CONTENTS SECOND VOLUME. ERMON I. Pfal. xxvii. 13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to fee the goodness of the Lord in the land SERM. II. Pfal. xxxix. 13. O fpare me, that I may recover fhall not want any good thing. SERM. IV. Pfal. lxxxiii. 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee, thou haft holden me by my right hand. SERM. V. Pfal. xcvii. 11. Light is fown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. SERM. VI. Pfal. cxvi. 7. Return unto thy reft, O my foul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. SERM. VII. Pfal. cxix. 92. Unless thy law had been my de- lights, I fhould then have perished in mine Affliction. p. 130 SERM. VIII. Cant. i. 12. While the King fitteth at his table, my fpikenard fendeth forth the Smell thereof. p. 150 SERM. IX. Cant. ii. 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his. SERM. X. Ezek. xlvii. 11. But the miry places thereof, and and the marishes thereof, fhall not be healed, they shall be SERM. XI. Mat. xv. 21-28. Then Jefus went thence, and departed into the coafts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the fame coafts, and cried unto him, faying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil. But he answered her not a word, &c. SERM. XII. Mat. xxii. 11, 12, 13. And when the King came in to fee the guests, he faw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: And he faith unto him, friend, SERM. XIII. Luke vii. 41, 42, 43. There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors; the one owed five bun- dred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had no- thing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me there- fore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and faid, I fuppofe that he to whom he forgave moft. And be faid unto him, Thou haft rightly judged. p. 254 SERM. XIV. Luke xvi. 2. Give an account of thy Steward- SERM. XV. Luke xxii. 15. And he faid unto them, with defire I have defired to eat this Paffover with you before SERM. XVI. John vi. 67, 68. Then faid Jefus unto the twelve, will ye alfo go away? Then Simon Peter anfwer- ed him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words SERM. XVII. John xii. 20, 21. And there were certain Greeks among them, that came up to worship at the feaft: The fame came therefore to Philip, which was of Beth- faida of Galilee, and defired him, saying, Sir, we would SERM. XVIII. John xvii. 24. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that SERM. XIX. I Theff. ii. 19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jefus Chrift at his Coming? SERM. XX. and XXI. Phil. ii. 12, 13. own falvation with fear and trembling. that worketh in you, both to will and to ས [1] SERMON I PSALM XXVII. 13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to See the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living. T HE words in the original are abrupt, as being uttered under great commotion and deep fenfe of mind. This Pfalmift having mentioned the trials to which he was expofed, fhews the great impreffion the thoughts of them made upon him, and how fad his cafe had been, were it not for the fupports of faith he had afforded him: Unless, faith he, I had believed to fee the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living, i. e. I cannot fay what had become of me: I had surely fainted, been overwhelmed, and quite dead. By the land of the living, is often meant the prefent world, in oppofition to the grave, the State of the dead: And fo David might refer to the mercy God had promifed him upon earth, which he comforted himfelf with the expectation of; but I cannot fuppofe him to have left out the great things referved in heaven, thofe VOL. II. which B which the goodness of God hath there laid up for thofe that love him; things which eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man to conceive of. Heaven may well be stiled the land of the living: it is the world where there is no more death, nor forrow, nor crying, &c. in comparison of which, this world is a state of mortality, into which we are born with tears, brought forth to trouble, and muft e'er it be long, leave it. Some of the Hebrew Commentators understand this phrafe, the land of the living, to set forth the future ftate of life above; and upon this the Pfalmift's hope chiefly and ultimately fixed, as what was neceffary and fufficient to his fupport: And all God's faints fhould imitate him. I had fainted, unless I had believed to fee the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Doct. Such is the condition of faints upon earth, that only the faith of feeing the goodness of God in the better world, can keep them from fainting in the way to it. If in this life only we shall have hope in Chrift, we are of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. I fpeaking to this, I shall I. Briefly confider the condition of faints in this prefent world, as to the trials they are subject to. II. How the foul is to be engaged by faith, in reference to the bleffedness of heaven: which we shall here understand by the goodness of the -Lord in the land of the living. III. Whence, and in what manner faith keeps us from fainting, and conduces to our fupport in |
