briety at the time it self, it will follow, from SERM..

thence, as has been shewed under the

We

Third Head, That we ought to make the strictest Enquiry and Examination whether we have not done so, now the time is over. fee that the Days of his Sons Feastings were no fooner over, but Job rose up early in the Morning and fent and fanctified them. He lost no time, not so much as deferred a Day. If therefore we have followed the Example of his Sons in one respect, we ought to copy after their good Father in the other: If we have Feasted in our Houses, every one our Day, and fent and called for our Neighbours to eat and to drink with us; We ought, now the Days of our Feasting are gone about, to rise up early in the Morning, and to offer Burnt Offerings according to the Number of us all : i. e. we should every one of us examine into our paft Behaviour, and endeavour to atone for whatever may have been rashly committed, or have inconfiderately flipped from us, fince it may be, notwithstanding all our Caution, that we have finned and cursed GOD in our Hearts. This will certainly have that good Effect upon us, as to make us more watchful over our selves for the Future, and not so apt to give the Reins to our unreasonable Inclinations.

2

I.

tions. Besides which, we have this further Advantage from an early Examination, that our Slips and Errors will not so soon have escaped us, but that, by a little Reflection, we may soon call them to mind : Whereas when we go on for any confiderable time unexamined, one Sin may drive out another, and so a great many Sins go unrepented of: Our Memory, for the generality, being very frail where it is irksome to us to have it otherwise.

I shall only add one thing more, and that is, that a bare Suspicion that we have finned and offended GOD, during this Season, is ground enough to seek Reconcilement with Him. Job only faid, It may be that my Sons have finned, but yet That he thought a fufficient Reason why he should fend and fanctify them. And I fear there are very few of us, but of whom it may be said without Offence, It may be that we have finned : And therefore, though we may not accuse our selves in our present Thoughts of any Offence; yet the bare Possibility of having offended should be sufficient to prompt us to the Examination I have been discoursing of: That so whatever we may have been guilty of, in commemorating the First Coming of our Lord in Humility, may be forgiven us upon our Repen

',

I.

Repentance, and all of us be admitted to meet SERM.
Him at His Second Coming in Glory, with Joy
and Gladness...

Which Gon of his Infinite Mercy grant for
the fake of the fame, his most dearly be-
loved Son Jefus Christ our Lord, to whom
with the Father, and the Holy Ghost,
be ascribed, as is most due, all Honour and
Glory Might, Majesty and Dominion, now
and for ever.

Amen.

VOL. I.

D

SERMON

SERM.
II.

SERMON II.

The Schools of the PROPHETS.

AMOS vii. 14, 15.

Then answered Amos, and faid to Amaziah, I was no Prophet, neither was I a Prophet's Son; but I was an Herdman, and a Gatherer of Sycomore Fruit.

And the LORD took me, as I followed the Flock, and the LORD faid unto me, Go, prophesy unto my People Ifrael.

Ting

O come at the full Sense and Meanof these Words, we have no Occafion to look any further backward than to the tenth Verse. We may there read that this Amaziah, to whom the Prophet here speaks, was the idolatrous Priest of Bethel, which was one of the High-Places where Jeroboam, the Son of Nebat, had erected a Calf for the Ten Tribes to worship, to prevent their returning to their Allegiance to the King

A

II.

King of Judah, 1 Kings xii. 26, &c. which SERM. they would have been apt to have done, had they still continued to go up, as formerly, to do Sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerufalem. The occasion of the Answer, which Amos makes to Amaziah, was a Complaint of that Prieft against the Prophet, for preaching against the Idolatry committed at these Places, and denouncing for that Reason, Destruction with the Sword, Amos vii. 9. against the House of Jeroboam, then King of Ifrael. This, we must be sensible, must very nearly concern the Interest, as well as the Honour, of Amaziah: Infomuch that it is no wonder if he should endeavour, by the best Stratagem he could contrive, to rid himself of so troublesome and dangerous an Adversary. He therefore sends a Complaint of him to the King, and, the more effectually to bring upon him the Royal Displeasure, accuses him of Sedition, Conspiracy and Treason: Allegations of this Nature, as they are founded upon Malice, must be supported with Lies: And so the Context informs us this was. Amos, as I have observed, had threatened the House of Jeroboam with Destruction by the Sword: Not that the Prophet spake maliciously against the King, but as tenderly forewarning him of a