3. There needs much zeal and strong love to God. When pro- faneness is in fashion, let us give check to it in our place, either as magistrates by appearing against evil-doers, as Nehemiah contended for God : Neh. xiii. 11, ' Then I contended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken ? ' and ver. 17, ' Then I contended with the nobles of Judah. and said unto them. What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath-day?' Not like Gallic, that cared for none of these things. As ministers, more active against sin : Isa. Iviii. 1, ' Cry aloud, spare not ; lift up thy voice as a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.' As governors of families, careful of oui-selves and families : Josh. xxiv. 15, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' As private Christians, give out more of the lustre of grace : Mat. v. 16, ' Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven ; ' 1 Peter ii. 12, ' Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in tlie day of visitation.' Not only stop the mouth of iniquity, but bring about the conversion of wicked men. Thus should every one of us in our place glorify God, and strive to make the times better: Ptom. xii. 11, 'Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' That is a good time ; serving the Lord can make a change, if we would ply this means. Thus did David serve his generation : Acts xiii. 36, ' For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep.^ When you die, people will be able to say, We miss such a man ; he was zealous against sabbath-breakers, and drunkards, and swearers ; one that owned the people of God, a friend to religion.
4. Caution, that we be not carried away with the deluge of corrup- tion: Gal. ii. 13, 'The other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimula- tion.' Example hath a kind of compulsion in it ; the best men can hardly stand out against it. It secretly insinuateth itself, weakeneth
314 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXXIX.
our love to God, abatetli our care ; therefore we cannot be enough watchful, that we be not secretly tainted, as a man in the sun tans unawares. As in times of common contagion, every man is careful of his diet and company, so should we watch to keep our garments clean and unspotted of the world.
5. Sincerity, not dissembling ; as Josh. xiv. 8, ' I wholly followed the Lord my God ; ' not loving the ways of God on foreign respects, but their own internal reasons ; otherwise a man soon miscarrieth, for these motives will be changed, and those very inducements that moved him to take up religion will move him also to cast it off. None but the solid Christian will hold out, whilst light chaff is carried about with every wind, and the carnal-minded cuts the coat of his profession to the fashion of the times. A false heart cannot long hold out : Prov. X. 9, ' He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely ; but he that per- verteth his ways shall be known ; ' that is, to his shame ; cannot long dissemble his nature.
6. A fixed resolution, that we may not be easy, and merely do as others do. It is the resolved man that encounters temptations, and maketh them fly back, as arrows shot against a brazen wall. Though others fall, I will serve the Lord, whatever others do : Josh. xxiv. 15, ' And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell ; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' If he meet with reproaches and scorns : 2 Sam. vi. 22, ' And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight.' If enticed by evil^company : Ps. cxix. 115, ' Depart from me, ye evil- doers, for I Avill keep the commandments of my God.' If threatened : Acts iv. 19, ' But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.' Thus they stood by a self-denying resolu- tion ; whereas the unresolved man, James i. 8, ' is unstable in all his ways ; ' is turned like a weathercock with every wind, fitteth his re- ligion to every interest. God biddeth us thus unmovably to fix our- selves: Jer. XV. 19, ' Thus saith the Lord, Let them return unto thee, but return not thou to them." A man that would live quietly must either bring himself to the times, or expect the times should come over to him. A resolved man stayeth God's leisure, doth not serve his conscience to fit the times, but waiteth till God fit the times to his conscience.