stupid a being as that no provocations will awake his vengeance; that he will for ever sit unconcerned with his hands in his bosom, whilst his violated laws, like the souls under the altar, are continually crying out to him, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, "dost thou not avenge our quarrel upon the heads "of these audacious rebels, that every day trample "us under foot, and have no more regard for our au"thority, than they have for the whistling of the "wind?" For God's sake, sirs, let us consider, before it be too late, what is like to become of us, what probable hopes of security we can propose to ourselves, if we persist in this unjust rebellion. Gird up your loins like men, and I will demand of you, in the name of God, do you think that the wise Governor of the world will be for ever insensible of all the rude affronts and provocations you offer him? If so, pray where is his wisdom, or in what sense doth he govern the world, if he takes no care to secure his laws by punishing offenders, and lets his subjects alone to do as they list? Or have you an arm as strong as God's? Can you grapple with his almighty vengeance, or withstand the stroke of his thunderbolts? Sure such a ridiculous conceit can never enter into any reasonable breast! And if not, in the name of God, what do you propose to yourselves, when you can neither hope for favour from God nor security from yourselves? Are you so abandoned of all your reason, as wilfully to shut your eyes against your danger, and run the desperate venture of falling into the hands of the living God? Hath not our blessed Lord most fairly warned us what we are to trust to? Hath he not told us how he values his laws, and how dreadfully he will punish the transgression of them? Hath he not most seriously protested to us, that unless we do repent and amend, he will never forgive us either in this life, or that to come; and that if we still persist in our rebellions, he will at last banish us from his presence for ever, and assign us our portion with devils and damned ghosts in that lake that burns with fire and brimstone? And hath he not taken it upon his death that all this is true, when he so freely sealed his doctrines with his blood? And now, after all this, is it possible we should be so senseless as to think we can be safe in our wickedness, when God the Father is enraged both in wisdom and honour to avenge it as an affront to his authority, and God the Son hath revealed his Father's wrath from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men? And therefore, as we value our own safety, it concerns us either to submit to that divine authority which is stamped upon the laws of our Saviour, or else to secure ourselves of some retreat or sanctuary from that almighty vengeance which our rebellion will certainly arm against us. 2dly, He dwelt among us full of grace. Hence I infer, what mighty encouragement we have to serve and obey our blessed Master, who in his dwelling among us was full of every thing that can render his service lovely or desirable, and abounded in all those amiable graces that can oblige us to love and obey him. For what was there wanting in our blessed Master that any reasonable subject can desire in his prince and sovereign? Would he desire a prince of a sweet and gracious temper, one that is full of love and tenderness to his subjects? Such a one in the most eminent degree is our blessed Lord : for how doth the history of his conversation upon earth abound with the expressions of a most sweet and loving temper? For love was the principle of all his actions, the life and soul of his conversation, and in all that he did or spoke he made some new discovery of his unfeigned affection to the world; for he went about doing good, and his whole life was nothing but one continued act of charity to mankind. For still you find him either instructing the ignorant, or reproving the erroneous, or comforting the dejected, or feeding the hungry, or curing the sick and diseased: from morning to night he was constantly engaged in one good action or other, and the whole race of his life, like that of the sun, was spent in enlivening or enlightening the world. So endearing was his behaviour, that he obliged his very enemies; and, when he had won them, treated them with all the tenderness and affection of a most loving father towards his dearest children. From all he conversed with he extorted respect and veneration, and none were able to resist the charms of his victorious love, but those whose hearts were harder than the nether millstone. But that I may convince you of the infinite goodness and tenderness of his nature, I will give you but that one instance, Luke xix. 41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it; which, as you will see afterwards, was occasioned by the foresight of its approaching ruin and destruction; and yet, at the same time, he foresaw the cruelties which those barbarous villains were about to practise upon him, how they would scourge his body with knotty whips, and nail his hands and feet to the cross, and thrust a spear into his heart; he saw how they would triumph over his misery, mock at his calamity, and dance to the music of his dying groans. And now one would have thought such a prospect as this would have for ever enraged his soul against them, and made him rejoice to see that sweeping destruction that was coming upon them: but such was the incomparable sweetness of his temper, that while he foresaw them plotting his ruin, he could not but sigh over theirs; and while he beheld their malice all reeking in his blood, and sporting itself with his torments and agonies, yet at the sense of their approaching destruction his very bowels yearned, and his heart melted with commiseration, and he could not forbear weeping, to think that those cursed instruments of all his miseries must ere long be so wretched and miserable themselves; earnestly wishing, that they who so greedily thirsted for his blood had known in that their day the things which belong to their peace. And though one would have thought the barbarous entertainment he met with here upon earth would have for ever quenched all bis affection to mankind, yet still it lives, and, in despite of all the affronts and outrages he endured, burns as vigorously in his breast as ever. So unconquerable was his love to his subjects, that all the bloody cruelties they practised upon him, when they chased him out of the world, were never able to alienate his heart and affections from them; but, after all their cruelties, he still retained his fatherly bowels towards them, and when he could endure their torments no longer, breathed out his loving soul in an earnest prayer for their pardon, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And now that he is in heaven, among angels and glorified spirits, where he cannot but remember how unkindly we treated him when he was upon earth, and perhaps doth still bear upon his glorified body those very wounds which he received from our hands, which one would think were sufficient to incense him against us for ever; yet his heart is the same towards us, full of all those kind and tender resentments that first brought him down from heaven, and rendered his conversation among us so full of sweetness and endearments. And now being so infinitely kind as he is, why should we be disheartened from serving him? Methinks the sense of his love to us, if there were no other argument in the world, should be sufficient to bind us to his service for ever. For, O my soul, how can I do too much for so kind a friend! How can I be too submissive to so good a master, that is so infinitely tender of all his servants, and loves them a thousand times more than they love themselves! Sure if we had any spark of ingenuity in us, the sense of his matchless kindness towards us would be sufficient to turn all our duty to him into recreation, to make us thirst after his service, and catch at all opportunities of expressing our loyalty and obedience to him; we should embrace his commands as preferments to us, and wear them as the greatest favours, and think ourselves more honoured in being the servants of Jesus Christ, than in being made mighty kings and potentates. 2. Consider, as he is full of grace, in respect of his own personal disposition, so he is also in respect of his laws; in which, as I have already shewed you, he requires nothing of us but what is for our good, nothing but what tends to the perfection of our natures, and the consummation of our happiness. All that our Saviour requires at our hands, is only that |