THe Apostle Peter in his 2 Epist. 1 ch. 19 v. recommends unto the Faithful, to whom he wrote, the word of Prophesie, as he termeth it, and commends them for heeding of it; They did well, he saith, in so doing. That word which Peter means, is indeed a light shining in this dark place of the Earth, where we walk not by sight; 'Tis the great Foundation of Faith, and Hope, until the day of Glory dawn, and we in Gods own Light, see all Light. But that worthy Recommendation the Apostle seconds in the two following Verses, with a weighty Reason; Knowing (saith he) that no Prophesie of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation: That is, Not of any private humane Inven­tion, [Page 2] or Extraction; 'Tis not an effect of any mans peculiar temper, or more than ordinary skill, That this is meant, the after-words in the same Context do plainly evince; for, saith Peter, The Prophesie in old time, came not by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were mo­ved by the holy Ghost. The Spirit of God, (the publick Interpreter, and Revealer of the Coun­sel and Mind of God), He inspired the Pro­phets, and was the Author of their word: The things (my Beloved) which are reported and affirmed in Scripture are (many of them) evi­dently Divine, The Heart of Man could not have conceived them: The Commands and Precepts in Scripture, are (many of them at least) evi­dently Divine. The Spirit of a Man could not have formed them, nor enjoined them, as there they are. The Promises and Threatnings in Scripture have Characters of a Divine Origi­nal upon them in like manner, they could not be of Man; And I confess, I much incline to think, that the Apostle Peter comprehends even all these under the Prophesie of the Scriptures, [Page 3] which he speaketh of. But Prophesie, in the strict sense of it, and Foretelling of things to come, This must needs have a peculiar Acknowledg­ment in this behalf. That of this nature, which is in Scripture, is, in the very eye of Reason, more illustriously Supernatural, and Divine. But I tarry too long in Generals.

The particular Text which I have been cast upon for the present Time and Occasion, for our holy exercise now, (my much Respected and Beloved) is of this Quality; A little, but a remarkable piece of a remarkable Prophesie; It is a few of the words which this Man of God Isaiah, spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost: And I cannot but conclude, from what hath been already intimated, That we shall do well to give heed unto them. Yea, if the same Spirit by which Isaiah spake them, vouchsafe to assist us, in our poor degree, we shall profit by them.

The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, &c. These are the words.

Now at my entrance upon them, I doubt, I shall a little surprise you: For from a parti­cular Prediction, (as the words are) I shall raise a general Doctrinal Observation; and the Ob­servation I shall lay down, before I at all open the Prediction: The Observation too at first sight, will seem to have no alliance with the Prediction: But I hope, upon a little progress ye will neither wonder at my method, nor dis­approve the matter. To me they have seemed both convenient. The Observation then, or Doctrine which I spake of, and shall begin with, is this:

This I take to be a genuine issue of the words, and I make it a foundation for the Exposition of them, and the general Subject of my Discourse. The same God who is named and concerned in it, be present with us, and grant us some en­crease in the understanding of his word, and in [Page 5] the good knowledg of Himself; even for his good­ness sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But to the matter: I shall first clear the ex­pression of the Text, and of the Observation; and next, enquire into the thing intended by the Prophet; and lastly, accommodate, as I may, the whole unto the present occasion, and our use.

1. For the expression: Great Princes do put forth their Princely Power and Wisdom, in the ordinary, constant government of their People, and ordering their great Affairs; and they are hereupon acknowledged, and awfully honoured o­ver all their Dominions: But sometimes they come abroad, and appear in special Pomp, and Princely Glory; As when they Ride in State on special occasions in Peace; or when they March in the Front of Puissant Armies un­to War: Then the whole Country seeth them, and makes Shouts and Acclamations to them. (Beloved) God is the Great King, the Soveraign of the Universe, his Divine Power, and Wisdom, and Righteousness, [Page 6] and Mercy do operate and appear in the ordinary course of Nature, and in his common govern­ing and disposing of all things: Oh that he might be acknowledged and honoured hereupon in all places of his Dominion. But sometimes he ariseth, as the expression is, Psal. 12. 5. some­times he comes abroad, as may be said, and as indeed the term in effect is, Psal. 96. 13. and divers other places. That is, he worketh some­times in an unusual manner, in a manner un­thought of, and above all appearing Probabilities; sometimes, he sheweth his Royal Greatness with Pomp, as I may speak, that every one seeth and admireth, and saith, 'tis He; sometimes he doth marvellous Acts, great things, as the Scripture stileth them: Now, this I call his Magnificent and Royal Manifestation of Himself. And 'tis such an effect that my Text refers unto, as doth evidently appear by what followeth in this same Prediction here, at the 5th. ver. The glory of the Lord, saith the Prophet, shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. The plenary and per­fect Manifestation of the Glory of God is to [Page 7] be in Heaven alone, there within the Vail, there only is the Beatifick Vision of him; But even here on Earth without the Vail, some seasons be, when he gives signal tokens of his Glory unto the conviction of men, and unto the high affecting of their hearts. Such an event, I say, the Prophet here in this Prophesie foretells. But to come nearer the words, I must advance a step farther in that resemblance of which I have made use: As Princes then when they go forth in State have the way prepared for them, and as much as may be made plain and commodi­ous; there is a diligent cleansing, and righting of every Street and every Road through which they are to pass, and oftentimes Order is publickly given, Proclamation made unto that end, as ye know; so here, The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, saith the Prophet. The purpose of God was represented to the Prophet under the likeness of a Royal Progress intended; and thus he in his rich and copious manner doth express it; he in­timates a Proclamation (as may be said) to clear [Page 8] and level the way before the coming of the Lord: This is the voice of the Cryer here. Not that there should be literally such a thing in all that the Prophesie intendeth; But the meaning is, that God intended to manifest himself in a Roy­al and Splendid manner; would work in a re­markable, and an unusual, and magnificent man­ner; 'tis said, Make strait in the desert an High­way for our God; In the Desert, where there was no way, nothing but Hill and Dale, no­thing but winding, and uneven, and unpassable ground. He signifies, the Lord would do what there was no visible means to do; would do what no one did imagine how it could be done. And this I take to be the true reason of the Prophets expression; Ye that attend unto it, judg of it. God would reveal his Glory, as in a Royal manner; in token of this, The voice (saith the Prophet) of him that cryeth, Prepare the way.

Having taken this view of the expression, we must next enquire into the thing intended in par­ticular; Now ye may please to follow me, and observe to this end:

[Page 9]1. That God doth sometimes manifest Him­self as ye have heard, unto Judgment; strangely, and wonderfully punishing the Scandals, and Enor­mities, and Refractoriness of People. Of this you read in the 26th. Chapter of this Prophesie of Isaiah, 21 v. The Lord cometh out of his place, (saith the Prophet there) (as the Soveraign and Judg of all the Earth) to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquity. Thus the Lord came forth when he brought the Flood upon the old World, Gen. 7. Thus when he de­stroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other Ci­ties of that Luxurious Plain, Gen. 19. Thus he came forth when he smote Judah, and Jeru­salem, and gave them up into the Hands of Ne­buchadnezzar, 2 Chron. 36. 17. And thus again, when he overthrew, after some Threescore and ten years, the whole Empire of that same Ne­buchadnezzar, and laid that great, proud Baby­lon he had built utterly waste, Jer. 51. 25. And thus God will come, in due time, to Judg the Grand Harlot of the Earth, the mystical Baby­lon, Rev. 17. 8. Gods full revelation of his Righ­ousness [Page 10] will be at the last, great Day: But mean time he will preserve in the World some sense that he is Just, and doth Judg. Besides, at that great day, 'tis but particular Persons that shall be Judged; There will be no States, and King­doms then; therefore the Lord visits those in the present World, where only they have their Existence: And when the measure of the Im­piety of Kingdoms is full, then he saith unto them, as he did to Israel, Amos 4. 12. Prepare to meet your God, ye sinful People. He judgeth them with Terror, and there is no Counsel, nor De­fence against him. Let not the most Prospe­rous, or Triumphant Nations be secure. But our present occasion (Beloved), and that like­wise to which my Text doth refer, is of no such dismal Nature. Therefore note,

2. Sometimes God comes forth, and manifests Himself in Magnifick Royal manner, to shew mercy, to refresh, to deliver, to restore, to build up, to bless, and put into a State of Renown upon Earth. He is good with the very goodness of an Al­mighty and ever Blessed God; and sometimes [Page 11] he makes glorious, and almost incredible Demon­strations of it; Unto him be Glory. Thus he did when he first brought Israel out of Egypt, and led them into their Inheritance, Then his way was prepared in the wilderness indeed: But with what glororious Pomp did he make his Pro­gress: The strength of Egypt, that ancient migh­ty Kingdom was utterly broken, and fainted; the Waters of the Red Sea were divided, and cast up in Heaps on one Hand, and on the other; the Mountains did burn and shake; the Clouds and Sky thundered; Nations upon every side did tremble; All Nature did Resent the Presence of the God of Ja­cob; so wonderfully did he work for that People then. Here was a right Stately, Royal shewing forth of his Magnificence and Soveraignty. Other passages of a like kind, I might recount. But,

There are, particularly, two concerned in my Text, and them I must particularly insist upon a little: The first of them, (Good Bre­thren), [Page 12] was, The Lords bringing back that same People of Israel from their Captivity in Babylon: This was such a manifestation of him, as I have spoken of. Now that we may take a little account hereof, pray consider the Calamity of that People; when they had been, as it were, long sick, and weakned, by divers sad events; they were in the close (as I may say) utterly slain: Multitudes fell by the Sword; mul­titudes dyed with Famine; multitudes with Pesti­lence; and the sorrowful remainder were carried away Slaves into a strange Land; their own in the mean time was devoured, and laid quite waste; their Cities were burnt with Fire; and (oh the grief of all) Jerusalem it self, and the Temple in it, (both rich Cabinet, and rare Jew­el) were consumed together. Then the appoint­ed Publick Service of God did utterly cease, and there was left no solemn Assembly in all the World to worship him. This was doleful, and verily deserving a whole Book of Lamentations. But think farther of their hopelesness in this hea­vy case; The Dry Bones in the Vision of [Page 13] Ezekiel 37th. chap. were an apt Emblem of their Condition. There was no likelihood at all of their Reviving; There appeared no way, no means in the Earth for their deliverance. Well might Jeremiah express it as he did, and say, Lam. 1. 2. The daughter of Zion weepeth sore in the night, and the Tears are on her Cheeks, and among all her Lo­vers there was none to comfort her. None at all, this was dark night indeed, horrour of darkness, and to say true, a shadow of death. But not­withstanding all the provocations that had been on their parts, and notwithstanding all this wrath on Gods part, yet he did determine to be Himself a Light unto them. He had taken order indeed aforehand by our Prophet that they should be comforted, effectually comforted, Com­fort ye, comfort ye my People, saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. I, but how so? Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, Isa. 40. 1, 2. It was foretold there should be an end, and issue out of even this their great, and desperate calamity. Oh but could that be, was there any possibility of [Page 14] it! Yes. The Lord undertook to do it him­self, to come in royal manner and do it; And as he undertook so he performed. He came in due time, and at his coming obstacles were removed, bonds loosed, dry bones gathered flesh, and lived, Judah was delivered. He blasted the Glory of the Caldeans that had brought this calamity upon them, and that became as the flower of the field, vers. the 8th. And he inclined the spirit of that generous victorious Persian to set them at liberty. And so those Jews as from their Graves returned to their dear Country. Je­rusalem and the Temple rose up out of their Ashes, were again builded, God was worship­ped again, their dark night became light. At this the Jews themselves were ravisht; They sung, When the Lord turned the Captivity of Zion then we were like them that dream. And the Heathen on each side of them were astonisht, and convinc'd at it, and acknowledged the God of Israel. Then said they among the Heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them, Psal. 126. 1, 2.

Lo, here was, (my Beloved) here was a Magnificent and real Manifestation of God, a making bare of his Arm, so as all flesh saw it. Here was a King-like coming forth of God to shew his People mercy; And well might the Pro­phet say, The voice of one crying in the Wil­derness, Prepare the way. This is one particular which is directly and primarily intended, in the Text, and in this Prophesie; And who should despair of the Church of God, even at the low­est ebb. But this was that I say which the Pro­phet did primarily, and (as I may term it) lite­rally here foretell; but God had yet a greater Mystery in it, and guided the words of the Prophet so as to signifie the same withal. The truth is, (Brethren) Gods great purpose was to send his own Son into the world, and there­fore his works, and (generally) all his words from the beginning had a Tincture of, and Reference to this. Many times when other things were up­permost, and most in view, yet they were but as the Shell, this was as the Kernel inclosed in them. The greatest Reference lay to our blessed [Page 16] Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now thus it was in this Prediction which I am handling, De­liverance from the Captivity of Babylon, lay up­permost, and was first in sight, but under it was signified, The coming of the Messiah, and of the Kingdom of Heaven by him. This is the second, the other great particular, of which I gave you intimation. Our Lord and Saviour the Son of God, ('tis true) came in great meanness, and the very form of a Servant, so he lived, and so he died. Let no person ever grudg to be put into a mean estate. He came in great abasement, but never was the like Manifestation of God from the beginning, nor shall be to the end. That very meanness there was, made it more mar­velous and magnificent. God was, God was in that despised in that Crucified Jesus, as never in any other. God was in him Reconciling the world unto himself; Breaking the Head of the old Serpent, and destroying his work, laying the Foundations of new Heavens, and a new Earth. God was in him executing, and acting, those great things upon which the hope of all [Page 17] former ages had been builded, and the faith of all after-generations was to be fixed; things that neither eye had seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of Man could ever have conceived, if God him­self had not revealed them. Nay, the same Je­sus was very God, manifested in the flesh; Oh magnificent, beyond compare, and divinely roy­al coming forth of the most High into the World! who is able to set forth, or to con­ceive all the glory of it. Men and Angels shall to eternity admire, and praise him for it.

But (Beloved) in this my Text for its part was very punctually fulfilled, and more expres­ly than it had been at the deliverance from Baby­lon. Before this coming of God in Jesus Christ, John the Baptist really was, the voice of one cry­ing in the Wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight. This the same John affirmed of himself, Joh. 1. 23. And this the other Evan­gelists with one consent affirm likewise of him, Mat. 3. 3. Mar. 1. 3. Luk 3. 4. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, was a thing eminently intended in this Prophesie. And then, [Page 18] if ever the glory of the Lord was revealed, and all flesh did, or well might see his Salva­tion.

Now thus you may see the Text compe­tently opened, and the observation which I have raised, also cleared, and verified, God in the course of his Providence over the present world, doth sometimes make magnifick and royal Manife­stations of himself; he hath so done indeed.

Now my dear Country-men and Friends, a passage, I will not say equal, but in a degree of this nature, a passage of this nature in our own Land, the present day of the Year doth bring to our Remembrance.

To exaggerate and to exalt the Acts and Successes of Kings and Rulers, above their just measure is an immodest and ignoble flattery; On the other hand to depretiate and to debase them below their real value is gross injury and malig­nity. The respects of Decency and Equity, of Conscience, and Religion, engage us to weigh the truth in all things, and judg according there­unto; this I have aimed to do. And hereupon, [Page 19] I must needs say, That the restoring of Royal Government in our Land, and the restoring of it in the Royal Person of our Soveraign, this was a Magnifick and royal effect of the hand of God, by whom Kings raign. Ye that are of Age may remember what our condition was. If some things did please a part of these Nations, yet the whole body reeled to and fro as having no firm ground to stand upon; We were as if these brave Islands had been taken off from their an­cient bottom, and floated, and been driven here and there on the Seas that do surround them. The most partial (I perswade my self) cannot, will not, gainsay it. The Setling of Authority and Rule upon a steady Basis, is the real strength and confirmation of States and King­doms, 'tis of bottom consequence unto all their welfare. And when for want of this Mens Hearts did well nigh fail at home, and Ene­mies did deride, and contemn, and design upon us from abroad, it pleased God himself to in­terpose, and to prepare a way in the Desart, a way where none was. It pleased God to come [Page 20] himself, and to re-erect the Throne, and to place our dear Country upon its proper Basis, to fix our Government; as if hereto had been the voice of him that crieth. The way was in an unusual, in an unthought of manner prepared prepared suddenly, Hearts inclined, Obstacles remo­ved, and the thing effected. I know (Beloved) ye are ready to join with me in a just Acclamation to it, and to say, It was the Lords doing, and is memorable in our account. 'Tis plain, God would not have it done by Plots or Insurrecti­ons, or force of Arms, he would not have the Kings way smoothed with the Peoples blood. No, the God of Peace determined to bring, and brought home the King in Peace: He is that God that ruleth in all the Kingdoms of th [...] World, and doth even whatsoever pleaseth him. Let us humbly and earnestly beseech him to Preserve the KING, to stablish the Throne, to be gra­cious to our dear Country; to second his former wonderful works, with renewed effects of his Divine Presence in all our need. Let us beseech him, that he please to make both Head and [Page 21] Body, both Soveraign, and Subjects faithfully mindful of, grateful for, answerable to his great Obligations upon them; they are great indeed, and what should England render, All, both its Princes, and People for his Benefits towards them. But (my Beloved) for our selves, ye know Religion, as to the main of it, is, respect for, and nearnest to God most high. He sheweth himself in his ordinary works, and his tokens are new every mor­ning. But sometimes he reveals his Glory, convinceth very Heathens themselves. He plainly manifested his Glory in Christ Jesus with unspeakable Grace; Oh know we him, and encrease in that knowledg of him; Believe him, and encrease in that believing him; Fear him, and encrease in that fear of him; Be near him in heart and life, and encrease in that divine nearness to him; Let our Religious­ness be in reality, for that God, the great object of it really is, is really glorious, really governeth now, and will judg with supream Authority hereafter. Be indeed a godly Peo­ple, [Page 22] since he indeed is God, and filleth every Age and Country with such Tokens of his Glory. Withal, trust we in him, He hath often done great things, things unlookt for, unthought of; He hath appeared to help the needy when there was no other help at all appearing. In the Churches, or in your own lowest Condition be not dismayed, nor let your hearts fail within you.

To close all for this time. Let me be in my poor measure the voice of one that crieth, and (much respected and beloved in Christ) Prepare ye the way of the Lord; For your parts, (not to speak of other things) God cometh to you in the Gospel, mighty to save; Oh let his way be ready that your Souls may live and rejoyce in his Salvation; Jesus Christ cometh in the Sacrament, ye that are particularly concerned, Prepare his way, examine, humble ye, reform ye, covet fresh evidences, and ensuring of your Union with him, that ye may draw nigh, and make his faithful pledges unto you, and feed your [Page 23] Soul unto eternal life. All of us, one with another in the name of God, and his Christ prepare we for his last, and greatest, his most Magnifick and Royal Manifestation of himself. Prepare we for that dreadful day when Christ shall appear in the Clouds, and all Nations be gathered before him, and every Soul re­ceive according to what hath been done in the Body, make ready in simplicity, and with earnest endeavour now, strive to be, and to do in all things, that ye may be then found in peace, without spot, and blameless, and be taken into his own, eternal, blessed King­dom, which can never be troubled, never be shaken.

Now, the Lord himself teach you all, and direct your Hearts, and Prepare your way, and be in the midst of you to all gracious saving Purposes for his Names sake. Amen.