with the people of thefe abominations, by whom they had been detained in a long captivity; this, I fay, feems to have had, both from the nature of the thing, and the juft judgment of God, no fmall influence upon a great part of the miferies and calamities which have befallen us. For had it not been for the countenance which Popery had by the marriages and alliances of our princes, for two or three generations together, with thofe of that religion, it had not probably had a continuance among us to this day which will, I hope, now be a good warning to those who have the authority to do it, to make effectual provifion by law for the prevention of the like inconvenience and mifchief in this nation for ever.

2. Another parallel between our cafe and that in the text is, that God hath punished us less than our iniquities did deferve. And this acknowledgment we have as much reafon to make for ourselves, as Ezra had to do it in behalf of the Jews: Thou our God haft punished us lefs than our iniquities deferve. Thou our God haft punijhed us; there is the reafon of fo much mercy and mitiga tion. It is God, and not man, with whom we have to do; and therefore it is that we the children of men are not confumed. And it is our God likewife, to whom we have a more peculiar relation, and with whom, by virtue of our profeffion of Chriftianity, we are in covenant : Thou our God haft punished us less than our iniquities deServe. He might juftly have poured forth all his wrath, and have made his jealousy to have smoked against us, and have blotted out the remembrance of us from under heaven; he might have given us up to the will of our enemies, and into the hands of those whofe tender mercies are cruelty; he might have brought us into the net which they had fpread for us, and have laid a terrible load of affliction upon our loins, and fuffered infolent men to ride over our heads, and them that hated us with a perfect hatred to have had the rule over us: but he was graciously pleased to remember mercy in the midst of judgment, and to repent himself for his fervants, when he faw that their power was gone; and that things were come to that extremity, that we were in all human probability utterly unable to have wrought out our own deliverance.

3. The laft parallel between our cafe and that in the

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text is, the great and wonderful deliverance which God hath wrought for us. And whilft I am fpeaking of this, God is my witness, whom I ferve in the gospel of his Son, that I do not fay one word upon this occafion-in flattery to men, but in true thankfulness to almighty God; and constrained thereto from a juft fenfe of his great mercy to us all, in this marvellous deliverance, in this mighty falvation which he wrought for us. So that we may fay with Ezra, Since thou our God haft given us fuch a deliverance as THIS; fo great, that we know not how to compare it with any thing but itself. God hath given us this deliverance. And therefore, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the praife: for thou knoweft, and we are confcious to ourselves, that we did in no ways deferve it, but quite the contrary. God hath given it, and it ought to be fo much the welcomer to us for coming from fuch a hand. It is the Lord's doing, and therefore ought to be the more marvellous in our eyes. It is a deliverance full of mercy, and, I had almost said, full of miracle: the finger of God was visibly in it; and there are plain fignatures and characters upon it, of a more immediate divine interpofition. And if we will not wifely confider the Lord's doing, we have reafon to stand in awe of that threatening of his, Pfal. xxviii. 5. Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the ope ration of his hands, he shall deftroy them, and not build them up.

It was a wonderful deliverance indeed, if we confider all the circumstances of it: the greatness of it; the strangenefs of the means whereby it was brought about; and the fuddennefs and eafinefs of it.

The greatness of it. It was a great deliverance, from the greatest fears, and from the greatest dangers; the apparent and imminent danger of the faddeft thraldom and bondage, civil and fpiritual, both of foul and body.

And it was brought about in a very extraordinary manner, and by very ftrange means: whether we confider the greatnefs and difficulty of the enterprize; or the clofeness and fecrecy of the defign, which must of neceffity be communicated at leaft to the chief of those who were to affift and engage in it, especially the states of the United Provinces, who were then in fo much dan

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ger themselves, and wanted more than their own forces for their own defence and fecurity, (a kindness never to be forgotten by the English nation); and, befides all this, the difficulties and difappointments which happened, after the defign was open and manifeft, from the uncertainties of wind and weather, and many other accidents impoffible to be foreseen and prevented and yet in conclufion a strange concurrence of all things on all fides, to bring the thing which the providence of God intended to a happy iffue and effect.

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And we must not here forget the many worthies of our nation, who did fo generously run all hazards of life and fortune, for the prefervation of our religion, and the afferting of our ancient laws and liberties.

Thefe are all strange and unusual means: but, which is stranger yet, the very counfels and methods of qur enemies did prepare the way for all this; and perhaps more effectually, than any counsel and contrivance of our own could have done it. For even the Jesuits, thofe formal politicians by book and rule, without any confideration, or true knowledge of the temper, and interest, and other circumftances of the people they were designing upon, and had to deal withal; and indeed without any care to know them: I fay, the Jefuits, who, for fo long a time, and for fo little reafon, have affected the reputation of the deepest and craftieft ftatefmen in the world, have upon this great, occafion, and when their whole kingdom of darkness lay at stake, by a more than ordinary infatuation and blindness, fo outwitted and over-reached themselves in their own counfels, that they have really contributed as much, or more, to our deliverance from the deftruction which they had defigned to bring upon us, than all our wifeft and best friends could have done.

And then, if we confider further, how fudden and furprifing it was, fo that we could hardly believe it when it was accomplished; and, like the children of Ifrael, when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. When all things were drivingon furiously, and in great haste, then God gave an unexpected check to the defigns of men, and stopped them in their full career. Who among us could have ima

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gined but a few months ago, fo happy and so speedy an end of our fears and troubles? God hath at once scattered all our fears, and outdone all our hopes, by the greatnefs and fuddenness of our deliverance. O that men would praife the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

And, laftly, if we confider the cheapnefs and eafiness of this deliverance. All this was done without a battle, and almost without blood. All the danger is, left we should lothe it, and grow fick of it, because it was fo very easy. Had it come upon harder terms, and had we waded to it through a Red fea of blood, we would have valued it more. But this furely is great wantonnefs, and, whatever we think of it, one of the higheft provocations imaginable. For there can hardly be a fouler and blacker ingratitude towards almighty God, than to flight fo great a deliverance, only because it came to us fo eafily, and hath coft us so very cheap.

I will mention but one circumstance more, which may not be altogether unworthy our obfervation: That God feems, in this laft deliverance, in fome fort to have united and brought together all the great deliverances which he hath been pleafed to work for this nation, against all the remarkable attempts of Popery from the beginning of our reformation. Our wonderful deliverance from the formidable Spanish invafion defigned against us, happened in the year 1588 and now, juft a hundred years after, God was pleafed to bring about this last great and most happy deliverance. That horrid gunpowder confpiracy, without precedent, and without parallel, was defigned to have been executed upon the fifth day of November; the fame day upon which his Highnefs the Prince of Orange landed the forces here in England, which he brought hither for our rescue. So that this is a day every way worthy to be folemnly fet apart and joyfully celebrated by this church and nation throughout all generations, as the fitteft of all other to comprehend, and to put us in mind to commemorate all the great deliverances, which God hath wrought for us, from Popery, and its infeparable companion, arbitrary power. And we may then fay with the holy Pfalmift,

Pfal.

Pfal. cxviii. 23. 24. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Secondly, As the cafe in the text is much like ours, fo let us take heed, that the doom and fentence there be not fo too. If after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trefpafs, and fince God hath punifhed us less than our iniquities did deferve; fhould we again break his commandments, and join in affinity with the people of thefe abominations, would he not be angry with us till he had confumed us, fo that there should be no remnant nor efcaping? What could we in reafon expect after all this, but utter ruin and destruction? We may here apply, as St. Paul does God's dealing with the people of Ifrael, to the times of the gofpel: for he fpeaks of it, as an example and admonition to all ages to the end of the world. Now these things, fays the Apostle, I Cor. x. 6. 7. 9. 10. 11. were our examples, to the intent we should not luft after evil things, as they alfo lufted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were fome of them, &c. Neither let us tempt Chrift, as fome of them alfo tempted, and were deftroyed of ferpents. For the explication of this paffage, we must have recourse to the hiftory, which gives this account of it, Numb. xxi. 5. 6. And the people fpake against God, and against Mofes, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? &c. impeaching God, and his fervant Mofes, as if, by this deliverance, they had put them into a much worfe condition, than they were in when they were in Egypt. And the Lord fent fiery ferpents among the people; and they bit the people, and much people of Ifrael died. But how was this a tempting of Chrift? Neither let us tempt Chrift, as fome of them alfo tempted; that is, let not us, now under the gofpel, tempt our Saviour and Deliverer, as the Ifraelites did theirs, by flighting that great deliverance, and by speaking against God, and against Mofes. Neither murmur ye, as fome of them alfo murmured, and were destroyed of the deftroyer. And how far this may concern us, and all others, to the end of the world, who shall tempt Chrift, the great patron and deliverer of his church, and murmur without caufe, as the Ifraelites did, at the deliverances which he works for

them,