pressing and inculcating it upon them This as he does in many other Scriptures besides so amongst the rest in this present Text which we have now before us THE Text is nothing else but a Discovery and Intimation to us of that special and singular Delight which God takes in his People which is here considerable of us two manner of wayes First Absolutely and Emphatically and by way of simple Proposition He delights in them Secondly Exclusively or Comparitively and by way of Relative Opposition He delights in none else or so much as he does in those c. Each of these are here exhibited to us We begin with the Former Namely the Truth as it is considerable in its simple Proposition and deliver'd Emphatically The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Where those words of them that fear him are again considerable under a twofold Notion First As a General Description of the Saints and Servants of God and so they are taken by way of Specification Secondly As a Particular account of Gods Delight and taking pleasure in them and so they are taken by way of Reduplication For the first Take them Specificatively as they are a General Description of God's people which they usually are in Scripture And so the Lord takes pleasure in them God does very much delight in his People That 's the point which we have now before us Thus Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with salvation The Church is call'd Hephzibah which signifies My delight is in her Isa 62.4 And the Prophet there gives the reason of it Because the Lord delighteth in thee Prov. 11.20 They that are of a froward heart are an Abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in the way are his Delight For the better opening of this present Point unto us There are divers things which are here considerable in the People of God as to which the Lord himself may be said to delight and take pleasure in them First He takes pleasure in their Persons and delights in them That which was said more particularly of Daniel in Dan. 8.23 that he was Ish chamoudhim A man of Desires or as we Translate it greatly beloved it may be in a sort applyed to all the Saints and Servants of God they are Persons in special Favour and Acceptance with God and He is very much delighted in them Thus He is so far forth as they Members of his son Jesus Christ and by Faith incorporate into Him Christ he is the First Lovely The Son of Gods Love His Dear Son as he is call'd Col. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all true Believers they are accepted and beloved in Him He hath made us accepted in his Beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1.6 This is my Beloved son in whom I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleased not onely with him but in Him With Him for himself and with all his Members in and through Him and for His sake Whiles God looks upon a Believer as clothed with the Righteousness of Christ and made one with him He cannot but take pleasure in Him and so he does Thus Christ expresses it Himself in His Prayer to his Father Joh. 17.26 I have declared thy Name unto them and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast Loved me may be in them and I in them The same Love that God bears to Christ Himself he does proportionally bear also to all those that are Members of Christ This is the Difference now betwixt the children of God and other men As for the men of the world and such who are as yet remains in their Natural and Carnal Condition God hath no delight in them at all but their very Persons are odious to Him so considered As they take no pleasure in God so neither does he in them Heb. 10.38 They are said to be an Abomination to Him to be abhorr'd of Him to be such as his soul hates and such expressions as these My soul loathed them and their soul abhored me as he sayes of the evil Shepherds in Zech. 11.8 This is a sad and miserable Condition where ever it happens to be so but now on the other side for those who are his Servants they are very acceptable unto him and takes a great deal of delight in them and that as I said especially from that Relation which they bear to Christ who is his first beloved Behold my servant whom I uphold Mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth It is spoken particularly of Christ Isa 42.1 And the Comfort and Benefit of it does redound to all Believors by Reflection from him And that 's one Explication of God's taking pleasure or delight in his servants to wit first of all in their Persons Secondly As He takes pleasure in their Persons so also He takes pleasure in their Graces and those Heavenly Qualifications which are in them This He does especially as they are so many Reflexions of himself and expressions of his own Image in them The Graces of several Christians they are the work of the Spirit of God in them which are therefore so far forth delightful to God Himself as he is much pleased to observe them in them upon that consideration There are two special Denominations which the Scripture puts upon Christians as we shewed before His Sons and the work of his hands And in reference to either of them does God delight in them for their Graces First As they are his children who are regenerate and born again to himself and so are as it were the Image of Himself as the Son is of the Father Partakers of his Holiness and partakers of the Divine Nature as the Scripture expresses both unto us in Heb. 12.10 and in 2 Pet. 1.4 God delights in them so And then Secondly As they are his workmanship created by Him in Christ Jesus to good works as the Apostle also expresses it Eph. 2.10 He delights in them so far forth likewise Thirdly He takes pleasure in their Prayers and their Applications of themselves unto Him He takes very great Delight in these also Job 42.8 My servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept Job had Acceptance with God in Prayer which his Friends had not So Cornelius Act. 10.3 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God Prov. 15.8 The Sacrifice of the wicked are an Abomination to Lord But the Prayer of the upright is his delight Let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voyce and thy Countenance is comely sayes Chirst to His Spouse Cant. 2.14 Thy voyce that is the voyce of thy Prayers This is as sweet and pleasant Musick which sounds in the ears of God and Christ Fourthly and lastly In the Services of his People He takes pleasure also in them He Delights very much to improve them and to make use
instance we may see in Job whom when the Devil labor'd to traduce and slander he could do no mischief against him forasmuch as the Lord himself had acquitted him and set him free Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in all the Earth a perfect and an upright man c. Job 1.8 Secondly Men shall not be able to disturb nor cause trouble neither though they may indeavour bereunto And for instance here Job's friends they laid heavy charges against him as an Hypocrite and a desembler and I know not what but yet for all that they could not quite shake him of from his Confidence he appeals to God in these their censures of him Job 16.19.20 My witness is in Heaven and my record is on High my friends scorn me but mine Eyes powreth out tears unto God Job he had comfort in God even then when his friends spake against him and past hard sentences upon him And we see afterwards how the Lord acquitted him even to the shame of those his false accusers And thus will he likewise do upon occasion with others of his servants All the unreasonable suspicions and all the uncharitable opinions and all the hard censures which are at any time cast upon them shall not be able to prevail against them where God acquits a man it is no matter who speaks against him When he gives quietness none then can make trouble Thirdly Not a mans own misgiving and scrupulous Conscience that shall not cause trouble neither Where God himself will vouchsafe peace the Children of God sometimes through that weakness and infirmity which is in them are now and then false accusers of themselves and are ready to judge themselves to be in a worse Condition then they are as the generality and greatest sort of People offend in a way of self Presumption so there are some though not so many which also offend in a way of self suspition which lay hard inditements against themselves and their own Souls as Hypocrites as reprobates as such as have no truth or reality of Grace in them But now where God is pleased at any time to come in with a message and Testimony of Reconcilement all these doubts and fears and misgivings do presently vanish away When God will give quietness a man shall be freed from trouble from himself and his own Spirits If our Heart condemn us falsely God is greater then our Hearts and knows all things as it is said in another case Fourthly Not the Law of God that shall not cause trouble neither where it pleases God to give us his peace the Law that accuses and denounces also Joh. 5.45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust Moses that is the Law written by Moses c. And how does that pronounce sentence See in Galat. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Here is the hard rigor of the Law But his now shall be able to do no hurt where God himself will give peace forasmuch as Christ hath freed them from the condemning Power of it Galat. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us He hath not freed us from the Authority of the Law that power which it hath over us to command us and to be a rule unto us but he hath freed us from the rigor of the Law that power which it would have over us to condemn us and to inflict punishment upon us Christ hath so freed and exempted us from the Law by dying for us as that it shall be no longer troublesome to us in this sense and consideration There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 Thus in all these several particulars is that Soul sure to be free from trouble which has once made its peace with God Neither Satan nor the World nor their own Conscience nor the Law of God it self shall be able to molest them that is so as any thing to prevayle or get the mastery of them So that we must still remember as an Explication of this present point that we take this trouble here as a trouble of Efficacy and Success not for a trouble of indeavour These may now go about to trouble such as those which are at peace with God but they shall not prevail against them no not the very gates of Hell it self The Ground of this truth is this namely because God is in those relations as must needs assure those of peace and Satisfaction whom he is at peace withall and that may be further declared in these particulars First It is he who is the Plantiff and the Party wronged and which enters the Action If any one should make a Christian trouble in regard of his Spiritual Estate it must be such an one whom a Christian has wronged and offended and trespassed against if he be satisfied and well-pleased who has any thing more to say against him why now this is the case here when God gives Spiritual quietness none is there able to make trouble Because the party offended is satisfied and he to whom the injury was done is now contented to take it up as you know Christ said in the Gospel to that woman which the Pharisees brought to him having taken her in the fact Joh 8 10.11 Woman sayes He where are those thine accusers Hath no man condemn'd thee She said No man Lord. And Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more When Christ himself did not condemn her none was able to lay any thing to her Because if any one had to do in forgiving her or accusing her it was he most of all who was God against whom she had sinned till she had received absolution from him she could not go away in quiet and when she had so it was no great matter what any other might say against her If God himself speak peace all is well in this regard and upon this consideration because he is the party most concern'd in the trespass it self Therefore David speaking of himself in Psal 51.4 He speaks after this manner Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest David had sinned against others also against Bathsheba and Vrijah against the rest of the people of God whom he had scandalized by his ill example But he sayes he had sin'd onely against God so as to call him to an account for this transgression at Gods tribunal and in his own Conscience He had sinned against God chiefly and he had sinned against God principally and he had sinned against God so as from him to beg and expect the perfect pardon and forgiveness of his sins this belong'd to God alone forasmuch as he was
the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is over-whelm'd lead me to the rock that is higher then I. See here where David would set his footing in this flood of evils which was ready to overwhelm him him He would not set it upon the Sand but upon the Rock and upon the rock which was higher then himself that is upon God alone There 's nothing higher then our selves which we can rely upon but onely God Take any Creature whatsoever which we might trust to and we are equal with it but the Lord he is a most high Rock and which is exalted far above us that we might be encouraged to trust in him we have an excellent place to this purpose in Isa 26.3.4 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength or as it is in the Hebrew Text a Rock of Ages God's a Rock of Ages and it is good trusting in him forasmuch as a man then shalt be kept in peace Now we can no further be able to do this then we are at terms of agreement and reconciliation and attonement with God and therefore let it be our main care and study to apply our selves hereunto and to search and examine our selves in this particular to see whether God and we are upon good terms or no and whether he does indeed give quietness to us And remember to this purpose that nothing else will serve the turn It is when he gives quietness that none can make trouble He That is He emphatically and He that is He exclusively in opposition to all others besides For we must know that there are three sorts of peace-makers which though they may serve to give quietness yet in conclusion cannot free from trouble First A mans self Secondly Satan Thirdly false-teachers and flattering friends First A mans corrupt self There are many whom their hearts do not condemn them but it is their hearts which are blinded and hardned with self-love and the deceitfulness of sin and these they promise freedom from trouble but they are not able to give it nay rather do involve in it As ye may see in Deut. 29.19 20. He that when he heareth the words of the Law blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst what 's the issue of such a person why ye shall see in the words that follow The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven Secondly Satan He is another false Peace-maker He gives quietness too but it is in his hand and way as he hath sometimes his false-terrours so he hath also his false-peace He lulls people many times asleep in the wayes of sin that so he may so much the deeper involve and plunge them in them He perswades them that all 's well with them and that they have need to enquire into themselves when t is far otherwise Now alas this is also far enough from the preventing of trouble nay indeed it rather increaseth it which he also knows well enough and therefore so disposes of it Satan never gives any man quietness but that occasionally from that quietness he may fill him with greater trouble and perplexity afterwards To this we may add in the third place False-Teachers and flattering friends which cry peace peace and sow pillows under mens elbows when their condition is never so bad These gives quietness too but it is a quietness of that nature which we had a great deal better be without Such as these the Lord tells are guilty of the blood of the souls of his people c. Now all these three sorts of of Peace-makers are in a special manner to be avoided and declined by us And we should labor to have such a quietness in us as is given by God himself and none but him Where the Question yet further will be as pertinent to the matter in hand how we may attain hereunto how we may put our selves into such a posture and condition as wherein God may give us that peace and quietness which will uphold us and preserve us from trouble And here we may briefly observe and take notice of these following particulars for our best direction First We must acquaint our selves with God Be such as are sure to know him and are known of Him This quietness we speak of belongs not to strangers but to friends and special acquaintance Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace Mark how these two are joyn'd together and the one as the consequent of the other Acquaintance with God and Peace to signifie thus much unto us that this latter follows from the former If any one would have peace from God they must have acquaintance with him they must know him who he is Therefore all ignorant persons which have no knowledge of God and his wayes but live like heathens and without God in the world they can have no true quietness or peace at all in their hearts They may be sensless and stupid and secure and un-apprehensive of the miserable condition which they are in but for true peace they know not what it means nor were never as yet partakers of it Secondly To our acquaintance with God we must likewise joyn converse and communion also Those which are acquainted with God and have some particular interest in him yet they may not have that quietness they should have for want of communion with him There 's strangeness of Person and there 's a strangeness of conversation and either of these will cause a disquietness and unpeaceableness of spirit wherever they are The first that is proper to carnal and unregenerate persons The second that is incident even to Gods own children themselves Those which are not strangers in the former sense but have some knowledge and acquaintance with him yet they may be strangers to God in the latter sense and be much alienated and diverted from him As friends which know one another well enough yet may have some distance and alienation from one another Now this we ought to be very careful off for the preservation of this inward peace in outward affliction let us labour to keep a constant and daily communion betwixt God and our own Souls that so we may have constant and daily reflections of his love and favour upon our selves and have continual pledges of his good will and affection to us Thirdly Vigilant and Dutiful behaviour we be also careful of this to be conscionable in the performance of those Duties which God at any time requires of us according to the particular Places wherein he has set us Debts they are apt
his God so long both are implyed in this Thou art my God from my Mothers Belly First He here blesses God for being his God so Early My God from my Mothers Belly That is as soon as I had any being in the World He might have if he had pleased fetch 't it higher if we speak of Gods Decree in Election and have said from the beginning of the World Yea before the Foundations of the World were ever laid As Psal 90.2 But he speaks here rather of the Execution and Manifestation of this his Decree God is then our God properly when he manifests Himself to be our God by some special work of Grace in our Souls and by giving Himself unto us And so he is pleased to do to divers in the very first dawnings of nature in them The Prophet Jeremiah he was Sanctifyed in the womb Jer. 1.5 Before I formed thee in thee Belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the Womb I Sanctifyed thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations And so likewise John the Baptist he had the same Grace and Favour also Timothy It is said that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 And Obadiah 1 Kings 18.12 I thy Servant do fear the Lord from my Youth This is the goodness of God to many persons to be early in his beginning of Grace which he works in them Thus there can be no other ground or reason assigned of it but onely his own free-Grace and good Pleasure and will towards them who as he is free in the thing it self so also in the time of Dispensation And there is a double use which we may make of this Observation First To inform and satisfy us as concerning the time of Conversion and beginning of the work of Grace which is a Question which does many times trouble and perplex many a Soul to know the distinct reason when God first brought him home to Himself For this It is not in all kind of Persons discernable by them Eccl. 11.5 As thou knowest not which is the way of the Spirit nor how the bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all Indeed for those who have a great part of their time lived profanely or a meer civil life in them because the change is more Eminent the time is more Conspicuous too but for those whom it hath pleased God to Sanctify in their Infancy and tender years and to carry them on sweetly imperceptibly in the tract of a godly and Religious Education all their Life in these it is not so easily distinguished neither should it trouble them when it is not If the time be up it is no matter when it is first begun It is not the change of a mans Course but the change of his Nature which is here required And that is done in those to whom God is a God from the womb Their Nature is changed in them though their Course it may be has been the same all their days to wit godly and Religious nay it is so far from being a Cause of trouble as that indeed it is rather an argument of greater comfort to them that God has loved them so soon Secondly Another use is Ingagement to all such in a special manner to love God so much the more And so much for that He blesses God for being his God so Early Secondly He Blesses God for being his God so long This is also implyed in this Expression Thou art my God from c. That is thou art my God still from whence we may note thus much That those whom God is a God too once he is a God too them always Those whom he takes into his Care and Tuition and Custody at first those he also preserves to the End There is no time wherein he Ceases to be a God unto them And therefore t is here without any sign of time Eliattah Thou my God that hast been and art and wilt be through all Generations This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 So Psal 71.6 By thee have I been holden up from the Womb c. The Ground of this in God is First His Vnchangeable Nature who is Yesterday and to Day and the same for ever If God were Alterable and subject to Varying he should then love us one Day and hate us the next to it For I am the Lord I change not Therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Secondly His Free-Grace who shews Mercy where he will If Gods Goodness were founded in us then he should Change and Vary as we do but this it is not There is nothing moves Him to be our God but onely because he will be so Thirdly His Exactness in all he does who loves to finish there where he has begun Ye know how it is with Exact men when they have begun a thing they love to perfect it and so here This should stir us up to the Observation and Acknowledgment of Gods goodness in this particular He has the perfection of all Love in him for he begins betimes and he Continues long and what could we desire more There are many which are good friends at last but they are a great while a comming on and before they can be perswaded to it There are others which are good for a while but they quickly give over But now the Lord he fails us in neither He is our God from our Mothers Womb. Even all our following and succeeding days And this it should teach us proportionably in the Second place to keep close to Him and as he continues constant to us so for us also to persevere to Him and to walk in the Constant ways of thankfulness and Obedience to Him And thus have I after somewhat long Travel brought this Child with Gods gracious Assistance at length to the Birth And have shown you here the several particulars in which David tenders his Acknowledgment and Sacrifice of Thansgiving to God For the Blessings of the Womb for the Blessing of the Breast for the Blessing of the Cradle and for the Blessings of the Covenant That is for common Mercies for ancient Mercies and for primitive Mercies and for constant Mercies Consider what I have said And the Lord give you understanding in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVI Psal 10.13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart thou wilt not require it Their cannot be a better Evidence of a Good and a Gracious heart then to be tender and sensible of Gods Dishonour and having first of all sufficiently bewayled its own Distempers and Infirmities to lay to heart the Enormities and Miscarriages of other men Like Righteous Lot whose Soul was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked while he dwelt amongst them seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds as the
present purpose that this favour is very desirable This was that which was the Great Blessing of Joseph Deut. 33.16 The Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush That is the loving-kindness and favour of God who in the bush made appearance to Moses the Governor of Israel Now the Excellency of Gods loving-kindness for the Amplification and Illustration of the Point may be laid forth to us in these following Particulars First In regard of the subject of it by considering whose it is it is the loving-kindness of God Favour is so far forth valuable as the Person is from whom it proceeds as a man is so is his kindness Worthless and sorry persons which have no Goodness or Dignity in them their favour is not commonly lookt after but those which are Great and Eminent their goodness is for the most part much esteemed why thus now is the case here with the loving-kindness of the Lord. It is the loving-kindness of one of Excellency and therefore it is excellent loving-kindness The Psalmist therefore does very properly and fully joyn them both together in this present Text How excellent and O God Because there 's nothing in God but it is excellent and this of his Favour and good will amongst the rest It 's answerable and agreeable to every thing else which is in Him which is admireable and precious And that may be the first explication This loving-kindness and favour is excellent in regard of the subject of it Secondly It is excellent in regard of the fullness of it it is such as is very large and comprehensive It contains a great deal in a narrow room and it is in effect all other blessings besides no office like a Kings Favorite He that hath but Gods favour what can he be said to want He has all things belonging to him which he can possibly desire There 's nothing here in the world but when a man has as much of it as his heart can wish yet he will still want somewhat with it and that sometimes which he can least be without but he that hath an interest and share in Gods loving-kindness he hath all good things made over to him so far forth as he hath use and need of them God is a Sun and shield The Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 This should teach us by the way not to limit the Holy one of Israel desire God to give us his favour and it suffices Thirdly It is excellent in regard of the efficacy of it it is such as is of sweet influence wheresoever it is it makes comforts to be so much the more comfortable and it makes crosses to be so much the more tollerable yea also in some cases acceptable and beneficial to those on whom they are For comforts what is it but this which does indeed make them to be such Certainly it does do it so far as that there cannot be any true comfort or contentment where this is wanting If God heaps upon a man never such an abundance of the good things of this life yet if he does not do it in loving-kindness and favour alas what are they It is but onely as the feeding of a Prisoner or Traytor which is to be tryed for his life This is that which is the cream of all when God bestows good things upon us and bestowes them out of special respect and good will towards us This is that which he does to his children not onely the things of a better life but also even of this life present it self He does bestow them out of the same Affection as he does bestow Heaven it self so that though they be but common Mercies for the matter of them and considered in their own Nature yet they are special Mercies for the principle and the Affection from whence they proceed and they carry a special Tincture of his love in them which makes them to be such as they are to those that injoy them Ye may take an instance of it in any thing which we may think of to this purpose Health what 's the Comfort of that What is it onely the thing it self to have such a good Temper and Constitution of Body and Liveliness with it No but to have it to such a purpose as this is to use it to the Glory of God to the doing of good to others in a mans place to the working out of a mans own Salvation and the like this is the benefit of Health and so for Riches What 's the advantage of them what onely to have so much lying by us and to behold it with a mans Eyes as Solomon speaks to be talked of or admired for it c. No but to have these things with an heart to do good with them and weaned and Estranged from them and incouraged in Gods service by them An Heart to use an Estate is far more excellent then an Estate it self and when ever God gives a man great Possessions in Loving-kindness and favour he gives them him still with this appurtenance and qualification to the Bargain as to the frame and temper of his Spirit not to trust in them not to be lifted up by them not to be over-pleased with them but to have an Heart in a very great manner withdrawn from them So again further for friends and the Contentment which is in them this is also dependant hereupon Their favour and Loving-kindness there was so much sweetness and excellency in it as it is a breathing of the Loving-kindness of the Lord who makes Enemies Friends fashions mens Hearts alike and makes them to be of one mind in an House as the Psalmist speaks Thus ye see how the favour of God has an Efficatious influence to us upon those things which are comfortable And so likewise for those things which are Grievous and in their own nature distasteful this is one part of the excellency of this Loving-kindness that it is very operative and Effectual here by taking away the sting and bitterness which is in any Affliction and by making it wholesom and medicinall to those that indure it this is that which Gods face does And so the Prophet David elsewhere professes as in Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me It is a part of Gods Faithfulness to his Covenant and favour which he bears to his people to lay such seasonable Corrections upon them as from whence they might be so much the more bettered in their inward man And then as there is Gods favour in the infflicting of Crosses so also in sustaining under them vouchsafes his Gracious presence and Comforts in them and at last most powerfully working them and ordering them to their Exerlasting Advantage This is a point which many of Gods Children can bear witness to from their own Experience as who have never found more Expressions of Gods good will
for Converse with God wherein we have least Distraction and Perplexities and trouble from the World now this of all other times is when we awake out of sleep which as the Heathen man called the Night is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A sweet Cessation of labour we then chuse to be with our Friends when we may best injoy them without disturbance and so we should chuse to be with God thus in Psal 42. vers 8. The Lord will Command his Loving-kindness in the day time and in the Night his Songs shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life Lastly Our wakeing-thoughts are our purest and free'st from Pollution these things are the fittest for God which are most like to himself the pure God should be presented with the purest thoughts Now these are most Commonly the first because they have not the disadvantage of Intervenient occasions to defile them Thus we see how there is great Ground and Equity for such a practise as this is The Consideration of this point may be thus far usefull to us as it may serve to call us to an Account in this particular and put us upon a self-inquiry and Examination about it To observe what thoughts take hold on us when Sleep hath left us there are many who complain of Watchfulness and that their rest is taken away from them but how are they then imployed when rest has forsaken them And I speak not so much of times of sickness and bodily Distemper wherein they are not so free to themselves but in the best and perfectest Health Whether can they say or no with this Holy man here before us That when they are awake they are still with God That they are still Yea that they are at all There are three sorts of Companions which men are sometimes withall in such cases and in the mean time none of them with God First With themselves Secondly With the World Thirdly With Satan First With themselves that is with their own Corrupt Fancies and Imaginations How long shall thy vain thoughts lodg within thee Jer. 4.14 Not onely pass through thee but lodg in thee There are many who are no sooner awake but they have some sinful project or other in their Heads which they give themselves to They sleep not except they do Mischeif and their sleep is taken away from them except they cause some to fall Prov. 4.16 In Psal 36.4 It is said of a wicked man That he deviseth misoheif upon his Bed he setteth himself in a way that is not good he abhorreth not Evil. And in Mic. 2.1 There is a woe denounced against such persons as these are Woe unto them that devise Iniquity and work Evil upon their Beds when the Morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hands Thus they entertain themselves with their own sinful Contrivances And God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 There 's a great deal of speculative Wickedness which the world is sometimes guilty and that in all sorts and kinds of Praevarication speculative Revenge and speculative Vncleanness and speculative Ambition and the like There is no Sin which is committed in Act but it is first of all committed in thought which is a 〈◊〉 and preparatory to it and thus do men Converse with themselves and their own Lusts Secondly With the World there are others who do Converse with this and wake with it their first and their cheifest thoughts are still in order hereunto and they take Counsell of themselves to this purpose we have a famous instance hereof in the Gospel in in Luke 12.16 Of that rich man there whose Ground brought forth plentifully and what use did he make of it It is said he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no Room where to bestow my Fruits And he said this will I do I will pul down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow my Fruits and my Goods And I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy ease Eat Drink and be Merry Here 's an Emblem of a worldly person and a discovery of the practise of many others besides in the World who are no sooner commonly awake but they have such thoughts and diseases as these rising up in them Thirdly With Satan that 's another Companion which many are still withall when they are awake they are in Converse and Communion with that impure and unclean Spirit which is the worst Company and Society that can be It is a common saying and a true one Aut Dens aut Daemon That every man when he is alone is either a God to himself or a Devil that is either hearkning to the Motions of that Spirit or likewise listening to the suggestions of Satan and there are too many who do prefer the latter The Devil is very busie to apply himself for the most part to mens mindes when they first awake and they are commonly also at such times too ready to close with his Temptations and thus they pass from Bodily sleep oftentimes into Spiritual slumber And so now I have done with the first Notion of this passage here before us When I awake I am still with thee As it is an expression of Davids Disposition and Consequently of our Duty which is to be careful to set in with God in the first dawnings and beginnings of the Day when we awake first out of sleep The Second is as it is an expression of his Priviledge and Happiness of his Condition which he rejoyced in and Gloried in above all things And thus will we now look upon it for a Christian to be still with God when he awakes It is matter of very great Benefit and advantage to him in sundry Particulars First It secures from Dangers we read sometimes in Scripture of the Terrors of the Night The Night is a time of Terror partly in regard of its Darkness which has naturally some horror in it and partly in regard of it's Solitariness which has also some Discouragement with it to which we may likewise add the various Accidents which are incident unto it Oh but this wakeing with God it scatters and disperses them all it drives away these natural Fears these Terrors by Night what need that man to be affraid off who has God himself present with him and who is himself still with God This is that which incouraged David both here and in some other places As Psal 27.1 c. The Lord is my Light and my Salvation of whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my Life of whom shall I be afraid So Psal 3.5 I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me And again Psal 4.8 I will both lay me down in Peace and sleep for thou Lord onely makest me to dwell in Safety What a Comfortable Consideration is this in the times of Night Distraction In Tumults
signified or exprest unto us Leaving the scorner here in a doubtfulness and uncertainty of condition which is commonly and for the most part accounted to be very sad and grievous It is some kind of ease and satisfaction if men must needs undergo punishment that they may know what it is aforehand to fit and prepare themselves for it But this is that which is here denyed to a Scornful person That he shall not know his doom and misery Let him take what follows upon it at a venture but what that is he shall not understand till he come by experience to feel it and to be made sensible of it This is the misery of Scorners that they run themselves upon infinite hazzards and do not know where they shall stop Thou shalt bear it but what that is no body knows neither He himself nor any one else for him Secondly Heres 's the Vniversality of it Forasmuch as whiles none is named all are in a manner implyed and so indeed they are Here 's a blanck prepared for the putting in of whatsoever we please not one excepted Judgements are prepared for Scorners that is all kind of Judgments whatsoever one with another Prov. 19.29 Judgements are prepared for Scorners and stripes for the back of fools Look as Vniversal good is attending upon wisdom and Godliness as we have shewen out of the former Branch Thou shalt be wise for thy self at large in whatsoever may be convenient for thee So here also Universal evil is attending upon Scornfulness and folly Thou shalt bear it in all evils whatsoever which may befall thee In Outward man in Inward man In thy Body in thy Estate in thy Friends and which is worst of all in thy soul If there be any thing worse then other it thou shalt be sure to bear Thou shalt bear it Thirdly Here 's the Vnavoidableness of it It is not onely an indefinite expression and Vniversal but also absolute and peremptory Thou shalt bear it it may be not as yet but in time and within a while thou shalt suffer for it Those that Scorn they shall suffer punishment and not escape He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 29. vers 1. This it meets with security and presumption of a Scornful Spirit which promises it self freedom from punishment because of present Indulgence They do not yet find no evil by it therefore they shall never well but they shall at last for all this and that in good earnest And there are these Considerations following which lay ground hereunto First Because Scorners they do still persist and go on in Sin and thereby aggravate it so much the more to themselves He that refuses to be admonish'd he perseveres and continues in Sin now that does alwayes make Sin so much the worse to those which are guilty of it Repentance that makes some amends where any thing hath been done amiss but proceeding in Sin it is a kind of further justifying of it this is the case of a Scorner and so he deserves Punishment even for that Secondly It is an abuse of Love and Friendship which is exprest in Admonition there is no truer love or kindness if it be duely thought of then a seasonable and pertinent reproof Encline not my Heart to any Evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work Iniquity And let me not eat of their dainties Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oyl which shall not break my head for yet my prayer also shall be in their Calamities When their Judges are overthrown in stony places they shall hear my words for they are sweet Psal 141.4.5.6 Now a Scorner undervalues this kindness and mis-interpret's it lookes upon that as a discurtesie which is the greatest Curtesie of all and carries himself contrarily to it which has the greatest sinfulness in it Thirdly Which is worst of all it is a slighting even of God Himself and the motions and stirrings of his Spirit men are ready to think that when they neglect good Counsell which is given them that they offend none but men who are the conveyers of that good Counsell to them Well but there is somewhat more then so in it This their Contempt it arises a little higher even to the Divine Majesty Himself He that despiseth dispiseth not man but God who hath also given to us his holy Spirit as the Apostle Paul tells us But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another 1 Thes 4.8.9 Therefore is the Lord himself an Avenger of all such as the same Apostle also has it in that place while either Ministers or Christian Friends are scorn'd and despised in their Counsels God himself is despised in them and will call them to an account for them Hence it is said also of the Pharisees But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Connsell of God against themselves being not Baptized of him And the Lord said whereunto then shall I licken the men of this Generation and to what are they like They are like unto Children sitting in the Market place and calling one to another and saying we have piped unto you and ye have not Danced we have mourned to you and ye have not wept Luk. 7.30.31.32 Where as it is said to be against themselves the point which we shall come to anon thou alone shalt bear it So it is said to be the Counsel of God which was rejected by them Forasmuch as it is God Himself that speaks in such as these They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me says God to Samuel of the Peoples casting him off Let this then teach us to beware of such a Sin as this is what ever we be guilty of besides let us be sure to take heed of Scorning which is the aggravation of guilt upon us and that which adds to the weight of all other Sins besides and which God does in a more especial manner abhor and set himself against when men come once to this they begin to be almost past hope of Recovery and the influences of Gods Grace upon them Surely he scorneth the Scorner but he giveth Grace unto the Lowly The wise shall Inherit Glory but shame shall be the promotion of Fools Prov. 3.34.35 There is none that is more scorned by God then those which are most scorning of Him Those that Honour me says he I will Honour but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.20 There is none which God can worse away withall then such persons as these are nor whom he will proceed more in wrath and Judgment against them and that in what ever Circumstances we may possibly consider them in Better is a poor and wise Child then an old and foolish King that will no more be admonished says the Prophet
works to God when we do in an holy and humble manner discover them and make them known unto him present them and lay them open before him This is one way of Commitment This it agrees very well with that Translation of the Words which renders it by Revealing ar the Septuagint and some others following them Revela Domino opera tua Taking the word in the Hebrew Text to be Gal from Galah which signifies Rvelate This it hath a good sense in it and such as is very pertinent to our present purpose in hand where when we are bid to commit our works to God it seems to carry this meaning with it amongst others besides that we should commend them to him and acquaint him with them and which also belongs hereunto desire his Counsel and Direction and Help and Assistance of us in them This is suitable to that of the Apostle in Philip. 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God We should still upon any work to be done by us or any business of special importance which does belong unto us have our recourse and addresses to the Lord. As Hezekiah when he had received a Letter from Senacherib wherein he was especially concerned he went and spread it before the Lord Esay 37.14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messenger and read it and Hezekiah went up unta the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. The like should we do also in all the matters which are of moment to us go and open them and present them to him This is required of us not so much in reference to God as if he for his particular stood in need of our information and to be acquainted with our condition as at present ignorant of it No there is no such matter in it our Saviour himself has put that out of question in Matth. 6.8 Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him But when we are bid to reveal our works to him it is to be supposed especially upon these two Considerations First For own Accommodation in regard of our necessities therefore commend our works to him that so he may direct and assist us in them who without his help and counsel are very likely to err and miscarry and go by the worst When we do things of our own head we do commonly prejudice our selves in the doing of them But when we betake our selves to him for his Advice we have him near at hand to direct us and to be assistant unto us And this readiness of his it is implyed in the very Phrase and Expression itself Commit thy works unto the Lord and Make known thy requests unto him As who should say there is nothing more upon the point required of us when we have once presented our Petition he is presently near unto us to answer it and to give us the content of it Secondly As this revealing and laying open and commending of our Works and Conditions to God is required of us for our own Accommodation so likewise as a piece of Respect and Observance to God himself and to maintain our Communion with him Friends though they do not always simply stand in need of one another's counsel and help yet where there is at any time special intimacy betwixt them they will acquaint one another with their mutual Condition out of respect and the Laws of Friendship it self which has freedom and openness in it and does abhor reservedness of words even so should it also be betwixt God and us we should commit and commend our works to him as our Friend and our special Acquaintance And herein we shall now walk answerably to his Carriage and Dealings towards us I know Abraham saith God and shall I hide from him the thing that I will do Gen. 18.17 Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets Amos 3.7 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Ps 25.14 God makes known his Works to us though not in that manner of Revelation as to the Prophets of old yet by certain hints which he gives us of his Providence many times in the World And accordingly does it become us likewise to make known our Works to him that so we may not seem to neglect him or to be disreguardful of him but to acknowledge his interest in us and our observance and dependance upon him upon all occasions And so much of the first Particular wherein this Committing of our Works does consist and whereby it may be explained namely in a way of simple Commendation and laying open of our Condition to him Secondly We commit our Works to God in a way of Humble Resignation and casting of our Affairs upon him And this it suits very well with another reading of the Hebrew Word in the Text which gives it by the expression of Gol from Galal that signifies Convolvere and so it is as much as Roll or Devolve thy works upon the Lord. And according to this notion of the word it seems to be a Metaphor taken from such kind of persons who having some heavy burthen upon them which is too hard for them to bear do exuriate and ease themselves of it by throwing it upon some Stranger 's shoulders This is that which is here required of us in reference to God Cast thy burthen upon the Lord Psal 55.22 In the Latitude of which Phrase and Expression there seems to be included these three following Particulars to be practised by us First Sensus oneris vel difficultatis That we have some sense and apprehension in our selves of the difficulty and burdensomeness of those Works which are upon us that we do not make lighter of them than becomes us to do but understand the weightiness of them This is implyed in this word of Devolving He that labours to ease his shoulders he has some sense and feeling of his burthen and so it becomes us to have for our own particular When God calls us to any special Service and puts us upon any eminent Employment which he would have us to be exercised in it is fit we should understand the length and breadth of it and be sensible of the difficulties which are in it And that upon several Considerations which I will but name unto you First That so by this means we may labour the more for Strength and Ability to the discharge of them He that knows not the weightiness of his Work will think any thing will serve the turn to perform it and not to be so careful and diligent about it Secondly That we may be the more humbled for our Failings and Neglects in it as coming short of that exactness and perfection which was required of us He that feels not the weight of his Work will not feel the burthen of his Sin
not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is as the Apostle exhorts us Ephes 5.17 His Doctrinal Will and his Preceptive Will that both may and ought to be understood by us Yea and his Providential Will to in part it may sometimes be conjectured at by us which we are not to be wholly ignorant of but to attend unto it as it may be also hinted in that place by reflecting upon the verse before Redeeming the time because the days are evil wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding c. We cannot know the Counsel of God as to particular and determinate dispensations till he reveals it and discovers it in the event but we may somwhat know it in the General scope and drift of it long before from those things which are any thing pertinent and preparative thereunto and his manner of dealing and carriage in former days and times of the World At least which does most concern us we may know it so far forth as belongs to our Duty and the things which are to be done by us As it is said of the Children of Issachar that were men that had understanding of the Times to know what Israel ought to do This is that which all Christians are capable of And accordingly should be indeavoured after by our selves Though we cannot know what God will do yet we know what our selves should do in order to his several doings This is obtained divers ways First By an Holy Fear and Reverence of the Majesty of God What man is he that feareth the Lord him will he teach in the way that he shall chose whether we take it of the Lord or of Himself Psal 25.12 what to believe and what to practise The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. Secondly By Humility and Meekness of Spirit Proud and self-conceited persons who are wise enough as they think without God He will not impart his Counsel to them they are too full of the Contrivances and Devices of their own hearts No the meek he will guide in Judgement and the meek he will teach his way Psal 25.9 Thirdly By a constant course of Communion with God Those who are much in Gods Company they know much of his Counsel and much of his Mind we have the mind of Christ 2 Cor. 2.16 He was the friend of God and God acquainted him with the Condition of Sodom The Disciple of the Bosom had the Priviledge of being acquainted with Christs secrets and was therefore put upon it to enquire Secondly When we know Gods Counsel be carefull to acknowledge it Do not resist or stand out against it but meekly close with it It is a dangerous thing to do it though ignorantly and for want of apprehension Whatever is owned of God himself it should be owned of us Because that which is owned of God it is sure to be esablished by him It was the Conclusion of Gamalial in the Counsel Acts 5.38 If this Counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happly ye be found to fight against God The thing proceedeth from the Lord we cannot speak to thee either good or bad as Laban and Bethuel about Rebecca Gen. 40.50 And as the Friends of Paul about him after much importunity with him when we saw he would not be perswaded we ceased saying The will of the Lord be done Act. 21.14 There 's mans Devices and there 's Gods Counsel in those Devices The Former is not always to be owned The latter is where t is at any time discernable of us And we should rest and acquiesce in it If we let God have his will it will be so much the better for us If we do not he will have it whether we will or no. Last of all seeing his Counsel shall stand therefore improve it and make use of it and have recourse with it We should hence learn to resolve with God and to take him into consultation with us without whom all our devices will come to nothing The word here used for Devices does signifie properly reckonings or accounts which are no farther authentick then as the Lord gives allowance to them what is other then so it is a reckoning without a mans host as we use to speak It is man purposes but God disposes Therefore as was hinted before in all our ways acknowledge him It is our great happiness and advantage that we may have God to be of Counsel in our behalf whose Counsel shall stand and let us be sure to hold our selves to that which is best for us Even the best of Gods servants themselves they have not so much advantage from the determinations of their own minds though inlightned by the spirit of God as they have by God himself determining and resolving for them His Counsel for us is more than his Counsel to us or his Counsel in us Because this latter is imperfect and mingled with much ignorance and perverseness and unsettledness of our own whereas the other is pure and perfect and absolute and free from exception Which should make us both to have recourse to it and to depend upon it as that which is our greatest Comfort and Security and our best hold being Gods Counsel shall stand therefore from hence cast away all sollicitous and distracting fears Be carefull for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplications let your Request be made known to God And the Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus And thus I have done also with the Second General part of the Text which is the Qualification of the former Assertion and so with the whole Verse it self There are many devices c. SERMON XXXIV Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished As it is a part of Goodness and Condescention in God to give warning before he strikes and proceeds to Punishment so it is a part of Wisdom and Prudence in God's People to take warning and admonition from him in his Alarms of them Whereby they may the better escape those Punishments that are threatned by him And this is that which we may here observe in the Scripture which we have now before us IN the Text it self we have two general parts considerable of us First The Specification of the Persons Secondly the different Account which is given of them The Persons specified they are the Godly and the Wicked expressed under those two Titles of Prudent and Simple The Account which is differently given of them is observable in the several parts referring to each Of the Prudent in two Particulars his Fore-cast it self together with his Improvement of it he fore-seeth the evil and hideth himself And the Simple in two more his sinful Security toether with the ill success of that likewise The simple pass on and are punished
Psal 41.1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive c. Lastly A Godly man hides himself in the whole work of self-reformation and holiness of life In carefulness to please God in all things and to do those things which he requires of him sin it makes a man naked it exposes him and lays him open to evil and all manner of danger but a good and Pious Conversation is a sure defence Innocency is the the best shelter that can be and that which will keep a man safe when nothing else will And thus we see how in all these respects a good Christian hides himself which is his Activity or Practise Now to join these two Points both together in the Improvement and Application We see here two Properties of a wise and Godly man The one as to matter of Fore-sight He fore-sees the Evil. And to other as to matter of Indeavour He hides himself What now remains but that we for our particulars should be careful to put those both into practise and to be carefull of them in regard of our selves First To Fore-see the evil to look after that We see how in every thing else it is counted a peice of wisdom in men and that which they indeavour after In matter of trade to fore-see the Dearness of the Market In matter of Wars to fore-see the devices of the Enemy In matter of Health to fore-see the coming on of a Disease And why should we not also in Providence fore-see also the arising of a Judgment Surely as we do ever disire to approve our selves for wise men it concerns us to be skilfull in this We see how the want or neglect of it is still reproved and upbraided in Scripture Thus the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 8.7 The stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow know the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgement of the Lord. And so our Blessed Saviour we find him upon this censure likewise of the Jews Matth. 16.2 3. When it is Evening ye say it will be Fare weather for the sky is Red and in the Morning it will be fowl weather to day for the Sky is Red and lowring O ye Hypocrites ye can discern the face of the Sky but can ye not discern the sign of the times He reproves them for that they had skill in natural Predictions but yet had not skill in spiritual There are some kind of foresights sometimes in the world and fore-tellings of evil but what are they Even the bold and presumptuous undertakings of insolent persons your Astrologers and Star-gazers and the like whom God suffers in his judgement to seduce and deceive a people that love to be deceived But as for this Christian fore-sight here spoken of It is thas which few are acquainted withall or which care to be acquainted It is our Wisdom to regard it our selves that so evils may not surprize us or that day come upon us unawares For which purpose we should first pray to God to instruct us and direct us and to open our eyes we should beg of him the spirit of Revelation as whereby to see the Mystery of Religion so likewise to see the Mystery of Providence and understand Gods dealings in the world That which I see not teach them me as it is Job 34.3 Secondly We should also our selves mark things and take notice of what is done in the world we should as I said lay things together and compare one thing with another and see how one thing follows upon another This should be done by us in order to our fore-sight and pre-apprehension of any evil which is to come As we desire to shew our selves discreet and prudent Christians so we should be carefull of this Fore-seeing of Evil. And then again also farther to hide our selves let us look to that also As our knowledge should tend to practise to us in every thing else so amongst the rest in this As we do any thing pre-discern and apprehend it we should we should hide our selves from it which is done especially in the fore-named Graces There are many false coverts in the world which will not do it The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it as it is Esai 28.20 Such is Wealth or strength or Wit or Friends or any of such things as these are It is not these which will be able to cover us in the day of the Lords anger No it is nothing but the love and favour of God himself that will do it when nothing else will He shall cover thee with his Feather and under his wings shalt thou trust Psal 9.19 And that we may do this the more effectually it will concern us to acquaint our selves with God without this there is no expectation of shelter from him For he hides none but his Friends and his houshold-servants And therefore Eliphaz does very properly give Job such Counsel as this Acquaint thy self with him c. Then shall the Almighty be thy defence He is a buckler to all that trust him and he is good to them that know him and whom himself does know Therefore labour to get an interestand propriety in him yea and that before trouble comes the evil it self which is fore-seen Let the Ark be built before the flood and deluge over-flows there 's no hiding then if we take not care to hide our selves before-hand Therefore let us have a regard to that Close with God before the Plague comes that so when it does come we may find favour and mercy with him and refuge and safety in him which will be our greatest security And those which are in some measure acquainted they should labour to be more and to perfect their acquaintance with him Yea not only to have acquaintance but Communion and dayly Converse We should take heed of being in such a state and condition of Soul as from whence God may refuse to shelter us and protect us when Evil draws near But then again He hides himself We are to take this not only as an Expression of Enedavour but of Success He foresees the evil and hides himself that is he so behaves himself as from whence God does undertake to hide him The Lord hides such prudent persons as these are in the days of evil and danger as Jeremy and Baruck Jer. 36.26 it is said the Lord hid them This he does to the rest of his prudent and provident Servants In his Presence in his Pavilion under his Wings in the hollow of his hand he has many Receptacles and Hiding Places for them His Providence is large and broad enough to hide them from any Evil which may happen unto them sometimes in other Countries sometimes in their own sometimes in the Grave as Job 14.13