WE have lately been surpriz'd with a dismal Account of an horrid Conspira­cy carried on at Home, and have at the same time been no less Alarm'd, with the well grounded Rumour of an Invasion from abroad; and this may, perhaps, too much dismay and discompose the Ignorant, too much affect the thoughtless and inconsiderate, who measuring the Forces of our Enemies by their Vanity and Presumption, or proportioning their Strength to their malice and inveteracy, may look upon the present Danger as much great­er than it is, dress up a Bug-bear in their own Imagination, and then tremble at the fright­fulness [Page 2]of its appearance. But, as to be wholly unaffected with National Calamities, and to be utterly unconcern'd at the disasters of the Publick, is to be guilty of a vitious Carelessness, and deserves the Imputation of a Stoical Stupidity; so, to be too apprehensive of uncertain hazards, to magnify a danger only that we may the better excuse our fear of it, is a Proceeding mean and ungenerous, unbecoming the fortitude of English Men and Christians; since therefore Courage and Reso­lution are at all times necessary, either to make us despise a danger that is small, or to wrestle and encounter with such hazards as are greater; since, were our circumstances yet better than they are, a reliance upon God would be our surest Protection; I have thought sit, to Address my self to those who now hear me, as the Prophet Moses did to the People of Israel, to make use of his short, but comprehensive Exhortation; Fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord.

These words were directed by the Prophet to the Israelites, when they were all threatned with a general Destruction, which in human probability seem'd utterly unavoidable. Pha­raoh, being incens'd at their going out of Egypt, to offer Sacrifice unto their God, pursues after them with his Chariots and his Horsemen, even all the Forces of the Land of Egypt; he overtakes them Encamping by the Red Sea, having the inaccessible Mountains of Baal-ze­phon and Pi-hahiroth on either side; the only passage, which Nature and the Situation of the place had left open for their escape, the Enemy possessed; and thereby reduced them to this sad Election, either of Perishing by the Sword, or by the Waves: Yet notwith­standing their condition was so very deplo­rable, that it made them to murmer both a­gainst Moses and their God; we find the Pro­phet Comforting, Encouraging, and reassur­ing them in the words of my Text, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord.

Blessed be God, the hopeful posture of our present Affairs, and the happy circumstances under which we now are, make our case so different from that of the Israelites, that it does not deserve the name of a Parallel; I shall therefore consider the words nakedly in themselves, independently from the History of which they are a part, as they contain an Exhortation consisting of two branches:

The 1st. perswading to Courage and Re­solution; Fear ye not, stand still.

The 2d. Advising to an absolute depen­dance upon God for his Protection; And see the Salvation of the Lord.

1st. Then, here is an Exhortation to Cou­rage and Resolution; Fear ye not, stand still.

By not Fearing, I do not mean such a dull and heavy unconcernedness, by which a man is unsensible of approaching dangers, and care­less to prevent or to resist them; but such a firmness of Mind and constancy of Spirit, as enables one fully to bear up under them, to [Page 5]struggle with, and overcome them: Neither by standing still, do I design, such a stupid quiet, and unactive cessation, by which one is con­tented to be a bare looker on, without any vigorous endeavours for the Common Preser­vation; but such a fixed and setled posture of the Soul, as may qualify one to stustain the shock of whatsoever dangers, and encourage him to repel them with an unshaken stedfast­ness. And in this sense it is that we ought to understand this pithy Exhortation to Courage and Resolution, Fear ye not, stand still. And indeed, as in concerns of a Spiritual Nature, Presumption is a sin of a very deep dye, being a positive offence against the Justice of the Almighty; and yet Despair a greater, as di­rectly affronting his darling Attribute his Mercy: so also in Temporal Affairs, a too great Security, tho very fatal and destructive, yet having something in it that looks like Manhood, does not appear so shameful and so blameable, as a wretched despondency and di­strust, which proceeds from weakness, and is utterly Effeminate. It is, we know, one [Page 6]of the Curses denounced by God against im­penitent Sinners, That they shall fear where no fear is; and whosoever gives the Reins to this passion, farther than the occasion justly requires, is in some measure liable to this imputation: That therefore we may avoid so infamous a Character, by the due exercise of the oppo­site Vertue, let us view the obligations which lie upon us, under a twofold consideration.

1st. As we are Men.

2d. As we are Christians.

1st. Then, we are obliged not to fear, but to stand still, as we are Men.

Whilst all the other parts of the Creation were formed with dejected Countenances, in token of Obedience and Submission; Man was Created with an erected Visage, as the vi­sible Characteristick of Majesty and Power: And as his outward structure bore all the marks of Sovereignty and Dominion, so was his Soul endued with a proportionable stock of Courage and Resolution; as may fully ap­pear, by the first Couple's Conversing with­out fear amongst those very Creatures, which [Page 7]now to us are so terrible and frightful: Sin made the first breach upon this inward guard, this Armour of the Soul; that gave an en­trance to the King of Terrours, and to all his pale Retinue of Fears and Apprehensions; For, as from God's question to Adam after his fall, (Adam, where art thou?) We may conclude that his hiding himself was unusual; so from his Answer we may learn, that Fear was the reason of it, I heard thy Voice in the Garden and I was afraid: By how much more there­fore we indulge this unmanly Passion, by so much the more are we estrang'd from the dig­nity of our Creation, and from the Purity of our first Condition. It is Justly observ­able, that in all Languages, the word used to express manhood or courage, is deriv'd from that which signifies Humanity it self; thus Virtus in the Latin, [...], in the Greek, [...], in the Hebrew, by which the common consent of Nations seems to imply, that is a quality ingrafted in, and resulting from our very Nature; and consequently the laying it aside, is a degrading our selves from the [Page 8]rank of Rational Creatures, and leveling our selves with Brutes; so that the man without Courage (as well as the man without understand­ing) may justly be compared unto the Beasts that Perish. But as the giving up our selves to the unruly guidance of Fear, is the greatest base­ness; so is it also the greatest Folly: Pessimus in dubiis augur Timor, Fear is the worst Coun­sellour in time of Danger; it distracts and confounds the wisest and the best of men; this caus'd Moses to staggar at God's Com­mandment; this caus'd Elias to fly from the Womanish Threatnings of Jezabel; this caus'd Peter to deny his Maker; it under­mines the strength, and betrays the succonrs of the Soul, deluding it with imaginary Idea's and false appearances; whilst like a deceit­ful Perspective, it represents the objects of our apprehension, nearer than the Truth, and larger than the Life: And therefore the Po­licy and Prudence of Gideon is justly to be commended, who proclaim'd throughout his Camp by sound of Trumpet, Whosoever is fear ful let him depart; the Nature of this Vice [Page 9]being so infectious, that it often times corrupts the neighbourhood about it. But as to Fear all things seem difficult, so to true Courage no­thing is insuperable: In the Land of Canaan were Gyants, to whom the Israelites compar'd, did seem but as Grashoppers; yet said Caleb and Joshua, Fear them not, they are bread for us; bread, which is eaten without any labour or diffi­culty; which is so far from diminishing the Spirits, that it encreases and augments the Health and Vigour of those that eat it. To this same purpose we read of Joab, that when he Warred against the Ammonites, he began his Exhortation before the Battle with these words, Be of good Courage, and let us play the men; as if, being Valiant, and being Men, were terms Synonymous, and only diversly expressed the same thing. If therefore we consider our selves but barely as Men, this Ex­hortation must be proper and convenient, Fear ye not, stand still.

But if we are obliged to Fortitude and Re­solution, as we are meer men; much more are we so, if we reflect upon our selves,

2dly. As we are Christians.

It is the true and genuine property of our Christian Profession, to sublimate and exalt to a higher degree of Perfection, whatever Vertues it finds implanted in our Nature: For it is a slander cast upon Religion, by such as are wholy unacquainted with it, and by such as maintain false Notions of Honour, that it only serves to make men Cowards; the Fear of God, is the best Armour against the Fear of Man, and true Devotion is the Root of Courage: By Faith our Fathers subdued Kingdoms, waxed valiant in Fights, put to flight the Armies of the Aliens, says the Author to the Hebrews. And thus indeed it ought to be, if we will but look a little backwards, upon the first Inlet and occasion of Fear and Apprehension: Original Guilt was the fatal cause, of which Fear is the un­happy effect; when the former ceases, the lat­ter cannot possibly subsist; but as we are Chri­stians, we have renounced the One, and there­fore the other should necessarily vanish: And indeed, if we consider the matter impartially, we shall always find our sins to be the occasions [Page 11]of our Fears; not only, as they are the means of drawing down those Judgments of which we are apprehensive; but also, as they de­stroy that confidence and assurance, which we ought to have in our Almighty Protectour: Fear therefore being the consequence of Guilt, if Christianity obliges us not to sin, it at the same time teaches us not to Fear; and as no Christian will dispute the one, so no rational concluder can deny the other; es­pecially, if we take notice, that the three most Eminent Christian Graces, Faith, Hope, and Charity, are absolutely inconsistent with the Practice of it. And,

1st. As to Faith; we have our Saviours own Authority for it, in the 14th. chap. of St. Matthew's Gospel; where stretching forth his hand to finking Peter, he reprehends him in these words, O thou of little Faith! wherefore didst thou doubt? Wavering and doubtfulness, which is but the first step towards downright Fearing, being here branded (tho the danger was so imminent) with the black aspersion of weakness in the Faith.

2dly. As to Hope; tho it may allow of such a mixture of uncertainty, as may sharpen its Appetite, and make that more eager (and this it always will partake of till it is chang'd into Fruition;) yet such a Fear as we now speak of is utterly incompatible with it; and these two can no more be found together, than contraries can mutually support each o­ther, or contradictions shake hands and be re­concil'd.

3dly. As to Charity; the beloved Apostle informs us, That there is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out Fear; now Charity being the Perfection of Love in its highest and most intense degree, must con­sequently have the deepest aversion against that sordid Passion, which is hereby declared to be inconsistent with perfect Love. And certainly, the Love of God and his Religi­on, can enliven Christians with a much greater warmth of Courage and Resolution, than the bare Love of ones Country, or ones Hon­our, could possibly inspire into the Natural Man: This has been evidenc'd by a Cloud of [Page 13]Witnesses: Let the Heathens brag of their De­cius and their Curtius, that devoted themselves to Death for the safety of their Country; we have our Moses and St. Paul, that desired to be made accursed for the Children of God: Their Socrates drank his poison chearfully; our Cy­prian said Amen, to the sentence of his own con­demnation: Their Scaevola burnt his hand with an unaltered Countenance; we are able to name a whole Army of Martyrs, who have kissed the stake, enjoyed the flames, and sung Hymns in the midst of their Torments and Per­secutions. Thus in true courage, the Christi­an world as far exceeds the Heathen, as in the motives to it, and in the goodness of the cause. Some indeed there are, and those too many, who think courage to consist in Roaring and Blaspheming, in speaking big words, and Ty­rannizing over their inferiours, in quarrelling and duelling, in trampling under foot all Laws and Constitutions both of God and Man: but these things, my beloved, ought not so to be: True Christian courage, such as I recommend to all who now hear me, is fearful to offend [Page 14]God; has a Reverend regard to the Laws; is obedient to lawful superiours, courteous to equals, affable and indulgent to inferiours; evermore grounded upon a good cause, and therefore still accompanied with Piety, Chearfulness, and Resolution. The Wicked indeed fleeth, when no man pursueth; but the Righteous is bold as a Lion: He shall not be afraid for any evil Tidings; (the reason follows im­mediately after) for his Heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. And this leads me to the consideration of the

2d. Branch of my Text; namely, The Prophet's Exhortation to an absolute depen­dance upon God for his Protection; fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord.

Since the Race is not always to the Swift, nor the Battle to the Strong, or the Couragious, but time and chance (as the Preacher observes) happens to them hoth; the best way to secure to our selves a certainty of Success, is to fix our dependance upon the Father of Lights, with whom is no vari­ableness, neither shadow of turning: Then tho the Arm of Flesh should be never so strongly ex­alted against us, yet shall we find, that the [Page 15] Right hand of the Lord has the preeminence, that the Right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass: It is better therefore to trust in the Lord, than to put any confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put any confidence in Princes. But since the mercy of God is not such a foolish tenderness, or unaccountable relenting, as is sometimes found in those whom we stile good-natur'd Men, an easiness of being wrought upon without any reason for it; I shall therefore,

1st. Enquire, what is to be performed up­on our part, in order to fit us for the Divine Protection, or to qualify us for seeing the Salva­tion of the Lord. And,

2dly. I shall prove, that if we are so qua­lified, we shall certainly be Protected, we shall assuredly see the Salvation of the Lord.

1st. Then, I shall enquire, what is to be per­formed upon our part, in order to fit us for the Divine Protection, or to qualify us for seeing the Salvation of the Lord.

The Lord is on my side, says the Royal Psalmist, I will not fear what man can do unto me: We must [Page 16]be secure that God is on our side, if we would be free from Human Apprehensions. Now to make us secure of this, it is not enough that we can say we are Christians, we are Pro­testants, we are called by his Name, we are Members of the Purest Church upon Earth. No, unless our Practices are agreeable to our Profession, unless we exemplify our high call­ing in our Lives and Conversations, these are but so many enhancements of our guilt, a­buses of the manifold advantages which God has bestowed upon us, and are so far from af­fording us impunity and Protection, that they only qualify us for being beaten with many stripes. Neither are we to reflect upon the faults and errours of those who seem design'd for the in­flicters of God's Judgments; and from thence presently conclude, That God will not Fight against us upon their side: Their Offences are no extenuation of our guilt, and the Scourge may be made use of, tho it is afterwards to be cast into the Fire: Executioners (we know) are seldom chosen out of the best of men; the vilest and the meanest are generally thought fit [Page 17]enough for such an employment; and not on­ly the wicked part of human Kind, but even Lice and Flies; the meanest Particles and Re­fuse of the Greation, in the avenging hand of God, become dreadful Instruments of his wrath and indignation. The surest way to give a guess at our own condition, and the circum­stances we lye under for a well provided hope of Protection, is to examine our own ways; lest otherwise, by endeavouring to shun one ex­tream, we should ignorantly and unadvisedly run into another; and avoiding Despair, should be guilty of Presumption. To this purpose, the Royal Psalmist (in the person of God) gives us this clear information; O! That my People would have harkened unto me! For if Israel would have walked in my ways; I should soon have put down their Enemies, and turned my hand against their Adversaries: This is the necessary and in­dispensible condition, without which we have no title to the Protection of our God. Let every one therefore amongst us duly enquire into himself, and Commune with his own Heart secretly: Have I hearkened unto the Voice of my God, and have I walled in his ways? [Page 18]Have I diligently sought out his will, and carefully endeavoured to square all my Acti­ons according to that rule? Have my Paths been the Paths of Righteousness, and have I walked faithfully with my God? He that up­on such an Examination, finds his Conscience bearing witness for him, may Expostulate with the Almighty, in the Pathetical words of the Prophet Isaiah; Look down, O Lord, from Heaven, and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory: Where is thy Zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of thy Bowels, and of thy Mercies towards me, are they restrained? Doubtless thou art our Father, tho Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledg us not; thou, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting: But if upon a due ex­amination we find the contrary, as I fear it is the case of too many amongst us, upon a just and serious Reflection, that we have hearken­ed only unto the voice of our Lusts, and that our ways have been the ways of Death; let us then, in the Name of God, endeavour to renew our selves by a hearty Repentance, by a thorough Reformation; immediately [Page 19]setting about to remove our Sins far from us, by which only we can be removed from the Protection of our God: Let every man turn from his evil way, and from the violence which is in his hand; and God will assuredly turn and re­pent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not. Thus, if by a speedy and sincere Repentance, we make our sins, that were red as Crimson, become whiter than the Wooll; God also will certainly do his part, he will make us to hear of joy and gladness, and cause the bones which he had broken to rejoyce: Then may we take up the Prophet David's chearful Ejaculati­on, God shall deliver us from the snare of the hun­ter, and from the noisome Pestilence; he shall de­fend us under his Wings, and we shall be safe un­der his Feathers, his Faithfulness and Truth shall be our Shield and Buckler; we shall not be afraid for any Terrour by Night, nor for the Arrow that flieth by day; a thousand shall fall beside us, and ten thousand upon our Right Hand, but it shall not come nigh us; for the Lord is our defence, the God of Jacob is our Refuge. And this leads me to the consideration of the

2d. Particular, namely, to prove, that if we are thus qualified, we shall certainly be Protected, we shall assuredly see the Salvation of the Lord. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord.

Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortned, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it can­not hear; unless our iniquities do separate between us and our God, and our sins do hide his Face from us; he will hear the cry of such as call upon him, yea, of all such as call upon him faithfully. This we find to have been his constant way of Proceeding with his chosen People; If they rebelled against the words of God, and contemn­ed the Councel of the the most high; then he brought down their Heart with labour, they fell down, and there was none to help: But when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivered them out of their distresses; he sent his word, and healed them; and they were saved from their destruction. The truth of this Doctrine is undeniably made out, by the remarkable deliverance pointed at in my Text. The Israelites were pursued by the whole strength of Egypt; they could not turn on either side, for the Mountains that environ­ed [Page 21]them, their progress was stopped by the Red-Sea before them, and their retreat cut off by the Egyptians behind them: The poor Fu­gitives thus miserably hemmed in, were a naked and defenceless multitude; their very number, which yet was all they had to trust to, was not their smallest inconvenience; be­ing chiefly composed of Women and of Chil­dren; whose Tears and Lamentations, soften­ed those Hearts into tenderness and compassion, which should have been steel'd with Courage and Resolution: What should they do, being thus surrounded with horrour and destructi­on? We are told in the 10th. verse of this same Chapter, that when they lift up their eyes, and beheld Pharaoh marching after them, they cryed out unto the Lord: And we find the conse­quence to be, that the Lord heard them; and turn'd that attempt which was designed for their destruction, into a signal Instance of his Favour towards them, and the utter ruin of their insulting Adversaries. And since in this particular our case resembles that of the Israel­ites, namely, that the cause of the Malice of our Adversaries, is only that we will not be­comes [Page 22]slaves to the Egyptians; and that we will not bow down before the Idols of Egypt; but are resolved to Offer Sacrifice unto the Lord our God; were our condition as helpless as we find theirs to have been (and God be prais­ed it is most happily different) we are as just­ly intituled to a Miraculous Deliverance. But we need not go abroad for Instances of this Nature, our own experience will abundantly supply, considerable Examples of the Divine Protection. How wonderfully has God ap­peared in our behalf, not only in compleating that advantageous change in the Government of these Nations, by which our Religion and our Liberties were secured; but also by watching over it in a peculiar manner, and defeating all designs which were devised for its Destructi­on! For, not to look backwards to former de­liverances, which are much too numerous to be insisted upon at present, how wonderful a Mercy have we lately experienced! if an at­tempt be made to surprize us unprovided, (as in the Invasion at this time designed) the Winds and the Weather conspire to keep back our E­nemies till their intentions are discovered, and [Page 23]their contrivances laid open: If secret Practices are levelled against the Government, and Plots are carried on for the imbroiling us again (as in the Horrid Treason so freshly discovered) the Providence of God interposes for us visibly, and brings to light the closest Machinations: Thus by the wonderful goodness of Almighty God, no Weapon, no Design form'd against us has prospered; but our Souls have escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowler, the net is broken, and we are delivered. Give me leave to stop here a little, and to take an imperfect Prospect of that most valuable Blessing, which has so late­ly been conferred upon us: And we cannot any way more justly make an Estimate of it, than by considering the Miseries to which we must have been exposed, had we not been res­cued from them by so eminent a Providence: What Confusions, what Distractions must we have lain under, if by a Barbarous and Bloody Assassination, the Confederate Armies had lost their General, and Neighbouring Allies their Chief Magistrate, these Nations, their LAWFUL and RIGHTFUL KING! And that at a con­juncture the most likelist of any, when the [Page 24]embasement and scarcity of our current Coin, had spread a general uneasiness throughout the Kingdom; and when all these perplexities were about to be encreased, by the additional Calamity of a Forreign Invasion! The Scene of Affairs must have been so dismal, that it re­quires some of that Courage which I have been recommending to you, to take a view of those extremities, tho we have happily es­caped them. But as this Design was a Ma­ster-piece of Villany; and timed with all the Artifice of cunning Malice; so has it pleased God, by his gracious Disappointment of it, to raise much Good out of that Evil; and to Establish the Government, by those very means, by which its Enemies contrived to overturn it: For as it must needs confirm the Layalty of the well-affected, by shewing them the great im­portance of His Safety, who is both their King and their Benefactour; so I hope it will open the Eyes of some deluded People, by shew­in them the weakness and the badness of that Cause, which makes use of such vile methods to sustain and support it self. How chearfully then, upon a due Contemplation of such re­makable [Page 25]Providences, as I have just now been treating of, may we Exhort one another not to fear, since so often heretofore, and so signally of late we have seen the Salvation of the Lord.

I would to God, a due consideration of those several particulars, wherein God has appear­ed to espouse the cause we stand for, would prevail with those who are Enemies to our Peace, no longer to combate the workings of Omnipo­tency; but to take the advice which God for­merly gave to the House of Judah, Ye shall not go up to Fight against your Brethren, for this thing is from me: Especially that such among them as are Englishmen, and Protestants, would cease to act so unsuitably to both those Characters; by betraying at once their Liberty and Religion, in desperately abetting the attempts of those, who would give us nothing else but Slavery for the One, and Popery for the Other: And this I wish, chiefly for their own sakes; since I am not apprehensive that they are so considerable, as to bring Danger, but Scandal, upon their Country and Profession. If therefore we are not so mad as to play booty against our selves; if we will not Fight the Battles of our Ene­mies, [Page 26]by unqualifying our selves for the Di­vine Protection; we shall assuredly find, that God, who is a present help in trouble, will never leave us, nor forsake us: Then may we lay hold upon all God's attributes, and engage them to Fight in our behalf: The Bowels of his in­finite Mercy will yearn over us; his impartial Justice, when thus appeased, will cease to be our Accuser, and become our Advocate; his eternal Truth will stand bound to make good his gracious Promises; his unbounded Wisdom will find out the method for our deliverance; and his almighty Power will execute and go through with it. Fear ye not therefore, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord; firmly rely upon him for his Protection, and cast your care upon him, for he careth for you; not that you must so far depend upon him, as to neglect the means which he has put into your hands; we stand not in need of a Miracle for our Pre­servation, and therefore we must not expect one for it: Let us chearfully, and with confidence use our own endeavours; and God will not fail to do his part too, in giving a blessing to our undertakings: his former favours are so [Page 27]many earnests of future indulgences; unless we make our selves unworthy of them, either by our ingratitude, or our distrust. Let us coura­geously and undauntedly prepare our selves, to confront whatever dangers may oppose us, in the maintenance of a cause so good and justifia­ble: Let us Arm our selves with Innocence, and Fortify our selves with Faith; and we need not fear what man can do unto us. Thus being re­solved to discharge our duty, let us leave the event of things to God and his good Providence; that the Glory of our Deliverance may be his alone, in whom we live, and move, and have our Being.

I shall close up all, with Joab's exhortation to the Armies of Israel; Be of good Courage, and let us play the men, for our people, and for the Cities of our God; and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.

Now to God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Honour, Power, Might, Majesty, and Dominion, henceforth and for evermore, Amen.