SERM. XIII. Luke vii. 41, 42, 43. There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors; the one owed five hun- dred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had no- thing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me there- fore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered SERM. XVI. John vi. 67, 68. Then faid Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answer- SERM. XVII. John xii. 20, 21. And there were certain Greeks among them, that came up to worship at the feaft: The fame came therefore to Philip, which was of Beth- SERM. XIX. I Theff. ii. 19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of SERM. XX. and XXI. Phil. ii. 12, 13. own falvation with fear and trembling. that worketh in you, both to will and to [1] SERMΟΝ Ι. PSALM XXVII. 13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to T HE words in the original are abrupt, as being uttered under great commotion and deep sense of mind. This Pfalmist having mentioned the trials to which he was exposed, shews the great impreffion the thoughts of them made upon him, and how sad his case had been, were it not for the supports of faith he had afforded him : Unless, faith he, I had believed to fee the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living, i. e. I cannot lay say what had become of me: I had furely fainted, been overwhelmed, and quite dead. By the land of the living, is often meant the present world, in opposition to the grave, the State of the dead: And so David might refer to the mercy God had promised him upon earth, which he comforted himself with the expectation of; but I cannot suppose him to have left out the great things reserved in heaven, those VOL. II. which B which the goodness of God hath there laid up for those that love him; things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man to conceive of. Heaven may well be stiled the land of the living: it is the world where there is no more death, nor forrow, nor crying, &c. in comparison of which, this world is a state of mortality, into which we are born with tears, brought forth to trouble, and must e'er it be long, leave it. Some of the Hebrew Commentators understand this phrafe, the land of the living, to set forth the future state of life above; and upon this the Pfalmifst's hope chiefly and ultimately fixed, as what was necefsary and sufficient to his support: And all God's faints should imitate him. I had fainted, unless I had believed to fee the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Doct. Such is the condition of faints upon earth, that only the faith of seeing the goodness of God in the better world, can keep them from fainting in the way to it. If in this life only we shall have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miferable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. I speaking to this, I shall I. Briefly confider the condition of faints in this present world, as to the trials they are subject to. II. How the foul is to be engaged by faith, in reference to the blessedness of heaven: which we shall here understand by the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. III. Whence, and in what manner faith keeps us from fainting, and conduces to our support in in the way to it: which will lead to the Appli cation. I. The condition of faints in the present world, as to the trials they are subject to. These are here supposed to be such, as that they are sometimes ready to faint, and would do so, but for the supports of faith. This is a truth of which experience is full evidence; and therefore I need not be long upon it. We are born finners into a world that lies in wickedness; and hence are brought forth to forrow, as the sparks fly upward. We are cast on a climate where Satan rules, as its God": And those who are new-born, are the peculiar objects of his hatred and rage: whom he will, by policy or power, seek to deceive and destroy; and he has too much, even in the best, to work upon. It were hence easy to shew, that the trials of saints in the present life, are neither light, nor few. Confidered as men, they share in the effects of God's displeasure together with the rest of mankind, for their originał apoftacy: confidered as Christians, they are exposed to the malice of Satan and a degenerate world, and blinded and acted by him: confidered as imperfect Christians, they are groaning under the remains of corruption while on earth: and how sad were their estate, could they look no further ? 1. Confidered as men, how grievous are the common calamities of the human nature! The world through sin is subject to vanity, filled with vexation: and saints in great measure find it so, as well as others. They are indeed redeemed from B 2 from eternal death, the wages of fin, in the next world; but infinite wisdom hath thought fit to leave them under many afflictive evils in this : which though sanctified, so as afterwards to yield the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness, are not for the present joyous, but grievous, Heb. xii. II. It is no unusual thing for faints to chatter like cranes, and swallows, though not to murmur, under their racking pains, Ifa. xxxviii. 14. Our fouls are lodg'd in crazy distemper'd bodies, liable to a thousand diseases, which are ready to prey upon them, and reduce them to breathless clods. And how hard would it be to bear up under what we feel or fear, as men, were it not for faith and hope, that it shall not be always with us as now? 2. There are new trials saints usually experience upon account of their devotedness to God. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, as such, Pfal. xxxiv. 19. They have set their faces heavenward, and are resolved to live godly in Chrift Jefus; and for this the world is incenfed against them. A fecret enmity boils in the heirs of hell against all the expectants of heaven, who feeing they will not take up with this world for their portion, will not allow them a quiet passage through it, or any tolerable abode upon it. Jesus Chrift tells his disciples, In the world ye Jhall have tribulation; and they have all along found his prediction true : so that through many tribulations they have entered into the kingdom of God, Acts xiv. 22. In fcripture we have an account |