SERMON III. 59 The First Sermon on this Text. LUKE XVII. 17. Were there not Ten cleansed? but where are the Nine? O UR Saviour, whofe Delight it had in three Years time fince his Bap there 1 46. there met him no less than Ten Lepers. The Law indeed had exprefsly commanded, that the Leper fhould always Dwell Lev. xiii. Alone; but doubtless the Meaning and Defign of the Law was, only to provide for the Security of those that were as yet Sound and Clean, and preserve Them from the Danger they might be in of taking the Infection, if they were fuffer'd to Converfe promifcuously with those that were Leprous and Unclean; but not to debar those Miserable Creatures, (that were already by their Unhappy Fate cut off, and deprived of the Common Society of Mankind,) from those small Remains of Comfort that in their Sad Eftate their Mutual Affiftances might administer to each other. Accordingly we find that their Common Calamity, (the ufual Bond of Amity and Affection,) had made fo many of them, though of different Parties and Principles, (even Jews and Samaritans,) affociate and band themselves together. And whether it was that Guardian Providence which takes a Peculiar Care of the Miferable and Afflicted, that guided their Steps to the Place where our Saviour was to pafs, or whether upon the Fame of his Miraculous Cures they were now in queft of his Merciful Relief, it is needless to Enquire or Con jecture. jecture. But fo it was, that as our Saviour pafs'd along, They, ftanding off at that due distance that Lepers ought to keep, All with one Confent and a Loud Voice, fuch as might reach our Saviour at That distance, and withal express the Vehemency of their Request, earneftly implor'd his gracious Affiftance; v. 12, 13. They stood afar off; and they lifted up their Voice and faid, Fefus Mafter, Have Mercy on us. Hereupon He who had given fo many Rules of Doing Good to All, and who never fail'd upon any Occafion to exemplifie the Precepts he had given, had Compaffion on them, and fent them to the Priests, whom God had Appoint ed, upon a Cure, to Pronounce the Leper Lev.xiii. Clean; That fo the Priests might in this Cafe become not only, as the Law had conftituted them, Judges of the Leprosy and its Cure, but alfo Witneffes of the Miracle. For the Jews tell us, that it was the Conftant Belief of their Forefathers, that None could Cure the Leproly but God Alone. And therefore when the King of Syria fent Naaman to the King of Ifrael to Cure him of his Leprofy, we are told that He Rent his Clothes, (as was wont to be done upon the Hearing of any Thing that founded like Blafphemy,) He Rent his Clothes and said, 7. Am 2Kings v. Am I a God to kill and to make Alive, that this Man doth fend unto Me to Recover a Man of his Leprofy? So that would they but have ftood to their own Principle, they must have therein difcern'd and acknowledg'd a more than Human Pow er, when the Lepers were Healed barely by the Word of his Mouth. Indeed All that our Saviour had faid to them, .14. was only to bid them Go show your felves to the Priests: But there was therein contained an Implicite Promise, that they should find themfelves Cur'd as they were on the way, before they could come to Offer for their Cleanfing: And fo it came to pafs, v. 14. That as they went they were Cleanfed. They were All Cleanfed; All were Equal Sharers of the Mercy, as they had All been equally Earneft and Solicitous in their Humble Supplications for it: And they All, before their Cure, appear'd to have an Equal Degree of Faith: For, though they had no Express Promife from Our Saviour, nor was there any Immediate Appearance of a Cure, yet without Expoftulation, or any Scruple or Objection, they All readily went to the Priests as they were commanded, in Faith and Confidence of it. But then as soon as they found they were made Whole, and were Legally. ab abfolved from their Uncleannefs, they presently go about their Secular Affairs, every One his way, as their Occafions led them; fo that of All the Ten that were Cleanfed, there was but One that returned to give Glory to God: And He (we are told Ver. 16.) was a Samaritan Stranger; One that had not been us'd to Miracles and Mercies; and therefore fets a juft Value on This. Whereupon our Saviour takes an Occafion to Reprove and Upbraid the Vile Ingratitude of those Jews, the Other Nine that did not Return to give God the Glory; in the Words of my Text Fefus answering faid, Were there not Ten Cleanfed, but Where are the Nine? And This Reproof of their Ingratitude does equally concern All of us, that are Ungrateful to God for Any kind of Mercies that he has Vouchfaf'd us. I fhall therefore take Occafion from thence to Difcourfe on these Following Heads. I. I fhall confider, What Obligations or Grounds of Gratitude we have to God, for the Many Mercies and Benefits that we have received from him. II. I fhall confider, how we ought to perform this Duty of Gratitude to God, and |