RIGHT REJOICING. LUKE x. 20. NOTWITHSTANDING, IN THIS REJOICE NOT, THAT THE SPIRITS ARE SUBJECT TO YOU; BUT RATHER REJOICE BECAUSE. YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN ÍN HEAVEN. RIGHT HONORABLE, WORSHIPFUL, AND' BELOVED AUDITORS, IF any of you shall say, upon the hearing of my text, that I have chosen a subject unsuitable to the occasion, and that a " rejoice' not" is out of season on a day of such rejoicing, they may, I hope, be well satisfied by that time they have considered the reason of these words, as used by Christ to his disciples, and the greater joy that is here commanded, and so the reason of my choice. When Christ had sent forth his seventy disciples to preach the gospel through the cities of Judea, and to confirm it by, miraculous cures, for which he endued them with power from above, upon their return they triumph especially in this, that "the devils them- selves were subject to them through the name of Christ ; " ver. 17. Amercy which Christ is so far fromextenuating, that, 1. 'He sets it forth more fully than they, (ver. 18.) " I beheld Satan as lightning fall fromheaven." 2. He promised them yet more of it, " giving them power to tread on serpents, and on scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and that nothing should by any means hurt them." 3. He rejoiceth in spirit, and thankfully ac- knowledged it to the Father himself; -ver. 21. And yet he seems here to forbid them to rejoice in it, commanding them another joy. What! was it not a mercy to be rejoiced in? or is there any contradiction in the words of Christ ? Neither: he doth not absolutely forbid them to rejoice in it; but he saw that their corruption took an advantage by it, to, puff them úp with pride and vain-glory, and that they savored it too carnally, and were much taken with it, as it was a visible triumph and honor to themselves, the instruments, ánd too much overloòked the end and use of it. Christ therefore aggravateth the mercy in its proper notion, as it was to the honoring of the Father and himself, and the advancement of his kingdom, and the saving of men's souls, by the confirmation of the gospel, and the fall of Satan:
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