and you will return with Solomon's account, "All here below is vanity and vexation of spirit." For this world is founded upon the seas and established on the floods', the very foundation of it is laid in mutability. But he that loves God, and trusts in his beloved, is like mount Sion that cannot be removed, but stands fast for ever2; he is built on the rock of ages, he stands firm on a height, that has no precipice, and is above all assaults, and is in eternal security. For what, or who, shall separate a resolute lover from the love of Christ; shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, &c.

prosperity, and both work Search now, and see, if over

But alas, when we frail creatures have done all we can, it is impossible for us to love God so as he is worthy to be beloved, so as to satisfy ourselves we love him enough. No holy person can love God to that degree, but he passionately desires to love him much more; and through the unavoidable weakness of lapsed nature, the best of men do often fail in their duty, and are reduced to bare desires only. Love no sooner begins to offer up a sacrifice to our beloved, but the fire is apt to go out; and nothing many times, but the dying embers of languid desires remain on the altar. And this is suitable to the name the angel gives to Daniel, when he styles him a man of desires: it is the proper description of a good man here on earth, that he is a man of desires. For

1 Psal. xxiv. 2.

"Isa. xxvi. 4.

this world is the region of want, and consequently of desires and happy is the man, who being first greatly beloved by God, to his power, loves God again; and out of that motive of divine love, earnestly desires, like Daniel, to oblige, and help, and relieve, and serve, and pray for all mankind, as bearing the image of his beloved; but above all, to have a reverential and zealous love for his prince, who more immediately represents, and resembles, God his beloved.

O may every soul here present, live and die this happy lover, thus greatly beloved by men, if it be the divine will; but above all, thus greatly beloved by God; "to whom with the Son, and Holy Spirit, be Glory," &c.

Α

SERMON

PREACHED UPON

PASSION SUNDAY.

Micah vii. 8, 9.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

EVERY one that hears this passage of scripture, will soon perceive what the prophet intends, namely, a

1 Evelyn gives the following account of the delivery of this sermon, vol. i. page 647. "1st. April in the morning, the first sermon was preached by Dr. Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul's, (at Whitehall) on Luke x. 41, 42. The holy communion followed, but was so interrupted by the rude breaking in of multitudes, zealous to hear the second sermon, to be preached by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, that the latter part of that holy office could hardly be heard, or the sacred elements, be distributed without great trouble.

"The Princess being come, he preached on Micah vii. 8, 9, 10. describing the calamity of the reformed Church of Judah, under the Babylonian persecution, for her sins, and God's delivery of her, on her repentance; that as Judah emerged, so should the new reformed Church, wherever insulted and persecuted. He preached with his accustomed action, zeal, and energy, so that people flocked from all quarters to hear him."

representation of the church of Judah under the Babylonish captivity. I say of Judah; for though the prophet prophesied of Samaria as well as of Jerusalem', yet from the 9th verse of the 3d chapter, to the end of the prophecy, he undoubtedly speaks of the latter, as appears from the series of the prophecy itself, which we have no reason to disjoint, and from the several predictions here scattered of deliverance and restoration, which were never literally fulfilled in the ten tribes, who were never restored, but only in Judah, to whom God had promised a restoration.

It was then the church of Judah, of whom, and to whom, the prophet spake; and more than that, it was to the reformed church of Judah. For though Micah prophesied in the days of Jotham and Ahaz, as well as of Hezekiah, yet this latter part of the prophecy was uttered in the days of king Hezekiah, as we learn from the prophet Jeremy, who makes mention of the 12th verse of the 3d chapter, as spoken in that king's time; and in all probability, so was all that follows, and spoken after the captivity of the ten tribes, which fell out in the sixth year of his reign and it is evident to all, who read the sacred story, that the king Hezekiah was a most illustrious reformer of God's church, as was Jotham before, and Josias after him.

As the prophet directed his discourse to the church, to the reformed church in general, so he applied himself to all degrees of men in particular. He preached not only to the people and to the priests, but to the court; "to the heads of the house of Jacob, and to the princes of the house of Israel 2," nay, to king 1 Micah i. 1.

2 Micah iii. 9.

Hezekiah himself; in whose presence, as the prophet Jeremy informs us', he delivered that direful prophecy, "therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forest "," warning the king and the court, of the danger of national sins; of the national judgments they would certainly bring down, unless prevented by a national repentance.

It was a bold undertaking, to denounce God's judgments to the king, and to the court; and to tell them, that the king's palace and that the whole city of Jerusalem should be ploughed, should be utterly destroyed: such mortifying subjects as these, courts, above all others, are not willing to hear of. But true prophets, in the delivery of their messages, fear none but God, and dare say any thing that God commands them. And there are times when prophets cannot, must not, keep silence; when the watchmen ought to blow the trumpet, to give the warning of repentance to the whole land, or if the land will not take the warning, to free their own souls.

Amos, who was originally "neither prophet, nor prophet's son, but a poor herdsman of Tekoa;" yet when God sent him he had courage from above, to prophesy against Israel, against king Jeroboam, and against the worship of the calves, "that the high places of Isaac should be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste, and that God would rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." And to prophesy these terrible things, even at Bethel, which was the king's chapel, and the king's court:

1 Jer. xxvi. 18.

2 Micah iii. 12.