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SERMON IX:

Of the Love of our COUNTRY.

A Thanksgiving SERMON,

Preach'd JUNE 27. 1706.

PSALM CXxii. 6.

Pray for the Peace of Jerufalem: They shall profper that love thee.

T

HIS is a Day of Joy and Vol. II.
Triumph; for who can

chufe but rejoyce to see
God vindicating the Ho-
nour of his Providence
chaftifing the Vain-glory

and Infolence of Man, afferting the Li-
berty of Europe, avenging the Sufferings

and

Vol. II. and Perfecutions of his Servants, and diffipating thofe Clouds and Terrors which have for many Years hung over this Nation in particular? Who can chuse but rejoice to see God reducing a Power that was the Idol of Slaves and fuperftitious Bigots, and the Terror of all that were hearty Friends to Law and Liberty, and fational Religion? God has, I fay, begun to do this, and if we behave our felves as we fhould, we have no reason to doubt but that he will make an End of his Work, and never draw back his Hand till he has utterly scatter'd the Force and baffled the Policy of the common Enemy and Oppreffor, and till this Sam. v. Dagon of the Philistines be thrown proftrate before the Ark of GOD without Head or Hands. This were a bleffed Iffue of our repeated, long, expensive, and bloody Wars: This would indeed procure the Peace and Profperity of our Jerufalem, and lay the Foundation of our Security in both: This would ftamp a true Value upon all thofe Bleffings which we derive from the Fruitfulness of our Soil, the Healthinefs of our Climate, and the Excellence of our Conftitution; our Rights and Poffeffions would no longer feem precarious, nor our Fears dafh our Enjoyments. I may therefore be confi

dent

dent you will tell me there is nothing Serm. that you are not ready to do, which may IX. contribute to this happy End. How inexcufable then will you be, if be, if you draw back and refuse your Affiftance, when I prefcribe you fuch Means as are both eafy and pleafant, as indeed I fhall? For I am not about to exhort you to jeopard your Lives in the high Places of the Field; to bear the Toil and Fatigue of long and tedious Marches thro' difficult, barren, or difaffected Countries; to undergo the Watching and Hunger of a long and ftrait Siege; or to die refolutely in a Breach, out-braving the Fire and the Sword of a defperate and implacable Enemy. No, no, all that I am to exhort you to is, to love your Country, and depend upon God; to feek Good from him, and to blefs and praise him when he confers, it upon us. Pray for the Peace of Jerufalem, they shall profper that love thee.

Jerufalem is here taken in the most extenfive Senfe for the whole Country of Judea, of which it was the Metropolis, i. e. the Head, the Heart, from whence Life and Strength were convey'd to all the other Members: This was the Fountain of Law, and of Religion, the Spring of Wealth, the Magazine of Power to the whole Nation. Here Priests and RabN

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Vol. H. bies, here the Judge and the Counsellor, here Kings, and here God himself in a peculiar manner made his Abode; and therefore no wonder if Jerufalem be taken for the whole Country of Judea, of which it was, I will not fay, the Epitome, but, as it were, the Soul, the Perfection, the Strength and Glory. Nor are we to take the Country of Judea here in a narrow and limited Senfe, but in the fulleft and wideft, z. e. not only in its Natural and Civil, but also in its Religious Capacity, as it imports Church and State incorporated together. By Peace we are to understand not only Quiet and Tranquility, but Wealth and Plenty, Strength and Unity, all that can be compris'd in Profperity, when crown'd with all the Security that is reasonable to be expected here below, without which the richeft Bloffings are almost infipid and taftelefs. .390 04

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The Words being thus explain'd, 'tis eafy to fee how I am to apply them, and what they will teach us, namely,

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I. That every Man ought to love his De Country."

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This Love is affign'd as the Reafon and Ground of our Prayer for it, Pray for

the

he Peace of Jerufalem, they shall profper Serm. hat love thee.

II. That every Man ought, as much
as in him lies, to promote the Peace
of it; Pray for the Peace of Jerufalem:

III. That our own Profperity, our own
Happiness, is the natural Refult of
this Deportment; They shall profper

that love thee.

I. That every Man ought to love his Country. The Pfalmift founds this Duty upon feveral Reafons, which are as applicable to us as they were to the Jews, and confequently evince our Obligation to this Duty to be as plain and strong as theirs could be.

1. The Confideration of our Conftitu tion and Laws; for there are fet Thrones of v. 5. Judgment: the Thrones of the House of Da

vid.

2. The Affection we ought to have for our Relations and Countrymen; for my Brethren and Companions Sakes I will now fay, Peace be within thee.

V. 8.

3. The Value we ought to have for the Religion we profefs; because of the v. g. Houfe of the Lord our God I will feek thy Good. To thefe we may add,

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4. The

IX.

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