his Servants fome better thing, in Reparation of the Loffes, fuftained in their prefent State. 'Tis allowed, thefe Infants wanted the Will of Martyrdom, which riper Years may have; But then it must be allowed too, that they were clear of that voluntary and actual Guilt, which those riper Years would have contracted. The whole Matter then feems to stand thus. Temporal Death is the Punishment of Original Sin. This God had a Right to inflict, and to choose his own Time and Manner of doing it. And therefore Convulfions, or a Fever, or any other mortal Disease, incident to that tender Age, is as much a Reflection upon the Providence of God, as the permitting them to fall by the Sword, a Sacrifice to the Rage of a merciless Tyrant.

But then for a frail, a short, a troublesome, a dangerous Life, God gave them the Recompence of an immortal, a fecurely happy, a completely glorious One. Happy in fuch a Degree, as to confider their Innocence and their Sufferings, and the noble Fruit, which might have fprung from thofe tender Plants, had they been allowed to grow to full Maturity. Herein then, not only the Juftice of God is vindicated, but his Liberality, and the Goodness of his Providence, was glorified. For happy fure were They, who fo quickly made their Port. Happy, who fo efcaped the Storms and Hazards, the Temptations and Defilements, of a boisterous and naughty World. Happy, who received fo bountiful a Reward for that Injuftice of a barbarous Murderer, who faved most effectually, whom he meant to deftroy; and fent them before, into the Joy of Him, for whose fake they became a Prey to implacable Malice, and unrelenting Fury.

V. Fifthly, In the midft of fo many melancholy Obfervations, we have this to comfort us, that Herod, notwithstanding all his Endeavours to make the Destruction of our Saviour fure, was yet difappointed. And indeed the Vanity of wicked Men is fcarcely more confpicuous

in any one Inftance, than in the fond Imaginations they flatter themselves with, of being able to compass their Ends, in rooting out thofe, whom God refolves to preferve. He may, and does, fuffer their mischievous Intentions to fucceed, fometimes, and in fome degree; but, when he pleases to interpofe, no Subtlety, no Force, not all the Counfels, not all the Armies upon Earth, not all the Stratagems in either, can prevail. For His is that watchful Eye, ever open to discover the Snares of Death laid for his beloved ones. His that over-ruling Hand, that hews them in pieces, and fays to the Overflowings of Ungodliness, as well as to those of the Great Deep, Hither fhall ye go, and no farther, and here will I stop your proud Waves. In fhort, he fo orders the Matter, that, both by the Succeffes he permits, and by those he forbids, his own Glory, and the Good of his faithful Servants, fhall moft certainly be promoted.

Acts xii.

Ifai. xxxvii.

The Ways of bringing this about are various. Sometimes he does it by an immediate, visible, and miraculous Exertion of his Almighty Power; And thus St. Peter was released out of Prison, when Chains, and Bars, and Iron-Gates, opened to him of their own accord. Sometimes by cutting fhort the Enemy, and sweeping them away with a fwift Deftruction; and thus the Hoft of Affyrians, who lay ready to devour Jerufalem, were in One Night flain by a destroying Angel. At other times, by preventing Surprises, giving timely Warnings, and furnishing Leifure and Opportunities for an Escape; and thus Jofeph here was, with the young Child and his Mother, difpatched away into Egypt. But be it by Thefe, or by any other Methods, that fuch merciful Intentions take effect; ftill It is the Lord's doing: And the Natural Inference from hence, to all that attend to thefe Events as they ought, will be that mentioned by the Pfalmift, Verily there is a Recompence for the X 4

Ver. 13.

Pfal. lviii. 10.

Righteous,

Righteous, Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the Earth.

Such are the Observations proper for this Festival, which we shall do well to improve, and apply in the following manner.

1. The dismal Effects of Herod's Ambition and Rage, should warn us always to behave our felves with Temper and Moderation. Efpecially that we do fo, when our Enemies, or those that provoke us, lie at our Mercy. Greatness and Wealth are apt to turn our Heads. But the Effects of Infolence to their Brethren are never more deplorable, than when Men have the Temptation of Power, to crush those despised things that lie below them. Of all Perfons therefore Anger is leaft proper for Princes, who can fcatter Death and Defolation, with a Word of their Mouths. And, in proportion, it must mif- become all Superiors to their Inferiors: because this Paffion generally fpurs Men on, to do the utmost they can do; and Men are fcarce ever very angry, without being very unjuft. 'Tis fit then this unthinking, unruly Evil, fhould be held in with Bit and Bridle; and, the lefs any Man's Condition reftrains him, from making his Refentments of tragical Confequence to others; the feverer Restraint, and more steady Government, ought fuch a Man to keep over himself.

2. The Steps, taken by Herod, toward this defperate Wickedness, fhould particularly deter us from Hypocrify and Diffimulation. But above all, from that most impious Inftance of it, the pretending Religion for a Cover to any unlawful and devilish Contrivances. For I cannot but think it proper to obferve, that the Next thing we hear of Herod, after his diffembled Intention to come and worship Jefus, when his real Intent was to kill him, is the barefaced Butchery of this Day. And thus it often happens. Men find a formal Shew of Religion cannot compass thofe Ends, it was put on to ferve, or to disguise; and then they prefently throw off the Mask,

and

and lay afide all Shame, all manner of regard for God and their Duty. Nor is it indeed much to be wondred at, that thofe Wretches fhould be given over to the blackest of Crimes, and most fatal of all Delufions who have finned against their best Remedy, and proftituted the very Ordinances of God, to an Artifice for rendring themselves more fuccessful, in carrying on the Service of the Devil.

;

3. What hath been argued in Vindication of the Divine Juftice and Goodness, with regard to the Sin of Herod, and the Death of these Children, fhould difpofe us to entertain, with Patience and much Meekness, not only the Sufferings laid upon us by God's immediate Hand; but likewife thofe, which we endure from the wrongful Dealings of wicked and unreasonable Men. The Injustice cannot, in this Cafe, be greater than Herod's, nor can our Innocence be more, than that of those Infants. Since then we have been taught by this Example, that Perfons, the most inoffenfive and undeferving, may be perfecuted even to the Death, without any juft Reflection, either upon their own Virtue thus opprefs'd, or that Providence which permits it to be fo opprefs'd: Our Method in this Cafe fhould be, to take Sanctuary in the Peace of a good Conscience, to look up with a holy Refignation of Mind to the wife Difpofer of every Event; and to truft his Mercy, for the neceffary Comforts, the abundant Compenfation, of all the Hardships he fees fit for us to undergo. Which yet we should not undergo any one of, were it not more for His Honour, nay, more for Our Advantage, to have it thus, than otherwife. For

4. The Remembrance of Herod's Disappointment fhould quicken, and establish our Hope and Faith in God. When Dangers hem us in, and our Enemies on every fide thrust fore at us that we may fall, then let us call to mind, that He, who rescued his own Son, can never want means to deliver any Son and Seryant of His, when

4

fuch

314 fuch Deliverance is seasonable and proper. But temporal Deliverances are not always Seafonable, not always moft beneficial. And therefore our chief and moft earneft Defire should be, that we may find his Affiftance and Protection always at hand, to fupport us in our Spiritual Encounters. For, let our prefent Difficulties be what they will, all will certainly be well at laft, provided he do but grant the Petition offered up to him this Day; That is, So to mortify and kill all Vices in us, that by the Innocency of our Lives, and the Conftancy of our Faith even unto Death, we may Glorify his boly Name, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Sunday after CHRISTMAS-DAY.

PARAPHRASE.

I, 2. I would not be thought, by any thing that went before, to derogate from the just Privileges of the Jewish Church. 'Tis certain

The COLLECT the fame with that of

I.

"Ν

Christmas-Day.

The EPISTLE.

Galat. iv. I.

OW I fay that the Heir, as long as he is a Child, differeth nothing from a Servant, though be be Lord of all.

2. But is under Tutors and Governours, until the time appointed of the Father.

they were defigned by God to inherit the Promifes made by God to Abraham, from whom they defcended. But the difference between that and the Chriftian Difpenfation, may be conveniently enough represented, by the cafe of an Heir under Age Who, though he have an undoubted Title to his Father's Estate, is yet, during his minority, kept under fuch difcipline, as is proper for the Circumftances of his Age and Education, and committed to the Care of Directors and Teachers, who exercise Authority over him, as if he were a common Servant. And this fubjection he continues in, till the state of Manhood, and the time, prefixed for his taking poffeffion of his Estate, is come.

3, 4, 5. Thus, though the Church of God, like that Heir, was ftill but one and the fame, yet it was treated differently, according to the dif ferent Exigencies and Capacities of the Per

3. Even fo We, when we were Children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

4. But when the fulness of time was come, God fent forth bis Son, made of a woman, made under the Law.

5. To redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons.

fons