do it how much more when he saith Believe and ye shall be saved and He that believeth in him shall not be confounded To the other Proposition The strength whereby true Christians stand in the favor of God and the expectation of heaven is greater and better then all the strength of nature even taken at the best and strongest When the likeliest faint and are weary yet they shall renew their strength mount up with wings run and not be weary walk and not faint Where we have both a plain affirmation of renewing their strength and a borrowed speech of Eagles who cast their Bill when they be old and so get to be lively again when their crooked Bill is put away they take in their meat as before and grow as strong as ever All noting the perpetuity of the estate of grace wherein when the Elect fail at any time through mercy they recover all and hold out to the end of their course They are strong in the Lord and the power of his might On him they wait in the use of means and of him the receive strength a new to be constant He strengthneth they with strength in their soul Psal 138.3 Amidst many occasiom of fainting their inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 They call in fresh supplies by prayer and so are strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inner man Eph. 3.16 And the prayer of other Believers sends in those fresh supplies Col. 1.11 That ye may be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness Certain it is that the Lord hath undertaken to be the strength of his people The rock of their salvation the strength of their salvation the horn of salvation which he raised up in the house of his servant David and as much as the Creator is mighty above the creatures so is a godly man above himself and all his natural abilities In and of God he receives such puissant vertue and so may grow confident Esa 26.4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehova is everlasting strength In special Christ himself is the strength of his chosen ones He gives them his flesh which is meat indeed and his bloud which is drink indeed He makes then a banquet at his own cost and with his own merits to feed them unto eternal life that though the old Israelites in the wilderness did eat Manna and dye after it yet so shall not they And as his merit is so efficacious so his Spirit abides with them for ever guides leads into all truth brings all things to their remembrance and establisheth their hearts in this their gracious and blessed estate There is a vertue in his death that they can dye no more in their sins and a vertue in his resurrection which makes them living members of his body and living branches of the true Vine to draw sap and juice from him and be still pruned that they may bear more fruit Further proofs of this unvanquishable strength of Believers One Scripture saith of the godly The righteous is an everlasting foundation Prov. 10.25 He in Scripture is called righteous who is justified and sanctified and he is called a foundation to note his firm and stable condition and as a foundation he bears up the pillaâ—s of the eâ—rth both Church and State Another Scripture saith God who hath begun a good work in his people will finish or perform it untill the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 When the work of conversion unto God is once well done it is done for ever it is as he said of his History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an everlasting possession for God who is the Alpha is also the Omega Another Scripture saith Christ having loved his own which were in the world did love them unto the end John 13.1 and he saith himself chap. 10.28 I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand no nor Devil but in him that loved them they are more then Conquerors Other Scriptures sound forth priviledges The righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Job 17.9 They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God and still bring forth fruit in old age Psal 92.14 They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Psal 125.1 The fear of the Lord is so put into their hearts that they shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 Their house is built upon a rock so as it shall not fall though the winds blow strong and the waters flow a main Mat. 7.25 with other firm and undeniable grounds of persevering in grace which follow afterward all proving that true Believers shall still renew their strength and not faint nor be weary Here it may be asked How doth the Lord renew strength to his people The answer is He renews their strength in the use of holy means appointed thereunto namely those sacred Ordinances which he hath set apart first and last to carry on the work of grace in the hearts of his Chosen which that they may indeed obtain he puts them into a frame of waiting on his Majesty in his own way wherein he will meet them and bestow a blessing on them as he hath promised 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the self same end thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit So at the Text it stands as a Description of the godly They are such as wait upon the Lord they must know they are Servants and need dependance on the heavenly Master and as Servants must wait till they receive mercy at his hands and so they shall be sure to speed of their suit Lam. 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him A Princes good Servant ever stands in the way of preferment and so for Christianity To speed of strength and every comfortable supply we must be careful to be found in the way of faith and obedience Here note these phrases of Scripture 1. Wait at the Posts of his doors Prov. 8.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me saith Christ the wisdom of God watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors Thriving Christians must diligently attend when a good Sermon is to be heard or a Sacrament to be received or a Fast to be kept or else a day of Thanksgiving They must come both preparedly and forwardly neither be absent nor yet backward but come upon the wing as Doves to their houses when pursued by a bird of prey Esa 60.8 swift to hear Jam. 1.19 Cornelius and his Company when Peter was coming to preach were ready beforehand to hear what he should say Act. 10.33 We are all here present before
God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God with ver 24. Cornelius waited for them and had called together his Kinsmen and near friends And it is a great sin in many to make the Minister and Congregation wait when they will please to appear 2. Wait till he have mercy Psal 123.2 Behold as the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden to the hand of her Mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God untill that he have mercy upon us He hath promised great things to his people but his people must wait for performance The Vision of comfort will speak at last and not deceive but in the mean time we must wait to see when God will please to answer our expectation Hab. 2.3 And he that believeth must not make haste so limiting the Holy One of Israel much less rage or murmure or be impotent of mind least of all to utter that blaspheming voice This evil is of the Load and shall I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 Remember it is a mercy to speed at the last if ever we be heard in prayer it is enough enough if ever an Isaac be had or supply or comfort or deliverance This that I said We must wait in the way of faith not only to the second and third watch of the night but till morning Davids soul waited for the Lord more then they that wait for the morning yea more then they that wait for the morning Psal 130.6 3. Wait upon the Office which God or man hath assigned thee unto Rom. 12.7 If we have received the ministery let us wait on our ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation And by the like reason a Magistrate must wait on governing an Housholder on looking to the ways of his Family a Servant on doing his business painfully and faithfully a Child in his place a poor creature in humble walking In every of which while we serve our Brethren or dispatch our own affairs yet doing all as we ought we shall serve the Lord Jesus Christ and wait on him in the way of our obedience especially if we make a business of our Calling and abide upon it and watch all opportunities for advancing the glory of God and our own reckoning not as those that are in and out when they have hit into a good way fickle uncertain only good by fits and starts who are not likely to inherit the promises the promise is to them that are constant unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord and this is the right waiting 4. Wait for the Lord in the way of his judgments Esa 26.8 Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee namely to maâ—â— good use of afflictions and learn righteousness by them as ver 9. The Inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness The Lord sometimes corrects his people it may be with sore and grievous corrections yet even then they must abide with him each one according to his Calling and study to be better for the sharp Visitation saying What would the Lord have me to do or wherein may I be better or do better then I have done Lord shew me for what thou contendest with me and not only chastise me thus but teach me out of thy law that by all thy Discipline I may be blessed at the last Psal 94 12. It concerns Gods Children to wait on their Father not only when he causeth their way to prosper that they even wash their footsteps in butter but when he changeth his dispensations toward them that all is in clouds and storms and he seems an adversary to them for even then they may be made partakers of his holiness and when they are proved and humbled he means to do them good in their latter end 5. Wait all the days of thy appointed time as did Job chap. 14.14 If a man dye shall he live again all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come It is a great change when death comes so dye well is the greatest work we have to do in the world and we need to take all our time allotted for our being here to be fitting our selves for that great change All will prove little enough when we are entring into that narrow Wicket so to pass into another world And wait till Christ comes to judgment as the good servant who watcheth for the return of his Lord and will be careful to do up all his work before hand Christ comes to judge the quick and dead of all things done in the body good and evil and a strict account must be given of all therefore still wait and make ready thy accounts And wait till the Bridegroom open the door to the wise Virgins And to be able to enter provide Oil for thy Lamp in time and Oil that will hold till midnight that thou may not be put to borrow there will be no borrowing at that time Mat. 25.9 The wise answered the foolish Not so lest there be not enough for us and you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for your selves Yet such foolishness reigns in many who profess to wait for the coming of Christ A lamp of outward profession they have but not sufficient Oil to feed their Lamp and so are excluded and left in the dark They seem good a little in the former part of their life and then wax râ—miss They begin in the spirit and end in the flesh either in respect of Doctrine or Practice and so they lose all the good they have done and are found trespassers against the truth which they have basely deserted Thus we see who they are that wait on the Lord. And these are they that renew their strength as the Eagles and persevere in the good way of God to the end So the conclusion remains firm The way whereby the strength of Gods Children is maintained is their attendance on him in an holy course of faith and obedience They must wait upon him by faith expecting the performance of his promises And they must wait upon him by their obedience in the use of his Ordinances as good servants ought to do and so they shall renew their strength out of all their faintings Christians complain sometimes of weakness in their faith dulness in prayer hardness of heart and the like corruptions They are ready to faint and be weary in their holy profession It grieves them that they proceed no better then they do They lack but little sometimes to cast up all and make Holy-day Now let such acknowledge and take notice where their great strength lieth Faith and obedience will in time remedy all this Let them believe above hope rather then cast away their confidence and let them still attend the good Ordinances of
tribulation yet in him they shall have peace and ought to be of good chear and Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all And if deliverance be delayed yet by the assistance of Christ and his Spirit the afflictions are sweetned and the heart supported and all the suffering sanctified that in time the Christian shall say It was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn thy statutes And remember that when the troubles last longest yet all the while the Christian Traveller is getting nearer and nearer to his Fathers house so that Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and his reward is with him In the Mount it will be seen 5. Other Believers who complain not of troubles in things of nature or the world yet trouble themselves much about the welfare of the Church which they see endangered by enemies some undermining others infected with errors and heresies and scattering their poison far and near Oh what will become of poor Sion which is so hated or defaced many enemies and but few real friends Answ Bear up chearfully it is a good sign in thee that thou art so tender of the Churches well-doing thou hast a promise They shall prosper that love Sion and all they that mourn for her shall be glad and rejoyce with her Esa 66.10 And as for the Church it self remember though lovest it well yet God loves it better and knows better how to provide for its safety and chiefest welfare Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob. As for the enemies secret or open let the King of Sion alone to deal with them for their conversion or confusion or to raise up friends as need shall require and he sees expedient that the Captivity may be turned and great gifts bestowed for the beautifying of Sion 6. Others know not what they shall do if persecution should arise for the Gospels sake they are fainty enough under the persecution of the tongue or in smaller tryals and they doubt they shall fall utterly if fire and faggot should come in use again But remember here who brought the Martyrs through the flames to give testimony to the truths of the Gospel They were flesh and bloud as we are and yet were strengthned to pass through the fire after Jesus Christ and they had relations and advantages to leave for the truth as near and dear as we have and yet by grace were enabled to part with all yea rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ And ye may observe in reading the Histories of the Martyrs how they that were very timorous for a while yet coming in sight of the stake they have waxed joyful and confident as Mr. Glover to his friend who knew his fears O Austine He is come he is come meaning the Spirit of strength and comfort Remember too that the Lord hath continued his Church and brought it through persecuting times as well as times of prosperity yea the Primitive Church was planted and watered and thrived best in the persecution of the first three hundred years The bloud of the Martyrs proved the seed of the Church to propagate and make glorious the Kingdom of Christ Therefore faint not nor be weary for any persecution felt or feared 7. A Believer may say Death is the King of terrors and I fear I shall not dye with any patience or comfort I know not what kind of death I shall dye or where or with what Company it may be by the Pestilence or by the Sword or by some tormenting Disease or a lingring Disease I know not what but I doubt I shall faint at the last and then where is all my hope and reward Answ Remember what hath been said This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal 48.14 And not only unto death but in dying Jesus Christ will be gain unto us Phil. 1.21 And not only Angels are ours with other good creatures but even death is a Friend though he come in a Mourning Gown 1 Cor. 3 22. And ye know how death is out-braved from doing us a mischief chap. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. As for the sad Harbingers and Messengers of death the Lord is able and hath promised to give a proportion of strength and comfort that when we faint and the outward man decays yet the inward man shall be renewed day by day and by rich mercy ye may come to fear nothing even when ye walk in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death And for the kind of Death Company Place Time and all circumstances it is best for the Child of God to submit to the will of his heavenly Father who hath said and would have us to rest in what he hath said My grace is sufficient for thee Only continue in a waiting condition as Job all the days of thy appointed time till that great change shall come thou shalt find it worth while to have so waited But because this waiting may be long and there go many things to waiting as the good servant who made all ready against the coming of his Lord I shall produce certain Motives as so many encouragements to the faithful servants of God who do so chearfully and constantly attend their God in those duties and those his Ordinances Many are the benefits of a due waiting 1. This at the Text they shall be enabled and blessed by this their waiting To renew their strength and hold out in the good ways of God unto glory Though there be divers weaknesses in themselves and discouragements in the world yet through rich mercy they shall run and not be weary walk and not faint A singular priviledge above all Apostates who have fallen away and come to nothing 2. They have hereby a note of true grace upon them that they are the Children and Servants of God in sincerity and not only in a general and common profession Our Text useth this Periphrasis or Description of the godly They that wait upon the Lord shall do thus and thus And it is a Description of the Gentiles conversion Esa 42.4 The Isles shall wait for his law with chap. 51.5 They shall wait upon me and on thy Name shall they trust and 60.9 Surely the Isles shall wait for me It is an ordinary Inquiry among tender spirits Whether am I indeed converted and brought home unto God or no The solution may hence be taken If ye wait on the Lord in the way and manner before described ye are indeed converted and need not trouble your selves any more 3. Another benefit is that these Waiters shall not in any thing be utterly disappointed so
as to be ashamed or confounded but one way or other shall receive satisfaction at the hands of God according to their expectation Either he will give them the thing desired or what shall be better either here or hereafter Esa 49.23 They shall not be ashamed that wait for me They that wait upon great men in the world do find infinite disappointments shame sorrow and sometimes heart-breaking but so shall not they that wait on the Lord. 4. Such shall have their Prayers heard and their Petitions granted Psal 40.1 I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry This waiting makes that a Christian passeth over a delay and construeth it not for a denial and holds up his head to the time wherein God will be seen for him The like of the prayers that other Believers make in our behalf wait and we shall reap the benefit of them Psal 25.3 Let none that wait on thee be ashamed A very comfortable matter in this life of necessities urging us on every side 5. These Waiters have many secrets revealed to them and many experiments of the love of God which others shall not have they are still in the way of preferment and shall certaily have it one time or other Zech. 11.11 The poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him He will manifest himself to the faithful observers of his will and not to others It is an excellent posture to abide with Christ in temptation To be faithful to the death is the ready way to the Crown of Life 6. It will be great joy on the Death-bed so to have waited on the Lord as dying Jacob found who amidst the blessing of his Children brake out into this Extasie I have waited for thy salvation O Lord Gen. 49.18 And when Hezekiah had received the sentence of death he could say in faith Remember how I have walked before thee in uprightness of my heart And so may other Believers say in all oppositions of the wicked Psal 25.21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee 7. Unspeakable happiness is prepated for these our Waiters Esa 64.4 From the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Now at last it appears how blessed they are and what it is to have the Lord waiting to do them good Now they have the reward of all their patience and constancy Now they see they took the wiser and safer course Evil men had the start of them in the world and triumphed over them even those that wait not for the counsel of God Psal 106.13 nor the promises of God 2 King 6.33 Should I wait for the Lord any longer They despised the godly for being so strict and mopish and observant waiting upon God at an inch They cast out their name as evil and watched to do them a mischief themselves being in the mean time the only men of note But now when the parting place comes and the day of distribution of rewards appeareth now it appears how good it was to wait upon the Lord at every turn and with constancy The conscionable hearing and repeating and obeying of good Sermons the reverent frequenting of the Lords Table the joyful and careful spending of Sabbaths the diligent maintaining and holding up of holy Discipline in the Family all the good words that have been spoken all the good actions that have been done shall now be rewarded liberally and plentifully And now they shall wait upon the Lord in another manner then ever in this life only to behold and partake of his glory for their full happiness and contentment USE III. AFter all those comforts that accrew by waiting on God and so renewing our strength for hastning toward heaven it behoves us to think on some duties to be performed that so we may be answerable to the great loving kindnesse of our God who first promised and now hath performed this mercy and truth 1. The godly should take notice of this mighty strength whereby they stand and acknowledge it so to become truly and unfainedly thankful not droop in themselves but be hearty and cheary nor disgrace their holy profession to others as if it were a profession all made of dumps and melancholy nor which is the special thing to defraud and deprive God of his due honour It becomes the just to be thankful Praise is comely for the upright Therefore go to thy house and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee confess that mighty power whereby thou standest let it appear both in the chearfulness and uprightness of thy life It is a singular malice of the Devil and also weakness in corrupt nature not to acknowledge the work of God in the soul doing more mischief then we are aware Therefore herein watch both thine own weakness and the Devils wickedness As it is dangerous to presume of a strong faith and grace where none is so it is a sullen and unthankful sheepishness not to take notice of it where it is God loseth his glory and the Christian his portion and comfort And it is expedient for us to know where our strength lieth that so we may walk in it for the end it was given us as is said of the Primitive Churches That walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost they were multiplyed Act 9. And Never shall the Christian demean himself more bravely and generously then when he considers and remembers he hath received a power whereby he can over match all the adversary powers both of hell and earth They are all very weaklings in comparison of him and he can safely bid defiance to them all Who shall accuse or condemn or separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ yet still he will be humble and modest because he knows it is a borrowed strength We are strong in the Lord and the power of his might 2. This may be an encouragement to the godly to go on with their pains and diligence in holy exercises forasmuch as they know they shall get strength by them and such strength as infinitely surmounts all strength of nature both Humane and Angelical They seem weak Ordinances and not able to produce any worthy effects viz. Reading Hearing Praying Fasting Talking together Worldly-wise men deride such courses and many think there is no good to be got by them else why do they neglect them as they do But indeed they are mighty through God to the casting down of high holds and the setting up of high fortresses of grace and comfort in stead thereof There shall be Bread to the Sower and good success to him that laboureth Other labour is not so sure to speed and take effect even when they have