[2.] Keep alive this principle (which whether any will hear, or whether any will forbear, I know not ; but this I am sure of, in the latter end it will be found to be true) ac- cording as you regard, cleave to, promote, protect, on the one side ; or despise, contemn, and oppose on the other, the common interest of Zion, the people of God before laid down : so will your affairs either flourish, prosper, and suc- ceed on the one hand; or wither, decay, and be fruitless, on the other. In all other things that shall fall under your con- sideration, that relate to the civil government of the nations, prudence, conjecture, probability, consideration of circum- stances, and the present posture of things, may take place; this is capable of no framing to the one hand or other, upon any pretence whatever.
[3.] If it be possible, keep up a spirit of love and for- bearance among yourselves ; ' love thinketh none evil/ Do not impose designs on one another, and then interpret every thing that is spoken, though in never so much sincerity and simplicity of spirit, in a proportion to that design ; this will turn judgment into wormwood, and truth into hemlock.
SERMON XIII*
<10D'S PRESENCE WITH A PEOPLE,
THE
SPRING OF THEIR PROSPERITY;
WITH THEIR
SPECIAL INTEREST IN ABIDING WITH HIM.
* This sermon was preached to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, at Westminster, Oct. .SO, 1656, being a day of solemn hu- miliation.
2 N 2
TO THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH
OP
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND,
WITH
THE DOMINIONS THEREUNTO BELONGING.
Sirs, My hope that some impression may possibly remain upon your hearts and spirits, of and from the things delivered unto you in the ensuing sermon, make me willing unto the obedience of presenting it unto you, upon your command, in this manner. Were I not persuaded, that your peace, interest, and concernment is expressed therein, and knew not with what sim- plicity of heart you were minded thereof, I should have chosen on many accounts to have waved this duty. But having now performed what is incumbent on me, to render this service useful, recommending it yet farther to the grace of God, I humbly beg that it may not in this return unto you, be looked on as a thing of course and so laid aside, but be reviewed with that intension of spirit, which is necessary in duties of this importance ; whereby you may manifest that your com- mand unto this service, was grounded on a sense of some advantage to be made by that performance of it. Sundry things I confess, that were spoken unto you, are gone beyond my recovery, having had their rise from the ^present assistance which God was pleased to
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 549
afford in the management of the work itself. The sum of what was provided beforehand, and no otherwise, without the least addition, is here presented unto you, with hearty desires, that the vision of the truth herein considered may be to them that love you, and the ac- complishment thereof be found in the midst of you. So prays
Your humblest servant
In our dear Lord Jesus,
John Owen.
Nov. 17.
550 god's PRESENCIL
SERMON XIII.
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin ; The Lord is with you, tuhile ye be with him : and if ye seek him, he will be found of yon ; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.— 2 CuRoti. xv. 2.
It will not, I am sure, seem strange to any, that I have takea a text to preach on in a day of humiliation, out of a thanks- giving sermon, such as this discourse of Azariah seems to be; if they shall but consider the suitableness of the in- struction given therein, to any great and solemn occasion, whether of humiliation or rejoicing. The words indeed are the sum of all directions that in such cases can be given ; the standard of all rules, and exhortations, wherein any na- tion or people, in any condition, are or may be concerned ; so plainly measuring out our fate and lot, the event and issue of our affairs, with all the great undertaking of the people of God in this nation, that of themselves I hope they will make some passage to the hearts of them, to whom the inferences from them shall this day be applied.
In the foregoing chapter we have an account of a great victory, that Asa and the people of Judah, fighting in faith, and with prayer, obtained against the huge host of the Ethi- opians, with the abundant spoils which they took, and car- ried away thereupon. In their triumphant return to Jeru- salem the Spirit of God stirs up a prophet to go out and meet them, to give them an account of the rise and cause of their success, and direction for their future deportment, un- der the enjoyment of such mercies and deliverances. The Lord knows how apt even the best of men are to forget the spring of their mercies ; how negligent in making suitable returns, by a due improvement of the advantages put into their hands, unto the Lord of all mercies ; therefore are they in all seasons to be minded of their proper interest and duty.