Beloved, it is om- duty to observe special occurrences, not out of any Athenian curiosity, but to begin our emplo}Tnent in heaven now, whilst we are upon earth ; to take occasion from thence to bless God. We should compare the rule and the event together, and observe what truth or attri- bute God makes good by that which is so fallen out ; see how God com- menteth upon himself by his own actions ; and from observation of particu- lars it is good to rise to generals, as Deborah from the destruction of one enemy to the destruction of all. ' So let all thy enemies perish, 0 Lord,' Judges V. 31. This was Moses's song, and Hannah's, and the Virgia Mary's, &c. They mounted from a consideration of their own particular, and had their thoughts enlarged with the mercy and justice of God, to others in succeeding generations.
And among all God's works we should more take notice of his mercy to the church than of his justice towards his enemies, because his justice is, as it were, a foil to give lustre to his' mercy. God delighteth more in mercy, as being his proper work, issuing from his own bowels, than in works of justice that are occasioned by the malice of men. God is wonder- ful in his saints, and more in saving them than in destroying his enemies. Considering, therefore, that mercy bears the chief olfice in the great works of God, we ought to dwell most in consideration thereof, and feed our thoughts more with the meditation of his saving works to his church than of the ruin of his enemies.
We pray halloiced be thy name. Unless we practise what we pray for, we mock God, and deceive our own souls. Let not God lose any glory by us ; let not us lose such a pledge of future happiness as glorifpng God is. ' Oh that men would praise the Lord,' saith David, who, fearing lest God should lose any glory from his creatures, stirs up angels and all creatures
310 THE saint's safety in evil times.
to * bless the Lord,' Ps. cxlviii. 2, 3, God takes it very unkindly when we do not observe especially, the excellent pieces of his workmanship. ' A fool considereth not this,' &c., Ps. xcii. 6.
The Lord hath done marvellous things for his church of late, whereof we should rejoice. We should do as Moses did when he came out of the sea, and as the church, in resemblance of that deliverance from Egypt, did, who sang the song of Moses, being delivered from their spiritual Pharaoh, Rev. XV. 3.
We see now the vial poured upon the sun, we see the prophecies against antichrist's kingdom in fulfilling. God hath vouchsafed to strengthen our faith by experience. We have something to lay hold on, which may encou- rage us to expect more from God, and to look for those hallelujahs to be sung from all creatures in heaven and earth, upon the utter confusion of antichrist ; which, whosoever labours to hinder any kind of way, hinders the glory of God, and the joy of his people.
It is good to observe how the Scripture sets out the enemies of God's church, in a double representation, 1, as terrible, terming them lions, bulls, &c. ; 2, as base, comparing them to chafi" and dust before the wind, dung, &c., Ps. X. 4, that when we see them in their present ruff and jollity, we should stay ourselves with consideration of their future baseness. Faith looks on things as present, because it looks upon them in the word of Jeho- vah, who will give a being to all his promises and threatenings ; and there- fore faith is called the subsistence of ' things not seen,' Heb. xi. 1, (d) be- cause it gives a kind of being of things to the mind and affections of man, as if they were present. Therefore the believing of the final deliverance of God's people, and the ruin of his enemies, cannot but raise up the souls of good men to a marvellous degree of joy and thankfulness to God. Who would not fear to cleave to antichrist, if they did but present to themselves by faith, the certain ruin of that state, which the Scripture sets down, in a prophetical manner, as a thing already present ? ' Babylon is fallen,' &c., Rev. xviii. 2.
But to come to a more particular application, suitable to the present time. The occasion and the text are as parallel as may be. Our gun- powder-plotters (e) were as pregnant in mischief as ever these. For concep- tion, it could not but come from beneath the vault. There was the very quintessence of devilishness in it. Satan emptied all his bowels, as it were, in this project. If all the devils in hell were set awork to devise the like, they could hardly do it. There was scarce from the beginning of the world, a design more prodigious and unmerciful, of greater depth and extent of villany. Were [it] not [for] this anniversary commemoration of it, pos- terity would hardly believe that a plot so hellish could be hatched in the hearts of men, of English men, of Catholic men, as they would be termed, of men so borne withal, notwithstanding their dangerous correspondency with foreign enemies, and but half subjects, their better parts, their spu-its, being subject to another visible head, who can untie the bond of allegiance at his pleasure.