three concurr in Elijahs speech Kings 1. 19. 10. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts there 's his zeal why for the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant there 's his Truth perverted they have thrown down thy Altars there 's his Worship overturned they have slain thy Prophets with the Sword there his Servants are wronged So that zeal mainly is concerned when God suffers loss in any of these things if his Truth be perverted his Worship overturn'd his Servants be despitefully used vexed and grieved then zeal presently shews it self in opposing these things or in grieving for them 1. Zeal seeks to preserve the Truth of God inviolable Truth is a precious depositum Trust and Charge which God hath committed to the keeping of his People and without zeal to defend and propagate and maintain it though with the greatest hazard it will never be kept and you will never be faithful to God We are a kind of â—…offees for the present age and Trustees for the future and the charge of Gods Truth is put into our hands and we must see it be transmitted to the World pure and undefiled therefore Iude ver 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints When others would violate the Truth we must contend with them Ier. 9. 3. They are not valiant for the Truth A Christian needs not only the labour of an Ox that he may be diligent but the valour of a Lion that he may appear for God in defence of his Truth when it is invaded and inâ—…roached upon and especially doth this concern the Officers of the Church this zeal they should have for the word Titus 1. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holding fast the faithful Word The word signifies to be good at holding and drawing that is when others would wrest it out of our hands we should hold it fast as a staff that an other would take out of our hands we hold it faster and wrestle with him so should we wrestle contend and hold fast the truth when others would draw it from us And Phil. 1. 27. Striving together for the Faith of the Gospel O! we should not let one dust of truth perish This is to be zealous for the Truth standing to and striving for the defence thereof in our way and place If God had not raised up zealous Instruments in every Age to plead for his Truth what a sad case would the Church have been in Truth would have been buried under a great heap of prejudices and Christs Kingdom have been crusht in the very Egg and Religion strangled in the cradle But there 's a cloud of Witnesses gone before us in every age God sets up some of all Sexes Ages Conditions that have owned his despised and oppugned Truths and have not counted their lives dear so as they might give their testimony to the Truth of God Rev. 12. 11. and have more greedily embraced Martyrdom then Others honours and dignities in the Church as Sulpitius Severus observes they have with greater desire affected the glory of Martyrdom and Suffering for the Truth that they might be faithful to God and the Souls of Men in future Ages and to preserve Gods Truth inviolate they have greedily sought this honour to suffer for God And Ignatius he could say come saith he I desire the Beasts that are prepared should be let loose for me it is better to dye for Christ then to command the ends of the Earth And Basil when the Arrian Emperour threatned those that did oppose his Religion should dye the Death the wild Beasts let them be let out would to God it were so that I had the honour to dye for the Truth of Christ This was notably for the encrease of Christs Kingdom and thus the Lord hath inspired his people with a Holy Love and Zeal 2. For his Worship that that may not be corrupted but his Institutions kept Pure Zeal is conversant about that too Exod. 20. 5. Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God In the first Commandment God forbids a false God in the second he forbids the false Means of Worship as before the false Object Now because the Means of Worship are apt to be perverted the Lord shews how jealous he was for his Worship I am a jealous God if the Institutions of God be perverted then I will visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the Third and Fourth Generation of them that hate me The Children are considered in that Commandment because usually the interest of Families is our great snare when an Idol is set up or a false means of Worship the chiefest false worship is an Idol and the greatest sin is put for all the rest before an Idol the Imagination or Invention of men when that is set up The Lord speaks of the interest of Families because men are apt to think they shall undo them and their Families if they contend in this matter Now be you zealous of my worship for I will visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children That the interest of Families might not abate our zeal the Lord takes the Family into the Curse for the violation and likewise into the Blessing for zeal for his Institutions And so Christ saith Iohn 2. 17. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up We should be zealous for Gods Worship Ministers they should Preach zealously and Magistrates govern zealously to purge Gods house and Christians pray zealously every one of us as far as the bounds of our calling will permit should be zealous for Gods Worship Quis comeditur zelo Domus Dei saith Austin Who is he that is eaten out with the zeal of Gods house He that desires that no humane invention may be blended and mixed with Gods Worship and would fain amend what 's amiss This zeal is the only right and acceptable Principle of Reformation our great indignation against all false worship whatever I remember the story of Valentinian who was afterwards Emperour when according to the duty of his place being Captain of the Guard to Iulian the Apostate and Emperour he was engaged to attend him into the Heathen Temple of Fortune and the Priests were to sprinkle the lustrating and holy-water for that Ceremony was common to the Heathens with the Papists and a drop of it lighted upon Valentinian he struck the Priest that did it and said thou hast defiled me thou hast not purged me he thought his garments to be contaminated and not his body sanctified and he tore off his Belt renounced his honour rather then he would do any thing that should be contrary to his Religion and for this Iulian sent him into banishment and within a year and few Months the story tells us that he received the reward of his holy Confession and owning of Christ the Roman Empire For the
knowledg when it is so apt to break out When these living waters run out of the belly it 's a sign of a good spring there Col. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another It 's a sign we have gotten the riches of understanding for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks So Prov. 16. 23. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth and addeth learning to his lips When our speech hath weight and worth in it and we are ready upon all occasions it argueth a good stock of the word You know a man that puts his hand in his pocket and brings up gold at every draught it 's a sign he hath more plenty of it than silver So when we are ready to bring out gracious discourses it argueth a treasure and stock within 2. It argueth a good esteem of the word Things that are dear and precious to us we use to discourse of them What we love admire and affect the tongue will be occupied about such things John 3. 31. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth And 1 John 4. 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world I know it is spoken in the first place of ordinary Teachers All men whose original is of the earth they savour of it in their speech when they speak of divine things there is some earthiness in it The other Scripture is meant of false Teachers they savour of the world all their teaching doth savour of their affections But both places give this general truth What a mans affections are upon it is most ready in his mouth Therefore it argueth we are affected with the word of God when we are declaring it upon all occasions 6. It is for our benefit to be talking of good things to others The breasts that are not suckt do soon grow dry but the more they are milked out and drawn the greater is the encrease so in spiritual things we gain by communicating By discourse truths are laid more in view We find in any art of common learning the more we confer about things with others the more understanding we get our selves Prov. 11. 25. The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself It is spoken of Alms it is true of spiritual Alms as plain Experience shews by watering and refreshing others the more we are comforted and refreshed our selves The loaves were encreased in the dividing Solomon compares Conference to the whetting iron upon iron the more one iron is whet upon another both are sharpned so by Conference our gifts are encreased Earthly goods the more they are given out we have the less in view and visible appearance though God can increase them but now in heavenly and spiritual things in the very giving out to others they are encreased upon our hands USE 1. To shame us for our unprofitableness in our relations and converses for these are two things wherein a Christian should take occasion to declare the Judgments of Gods mouth 1. In our Relations that we do no good there in declaring the Judgments of Gods mouth to one another Surely every Relation is a Talent and you will be accountable for it if you do not improve it for your Masters use The husband is to converse with his wife as a man of knowledg 1 Pet. 3. 7. and the wife to gain upon the husband 1 Pet. 3. 2. and both upon the children and servants The members of every Family should be helping one another in the way to heaven With what busie diligence doth an Idolatrous Family carry on their way and their course See Ier. 7. 18. The children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire c. saith the Lord. Every one will have his hand in the work and are quickning and inflaming one another Fathers Children Husbands Wives all find some employment or other about their Idolatrous Service O that every one would be as forward and zealous and helpful in the work of God O that we were as careful to train and set our families a work in a course of godliness Christians should reason thus What honour hath God by making me a Father a Master of a Family Every such a one hath a charge of souls and he is to be responsible It will be no grief of heart to you when by your means they become acquainted with God Ye are my Crown and my rejoycing says the Apostle of the Thessalonians converted by his Ministry It will be a crown of honour and rejoycing in the day of the Lord when you have been instrumental not only for their prosperity in the world but of their encreasing in grace 2. In our converses how little do we edifie one another If Christs question to the two disciples going to Emans were put to us Luke 24. 17. What manner of conversation had you by the way What cause should we have to blush and be ashamed Generally our discourse is either 1. Prophane and sinful there is too much of the rotten communication which the Apostle forbids Eph. 4. 29. Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearer Rotten discourse argueth a rotten heart Or 2. Idle and vain as foolish tales The Apostle bids Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 7. To refuse prophane and old wives fables or vain complements though we are to give an account for idle words Mat. 12. 36. Or else like the Athenians we spend our time in hearing and telling news Acts 17. 21. Or we please and solace our selves with frothy flashes of a wanton wit and jesting that is not convenient which the Apostle forbids Ephes. 5. 4. The praise of a Christian lyeth not in the wittiness but in the graciousness of his conversation That which is Aristotles vertue is made a sin with Paul foolish jesting You should rather be refreshing one another with what experiences you have had of the Lords grace that is the comfort and solace of Christians when they meet together But when men wholly give up themselves to move laughter all this is idle and vain discourse It is not enough to say it doth no hurt but what good doth it do doth it tend to the use of edifying A Christian that hath God and Christ and his wonderful and precious benefits to talk of and so many occasions to give thanks he cannot want matter to discourse of when he comes into company therefore we should avoid vain discourse Or 3. We talk of other mens matters or faults as the Apostle speaks of those 1 Tim. 5. 13. That wandred from house to house that not being idle only but tatlers also and busie bodies speaking things which they ought not Levit. 19. 16. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people The Hebrew word signifies a Merchant or one
some renewed evidences of God's favour ask him then is it good to be afflicted Oh yes I had else been vain neglectfull of God wanted such an experience of the Lord's Grace Faith should determine the case when we feel it not Secondly That according to these Measures you will find it Good to be Afflicted 1. 'T is Good as 't is Minus Malum it keepeth us from greater evils Afflictions to the Righteous are either cures of or preservatives from spiritual Evils which would occasion greater Troubles and Crosses They prevent sin 2 Cor. 12. 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of Revelation there was given me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure They purge out Sin Isa. 27. 9. By this shall the Iniquity of Iacob be purged out We are apt to abuse prosperity to Self-confidence Psalm 30. 6 7. In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong And Luxury Deut. 32. 15. But Iesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his Salvation The Godly have evil Natures as well as others which cannot be beaten down but by Afflictions We are froward in our Relations Hagar was proud in Abraham's house Gen. 16. 4. her Mistriss was despised in her Eyes but very humble in the Desart Gen. 21. 16. David's heart was tender and smote him when he cut off the lap of Saul's garment 1 Sam. 24. 5. but how stupid and senseless was he when he lived at ease in Ierusalem 2 Sam. 12. His Conscience was benum'd till Nathan roused him Before we are chastened we are Rebellious Frail Fickle Mutable apt to degenerate without this continual discipline we are very negligent and drowsy till the Rod awakeneth us God's Children have strange failings and negligences and sometimes are guilty of more hainous sins 'T is a great Curse for a man to be left to his own ways Hos. 4. 17. Let him alone So Psalm 81. 12. I gave them up to their own hearts Lust Men must needs perish when left to their selves without this wholesome profitable discipline of the Cross. 2. 'T is Good because the Evil in it is counterpoised by a more abundant Good 't is Evil as it doth deprive us of our natural comforts Pleasure Gain Honour but 't is Good as these may be recompensed with better Pleasures richer Gain and greater Honour There is more Pleasure in Holiness than there can be Pain and Trouble in Affliction Heb. 12. 11. No Affliction for the present seemeth Ioyous but Grievous but afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness more gain than Affliction can bring loss Heb. 12 10. But he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness more honour than Affliction can bring shame surely then 't is good There is a threefold Profit we get by Affliction 1. The time of Affliction is a serious thinking time Eccles. 7. 14. In the day of Adversity consider 1 Kings 8. 47. Yet if they bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried Captive We have more liberty to retire into our selves being freed from the attractive allurements of Worldly vanities and the delights of the Flesh. Adversity maketh men serious the Prodigal came to himself when he began to be in want Luke 15. 17. Sad objects make a deep impression upon our Souls they help us to consider our own ways and God's righteous dealings that we may behave our selves wisely and suitably to the dispensation Micah 6. 9. The man of wisdome will hear the Rod. 2. 'T is a special hearing time in the Text That I might learn thy statutes and 't is said of Christ Heb. 5. 8. that He learned obedience from the things that he suffered he did experimentally understand what obedience was in hard and difficult cases and so could the better pitty poor Sinners in Affliction we have an experimental knowledge of that of which we had but a notional knowledge before We come by experience to see how false and changeable the World is how comfortable an interest in God is what a burden Sin is what sweetness there is in the Promises what a reality in the Word Luther said qui tribulantur c. The Afflicted see more in the Scripture than others do the secure and fortunate read them as they do Ovid's Verses Certainly when the Soul is humble and when we are refined and raised above the degrees of Sense we are more tractable and teachable our understandings are clearer our Affections more melting our spiritual learning is a blessing that cannot be valued if God write his law upon our Hearts by his stripes on our backs so light a trouble should not be grudged at 3. 'T is an awakening quickening time 1. Some are awakened out of the sleep of Death and are first wrought upon by Afflictions this is one powerfull means to bring in Souls to God and to open their Ears to Discipline God began with them in their Afflictions and the time of their Sorrows was the time of Loves The hot Furnace is Christ's Workhouse the most excellent Vessels of honour and praise have been formed there Isa. 48. 10. I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction Manasses Paul the Jaylor were all chosen in the Fire God puts them into the furnace and chuseth them there melts them and stamps them with the Image of Christ. The Hogs Trough was a good School to the Prodigal Well then doth God do you any harm by Affliction when he saves you by it If we use violence to a man that is ready to be drowned and in pulling him out of the waters should break an Arm or a Leg would he not be thankfull it you have broken my Arm you have saved my life So God's Children 't is good that I had such an Affliction felt the sharpness of such a Cross. Oh Blessed Providence I had been a witless Fool and gone on still in a course of Sin and Vanity if God had not awakened me 2. It quickeneth others to be more carefull of their Duty more watchfull against Sin and doth exercise and improve us in heavenly Vertues and Graces of the Spirit which lay dormant in us through neglect since pleasing Objects which deaden the Heart are removed Even God's best Children when they have gotten a carnal Pillow under their Heads are apt to sleep their Prayers are dead Thoughts of Heaven cold or none little Zeal for God or delight in him Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble they have visited thee they pour out a Prayer when thy Chastening is upon them Hosea 5. 15. In their Afflictions they will seek me early Because they do not stir up themselves God stirreth them up by a smart Rod. The Husbandman pruneth the Vine left it run
holy thoughts where they are sanctified and work the right way 1. They make us understand the Word more fully and clearly than before Vexatio dat intellectum qui tribulantur saith Luther Sacras Literas melius intelligunt securi fortunati eas legunt sicut Ovidii Carmen A full third part of the Scriptures are lost to the secure and fortunate 2. As they clear the sight so they purge the taste and give us a spiritual relish Carnal comforts cloy the spiritual appetite when they are removed from us then we taste heavenly things Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 3. They quicken the heart to our duty and so make us more aweful and watchful Psal. 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law Psal. 119. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly If God write his law upon our hearts by his stripes on our backs 't is a blessed effect our happiness is to be measured by our great end which is conformity to God and enjoyment of God and therefore it doth not consist in outward comforts riches honour health civil liberty and comfortable protection but acceptance with God and enjoyment of God Now as afflictions increase grace and holiness we are the more approved of God and enjoy more of God USE Let all our Troubles drive us then to the Word of God there we shall find 1. Grounds of comfort and support 2. Hopes of deliverance 3. Quickenings to duty which being concocted by serious thoughts and blessed to us by the Spirit of God will enable us to ride out the storm chearfully and allay our cares and fears and then we shall put our selves into the way wherein God hath engaged his protection and so shall not be afraid of what man can do unto us I now come to the 79th verse Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies When troubled by the wicked he prayeth for the help and comfort of the godly there is an elegant Allusion between the two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the proud be ashamed And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the godly be turned to me that is let them desert the society of these proud men and join to me In these words God's People are described by a double character 1. Those that fear thee 2. Those that have known thy testimonies David's Petition concerning those that they may turn to him I shall deliver the importance of these words in certain Propositions 1. Observe the Godly are described by two Properties the fear or worship of God and the knowledge of his Word These are Godly who fear to offend God and have the sound knowledge of his Will these are fittest for God's use in the general and for David's use in the particular condition in which he was For God's use Fear and knowledge do make up a godly man Knowledge without fear breedeth presumption and fear without knowledge breedeth superstition and blind Zeal as a blind Horse may be full of mettle but is ever and anon stumbling Knowledge must direct fear and fear must season knowledge then it is an happy mixture and composition Deum cognoscere colere to know God and worship him is the whole duty of man saith Lactantius When we know God's Testimonies so as to regard love and believe them and dare not dispense with our duty to him for all the world this is a good frame our knowledge and fear of God must be according to his Word And these were fittest for David's case fit comforters and strengthners of the Godly in persecution There are many whom we cannot exclude from all fear of God who yet know not his Testimonies run into Error darken and blemish a good cause but those that know and fear understand their duty and are loth to violate it with these should our Souls close Well then David doth in effect say Those whom thou hast joined to thy self let them join to me they will acknowledge the equity of that cause which God owneth and will converse with him whom thou disdainest not to take into favor because they reverence thy Providence and are taught out of thy Testimonies and so weighing the cause as well as regarding the event will be sooner won to the Truth when God sheweth mercy to his People other godly ones will be allured to join themselves to those whom they find to be so dear to God 2. Friendship and fellowship with such godly ones is a great blessing partly as it conduceth to mutual spiritual strength Rom. 1. 12. That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me 'T is a comfort to see our Father's children wherever we come and to behold their Faith Zeal Self denial Mortification the Godly are a strength to one another in evil times Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another There are many advantages attend the communion of Saints their very sight and presence is a confirmation to us many times that temptation befalleth us which befel Elias we think we are left alone 1 Kings 19. 10. That Godliness is gone out of the world To have company is an encouragement but we have not only company but help every one hath his peculiar gift to help others 1 Cor. 12. one hath quickness of parts but not so solid a judgment another is solid but not of so ready present and good utterance one is zealous but ungrounded another well-principled but timorous 1 Cor. 12. 21. The eye the knowing man cannot say to the hand the active man in God's cause I have no need of thee All have their use by mutual gifts and graces to profit one another as the curtains of the Tabernacle were coupled to one another by loops Exod. 26. 3. or as a body fitly joined and compacted by that which every joint supplieth Eph. 4. 16. Every Christian hath need of anothers help And partly as it conduceth more to publick safety and honour Philip. 1. 27 28. Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God When the members are cut off the body is less powerful Acts 4. 33. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of our Lord Iesus When they were met with one heart And the Apostle prayeth Rom. 15. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Iesus Christ. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the
for they will grow upon us and therefore it makes for the encouragement of you that they should sooner begin with God 2. It makes for the encouragement of those that have the Education of Youth as Masters of Families Parents and the like Do not say it is too soon for them to learn No Age is too soon for God 2 Tim. 3. 5. Thou hast from thy Infancy learned the Scriptures When we suck in Religion with our milk it 's a great advantage those things we keep with us that we learn young Prov. 22. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it When the new Vessel is seasoned with this precious liquor it will keep the taste tender Twigs are bent this way when they are as Wax capable of any impression Use 3. Caution for young ones If young men should obtain this benefit to grow wiser than the Ancients notwithstanding this yet they should learn to shew reverence to the aged Iob 32. 4 5 6. And then to ascribe it to God saith he ver 8. There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding It is not the sharpness of our wit but the inspiration of his Grace he is the Author of all this wisdom that is wrought in us Use 4. To humble the Aged that have not made conscience of their time and ways and therefore are more blockish than many Children Isa. 65. 20. There shall be no more an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days Old men that are ignorant of the mysteries of Faith after they have long sate under the Word of God and have many advantages to improve their youth Heb. 5. 12. When for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat In this sense God is said to take away the understanding of the Aged that is by a just judgment for their unfruitfulness and unprofitableness under the means of Grace They that are much younger than you are wise in comparison of you when they excel you for ripeness in wisdom for solidness and setledness in manners in a course of godliness Those old men that draw near to the Grave before they have consider'd either the end wherefore they came into the world or the state into which they shall be translated when they go out of it those are Children of 100 years old that have nothing to reckon Age by but wrinckles and gray hairs Doct. 3. That the way to increase in spiritual understanding is to be studious in practical holiness The Word that will give you understanding will keep you out of all snares sufficiently direct you to true happiness But how shall we get it refer it to practice practise what you know and you shall know more it must needs be so 1. Because these are such as have God's Promise Iohn 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self They that make conscience of their ways season their course in the fear of God that take Gods direction with them God will tell them they shall know what doctrine is of God 2. They have a greater clearness of mind and understanding therefore must needs discern holy things why because they are freed from the clouds of lust and passion which do insensibly blind and make them stay in generals Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Saith Nazianzene Where there is purity there 's brightness where there 's a pure heart there 's a great deal more clearness in the understanding Reason and Fancy are dark unless a Man have a command over his Passions and Affections over his Passions of Anger Fear Grief and over his Affections of Love and Joy and Appetite towards sensual delights unless he be able to govern these things he will never truly discern the mind of God for the seasoning his course in living a holy life that of the Apostle is notable 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance unless they be able to govern their affections in the use of worldly delights pleasures and profits they will never have this practical knowledge and therefore the only way to know divine things as Nazianzene well observes is conscientiously to keep the Commandments of God If you would know the Will of God do not spend your time in heaping up Notions but framing your heart to obedience governing your affections by the fear of God and suiting your hearts to the Word of God Alas Those that seek knowledge out of ambition curiosity and vain ostentation and lie under the power of vile affections get but very little true spiritual light they may have the understanding of Teachers but not the understanding to season them and guide them in their communion with God 3. The more we practise the more Religion is exemplifi'd and made sensible so that we come to understand more of the sweetness of it and on the other hand the more of difficulty is in it when there is nothing but bare Notions and naked apprehensions There we have a double advantage an exact Rule and more experience of the sweetness of Religion Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness When we practise what we know then we come to know the sweetness of entertaining communion with the Lord and they know more of the difficulty of Religion they know where their hearts are more averse and more in danger whereas others that soar aloft in Notions and idle and lofty speculations have not this experience 4. They that practise study things with more affection than others mightily help their understanding The more piety and zeal any man hath the more will the Lord bless his Studies Paul profited in the Iewish Religion above many of his Equals why Gal. 1. 14. Being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my Fathers A man that hath a zeal in any thing will profit more than others so he that hath a zeal for the things of God profits above others A blunt Iron if red hot will pierce through an Inch-board sooner than a cold Tool though never so sharp so those that have blunt parts in comparison of others yet if they have zeal and good affections they will pierce deep into the mysteries of Religion they that have sharper parts want the fire of zeal 5. The more fruitful any Grace is the more doth it abound with us and therefore when your knowledge is fruitful you will find it increased by laying out your Talents Col. 1. 10. Be fruitful in every good work always increasing in the knowledge of God First he presseth knowledge in order to practice then he presseth
and are inclin'd to believe but when these truths soak into the heart to frame it to the obedience of his will When the Lord had spoken of practical obedience Was not this to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22. 16. And this is to believe So for Love Deut. 6. 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might Every faculty must express Love to God Many will be content to give God a part God hath their Consciences but the world their affections Their heart is divided and the evidence of it is plainly this In their troubles and extremities they will seek after God but this is not their constant work and delight We are welcome to God when we are compelled to come into his presence God will not say as men you come in your necessity But we must then be sincere in our addresses and rest in him as our portion and all-sufficient good 2. For intention of Degrees To seek God with the whole heart it is to seek him with the highest elevation of our hearts The whole heart must be carried out to God and to other things for Gods sake As Harbingers when they go to take up room for a Prince they take up the whole house none else must have place there so God he will have the whole heart Again it may be considered as to the exaction of the Law and as a Rule of the Gospel 1. As an exaction of the Law and so Christ urged it to the young man that was of a Pharisaical institution to abate his pride and confidence Mat. 22. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Certainly these words there have a legal importance and signification for in another Evangelist Luk. 10. 28. it is added do and live which is the tenor of the Law And Christs intent was to abate the Pharisees pride by propounding the rigor of the first Covenant The Law requireth compleat love without the least defect according to the terms of it a grane wanting would make the whole unacceptable As a hard Landlord when all the rent is not brought to the full he accepteth none It is good to consider it under this sense that we may seek God in Christ to quicken us that we may value our deliverance by him from this burden which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear a stragling thought a wandring glance the least out-running of the heart had render'd us accursed for ever 2. It may be considered as a Rule of the Gospel which requireth our utmost endeavors our bewailing infirmities and defects but accepts of sincerity There will be a double principle in us to the last but there should not be a double heart So that this expression of seeking the Lord with the whole heart is reconcilable enough with the weaknesses of the present state For instance 1 King 14. 8. My servant David who kept my Commandments and who followed me with all his heart and did that only which was right in mine eyes David had many failings and some that left an indelible brand upon him in the matter of Uriah yet because of his sincerity and habitual purpose God saith He hath kept all my Commandments So in Iosiah 2 King 23. 25. Like to him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart with all his soul and with all his might Yet he also had his imperfections against the warning of the Lord he goes out with a wicked King and dies in Battel So Asa 2 Chron. 15. 17. The high places were not taken away it was a failing in that holy King yet 't is said the heart of Asa was perfect all his days Well then when the whole heart is engaged in this work when we do not only study to know God but make it our work to enjoy him to rest in him as our all-sufficient portion though there will be many defects yet then are we said to seek him with the whole heart Secondly The reasons why God will be sought with the whole heart are 1. He that gives but part to God doth indeed give nothing The Devil keeps an interest as long as one lust remains unmortified and one corner of the soul is kept for him As Pharaoh stood hucking he would fain have some pawn of their return either leave your children behind no no they must go and see the Sacrifices and be trained up in the way of the Lord then he would have their flocks and herds left behind he knew that would draw their hearts back again So Satan must have either this lust or that he knows by keeping part all will fall to his share in the end A bird that is tyed in a string seems to have more liberty than a bird in a Cage it flutters up and down though it be held fast so many seem to flutter up and down and do many things as Herod but his Herodias drew him back again into the Fowlers net Thus because of a sinners danger 2. Because of Gods right By Creation he made the whole therefore requires the whole the Father of spirits must have the whole spirit We were not mangled in our Creation God that made the whole must have the whole He preserves the whole Christ hath bought the whole 1 Cor. 6. 20. Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods And God promiseth to glorifie the whole Christians it would be uncomfortable to us if God should only take a part to Heaven All that you have is to be glorified in the day of Christ all that you are and have must be given to him whole spirit soul and body Let us not deprive him of any part Use. Well do we serve God and seek after God with the whole heart The natural mother had rather part with the whole than to see the child divided 1 King 3. 26. God had rather part with the whole than take a piece Either he will have the whole of your love or leave the whole to Satan The Lord complains Hos. 10. 2. Their heart is divided Men have some affections for God many times but they have affections for their lusts too the world hath a great share and portion of their heart Q. But when in a Gospel-sense may we be said to seek God with the whole heart Take it in these short Propositions 1. When the setled purpose of our souls is to cleave to God to love and serve him with an intire obedience both in the inward and outward man when this is the full determination and consent of our hearts 2. When we do what we can by all good means to maintain this purpose for otherwise 't is but a fruit of conviction a free-will pang Act. 24. 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards all
to be discharged seriously A man is very careful that hath taken a trust upon him to preserve it No men that have given up their names to Christ but they have taken up this trust upon them to keep his precepts therefore we should do it with all diligence and heedfulness of soul. 6. We have no other plea to evidence our sincerity we are guilty of many defects and cannot do as we would where lyes our evidence then when we set our selves to obey and aim at the highest exactness to serve him with our best affections and strength A child of God he doth not do all that God hath required but he doth his best and then that 's a sign the heart is upright For what is this diligence but our utmost study and endeavour after perfection to avoid all known evils and to practise all known duties and that with as much care as we can Now this is an argument of our sincerity and then our slips are but failings which God will spare pity pardon Mal. 3. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him c. Where a man is careless and failings are allowed then they are iniquities A father out of indulgence may pass by a failing when his son waits upon him suppose when he spills the wine and breaks the glass but surely will not allow him to throw it down carelesly or willfully We have no other plea to evidence our sincerity but this Use. It presseth us whatever we do for the great God to do it with all our might Eccles. 9. 10. There is no weighty thing can be done without diligence much more the keeping the Commandment Satan is diligent in tempting and we our selves are weak and infirm we cannot do the least thing as we should And the danger of miscarrying is so great that surely it will require all our care Wherein should we shew this diligence and exactness when we keep all the parts of the Law and that at all times and places and that with the whole man 1. When we strive to keep the Law in all the points of it this was Paul's Exercise Acts 24. 16. To keep a good Conscience void of offence both towards God and man Mark here was his great business this is to be diligent when a man labours to keep a good Conscience always And saith he herein or upon this do I exercise my self that is upon this encouragement upon hope of a blessed Resurrection for that 's spoken of there There are wages and recompences enough in Heaven therefore we should not grudg at a little work that we may not be drawn willingly from the least part of our duty 2. When we do it at all times and places and in all company then it 's a sign we mind the work then are we diligent Psal. 106. 3. Blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times Not only now and then but 't is his constant course We do not judg mens complexions by the colour they have when they sit before the fire We cannot judg of men by a fit and pang when they are under the awe of an Ordinance or in good company but when at all times he labours to keep up a warmth of heart towards God 3. When he labours to do this with his whole man not only in pretence and with his body or outward man but with inward affections Rom. 1. 9. My God whom I serve in the spirit And the true people of God are described Phil. 3. 3. To worship God in the spirit When they labour to bring their hearts under the power of Gods precepts and do not only mind conformity of the outward man this is to keep the precepts of God diligently All this is to be understood not in exact perfection but it is to be understood of our striving labouring watching of our praying and of our exercising our selves hereunto that we may with our whole man come under the full obedience of the Law of God and may manifest it upon all occasions at all times in all companies and places and this is an evidence of our sincerity SERMON VI. PSAL. CXIX 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes IN the former Verse he had spoken of God's Authority now he beggeth grace to obey Thou hast commanded and Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes 1. Note That it is the use and duty of the people of God to turn precepts into prayers That this is the practice of God's children appeareth Ier. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God God had said Turn you and you shall live and they ask it of God Turn us as he required it of them 'T was Austin's prayer Da quod jubes jube quod vis Give what thou requirest and require what thou wilt It is the duty of the Saints for 1. It suiteth with the Gospel-Covenant where precepts and promises go hand in hand where God giveth what he commandeth and worketh all our works in us and for us They are not conditions of the Covenant only but a part of it What God hath required at our hands that we may desire at his hands God is no Pharaoh to require brick where he giveth no straw Lex jubet gratia juvat The Articles of the New Covenant are not only put into the form of precepts but promises The Law giveth no strength to perform any thing but the Gospel offereth Grace 2. Because by this means the ends of God are fulfilled Why doth God require what we cannot perform by our own strength He doth it 1. To keep up his right 2. To convince us of our impotency and that upon a trial without his grace we cannot do his work 3. That the creature may express his readiness to obey 4. To bring us to lye at his feet for grace Now when we turn precepts into prayers all these ends are accomplished First To keep up his right If we have lost our power there is no reason God should lose his right A drunken servant is under the obligation and duty of a servant still he is unable to do his Masters work but he is bound to it It is unreasonable that another should suffer through my default Well then God may well command the faln creature to keep his precepts diligently Now when we deal earnestly with God about it it argueth a sense of his authority upon our hearts If we were not held under the awe of the commandment why should we be so earnest about it If men were more sensible of their obligation we should have more prayers in this kind This is the will of God and how shall I do to observe it 2. To convince us of our impotency and that upon a trial practical conviction is best We may discourse of the weakness and insufficiency of the Creature but we are not affected with it till we try A diseased man
ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is A man that desireth to follow God fully would fain know the whole latitude and breadth of his duty A child of God is inquisitive He that desireth to keep all doth also desire to know all It is his business to study the mind of God in all things gross negligence sheweth we are afraid of understanding our duty 2. By often searching and trying his own heart that he may find where the matter sticketh Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our ways that we may turn unto the Lord. Compleat Reformation is grounded on a serious search A chief cause of our going wrong is because we do not bring our hearts and ways together 3. Desire God to shew it if there be any thing in the heart allowed contrary to the Word Iob 34. 32. That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more And Psal. 139. 23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked thing in me and lead me in the way everlasting He would not hold on in any evil course There is no sin so dear and near to him which he is not willing to see and judg in himself 4. When they fail through humane infirmity or imprudence they seek to renew their peace with God 1 Ioh. 2. 1. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous They sue out their discharge in Christs name If a man were unclean under the Law he was to wash his clothes and bath himself in water before evening and not rest in his uncleanness Now if we still abide in our filthiness and do not fly to our Advocate and sue out our pardon in Christs name it argueth that we have not a respect to the Commandment 5. They diligently use all holy means which are appointed by God for growth in faith and obedience 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God and coming up to a greater conformity 6. A care of their bosom-sin to get that weakned Psal. 18. 23. I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity Such as are most incident to us by temper of nature course of life or posture of interests the right hand must be cut off the right eye plucked out Mat. 5. 29 30. If thou seekest to cross that sin that is most pleasing to thine own heart seekest to dry up that unclean issue that runneth upon thee by that and the other signs may we determine whether we have a sincere respect to all Gods Commandments 2. The next Circumstance in the Text is the fruit and benefit They that have an intire respect to Gods Laws shall not be ashamed There is a twofold shame The shame of a guilty Conscience And the shame of a tender Conscience The one is the merit and fruit of sin the other is an act of Grace This here spoken of is to be understood not of an holy self-loathing but a confounding shame This shame may be considered either with respect to their own hearts or the world or before God at the day of Judgment 1. With respect to their own hearts and thus the upright and sincere shall not be ashamed There is a generous confidence bewrayed in Duties in Troubles and in Death In Duties they can look God in the face uprightness giveth boldness and the more respect we have unto the commandments the greater liberty have we in prayer 1 Joh. 3. 21. If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But when men walk crookedly and loosly they sin away the liberty of their hearts and cannot come to God with such a free spirit A man that hath wronged another and knoweth not how to pay cannot endure to see him so doth sin work a shieness of God 2. In Troubles and Afflictions Nothing sooner abashed than a corrupt conscience they cannot hold up their heads when crossed in the world a burden sits very uneasie upon a galled back their crosses revive their guilt are parts of the curse therefore they are soon blank But now a godly man is bold and courageous Two things make one bold Innocency and Independency and both are found in him that hath a sincere respect to Gods commandments Innocency when the soul doth not look pale under any secret guilt and when we can live above the creatures it puts an heroical spirit or Lyon-like boldness into the children of God 3. In Death To be able to look death in the face it is a comfort in your greatest distresses When Hezekiah was arrested with the sentence of death in the mouth of the Prophet here was his comfort and support O Lord thou knowest that I have walked before thee with a perfect heart And Job 15. 16. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him 2. Before the world a man will be able to hold up his head that is sincere It is true he may be reproached and scoffed at and suffer disgrace for his strictness yet he is not ashamed Though we displease men yet if we please God it is enough if we have his approbation 1 Cor. 4. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgment To depend on the words of man is a foolish thing There is more ground of rejoycing than of shame You have the approbation of their consciences when not of their tongues In the issue God will vindicate the righteousness of his faithful servants Psal. 37. 6. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon-day There will be no cause in the issue for a Christian to repent of his strict observance of Gods commands Eph. 3. 18. 3. Before God at the day of Judgment 1 John 2. 28. And now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming He is the brave man that can hold up his head in that day Wicked men will then be ashamed 1. Because their secret sins are then divulged and made publick 1 Cor. 4. 5. Iudg nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God 2. Because of the frustration of their hopes Disappointment bringeth shame Some do many things and make full account of their acceptance with God and reception to glory but when all is disappointed how much are they confounded Rom. 5. 5. Hope maketh not ashamed because it is not frustrated 3. By the contempt and dishonour God puts upon them banishing
begin to live upon our selves and our own stock and do not depend upon the free grace of God to carry us out in our work 3. When you go forth to any work or conflict without an actual renewing of your dependance upon God it 's a sign you lean upon the strength of your own resolutions or present frame of your heart The Ephraimites took it ill that Gideon would go to war and not call them into the field when they went out against the Enemy Iudges 8. 1. O may not God much more take it ill that we will go forth to grapple with the Devil and temptations and go about any business in our own strength Therefore still a sense of our weakness must be upon us that we may do all in the name of the Lord Iesus that is by help and assistance from him Col. 3. 17. 4. When we boast of our courage before we are called to a trial They that crack in their quarters do not always do most valiantly in the field Peter's boast Though all men should leave thee yet will not I came to very little And you know the story of Mr. Saunders in the Book of Martyrs Let not him that puts on his harness boast as he that puts it off A temptation will shew us how little service that grace will do us which we are proud of and boast of 2. To cure carnal confidence remember your work and your impediments 1. Consider your work A full view of duty will check our rash presumptions Can you deny your selves take up your Cross maintain and carry on a holy course to your lives end And 2. remember your impediments partly from a naughty heart you are to row against the stream of flesh and blood Satan will be sure to trouble you and will assault you again and again though he be never so fully foiled he will not give over the combate Luke 4. 13. He departed from Christ for a season he had a mind to try the other bout And the World will be your lett many discouragements and snares from the love and fear of it 1 Joh. 5. 3 4. He that loves God keeps his commandments and his commandments are not grievous and presently he saith And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith implying there is no keeping the commandments without victory over the world Now can you do all these things in your own strength The young man was forward in resolving in keeping the commandments but he went away sad for he had great possessions Mat. 19. 22. Therefore consider these things that you may flye to the Lord Jesus Doct. 3. Though we flye to Gods help yet sometimes God may withdraw and forsake us Here I shall speak of the kinds of desertion and then of the reasons First For the kinds take these distinctions 1. There is a real desertion and a seeming Christ may be out of sight and yet you not out of mind When the dam is abroad for meat the young brood in the Nest are not forgotten nor forsaken The child cryes as if the Mother was gone but she is but hidden or about other business Isa. 49. 14 15. Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me In the misgivings of our hearts we think God hath cast off all care and all thought of us But God's affectionate answer sheweth that all this was but a fond surmise Can a woman forget her sucking-child c. So Psal. 31. 22. I said in my haste I am cut off before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee We are never more in Gods heart many times than when we think he hath quite cast us off Surely when the heart is drawn after him he is not wholly gone We often mistake Gods dispensations when he is preparing for us more ample relief and emptying us of all carnal dependance we judg that that 's a forsaking as Psal. 94. 18. When I said My foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up Sometimes in point of comfort we are at a loss and fill'd with distractions and troubles and all is that God may come in for our relief So in point of grace 2 Cor. 1. When I am weak then I am strong There is also a real desertion for God grants his people are forsaken sometimes Though I have forsaken you for a little moment Isa. 54. 7 8. And Christ that could not be mistaken complaineth of it and the Saints feel it to their bitter cost 2. There 's internal and external desertion Internal is with respect to the withdrawings of the Spirit Psal. 51. 11. Take not thy holy Spirit from me Now external desertion is in point of Affliction when God leaves us under sharp crosses in his wise Providence These must be distinguished sometimes they are asunder sometimes together And when they are together God may return as to our inward comfort and support yet not for our deliverance Ps. 1 38. 3. In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthnedst me with strength in my soul. David was in great straits and God affords him soul-relief that was all the answer he could get then support and strength to bear the troubles but not deliverance from the affliction Sometimes the ebb of outward comfort doth make way for a greater tide and influx of inward comfort 2 Cor. 1. 5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Cordials are for a fainting time When children are sick and weakly we treat them with the more indulgence God may return and may never less forsake us inwardly than when he doth forsake us outwardly 2 Cor. 4. 16. Though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day God makes sickly bodies make way for the health of the soul and an aking head for a better heart When he seems to cast us off in point of our external condition it is to draw us into a more inward communion with himself that we might receive greater supplies of his grace 3. There 's a desertion as to Comfort and a desertion as to Grace The children of God may sometimes lose the feelings of Gods love Psal. 77. 1 2 3. My soul refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled My spirit was overwhelmed O what a word was that remembring of God revives the heart but to think of God and to think of his loss that was his great trouble Yet all this while God may hold communion in point of grace Psal. 73. 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand He had been under a conflict lost his comfort yet he acknowledgeth supports God held him in his right hand Trouble and discomfort hath its use want of comfort makes way many times for increase of grace and therefore though a man may be deserted as to comfort yet he may have a
she opened Christ was gone 2. To acquaint us with our weakness What feathers are we when the blast of a temptation is let loose upon us God will shew what we are by his withdrawing God left Hezekiah that he might try him that he might know all that was in his heart 2 Chron. 32. 31. When Christ was asleep the storm arose and the Ship was in danger If God be gone but a little or suspend his influence we cannot stand our ground 3. To subdue our carnal confidence Psal. 30. 6 7. In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved We fall asleep upon a carnal pillow then God draws it away Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled The nurse lets the child get a knock to make it more cautious God withdraws that we may learn more to depend upon him 4. To heighten our esteem of Christ that love may be sharpned by absence when once we feel the loss of it to our bitter cost we will not part with him again upon easie terms The Spouse when she caught him would not let him go Cant. 3. 2 3 4. then are we more tender to observe him in his motions 5. That by our own bitter experience we may learn how to value the sufferings of Christ when we taste of the bitter cup of which he drunk for us Christians you do not know what it was for Christ to cry out My God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. Until we are sensible in our measure and degree of the like He tasted of the hell of being forsaken and we must pledg him in that-cup first or last that we may know what our Saviour endured for us and what it is for a holy man to want the light of Gods countenance and those sensible consolations that he formerly had 6. To prevent evil to come especially pride that we might not be lifted up and to entender our hearts to others 2 Cor. 1. 4. That we might comfort others with the comforts wherewith we were comforted of God Use 1. This informs us That we are not therefore cast out of the love of God because there may be some forsaking Desertion is incident to the most heavenly spirits Christ hath legitimated this condition and made it consistent with Grace It is a disease this which follows the Royal feed David Heman Hezekiah these were forsaken yet were children of God It is more incident to the godly than the wicked and carnal The carnal may be under bondage sometimes their peace may be troubled and disturbed but this Desertion properly is a disease incident to the godly and none are so affected with it as they they have a tender heart when God is gone how are they troubled they are very observant and therefore we cannot say they are not godly because they are forsaken But those that never felt the love of Christ never knew what communion with God means never troubled with sin have none of this affliction but this is incident to the richest and most heavenly spirit whom God hath taken into Communion with himself Use 2. For Direction to the Children of God 1. Observe Gods comings and goings see whether you be forsaken when God hides himself from your prayers when means have not such a lively influence when you have a strong affection to obey but not such help to bring it into act and you begin to stumble observe it God is withdrawn and many times seems to withdraw to observe whether you will take notice of it Christ made as if he would go further but they constrain'd him to stay so he makes as if he would be gone to see if you will constrain him to tarry 2. Enquire after the reason Psal. 77. 6. I communed with mine own heart What then My spirit made diligent search I this is the time to make dilâ—… search what it is divides between God and you Though God doth it out of Soveraignty and instruction sometimes yet there is ever cause for Creatures to humble themselves and make diligent search vvhat 's the matter 3. Submit to the dispensation Murmuring doth but intangle you more God will have us stoop to his Soveraignty and wisdom before he hath done A Husband must be absent for necessary occasions A frown is as necessary for a child as a smile David refuseth not to be tried only he prays Lord forsake me not utterly It is a fond child that will not let its parent go out of sight 4. Learn to trust in a withdrawing God and depend upon him to stay our selves upon his name when we see no light Isa. 50. 10. Never leave until you find him Look as Hester she would go into the Kings presence when there was no golden scepter held forth so venture into Gods presence when you have no smile and countenance from heaven trust in a withdrawing God nay when wrath breaks out when God killeth you Iob 13. 15. Though he kill me yet will I trust in him With such a holy obstinacy of faith should we follow God in this case Doct. 4. When God seemeth to forsake us and really doth so in part yet we should pray that it be not an utter and total desertion Isa. 64. 9. Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever Behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people 1. Do not despond we are very apt to do so Psal. 77. 7 8 9. Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Selah The worst kind of despondency is to lye in sin To lye in the dirt because we are faln is foolish obstinacy 2. Pray to God 1. Acknowledging that we have deserved it 2. By supplication There is nothing which God hath promised to perform but we may ask it in prayer Heb. 13. 5. He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee If thou provest me let me not miscarry if thou exercisest me let me not be cut off Beg his returns 3. Give thanks that God is not wholly gone as certainly he is not as long as you are sensible of your loss and have a tender heart left Though he hath withdrawn the light of his countenance yet he hath left the esteem of it a thirst after God and a desire of communion with himself As long as there is any attractive left you may find him by the smell of his Ointments SERMON X. PSAL. CXIX 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way By taking heed thereto according to thy word IN the former part the Psalmist sheweth That the word of God pointeth out the only true way to blessedness Now the main thing which the word enforceth is Holiness This is the way which we must take if we intend to come to our journeys end This David applieth to the young man in
still with the Saints Have they not this wandring property to the last David acknowledgeth it though there were some good in him Psal. 119. 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep Consider the Saints though they have sincerity yet not perfection And sometimes they wander through inadvertency they are overtaken Gal. 6. 1. as Noah was they do not run of their own accord And sometimes we err through the darkness that is in us though a child of God be light in the Lord yet he hath a great deal of darkness still It may be he is wise in generals but ignorant in particulars as the Heathens in general they had good notions of an Infinite and Eternal Power but they were vain in their imaginations Rom. 1. 21. in their practical inferences and discourses when they came to rest upon this God So a child of God may have a general sense of his duty but as to particulars he is apt to miscarry the mind may be blinded by lust and prejudice Sometimes they err through frowardness of their own lust there 's a law in their members which wars against the law of their minds Rom. 7. 5. There are boisterous lusts and a man hath much ado to keep his path Psal. 73. My foot had well nigh slipt therefore we had need God should keep us continually And the Lord hath undertaken to guide us Isa. 58. 11. The Lord shall guide thee continually And Psal. 48. 14. He will be our guide even unto death And Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel and afterwards receive me to thy glory We need this constant guidance and direction from God that he may still lead us and keep us from wandering and turning aside USE You see then what need we have of a guide and shepherd and of constant dependance upon God Of all titles this is the title given to the Saints they are a flock and the sheep of Gods pasture and Christ is called the shepherd of souls 1 Pet. 2. 10. There is no creature of such a dependance as sheep Dogs and Swine can roam abroad all the day and find their way home again at night but sheep must have a guide to keep them in the fold and to reduce them when gone astray Luke 15. The good shepherd brought him home upon his shoulders Lord saith Austin I can go astray of my self but I cannot come back of my self We need often to put up this request O let me not wander from thy commandments SERMON XII PSAL. CXIX 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee IN this Verse you have David's practice and the aim and end of it 1. His practice I have hid thy word in my heart 2. The aim and end of it that I might not sin against thee In the first His Practice observe these circumstances 1. The object or matter the word 2. The act of Duty I have hid 3. The subject the heart I shall open these Circumstances 1. The Object The word The revelation of Gods mind to his people it is called his Law his Testimonies his Ways his Precepts his Statutes his Commandments his Iudgments and now his Word whereby is meant Gods expounding his mind as if he himself did speak to us The expression is general and compriseth Promises Threatnings Doctrines Counsels Precepts All these must be hid in the heart 2. The Act of duty I have hid A thing may be hidden two ways Either to conceal it or else to cherish and keep it 1. To conceal it Hid so as the unprofitable servant did hide his talent in a napkin Matt. 25. So David typifying Christ saith I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and truth from the great congregation 2. To be kept as things of price as Jewels and Treasures are hidden in chests and secret places that they may not be imbezel'd or purloin'd And herein there may be an allusion to the Law which was kept in a Chest or Ark Exod. 25. 21. Thus the word is hidden not in order to concealment but safety As to the conceit of hiding our knowledg that we may not lose it by vain-glory which Chrysostom and Theodoret mention on the place it is a conceit so foreign that it need not to be mentioned What we value most preciously we save most carefully 3. The subject or place where the word is hidden in the heart Not the brain or mind and memory only but the heart the seat of affections To hide the word in our hearts is to understand and remember it and to be affected to it and with it Christ saith Joh. 14. 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me First we must have them and then keep them First we know them then assent to them and then approve them because of the Authority of the Law-giver and the excellency of the thing commanded and then respect them as a Treasure that we are chary of and having them still in our eye do thereby regulate our practice and conversation In short by holding it in our hearts is meant not only a knowledg of the word but an assent to it not only an assent to it but a serious and sound digestion of it by meditation not only a digestion but a constant respect to it that we may not transgress it as it is a rule nor lose it as it is a treasure but may have it ready and forth-coming upon all occasions The Points are these Doct. 1. One duty and necessary practice of Gods children is to hide the word in their hearts Doct. 2. That in hiding the word in our hearts there must be a right end Our knowledg of it and delight in it must be directed to practice 1. That one duty and necessary practice of Gods children is to hide the word in their hearts See it confirmed by a Scripture or two Josh. 1. 8. This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night Job 22. 22. Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart By the Law is meant the whole word of God Lay up his words as we would do choice things that they may not be lost or embezled and lay them up as Treasure to be used upon all occasions In the heart let them not swim in the brain or memory only but let the heart be affected with it Col. 3. 16. Let the word of God dwell in you richly Be so diligent in the study of the Scripture that it may become familiar with us by frequent hearing reading meditating conferring about it As a stranger let it not stand at the dore but receive it into an inner room be as familiar as those that dwell with you God complaineth of his people Hos. 8. 12. I have written to
cannot find such easie entrance when the Word is hid in our hearts and made use of pertinently 1 Ioh. 2. 14. I write to you young men because ye are strong where lies their strength and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one O it is a great advantage when we have the Word not only by us but in us ingrafted in the heart when it is present with us we are more able to resist the assaults of Satan Either a man forgets the Word or hath lost his affection to it before he can be drawn to sin The Word of God when it hath gotten into the heart it will furnish us with seasonable thoughts 6. It is a great relief in troubles and afflictions Our faintings come from ignorance or our forgetfulness Heb. 12. 5. Ye have forgotten the consolation which speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him If we had an herb growing in our Gardens that would ease our smart what are we the better if we know it not There is no malady but what hath its remedy in the Word To have a comfort ready is a great relief 7. It makes our conference and conversation with others more gracious Mat. 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks When we have a great deal of hidden treasure in the soul it will get out at the tongue for there 's a quick intercourse between the heart and the tongue The Tap runs according to the Liquor wherewith the Vessel is filled come to men of an unsavoury spirit pierce them broach them give them occasion again and again for discourse and you get nothing but frothy communication from them and vain talk But now a man that hath stored his heart with the Word he is ever and anon interposing for God Like a bottle filled with wine he must have vent As the Spouses lips are said to drop as honey-combs They are ever putting forth savoury expressions in their converse with others Col. 3. 16. Let the word of God dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs It will burst out presently if the Word of God dwell in your hearts Before I go to the second Reason let me answer an Objection But is not this to take from the Spirit and to give it to the Word and that to the Word not as written in Gods Book but as it is in our hearts will not this be to ascribe all to created Grace I Answer 1. Questionless it is the office of the Spirit to bring things to our remembrance and the great help of the Spirit of God is by suggesting such passages as may be of most seasonable relief to the soul in Temptations in Prayer and in Business Ioh. 14. 16. But what is given to the Scriptures and Grace is not to the wrong of the Spirit for the Scripture is of his inditeing and Grace is of his working yea we still reserve the chief honour to the Holy Ghost for he not only worketh grace but worketh by grace he not only indites the Scripture but works by it it is he that quickneth prayer and therefore it is ill trusting to our own understanding and memory for it is the Spirit that is the great remembrancer and impresseth upon the mind savoury and seasonable thoughts 2. I grant further The Children of God are subject to much forgetfulness of the truth that is impressed upon their hearts partly through the present cloud and mist which the temptation raiseth The Psalmist had truths enough to support him Psal. 73. 17. yet he saith Until I went into the Sanctuary of God I was foolish and ignorant I was as a beast before thee There is so much dullness upon the Children of God that they cannot remember seasonable thoughts as Hagar had a fountain by her yet she did not see it till God opened her eyes Gen. 21. So under the temptation all is benighted and the light that is in the understanding is obscured And partly through the little sense they have for the present of the need of the comforts which the Word propoundeth few so wise as to lay up for a dear year and partly through sloth and negligence being taken up with other things It is possible sometimes that we may be guided by the Spirit and act right meerly by the guidance of the Holy Ghost without any interposing and concurrence of our own understandings as Ioh. 12. 10. compared with the 14 and 15. They took branches of Palm-trees and went forth to meet him and cried Hosanna blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Iesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Mark they were guided by the Spirit to do that they knew not for the present they had only a back-look but not a fore-sight they were ignorant of what they were doing until afterward thoughts came not in their mind but only in the review Ioh. 2. 22. When he was risen from the dead his disciples remembred that he had said this unto them They did not take up the meaning of them yet they were guided aright They did not carp against Christ as the Iews did They were guided by the Spirit in a case they were wholly ignorant 3. The Holy Ghost makes use of a sanctified memory bringing Scriptures to our remembrance as we have need It is made their act because the Holy Ghost made use of their memories They remembred that it was written The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up Joh. 2. 17. They that neglect to search and hide the Word in their hearts they have not such seasonable refreshment for God works more strongly with the strongest graces there where there is the greater receptivity there 's the greater influence those that are ignorant cannot expect such help as those that have the Word dwell richly in their hearts The second Reason is Therefore should we hide the Word in our hearts because God doth so in the work of Conversion Heb. 8. 10. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts The mind is compared to tables of stone and the heart to the Ark and so this is required of us to write them upon the table of our heart Prov. 7. 3. and here I have hidden thy word in my heart How doth this follow because God doth so in conversion therefore it is our duty I answer 1 God requires what he works to shew the Creatures duty as well as the power of his own grace God is to convert and turn yet do you turn Circumcise your heart and I will circumcise Mortifie your members c. and yet If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body
have hidden thy word in my heart and then with my lips have I declared c. And as it must be first in the heart so next in the tongue Joh. 7. 38. Christ speaks of him that believeth in him that out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water By the belly is meant the heart when there is true grace in the heart the sweet influences thereof will flow forth in their common discourse for the refreshing of others as a spring sendeth forth the streams to water the ground about it If the heart be full the tongue will drop what is savoury I say certainly if it be within it vvill break out The Word is to be hid but not like a Talent in a Napkin but like Gold in a Treasury to be laid out upon all meet occasions Thus referring it to the 11th Verse there may be a fair connexion Or if you refer it to the 12th Verse Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes teach me that I may teach others Our requests for knowledg are like to speed when we are willing to exercise this knowledg for the glory of God and the good of others Talents thrive by their use To him that hath shall be given Mat. 25. 29. that is to him that useth his talents Trading brings encrease and so it may be used as an argument to back that Petition Lord teach me for I have been ever declaring with my lips all the judgments of thy mouth Again none can speak of God with such savour and affection as he that is taught by God Teach me and I have or will declare it may be read either way all the judgments of thy mouth A Heathen could say Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine We must not speak of God without light The things of God are best represented with the light of his own grace David shews that he would perform the duty of a good disciple that he would teach others if God should teach him In the words two things are to be explained 1. What he will declare All the Iudgments of thy mouth 2. In what sense he will declare them First What he will declare Gods will revealed in the Scripture is called the judgments of his mouth His judgments I have shewed that v. 7. at large Briefly now I will add two Reasons First because it is the Rule according to which we must judg of all spiritual truth Isa. 8. 20. To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Secondly it is the rule according to which we must look to be judged both here and hereafter Here I will chastise them or judg them as their congregation hath heard According to the sentence of the word so will the course of his Providence be and according to which we shall be judged hereafter John 12. 48. The word that I have spoken the same shall judg him in the last day Gods Providences are a comment upon the Scriptures The Scripture is not only a Record of what is past but a Calender and Prognostication of what is to come you may read your doom your judgment there for the statutes of the Lord are all called Judgments because of an answerable proceeding in the course of Gods Providence if men escape here they will not escape the judgment of the last day when the sentence of that God shall infallibly be made good Now the verdict of the word it is called the judgments of his mouth as if God himself had pronounced by Oracle and judged from heaven in the case and these judgments of his mouth the Psalmist saith shall be the matter of his discourse and conference with others Secondly In what sense it is said that he will declare all the judgments of his mouth In this speech David may be considered as a King as a Prophet or as a private believer 1. As a King so some conceive that whenever he judged or gave sentence upon the throne he would declare the judgments of Gods mouth that is decree in the case according to the sentence of the Law In favour of this sense it may be alledged 1. That certainly the King was bound to study the Law of God as you shall see Deut. 17. 18 19. When he sitteth upon the throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life Every King was bound to have a copy of the Law the Rabbies say written with his own hand carried about with him wheresoever he went in City or Camp 2. That the Kings of Iudah were bound up by the Judicials of Moses out of that which is before the Priests and Levites that is according to thy Iudicial Laws so will I pass sentence upon Malefactors 3. That proceeding according to this Rule their declarations in Court were the Judgments of Gods mouth 2 Chron. 19. 6. He said to the Iudges Take heed what ye do for ye judg not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment If this sense did prevail we might observe hence That a godly man useth the word to season the duties of all his relations And again That a good Magistrate is so to judg upon the Throne that his Sentences there may be as the Judgments of Gods own mouth But that which caused this misconceit was the word Iudgments which is not of such a limited import and signification as those that pitched upon this Interpretation did conceive and therefore mistook the meaning of this place 2. David may be considered here as a Prophet and so as a pattern of all Teachers He asserts his sincerity in two respects 1. As to the matter of his doctrine it should be the judgments of Gods mouth such as he had received from God 2. As to the extent that he would declare all the judgments of his mouth 1. As to the matter of his doctrine it should be the judgments of his mouth That which should be declared and taught in the Church should not be our own opinions and fancies but the pure word of God not the vanity of our thoughts but the verity of his Revelations otherwise we neither discharge our duty to God nor to the children of God Not to God when we come in his name without his message Jer. 4. 10. Ah Lord thou hast greatly deceived this people saith the Prophet Ieremiah to God Thou thou hast done it because the false prophets had done it in his name The dishonour reflects upon him when his Ordinance is abused to countenance the fancies of our own brain Nor to the children of God whose appetite carrieth them to pure unmixed milk 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 unmixed milk The more natural the milk is and without any mixture the more kindly to a gracious appetite To mix it with Sugar and the luscious strains of a humane wit doth but disguise it and hide it from a spiritual tast But to mix it with Lime as Hierome saith of Hereticks makes it baneful and noxious Thus he speaks of his faithfulness as a Prophet a publick Teacher in the Church 2. As to the extent all the Judgments of thy mouth without adding or diminishing No part of Gods counsel must be forborn either out of fear or favour Our work is not to look what will please or displease but what is commanded Acts 20. 27. I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God If it be the counsel of God let it succeed how it will it must be spoken so David here all the judgments of thy mouth 3. David may be considered as a private Christian and so I would declare all the judgments of thy mouth in a way of conference and gracious discourse This is the sense I shall manage The Consideration I shall insist upon is this Doct. It concerns all that fear God to declare upon meet occasions the Iudgments of his mouth How in the way of publick teaching shall every one that hath knowledg and parts teach I answer No there are some separate for that work Act. 13. 2. Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them Paul and Barnabas were gifted and called by the Spirit yet were to be solemnly authorized by Prophets and Teachers at Antioch by Officers of the Church Was it not enough they were called by the Holy Ghost What can man add more There must be Order in the Church though they were called yet they were to be ordained and to have a solemn Commission It is true all Christians are Prophets yet they are not to invade the Office Ministerial As they are also all Kings yet they are not to usurp the Magistracy or to disturb the Ruler in his Government If Christians would but meditate more and see how much they have to do to preach to their own hearts if they would but regard the unquestionable duty that they owe to their Families more this itch of publick preaching would be much abated and many other confusions and disorders among us would be prevented and they would sooner find the Lords blessing upon interchangeable discourse gracious conferences than this affectation of Sermoning and set-discourses Well then we are to declare the Judgments of his mouth not by way of publick teaching but by way of private conference edifying others and glorifying God by the knowledg and experience that we have First In our own Families Secondly In our Converses 1. In our own Families in training up children and servants in the way of the Lord and inculcating the Doctrine of God upon them This is a commanded duty as you may see Deut. 6. 6 7. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart What then and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Morning and evening rising up and lying down at home and abroad they should be instructing their Families When the word of God is in the heart thus it will break out And ch 11. 19. you have the same again This is a duty God reckoneth upon that you will not omit such a necessary piece of service Gen. 18. 19. I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. God promiseth himself that from Abraham and his Family he should have respect God hath made many great promises to Abraham as he doth now to all believers but if you would have him bring upon you that which he hath spoken you must not disappoint him The seasoning of youth betimes in your Families is a very great advantage The Family is the Seminary of the Church and State and usually those that are bred ill in the Family they prove ill when they come abroad A fault in the first concoction is not mended in the second and therefore here you should be declaring the mind and counsel of God to them Many that afterwards prove eminent Instruments of Gods glory will bless you for it to all Eternity It is the best love you can express to your children when you take care to season them with the best things A husband is charged to love his wife how shall he express this love Eph. 5. 25 26. Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. I suppose the degree is not only commended for a Pattern but the kind it must be such a love as Christ bore to his Church He gave himself for her that he might sanctifie her It must be such a love as tends to sanctification It is a poor kind of love Parents express to their Children in providing great Estates and Portions for them or bringing them up in Trades that they may thrive in the world but when you train them up for Heaven there 's the best love Prov. 4. 3 4. For I was my fathers son he was the Darling tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother And wherein was that love exprest He taught me also and said unto me Let thine heart retain my words keep my commandments and live So for servants it is not enough to provide bodily maintenance for them so we do for the beasts if we would use their strength and service but we are to instruct them according to our Talents and that 's the best love we can shew to provide for their souls 2. In our Converses speaking of God and of his word in all companies instructing the ignorant warning and quickning the negligent encouraging the good casting out some savoury discourse wherever we come So Psal. 37. 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment A good man studieth in his speeches to glorifie God to edifie those he speaks to I will declare thy judgments saith David Wise and gracious discourse drops from him So Cant. 4. 11. Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the honey-comb honey and milk are under thy tongue The passages of that Song are to be understood in a spiritual sense now the lips and the tongue being Instruments of speech and milk and honey things by which the word is exprest I suppose it is meant of a conference and because the word of God is compared to milk and honey-comb it shews that their conference should be gracious and edifying this is that which drops from a sanctified mouth For the Reasons of this 1. I shall argue from the interest which God hath in the lips and tongue and therefore they
loved from the grave for so it is in the Hebrew Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of destruction To be loved out of a danger and loved out of a sickness oh that 's a blessed thing USE 1. To acknowledg the Lords goodness in these common mercies We did not give life to our selves and we cannot keep it in our selves God made us and God keepeth us It was not our Parents that fashioned us in the womb they could not tell what the child would prove male or female beautiful or deformed They could not tell the number or posture of the veins or bones or muscles it was all the curious workmanship of a wise God and it is the same God that hath kept us hitherto Isa. 46. 3 4. By me ye are born from the belly and carried from the womb even to old age I am he and even to hoar hairs will I carry you c. We have been supported and tenderly handled by God as Parents and Nurses carry their younglings in their arms Many times wanton children are ready to scratch the faces of those that carry them so have we put many affronts upon him yet to the very last doth he carry us in the arms of his Providence In infancy we were not in a capacity to know the God of our mercies and to look after him but nevertheless he looked after us Afterwards we knew how to grieve him and offend him long before how to love and serve him Oh how early did our naughty hearts appear and all along how little have we done for God in whom we live and move and have our being He is not far from us in the effects of his care and Providence but we are far from him by the distance of our thoughts and affections by the carnal bent of our hearts It is a good mornings-exercise for us humbly and thankfully to consider of his continual mercies For Gods compassions are new every morning Lam. 3. 22. as fresh as if never tired with former acts of grace nor wearied with former offences It is some recompence for the time of sleep half our time passeth away and we do not shew one act of love and kindness unto God therefore as soon as we are awakened we should be with God Psal. 139. 18. How many are gone down to the Chambers of death since the last night 2. It quickneth us to love and serve God who is the strength of our lives and the length of our days Deut. 30. 20. Thy life is wholly in Gods hands Man cannot add a cubit to his stature nor make one hair white or black at his own pleasure It is the Lords Providential influence that keepeth thee alive in point of gratitude thou shouldst serve him Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live But I may urge also in point of hope Gods servants can best recommend themselves to his care and keeping by prayer and expect to walk continually under divine protection Those that provoke God continually they may be continued by the bounty and indulgence of his providence but yet they can look for no such thing and in the issue it proveth to be in wrath for their sins are more and judgments greater it is but to treasure up wrath to the day of wrath 3. If life temporal be the fruit of Gods bounty much more life eternal Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life One is wages the other a gift 4. It informeth us that we may lawfully pray for life with submission to the will of God and that death may not come upon us suddenly contrary to the ordinary course of nature I was loth to make a distinct doctrine of it yet I could not decline the giving out of this Truth How will this stand with our desires of dissolution and willingness to depart and to be with Christ which certainly all Christians that believe Eternity should cherish in their hearts To this I answer 1. by concession That we are to train up our selves in an expectation of our dissolution that we may be willing when the time is come and God hath no more work for us to do in the world we are to awaken our desires after the presence of Christ in Heaven to shew both our faith in him and love to him Since Christ was willing to come down to us though it were to meet with shame and pain why should we be loth to return to him Iacob's spirit revived when he saw the Waggons which Ioseph sent to carry him Death is the Chariot to carry you to Christ and therefore it should not be unwelcome to us 2. By correction though it be lawful and expedient to desire death yet we are not anxiously to long after it till the time come there may be sin in desiring death as when we grow weary of life out of desperation and the tiresomeness of the Cross and there may be grace in desiring life that we may keep his word longer express our gratitude to him here in the world to mourn for sin to promote his glory More fully to make this evident to you I shall shew how we may desire death how not To answer in several propositions 1. There is a great deal of difference between serious desires and passionate expressions The desires of the children of God are deliberate and resolved conceived upon good grounds after much strugling with flesh and blood to bring their hearts to it Carnal men are loth that God should take them at their word as he in the Fable that called for death and when he came desired him to help him up with his burden Alas they do not consider what it is to be in the state of the dead and to come unprovided and unfurnished into Gods presence We often wish our selves in our graves but if God should take us at our word we would make many pauses and exceptions Men that in their miseries call for death when sickness cometh will run to the Physician and promise many things if they may be recovered None more unwilling to dye than those that in a passion wish for death 2. We must carefully look to the grounds of these wishes and desires Carnal wishes for death arise either 1. out of violent anger and a pet against Providence as Jonah 4. 8. The Sun beat upon the head of Ionah that he fainted and wished in himself to dye and said it is better for me to dye than live The children of Israel murmured when they felt the Famine of the Wilderness Exod. 16. 3. And the children of Israel said unto them Would to God we had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt c. When men are vexed with the world they look upon death as a relief to take vengeance upon God to deprive him of a servant 2. In deep sorrow as Iob 3. 3. Elijah 1 King 19. 4. He requested for himself that
that 's proper to the children of God Heb. 11. 13 14 15. It is made the fruit of their faith because they were perswaded of the promises therefore they confessed themselves pilgrims and strangers on earth The voice of Nature saith It is good to be here let God do with Heaven what he pleaseth Natural men are contented with their present portion and cannot endure to think of change and therefore though they are travelling to Eternity yet they are not pilgrims in affection But now Gods children are so in condition and in affection too they count Heaven their home and the world to be a strange place They are Pilgrims in affection in a threefold regard 1. Because they are most sensible of their frailty The frailty of the present life is a common lesson but not easily believed None have such a sense of it upon their hearts as they that are taught by God Psal. 90. 12. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom And Teach me to know how frail I am saith David Worldly men though they are of this opinion and cannot deny it yet they do not consider it in seeing they see not their minds are taken up with other things they are not sensible 2. The term is proper to the children of God because they are unsatisfied with their present estate they would not abide here for ever if God would give them leave Wicked men are pilgrims against their will but Saints are ever looking for longing for groaning for a better estate Rom. 8. 23. We which have the first-fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption the redemption of our body They desire and groan to be clothed upon 2 Cor. 5. 2. 3. The notion is most proper to them because they have an interest in a better inheritance Wicked men are sure to go out of the world but they are not sure to go to Heaven Now the children of God they know there is an inheritance kept for them here they have the right but there they shall have the possession 1 Joh. 3. 1. So that well might I form the point thus That godly men are and count themselves to be strangers and pilgrims upon earth Others are in a journey but they are not sensible of it and they have no home to go to and no desires to part with the world Now take some instances of this That this is proper to Gods children to count the world a strange place and Heaven to be their home Those that had the best right and the greatest possessions here they will do so Those that had the greatest Right Heb. 11. 9. Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange countrey What right could there be greater than that which was demised and made over to him by God yet in the Land of promise he lived as in a strange place So David here and in other places that had so ample a possession he was King over an opulent and flourishing Kingdom yet Psal. 39. 12. I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were Not only he that was a wandring Partridg and flitted up and down but David that was setled in a Throne he that was so powerful and victorious a Prince But you will say possibly David might speak this when he was chased like a Flea upon the Mountains when he was hunted to and fro like a Patridg no but when he had peace and was fully setled in the Throne when he could offer so many Cart-loads of gold and silver 2 Chron. 29. 13. then he doth acknowledg Lord I am a stranger Jesus Christ who was Lord Paramount he tells us I am not of this world Joh. 17. 14. He was a stranger to his brethren and an alien among his mothers children Psal. 69. 8. He that was Lord of all had neither house nor home He passed through the world to sanctifie it for a place of service but his heart and constant residence was not here to fix it as in a place of rest And so all that are Christs have the Spirit of Christ and say as David in the Text I am a stranger upon earth We do not dwell upon earth but only pass through it But why do the children of God count themselves to be strangers here 1. They are born elsewhere Every thing tends to the place of their original as men love their native soyl things bred in the water return thither Inanimate things tend to their center a stone will fall to the ground though it be broken in pieces with the fall Wind that is imprisoned in the bowels of the earth raiseth terrible convulsions and earthquakes until it get up to its own place All things seek to turn thither from whence they came And so grace which came from Heaven it carrieth the soul thither again Ierusalem from above is the mother of us all Heaven is our native Countrey and therefore thither is the tendency and aim of the gracious soul that is born from above It is very notable the contempt of the world is usually made the fruit of our Regeneration 1 John 5. 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and 2 Pet. 1. 4. Made partakers of the divine nature that we might escape the corruptions of the world through lust There is somewhat of God in it then and that which comes from God carries the soul thither where God is In the new nature there 's a strong inclination which disposeth us to look after another world therefore 't is said Begotten to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. As soon as we are made children we begin to look after a childs portion There is another aim when we are born again then the heart is carried out to God 2. There lies their inheritance Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places Why he hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in earthly places why is it said only in heavenly places There was their beginning and there 's their accomplishment The main thing Christ aimed at was that we might be translated to heavenly places Christ will set us high enough and therefore he will not give us our portion in the world that 's an unquiet place Here we are not out of Gun-shot and harms-way he would not give it us in an earthly Paradise there Adam enjoyed God among beasts he would give it us in the most glorious manner that we might enjoy God among the Angels The world is not a fit place Here God will shew his bounty to all his children it is a common Inn where Sons and Bastards are entertained a place of trial not of recompence Gods foot-stool and not his throne Isa. 66. 1. The World is Satans walk the Devils circuit Whence comest thou from compassing the earth Job 1. a place defiled with sin Isa.
open that and there first speak of the vehemency My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath It 's a Metaphorical expression to set forth the earnestness of his affection The Septuagint renders it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soul coveteth to desire thy judgments Desire is the stretching forth of the soul to the thing desired Now as things that are stretched out do break and crack in stretching so saith David my soul breaketh for the longing Here 's no respect to brokenness of heart in this place it is only strength of desire that is exprest and the expression is used the rather 1. Because affections when strong are painful and affect the body with impressions answerable thereunto 2. Not only the denial but the delay of satisfying the affection encreaseth the pain when they have not what they do desire they are even broken in heart as Prov. 13. 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life like Apples of Paradise comforting and reviving Now the constancy and continuance of this desire is set forth in these words at all times not for a flash and pang but 't was the ordinary frame of his heart Doct. Gods children have a strong constant and earnest bent of affection towards his word 1. To open the nature of this affection 2. The Reasons of it First The nature there consider the Object the End the Properties and the Effects 1. The Object of this affection is the Word of God written or preached As it is written in the Scriptures so it is their constant exercise to read it and consult with it often Psal. 1. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night And Joshua 1. 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night As it is preached and explained they submit to Gods Ordinance in that also who hath appointed Pastors and Teachers as well as Prophets and Apostles Eph. 4. 11. Prophets and Apostles to write Scripture so Pastors and Teachers to open and apply Scripture therefore James 1. 9. They are swift to hear that is take all occasions for that end and purpose 2. For the End of this affection it is a sanctified subjection to God and strength and growth in the spiritual life 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby not meerly that you may know but that you may grow thereby not to replenish the head with notions but that you may encrease in spiritual strength and find more liberty of heart towards God 3. For the Properties of it you have them here in the Text 1. They must be earnest 2. A constant bent of heart 1. An earnest bent of heart Common and ordinary affection or desire after the word will not serve the turn not a faint and cold wish but such as hath heat and warmth in it It is good to see by what expressions the desires of the Saints are set forth in Scripture By the desire of Infants after the breast 1 Pet. 2. 2. they cannot live without it It is set forth also by the panting of the Hart after the water-brooks Psal. 42. 1. To meet with God in his word it is as a brook of water to a chased Hart it refresheth and revives it It is set forth by the desires of a longing woman vers 40. of this Psalm Behold I have longed after thy precepts The children of God are fond of nothing so much as of his Word and Ordinances It is set forth by the appetite which a hungry man hath toward his meat after a long abstinence Psal. 84. 2. My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord. Or as a weary traveller and thirsty man longeth after drink Psal. 63. 1. My soul thirsteth for thee c. Or as cool air to the weary Psal. 119. 131. I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy commandments A Metaphor taken from a man tired with running gaping for breath to take in some cool air and refreshing What think you of all these expressions are they strains and reaches of wit or the real experiences of the children of God The truth is we have such languid motions this way that we know not how to understand the force of such expressions therefore we think them to be conceits we that are so cold and indifferent whether we meet with God in his word yea or no. 2. As it is not cold so it is not fleeting but constant Many men have good affections for a while but they abide not as I shall give you some kinds 1. Some out of Error in judgment think the word of God is only fit for Novices as the Stancarists to enter us into the Rudiments of Religion but too low a dispensation for our after growth It is milk for babes they think but afterwards we must live immediately upon the Spirit But we see that David's affection ever carried him to the word not only at his first acquaintance with God but at all times as in the Text. 2. Some prize the word in Adversity when they have no other comforts to live upon then they can be content to study the word to comfort them in their distresses but when they are well at ease they despise it But David made use of it at all times in prosperity to humble him in adversity to comfort him in the one to keep him from pride in the other to keep him from despair in affliction the Word was his Cordial in worldly encrease it was his Antidote And so at all times his heart was carried out to the Word either for one necessity or another 3. Some during a qualm of conscience have an affection for holy things as we desire Strong-waters in a pang not for a constant diet While the terrors of God are upon them nothing will satisfie them but the Word O send for Moses and Aaron then when the plague was upon them but as their trouble wears off so doth their affection to the Word of God It is fear that drives them to the Word and not love 4. Some out of a general sense of the excellency that is in the Word They go on smoothly for a while as Herod who heard gladly Mark 6. 20. so do many till the Word come to cross their lusts and touch their darling sin then they run to earthly pleasures again and out of a sense of difficulty and carnal despondency they give over the pursuit 5. Some are taken with the meer novelty Joh. 5. 35. Ye were willing to rejoyce in his light for a season while the Doctrine is novel and Ministers have countenance from great men as Iohn had from Herod and their gifts are in the flourish none but Iohn in their account but when the conceit of Novelty was gone and Iohn fell under the
Rhetorick in heaven And certainly the more heavenly we are the more perfect in grace the more wisdom shall we see in plain Scriptural truth infinitely exceeding all the wisdom of the Heathen Many think the word of God too plain for their mouths to preach it others too stale for their ears to hear it and they must have the fancies of men Jer. 8. 9. They have rejected my word and what wisdom is in them It is strange to see how many will disguise Religion to please the lusts of men They mock Christ as the soldiers did that put a Centurions Coat upon him for a Robe and then Hail King of the Iews So they wrap up Christ in the foolish garments of their own fancy and so expose him to mockage rather than reverence 3. This satiety bewrays it self by our affections too novel opinions and erroneous conceits 2 Tim. 4. 3. The time will come that they will not endure sound doctrine having itching ears and shall turn away their cars from the truth and shall be turned unto fables Observe it when you will That soul is nigh to spiritual blasting that begins to have a loathing of a plain truth and men must have new things and conceits in Religion and so grow weary of opinions as they do of fashions and then by Gods just judgment they run from one fancy to another till they quite run themselves out of breath and have shaken off all Religion and good conscience Therefore take heed of being given up to this vertiginous spirit to be turned and tost up and down with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostles word signifies to be carried round in a circle he alludes to a Mariners Compass that is carried by every wind this wind takes them and then another such light chaff are men when they begin to loath the plain truths of God But it is an argument of a gracious heart when we can receive old truth with new affections and look for the power of God and new quicknings 4. This levity and instability of spirit is because they look for all the virtue of Religion from their notions and their opinions and not from Christ then they think this change of opinion shall make them better their hearts shall be changed They try experiments so long till the Lord hath given them up to a spirit of infatuation and then all comes to nothing but they as a brand are fit for the burning 5. By our worldly projects Men shew a loathing of this word by their eagerness to the world their hearts with Martha are cumbred with many things while Mary sate at the feet of Jesus to hear his word Luke 10. We are very fervorous in worldly affairs there we can experiment this kind of affection which David speaks of to the word Beware of this coldness to the word it is an ill symptome both to Nations and persons USE 2. To press us to get this fervent and constant affection to the word To this end consider 1. Whose word it is Gods word and your best affections are due to him Isa. 26. 8. Our desires are to thee and to the remembrance of thy name There you shall hear of God there God hath displayed his name Our desires are to thee not only so but to thy memorial to the remembrance of thy name that is to his word which is as the bellows to blow up the sparks and to quicken our affections to him 2. See what benefits we have by the word of God how beneficial it is To enlighten and direct us To quicken and comfort us To supply and strengthen us 1. To enlighten and direct us Light is pleasant saith Solomon it 's a good thing to behold the Sun with our eyes Eccles. 11. 7. If light natural be pleasant what is light spiritual therefore the Psalmist compares the Word to the Sun the visible World can no more be without the one than the intellectual World can be without the other and the one doth as much rejoyce the heart as the other Psal. 19. 8. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the judgments of the Lord are pure enlightning the eyes Oh it is a comfort to have light to see our way when men begin to have a conscience about heavenly things O then they judg so indeed To others we speak in vain when we tell them what light they shall have by the word They say those that live under the Pole Arctick at the Autumnal Equinoctial the Sun setteth to them and doth not rise again till the Vernal and so are six whole months under a perpetual night as if they were buried in a grave but at the time of its return with what clapping of hands and expressions of joy do they welcome the Sun again into their parts So when the word of God is made known to us how should we welcome it The City of Geneva gave this for a Motto Post tenebras lux After darkness light implying that the return of the Gospel was as light after a long darkness as the coming of the Sun again to those Northern people While Paul and his company were in that great storm at Sea when they saw neither Sun nor Stars for many days and were afraid they should fall upon rocks and dangerous shelves O with what longing did they expect to see day again Acts 27. So a poor bewildred soul that hath lost its way or when a child of God doth see but by half a light how desirable is sure direction Now this cannot be had but from the word of God To the law and to the testimony 2. To comfort us in all straits In the word of God there 's a salve for every sore and a promise for every condition God hath plentifully opened his good will to sinners Therefore the children of God when they labour under the guilt of sin there they can hear of Gods promises of pardon Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Against Apostasie they have that promise Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me When they are under weak performances the word will tell them The Lord will spare you and pity you as a man spares his only son Mal. 3. 17. and when they lye under troubles inconveniences and deep crosses there 's a promise The Lord will be with them in affliction the word will shew them Christ in the affliction and heaven beyond the affliction and then they are comforted 1 Cor. 10. 13. When they are troubled about worldly provisions providing for themselves and families it saith Be contented I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. When their children come to their minds and thoughts what will become of them when
of men therefore this is to go to the fountain-head to stop all opposition there and on the other side without this care of pleasing God all goes to loss Counsels though never so wisely laid yet are blasted if we do not make this our business to approve our hearts to God in those actions Remember in one place it is said The counsel of the froward is carried headlong Job 5. 13. forward and in another place Isa. 44. 25. The counsel of wise men he turneth backward When men do not study to please God and approve their hearts to him God leaves them to precipitate Counsels sometimes they are carried forward at other times they are carried backward the event is cross to their design Sometimes God lets them fall into precipitant Counsels that they may undo themselves at other times disappoints their Counsels and that which they have designed Prop. 2. Whosoever would keep in with God he needs good counsel and direction in all his ways Both in regard of the darkness of his understanding his corrupt affections and inordinate self-love Man is not able to rule and govern himself but needs counsel Prov. 12. 15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise When a man engageth in any action such is the darkness and perversness of man's heart that he should not be over-confident of his own apprehensions or of his own inclinations but should hearken after counsel And Prov. 28. 26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool Both these Proverbs are to be understood not so much of wise managing of civil affairs as of spiritual direction Surely it is ill trusting our selves and counsels and inclinations of our own hearts Blind affections usually govern a mans life and all sinners have an evil counsellor in their bosom some lust or other and therefore need to be directed The Counsel of the flesh is Favour thy self Every evil affection gives ill counsel Covetousness saith Preserve thy worldly interest Voluptuousness saith You need not be so strict and nice and abridge your selves of the comforts of the world Paul saith Gal. 1. 16. I conferred not with flesh and blood Flesh and blood are evil counsellors and under pretence of safety will suggest what is for our ruin What will the flesh say when it is to be denied and the blood say when it is to be spilt and shed for Gods sake these will perswade us rather to please our selves than please God They will perswade us to desert our duty Prop. 3. The only good counsel that we can have is from God in his word Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me unto glory We have it from God and we have it from his word for there 's a Guide and a Rule Man is so weak and so perverse that he needs both a Guide and a Rule the Guide is the Spirit of God and the Rule is the Word of God Thou shalt guide me but by thy Counsel by these two alone can we be led in the way to true happiness The Spirit he is a sure Guide and the Word that 's a clear Rule We are dark but the Scriptures are not dark I observed out of the 18th Verse when the Saints called upon God they do not say Lord make a plainer Law but Lord give me better eyes We are dark and need the illumination of the Spirit the Scriptures are light Prov. 6. 23. The Commandment is a lamp and the Law is light In all matters of practical obedience it is clear and open Prop. 4. The counsel that God hath given us in his word is sufficient and full out to all our necessities Let me instance this in particulars 1. The word gives us counsel for our general choice it is the rule of all faith and obedience The Scriptures are the counsel of God sent to remedy the miseries of the fall therefore it is said Acts 20. 27. I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God It is Gods counsel how man should be reconciled how he should be converted and come to the enjoyment of himself David when he had chosen God for his portion he saith Psal. 16. 7. Blessed be God who hath given me counsel In the word he gives us counsel how to come to him for our happiness and by grace he sets it on upon the heart this is the counsel of God concerning our salvation 2. Not only in our general choice but in all our particular actions so far as they have a tendency unto that end Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths It is a lamp and a light We are full of darkness and error but as we follow the direction of God it is a lamp not only to our path but to our steps to our feet not only to our path to our general course but it directeth us in every particular action 3. In dark and doubtful passages when a man multiplieth consultations and perplexed thoughts and changeth conclusions as a sick man doth his bed and knows not what course to take whether this or that then the word will direct him what to do so as that a man may find quiet in his soul. Indeed here 's the question How far the word of God is a Counsellor to us in such perplexed and doubtful cases 1. The word of God will help him to understand how far he is concerned in such an action in point of duty and conscience for otherwise it were not able to make the man of God perfect and throughly furnished unto all good warks 2 Tim. 3. 17. Now it is a great relief to the soul when a man understands how far he is concerned in point of duty The Conflict many times lyes not only between light and lust or light and interest then a gracious man knows what part to take but when it lyes between duty and duty then it 's tedious and troublesome to him Now the Word clearly will tell you what 's your duty in any action whatever it be 2. As to the prudent management of the action in order to success the Word will teach you to go to God for wisdom Iames 1. 6. and to observe his answer 3. So in all actions the word will teach you to ask God's leave and God's blessing Christians it is not enough to ask Gods counsel but ask his leave in any particular action in disposing our dwellings or our concernments of children and the like Judg. 1. Who shall go up and sight against the Canaanites They would fain have the Lord decide it And again Shall I go up to Ramoth Gilead In all actions our business is to ask Gods leave David always runs to the Oracle and Ephod Shall I go up to Hebron And Iacob in his journeys would neither go to Laban nor come from him without a warrant and leave from God So we
heareth us and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him Gods hearing of us his audience is a distinct thing from the answer of his Providence and therefore when he begets a confidence that we are heard and the soul begins to be quieted in God and look up for Mercy it is a sign of his accepting our Prayer though the benefit be not actually bestowed David found a change in his heart many times as if one had come and told him the posture of his affairs were altered it is otherwise with you than it was when you began to pray therefore you have him in the beginning of a Psalm come in with bitter complaints and groaning his eyes were ready to drop out with grief and presently he breaks out with thanksgiving as Psal. 6. 8 9. Mine eye is consumed because of grief it waxeth old because of all mine enemies presently Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping So Hannah she had commended her request to God and was no more sad 1 Sam. 1. 16. That 's one way of answer when we have declared our selves to the Lord the heart looks out to see what will come of its Prayers it begins to rest and is quiet in God and look for some answer of the Mercy The Second Consideration That the outward mercy in his Providence is either in kind or in value God doth not always answer us in kind by giving us the thing asked but doth give us something that is as good or better which contents the heart by denying the thing desired and giving something equivalent Many times we ask Temporal Mercies Defence Victory Deliverance and God gives Spiritual we ask Deliverance and God gives Patience 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. Paul asked thrice that the thorn in the flesh might depart from him but Gad gives him sufficient grace God doth not answer us always according to our will but certainly according to our weal and profit many times he will give the blessing in kind but as other times he gives the value of it which is better God may give temporal Comfort in kind in anger but the value the blessing he never gives in anger but always in love when they asked meat for their lusts God gave it in kind in anger Psal. 78. and I gave them a King in my wrath Hos. 13. 11. when we are passionate and eager upon a temporal request God doth answer in wrath the Mercy is more when he gives us that which is better Thirdly God delays many times when he doth not deny for our exercise 1. To exercise our Faith to see if we can believe in him when we see nothing have no sensible proof of his good Will to us The woman of Canaan she comes to Christ and first gets not a word from him Christ answered her nothing afterwards Christ breaks off his silence and begins to speak and his speech was more discouraging than his silence she meets with a rough answer It is not meet to give the childrens bread unto dogs Then the woman turns this rebuke into an encouragement Lord the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters table Then Christ could hold no longer O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15. So many times we come to God and meet with a silent Oracle cannot get an answer but if we get an answer it may be we begin to think God puts us off as none of the sheep he is to look after O! but when we wrestle through all these discouragements and temptations then great is thy faith In short we pray for a blessing and sometimes though God love the Suppliant yet he doth not seem to take notice of his desires that he may humble him to the dust and may have a sense of his unworthiness and pick an answer out of Gods silence and grant out of his denial and faith out of these discouragements 2. To exercise our Patience Heb. 6. 12. Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Our times are always present with us but Gods time is not yet come A hungry stomach would have meat before it's roasted or sod Impatient longings must have green fruit and will not stay till it be matur'd and ripened Now God will work us out of this impatience The troubles of the world are necessary for patience as well as faith 3. To try our Love Though we be not feasted with felt comforts and present benefits yet God will try the deportment of his children if indeed he be the delight of their hearts Isa. 26. 8. Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee When we love God not only when our affections are brib'd by some sensible experience or comfort but when we can love God in the way of his judgments A child of God is a strange creature he can love God for his judgments and fear him for his mercies When our heart is like lyme the more water you sprinkle upon it the more it burns our desires glow the more the more disappointments we seem to meet with We love his benefits more than we love God when we delight in him only when he doth us good But when we can delight in him even when our desires are delayed and nothing appears but tokens of Gods displeasure this is delight indeed 4. To enlarge our desires that we may have a greater income of his mercy As a Sack that 's stretched out holds the more God will have the soul more stretched out when he means to fill it up with grace Delays encrease importunities Ask seek knock Mat. 7. If God will not come at the first asking we must seek if seeking will not bring him we must knock be importunate have no nay Luke 11. 8. For his importunity sake he will arise The man is impudent he stands knocking and will not be gone Fourthly God may seem sometimes to deny a request yet the end of the request is accomplished for instance God's children they have an end in their requests we pray for the means with respect to an end Now many times God gives the end when he will deny the means Paul had grace sufficient though the thorn in his flesh were not removed 1 Cor. 12. 9. A Christian prays for the light of Gods countenance for sensible feeling of Gods love why to strengthen him in his way Now God denies him comfort because he will do it by the word of promise it shall not be by sensible comfort We pray for victory over such a lust the mortification of such a sin why that we may serve God more cheerfully God denies such a degree of grace because he will mortifie a greater sin which is pride in the heart And thus we miss the particular that we desire yet still we have the end of
acts of Duty but by every act of Mercy what 's the argument he urgeth for Sion Zech. 3. 2. Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire The Lord rebuke thee Satan Have not I delivered Sion and shall I suffer that to be destroyed which I have delivered the Lord urgeth his own mercy and his former kindness USE To quicken us not to grow weary of dealing with God Let us go often to God Men think it an uncivil importunity to require to do more when they have done already Solomon gives us that advice Prov. 25. 17. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbours house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee men waste by giving but God doth not when you have been with him and he hath done liberally for you yet he upbraids you not God that hath vouchsafed Grace you may desire the continuance of his Grace and to crown his own Grace II. Secondly Observe the mercy which he asks is Gods help in a course of holiness namely to walk worthy of the mercy Doct. 2. They that upon declaring their ways have found mercy with God their care should be to walk worthy of the mercy The Lord hath heard me what then teach me thy statutes So Psal 85. 8. The Lord will speak peace to his people but let them no more return unto folly Mark when God hath spoken peace when they have an answer of peace after you have prayed to God take heed of turning to folly do not lose the favour you have got walk more holily and more worthy of such a mercy Mat. 6. 12. forgive us our sins what then lead us not into temptation Upon supposition the Lord hath forgiven us our sins O let us not sin again Many would invite God to favour their ways when they have no respect to his ways which is in effect to make God a servant to our Lust but if you would have mercy from the Lord beg that you might walk worthy of the mercy The Children of God should do so upon a double ground in point of Prudence and Thankfulness In point of Prudence as they have smarted under their former folly and in point of Thankfulness as they have tasted the Lords Grace in his answer 1. When you have declared your way with brokenness and bitterness of heart you have experience of the evil of sin and when you know how bitter it is by sound remorse it is folly to return to it again Ioshua 22. 17. mark the reason Is the iniquitie of Peor too little for us from which we are not cleansed unto this day Our former sense of the evil of sin when declaring it should be a restraint to us else your cure is in vain A man that is recovered out of a deep disease is willing to escape the like again or as Christ said to the man that had an infirmity 38 years Go thy way sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto thee When a man hath had the bitter sense of the fruit of sin this will make him more cautious for the future they are foolish children that remember beating no longer than it smarts when they are scarce yet whole of the old wound Though God hath taken out the sting of the sin and granted us comfort yet remember your former smart that you may not fall into it again 2. Out of Thankfulness for Gods gracious answer Every answer of Grace leaves an obligation upon the sinner that he may not offend God again See what a holy argument is used Ezra 8. 13. Should we after such a deliverance as this break thy Commandment will you again relapse So Luke 7. 47. for her sins are forgiven her therefore she loved much Grace melts the heart When a man hath received much mercy from God his heart his wrought out into thankfulness and the more they have been in sin the more will they be in godliness when once they have tasted the sweetness of pardon and had an answer of Grace from God Thirdly Note They that would steer their course according to Gods holy Will had need of the conduct and assistance of his holy Spirit for he goes to God Lord teach me thy statutes Psal. 25. 4. Shew me thy ways O Lord teach me thy paths And Psal. 27. 11. Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies And Psal. 86. 11. Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name These places shew that he addrest himself to God that he might not follow any sinful course in the time of trouble and temptations that he might not dishonour God SERMON XXVIII PSALM CXIX 27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts so shall I talk of thy wondrous works IN the former Verses the man of God layeth forth his calamitous condition and beggeth comfort and audience not meerly to prosper his affairs but to better his heart Many will invite God to favour their ways when they have no respect to his ways which in effect is to make him a servant to their lusts But David's chiefest care was about Duty rather than Success therefore he desireth God to direct him how to walk in the way of his precepts his heart was much upon that In the close of the former Verse he had said Teach me thy statutes And here again Make me to understand the way of thy precepts c. In the words there is 1. A Request 2. An Argument Wherein is intimated 1. The fruit of Divine Illumination He should thereby see his wondrous works 2. His duty thereupon Then will I talk of them The word signifieth also to meditate Sept I will exercise my self It should be his delight to think and speak of the admirable goodness of God and the divine excellencies of his word and the pleasures that result from the practice of it 3. He intimateth the sincerity of his desire propounding this as his end That I may talk that I may be useful and edifying in my converse with others 1. The first thing that I shall observe is That David doth so often beg again and again for understanding Doct. That a sound and saving knowledg of the Truths of the Gospel is such a blessing as the children and people of God think they can never enough ask of him We have abundant proof of it in so much of this Psalm as we have already gone over 1. What is a sound saving knowledg 1. Such as doth establish the heart against all delusions and keepeth us on Truth 's side Many have some scraps of knowledg loose and uncertain motions but they are not setled and grounded in the Truth and therefore the unlearned and unstable are joyned together 2 Pet. 3. 16. Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction Unskilful and unsetled Christians lye open to every fancy they have not such a stock
a poor little hearsay Knowledg availeth not They abhor themselves when they have more intimate acquaintance none so confident as a young Professor that knoweth a few Truths but in a weak and imperfect manner the more we know indeed the more sensible we are of our ignorance how liable to this mistake and that that we dare not trust our selves for an hour 4. Because of the profit that cometh by knowledg All grace from first to last cometh in by the understanding God in the work of grace followeth the order which he hath established in Nature Reason and Judgment is to go before the will and therefore when the work of Grace is first begun in us it beginneth in the Understanding Renewed in knowledg Col. 3. 10. So the encrease of grace 2 Pet. 1. 12. Grace be multiplied unto you through the knowledg of God and of Iesus Christ our Lord. As the beginning is by light so is all the gradual progress of the spiritual life strength to bear afflictions strength in conflicts is by powerful reasons yea the perfect change that is made in us in glory is by the vision of God We shall see him as he is and shall be like him If we had more knowledg of God and his ways we should trust him more fear him more love him more Trust him Psal. 9. 10. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee If God were more known he would be better trusted 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed I dare trust him with my soul. More feared 3 Joh. 11. Beloved follow not that which is evil but that which is good He that doth good is of God he that doth evil hath not seen God Right thoughts of God would not let us sin so freely one Truth or other would fall upon us and give check to the temptation as feared so loved more The more explicite thoughts we have of his excellency the more are our hearts drawn out to him Joh. 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift c. Christ would not lye by as a neglected thing if he were more known in all his worth and excellency USE The first Use is to press you to get Knowledg and look upon it as a singular Grace if the Lord will give you to understand and apply the comfort and direction of his Holy Word Joh. 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you To be taught the mind of God is a greater act of friendship than if God should give a man all the treasures of the world To make himself known so as you may love him fear him trust him When we can apply this for our comfort O then cry for knowledg lift up thy voice for understanding seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures Prov. 2. 3 4. Go to God and be earnest with him Lord make me to understand the way of thy precepts We can walk in the ways of sin without a Teacher but we cannot walk in the ways of God And cry lift up thy voice We are earnest for quickning and enlargement but be earnest also for understanding Now a large prayer without endeavours is nothing worth Dig in the Mines of knowledg search into the Scripture do not gather up a few scattered notions but look into the bowels Silver doth not lye in the surface of the earth but deep in the bottom of it and will cost much labour and digging to come at it If we would have any good stock of knowledg which will prevent vain thoughts carnal discourse abundance of heart-perplexing scruples and doubts and much darkness and uncomfortableness of spirit it will cost us some labour and pains The more knowledg we have the more are we established against error 2 Pet. 3. 17. Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness The more you have of this divine saving knowledg the greater check upon sin Psal. 119. 11. I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee One Truth or another will rise up in defiance of the Temptation The greater impulsion to duty the more of the Law of God the more it urgeth the conscience Prov. 6. 22. It maketh us more useful in all our Relations 1 Pet. 3. 7. Husbands Dwell with them according to knowledg c. Parents Eph. 6. 4. Fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Friends Rom. 15. 14. And I my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness filled with all knowledg able also to admonish one another Magistrates that they may discern Christs Interest Psal. 2. 10. Be wise now therefore O Kings be instructed ye Iudges of the earth When Solomon asked Wisdom the thing pleased the Lord. And lastly More comfortable in our selves that they may comfort and build up one another whenever they meet together USE 2. To press you to grow in knowledg None have such confidence and rejoycing in God as those that have a clear sight and understanding of his will revealed in his word Let your knowledg 1. Be more comprehensive At first our thoughts run in a narrow channel There are certain general Truths absolutely necessary to salvation as concerning our misery by sin and the sufficiency of Christ to help us but if we might rest in these why hath God given us so copious a Rule The general sort of Christians content themselves to see with others eyes get the knowledg of a few truths and look no farther why then hath God given so large a Rule Fundamentals are few believe them live well and you shall be saved This is the Religion of most This is as if a man in building should only be careful to lay a good foundation no matter for roof windows walls If a man should untile your house and tell you the foundation standeth the main butteresses are safe you would not like of it A man is bound according to his capacity and opportunity to know all Scripture the consequences of every Truth God may and doth accept of our imperfect knowledg but not when men are negligent and do not use the means To be willingly ignorant of the lesser ways of God is a sin VVe should labour to know all that God hath revealed 2. More distinct why Truths are best known in their frame and dependance as Gods works of Creation when viewed singly and apart every days work was good but when viewed alltogether in their correspondence and mutual proportion to each other were very good Gen. 1. 31. So all Truths of God take them singly are good but
storm more and so lose that which they are so confident of keeping by their negligence and carelesness their spiritual comfort is gone And there 's another mischief the loss is more heavy because it was never thought of And therefore in preparation of heart we should be ready to lose our inward comforts as well as Estates and outward conveniences In Heaven alone we have continual day without cloudings or night but here there will be changes USE 3. Let us not judg of our condition if this should be our case that is if we should lye under pressing troubles such as do even break our spirits This was the case of the Son of God his soul was troubled and he knew not what to say Joh. 12. 30. My soul is troubled what shall I say And many of his choicest servants have been sorely exercised Heman an heir of Heaven and yet compassed about with the pains of hell Iob not only spoil'd of all his goods but for a time shut out from the comforts of God's Spirit Our business in such a case is not to examine and judg but to trust Neither to determine of our condition one side or other but to stay our hearts upon God and so to make use of offers and inviting promises when we cannot make use of conditional and assuring promises So Isa. 50. 10. He that walketh in darkness and seeth no light is directed let him trust in the name of the Lord. That 's our business in such a case of deep distress to make a new title rather than dispute the old one and stay our hearts on God's mercy Thus much concerning David's case which because it often comes under consideration in this Psalm I would pass over more briefly II. I come from David's Case to his Petition or Request to God Strengthen thou me according to thy word Where you have 1. The Request it self 2. An Argument to enforce it First The Request it self Strengthen me that 's the benefit asked Doct. 1. Observe this in the general He doth but now and then drop out a request for temporal safety but all along his main desire is for grace and for support rather than deliverance The children of God the main thing that their hearts run upon is sustentation and spiritual support rather than outward deliverance Psal. 138. 3. I called upon the Lord and he heard me and strengthned me with strength in my soul. Mark David judgeth that to be an audience to be a hearing of prayer though he had not deliverance yet he had experience of inward comfort that was it which supported him The children of God value themselves by the inward man rather than the outward What David here prays for himself Paul prays for others Eph. 3. 16. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man Yea they are contented with the decays of the outward man so that the inward man may encrease in strength 2 Cor. 4. 16. Though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day The outward man in Paul's dialect is the body with the conveniencies and all the appurtenances thereof as Health Beauty Strength Wealth all this is the outward man Now this is not a Christian's desire to encrease in the world or to make a fair shew in the flesh no but his heart is set upon this to grow stronger in the Spirit that the soul as furnished with the graces of the Spirit may thrive this is the inner man To insist upon this a little 1. It is the inward man that is esteemed with God and therefore that 's it the Saints mainly look after God doth not look upon men according to their outward condition pomp and appearances in the world but according to the inward endowments of the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. Mans eye is upon the outward appearance but God regards the heart and the hidden man of the heart that is said to be an ornament of great price with God 1 Pet. 3. 4. Intellectual beauty is that which is esteemed in heaven and Spiritual wealth is only currant in the other world Poor creatures that are led by sense they esteem one another by these outward things but God esteems men by grace by the soul how that is cherished and strengthened and though we are otherwise never so well accomplished we are hated if we have not his Image stampt upon us 2. The everlasting welfare of the whole person depends upon the flourishing of the inward man when we come to put off the upper garment of the flesh the poor soul will be destitute naked and harbourless if we have made no provision for it 2 Cor. 5. 3. and then both body and soul are undone for ever when the soul is to be thrown out of doors whither will it go if it hath not an eternal building in heaven to receive it The soul is the man the body follows the state of the soul but the soul doth not follow the state of the body The life of God which he doth begin in the soul does in time renew and perfect the body too The Apostle saith Rom. 6. 11. The spirit that now dwelleth in us will raise up our mortal bodies But now those that seek to preserve the outward man with the neglect of the inner in time ruine both body and soul. Well then here 's their care 3. The loss of the outward man may be recompenced and made up by the strength of grace that is put into the inner man but the loss of the inner man cannot be made up by the perfections of the outward man A man that is afflicted in his outward estate God makes it up in grace if he makes him rich in faith in the experiences of his favour the loss is made up and supplied more abundantly and the children of God can comfort themselves in this that their inward man is strengthened and renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. So that a man may be happy not withstanding breaches made upon the outward man But when there 's a wounded spirit and God breaks into the inward man then what good will riches estate and all these things do they are as unsavoury things as the white of an egg 4. The outward man may fit us for converse with men but the inward man with God We need bodies and Organs of speech and reason and present supplies which fit us to converse with men but we converse with God by thoughts and by grace and by the perfections of the inward man this fits us for communion with him 5. The life and strength of the inward man is a more noble thing than the strength of the outward man or the bodily life for it draws nearer to the life of God as the life and strength of the body draws nearer to the life pleasure and happiness of a beast By the bodily life we eat drink labour sleep
opinion otherwise he loseth the glory and the benefit of his Religion he is but a Pagan in God's account Ier. 9. 25. he makes his Religion to be call'd in question and therefore he that walks unsuitably he is said to deny the Faith 1 Tim. 5. 8. To be a Christian in doctrine and a Pagan in life is a temptation to Atheism to others when the one destroys the other practice confutes their profession and profession confutes their practice therefore both these must be matched together Thus the way of truth must be the rule and a holy life must be suited 2. As to this holy life a general good intention sufficeth not but there must be accurate walking why for God doth not judg of us by the lump or by a general intention It is not enough to plead at the day of judgment you had a good scope and a good meaning for every action must be brought to judgment whether it be good or evil Eccles. 12. 14. When we reckon with our servants we do not expect an account by heap but by parcels so a general good meaning giving our account by heap will not suffice but we must be strict in all our ways and keep close to the rule in every action in your eating trading worship Eph. 5. 15. See that you walk circumspectly c. see that you do not turn aside from the line and narrow ridg that you are to walk upon 3. Accurate walking will never be unless our Rule be diligently regarded and set before us why 1. So accurate and exact is the Rule in it self that you may easily swerve from it therefore it must always be heeded and kept in your eye Psal. 19. David admired the perfections of the Law for the purity of it and for the dominion of it over conscience what was the issue of that contemplation see v. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults Thus the best man when he compares himself with the Law will be forced to blush and acknowledg more faults than ever he took notice of before When we see the Law reacheth not only to the act but the aim not only to the words but the thoughts and secret motions of the heart Lord then who knows his errors The Law of God sometimes is said to be broad and sometimes narrow a broad Law Psal. 119. 96. Thy commandment is exceeding broad why broad because it reacheth to every motion every human action the words the thoughts the desires are under a Law nay yet more the imperfect and indeliberate motions of the soul are under a Law therefore the commandment is exceeding broad On the other side it is said to be narrow a strait gate and a narrow way Mat. 7. 14. why because it gives no allowance to corrupt nature we have but a straight line to go by So that we need regard our Rule 2. We are so ignorant in many particulars relating to faith and manners that we need often consult with our Rule The children of light have too much darkness in them therefore they are bidden to look to their Rule Eph. 5. 17. Be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Blind consciences will easily carry us wrong and we have some new things still to learn from the word of God for knowledg is but in part therefore our Rule should be ever before us 3. So many and subtil are those temptations which Satan sets on foot to make us transgress this Rule The Devil assaults us two ways by fiery darts and by cunning wiles Eph. 6. 11. he hath not only violent temptations burning lusts or raging despair but he hath ensnaring temptations by his wiles such as most take with a person tempted and he transforms himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. covers his foul designs with plausible pretences therefore we need have our Rule and the word of God ever before us 4. We are weak and easily over-born and therefore should bear our Rule always in mind God's people their greatest sins have been out of incogitancy they sin oftenest because they are heedless and forgetful and unattentive Therefore as a Carpenter tries his work by his Rule and Square so should a Christian measure his conversation by the rod of the Sanctuary God whose act is his Rule cannot miscarry So the School-men when they set out God's holiness say God's hand is his Rule but we that are creatures are apt to swerve aside therefore need a Rule We should always have our rule before us We are to walk according to rule Gal. 6. and Josh. 1. 7 8. The book of the Law shall not depart from thee c. If we would have our Rule before our eyes we should not so often swerve Christians though you be right in opinion that will not bring you to Heaven but you must have the Rules of this holy profession before you USE O! then let the word of God be ever in sight as your Comforter and Counsellor the more we do so the more shall we walk in the fear of God You are not to walk according to the course of this world but according to Rule and therefore you are not to walk rashly and indeliberately and as you are led and carried on by force of present affections but to walk circumspectly considering what principle you are acted by and what ends and the nature and quality of our actions are always to be considered Remember you are under the eye of the Holy and Jealous God Iosh. 24. 9. and eyed by wicked men who watch for your halting Ier. 20. and eyed by weak Christians who may suffer for your careless and slight walking who look to the lives of men rather than their principles You are the lights of the world Matt. 5. 14. and light draws eyes after it you are as a city upon a hill You that pretend to be in the right way the way of truth will you walk carelesly and inordinately You are compassed about with snares there 's a snare in your refreshments Psal. 69. your estates may become a snare 1 Tim. 6. 9. your duties may become a snare Be not a novice lest you come into the condemnation of the devil 1 Tim. 3. Therefore take heed to your Rule be exact and watchful over your hearts and ways SERMON XXXIII PSAL. CXIX 31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord put me not to shame IN the former Verse David speaks of his choice I have chosen the way of truth then of the accurateness of his prosecution Thy judgments have I laid before me Now he comes to his constant perseverance therein I have stuck unto thy testimonies These two Verses follow one another in a very perfect order and coherence We must begin with a right choice there we must lay the foundation I have chosen the way of truth and then persevere There is a constancy in good and an obstinacy in evil The Devils sin
only rejoyce in things for a season Iohn 6. 35. There are many that look for all their vertue and their experience from their notions in Religion Thus they run from doctrine to doctrine from way to way so remain unmortified Thirdly Take heed of the first decays and look often into the state of your hearts A man that never casts up his estate is undone insensibly therefore look often into the state of your hearts whether you encrease in your affections to God in the power of holiness or whether you go backward It is the Devil's policy when once we are declining to humble us further and further still as a stone that runs down the hill therefore take heed look to the first declinings A gap once made in the conscience grows wider and wider every day and the first declinings are the cause of all the rest Evil is best stopt in the beginning And therefore when you begin to be cold careless in the profession of godliness and not to have the like savour as you were wont to have take heed A heavy body moving downward still gets more strength it goes down and moves faster still O therefore stay at first The first remitting of your watch and spiritual fervor is that which is the cause of all the mischief that comes upon many so that they are given up to vile affections and lying errors It is easier to crush the egg than kill the serpent He that keeps his house in constant repair prevents the fall of it therefore look to your hearts still Our first declinings though never so small are very dangerous Pliny speaks of the Lioness lib. 8. cap. 16. first she brings forth five Lions then four then three then two then one and forever afterward is barren Thus we first begin to remit of our diligence in holy things and are not so frequent in acts of communion then this and that goes off till we have but little left us and then all is gone and men grow worse and worse I may resemble it to Nebuchadnezzar's Image the head of gold the breasts of silver the thighs of brass the feet of iron and clay still worse and worse So men are imbasing by degrees and fall off from God and their savour of the ways of God Fourthly Often review your first grounds and compare them with your after-experiences and what fresh tasts you had then of the love of God to your souls Heb. 3. 14. We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end The first rejoycing of faith the sweet sense that you had O how precious was Christ to you then when first you came out of your fears Revive this upon your heart this will stir you up to be faithful to God When the love of Christ was fresh upon your hearts your motions were earnest Many begin like a Tree full of blossoms give great hope of fruit We should labour to keep up this affection and that a cursed satiety may not creep upon us USE 2. If those that have chosen the way of God and begin to conform their practice ought with all constancy to persevere then it reproveth 1. Those that take up Religion only by way of essay to try how it will suit with them they do not intirely and by a resolute fixed purpose give up themselves to the Lord. You should resolve upon all hazards Not take up Religion for a walk but for a journey Not like going to sea for pleasure if they see a storm coming presently to shore again but for a voyage to ride out all weathers Thus you should do stick to the ways of God and at first make God a good allowance that neither tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nor any thing may separate you from Christ Rom. 8. 35. We should count all charges and resolve upon the worst 2. It reproves Aguish Christians whose purity and devotion comes upon them by fits Hos. 6. 4. Their righteousness is as the morning-dew The morning-dew that cannot endure the rising sun it is soon wasted and spent when the sun ariseth with his heat and strength whereas our righteousness should not be like the morning-dew but like the morning-light 3. It reproves them that are only swayed by temporal advantages that are off and on As the Samaritans when the Iews were favoured by Alexander and other Princes then they would deny the Temple that was upon Mount Gerizim and say that they were brethren to the Iews but when the Iews were in danger then they would disclaim them Thus many are swayed by temporal advantages either intending or omitting the conscience of their duty as they are favoured by men But we are to stick to God's testimonies II. Let us come to David's prayer O Lord put me not to shame It is in the nature of a deprecation or a prayer for the prevention of evil The evil deprecated is shame By shame some understand the reproaches of wicked men Lord let me not suffer their reproach for I have stuck unto thy testimonies A man that doth not stick to God's testimonies that is not zealous and constant will be put to shame before God and man and made a scorn by them and lie under great reproach therefore Lord prevent this reproach These reproaches are grievous to be born It is against the spirit of man to be contemned especially when he doth well But certainly this cannot be meant he would not so earnestly deprecate this I should think at least not in such an expression O Lord put me not to shame He speaks of such a shame wherein God had a great hand It is true God may suffer this in his Providence Well then this shame may be supposed to result either from his sin or from his sufferings First From sin I have stuck unto thy testimonies O suffer me not to fall into any such sinful course as may expose me to shame and make me become a reproach to Religion Observe Doct. The fruit of sin is shame Shame is a trouble of mind about such evils as tend to our infamy and disgrace Loss of life is matter of fear loss of goods is matter of grief and sorrow but loss of name and credit is matter of shame and therefore it is a trouble of mind that doth arise about such evils as tend to our infamy and disgrace Now this infamy and disgrace is the proper fruit of sin To prove it by Scripture Reason and Experience To prove it by Scripture Shame entred into the world by sin though they were naked yet till they had sinned they were not asham'd Gen. 2. 25. with Gen. 3. 10. there was verecundia an awful Majesty or an holy bashfulness in innocency but not pudor A fear of reproach and infamy that came in by the fall To prove it by Reason There are two things in sin folly and filthiness and both cause shame it is an
irrational act and it hath a turpitude in it therefore the fruit of sin is shame and a fear of a just reproof And then by experience how do men hang the head and blush when they are taken in any unseemly action All evil causeth shame All sin as soon as it is committed it flasheth in the face of conscience Shame is the striving of nature to hide the stain of our souls by sending out the blood into the face for a covering it labours most under this passion And this shame accompanieth sin not only when men are conscious of what we do but it 's a fear of a just reproof from God nay of a just reproof from themselves There 's a double lothness and fear in shame When men sin they are loth to look into their own heart and loth to look God in the face 1 Iohn 3. 20. If our heart condemn us c. When men have guilt upon their hearts they are loth to take the Candle of the Lord and look into the state of their souls And they are loth to look God in the face therefore the Apostle adds If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God that our prayers be not interrupted As holy David had his shieness when he had been sinning away his peace he kept silence Psal. 32. 3. He was fain to thrust forth his heart by a practical decree and bring it by force into God's presence Indeed some men are grown shameless having a depraved judgment and corrupted all their doings Zeph. 3. 7. such have outgrown the common principles of natural honesty and of all diseases those which are insensible are the worst Therefore when men are grown into a state of insensibility and lost those feelings of conscience it 's very sad Yet those which are most obdurate have their hidden fears and are afraid of God and Conscience and are loth to be alone themselves and are fain to knit pleasure to pleasure to keep up this victory and are forced to live in a jolly course that they may bring a greater brawn upon their hearts USE Let this press us to avoid sin Rom. 6. 21. For what fruit had ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed If you sin there will be shame Sin in the greatest privacy brings shame Though you should be solitary and alone with your selves yet there 's an eye sees and an ear hears all that you do It was one of the Rules of Pythagoras Reverence thy self If there were no other witness there 's a Law of God in our own hearts that will upbraid us for sin Again David makes this request when he had profest perseverance I have stuck unto thy testimonies yet Lord put me not to shame Note from thence Doct. A man that hath long kept close to God in the way of his testimonies yet he should pray to be kept from falling into shameful sin Why 1. They which are most stedfast are not past all danger 1 Cor. 10. 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall He that hath the firmest footing may fall and that foully too when he begins to grow negligent and secure he may be soon surprised and drawn to dishonour the name of God and as David who was a man after God's own heart sin'd so foully that the name of God was blasphem'd among the Heathen When once we come out of our fears and are possest of the love of God we think there needs not be such diligence as when we were doubtful and kept in an uncertain condition and so carry the matter as if we were past all danger O no! sin many times breaks out of a sudden and after the first labours of soul in regeneration and terrors of the Law are gone there is great danger of security and secretly and silently things may run to wast in the soul. God's children have been in most danger when to appearance there was least cause of fear Lot who was chast in Sodom fell into incest where there were none but he and his two daughters He whose righteous soul was vexed at their abominations how was his conscience cast asleep by security A child of God may fall into the grossest sins David whose heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment yet afterward fell into uncleanness and blood and his conscience falls asleep Therefore there needs watching and praying to the last 2. The miscarriages of God's children are most shameful O how will the Chams of the world laugh to see a Noah drunk So a child of God when he hath fallen into disorder how will this furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised Blind Sampson did not make such sport for the Philistines as a child of God for a wicked man when he hath fallen into some notable excess 2 Sam. 12. 14. By this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Wicked men have a conscience and they would be glad of any pretext to shake off the name of Religion When the children of God keep up the lustre of it and live up to the Majesty of their Religion the awe of it falls upon wicked men But when they run into practices condemned by the light of nature and the laws of Nations it hardens wicked men and takes off this aw and fear upon them It 's no matter what a rude Scythian or barbarous Goth doth if they should exercise rapine and commit uncleanness no matter what open enemies which are at defiance with God though they break the Laws of God over and over again it is no such dishonour but for a child of God he that professeth the Christian name to walk disorderly it reflects dishonour upon God 3. Because of the hopes they have of speeding in prayer 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Those that in an humble sense of their own weakness and fear of the mischief of being a blemish to Religion when they come to pray they may be perswaded of God's goodness of whom they have such long experience that he will not fail them at length USE Let us pray that we may not dishonour the Gospel in our trials that God would not leave us to sin or shame by total apostasy or by any scandals that our Crown may not be taken from us Secondly As this shame may be supposed to arise from his sin so also from his sufferings or from the disappointment of his hopes Hope deferred leaves a man ashamed therefore Rom. 5. 5. the Apostle saith Hope maketh not ashamed When a man hath given out to others he hath such defences hopes expectations and these fail then he is ashamed Thus David begs God would own him that he might not be a scorn to wicked and ungodly men Note When they that stick to God's testimonies are disappointed of their present hopes it is matter of shame Observe it and humble
once but not again Then are we enlarged in this sense when the shackles are knocked off from our consciences when we have that other spirit the spirit of adoption or that free spirit as it is called Psal. 51. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit This free spirit enlargeth us that we may serve God cheerfully and comfortably According to this double captivity the slavery of sin and bondage of conscience so must our freedom and enlargement be interpreted a freedom from the power of sin and a freedom from the guilt of sin The carnal estate is often compared to a prison as Rom. 11. 32. God hath concluded or shut them all up together in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Gal. 3. 22. The Scripture hath concluded or shut up all under sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the word A man in his sinful and unbelieving state is like a man shut up in a strong prison that is made sure and fast with iron bars and bolts so that there is no hope of breaking prison mercy alone must open the dore to him this being in prison notes the power of sin But take the other notion because of the guilt of sin Now this prison is all on fire in the apprehension of the sensible sinner and therefore the poor trembling captive when the prison is all on a light flame runs hither and thither seeking an out-gate and a way of escape and mourns and sighs through the grates of the flaming prison This is all our condition by nature Now when God loosens the bolts and shuts back the many locks that were upon us as the Angel made Peter's chains fall off Acts 12. 12. then are we said to be enlarged to run the way of his commandment or as 't is exprest Luke 1. 74. to be delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life When we are delivered from the powers of corruption which are as bolts and locks upon us and the power of sin is broken and we let out of the stocks of conscience that we might serve God without slavish fear This is the first thing we should mainly look at the general enlargement must always go before the particular First see that you be converted to God It is that which hardneth many you shall find many are praying for strengthning grace when they should ask renewing grace and when they should bewail the misery of an unregenerate carnal state they confess only the infirmities of the Saints and so are like little children that will attempt to run before they can stand or go Therefore here God must enlarge you free you from the slavery of sin and bondage that you may serve God 2. There is a particular enlargement or the actual assistance of the Lord's grace carrying us on in the duties of our heavenly calling with more success This is that which David begs in this place If thou wilt enlarge my heart There are after grace is received many spiritual distempers which are apt to seize upon us Sometimes we are slow of heart sometimes in bonds and straits of conscience as to God's service A man of spiritual experience is sensible of these things of a damp which is many times upon his life and comfort and want of strength and largeness of heart for God's service Whosoever makes conscience of daily communion with God and that in every service would do his uttermost cannot but be sensible of straits and therefore it is grievous to him to be under bonds and restraints and that he cannot so freely let out his heart to God Others that do not make communion with God their interest that go on in a dead track and course of duty are never sensible of enlargement or straitning But briefly that we may know when the heart is enlarged understand the nature of it let us see when the heart in Scripture is said to be enlarged 1. You may look upon this enlargement as the effect of wisdom and knowledg and so Solomon is said to have a large heart 1 King 4. 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore The greater stock of sanctified wisdom and knowledg a man hath the more is the heart enlarged for he hath a treasure within him and he is ready to bring out of the good treasure of his heart good things He that hath more gold than brass farthings when he puts his hand into his pocket will more easily bring forth gold than farthings so when the heart hath a good stock of holy principles within they are ready at hand they break out more easily in our discourse in our praying we are ready in all temptations to check the sin All grace is encreased to us by knowledg 2 Pet. 1. 2. Grace be multiplied unto you through the knowledg of God and of Iesus Christ our Lord. Still this way doth God enlarge the heart of his people When the understanding is full of pregnant truths the greater aw there is and check upon the heart to sin and the greater impulsion to duty Look as the influences of heaven pass through the air but they produce their effects in the earth they do not make the air fruitful but the earth so do the influences of grace pass through the understanding but they produce their fruit in the will and shew forth their strength in the affections and therefore when we would have our affections for God the way is to enlarge the understanding 2. You may look upon it as the effect of faith which wideneth the capacities of our souls and doth cause us more to open towards God that we may take in his grace it doth enlarge our desires and expectations Psal. 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Surely a Temple for the great God such as our hearts should be should be fair and ample If we would have God dwell in our hearts and shed abroad his influences we should make room for God in our souls by a greater largeness of faith and expectation The rich man thought of enlarging his barns when his store was encreased upon him Luke 12. so should we stretch out the curtains of Christ's tent and habitation have larger expectations of God if we would receive more from him The vessels failed before the oil failed We are not straitned in God but in our selves by the scantiness of our own thoughts we do not make room for him nor greaten God Luke 1. 46. My soul doth magnifie the Lord. Faith doth greaten God Why can we make God greater than he is As to his declarative being we can have greater and larger apprehensions of his greatness goodness and truth 3. We may look upon it as an effect of comfort and joy through the assurance of God's
God on our part When thou shalt enlarge my heart when is causal because thou shalt enlarge it God only can enlarge the heart We are sluggish and loth to stir a foot in the ways of obedience therefore God must enlarge From first to last God doth all in the work of Grace he gives the habit and act He plants graces in the heart knowledg faith love and delight and then excites and quickens them to act The habit of grace is called the seed of God 1 Ioh. 3. 9. there it begins Before we can fly we must get wings we must have grace before we can run the way of Gods Commandments and then quickning of the habits the exciting of the soul to action the deed as well as the will Phil. 2. 13. it is from God the first inclination and actual accomplishment He giveth to will that is the first inclination 1 King 8. 58. That he may incline our hearts unto him to walk in all his ways c. and then the deed the outward expression of our obedience it is still from God Act. 4. 29. The Apostle goes to God for that Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word And so Col. 4. 3. he begs prayers to God to open a door of utterance for them There is a door shut until God opens it We cannot utter and express our selves in a way of obedience without Gods concurrence Use. Whenever you would undertake for God get God first to undertake for you as Hezekiah doth Isa 38. 14. O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me Let every earnest prayer beaccompanied with a serious purpose and let every serious purpose be accompanied with earnest prayer Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee So here Lord I will run the ways of thy commandments I but as to the event we must suspend it if thou wilt enlarge my heart This is the method we should use first engage God by prayer then engage our hearts by promise Though we cannot lay wagers upon our own strength yet we may resolve in Gods strength and ought to engage our selves to duty Ier. 30. 21. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord We must promise what is due but not presume as if we could carry our purpose without God As to the event they speak conditionally When thou shalt enlarge my heart The children of God have no other confidence of their own affections but as God will put forth his power They know they have a deceitful and corrupt heart and to stand to their resolutions immutably faithfully needs more strength than their own They resolve as to work but as to event they suspend that they know their resolution will not be brought to any thing unless God continue his grace and favour The children of God as they would own Christ as Lord and commanding the work so they promise obedience that 's their duty and they would own him a Saviour in helping them through the work so they promise conditionally in his strength As they are sway'd by his Soveraignty in his command so they depend upon his alsufficiency in his promise Here two Cases may be handled one is more generally Case 1. Whether we are to resolve upon a course of obedience when we are uncertain of Gods assistance The reason of doubting is because we cannot perform it in our own strength I answer 1. It is your duty to engage and consent to give up your selves to Gods service whatever comes of it 2 Chron. 30. 8. Yield your selves unto the Lord. In the Hebrew 'tis strike hands with him in his holy Covenant Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you present your selves c. You ought to come and present your selves own your selves solemnly in a way of a dedication to God It was implied in our Baptism which is therefore called 1 Pet. 3. 21. An answer of a good conscience towards God an answer upon Gods demands in his Covenant An answer supposeth a question God puts us to the question Will you be my people Will you serve me faithfully and do my will Then we ratifie it by Baptism Necessary duties must be done whatever comes of it as Abraham obeyed God not knowing whither he went 2. As this is your duty so whether you resolve or no you are already obliged by Gods command This actual resolution of entring into Covenant with God is only required as a means to strengthen us Natural relations enforce duty without consent a father is a father whether a child will own him in the quality of that relation yea or no. Gods right is valid whether you will consent or no. Actual consent or purpose in your heart doth not give God greater right but makes duty more explicite and active upon your own hearts We cannot make the bonds of duty stronger for Gods authority is greater than ours but we have a deeper sense when we own Gods authority by our own engagement 3. You have more cause to expect Gods assistance in this way of engaging your heart to him than in standing loose from God and neglect of his appointed means You know the promise is made Rev. 22. 17. To him that will let him take of the waters of life freely When there is a fixed bent of heart that comes from a secret impression of Gods grace which causeth this will in you when you have declared your will you have more reason to expect Gods concurrence 4. It is a foolish course to refuse to make the Covenant for fear of breaking it as if a Tradesman should neglect his calling forbear to set up because it is possible losses may come Make it then keep it in Gods strength Make it but remember your security lyeth in Gods Promises not in your own It is your duty to engage to God but as to the event you cannot say you can go through with it unless the Lord put in with his grace 2 Case The second Case is more obvious and usual viz. Whether we are to do duties in Case of deadness indisposition and straits of spirit The reason of doubting is because David seems to suspend his running upon Gods enlarging If thou wilt enlarge then I will run Answ. He suspends the event but not his duty He doth not say I will not stir unless thou enlarge my heart but if thou enlarge then I shall run The plea of weakness must not be used from the Doctrine of Gods concurrence to all acts of grace as a shift or turned into a plea for laziness The right use of this Doctrine is a constant dependence in a sense of our own weakness and hearty thanksgiving when we have received any command from God Now a form of thanksgiving is abused when it is made a plea for laziness To resolve upon a loose course and give over all is an absurd inference from this Doctrine it is as if a man should say my plowing and sowing unless God
understanding heart to judg thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judg this thy so great a people And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing Oh beg it of God 1. The way of Gods statutes is worthy to be found by all 2. So hard to be found and kept by any 3. It is so dangerous to miss it that this should quicken us to be earnest with God 1. It is so worthy to be found it is the way to eternal life and escape eternal death and in matters of such a concernment no diligence can be too much Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise to depart from hell beneath It is the way that leadeth to life and true happiness 2. It is so hard to find and keep it is a narrow way Mat. 7. 13 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it There is defect here excess a gracious spirit that would keep with God in all things is sensible of the difficulty there are many ways that lead to Hell but one way to Heaven 3. It is so dangerous to miss it in whole or in part in whole you are undone for ever in part in every false Religion such disadvantages so little of Gods presence and the comforts of his spirit 1 Cor. 3. 15. If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire A man should look after the most clear and safe way to Heaven 2. Doct. That Divine Teaching is earnestly desired by Gods children How often doth David repeat this Request These expressions are strange to us who as soon as we have gotten a little knowledg think we know as much as we need to know and are wise enough to guide our way without further direction but they are not so to the People of God Reason 1. It is an hard matter to understand a thing spiritually and as it ought to be understood there is an understanding of things litterally and a spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2. 14. A natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned There is a knowing things at random and by a general knowledg and a knowing things as we ought to know 1 Cor. 8. 2. If any man think that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know there is a knowing the truth as in Jesus Ephes. 4. 21. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus It is not every sort of knowledg that is saving a man may go to hell with speculative light that never reacheth the heart such as is practical and operative the Scripture presseth knowledg and the modus of it 2. Gods children are sensible of their own insufficiency and so of the need of a constant dependance upon God sound and saving knowledg is ever humble they have clearer light than others and so best see their own defects Prov. 30. 2. Surely I am more bruitish than any man and have not the understanding of a man and are too most sensible of corruptions and see most of the excellency of the Object 1 Cor. 8. 2. If any man think that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know they study their own hearts and so are conscious to many weaknesses they know how easily they are misled by the wiles of Satan and the darkness of their own hearts whereas a presumptuous Formalist goeth on boldly and in the confidence of his own wit runneth headlong into Temptations 3. Their strong affection to knowledg they desire to know more for there is more still to be learned in the Word of God though taught in part they see what a small measure of knowledg they have attained unto till they attain the Beatifical vision they are never satisfied Hos. 6. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord still increasing and bettering their notions concerning the things of God 4. Their great care that they may not go astray nor offend in matter or manner or Principle and end they whose hearts are set upon exact walking would fain know what God would have them to do in every action and in every circumstance Lord teach me let thy holy Spirit guide me and direct me in performing acceptable obedience to thee It was Davids resolution v. 32. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart Now we have his prayer for direction in this verse Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes I would know it that I may keep it 'T is a very troublesome condition to a child of God when he is in the dark and knoweth not what to do and is forced to walk every step by guess and cannot find the ground sure under him The conflict between duty and danger doth not trouble so much as between duty and duty John 12. 35. He that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth Oh it is a sad Judgment to wander in a maze of confusions and to be like those that thought to go to Dothan and found themselves in Samaria 2 Kings 6. 20. Well then the Use is Have we this temper of Gods People do we look after spiritual Knowledg such as will not only store the head with notions but enter upon the heart are we sensible of our weakness and Satans wiles and that God that hath begun the work must perfect it do we make it our happiness to grow rich in knowledg and better our apprehensions concerning God and the things of God would we understand every point of duty that we may fulfill it as face answereth to face in water so should heart to heart the heart of one child of God to another Doct. 3. All that teaching that we expect or get from God must still be directed to Practice Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end 1. This is Gods intention in teaching therefore should be our end in learning The end of sound knowledg is obedience Deut. 4. 5 6. Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it Keep therefore and do them for this is thy wisdom Others do little more than learn them by rote when they know them only to talk of them or fashion their notions and plausible opinions that they may hang together 2. It is not the knowing but obeying will make us happy We desire to know the way that we may
is a great deal of profit for God looks to the affection and of all affections to the delight 4. When this delight is not set upon priviledges but upon grace and obedience this is more acceptable to God I delight in thy ways When we set upon obedience it 's a sign we mind Gods interest more than our own comfort that 's our own interest but subjection to God and holiness that 's for his glory therefore when the heart is set upon obedience then he will give in supplies of grace USE Oh that we could say so that we take joy and pleasure in the way of his Commandments Thou hast given me delight in thy ways give me strength to keep them To corrupt nature the ways of God are burdensome but to his children the Commandments of God are not grievous we shall not then want influences of grace SERMON XL. PSALM CXIX 36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness IN the former Verses David had asked understanding and direction to know the Lord's will now he asketh an inclination of heart to do the Lord's will The understanding needs not only to be enlightned but the will to be moved and changed Man's heart is of its own accord averse from God and holiness even then when the wit is most refined and the understanding is stock'd and stor'd with high notions about it therefore David doth not only say Give me understanding but incline my heart We can be worldly of our selves but we cannot be holy and heavenly of our selves that must be asked of him who is the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift They that plead for the power of Nature shut out the use of prayer for if by nature we could determine our selves to that which is good there would be no need of grace and if there be no need of grace there 's no use of prayer But Austin hath said well Natura verâ confessione non falsâ defensione opus habet We need rather to confess our weakness than defend our strength Thus doth David and so will every broken-hearted Christian that hath had an experience of the inclinations of his own soul he will come to God and say Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness In which words there is something implied and something exprest That which is implied is a Confession that which is exprest is a Supplication That which he confesseth is the natural inclination of his heart to Worldly things and by consequence to all evil for every sin receiveth life and strength from Worldly inclinations That which he begs is that the full bent and consent of his heart may carry him out to God's testimonies Or briefly here is 1. The thing asked Incline my heart 2. The Object of this inclination exprest positively unto thy testimonies Negatively and not unto covetousness Here is the object to which and the object from which To which Incline me to thy testimonies and suffer me not to decline to Worldly objects exprest here by the lust which is most conversant about them Covetousness Let me explain them more fully Incline my heart The word implies 1. Our natural obstinacy and disobedience to God's Law for if the heart of man were naturally prone and of its own accord ready to obedience it were in vain said to God Incline my heart I but till God bend us the other way we lye averse and aukward from his Commandments As God is said here to incline us so Iohn 6. 44. he is said to draw us There is a corrupt will which hangs back and desires any thing rather than that which is right we need to be drawn and bent again like a crooked stick the other way 2. It implies Gods gracious and powerful act upon the soul whereby the heart is fixed and set to that which is good when there 's a proneness another way this is the fruit of effectual grace Now let us see when the heart is enclined and how this is brought to pass 1. When is the heart said to be inclined I answer when the habitual bent of our affections iâ—… more to holiness than to worldly things for the power of sin stands in the love of it and so doth our aptness for grace in the love of it or in the bent of the will the strength of desire and affections by which we are carryed out after it Amor mens est pondus meum eo feror quocunque ferâ—…r Our love is the weight that is upon our souls Nothing can be done well that is not done sweetly Then are we inclined when our affections have a proneness and propension to that which is good New these affections must be more to holiness than to Worldly things for by the prevalency is Grace determined if the preponderating part of the soul be for God It is not an equal poyse we are always standing between two parties there 's God and the World There 's a sensitive good drawing one way and there 's a spiritual good draws us another way Now grace prevails when the scales are cast on grace's side I say it is the habitual bent not for a pang the heart must be set to seek the Lord 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God and the course of our endeavours the strength and stream of our souls runs out this way then is the heart said to be inclined to Gods testimonies 2. How is it brought to pass or how doth God thus reduce and frame our hearts to the obedience of his will There are two ways which God useth by the word and by his spirit by perswasion and by power they shall be taught of God and they are drawn of God Joh. 6 44. The Lord will allure Iapheâ—…h so he works by perswasion Gen. 9. 27. and then by Power Ezek. 36 26 27. I will cause you to walk in my wâ—…ys c. God tempers an irresistible strength and sweetness together fortiter pro te Domine sâ—…aviter pro me He worketh as a God therefore he works strongly and invincibly but he perswades men as men therefore he propounds reasons and arguments goes to work by way of perswasion Strongly according to his own nature Sweetly according to mans By perswasions accompanied by the secret efficacy of his own grace First He gives weighty reasons he casts in weight after weight till the scales be turned then he makes all effectual by his spirit Morally he works because God will preserve mans nature and the principles thereof therefore he doth not work by violence but by a sweet inclination alluring and speaking comfortably unto us Hos. 11. 4. I drew them with cords of a man with bands of love God knows all the wards of mans heart and what kind of keys will fit the lock therefore he suits such arguments as may work upon us and take us in our month and then really and prevailingly
such Errors are abroad and Divisions in the Church and the name of God is Blasphemed Now by these daily mercies doth God stablish his Word makes it good to your Souls Psal. 18. 30. The Word of the Lord is a tried Word there is more than Letters and Syllables God standeth to it it is a tryed word When you have challenged him you have found the Scripture fulfilled upon appeals to God and applications to the Throne of Grace When you have been pleading with God Lord is not this thy hand-writing the Promises thou hast made to thy people The Lord hath answered this from Heaven and said yea this is my Promise He hath given in an answerable Promise 2. It ingageth you to dependance and assurance of Faith Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee For thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Whosoever hath observed Gods dealings will see God is to be trusted he may be depended upon if he hath said any thing in his Word they that know thy name they that have acquainted themselves with God and the course of his dispensations The Promises will not lie by as a dead stock Psal. 116. 1 2. God hath heard my voice and my supplications therefore will I call upon him as long as I live This is that which will quicken you to rejoyce in God and to a holy thankfulness when you compare his Word with the effects of it when you see how it is made good Psal. 56. 10. In God will I praise his word In the Lord will I praise his word A single mercy is not so much nor so engaging upon our hearts to thankfulness as when observing the mercy hath been the fruit of a Promise This hath been the practice of Gods Saints Ioshuah takes notice of it Iosh. 23. 14. Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you 1 Kings 8. 56. There hath not failed one word of all his good Promises which he hath promised by the hand of Moses his Servant You will often find the very Letter of the Promise made good in the course of Gods dealings and if you would but observe his daily Providence you would be trained up in more waiting upon God for your final Blessings Secondly Let us come to the Person for whom he prayes Stablish thy Word but to whom to thy Servant Here note Doct. That Particular Application of general Promises is necessary This word which he would have to be established was most likely to be a Promise of Sanctification for in the former verse he had prayed for Mortification and vivification and now for Sanctification But be it any other Promise certainly that word which was made to others was likewise made to me as if he had been specified therein by name Thus must general truths be taken home by particular application that they may lye the closer to our hearts Psal. 27. The offer of Gods Favour is general seek ye my Face but the application is particular to himself Lord I will seek thy face David takes it as spoken to him in particular So Psal. 1â—…6 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and then truly Lord I am thy Servant and the Son of thy handmaid The comfort concerned all Gods Children the life and death of the Saints is very precious in the eyes of God he hath a particular care over them and tells all their bones now Lord saith David let me have the comfort of this promise I am thy Servant So 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying c. whereof I am chief This holy Art should we learn of creeping under the covert of a Promise and working our selves by Faith into the comfort of it But rather Secondly you may observe the Character that he puts upon himself Thy Servant David was a King but at the Throne of Grace he stiles himself Gods Servant the fittest title that he could use when he prays for Grace Hence note Doct. He that is a Servant of God may seek and expect Grace from him Here I shall shew 1. Who is Gods Servant 2. Why we must use this Plea when we come to have promises accomplished First Who is Gods Servant I Answer He that dedicates himself to Gods use and he that lives under a sense and conscience of his Dedication 1. He that dedicates himself to Gods use We are Gods Servants by Covenant and voluntary Contract 'T is true our service is due to him upon other accounts but we enter into it by contract It is due by vertue of Creation for he made us out of nothing therefore we owe him all that we have and thus all Creatures were made for Gods Service Psalm 119. 91. They continue this day according to thine Ordinances for all are thy Servants Heaven and Earth and Sun and Moon and Stars and Beasts and every creeping thing and every Plant and Herb they all serve God according to the ends for which they were made But especially Men and Angels they were made for Gods use immediately Other things were made ultimately and terminatively for God Man immediately for God Psal. 103. 21. The Angels are his Ministers and so is Man Gods Servant And then by the right of Redemption we are bound to serve him as the Captive was to serve the Buyer He that bought another out of Slavery all his time and strength belonged to him 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God with your Souls and Bodies But this shews only de jure what we ought to be we ought all to be Gods Servants as he Created us and Redeemed us by the Blood of Christ. But de facto none are his Servants but those who resign and yield up themselves to his use Rom. 6. 13. Yield up your selves to the Lord God will have his right and title confirmed by our consent and therefore he that is a Servant of God one time or other hath entred into Covenant with God he hath consented to yield up himself to walk with God in a strict obedience All that thus yield up themselves to be Gods Servants they do it with Shame they are ashamed they did no sooner think of their Creator in their youth at their first coming to the use of Reason and think of him that bought them by his Blood 1 Pet. 4. 3. for the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles c. They have too long dishonoured God destroyed their own Souls and kept their Creator out of his right And they do it too with a sense of Gods Love in the new title he hath by Redemption 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. For the Love of Christ constrains us c. 2. He is one that liveth under a sense and conscience of his Dedication not as his own but Gods When you have given up your selves to Gods
the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom the first in point of Order and it is the first thing when we begin to be wise to think of God to have awful thoughts of God it is a chief point of Wisdom the great thing that makes us wise to Salvation And it is added as an Argument of Prayer 1. Nehe. 11. O Lord let thine Ear be attentive to the Prayer of thy Servants who desire to fear thy Name The more any is given to the fear of God the more assurance they have of Gods Love and readiness to hear them at the throne of Grace The point is this Doct. That man is indeed Gods servant who is devoted to his fear There may be weaknesses and failings but for the main he is sway'd by the fear of God 1. What it is to fear God 2. Why this is a sure note of Gods servant because it removes all the lets of Obedience First what it is to fear God There is a servile and a filial fear A fear of Wrath which the worst may have Iames 2. 19. The Devils believe and tremble And a fear of offending which the best must have Prov. 28. 14. Blessed is he that feareth alway a reverend disposition of Heart towards God as our Soveraign Lord and Master yea as our Father in Jesus Christ. For the First of these 1. A fear of Wrath. Every fear of Wrath is not sinful it is a duty rather than a sin all Gods children are bound to have a tender sense of Gods wrath or displeasure against sin to make them awful and serious in the Spiritual Life as in Heb. 12. 27. Let us serve God with reverence and Godly fear Mark upon that account and consideration as He is a consuming fire that should have an influence upon our Godly fear And Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that can but kill the Body but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell The words do not only contain a description of the Person who ought to be feared but the ground and reason why he is to be feared and therefore it is not simply the fear of wrath that is sinful but it is the Servility and Slavishness of it Now what is the Servility and Slavishness of the fear of Wrath partly when our own smart and terror is feared more than the displeasing of God and they have a mind to sin but are affraid of Hell and it is fear accompanied with hatred Servil fear though it keep us from some sins as a Wolf may be scared from the Prey yet keeps its devouring Nature It is accompanied with hatred of God all that fear God they hate him and indeed they could wish there were no God none to call them to account they could wish he were not so Just and Holy as he is and so here lies the evil of it not so much as fear of Wrath for that is a Grace rightly conversant about its Object but as it tends to this hatred of God and partly too Servility lies in this as it makes us shy of God and run away from him rather than draw near to him as Adam ran into the Bushes to hide himself Holy fear is an awe of God upon the Soul but that keeps us in a holy Communion with him I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me but that fear which makes us flye from God is slavish and partly as it hath torment and perplexity in it and so hindreth us in Gods service Fear hath Torment in it The fear of Wrath that is a Duty but Slavish Fear is such a fear of wrath which makes us hate God and shun his presence and afraid more of wronging our selves than wronging of God and such a fear that hath torment and perplexity in it that cannot serve God so chearfully 2. There is a filial fear a fear of Reverence This fear of God was in Christ as Mediator Isa. 11. 1. 2. Among other Graces there reckoned up which do belong to Iehovah the Branch to Christ Jesus this is one The fear of the Lord. Christ as Man had a reverend affection to his Father whom he served and this fear it continueth to all Eternity in the blessed Spirits that are in Heaven The Saints and Angels have this kind of fear a dread of the holy God and a reverent and awful respect to his Majesty It is an essential respect which passeth between the Creature and the Creator and can never be abolished Now this fear of Reverence consisteth in a high esteem of God of his Majesty Glory Power and in the sense and continual thoughts of his presence And then a loathness to sin against God or to offend in his sight to do any thing that is unseemly when God is a looker on What! can a man sin freely that lives in the sight of the holy God when he hath a deep sense of his Excellency imprinted in his heart This is that fear which is the note of Gods Servants Secondly This must needs be the note of Gods Servants because it is the great Principle that both hindreth us from sin and quickneth us to duty The fear of God is one of the radical and essential Graces which belongeth to a Christian. It is a mighty restraint from Sin The Beasts were made to serve men and how are they held in Subjection and Obedience to man The dread of you saith God shall be upon every Beast of the Earth Gen. 3. So we are made for the Service of God Now how are we kept in Subjection to God When the fear of God is upon our heart that will not suffer us freely to do any thing that is displeasing to God Exod. 20. 20. God is come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not It is a great remedy against all Temptation of Gain and worldly Profit and temporal Convenience Look as that man that had a fear of the King upon his heart 2 Sam. 18. 12. Why didst thou not smite him to the ground saith Ioab and the man answered though I should receive a thousand Shekels yet would I not put forth mine hand against the Kings Son Just such a fear hath a child of God of his Heavenly King No though I should have never so much offered me to tempt me from my Duty No I dare not the Lord hath charged me to the contrary Or as when the Recabites were tempted to drink Wine Pots were brought before them to inflame their Appetite No we dare not These passages express the workings of heart in one that fears God though temptation be present and never so much convenience thereby yet how can they do this Wickedness and sin against God Use. It informeth us who are Gods Servants Those that have most of this fear of God planted in their hearts Nehemiah 7. 2. He was a faithful man and feared God above many And then that they express
it in their conversation God will not take it planted in our hearts if we do not obey him in those things that are contrary to our Interests and natural Affections When God tryed Abraham that was to offer his Isaac Gen. 22. Now I know that thou fearest me since thou hast not withheld thine only Son c. why was Abraham unknown to God before that time As Peter told Christ Lord thou knowest all things cannot God see the inward Springs and Motions of our Souls and what Affections are there Could not God tell what was in Abraham But now I acknowledge For God will not acknowledge it in this sense untill we express it They are the true Servants of God that have his fear planted in their hearts and express it upon all occasions SERMON XLIV PSALM CXIX Verse 39. Turn away my Reproach which I fear For thy Iudgments are Good IN these Words you have 1. A Request Take away my Reproach 2. A Reason to inforce it For thy Iudgments are good First for the Request Turn away roul from upon me so it signifies He was cloathed with Reproach now roul from me my Reproach some think he means Gods condemnatory Sentence which would turn to his Reproach or some remarkable rebuke from God because of his Sin Rather I think the Calumnies of his Enemies and he calls it my Reproach either as deserved by himself or personally lighted upon him the Reproach which was like to be his Lot and Portion in the World through the Malice of his Enemies The Reproach which I fear that is which I have cause to expect and am sensible of the sad Consequences of it Secondly For the Reason by which this is enforced For thy Iudgments are good There are different Opinions about the Formality of this Argument Some take the Reason thus Let me not suffer Reproach for adhering to thy word thy word which is so good But David doth not speak here of suffering Reproach for Righteousness sake but such Reproach as was likely to befall him because of his own Infirmities and Failings Reproaches for Righteousness sake are to be rejoyced in but he saith this I fear and therefore I suppose this doth not hit the reason neither the other Sence Why should I be looked upon as an evil doer as long as I keep thy Law and observe thy Statutes Others judge badly of me but I appeal to thy good Judgment Others by Judgments understand Gods dealings Thou dost not deal with men according to their desert Thy dispensations are kind and gracious Rather thus By Judgments are meant the Ways Statutes and Ordinances of God called Judgements because all our words works thoughts are to be Judged according to the sentence of the Word now these it is pity they should suffer in my Reproach and Ignominy This is that I fear more than any thing else that can happen to me I think the reason will better run thus Lord there is in thy Law Word Covenant many Promises to encourage thy People and therefore Rules to provide for the due honour and credit of thy People Take it so I shall with respect to the necessities of the People of God insist a little upon the former clause and observe this point That Reproaches are an usual but yet a great and grievous affliction to the Children of God They are usual for David saith my Reproach Even this holy man could not escape it the Censures of his Enemies and they are grievous for he saith which I so fear First That they are usual David often complains of it in this Psalm and mentions it as one great evil to God Verse 22. Remove from me Reproach and Contempt for I have kept thy Testimonies And again Verse 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me for I trust in thy Word And V. 69. The Proud have forged a lye against me God may let loose a barking Shimei upon a holy David and therefore doth he so often complain of Reproaches so else where Psal. 31. 13. For I have heard the Slander of many Sundry sorts of Persons made him their Butt upon which they spent and let fly the Arrows of Censure and Reproach Psal. 25. 15. The Abjects gathered themselves together against me they did tear me and ceased not Tear me meaning in his name that was rent and torn in pieces with their Reproaches the Abjects gathered themselves c. Base dust will many times be flying in the faces of the Children of God and Ieremiah tells us I have heard the defaming of many And Iob and other Servants of God yea our Lord himself was reviled he endured the contradiction of Sinners many a bittter Reproach even of the highest crimes against either Table there were objected to him Blasphemy and Sedition the highest Crime against the First and the highest Crime against the Second Table the Son of God that was so meek innocent just and did so much good in every place yet he met with odious aspersions therefore we cannot say that they are faulty because they are aspersed since this hath been the portion of the most eminent Godly persons and after that we are told Psal. 64. 3 4. They whet their tongue like a Sword and bend their Boâ—…s to shoot their Arrows even bitter words that they may shoot in secret at the Perfect Perfection meets with Envy and Envy vents it self by detraction and when men cannot reach the heighth of others by a holy imitation then by odious imputations they seek to make them as vile low and base as themselves Thus it is an usual affliction Secondly It is a grievous affliction for the man of God that was after Gods own heart he saith the Reproach which I so feared It is called Persecution Gal. 4. 29. compared with Gen. 21 9. and you shall see it was mocking and reproach The scourge of the tongue is one of the basest persecutions that the Children of God are tryed withal and they are called cruel mockings Heb. 11. 36. There is as much cruelty and as deep a wound many times made by the Tongue of Reproach as by the Fist of Wickedness To confirm it by Reasons Reproach must needs be grievous because 't is against Nature and against Grace 1. 'T is against Nature contempt is a heavy thing to bear and as honour is more grateful to some Persons so Reproach is more grievous than many ordinary Crosses Many would lose their goods Cheerfully yet are grieved with the loss of their Names According to the Constitution and frame of mens Spirits so they are affected some with Shame more than with Fear There seems to be Excellency and Gallantry in sufferings which are honourable and many can bear that but the best Spirits are deeply affected with Shame and disgraceful Punishment is more dreadful than a painful one Jesus Christ that had all the innocent affections of humane Nature and upon occasion shewed them he took notice of Mockings and Reproaches
in general may be applied to this Particular of Reproaches Now what is Gods aim and end in Afflictions in general to try purge and make white Dan. 11. 35. or as it is Deut. 8. 10. To humble thee and prove thee and do thee good at the latter end Let us take that Method here is Gods end First To humble thee Carnal men may shout at Rovers but many times we find our selves pricked at heart Slanders may revive the sense of guilt They may intend harm but you should receive good by this as by every affliction Plutarch in his excellent Treatise of profiting by a mans Enemies illustrates it by this comparison of Iason who had an Imposthume let out by the Dart of his Enemy They may fling Darts at random and intend harm but you shall get good by it Surely there is some special cause when the Lord permits this when Vollies of Reproaches shall follow one after another therefore he suffers others to judge you to awaken you to self-judging mind this and you will be no losers by Reproaches Well enter into your own hearts search them throughly see what it is God aims at whether there be any way of wickedness in you that hitherto you have not discovered and when you come to see this sink of sin then your enemies do but help to humble you Many times the voice of a Slanderer may do that which the voice of a Preacher cannot do And the truth is there is such a wantonness such a presumptuous headiness in the Professors of Religion that the Word cannot reclaim them they are so radicated in certain sins and therefore God will follow you with sharp Reproaches of his Enemies and doth at this time to call you to a more serious judging your selves to see your factious headyness which certainly doth predominate among Gods Professing People There are many sins to which this sharp kind of affliction is proper and therefore God gives out this grievous Dispensation to lay open his People to bitter Reproaches and Slanders I will tell you some of the sins My business is not now to state what is the great sin that God is Judging among his People but to help every one in particular to look to our selves for that I do not conceive to be so fit to be spoken here 1. Pride There is a twofold Pride Pride in mind which is called self-conceit and Pride in Affections which is called vain-glory Now there is no such effectual cure as Reproaches for either of these 1. To speak of the Pride in Mind Self-conceit We are very apt to be puft up for our doing and suffering for God poor empty Bladders are soon puft up and think our selves somebody if there be but a little self-denyal as Peter said Master we have left all and followed thee he was conceited of what he had left for Christ. What had he left a Net a Fisher-boat it was a great All indeed Mat. 19. 27. We are easily puffed up if we suffer a little for God and the Lord Intrencheth us in our Worldly Conveniencies for Self-conceit may grow out of Self-denyal Too too often we find it so Pride is a Sin that grows out of Mortification of other Sins it lives in us while we live in the Body therefore 1 Iohn 2. 16. it is called Pride of Life And some compare it to a shirt that Garment is last put off it is the most inward and nearest to the Soul and out of the Conquest of other sins there ariseth Pride Now if we have been too self-conceited the Lord will humble us either by permitting us to fall into such Scandals as may remember us of our Frailty and what unworthy weak Creatures we are in our selves sometimes by taking off the restraints of his Grace and of his Spirit and permitting us to fall Austin is bold in saying it is profitable for proud men to fall sometimes into open sin that they may know and understand themselves He speaks it upon the occasion of Peter when he was boasting of his own strength though all men leave thee yet will not I how foully did he fall I but at other times God useth a more merciful Dispensation for he doth not let his people fall into those grievous falls but upon great provocation But usually at other times he lets loose the tongues of virulent men to lessen us in our own Opinion and in the Opinion of the World Now how innocent soever we be of the Crimes charged upon us yet in all these cases we must look upward and inward Upward this is not without God he is at the end of causes he could blast these tongues and stay and stop them at his pleasure the Lord can keep us from the strife of tongues Psal. 31. 20. But now when he permits this his hand must be owned look upward Mic. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him At such a time God spits in the faces of his People and puts us to shame and therefore we should look upward and see the hand of God in all this And look inward there you will see such a sink of sin as deserves this and much more and therefore a sense of our sinfulness in other things should make us more submissive to the Lords correcting hand we must see the hand of God for if we do not look to that we will be drawn to sin into reviling for reviling and exasperation for exasperation Many times our Graces do us as much hurt as our sins Self-conceit the Lord will mortify one way or other 2. For Vain-glory the other sort of Pride valuing Esteem too much and our Credit in the World and pleasing our selves in the Opinion others have of us We would usurp Gods Throne and Reign in the hearts of men therefore we are so touchy Having set a high value upon our selves we are troubled when others will not come up to our price Pride is one of the oldest Enemies that ever God had it was born in Heaven in the Breasts of the Fallen Angels but God tumbled them presently out of Heaven assoon as Pride got into the heart Now when his Children harbour it the Lord hath a quarrel with them and therefore for giving entertainment to Pride he will lay us low enough 2 Cor. 12. 7. Lest I should be exalted above measure there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me There is a great deal of do what this thorn in the flesh is Some will have it to be some trouble or sickness Most probably so but it takes in many afflictive evils for verse 10. he mentioneth Reproaches Paul was too apt to be proud The Lord made him an eminent Instrument by his Faith he had abundance of Revelations But God will prick the Bladder he doth it with Thorns and he calls it his Infirmity Necessities Reproaches Infirmitie by that I mean some reigning sickness But
not stick so long as it doth but I speak now of such a want as remains in the Saints after they have begun with God and been put in a way of Obedience It is not enough that the Soul is once come to Christ but it is the business of our Lives we must be always coming 1 Pet. 2. 4. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom Coming as unto a living Stone I you have Tasted then come to him for more they must be frequently renewing the Acts of their Faith and stirring up their Desires else there will be no growth of Grace no opposing Corruption for all our Strength is in him there is still something lacking to our Faith and all the Graces of the Spirit that are in us 2. Consider what a fulness there is in Christ. This incouraged the Prodigal that in his Fathers house there is bread enough So should this encourage us and awaken our desires there is enough in Christ if I will but go and take it and receive from this ever-flowing Fountain of Grace that God hath set up in our nature Iohn 1. 16. Of his fullness have we all received Christ hath not only plenitudinem vasis the fulness of a vessel but fontis the fulness of a Fountain The fulness of a Vessel that may be lessened the more we take fromit the less Liquor is in it but the more we take from a Fountain still there is the same overflowing fulness Such a fulness is in Christ therefore it is an encouragement to us to repair to him and enlarge our desires Look as it is with Beggars in the streets if they see a poor man meanly clad they let him alone but when they see a man of Quality and Fashion they rouze up themselves and besiege him with importunate entreaties and clamours and will not let him go until he hath left something with them Thus should we do Christ hath enough and to spare he hath the Spirit without measure therefore give him not over until he bestow something upon you he containeth more than we can receive whatever we get he is not lessened but as the Sea though we take never so much water out of it it remains in the same fulness so all the Saints may have supply for their wants without any deficiency in Christ. The Sun hath not less light though it communicate it freely to the inferiour World Christ is not spent for giving he hath enough to comfort and quicken us he needs not our fulness but emptiness The Prophet provided oyl enough to help the Widow She only provided empty Vessels We may be too full for Christ but cannot be too empty We may be too full of Self-righteousness and self-sufficiency Christ brings All-sufficiency to the Covenant and we bring all necessity Therefore since there is such an overflowing fulness in him we must still repair to him that we may receive more 3. Consider his readiness to give it you therefore come with hungring and thirsting after him Iohn 6. 37. Labour for the meat that endures for ever Mind the Graces of the the Spirit come to Christ for these things He was sent into the World and Commissionated for this end and purpose All the fullness in Christ is for our use As the Sun hath light not for it self but for the comfort of the World and a fountain hath water not for it self but for the use of man so Christ the head is the seat of Sence and Motion not for himself but for his whole body he is our store-house for the supply of our wants and he is cloathed impowered and invested with Offices to do us good O therefore enlarge your desires In other things you desire to be full why not of Grace Hypocrites are satisfied with a tast they may tast the good Word Temporaries are contented with a tast a little Religion they must have I but it is for the honour of Christ that we should be complete in him and filled with all the fulness of God and this is his grief when his Grace runs wast Look as when Breasts are full there 's a great pleasure in having them drawn or Children to have them sucking and the Lord hath as great a desire to impart his holiness as we to receive it Therefore come to him that we may have Grace for Grace that is for Graces sake Thus much for the First Point David appeals to God Lord I have longed after thy Precepts Doct. 2. Those that indeed long for Holiness will see a need of new quickning So David Quicken me in thy Righteousness A man would have thought he had been in a lively frame then yet quicken me in thy Righteousness excite and enliven me to all Acts of Obedience Here I shall Enquire 1. What is this quickning 2. Why they that long for Gods Precepts and a more perfect and ready Subjection to God are thus earnest for quickning First What is this quickning I shall not speak at large for it often occurrs in this Psalm It is used in Scripture for two things 1. For Regeneration or the first infusion of the life of Grace Ephes. 2. 1 5. Then we have Divine Qualities put into us that do encline and enable us to live unto God 2. It is put for the vitality and the vigour of grace when the Spiritual life is in good plight deadness of heart is apt to creep upon us therefore we need renewed excitations and quicknings that we may serve our God with chearfulness liveliness and zeal Christians should not only be living but lively 1 Pet. 2. 5. Ye also as lively stones are built up a Spiritual House And we read of living Grace and lively Grace 1 Pet. 1. 3. And Christ came into the World that we might not only have life but have it more abundantly Iohn 10. 10. that is that we might not only be living but lively So that quickning is the actuation of the Spiritual life either in a way of Comfort or Grace There may be life where there is not this vigor and this vitality This quickning is mainly seen in the most operative and the two necessary Graces of the Soul to which the Gospel is sometimes reduced and they are Faith and Love These are the Graces wherein Life consists and as these are acted and excited to God so we are lively and when these decay we are dead When Faith is dead all Spiritual activity is lost Iames 2. 26. For as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without works is dead also If men want Faith they cannot do any thing with any life So when Love is dead or Love grows cold Mat. 24. â—…2 Or when men have any abatement in their Love all languisheth and grows dead in the Soul Rev. 2. 4 5. But on the contrary it is said we live by Faith Gal. 2. 20. Grace is kept in good plight when Faith is strong and kept up in any vigor And Gal.
and bountiful Providence because of our forfeiture by sin and the uncertainty of these outward Comforts and the continual necessity of his Providential influence and support the heart must still be exercised in the acknowledgment of God and his gracious hand over us and so the heart is not inticed by our outward comforts but raised by them Indeed in some cases it is harder to trust God with means than without when there are visible means of supply the heart is prone to Carnal Confidence Good Paul was in danger 2 Cor. 1. 9. We had the Sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the Dead But then in Adversity when kept bare and low then is a time to shew trust how hard soever our condition be grounds of Confidence are not lost Zeph. 3. 12. I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor People and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Every man thinketh trusting in God easie when things go well with him but indeed he trusteth in other things he eateth his own Meat and weareth his own Apparel only God carrieth the name of it but now when we are without all Comfort and Incouragement from the Creatures as David when he was left alone Refuge failed me No man cared for my Soul I cried unto thee O Lord and said thou art my Refuge and Portion in the Land of the Living Psal. 142. 4 5. When men fail God never faileth when riches take wing and worldly friends forsake us then is a time for trust and dependance upon God It is the end of Providence that we should have the less Comfort in the Creature that we may have all in God Now we are to depend on God for whatsoever we stand in need of as at all times so for all all things Temporal and Spiritual Mercies for God will withhold no good thing from us he hath undertaken not only to give us Heaven and happiness in the next World but to carry us thither with Comfort that we may serve him without fear all the days of our lives Luke 1. 75. His Providence concerneth the outward and inward man and so do his Promises an whole Believer is in Covenant with Cod Body and Soul and he will take care of both But all the Difficulty is how we ought to depend on him for Temporal Supplies 1. It is certain that we ought not to set God a task to provide Meat for our Lusts. Psal. 78. 18. And they tempted God in their Heart by asking meat for their Lusts. Carnal affections and hopes do but make trouble for our selves though it be the ordinary Practice of Gods free Grace and Fatherly cares to provide things Comfortable and necessary for his Children whilst he hath work for them to do yet he never undertook to maintain us at such a Rate to give us so much by the Year such Portions for our Children and Supplies for our Families We must leave to the great Shepherd of the sheep to choose our Pastures bare or large and he that will depend upon God must be sure to empty his Heart of covetous Desires and be contented with our Lot if we would cast our selves upon his Providence Heb. 13. 5. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such Things as you have for he bath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee We do but ensnare and perplex our own Thoughts while we would reconcile the Promises with our Lusts and crave more than ever God meaneth to give 2. It is as certain that we ought not to be Faithless and full of Cares about these outward supplies Mat. 6. 23. Take no thought what ye shall Eat or what ye shall Drink or where withall ye shall be Cloathed because if we had no Promises there is a Common bounty and goodness of God which is over all his Works and reacheth to the Preservation of the smallest Worm decketh the Lillies feedeth the Ravens and the Fowls of the Air and certainly more noble Creatures such as men are may expect their shares in this Common bounty how much more when there is a Covenant wherein God hath promised to be a Father to us and temporal Blessings are adopted and taken into the Covenant as well as other Blessings Will not he give that to Children which he gives to Enemies to Beasts and Fowls of the Air You would count him a barbarous and unnatural Father that feedeth his Dogs and Hawks and lets his Children dye of hunger and can we without Blasphemy think so of God 3. As we ought not on the one Hand to think God will supply our Lusts nor on the other Hand distrust his Care of necessaries so we cannot be absolutely confident of particular Success in temporal Things For they are not absolutely Promised but with Exception of the Cross and as God shall see them good for us God reserved in the Covenant a Liberty both of shewing his Justice and his Wisdom his Justice in Scourging his sinning People Psal. 89. 33. He will visit their Iniquity with Rods and their Transgression with Scourges The World shall know God doth not allow Sins in his own Children Sin is as Odious to God in them as others yea more and therefore they feel the Smart of it The Liberty of his Wisdom Psal. 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal. 3. 4. 9 10. O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lyons do lack and suffer Hunger but they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing They may want many Comforts but no good thing Good is not determined by our Fancies but Gods Wisdom Well then we cannot expect a certain Tennure of Temporal Happiness there is great Danger in fixing a deceitful Hope much of the subtlety of Satan is to be seen in it who maketh an Advantage of our Dis-appointments and abuseth our rash Confidence into a Snare and Temptation to Atheism and the mis-belief of other Truths 4. The dependence we exercise about these things lyeth in committing our selves to Gods Power and referring our selves to Gods Will. He is so able that he can secure us in his Work so good that we should not trouble our selves about his Will but refer it to him without hesitancy which if we could bring our Hearts to it would ease us of many burdensome Thoughts and troublesome Cares Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy ways unto the Lord and thy Thoughts shall be Established Put your selves into Gods hands so trusting him with the issue of our affairs though we know not how it will fall 1 Cor. 19.
open your hearts to God as Hezekiah did Rabshekahs Letter tell him of these cruel mockings as they are called Heb. 11. 36. It is the manner of Saints so to do Psal. 115. 2. Wherefore should the Heathen say where is now their God and Ioel 2. 17. On the Fasting day let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say spare thy People O Lord and give not thine Heritage to Reproach that the Heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the People where is their God Doct. IV. God making good his Promises confuteth these Reproaches and Insultations when deliverance cometh their mouths are stopped Job 5. 16. The Poor hath hope and Iniquity stoppeth her Mouth Psal. 107. 42. The Righteous shall see it and Iniquity shall stop her mouth then when he sets the Poor on high from Affliction and maketh them Families like a Flock In both these places it is not said God stoppeth their mouths or the Saints stop their mouths but they stop their own mouths then we need not answer our Adversaries they answer themselves they have not a word to say and all their Pride and Insultation is defeated and silenced Use 1. Prayer is necessary desire God to appear and right himself that he may confute the perverse thoughts of men and wrong Applications of his Providence that Carnal men may see your hope and confidence in God is not in vain you may beg deliverance on this ground that the mouth of Iniquity may be stopped 2. Wait Carnal men reproach Gods People with their Trust when in their distress he stayes a little when they have humbled themselves for their sins and sought Reconciliation with God as his Word prescribeth and are sufficiently weaned from Carnal Props and have learned to depend on him the Wicked shall find himself mistaken about the Godly whose ways he counted Folly SERMON XLIX PSALM CXIX Verse 43. And take not the Word of Truth utterly out of my mouth for I have hoped in thy Iudgments IN the first Verse of this Portion David had begged for Deliverance according to the Word this he backeth with several Arguments his first Argument was from his Enemies who would else Reproach him for his Trust he now inforceth that Request from another Argument lest his Case and Condition should make him affraid or his Disappointments ashamed to own his Faith in Gods Promises and so his mouth be shut up from speaking of God and his Word for the Edification of others and the Confutation of the Wicked Here Observe 1. His Request and take not the Word of Truth out of my mouth 2. The Profession of his Faith repeated by way of Argument and Reasons for I have hoped in thy Iudgments 1. For his Request you may wonder why he beggeth that the Word of Truth may not be taken out of his Mouth rather you would think he should ask that it might be kept in his heart but you must consider that confession of Truth is very necessary and in a time of dangers and Distresses very difficult the proper Seat of the word of Truth is the Heart it must abide there But when the heart is full the tongue will speak I have believed and therefore have I spoken Psal. 116. 10. The Word is first in the Heart and then in the Mouth therefore David faith take it not out of my mouth And pray mark he doth not only deprecate the evil it self but the degree and extremity of it take it not utterly out of my mouth Gods Children may not have liberty to speak for him or if liberty not such a courage as is necessary therefore though he should or had failed in being ashamed to profess his hope yet he desireth he might not wholly want either an Occasion or an Heart so to do that he might not wholly want an Occasion having no Relief and Comfort by the Promises nor an Heart as being altogether dismayed or disconsolate 2. The Profession of his Faith is renewed For I have hoped in thy Iudgments the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgments signifieth either the Law or the Execution of the Sentence thereof 1. The Law or whole Word for God so that I have hoped in thy Judgments is no more but in thy Word do I hope as it is Psal. 130. 5. I wait for the Lord my Soul doth wait and in his Word do I hope 2. Answerable Execution when the Promise or Threatning is fulfilled 1. When the Promise is fulfilled that is Judgment in a sence when God accomplisheth what he hath promised for our Salvation and Deliverance Thus God is said to judge for his people when he righteth and saveth them according to his Word Lam. 3. 59. O Lord thou hast seen my wrong judg thou my cause 2. But the more usual notion of Judgment is the execution of the threatning on wicked men which being a benefit to Gods faithful Servants and done in their favour David might well be said to hope for it Their Judgment is our obtaining the Promise Points 1. Doct. It is not enough to believe the Word in our hearts but we must confess it with our mouths 2. Doct. Such Tryals may befal Gods Children that the Word of Truth may seem to be taken out of their mouths 3. Doct. At such a time God must be dealt withal as much concern'd in it David saith to the Lord Take not the Word of Truth utterly out of my mouth 4. Doct. If it please God to desert us in some passage of our Tryal we must not give him over but deal with him not to forsake us utterly 5. Doct. They will not utterly be overcome in their Tryals who hope in Gods Iudgments Doct. 1. It is not enough to believe the Word in our hearts but we must confess it with our mouths So it is expressly said Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation There is the whole summ of Christianity and it is reduced to these two Points Believing with the Heart and Confessing with the Mouth an entertaining of Christ in the Heart with a true and lively Faith and a Confessing of Christ with the Mouth in spite of all persecution and danger So in the first solemn Proposal of the Gospel Mark 16. 16. He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be Saved and he that Believeth not shall be Damned Where not only Belief is required but open Profession for that end serveth Baptism which is a Badg and Bond a Badg to distinguish the worshipers of Christ from others and a Bond to bind us to open Profession of the Name of Christ and Practice of the Duties included therein So Heb. 3. 1. Iesus Christ is called the great High Priest and
depending upon God and looking up to him it is our Life that which I live in the Flesh 2 Gal. 20. All that I live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God well then the Law of God is always binding and every Operation of ours is under a Law and Grace should always be working 3. Gods Eye is always upon us he is alike every where therefore a Christian should be alike every where always like himself at home and abroad alone and in company 2 Phil. 12. As ye have always obeyed not as in my presence only but much more in my absence Many are devout abroad but carnal careless prophane if you follow them home to their Families When you are alone you are not alone God is there we have a heavenly Father that seeth in secret 6 Matth. 4. What you do in your Closets the doors made fast and all company shut out A man might allow himself in carnal liberty if he could go any where where God doth not see him but his eye is still upon us and therefore we should say with David I will keep thy Law continually Will he force the Queen before my face saith Ahasuerus We break Gods Laws before his face his Eye is always upon us and all our ways are before him 4. God is always at work for us 5 Iohn 17. My Father worketh hitherto and I work He sustains us every day hour moment and waketh for us watcheth over us by night and by day When we sleep the Devil is awake to do us mischief I but the God of Israel he that keepeth Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth but watcheth for our Good As soon as we arise his Compassions are new every morning 3 Lam. 22 23. Now can we offend him from whom we receive life and breath every moment If God should intermit his care but for one day nay but suspend it for one hour what would become of thee 5. All our Actions concern Eternity This Life is compared to a walk 2 Eph. 10. Every thing we do or speak is a step either to Heaven or Hell therefore to have an influence or tendency on that Action The more good we do the more we are acted with a fear of God and love of God to do all things to his glory the nearer heaven and the more evil the nearer hell We should not stand still or go back but always be getting ground in our journey 6. To be off and on with God will cost us much sorrow it will be bitterness in the end either it will cost us the bitterness of Repentance here or of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever either holy Compunction or everlasting Horror When you straggle from God there is no returning to your former Husband but by weeping cross 2 Hosea 14. and who would provide matter of sorrow for himself I say when you thrust your hand into Satans dish there is some sawce mingled with his meat and then everlasting Horror if not Compunction for that will be the end of them that are always unstable in all their ways 2 Iames 8. God will not always bear with them he may at first while they are Children poor weak Novices but will not always Eph. 4. 14. God expects that at length we should grow more constant and grow up to a radicated State of Grace therefore if we are always Children off and on with God then he will cast us off 7. By every intermission we may lose ground and possibly may never wholly if we recover it in part again We may lose ground for the way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The more we continue in it the fitter we are to walk in it A Bell when once up is kept up with a greater ease than if we were to raise it a new A Horse warm in his geers is more fit for his Journey than at first setting forth and therefore keep up while you are in the way of God If it be hard to keep in with God it will be harder to recover when you are out of the way The only way to make Religion easie is to be still in it and to have our hearts still upon it and therefore you lose by your intermission And if you recover your selves after intermission it is not always to that degree of largeness of heart and fulness of Spiritual Comfort A Prodigal that hath rioted away his Estate if set up again is not trusted with the like Stock And after a great Disease though a man recovers yet it is not to the degree of his former health many times Therefore we should without intermission persevere in our duty to God To apply this part Use 1. It should humble us all that we are so fickle and inconstant in that which is good Our hearts are unstable as water In the space of an hour how are our thoughts changed from good to evil and from evil to good in a moment What a Monster would Man seem if his heart were visible in the best duty that ever he performed Our Devotion and Goodness it comes by pangs and fits now humble anon proud now meek anon passionate now confident then full of fear and anguish like men sick of an Ague sometimes well sometimes ill we do not seem to be the same men in a Duty and out of a duty nay sometimes in the same Duty we do not seem to be the same men are not carried on with the same largeness of heart and confidence in God and savouriness and spirituality Oh how changeable and fickle are our hearts this should humble us 2. It reproveth them that would have a Dispensation at times and take liberty to cast off all Christian Modesty and Gravity that think if they be serious sometimes they may be light and vain at others and therefore sometimes like Angels of light at other times like Fiends of Darkness sometimes we would take them for grave serious Christians at other times for loose Libertines and they cast the fear of God behind their backs Ezek. 33. 13. If he trust to his own Righteousness and commit Iniquity c. that is if upon Presumption that he hath been Righteous he dispenseth with himself and takes an indulgence from his former Duty to be light vain careless all his Righteousness shall be forgotten Such a dissimilitude is there between men now they seem to be grave and serious anon vain light and wanton so very uncertain and uneven are we in our Temper and Practice 3. It shews what need there is of a constant watchfulness that in all things we may behave our selves as Gods Children Sin is always at work Gen. 6. 5. The imaginations and thoughts of our heart are only evil and that continually and Satan is always at work espying advantages against us 1 Pet. 5. 8. to draw us off from God O then let Grace be in its continual exercise Live as knowing all the
and overflow of his Love 2. His Care for our Security For by his Promise he giveth his People an hold-fast upon him as he maketh himself a Debtor to them by his own Promise who was otherwise free before such Ingagement to poor Creatures Psal. 89. 34. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips The Word is gone out of his Lips not to be recalled nor reversed The Promises are as so many Bonds wherein he stands bound to us and these Bonds may be put in suit and his People have liberty and confidence to ask what he hath promised to them Austin saith of his Mother Chirographa tua injiciebat tibi Domine Lord she shewed thy own Bond and Hand-writing It is a mighty Argument in Prayer when we can plead that we ask no more than God hath promised 2. That there is usually some time of delay between making the Promise and fulfilling the Promise For therefore God promiseth because he meaneth to do us good but not presently And this delay is not for want of kindness or out of any backwardness to our good for so it is said he will not tarry Hab. 2. 3. Though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry nor out of ignorance as not knowing the fittest time to help his People for his waiting is guided by Judgment Isa. 30. 18. He waiteth that he may be gracious for he is a God of judgment he will take hold of the fittest season or occasion Not from forgetfulness of his Promise for he is ever mindful of his holy covenant Psal. 111. 5. Not from any mutability of Nature or change of Counsel for he is Iehovah that changeth not Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Iacob are not consumed He hath a due foresight of all possible difficulties and needeth not to alter his Counsels Not from impotency and weakness as if he could not execute what he had promised as the Sons of Zeruiah were too hard for David 2 Sam. 3. 39. all things are at the beck and signification of his Will But 1. Partly with respect to his own Glory he will do things in their proper season Eccles. 3. 11. Every thing is beautiful in its time This is the wise Providence of God in the Government of the World that every thing is brought forth in its proper season and in the time when it is most fit God humbleth and God exalteth his People in the due time 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time So it is said of their Enemies Deut. 32. 35. Their foot shall slide in due time Summer and Winter must succeed in their seasons 2. With respect to us God will try our Faith whether we can stay on his Word and hug it and embrace it till the Blessing come As it is said of the Patriarchs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. 13. They embraced the promises Psal. 56. 4. In God I will praise his word I have put my trust in the Lord I will not fear what flesh can do unto me During this time we may be exercised with divers Troubles and difficulties so that to appearance God seemeth to forget his Promises and this he doth 1. Partly to try our Faith to the utmost to see if we can trust and depend upon God for things which we see not nor are likely to see Faith in the general is a Dependence upon God for some thing that lieth out of sight Now when the Object is not onely out of sight but all that is seen and felt seemeth to contradict our Hopes and God seemeth to put us off and we meet with many a rebuke of our Confidence in stead of an Answer as the Woman of Canaan that came to Christ at first meeteth not with a Word then his speech more discourageth than his silence Mat. 15. 26. It is not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it to the dogs she turneth this Rebuke into an Encouragement ver 27. Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters table Ver. 28. Then Iesus answered and said unto her O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Many times we come and pray for Blessings promised and the Oracle is dumb and silent though God love the Supplicant yet he will not seem to take notice of his Desires but will humble him to the dust Now to pick an Answer out of God's Silence and a gracious Answer out of his Rebukes sheweth great Faith Iob saith chap. 13. 15. Though he slay me yet I will trust in him Faith supports us under the greatest Pressures when God seemeth to deal like an Enemy yet even then trusts in God as a Friend and that his Dispensations will never give his Word the lie 2. To try our Patience as well as our Faith God's dearest Children are not admitted to the enjoyment of the Mercies promised presently Heb. 6. 12. Be not sloathful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises And Heb. 10. 36. Ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the promise We must first do and sometimes suffer the Will of God The Promises are to come and at a great distance and if we hope for that we see not and enjoy not then do we with patience wait for it Rom. 8. 25. But especially is Patience tried when we meet with Oppositions Difficulties Dangers many things done many things suffered before we can attain what we hope for Now quietly to wait God's leisure is a great trial of our Patience Our times are always present with us when God's time is not come An hungry Stomach would have Meat e're it be sodden or roasted and a sickish Appetite must have green Fruit But to wait like the Husbandman in all Seasons and Weathers till the Corn ripen and to persevere in hoping and praying that is that which God requires 3. Our Love though we be not feasted with felt Comforts nor bribed with present Satisfaction and Benefits in hand God will try the deportment of his Children whether they will adhere to him when he seemeth to cast them off It is not said In the way of thy mercies but 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 Isa. 26. 8. Love for himself without any present Benefit from him yea when kept under sore Judgments and deep Distresses 4. To inlarge our Desires that we may have the greater sense of our Necessities and value for the Blessings promised A Sack that is stretched out holdeth the more Delay increaseth Importunity Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7. 7.
Hope in him to be born out in his Work Now if God hath specially excited your Faith it is not a foolish Imagination or vain Expectation like as of them that dream it is God's Word you build upon and it is by a Faith of God's operation he raiseth it in us 2. The Prayer of Faith is the Voice of the Spirit and God heareth the Voice of the Spirit always who maketh requests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the will of God Rom. 8. 27. He that searcheth and trieth the hearts knoweth what is a groan of the spirit and what is a Fancy of our own what is a Confidence raised in us by the operation of his own Spirit For there may be a mistaken Faith seemingly built upon the Promises whenas it is indeed built upon our own Conceits Now God is not bound to make that Faith good But when we can appeal to the Searcher of Hearts that it is a Faith of his own working surely we may have confidence Now how shall we know that it is a Faith of God's raising 1. If the Promise be not mistaken and we do not presume of that absolutely which God onely hath promised conditionally and with the limitations of his own Glory and our good which are joyned to all Promises which concern the present Life In temporal things God exerciseth his Children with great uncertainties because he seeth it meet to prove our submission in these things for our Happiness lieth not in them Those things wherein our Happiness doth consist as Remission of Sins and Eternal Life are sure enough and that is encouragement to a gracious heart 2 Tim. 3. 18. God hath delivered me out of the mouth of the lion and will deliver me from every evil work In the Old Testament when God discovered less of Heaven he promised more of Earth but in the New Testament where Life and Immortality are brought to light we are told of many Tribulations in our passage yea the eminent Saints of the Old Testament that had a clearer view of things to come than others had were more exposed to the Calamities of the present Life because God thought the sight of Happiness to come sufficient to countervail their Troubles and if he would give them Rest in another World they might well endure the Inconveniencies of their Pilgrimage Heb. 11. 16. But now they desire a better countrey that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city The holy Patriarchs lest their Countrey flitted up and down upon this hope but to us Christians the case is clear Rom. 8. 18. For I râ—…on that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us 2 Cor. 4. 17. For this light affliction that is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2. When the Qualification of the Person is not clear we must not absolutely promise our selves the Effect Ionah 3. 9. Who can tell whether God will turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not So Ioel 2. 14. Who knoweth if he will return and leave a blessing behind him In this Clause I put Believers who have sinned away their Peace and Assurance 2 Sam. 12. 22. Who can tell if God will be gracious unto me that the child may live He speaketh doubtfully Zeph. 2. 3. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords fierce anger Amos 5. 15. Hate the evil and love the good it may be the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Ioseph In such cases the Soul is divided between the expectation of Mercy and the sense of their own Deservings and can speak neither the pure Language of Faith nor the pure Language of Unbelief half Canaan half Ashdod There is a Twilight in Grace as well as in Nature God in these cases raiseth no other Confidence to heighten Mercy and try how we can venture upon God and refer our selves to his Will when we have any business for him to do for us Mat. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. And the king said to Zadok Carry back the ark of God into the city if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation But if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good to him 3. In the Promises of Spiritual and Eternal Mercies when God's Conditions are performed by us we may be confident and must give glory to God in believing and being persuaded that he will fulfil them to us 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Rom. 8. 38 39. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. I am persuaded there is no doubt The stronger our Confidence the better 2. When God raiseth in our Minds some particular express Hope as in some cases he may do to these things that are of a Temporal nature and are conditionally promised and where our Qualification is clear he will not disappoint us 2 Cor. 1. 12. Though the Promises of Temporal things have the limitation of the Cross implied in them and are to be understood in subordination to our Eternal Interest and God's Glory without which they would not be Mercies but Judgments yet his usual course is to save deliver and supply them here Psal. 9. 10. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee And when God by his Spirit doth particularly incline his People to hope for Mercy from him he will not fail their Expectations Where the Qualification is uncertain yet the Faith of general Mercy wrastleth against Discouragements as in the case of the Woman of Canaan There is the Plea of a Dog and the Plea of a Child in grievous Temptations to fasten our selves upon God God will make good the Hope raised in them by his Spirit Use is for Direction what to do in all our Distresses Bodily and Spiritual Our Necessities should lead us to the Promise and the Promise to God 1. Be sure of your Qualification for David pleadeth here partly as a Servant of God and partly as a Believer First Remember thy word unto thy servant and then wherein thou hast caused me to hope There is a double Qualification with respect to the Precept of Subjection with respect to the Promise of Dependence The Precept is before the Promise They have right to
our greatest Distresses Sorrow worketh Death but Joy is the Life of the Soul Now when dead in all sense and seeling the just shall live by faith Hab. 2. 4. and the Hope wrought in us by the Scriptures is a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. Other things skin the Wound but our Sore breaketh out again and runneth Faith penetrateth into the Inwards of a Man doth us good to the Heart and the Soul reviveth by waiting upon God and gets Life and Strength 2. The Provision which the Word hath made for our Comfort It might be referred to four Heads 1. Its Commands 1. Provisionally and by way of anticipation The whole Scripture is framed so that it still carrieth on its great End of making Man subject to God and comfortable in himself Our first Lesson in the School of Christ is Self-denial Mat. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Now this seemeth to be grievous but provideth for Comfort For Self-denial plucketh up all Trouble by the Root the Cross will not be very grievous to a self-denying Spirit Epictetus summed up all the Wisdom that he could learn by the Light of Nature in these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bear and forbear to which answereth the Apostle's Temperance patience 2 Pet. 1. 6. Certainly were we more mortified and weaned from the World and could we deny our selves in things grateful to Sense we should not lie open to the stroke of Troubles so often as we do The greatness of our Affections causeth the greatness of our Afflictions Did we possess Earthly things with less Love we should lose them with less Grief Had we more intirely resigned our selves to God and did love Carnal Self less we should less be troubled when we are lessened in the World Thus Provisionally and by way of anticipation doth the Word of God provide against our Sorrows The Wheels of a Watch do one protrude and thrust forward another so one part of Christian Doctrine doth help another Take any piece asunder and then it is hard to be practised Patience is hard if there be no thorow Resignation to God no Temperance and command of our Affections But Christianity is all of a piece one part well received and digested befriendeth another 2. Directly and by way of express Charge the Scripture requireth us to moderate our Sorrow to cast all our Care upon God to look above Temporal things and hath expresly forbidden distracting Cares and Doubts and inordinate Sorrows 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all your care upon God for he careth for you and Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing We have a Religion that maketh it unlawful to be sad and miserable and to grieve our selves inordinately Care Fear and Anguish of Mind are forbidden and no Sorrow allowed us but what tendeth to our Joy Isa. 35. 4. Say to them that are of fearful hearts Be strong fear not Isa. 41. 10. Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed I am thy God To fear the Rage and Power and Violence of Enemies is cotrary to the Religion which we do profess Fear not them which can kill the body Mat. 10. 26 28. Now surely the Word which is full fraught with Precepts of this nature must needs comfort and stay the Heart 2. The Doctrines of the Word do quicken and comfort us in our greatest Distresses all of them concerning Justification and Salvation by Christ they serve to deaden the Heart to present things and lift it up to better and so to beget a kind of dedolency and insensibility of this Worlds Crosses But especially four Doctrines we have in the Word of God that are very comforting 1. The Doctrine concerning particular Providence That nothing falleth out without God's Appointment and that he looketh after every individual Person as if none else to care for This is a mighty ground of comfort for nothing can befal me but what my Father wills and he is mindful of me in the condition wherein I am knoweth what things I stand in need of and nothing is exempted from his care ordering and disposal This is a ground both of Patience and Comfort Psal. 39. 8. I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it So Hezekiah Isa. 38. 15. What shall I say he hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it It is time to cease or say no more why should we contend with the Lord Is it a Sickness or grievous Bodily Pain What difference is there between a Man that owneth it as a Chance or natural Accident and one that seeth God's Hand in it We storm if we look no further than second Causes but one that looketh on it as an immediate stroke of God's Providence hath nothing to reply by way of murmuring and expostulation So in loss of good Children how do we rave against Instruments if we look no further but if we consider the Providence of God Iob 1. 23. not Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit but The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. So for Contumely and Reproches if God let loose a barking Shimei upon us 2 Sam. 16. 11. The Lord bid him curse To resist a lower Officer is to resist the Authority with which he is armed So in all other cases it is a ground of Patience and Comfort to see God in the Providence 2. His Fatherly Care over his People He hath taken them into his Family and all his doings with them are Paternal and Fatherly It allayeth our Cares Mat. 6. 32. Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Our Sorrows in Affliction are lessened by considering they come from our Father Heb. 12. 5 6 7. Ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is that whom the Father chasteneth not but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons and so those whom God doth love tenderly he doth correct severely 3. His unchangeable Love to his People God remaineth unchangeably the same When our outward Condition doth vary and alter we have the same Blessed God as a Rock to stand upon and to derive our Comforts from that we had before he is the God of the Valleys as well as of the Hills Christ in his Desertion saith My God My God Matt. 27. 46. surely we deserve that the Creature should be taken from us if we cannot find Comfort in God Hab. 3. 18. Although the Fig-tree should not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vine c. yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Nothing can
Sinners will at last take Effect and end in sad Chastisements and they that would not believe their danger are made to feel it Now his Promises will have their effect as well as his Threatnings Micah 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly The Word of God doth not onely speak good but doe good The Words saying of good is indeed doing of good The Performance is so certain that when it is said it may be accounted done We are apt to despise the Word of God as an empty sound no it produceth notable Effects in the World The Sentences that are there whether of Mercy or Judgment are Decrees given forth by the great Judge of the World whereupon Execution is to follow as is foretold Now when we see it done and can compare the Lords Word and Work together it is a mighty support to our Faith whether it be in our or in former Ages For you see the Word is not a vain Scare-crow in its Threatnings nor do we build Castles in the Aire when we do depend upon its promises The Judgments of his Mouth will be the Judgments of his Hand and Providence is a real comment upon and proof of the Truth of his Word 4. God's Judgments of old or his wonderfull Works were never intended onely for the benefit of that Age in which they were done but the benefit of all those who should hear of them by any credible means whatsoever Surely God never intended they should be buried in dark Oblivion but that after-Ages may be the better for the remembrance of them Witness these Scriptures Psal. 145. 4. One generation shall praise thy works unto another and remember thy mighty Acts. Joel 1. 3. Tell your Children of it and let your Children tell their Children and their Children another generation So Psal. 78. 3 4 5 6 7. That which we have heard and known and our Fathers have told us we will not hide them from their Children shewing the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his wonderfull works which he hath done for he established a testimony in Iacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children that the generation to come might know them even the Children to come which should be born who should arise and declare to their Children that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of the Lord but keep his Commandments and might not be as their Fathers c. from all which places and many more I observe 1. That we should tell Generations to come what we have found of God in our time and that we should use all ways and means to transmit the Knowledge of God's notable and wondrous Providences for his People to Posterity 2. That this Report of God's former Works is a special means of Edification for therefore God would have them recorded and told for the special benefit of the Ages following 3. And more particularly that this is a great means and help of Faith For in one of the places it is said that they may set their Faith and Hope in God and from all we may conclude that by remembring God's Judgments of old we may be much comforted as in remembring God's Works when the Church was first reformed in Luther's time the delivering of England from the Spanish Invasion Gun-powder-Treason c. for the confirming our Faith and Confidence in God All God's Judgments that were done in the days of our Fore-fathers and in all Generations if they come to our Knowledge by a true Report or Record are of use to warn us and comfort us yea the bringing Israel out of Egypt and Babylon or any notable Work done since the beginning of the World till now The Use is to press us to take this Course as one Remedy to comfort us in our distresses In distresses of Conscience the Bloud of Christ is the onely cure But in Temptations arising from the Scorn and Insultation of Enemies remember what God hath done for his People of old and let his Providence support our Faith Psal 23. 4. thy rod and thy staff comfort me Pedum pastorale for the protection and guiding of the Sheep and driving away the Wolf the Rod and Staff are the Instruments of the Shepherd More particularly consider 1. What is to be observed and remembred All the eminent Passages of God's Providence when acts of Power have been seasonably interposed for the rescue of his People Judgments of all kind publick universal private and personal our own Experiences 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us The Experiences of others not in one but in every Age for in every Place and Age God delighteth to leave a Monument of his Righteousness and all is for the Consolation and Instruction of the Church Judgments in our time Judgments in former times blow off the dust from old Mercies and the Inscription of them will be a kind of Prophecy to your Faith but especially cast your eye often upon the Lords manner of dealing with his Saints in Scripture their Consolations and Deliverances received after trouble partly because the Word of God is a rich Store-house of these Instances and Examples and partly because of the Infallibility of the Record where things are delivered to us with so much simplicity and Truth partly also because of the Manner and Ends in which and for which they are recorded But if I would have recourse to Scripture should I not rather make use of the Promises Answ. We must not set one part of Scripture against another but Examples do mightily help us to believe Promises as they are a pledge of the Justice Faithfulness Care and Love of God towards his People and I know not by what secret force and influence invite us to hope for what God hath done for other of his Servants 2. How they must be considered Seriously as every thing that cometh from God a slight Consideration will not draw forth the profitable Use of them when they are looked on cursorily or lightly passed by the impression of God upon his Works cannot be discerned therefore they must be well considered with all their Circumstances Psal. 143. 2. David sufficed not to say I remember thy works of old but I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Psal. 77. 12. I remember thy works of old I will meditate also of all thy works and surely this should be a delightfull Exercise to the Children of God as it is for the Son of a noble and princely Father to reade the Chronicles where his Fathers Acts are recorded or the famous Atchievements of his Ancestors Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Some works of God have a large Impression of his Power and
of a soft Heart which must be asked of God 2 Chron. 34. 27. Because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self when thou heardest the words of the Lord against this place There was an high peace and calm at that time but a tender Heart relenteth at the Threatnings Beg of God to sosten thy Heart 2. There needeth eminent Holiness for such a Frame that we shine as Lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation Phil. 2. 15. The Mourners must not be infected and tainted themselves but save themselves from an untoward Generation condemn the Sins of the Tâ—…es by their Conversation 3. We must have a Fear animated by Faith By Faith Noah was moved by fear concerning things unseen Heb. 11. 7. The danger of the Floud was unseen as yet and they married and gave in Marriage We must not judge of things by the present or by carnal Appearance there is a righteous Judge in Heaven Faith in his Word will shew us our Danger for God's Threatnings are all fulfilled and the more we seek to establish our selves by carnal Means the more our Ruine is hastened 4. There must be a grief set awork by a Love to God and the Souls of Men. In Calamities the true temper for Humiliation is a due Sense of our Fathers Anger and Brethrens Miseries in Sins our Fathers Dishonour and Man's Destruction those who are the same Flesh with our selves Now it should trouble us to see them in the way to eternal Ruine Of some have compassion making a difference And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted with the flesh Jude 22 23 verses SERMON LX. PSAL. CXIX 54. Thy Statutes have been my Songs in the House of my Pilgrimage DAVID had in the former Verse expressed his great Trouble because of the increase of the Wicked and their Defection from the Law of God Now he sheweth what comforted him the Children of God have a great deal of divine Consolation from the Word in the midst of all their Sorrows and Evils of the present Life David's Comfort is here expressed 1. By the Matter or Object of it thy Stdtutes 2. The Degree of his Rejoycing intimated in the Word Songs The Effect is put for the Cause Joy and Mirth which usually breaketh forth into singing or the sign and indication for the Thing signified 3. The place where he rejoyced in the House of his Pilgrimage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wheresoever I sojourn 1. By God's Statutes is meant his Word in general more especially the Precepts and Promises in the one we have the offer of Life in the other the way and means how to attain it In the Word is both our Charter and our Rule in both regards it is matter of Rejoycing Psal. 19. 8. The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the Soul Nothing is commanded there but what is equitable in it self and profitable to us 2. By Songs a Metonymy of the Effect for the Cause or the Sign for the Thing signified such Pleasure Joy and Contentment as other men had in Songs David had in the Word of God Travellers use to lighten and ease the tediousness of the Way by Songs thy Word doth comfort me wonderfully Or you may take it literally the Themes and Arguments of his singing Profane Spirits must have Songs suitable to their Mirth as their Mirth is carnal so the Songs of carnal Men are obscene filthy and fleshly but an holy Man his Songs suit his Mirth and Joy he rejoyceth in the Lord and therefore his Songs are divine thy Statutes are my Songs Singing of Psalms is a delectable way of Edification which God hath not onely instituted in the Scriptures but Heathens saw an use of it by the light of Nature Aelian lib. 3. nat Hist. cap. 39. telleth us of the Cretians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a spiritual Channel wherein our Mirth may run Iames 5. 13. Is any merry let him sing Psalms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is the Harmony that is a natural Delight the Matter that is a spiritual Comfort I cannot exclude this because it is one way of expressing that Delight which we take in the Word but I prefer the former for David speaketh of the Comfort he took in keeping God's Precepts when they were violated by others 3. In the House of my Pilgrimage you may take it literally for the time of David's Exile when banished by Saul or driven from his Palace by Absalom when he fled from place to place and wandred up and down in great distress then God's Statutes by which his Life was directed Innocency vindicated Hopes confirmed both of present Support and seasonable deliverance were as Songs to him his real and cordial Solaces Wheresoever the Believer is or whatsoever his Case and Condition be he hath still matter of Rejoycing in the Word of God So had David when he was exposed to continual Wandrings without any fixed Habitation Indeed the Children of God in Babylon say Psal. 137. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land The meaning is not to exclude their own spiritual Delight and Solace but they would not gratify the carnal Pleasure of the Enemies with a Temple-song or subject Religion to their sportive fancies and humours Rather Metaphorically for the whole Course of his Life whether spent in the Palace or in the Wilderness in whatsoever place he was he was still in the House of his Pilgrimage so he accounted his best and his worst Condition compare verse 19. I am a Stranger in the Earth and Psal. 39. 12. I am a stranger with thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were with 1 Chron. 29. 15. We are Strangers before thee and Sojourners as were all our Fathers Not onely when hunted like a Partridge upon the Mountains but also when he was at Rest and able to offer so vast a quantity of Treasure for the building of the House of God Two Points are observable 1 Doct. That the Godly count this World and their whole Estate therein the House of their Pilgrimage 2 Doct. That during this Estate and the Inconveniencies thereof they find matter of Rejoycing in the Word of God 1 Doct. That the Godly count this World and their whole Estate therein the House of their Pilgrimage I shall not handle this Doctrine in its full Latitude having spoken largely thereof in the 19 Verse onely now a few Considerations 1. Here is no fixed Abode there where we live longest we count our home and dwelling not an Inn which we take up in our passage but the place of our constant Residence in this World We are onely in Passage and so should consider it Heb. 3. 14. Here we have no abiding City but we look for one to come whose builder and maker is God Here we stay but a little while passing through to a better Country The Mortality of the Body and the Immortality of the Soul
a-going as Christ saith I know whence I am and whither I goe They look altogether for the present and if they be well for the present they are contented Alas in what a miserable Case are these Men though they mind it not they seem to me to be like Men that are going to Execution A Man that is going to the Gallows for the present is well hath a great Guard to attend him an innumerable multitude of People to follow him you would think that hardly could a Man be such a Sot and Fool as to think all this should be done for his Honour and not for his Punishment and should onely consider how he is accompanied but not whither he goeth Many such Fools there are in the World that onely consider how they are attended and provided for but never consider whither they are a-going Oh Wretch whither goest thou may we say to one that should pride himself in the resort of Company to his Execution dost thou not see thou art led to Punishment and after an hour or two these will leave thee hanging and perishing infamously as the just reward of thine Offences So many that shine now in the pomp and splendour of worldly Accommodations and are merry and jocund as if all would doe well alas poor Creatures whither are they a-going Iob 21. 12 13. They take the Timbrel and the Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down into Hell Ye still live and are going to Punishment but mind it not but your Wealth and Honours and Servants and Friends will all leave you to your own doom and yet you are merry and jocund as if your Journey would never end or not so dismally as if you were hastening to a Kingdom and not to an eternal Prison one moment puts an end to all their Joy for ever 2. There are others that wean their hearts from this World and make it their Care that they may carry themselves becoming their celestial Extraction as their Souls were from above by Creation so all their Hopes and Desires and Endeavours are to attain to that Region of Spirits much more as being renewed by Grace do they aim at the Perfection and Accomplishment of that Life which is begun in them and so being made partakers of the Divine nature do they escape the Corruption that is in the world through Lust 2 Pet. 1 4. they are convinced of a better Estate than the World yieldeth and believe it and look for it and long for it and labour for it Now of which number are you or if you cannot decide that because more goeth to the assuring of our Interest than the World usually taketh to be necessary for that end and purpose of which number do you mean to be will you be at home in the World or seek the happiness of the World to come that is in other terms do you mean to be Pagans under a Christian name or Christians indeed you have but the name if you be not Strangers and Pilgrims here upon Earth All Christ's Disciples indeed are called to sit loose from the World and to have an high and deep sense of the World to come as to the other World they are no mere Strangers and Foreigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Eph. 2. 19. They are of a Family part of which is in Heaven and part on Earth Eph. 3. 15. of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth are named some of their Brethren have got the start of them and are with God before them but the rest are hastening after as fast as they can They are sufficiently convinced that the Earth is no place for them they are strangers there and the contentments thereof uncertain and perishing but they are no strangers to Heaven and the blessed Society of the Saints whose privileges they have a full right to now and hope one day to have as full a Possession and an intimate Communion with their Father and all their Brethren Now that you may resolve upon this and carry your selves sutably I shall 1. Give you some Motives 2. A Direction or two 1. Motives 1. He that taketh up his Rest in this World or any earthly thing is but an higher kind of Beast and unworthy of an immortal Soul The Beasts have an instinct that guideth them to seek things convenient for that Life which they have and therefore a man doth not follow the Light of Reason that seeketh to quiet his mind with what things the World affordeth and onely relisheth the contentments of the carnal and bodily Life that is satisfied with his Portion here Psalm 17. 14. All their business and bustle is to have their wills and pleasure for a little while as if they had neither hopes nor fears of any greater things hereafter Psalm 49. 20. Man that is in honour and void of understanding is as the beast that perisheth because he meerly inclineth to present satisfactions for Reason is as a middle thing between the Life of Faith and the Life of Sense it were no great matter whether you were Men or Dogs or Swine if Reason be onely given you for the present World and present satisfactions all your Sense of the World to come and Conscience is as good as nothing 2. None are of so noble and Divine a Spirit as those that seek the heavenly Kingdom Amongst men the Ambitious who aspire to Crowns and Kingdoms that aim at perpetual Fame by their Vertues and rare Exploits are judged Persons of greater Gallantry than Covetous muck-worms and bruitish Epicures yet their highest thoughts and designs are very base in comparison of Christians who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Life Glory and Immortality Rom. 2. 7. and whom nothing less will content than the injoyment of God himself Their desires are after him Psalm 73. 25. whom have I in Heaven but thee and who is there on Earth I desire besides thee So that as Man being immortal should provide for some place of perpetual abode so herein the Christian excelleth other men that nothing less will satisfie him than what God hath promised his People hereafter The Threshold will not content him nothing but the Throne 3. What a sorry Immortality mock Eternity do they choose instead of the true one when they neglect the pursuit of this heavenly Country If they look no higher than this World all that they can rationally imagine is perpetuating Themselves and their Names and Posterity by successive Generations Psalm 49. 11. Their inward thought is that their Houses shall continue for ever and their Dwelling-places to all Generations they call their Lands by their own names This is styled Nodosa Aeternitas when they live in their Children after death but alas to how few mens share can this fall and those who may in likelihood expect it who are Lords of fair Rents fair Lands Houses and Heritages how
God should onely be heavy when he displeases God but delight in all the Means that enable him to live to God 3. When we are sadned by the Evil of the present World let us make use of this remedy let us meditate on God's Statutes We shall find ease and refreshing by exercising our selves to know God in Christ. 4. To refute the vain conceit which possesseth the minds of Men that the way of Godliness is a gloomy way Assoon as a Man beginneth to think of Salvation or the change of his Life or the leaving of his Sins embracing the Service of God presently his Mind is haunted with this thought Seest thou not how those that serve God are melancholy afflicted sorrowfull never rejoyce more and wilt thou be one of them This is the Opinion of the World that they can never rejoyce nor be merry that serve God But certainly it is a vain conceit no men do more and more truly rejoyce than they which serve God Consult the Scriptures who have more leave shall I say or command to rejoyce Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Phil. 4. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce Ask Reason who have more cause or matter to rejoyce than they that have provided against the fears or doubts of Conscience by reason of Sin what is more satisfactory to a Soul in doubts and fears than the knowledge of Pardon and Reconciliation with God For the satisfaction of the desires of Nature which carry us after Happiness who have a more powerfull Exciter of Joy than the Holy Ghost Acts 13. 52. The Disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost Who more qualified with Joy than those who have a clear right to the pardon of Sin and so can see all Miseries unstinged Rom. 5. 1 2 3. Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we have access by Faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God And not onely so but we glory in Tribulation also How joyfull are those that see themselves prepared for everlasting Life 2 Cor. 5. 1. For we know that if our earthly Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Yea when a Christian knoweth his Duty his Way is plain before him it is a mighty satisfaction Psal. 19. 8. The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart Look into the Lives and Examples of the Saints who have more true Joy than they The Disciples esteem the Grace of the Gospel such a great Treasure that though they suffer Persecution for it they are filled with Joy Acts 8. 8. And there was great joy in that City 1 Thess. 1. 6. Having received the Word with much affliction and joy in the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 7. 4. I am exceeding joyfull in all our Tribulation Preachers though with great hazard they perform their Office should be joyfull Acts 20. 24. Neither count I my Life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy Phil. 2. 17 18. Tea and if I be offered for the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoice with you all for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me The World will reply I know not what this spiritual Consolation meaneth it seemeth hard to relinquish that which I see that which I feel that which I taste for that which I see not and it may be shall never see Answ. 1. By Concession the joy of the Saints is the joy of Faith God is unseen Christ is within the Heavens great Hopes are to come 1 Pet. 1. 8. In whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory 2 Cor. 5. 7. For we walk by Faith not by sight 2. Thus you see that the World cannot always rejoice in those things which they take to be the proper Objects of Joy they have alternative vicissitudes now rejoice now mourn nor can it be otherwise for they rejoice in things which cannot always last if they rejoice when their Worldly comforts increase they are sad when they wither if they rejoice when their Children are born they weep when they die but a Christian hath always his Songs for he must always rejoice in the Lord who is an eternal God Phil. 4. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always in Christ who hath obtained eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. in the Promises which give an eternal Influence Psal. 119. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoicing of my heart The Flesh cannot afford you any thing so delightfull as a Christian hath the Word will hold good for ever 3. We cannot altogether say that a Christian doth rejoice in that which he cannot see for all that they see is their everlasting Father's Wealth 1 Cor. 3. ult All are yours for you are Christ's and Christ is God's If they look to Heaven they can rejoice and say Glory be to thee O Lord who hast prepared this for our everlasting Dwelling-place if they look to the Earth Glory be to thee O Lord who dost not leave us destitute in the House of our Pilgrimage if they consider their Afflictions they rejoice that God is not unmindfull of poor Creatures who are beneath his Anger as well as unworthy of his Love Iob 7. 17 18. What is man that thou shouldst magnifie him and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him and that thou shouldst visit him every morning and try him every moment That God should trouble himself about us that we may not perish with the ungodly World The same Love that sendeth them Prosperity sendeth Adversity also which they find by the seasonableness of it SERMON LXI PSAL. CXIX 55. I have remembred thy Name O Lord in the Night and have kept thy Law WE often reade and sing David's Psalms but we have little of David's Spirit A Man's Imployment is as the Constitution of his Mind is for all things work according to their Nature A man addicted to God that is to say one who hath taken God for his Happiness his Word for his Rule his Spirit for his Guide and his Promises for his Encouragement his heart will always be working towards God Day and Night in the Day he will be studying God's Word in the Night if his sleep be interrupted he will be meditating on God's Name still entertaining his Soul with God The predominant Affection will certainly set the thoughts awork The Man of God had told us in the former Verse what was his chief Imployment in the Day-time and now he telleth us how his heart wrought in the Night Night and Day he was remembring God and his Duty to him In the Day the Statutes of God were his Solace and as
2. Providences these do more awaken us God's daily Benefits should bring him to our Remembrance Acts 14. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without Witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitfull Seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Deut. 8. 18. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for he it is that giveth thee power to get Wealth especially the sanctified Remembrance of God's dealing with his People is the way to keep the heart in the Faith Love and Fear of God and the forgetting his Works is the cause of all Defection and falling off to carnal Courses and Confidences Psal. 78. 11. They forgat his Works and Wonders that he shewed them Psal. 106. 21. They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt Judges 8. 34. And the Children of Israel remembred not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies on every side It is a base Ingratitude not to remember prize and esteem God for all this 3. Ordinances Ministry was instituted to put you in Remembrance and give you still new and fresh Occasions to think of God 2 Pet. 1. 12. I will not be negligent to put you always in Remembrance our business is not always to inform you of what you know not but to inculcate and revive known Truths there being much Forgetfulness Stupidness and Senselesness upon our Spirits 2 Pet. 3. 1. That I may stir up your minds by way of Remembrance The Impressions of God on our Minds are soon defaced we need to quicken and awaken your Affections and Resolutions to choose and cleave to God 1 Tim. 4. 6. If thou put the Brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good Minister of Iesus Christ. So Sacraments are instituted to bring God to Remembrance 1 Cor. 11. 24. This doe in Remembrance of me that we may remember his Love and our covenanted Duty The Sabbath was instituted for a Remembrance and Memorial of his creating redeeming Goodness 4. The great office and work of the Spirit is to bring to Remembrance Iohn 14. 26. He shall bring all things to your Remembrance We are apt to forget God and Instructions and Rebukes in their Season the Holy Ghost is our Monitor 3. God will not forget them that remember him he will remember them at every turn Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord harkned and heard it and a book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name if he do not openly reward you with temporal Deliverances yet he taketh notice of every thought and every word you speak for him and taketh pleasure in you It is upon Record if you have not the comfort of it now you shall have it in a little time because they thought of him they spake of him and owned him in an evil time and therefore God is represented as hearing and booking and the books shall one day be opened and then you shall have your publick reward 2. Doctr. God is best Remembred when his Name is studied 1. When is his Name studied In the general when we look upon him as he hath manifed himself in his Word and Works More particularly God is discovered sometimes by the Name of his Essence sometimes by his Attributes 1. By the Name of his Essence When Moses was very inquisitive to know his Name and God can best tell his own Name let us see what answer was made him Exod. 3. 12 13. When they shall say unto me What is his Name and God said I Am that I Am. God was sending Moses upon a strange Message he was giving him Commission to go and speak to a King to dismiss and let go six hundred thousand of his Subjects to lead them to a place which God should shew now Moses thought for such a Message he had need have good Authority therefore desireth a significant Name I Am that I Am the form of the words sheweth it was a wonderfull incomprehensible Name Ask not my Name for it is Wonderfull Judg. 13. 18. This is enough to satisfie sober Inquiry though not wanton Curiosity enough for Faith to work upon the great I Am hath sent me It sheweth his unsearchableness It is our manner of speech when we would cover any thing and not answer distinctly we say It is what it is I have said what I have said Finite understandings cannot comprehend him that is Infinite no more than you can empty the Sea with a Cockle-shell 2. He is the great and onely Being in comparison of which all else is nothing Isa. 40. 19. All Nations before him are nothing they are counted less than nothing and vanity You have not a true and full Notion of God if you conceive him onely as the most eminent of all Beings no Being must appear as Being in his sight and in comparison of him As long as you onely conceive God to be the best you still attribute something to the Creature for all Comparatives include the Positive The Creature is nothing in comparison with God all the Glory Perfection and Excellency of the whole World do not amount to the value of an unite in regard of God's Attributes join never so many of them together they cannot make up one number they are nothing in his regard and less than nothing All created Beings must utterly vanish out of sight when we think of God As the Sun doth not annihilate the Stars and make them nothing yet it annihilates their Appearance to our sight some are of the first magnitude some of the second some of the third but in the Day-time all are alike all are darkned by the Sun's glory so it is here there are degrees of Perfection and Excellency if we compare one Creature with another but let once the glorious brightness of God shine upon the Soul and in that light all their differences are unobserved Angels Men Worms they are all nothing less than nothing to be set up against God this magnificent Title I Am darkneth all as if nothing else were God did not tell Moses that he was the best the highest and the most glorious but I Am and there is none else besides me nothing that hath its Being of it self nothing that can be properly called their own thus the incomprehensible Self-existence of God puts Man into his Original nothing none but God can say I Am because all things else are but borrowed drops of this Self-sufficient Fountain other things are near to nothing God most properly is who never was nothing never shall be nothing who may always in all difference of Time say I Am and nothing else but God can say so The Heaven and Earth for six thousand years ago could not say We are Adam could once have said I am as to his existence in the compounded nature of Man but now he cannot say
staineth the Pride of all created Glory Iob 4. 18. Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly So that is a true Sight of God's Excellency that draweth off the Heart from the vain changeable and empty shadow of the Creature And God is not truly amiable to us till this effect be in some measure wrought in us 1 Iohn 2. 15. Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him so that our Love to God will be known by the decay of our Love to Earthly things 2. From Self A sight of God will best discover thy Self unto thy Self that in the Light of God's glorious Majesty thou mayst distinctly behold thine own vileness and misery Isaias when he saw God in Vision Isa. 6. 5. Then said I woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts That is the use he made of this glorious Sight he knew doubtless something of this before but now is affected as if he had never seen it the Glory of God shining on him doth not lift him up in arrogancy and conceit of the knowledge of such profound Mysteries but he is more abased in himself this Light made him see his own Uncleanness So Iob 42. 5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Therefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes As long as it was hearsay Iob thought himself something and might reflect upon himself and actions with a kind of complacency and delight but now he could not look upon himself with any patience Self-love maketh us loath other men's Sins more than our own and Self-love hindereth us from representing our selves to our selves in a true shape It is the mere speculative Knowledge of God and Science falsely so called that puffeth up but a true Knowledge of God breedeth self loathing 3. From Sin it draweth off the Heart This remembrance will represent filthiness as filthiness without a covering Sin is a deformity to God a contrariety to his Laws the purity and goodness of his Essence and Wisdome of his Laws yea an act of Rebellion and Disloyalty against his Sovereignty Sin still is greatned by the Consideration of God and a reflection upon his Nature as against his Authority Purity Goodness so there is Unkindness Disobedience and a Blot in it Well may the Apostle say 3 Ep. Iohn 11. He that doth evil hath not seen God 2. The Heart must be drawn unto God by Love Fear and Trust For unless we meditate upon God to this end Though we know God we do not glorify him as God Rom. 1. 21. till your Hearts be moved and inclined to love fear him and obey him His Being calls for it that we should seek after Communion with God who is such a Self-sufficient Alsufficient and eternal Being Whom would we own or whose Favour would we seek the Favour of poor Creatures who are now one thing now another or the Favour of God who can still say I am that I am What I was I am and I will be what I am Friends are changeable their affections dry up and they themselves die and their Favour and all their thoughts of doing us good perish There is no end of his Duration or Affection His Attributes call for Love his Power rendereth him the most desirable Friend and dreadfull Adversary What more dreadfull than Power that cannot be resisted Wisdome that none can be hid from and what more lovely than his Love Surely if we did study his Name his Promises and Threatnings it would have more Power with us How would we seek to him and submit to his blessed Will and depend on him as those that have nothing in our selves nor any thing else in the World had being without him we would then believe all opposite Powers to be nothing and wink out either the dreadfulness or loveliness of the Creature while the eye of our Souls is wholly taken up with the sight of God our Desires would be to him and our Delights in him and being deadned to the Creature would wholly cleave to him 3. Doctr. Those that have spiritual Affections will take all occasions to Remember God's Name In Adversity for their Comfort Isa. 26. 8 9. Yea in the way of thy Iudgments O Lord have we waited for thee The desire of our soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Isa. 50. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God In Prosperity for a Regulation and restraint to their Affections that they might not too freely run out on the Creature to the wrong of God It is said of the wicked Psal. 55. 19. Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God but God's Children remember him in their comforts Deut. 8. 10 11. When thou hast eaten and art full thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good Land which he hath given thee beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God so Ver. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for he it is that giveth thee power to get wealth In Company they will be speaking of God Eph. 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather giving of thanks Alone they will be thinking of God so that when they are alone they are not alone God is with them in their solitude Ioh. 16. 32. Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered every one to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me By Day they redeem time God's Statutes are their Songs by Night when they cannot sleep when I awake I am still with thee Psal. 139. 18. Oh what an advantage it is to have the heart thus thronged with thoughts of God in the night when others sleep good men are awake with God 1. Observe this that which David speaketh of himself was a secret Duty Those Duties which we perform in secret and wherein we avoid the applause of men are most sincere and by them many times we obtain most blessing Matt. 6. 6. Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly David was the same in secret that he was in the light Other Witnesses of our respect to God we need not than God himself it is enough that He seeth us and approveth us Our desire and scope should be to please him not to appear devout to men or be esteemed as such by them Therefore besides publick Ordinances we should give
that hath my Commandments and keepeth them to him will I manifest my self so in the 23. Verse If a man love me and keep my commandments my Father will love him and we will come to him and take up our abode with him These are taken into sweet fellowship and Communion with God and the blessed Trinity will take up their abode in his heart But pray mark Christ that is so tender and willing to communicate the influences of his Grace yet standeth upon his Sovereignty â—…nd therefore still insisteth upon keeping his Precepts if they would partake of his Comforts Fifthly Protection in their Work They are under the special care and conduct of his Providence while they keep his Precepts He keepeth them as in a Pavilion Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of men Psal. 31. 20. And who are they that are kept Those that fear him and trust in him Verse 19. Pray mark when they had no visible defence when they seemed to be left open as a prey to the oppressions and injuries of their potent adversaries yet there is a secret guard about them and they are kept the World knoweth not how God's Favour and Providence is their sure guard and defence whatever contentious and proud men design and threaten against them yet they never have their full will upon them Many a Child of God have ridden out the storm and may come and say This I had because I kept thy Precepts This 't is to keep close to God and hold fast our integrity Elsewhere the Lord expresseth himself to be a wall of fire round about his people Zech. 2. 5. which should affright at a distance and consume near at hand In those Countrys when they lay in the Fields they made Fires about them to keep off the wild Beasts so God when he seeth it fit to excuse his People from Trouble he can in the most unsafe Times and when they are weakest protect them by his secret Hand bridling their Enemies and making their Attempts ineffectual Satan is sensible of this privy guard Iob 1. 10. Hast thou not made a Hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side The World seeth not this invisible guard but the Devil seeth it There is no gap open for mischief to enter and break in upon them This can God doe when he pleaseth and a Man that holdeth fast his Integrity and goeth on in his Duty referring himself to God's keeping shall have experience of it and when the danger is over say This I had because I kept thy Precepts Sixthly In publick and common Judgments God maketh a difference and some of his choise ones are marked out for Preservation and are as Brands plucked out of the burning whilst others are consumed therein This is done oftentimes I cannot say always the Iews have a Proverb that two dry sticks may set a green one on fire a good Man may perish in the common Judgment that is the meaning of the Proverb And sometimes their Condition may be worst as Ieremiah the whole City was besieged and he in the Dungeon Chaff and Corn is threshed in the same flour but the Corn is grinded and baked But this is the best way we can take to be hid in the common Calamity though there be not an absolute Certainty for the Comfort is but propounded with a possibility Zeph. 3. 2. Seek Righteousness seek Meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger Though God hath a peculiar eye to the Godly yet their Temporal safety is not put out of all doubt it may be or it may not be but their Eternal Comforts are sure and safe yet strict and humble walking is the onely way and in some cases God sheweth that there shall be a distinction between his People and others and when others are overwhelmed they shall be preserved As Eccles. 8. 12. Surely I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord which fear before him But it shall be ill with the Wicked And Isa. 3. 10. Say unto the Righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eate of the fruit of their doeings but say unto the Wicked it shall be ill with them for the work of his hands shall be given to him And Ier. 15. 11. Verily it shall be well with this Remnant I will cause the Enemy to treat them well in the day of Evil and Affliction All these Places speak of delivering them from trouble or moderating the trouble to them If there be an uncertainty in the thing yet a probability but whenever it is done it is a singular favour and we must own it as the fruit of Obedience This I had because I kept thy Precepts We must expect the temporal Reward of Godliness with much submission and venture upon his Providence Seventhly So much of sanctified Prosperity as shall be good for them Matth. 3. 33. First seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and these things shall be added God will cast them into the bargain and though he may keep them low and bare yet no good thing will he withhold Psal. 84. 2. so that a Child of God surveying all his Comforts may say this and that and the other Mercy I had from the Lords Grace these Comforts and these Deliverances came in because I kept thy Precepts 3. The next thing is to shew you what connexion there is between these two Obedience and this Good or the reason of the Lords dealing thus God doth it partly out of his general Justice as he is Governour of the World his holy Nature doth delight in Holiness and therefore 't is requisite ut bonis bene sit malis male that it should be well with them that doe well and evil with them that doe evil and such dealing a Man should have from God as he dealeth out to God Psal. 18. 25 26. With the mercifull thou wilt shew thy self mercifull and with the upright thou wilt shew thy self upright and with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward In the general that it should be well with the Righteous and ill with the Wicked there is an argument in the governing Justice of God but then to come to particulars that it should be so ill with the Wicked here is exacta ratio justi but that it should be so well with men imperfectly Righteous this is moderate Justice mixed with undeserved Mercy 2. There is his gracious Promise and Covenant Heaven and Earth are laid at the seet of Godliness 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Something during our Service in this World The Second Point is That 't is of no small benefit to see and observe what good we have by obedience to God 1. It will increase our esteem of his Grace That the little
and slender Obedience that we yield to his Law should have such respect and acceptance with him as to be recompenced with so much Peace and Comfort and Protection and so many Blessings Lord what am I and what is my Fathers House Oh what a good Master have we When the Saints are Crowned they cast their Crowns at the Lambs Feet Revel 4. 10. We hold all by his Mercy Luke 17. 10. When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants not in complyment but in truth of heart we are unprofitable Servants That God should respect us 't is not for the dignity of the Work but merely for his own Grace 2. 'T is of use that we may justify God against the Reproaches and Prejudices of carnal Men who think God is indifferent to Good and Evil and that all things come alike to all that 't is in vain to be strict and precise that there is no Reward to the Good Mal. 3. 14. 'T is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances Yea the Temptation may befall God's own Children and be forcibly born in upon their Hearts Psal. 73. 13. Verily I have cleansed my hands in vain We think all is lost labour Now to produce the sweet Consolations of God and his temporal Supplies and the manifold Blessings bestowed upon us 't is a good stay to our Hearts and inables us to justify God against the Scorns and Reproaches of the World 3. 'T is of use of check our Murmurings If we indure any thing for God we are apt to repine and pitch upon that evil we receive from his hand passing over the good A little evil like one Humour out of order or one Member out of joint disturbeth the whole Body so we by poring upon the evil we endure pass over all his other Bounty Mal. 1. 2. Wherein hast thou loved us God cannot indure to have his Love suspected or undervalued and yet People are apt to doe so when Dispensations are any thing cross to their desires and expectations But now 't is a great check to consider that if we have our Troubles we have also our Consolations and we should rather look upon the good that cometh to us in pleasing God than the temporal and light Afflictions we meet withall in his Service Iob 2. 10. Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil 4. 'T is an encouragement to us in well-doing the more proofs and tokens we have of his Supportation We are wrought upon by the Senses as Ier. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings reprove thee see what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord and 23 verse See thy way in the valley and know what thou hast done As Parents when their Children smart for eating raw diet they upbraid them with it It is for eating your green Fruit So doth the Lord come to his People Now you see the evil of your doings So on the contrary it doth ingage us to strict walking to see how God owneth it So doth God appeal to us by experience Have I been a Land of darkness to you or a barren Wilderness Jer. 2. 31. And Micah 2. 7. Do not my Words doe good to them that walk uprightly Look about you survey all your Comforts did Sin procure these Mercies or Godliness have you not found sensible benefit by being sincere in my Service Object But is this safe to ascribe the Comfort and Blessings that we have to our own Obedience is it not expresly forbidden Deut. 9. 4. Say not in thy heart for my righteousness hath the Lord brought me to possess the Land Answ. 1. David doth not boast of his Merits but observeth God's Mercy and Faithfulness in the fruits of Obedience There is his Mercy in appointing a Reward for such slender Services Gal. 6. 16. As many as walk according to this Rule peace and mercy be upon them All the Comfort we have is from Mercy yea undeserved Mercy Those that walk according to this Rule stand in need of Mercy Their Peace and Comfort floweth from Mercy they need mercy to cover the failings they are conscious to in their walkings And then consider his Truth and Faithfulness the Reward of well-doing cometh not by the worthiness of the Work but by virtue of God's Promise His Word doth good to them that walke uprightly Micah 2. 7. God hath made himself a debtor by his Promise and oweth us no thanks for what we can doe 't is onely his gracious Promise Answ. 2. David speaketh not this to vaunt it above other men but to commend Obedience and to incourage himself and invite others by remembring the Fruits of it There is a great deale of difference between carnal boasting and gracious observation Carnal boasting is when we vaunt of our personal worth gracious observation is when for God's Glory and our Profit we observe the fruits of Obedience and the Benefits it bringeth along with it That God never gave us cause to leave but to commend his Service and by what we have found to invite others to come and taste that the Lord is gracious The Use is to incourage us in the Wayes of the Lord and keeping of his Precepts 't is no unprofitable thing before we have done we shall be able to say This I had because I kept thy Precepts Two things God usually bestoweth upon his People a tolerable passage through the World and a comfortable going out of the World which is all a Christian needeth to take care for here is onely the place of his Service not of his Rest. 1. He shall have a tolerable passage through the World A Child of God may have a hard toilsome Life of it but he hath his mixtures of Comfort in his deepest Afflictions he hath peace with God that keeps his Heart and Mind and this maketh his passage through the World tolerable because God is ingaged with him 1 Cor. 10. 13. Faithfull is he that hath called you who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear He is freed from Wrath and hath his discharge from the Curse of the Old Covenant he is taken into favour with God and hath as much of temporal Reliefe as is necessary for him his Condition is made comfortable to him 2. A comfortable passing out of the World Isa. 38. 3. Remember O Lord saith Hezekiah I have walked before thee with an upright heart When you lie upon your Death-beds and in a dying hour how comfortable will this be the remembrance of a well-spent and well-imployed Life in God's Service They that wonder at the zeal and niceness of God's Children when they are entring into the other World they cry out then oh that they had been more exact and watchfull oh that they might die the death of the Righteous They should live so Men then have other Notions of Holiness than ever they had before
But Christians here is your Comfort the Word of God that hath been your Rule is now your Comfort and Cordial and stands by you to the very last Use 2. Is to perswade us to observe the difference between the wayes of God and the wayes of Sin When a Man cometh to cast up his account on the one side and on the other oh what a difference is there Certainly there will a time come when you must cast up your account and use this recollection either when your Eyes are opened by grace in Conversion or when your Eyes are opened by Punishment On Sins side consider when you look back to what is past the Lord grant you may make this reflection Rom. 6. 21. What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed you cannot look back withou horrour of Conscience As the unclean person when he looketh back and considereth that his Flesh and Body is consumed by Sin Prov. 5. 11 12 13. he speaketh there of some noysome Disease that hath gotten into his Body But then on the other side the side of Godliness This I had because I kept thy Precepts Oh what peace what serenity of mind what hopes of Eternal Life what comfortable Entertainment shall you have in Heaven determine beforehand what it will come to Thus you see the difference between a sinfull and godly Course SERMON LXIV PSAL. CXIX 57. Thou art my Portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy Words DAVID doth in this place make out his Right and Title Thou art my Portion O Lord c. Here is 1. David's Protestation Thou art my Portion O Lord. 2. David's Resolution I have said that I would keep thy Words In the first of these in David's Protestation you may take notice of his Claim and of the Sincerity of it 1. Of his Claim to God Thou art my Portion A Part or Portion in the original use of the word signifies a less quantity taken from a greater a part is used in opposition to the whole But with respect to the matter in hand it is not used in such a sense but for our lot and happiness not sensu mathematico not with reference to a whole but politico forensi with respect to Choice Interest and Possession and the Allusion is taken either from the distribution of the Land of Canaan where every one had his Portion appointed to him by Lot and measured to him by Rod and Lines therefore it is said The Lines are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Or else it is an Allusion to the partage of an ordinary Estate where every Child hath his Portion assigned him to live upon Thus he lays Claim to God himself 2. The Sincerity of this Claim may be gathered because he speaks by way of address to God He doth not say barely He is my Portion but challengeth God to his face Lord Thou art my Portion Elsewhere it is said Lam. 3. 24. The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul there he doth not speak it by way of address to God but he adds my Soul saith But here to God himself who knows the secrets of the heart To speak thus of God to God argues our sincerity when to God's face we avow our trust and choice as Peter Iohn 21. 7. Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love Thee he appeals to God's Omnisciency such an appeal is there to God for the truth of this assertion As in that other place when the believing Soul laies claim to God the integrity of that claim is also asserted not onely by the Lips or Mouth but also my Soul There is Oratio mentalis vocalis vitalis There is the speech of the Heart in the real inclination of it and the speech of the Tongue in outward profession and the speech of the Life by answerable practice All three must be joyn'd together what the Tongue utters the Heart and Life must consent to All will say God is their Portion But it is not what the Tongue says but what the Heart saith and what the Heart saith will appear in the course of your actions there is the real Proof and Evidence of it Thus much for David's Protestation Thou art my Portion O Lord he speaks to God Himself 2. Take notice of David's Resolution I have said that I would keep thy Word It is good to see what kind of Inference the Saints draw from this Principle that God is their Portion sometimes they inferr thence Dependance upon God sometimes Subjection and Obedience to Him for this Principle doth not onely establish our Comfort but our Duty Sometimes to establish Dependance Lam. 3. 24. The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in Him I will look for all from him live upon Him as a man doth upon his Portion But here David inferrs Duty and Obedience I have said that I would keep thy Words In this Resolution we may observe 1. The formality or manner of making I have said it is by way of Practical Decree 2. The matter of it I will keep thy Words 1. For the formality or manner of it I have said I decreed within my self I have fully concluded Here was not a light or inconsiderate purpose but such as was deliberate fixt a practical Decree upon a debate Whoever would enter upon a strict course displeasing to Flesh and Blood must seriously consider and then fixedly determine Deliberation and Determination are both necessary There must be Consultation or Deliberation that he may sit down and count the charges otherwise if profession of Godliness be lightly taken up it will be as lightly left Then there must be Determination or binding the heart by firm purpose and if we joyn the next verse Supplication or begging God's strength then all is done Now this firm purpose I have said will help against unconstancy or against backwardness or unreadiness of Heart Against Unconstancy many good Motions we start but they dye away for want of coming to a Resolution or issuing forth a practical decree for God Iames 1. 8. a double minded Man is unstable in all his wayes But David when he had considered all things then I have said that I will keep thy words he was fully resolved Then it will help against Laziness Listlesness and Backwardness of Heart David when he was grown shy of God and his Heart hung off from him some great distemper was upon his Soul and He was loth to look God in the face what course did he take then He issues forth a practical Decree Psalm 32. 7. I said I will confess my sins unto the Lord. He thrusts himself forward and charges himself to goe to God I am resolved I will break off silence and open my case to God Thus we must excite our Selves by renewing a Decree in the Soul determine I will doe thus and thus for God whatever comes of it 2. For the Matter I will keep
Idolatry or cured of that but by Grace Covetousness is Idolatry because it draws off our Love Fear Trust from God and his Service to Riches and so proves a snare to the Soul Idolatry in our affections is more dangerous than gross Idolatry in our opinions and outward worship when our affections carry us out to another Good 5. Again out of Gratitude when God doth all for us can we deny him any thing Dost thou love God as the chiefest Good and wilt not thou fear to offend him Who ever chooseth God for his Portion will have David's disposition I have said I will keep thy Words he will be exact and punctual to keep in with God SERMON LXV PSAL. CXIX 58. I Intreated thy Favour with my whole Heart be mercifull unto me according to thy Word IN the former Verse I took notice of two Parts David's Protestation Thou art my Portion and his Resolution I will keep thy Words To either of the Branches this Verse may be supposed to have Respect To the former thus as a second Evidence if we make God our Portion this will necessarily follow we shall desire his favour above all things else Our Portion is that Good which we choose renouncing all things else therefore when our hearts are set upon it whom have I in Heaven but Thee Psal. 73. 25. When you entreat his Favour with your whole heart that 's the Evidence God is your Portion Or you may referr it to the latter Clause thus I said I will keep thy Words therefore I intreat thy Favour We cannot carry on a good purpose without God's Favour unless He assist us therein When we are most resolved we must expect opposition and assaults both from within and without The Devil will seek all he can to oppose you and to shake your Resolutions and your Lusts will rage a new upon a severe restraint Therefore those that resolve to enter into a strict course must seek Relief from God's Favour and Mercy as David here I intreated thy Favour with my whole Heart In the Words we have an account of David's Practice upon a Choice and Resolution he betook himself to Prayer Here you have 1. The Object or Principle thing sought Gods Favour 2. The manner with my whole Heart with a sincere Affection He doth not say with his Lips onely but his Heart and not with his Heart onely but with his whole Heart 3. The summ of his request or the Fountain of all that he expected from God be Mercifull to me 4. The rule or ground of his Expectation according to thy Word The meaning is that God according to his promise would graciously help him I. For the first I intreated thy Favour or as it is in the Hebrew I painfully sought thy Face meaning that he did with importunate and humble suit beg the smile of Gods councountenance by Face is meant Favour Prov. 29. 26. Many seek the Rulers Favour it is the Rulers face that he may look chearfully upon them and I painfully sought so the Word signifies it notes such importunity as is necessary for so great a Blessing The note is this Doct. Gods People those that have made him their Portion they earnestly and constantly above all things desire his Favour 1. This God calls for Psal. 105. 4. Seek the Lord seek his Face evermore None have such Communion with God but they need seek more Psal. 27. 8. Thou saidst seek my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek Thou saidst it is that which God speaks in all his Ordinances the whole drift of the Word is to press us to get and keep the sense of God's love ever fresh in our Hearts 2. The Nature of the Saints carries them to it This is the difference between them and carnal men Psal. 4. 6 7. The light of his Countenance is spoken of either with Allusion to the Sun whose Light displaid chears the Plants or with Allusion to the smiles of a Friend one good look from God the Children of God preferr above all the World All earthly things cannot please them so much as a smile from God nor put such gladness in their Hearts But more especially do they seek it most painfully 1. When they have never as yet attained any sense of it but lye under doubts fears and auxious uncertainty then if God will but look upon them make out his Love to their Consciences what a comfort will that be to them A man may want assurance and have Grace but he cannot slight assurance and have Grace He that is without it may be one of Gods Children but he that doth not look after it and is satisfied without it certainly is none of that number Therefore this is the desire and earnest prayer of all Gods People in common that God would cause his Face to shine upon them Psal. 80. 17. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth that is that sittest upon the Mercy Seat O that he would be good to them in Christ for between the Cherubims there was the Mercy Seat where God sate the meaning is that he would a little dart in Beams of Comfort to their Consciences 2. They thus painfully intreat the Favour of God when they have lost it by sin for then they are afflicted with a double evil want of so great a comfort and a sense of their own folly A sense of Gods favour may be with-held out of meer Soveraignty yet even then God's Children will be earnest but when it is withdrawn out of Justice as a correction for our folly and careless walking there is greater cause of earnestness that we may redeem and recover our loss again Then we are to be more earnest Turn us again Lord God of Hosts and cause thine anger towards us to cease Psal. 80. 7. By their former experience they know the sweetness of God's favour and by their present loss the bitterness of the want of it Basil hath a notable Comparison he saith if an Object be too bright it must be set at a distance from the Eye that we may see better so worldly things must be set at a distance from us therefore God seems to be at a distance hides his Face that his People might know by the loss and want of it how to value their Blessings How far do they discover their earnestness 1. In that they seek it above all other things above Corn Wine and Oil. This is not their painful desire to be made great rich high honourable happy in the World All the World doth them no good without the favour of God As all the Stars though they shine together do not dispel the darkness of the Night so no Creatures can comfort us sufficiently when God hides his Face from them Psal. 30. 1. Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled They cannot finde God as they were wont As at Funeral Feasts dear Friends have little comfort when they miss their old Friend that was wont to bid them
right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me or good eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Use 1. For Information That God's Righteous Judgments are matter of Praise and Thanksgiving an Angel is brought in speaking Revel 16. 5. Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus Indeed the formal object of Thanksgiving and Praise is some benefit Psalm 135. 3. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good We praise God for his Judgments because they are just and right we praise God for his Mercies not onely because they are just and equal but comfortable and beneficial to us and so a double ground of Thanksgiving Use 2. For Reproof That we make more noise of a little trouble than we do of a thousand Benefits that remain with us We fret and complain and manifest the impatiency of the Flesh like a great Machine or Carriage if one Pin be out of order all stoppeth or one Member hurt though all the rest of the Body be sound or as Haman the favours of a great King pleasures of a luxurious Court all this availeth him nothing as long as Mordecai was in the gate Esther 5. 13. notwithstanding his Riches Honours multitude of Children great Offices this damped all his joy Mal. 1. 2. I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us non quod habet numerat c. Oh let us check this complaining Spirit let us consider what is left not what God hath taken away what we may or shall have not what we now want what God is and will be to his People though we see little or nothing in the Creature 3 Doct. That an heart deeply affected with God's Providence will take all occasions to praise and give thanks 1. It is certain that our whole Life should be a real expression of Thankfulness to God The Life of a Christian is a life of Love and Praise an Hymn to God 1 Pet. 2. 9. But ye are a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous Light Christianity is a Confession the visible acting of Godliness is a part of this Confession we are all saved as Confessors or Martyrs Now the Confession is made both in Word and Deed. 2. There are special occasions of Thanksgiving and Praise to God as the Apostle bids Timothy preach 2 Tim. 4. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in season out of season meaning thereby that he should not onely take ordinary occasions but extraordinary he should make an opportunity where he found none So we should press Christians to praise God not onely in solemn Duties when the Saints meet together to praise but extraordinarily redeem time for this blessed Work yea interrupt our lawfull sleep and repose to find frequent vacancies for so necessary a Duty as the lauding and magnifying of God's Mercy 3. As for rising up at Midnight we can neither enforce it as a Duty upon you nor yet can we condemn it 'T was an act of heroical Zeal in David who imployed his time waking to the honour of God which others spent in sleeping and we reade that Paul and Silas sang praises at midnight Acts 16. 25. though then in the Stocks and they had been scourged the day before And it is said Iob 25. 10. None saith where is God my maker who giveth songs in the night that is giveth matter of praise if we wake in the night And David saith elsewhere Psalm 42. 8. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall be with me day and night he would be filled with a sense of Gods Love and with Songs of Praise Therefore we cannot condemn this but must highly commend it Let men praise God at any time and the more they deny themselves to doe it the more commendable is the Action yet we cannot enforce it upon you as a necessary Duty as the Papists build their nocturnal Devotions upon it That which we disprove in them is that those Hours instituted by men they make necessary that they direct their Prayers to Saints and Angels which should onely be to God that they mingle them with superstitious Ceremonies and Observances that they pray and sing in an unknown Tongue without Devotion appropriating it to a certain sort of men to Clerks for their gain with an opinion of merit The Primitive Christians had their Hymnos antelucanos but in Persecution their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clem. Alex. but what is this to superstitious night services 4. Though we cannot enforce the particular observance upon you yet there are many notable Lessons to be drawn from David's practice 1. The ardency of his Devotion or his earnest desire to praise God at midnight then when sleep doth most invade us then he would rise up His Heart was so set upon the praising of God and the sense of his righteous Providence did so affect him and urge him or excite him to this duty that he would not onely imploy himself in this work in the day time and so shew his love to God but he would rise out of his bed to worship God and celebrate his Praise That which hindreth the sleep of ordinary men is either the cares of this world the impatient resentment of injuries or the sting of an evil Consciencâ—… these keep others waking but David was awaked by a desire to praise God no hour is unseasonable to a gracious heart he is expressing his affection to God when others take their rest Thus we read of our Lord Christ that he spent whole nights in Prayer Luke 16. 12. It is said of the glorified Saints in Heaven that they praise God continually Rev. 7. 15. They are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them Now holy men though much hindered by their bodily necessities yet they will come as near as present frailty will permit we often times beg in the day with some fervency of Prayer and Praise but we faint ere even 2. His sincerity seen in his secrecy David would profess his faith in God when he had no witness by him at midnight then no hazard of ostentation It was a secret chearfulness and delighting in God when alone he could have no respect to the applause of men but onely to approve himself to God who seeth in secret See Christ's direction Matth. 6. 6. But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly his own practice Mark 1. 35. Rising early in the morning he
art mindfull of him and the son of man that thou visitest him The lowest Heaven affordeth us Breath Winds Rain the middle or second Heaven affordeth us Heat Light Influence and the third Heaven an eternal Habitation if we serve God In Earth all the things daily in our view speak to God's praise if we had the leisure to hear them these Creatures and Works of his that are daily in our view represent him as a mercifull God This is the Lesson which is most legible in them whether we sit at home in our Houses or go abroad and consider Land or Water Go to the animate Creatures the Beasts of the Field Psalm 36. 6. Thou preservest Man and Beast Job 12. 7 8. But ask now the Beasts and they shall teach thee and the Fowls of the Aire shall declare unto thee Or speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this His Providence reacheth to an innumerable multitude of Creatures giving them Life and Motion and sustaining them and relieving their Necessities and doth largely bestow his Blessing upon them according to their Nature and Condition And this Goodness of God shineth forth in all his Creatures not onely what he doth to them themselves but in what he doth about them for Man's sake they were defiled with Man's Sin and therefore he might in justice have abolished them or made them useless to Man or Instruments of his Grief but they are continued for our Comfort that we might live in a well-furnished World Now come to Man himself good bad wicked godly His Sun shineth his Rain falleth on the evil and good just and unjust Matth. 5. 44. great Mercy is still continued to the fallen Creature even to the impenitent Acts 14. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that be did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness What was God's Witness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth good much patience is used mens Lives continued while they sin and means vouchsafed for their reclaiming Food Raiment Friends Habitations Health Ease Liberty afforded to them and all to shew that we have to doe with a most mercisull God who is willing to be reconciled to the sinning Creature Go to the godly and what is all their Experience but a constant course of Mercy David's admiration declares it Psalm 139. 17. How precious are thy thoughts to me O Lord how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are more in number than the sand He was in a maze when he thought of the various dispensations of God's Providence there was no getting out The Lord filleth up his Servants lives with great and various Mercies even in their Warfare and Pilgrimage here in this World abundance of unvaluable Mercies that if we do but consider what we do receive we must needs be confirmed in this Truth by our own Senses Every thing is a mercy to a Vessel of Mercy 2. Wherein God expresseth his Mercy to them in Creation and Providence 1. In creating them it was great Mercy that being infinitely perfect in himself from all Eternity and so not needing any thing he took the Creatures out of nothing which therefore could merit nothing and communicated his Goodness to them for thy pleasure they are and were created Revel 4. 11. 2. In preserving and continuing them so long as he seeth good the Heavens continue according to his Ordinance the Beasts and Fowls and Fishes continue according to his pleasure all the living Creatures need many things for their daily sustentation which their Creatour abundantly supplyeth to them and therefore the whole Earth is full of his Mercy One Creature the Scripture taketh notice of Luke 12. 24. Consider the Ravens for God feedeth them And Again Iob 37. 41. He feedeth the young Ravens when they cry and wander for lack of meat And Psalm 147. 9. He giveth to the Beast his food and to the young Ravens which cry Why is the Raven made such an instance of Providence above other Fowls or other living Creatures some say it is Animal sibi rapacissimum others other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 casts its young out of the Nest assoon as they are able to fly and put to hard shifts for themselves all this sheweth his Mercy how ready he is to supply the miserable V. Prop. His Goodness to all the Creatures should confirm his People in hoping for saving Grace or spiritual good things Why all the business will be to shew you the force of this Argument and that it is a prop to Faith 1. We may reason from the less to the greater our Lord hath taught us so for food and cloathing Matth. 6. 28 29 30. And why take ye thought for raiment Consider the Lilies of the field how they grow they toile not neither do they spin And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith From Fowls and Lilies they have no arts of tilling spinning are not of such account with God as Mankind as his People So for Protection Matth. 10. 29 30 31. Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows The Reasoning is good if he hath Mercy for Kites he hath also for Children who are not onely in a higher rank of Creatures but in a renewed Estate and reconciled to him by Christ become his Friends and Children whom he tendereth as the apple of his Eye much more when they come for spiritual Benefits pleasing to the Lord 1 Kings 3. 9 10. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great a people And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing Now all these amount to a strong probability if not a certainty It is a mistake to think that Faith onely goeth upon Certainties no sometimes it is mightily encouraged by Probabilities These must not be left out for if I want any spiritual Blessing is it not a great incouragement to remember God's mercifull Nature shining forth in all his Works if kind to his Creatures will he not be kind to me if he causeth his Sun to shine upon the Wicked will he not lift up the light of his Countenance upon my Soul if his Rain fall upon their Fields will he not let the Dew of his Grace fall upon my barren Heart Though
the Argument be not absolutely and infallibly conclusive yet here is such a concurrence of Probabilities that we should go and try what he will doe for our Souls 2. They in their rank have their supplies and we in our rank have our supplies therefore his kindness to all Creatures should incourage new Creatures to expect their help from him for God doth good to all his Creatures according to their necessity and capacity his giving them supplies convenient for them is a pawn of God's pleasure to bestow upon his Servants greater gifts than these All things that look to God have necessaries provided for them according to the condition of their Nature and therefore if you have another Nature and besides the good things of this Life do need the good things which belong to the Life to come he will give us gifts and graces as he giveth them their food for these are as necessary for this kind of life as food for that As they in their rank find Mercy so we in ours his general Goodness confirmeth us in expecting these more special Favours For as there is a general Benignity to all Creatures so there is a special to his Children Psam 36. 6 7. Thou preservest Man and Beast How excellent is thy loving kindness O Lord therefore the Children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings His common kindness and his special love are often compared together they agree in this that both come from a good God Therefore the Argument holdeth strong if good to all Creatures then good to new Creatures Why should we think that he would not shew his Goodness to us also Again they agree in this that in doing good God doth not consider the worthiness of the Creature but his own Goodness and Self-inclination to preserve what he hath made as he did not disdain to give Life to the meanest Creatures so he doth not disdain to preserve them as they had their Life from him at first so they have their Life still in him the poorest Worm not excepted Not a Worm not a Gnat not a Fly but tastes of God's Bounty God disdaineth not to look after the most abject things So the plea of unworthiness lyeth not in bar against the new Creature for necessary supplies God giveth out of his own goodness Now they differ in the kinds of the Mercy one common the other saving and the special subjects of them one is to all Creatures the other is to God's peculiar People and in the manner of conveyance the one floweth in the Channel of common Providence the other is conveyed to us by the golden Pipe of the Mediator Well then the Creatures have their Mercies and Wicked men their Mercies have that they prize and value and the People of God have also what they prize and esteem 3. God doth good to every one according to their necessity and capacity He doth not give meat to the Trees nor stones to the Beasts but provideth food and nourishment convenient for them so to his People according to their condition of Nature and special capacity The general capacity is the condition of their Natures the special capacity is want or earnest desire if we extremely need or earnestly desire these Blessings then we may reason from God's general Goodness to all the Creatures to that special act of Goodness which we expect from him Pray mark how God's general Goodness is expressed Psalm 145. 15 16. The eyes of all things wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing He keepeth a constant eye of Providence and if the desire be great he doth not frustrate the natural expectation of hungry Creatures but giveth them that sort of Food which is fit for them Now God expecteth the same from New Creatures if necessity and vehement desire meet he promises supply open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Psalm 81. 10. and Psalm 145. 19. The Lord will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them The Beasts mourn and cry in their kind we pray and cry in our kind Needy desires will be heard he is in a capacity to receive spiritual Blessings who is sensible of their Necessity for the Happiness of his immortal Soul and doth prize and value them and earnestly desire them The Man of God was under a Necessity for he apprehended himself miserable and at a loss without it for he desired no other Mercy A gracious Heart cannot be satisfied with low things be thus affected and then this Argument will be of use to you Use 1. Is for Reproof Since God is so mercifull how much are they to blame 1. Who render themselves uncapable of the benefit of Mercy by Impenitence persisted in against the means of Grace They slight his common Mercy and cut off themselves from his saving Mercy Abused Goodness will be destructive Rom. 2. 4 5. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God 2. The Stupid and Senseless which do not take notice oâ—… the Mercy of God which shineth forth in all the Creatures A Man can turn his Eye no where but in every place and quarter of the World he shall see plain Testimonies of God's Mercy but alas how much of this is lost and past over for want of observation Isa. 1. 3. The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider All this Goodness was left in the Earth to invite our minds and hearts to God therefore as the Bee sucketh honey out of every Flower so should we still dwell on the thoughts of God's goodness represented to us in every thing we see and feel 3. Those that think of God's Mercy with extenuating and diminishing thoughts do not raise their Hopes and Confidence by a serious reflection upon that ample discovery which he hath made of it in all his Works if God be good to all his Creatures why should we be left out of the number surely God will not be backward to those that earnestly desire his Grace therefore those that deject themselves that say God will not hear me or regard my Prayers are to be condemned Use 2. Information the lively light of the Spirit is a special Mercy Our Misery lieth in the ignorance of God and the transgression of his Law our Happiness in being inlightened and sanctified by the spirit of Wisdome and understanding It is God's great gift Ier. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with
good Deut 6. 24. And the Lord commandeth us to doe all the Statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day That he may with honour perform and make good all that he hath promised Gen. 18. 19. For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to doe justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him The Obstructions removed and Grace flows out freely 2. Tryals sent by him are not above measure 1 Cor 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to men but God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Isa. 27. 8. In measure when it shooteth forth wilt thou debate with it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the East-wind He dealeth with much discretion and moderation not according to the greatness of his Power or the hainousness of their sin but observeth our strength what we are able to bear 3. His Punishments are not above Deservings Ezra 9. 13. Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve Job 11. 6. Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth 4. He is not hard to be pleased nor inexorable upon every failing Mal. 3. 17. And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Iewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Many think God watcheth occasions to destroy them or at least to molest and trouble them no he passeth by many weaknesses or else what would become of the best of his Children pardoneth many sins where the heart is sincere 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not cleansed according to the preparation of the Sanctuary 4. If he doth not give them the good things of this world he giveth them better in lieu of them While they are here in this world they have those things not onely that are good but make them good which cannot be said of all the things of this world they may easily make us worse but they cannot make us better He giveth them such things as tend to the enjoyment of the chiefest Good which is Himself As he is a good God he pardoneth their sins Psal. 25. 7. Remember not the sins of my youth for thy goodness sake O Lord. That is one of the effects of his Goodness to them He directs them in the way of Life Psal. 25. 8. Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way He beginneth carryeth on and compleateth their Salvation 2. Thess. 1. 11. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of his calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith with power Thus he giveth the best things though he deny some common things which are no arguments of his special Favour and it is dangerous to have our eyes fastned upon other wants when we have these things and to repine against God who hath dealt graciously with us in the higher expressions of his Love 5. The evil things of this World which are not good in themselves he turneth to good Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God He is able to bring Light out of Darkness or give Light in Darkness or turn darkness into light to give inward joy and comfort under all calamities to support and sustain under all heavy pressures and to deliver out of all distresses 6. He doth give them so much of the good things of the World as is convenient for them Psalm 34. 9. Oh fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Psal. 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly He giveth Protection when it is necessary Nahum 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth those that trust in him Ezra 6. 22. The Hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him He hath a great inclination to diffuse his Benefits 7. His doing good is chiefly in the World to come Iohn 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be if any man serve me him will my Father honour Here he is with them in Troubles there they shall be with him in Glory here he can put marks of Favour upon them and distinguish between those that serve him and those that serve him not Mal. 3. 17. They shall be mine saith the Lord in that day when I make up my Iewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him there he will manifest his Favour in the face of all the world Use 2. To perswade you to become the Servants of God you will have a good Master if you be what you profess to be Every Christian should say as Paul did Acts 27. 23. The God whose I am and whom I serve He is God's and serveth God 1. He is God's by Creation for he made him out of nothing Psal. 109. 3. Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his People and the Sheep of his pasture Col. 1. 16. All things were created by him and for him by Redemption 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and your Spirit which is God's by Covenant Isa. 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himself by the name of Israel Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee and entred into covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine And so voluntarily he is God's wicked men are God's in right but against their wills the Godly are willingly God's A man will never be hearty in his obedience and subjection till he look upon himself as God's See an instance in the Wicked whose ungodliness and rebellion against God cometh from looking upon themselves as theâ—… own Psal. 12. 21. Who have said with our tongues will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us Their time their own wealth their own interest their own Bodies their own Souls their own and therefore think they may imploy all these things as they please On the other side Take an
God to command and how reasonable it is that we should obey the supreme being His will is the Reason of all things and who should give Laws to the world but the universal Sovereign who made all things out of nothing Whatsoever you are you received it from the Lord and therefore whatsoever a Reasonable Creature can doe you owe it to him you are in continual dependance upon him For in him you live and move and have your being Acts 17. 28. And he hath redeemed you called you to life by Christ 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. What know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's You owe all your time and strength and service unto him and therefore you should still be doing his will and abounding in his work 3. He injoyneth nothing but what is good Deuter. 5. 29. Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deuter. 6. 24. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day God hath tempered his sovereignty towards the Reasonable Creature and ruleth us not with a rod of Iron but with a Scepter of Love He draweth us with the Cords of a man Hos. 11. 4. That is with Reasons and Arguments taken from our own happiness Man being a rational and free Agent he would lead and quicken us to our duty by the consideration of our own benefit and when he might say only Thus shall ye doe I am the Lord yet he is pleased to exhort and perswade us not to forsake our own Mercies or to turn back upon our own happiness and to propound rewards that we may be encouraged to seek after him in that way of duty which he hath prescribed to us The reward is everlasting glory with the mercies of this life in order to it Heb. 11. 6. God is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him 4. How indispensibly Obedience to his Commandments is required of us As long as the heart is left loose and arbitrary such is the unruliness and self-willedness of mans nature Rom. 8. 7. The Carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be The Carnallist will not be held to his duty but leave that which is honest for that which is pleasing and be governed by his Appetite rather than his Reason therefore Faith hedgeth up his way sheweth him that without holiness it is impossible to see God Heb. 12. 14. That there is no coming to the End unless we take the way that there is no hope of Exemption or excuse for the breaches of his Law allowed but the plea of the Gospel which doth not evacuate but establish Obedience to God's Commands requireth a renouncing of our former conrse and a hearty Resolution To serve God in holiness and righteousness all our days Luke 1. 74 75. Our duty is the end of our deliverance In the Kingdom of Grace we are not our own Masters or at liberty to do what we will Christ came not only as a saviour but as a lawgiver he hath his Laws to try our obedience Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Authour of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him He came not to lessen God's Sovereignty or Man's Duty but to put us into a greater Capacity to serve God he came to deliver us from the curse and indispensible rigours of the Law upon every failing not from our Duty nor that we might not serve God but serve him without fear with Peace of Conscience and joy of Heart and requireth such a degree of Grace as is inconsistent with any predominant Lust and Affection 5. That God loveth those that obey his Law and hateth those that despise it without respect of persons Acts 10. 35. In every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Psalm 5. 5. Thou hatest all the workers of Iniquity Prov. 11. 20. They that are of a froward heart are an Abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in their way are his delight The more obedient the more God loveth us the less obedient the less God loveth us Therefore unless we love what God loveth and hate what God hateth doe his commands carefully and avoid the contrary we cannot be acceptable with him for God would not make a Law in vain but order his Providence accordingly 6. That one day we shall be called to an account for our conformity and inconformity to God's law There are two parts of Government Legislation and Execution the one belongeth to God as King the other as Judge Laws are but a shadow and the sanction a Mockery unless there shall be a day when those that are subject to them shall be called to an account and reckoning His threatnings are not a vain Scare-Crow nor his Promises a golden Dream therefore he will appoint a day when the Truth of the one and the other shall be fully made good and therefore Faith enliveneth the sense of God's Authority with the remembrance of this day when he will judge the World in Righteousness II. The Necessity 1. The Precepts are a part of the Divine Revelation the object of Faith is the whole Word of God and every part of divinely inspired Truth is worthy of all belief and reverence The word worketh not unless it be received as the Word of God 1 Thess. 2. 13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of Men but as it is in Truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Now we cannot receive the Word as the word of God unless we receive all there are the same reasons to receive one as the other therefore if any part take good rooting the whole is received There may be a superficial affection to one part more than another but if there be a right Faith we receive all 'T is the engrafted Word that is effectual to the saving of our Souls Iames 1. 21. if we would ingraft the Word the Precepts must stir up answerable Affections as well as the Promises Every part must affect us and stir up Dispositions in us which that part is apt to produce if the Promises stir up Joy and Trust the Precepts must stir up Love Fear and Obedience The same Word which calleth upon us to believe the free Pardon of our Sins doth also call upon us to believe the Commandments of God for the regulating and
28. When God will immediately and in a fuller latitude communicate himself to his Creatures and there will need nothing besides himself to make us happy Here we enjoy God but not fully nor immediatly We enjoy him in his creatures but it is at the second or third hand the Creature interposeth between him and us Hosea 2. 21 22. And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyle and they shall hear Iezreel In Ordinances it is but a little strength and comfort that we get such as is consistent with pain and sorrow it is not full because it is not immediate A Pipe cannot convey the whole Fountain nor the Ordinances the Full of God in Christ only a little supply either as we need or are able to receive but then God will be all in all he will do his work by himself The narrowness of the means shall not straiten him nor the weakness of the vessel hinder him to express the full of his Goodness in full perfection II. How is his Goodness manifested to us 1. In our Creation in that he did raise us up out of nothing to be what we are and form us after his own Image God made us not that he might be happy but liberal that there might be creatures to whom to communicate himself our Beings and Faculties and Powers were the fruits of his meer goodness When God made the world then was it verified He is good and doth good Gen. 1. For as the goodness of his nature inclined him to make it so his work was good after every days work there cometh in his approbation behold it was good and when he had made Man and set him in a well furnished world and compared all his works together then they were very good v. 31. That he still fashioneth us in the womb and raiseth us into that comely shape in which we afterwards appear it is all the effect of his Goodness 2. In our Redemption therein he commendeth his Love and goodness in providing such a Remedy for lost sinners There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3. 4. But after that the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour towards man appeared In creation he shewed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Redemption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is brought nearer to us as subsisting in our Nature 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh And so God had greater advantages to communicate himself to us in a more glorious way by the Redeemer that we might for ever live in the admiration of his Love 3. In daily Providence so the goodness of God is twofold 1. Common and general to all Creatures especially to Mankind Psalm 145. 9. The Lord is good to all his tender Mercy is over all his works Upon all things and all persons he bestoweth many common blessings as natural Life Being Health Wealth Beauty Strength and supplyes necessary for them There is none of God's Creatures but tast of his bounty and have sufficient proof that a good God made them and preserveth them the young Ravens Psalm 147. 9. He giveth to the beast his food and to the young Ravens which cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the wicked Mat. 5. 45. He maketh his Sun to shine on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Acts 14. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitfull Seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness These common Mercies argue a good God that giveth them though not always a good People that receiveth them This Goodness of God sheweth it self daily and bountifully 2. Special God is good to all but not to all alike So he is good to his People whom he blesseth with spiritual and saving Benefits So Lam. 3. 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him So Psalm 86. 5. For thou O Lord art Good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee For this kind of Goodness a qualification is necessary in the receiver Satan will tell you God is a good God but he leaveth out this to those that Love and Fear him and wait upon him This peculiar Goodness yieldeth spiritual and saving Blessings such as pardoning of Sins Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Instruction in the ways of God in the Text thou art good and dost good teach me thy statutes And in short all the means and helps that are necessary unto everlasting Glory 2 Thess. 1. 11. Wherefore also we pray always for you that God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith with power Once more to the objects of his peculiar Love common Blessings are given in Love and with an aim at our good Psalm 84. 11. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly So that the ordinary favours which others enjoy they are sanctified to them They are from Love and in bonum for Good God is ready to help them onwards to their everlasting hopes and that estate which they expect in the world to come where in the Arms of God they shall be blessed for evermore III. Why ought those that come to God to have a deep sense of this First What is this deep Sense 1. It must be the fruit of Faith believing God's Being and Bounty or else it will have no force and authority upon us Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him If we have but cold Notions or dead Opinions of the Goodness of God they will have little power on us It is Faith sets all things a-work there must be a sound belief of these things if we would practically improve them 2. It must be the fruit of constant Observation of the effects of his Goodness vouchsafed to us so that we may give our Thanks and Praise for all that good we do enjoy Careless Spirits are not sensible of the hand of Providence never take notice of good or evil therefore the Psalmist saith Psalm 107. 8. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the Children of Men He repeateth the same verse 15. and verses 21 31. and concludeth all verse 41. Whoso is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. We are more backward to the observation of the
better in its self There was reason for his esteem and choice Many will say 't is better in its self but David saith 't is better to me Let us explain these Circumstances as they are laid 1. The things compared 1. On the one side there is the Law of God's Mouth 't is God's own Word and we should be as sure of it as if we had heard him utter it and pronounce it with his own Mouth or had received it immediately by Oracle from him And indeed that is one way to raise this esteem 1 Thess. 2. 13. Receiving it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which worketh effectually in you that believe In the Word we must consider two things the Authority of it and the Ministry of it if we consider the Authority of it so it cometh from God's Mouth if we consider the Ministry of it so it cometh by Man's Mouth for he speaketh to us by Men 2 Pet. 1. 21. Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost If we look to the Ministry onely and not to the Authority we are in danger to slight it certainly shall not profit by it Many doe so as Samuel thought Eli called him when it was the Lord 1 Sam. 3. 7 8. but when we consider who is the Authour of it then it calleth for our reverence and regard 2. On the other side thousands of gold and silver Where Wealth is set out 1. By the species and kind of it Gold and Silver Gold for hoarding and portage Silver for present commerce 2. The quantity thousands that is thousands of pieces as that addition is used Psalm 68. 30. They shall submit themselves with pieces of silver or Talents as the Chaldee Paraphrase expoundeth it Money answereth all things Eccles. 10. 19. it can command all things in the World as the great Instrument of Commerce 2. The value and preference of the one above the other 't is better and 't is better to me 'T is better in its self that noteth the intrinsick worth of the Word 't is better to me that implieth his own esteem and choice To say in the general onely 't is better implieth but a speculative Approbation which may be in carnal Men Rom. 2. 18. And approvest the things that are more excellent but to say 't is better to me implieth a practical Esteem which is proper onely to the Regenerate 'T is more dear precious and sweet to them than the greatest Treasure Could we have such an holy Affection to the Word and say also to me and to me we should thrive more in a course of Godliness For a man is carried on powerfully by his Choice and Esteem his Actions are governed and determined by it Doctr. The Word of God is dearer to a gracious heart than all the Riches in the World Let me bring Proofs Psalm 19. 10. More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold So speaking of spiritual Wisdome which is onely to be had by the Word of God he saith Prov. 3. 14. That the Merchandise thereof is better than the Merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold So Prov. 8. 11. For Wisdome is better than Rubies and all the things which are to be desired are not to be compared with it These Expressions are frequently used because the greatest part of Mankind is miserably bewitched with the desire of Riches but God's Children are otherwise affected they have a better Treasure Let me prove two things 1. That the Word of God and the benefit that we get by it is better than thousands of Gold and Silver 2. That the Children of God do so esteem it Both must be proved the one to shew the worth and excellency of the Word the other to shew the gracious Disposition of the hearts of God's Children There is no question but that if these things were well weighed the Law of God's Mouth and thousands of Gold and Silver we should find there is a great inequality between them but all men have not a judgment to choose that which is most worthy Many take glass Beads for Jewels and prefer Toyes and Trifles before a solid Good Gold and Silver draw the Hearts of all men to them and their Affections blind their Judgment and then though the Weights be equal if the Ballances be not equal wrong will be done We do not weigh things with an equal Ballance but consider them with a prejudiced Mind and an Heart biassed and prepossessed with worldly Inclinations I. First then for the things themselves surely Gold and Silver which is digged out of the bowels of the Earth is not worthy to be compared with the Law that cometh out of the Mouth of God if you compare the Nature Use and Duration of these Benefits that you have by the one and the other you will see a vast difference 1. The Nature the Notion of Riches is abundance of valuable things Now there are true Riches and counterfeit Riches which have but the resemblance and shew The true Riches is spoken of Luke 16. 11. and is opposed to that Mammon and Pelf which the World doateth upon Grace giveth us the true Riches and Wealth 'T is good to state what are the true Riches and the false The more abundance of truely valuable Things a man hath the more he hath of true Riches a Child counteth himself rich when he hath a great many Pins and Points and Cherry-stones for those suit his childish Age and Fancy A worldly Man counteth himself rich when he hath Gold and Silver in great store by him or Lands and Heritages or Bills and Bonds but a Child of God counteth himself rich when he hath God for his Portion Christ to his Redeemer and the Spirit for his Guide Sanctifier and Comforter which is as much above a carnal Man's Estate in the World as a carnal Man's Estate is above a Child's Toyes and Trifles yea infinitely more Well then surely the Word of God will make us rich because it revealeth God to be our God according to our Necessity and Capacity Psalm 16. 5 6. The Lord is my Portion I have a goodly Heritage and it revealeth unsearchable Riches of Grace in Christ Eph. 2. 7. Eph. 3. 8. pardon of Sins and Life eternal They that have Christ want nothing but are compleatly happy So for the Spirit what are all the Riches of the World to those Treasures of Knowledge Comfort and Holiness which we have by the Spirit What is in one Evangelist He will give his holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. is in another Matth. 7. 11. He will give good things to them that ask him The Spirit is instead of all good things so that the Word is able to enrich a man more than all the Wealth of the World can It giveth us abundance and abundance of better things so that a man is not absolutely poor that wants Gold
Storm but no Deluge When all is Wrath to a poor Soul let it come to him in the Covenant of Noah 3. It will be of use in pleading for Grace for your Children who are as yet it may be graceless and disobedient Thy hands have made and fashioned them desire him to renew his Image upon them by the Spirit of Grace In short the sum of all is here is incouragement God is good to all his Creatures especially to Man most especially to Man seeking after him and seeking after him for Grace that we and ours may obey him and doe him better service than ever yet we have done SERMON LXXXII PSAL. CXIX 74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy Word THIS Verse containeth two things 1. The Respect of the Faithfull to David They that fear thee will be glad when they see me 2. The Reason of this Respect because I have hoped in thy Word First The Respect of God's faithfull Servants to David and there take notice of the Character by which God's Servants are described They that fear thee then their Respect to David they will be glad when they see me which may bear a double sense 1. How comfortable 't is for the Heirs of Promise to see one another or meet together Aspectus boni viri delectat the very look of a good Man is delightfull 't is a pleasure to converse with those that are carefull to please God and awefull to offend him 2. How much affected they are with one another's Mercies they will be glad to see me who have obtained an Event answerable to my Hope they shall come and look upon me as a Monument and Spectacle of the Mercy and Truth of God this sense I prefer though not excluding the other But what Mercy had he received the Context seemeth to carry it for Grace to obey God's Commandments that was the Prayer immediately preceeding to be instructed and taught in God's Law vers 73. Now they will rejoyce to see my holy Behaviour how I have profited and glorified God in that behalf The Hebrew Writers render the reason because then I shall be able to instruct them in those Statutes when they shall see me their King study the Law of God It may be expounded of any other Blessing or Benefit God had given according to his Hope and I rather understand it thus they will be glad to see him sustained supported and born out in his Troubles and Sufferings they will be glad when they shall see in me a notable Example of the fruit of hoping in thy Grace and this Hope leaveth not ashamed Secondly The Reason is because I hoped in thy Word and there compare this with the first Clause God's Children are described to be those that fear God and David is described to be one that hopes in his Word both together make up a good Character and Description of the Lord's People they are such as fear God and hope in his Word they are elsewhere coupled Psal. 33. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him that hope in his mercy And Psal. 147. 11. The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him that hope in his mercy A sincere Christian is known by both these a fear of God or a constant obedience to his Commands and an affiance trust and dependance upon his Mercies Oh how sweetly are both these coupled an uniform sincere Obedience to him and an unshaken constant reliance on his Mercy and Goodness The whole perfection of the Christian Life is comprized in these two believing God and fearing him trusting in his Mercy and fearing his Name the one maketh us carefull in avoiding Sin the other diligent to follow after Righteousness the one is a bridle from Sin and Temptations the other a spur to our Duties Fear is our curb and Hope our motive and incouragement the one respects our Duty the other our Comfort the one allayeth the other God is so to be feared as also to be trusted so to be trusted as also to be feared And as we must not suffer our Fear to degenerate into legal Bondage but hope in his Mercy so our Trust must not degenerate to carnal Sloath and Wantonness but so hope in his Word as to fear his Name Well then such as both believe in God and fear to offend him are the onely men who are acceptable to God and his People God will take pleasure in them and they take pleasure in one another They that fear thee will be glad when they see me The first part of the Character They that fear thee the Fear of God is an excellent Grace a strong bridle to hold the Soul from Sin not that servile but filial and Child-like Fear that is afraid to sin against God or break his Laws Prov. 28. 14. Blessed is the man that feareth always this Grace should always bear rule in our Hearts 1 Pet. 1. 17. Pass the time of your sojourning in fear our whole course must be carried on under the conduct of this Grace Look as the Fear of Man is a Bridle upon the Beasts to keep them from hurting Man Gen. 9. 2. The fear and dread of you shall be upon every Beast of the Earth so when the Fear of God is rooted in our Hearts we are kept from disobeying and dishonouring God Ioseph is an instance of the power of this holy Fear Gen. 39. 9. How shall I doe this great wickedness and sin against God Secondly the other Character I hope in thy Word a Christian liveth by Faith whereas the bruitish Worldling liveth by Sense the one liveth by Bread onely the other by the Word of God the one is a higher sort of Beast the other is a kind of an earthly Angel for he liveth with God and dwelleth with God and expecteth all out of God's hands Psal. 130. 5. I wait for the Lord my Soul doth wait and in his Word do I hope there is his Charter and Inheritance and his Solace and Support he fetcheth all from the Word Both these Graces as they are very acceptable unto God so are they most lovely and beautifull to behold by Men to be among the Company of them that fear God and hope in his Word is the most pleasant thing to a gracious Heart that can be for while others are taken up about Toyes and Trifles they are taken up about the onely serious Matters If Balaam was constrained to say of God's People How goodly are thy Tents O Iacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Oh how pleasant is it much more to the People of God to see one another to come among them that fear God and are loth to offend him and also that hope in his Word They can speak of the life of Faith and Blessedness to come and take off the Vaile of the Creature and are mainly taken up with another world their business is not to offend God here and hope fully
to enjoy him hereafter Rom. 1. 12. Comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me Doct. That God's mercies bestowed upon some of his Children should be and are an occasion of joy and comfort to all the rest When David was a pattern of Gods gracious help and deliverance he saith they that fear thee will be glad when they see me I shall give you some Scriptures Psal. 142. 7. The righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me When any one of Gods Children are delivered all the rest flock about him to assist and joyn in thanksgiving and to help one another to praise the Lord. So Psal. 34. 2. My Soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad that God had preserved and reserved David still So Psal. 64. 10. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and trust in him and the upright in heart shall glory that is when David was delivered when God had shewed mercy to him then all the upright would come and make their own profit and advantage by such an experience and deliverance The Reasons of the Point 1. They are all members of one Body they are all called into one Body and the good and evil of one member is common to the whole this reason is rendred by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. But that the Members should have the same care one for another And whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the rest rejoyce with it v. 27. Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular The meaning of that place is That the Church all together is the Body of Christ and every several person a Member and every Member should be as sollicitous for one another as for it self they have the same common Interests and Concernments whether of suffering or rejoycing You know in the natural Body when the Toe is trod on the Tongue cryeth out You have hurt me We are concerned in the Good or Ill of our fellow Members their Joy is Joy to us and their Sorrow Sorrow to us to this sense some expound that place Heb. 13. 3. Remember them that are in Bonds as bound with them and them that suffer Adversity as being your selves also in the Body Some understand it of Christ's mystical Body when they suffer our Souls are bound with them but I think it bears another sense there to be in the Body is to be in the Flesh during which state we are liable to many Vexations and Miseries and therefore if God doth so order it that the whole Body or all the Members of the Church should not be afflicted at one time but whilst some are afflicted others are free and when we are not involved by Passion there may be Compassion while we are in the Body we are obnoxious to the same Adversities and should pity and comfort them as our selves and use all means to do them good but if it be not the Truth of the Place yet 't is a Truth the more any patrake of the Spiritual life the stronger is Spiritual Sympathy They Rejoyce with them that Rejoyce and Mourn with them that Mourn Rom. 12. 15. Are bound with them that are in Bonds and inlarged with them that are inlarged one part of us is in Bonds when they are in Bonds one part of us is inlarged when they are inlarged still we should have common Interests and Affections with our Brethren and for those that fear God to be selfish and senseless of the condition of others 't is a kind of self-Excommunication or an implicite renouncing the Body because we are in the Body we should be affected as they are Look as there was the same Spirit in Ezekiel's Vision in the living Creatures and the Wheels I say the same Spirit was in both when one moved the other moved so there is the same Spirit in Christ's mystical Body we should be affected as they are 't is a kind of depriving our selves of the Privileges of the Mystical Body if we are not 2. 'T is for the Honour and Glory of God God hath most Glory when praised by many Therefore they flock together 2 Cor. 1. 11. That for the Gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many in our behalf God loveth to have us act with joynt Consent both in Prayer and Praise because he would interest us in one anothers Mercies and Comforts and so knit our hearts together in more holy Love Prayers made by many are mighty with God when we come to God with many supplicants make up a great party to besiege Heaven so Praises rendred by many are the more honourable to God and acceptable with him 1 Cor. 4. 15. That the abundant Grace might through the Thanksgiving of many redound to the Glory of God When many are ingaged and many are affected with it God's Glory is the more diffused the Revenue of the Crown of Heaven increased One string maketh no Musick when there are many and all in tune there is Harmonie There are three things in it many Righteous persons and joyning together with one Spirit in the same work then the Lord hath more Honour than he could have in a single person In Heaven God is praised in consort We are brought all together that we may make one Body and Congregation to Laud and Praise and Serve God for evermore So here they that fear God and hope in his mercy they often flock together to congratulate and joyn in thanksgiving for the Mercies which any one of them hath received when Christ was born there was a whole Consort of Angels Luke 2. 13. A multitude of the Heavenly host praising God saying Glory to God on high on earth peace good will towards men 'T is a kind of Heaven upon Earth when all the People of God are led by one Spirit to praise and glorifie God a Closet prayer or thanksgiving is not so honourable as that of the Congregation 3. 'T is for the Profit and Comfort of all partly because by this means they come to understand one anothers experiences for their mutual support and edification what God is to one that feareth him he is to all that fear him sincerely affected to them all therefore the goodness of God to one Believer bringeth joy and comfort to all the rest They are Spectacles and monuments of Mercy for the Saints to look upon that they may learn thereby to depend upon God Look as in converting Paul a Persecutor the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1. 16. Christ did shew forth all long-suffering in me for a Pattern to them that should after believe on him in pardoning so great a Sinner in saving such a distressed Soul to invite others to Christ So in all other cases when God delivereth one he inviteth others to the same hope they are Presidents of Mercy to the rest as David implyeth
together and find their own perswasions of the love power mercy and wisdome of God backed with the experience and testimony of others 't is a mutual strength and support to us and therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 12. That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of you and me When we converse with them that can speak not by hearsay onely but experience of the power of the blood of Christ in purifying their Consciences and his Spirit to sanctifie their hearts 't is a mighty prop 2 Cor. 1. 4. And that we may comfort others with the comforts wherewith we are comforted of God Report of a report is a cold thing not valued but a report of what we witness and experience our selves comes warmly upon our hearts Nay many times it may fall out that people of less knowledge but more feeling experience may abundantly confim the more knowing and excite them to a greater mindfulness of God and heavenly things But alas the meetings of carnal Persons what is it to this It may be they will fill your ears with stories of Hawking and Hunting the best Wine and delicious meats of Honours and Purchases in the World all which tend but to increase the gust of the flesh and the carnal favour which is banefull to us or else with idle stories the clatter of vanity which are impertinent to our great end or else about the World thriving in the World nothing about those high and excellent and necessary things of the grace of God in Christ and the truth of the promises and the glory of the world to come Psal. 37. 30 31. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment the Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide and the mouth of the righteous is as choice silver they have a sense of better things but alas from others you hear nothing but unsavory vanity which is as different from the discourse of the Children of God as the melody of a Bird from the grunting of a Hog or Swine SERMON LXXXIII PSAL. CXIX 75. I know O Lord that thy Iudgments are right and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me WE have need all to prepare for afflictions for we are to take up our Cross daily now to help you to a right Carriage under them these words well considered will be of some use to you they are the confession of an humble Soul abundantly satisfied with Gods dispensations In them observe 1. A general truth or point of Doctrine concerning the equity of Gods Judgments thy Iudgments O Lord are right 2. A particular application or accommodation of this truth to Davids case and person in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me 3. His sure and firm perswasion of both I know Let us explain these branches and parts of the Text as they are laid forth 1. The generall truth the Lords Judgments are right In which proposition there is the Subject and the Predicate The Subject or things spoken are the Lords Judgments The word is often put in this Psalm and elsewhere for Gods Statutes or precepts or righteous Laws and in this sense some take it here and make out the sense thus Lord I know that thy Iudgments viz. thy Precepts are holy just and good and this perswasion is not lessened in me though thou hast sharply afflicted me I have as great a value and esteem for thy Word as ever But rather by the Lords Judgments are meant the passages of his Providence as the latter clause sheweth those judiciall dispensations whereby he doth punish the wicked or correct his Children And let it not seem strange that the troubles and afflictions of the Godly should be called Judgments for though there be no vindictive wrath in them yet they are called so upon a double reason partly because they are acts of Gods holy Justice correcting and humbling his people for sin according to the Sentence of his word thus it is said 1 Pet. 4. 17. That Iudgment shall begin at the house of God where the Trials and Troubles of the Godly are plainly called Judgments And partly because the Lord judiciously measureth and directeth them as the state of his Children requireth and their strength will bear so 't is said Ier. 10. 24. Correct me but in Iudgment The first Notion implyeth Gods Justice the second his Wisdome And mark 't is said distinctly in the Text thy Iudgments O Lord his enemies might unjustly persecute him but thy Iudgments so far as the Lord hath a hand in it all was just and right this is the Subject or thing spoken of Secondly Here is the predicate or what is said of it are right the Heb. Tsedec the Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are righteousness it self thy dispensations are wholly made up of perfect Justice how smart soever they be they are right as to the Cause right as to the measure right as to the end The first of these respects concerneth Gods Justice the two other his Wisdome First right as to the Cause they never exceed the value of their Impulsive Iob 34. 23. He will not lay upon man more than is right that he should enter into judgment with him God never afflicteth his People above their desert nor gives any just occasion to commence a Sute against his Providence Secondly right as to the Measure not above the strength of the Patient In his own Peoples Afflictions it is so Isa. 27. 8. In measure when it shouteth forth thou wilt debate it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind God dealeth with his own with much moderation meting out their Sufferings in due proportion So Ier. 30. 11. I will correct thee in measure Thirdly right as to their end and use God knoweth how to strike in the right Vein and to suit his Providence to the purpose for which it is appointed the kind of the Affliction is to be considered as well as the Measure the Lord chuseth that Rod which is most likely to doe his work Paul had a Thorn in the Flesh that he might not be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12. 7. he was a man inured to dangers and troubles from without these were familiar to him therefore he could the better bear them but God would humble him by some pain in the Flesh which should sit near and close 2. The particular Accommodation of it to David in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Pray mark in the general Case he observeth Justice in his own faithfulness The Book called Midrash Tillim referreth these words to David's flight from Absalom when he went to Mount Olivet weeping 't was an ill time then with David he had no security then for his Life being driven from his house and home He went up Mount Olivet going and weeping 2 Sam. 15. 30. then when so great and â—…sore trouble was upon him then he saith I know that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Mark
your Interest When the main care is about your Souls you will value other losses the less as long as your Jewel is in safe hands 5. You must resign your Souls to God intirely without exception refer your selves to his Methods and let him take his own way to bring you to everlasting Glory When you do with quietness of heart put your Selves into God's hands as being perswaded of his Love and Faithfulness you will be the sooner satisfied in God's Providence seeing he doth all things well The Apostle bids them 1 Pet. 4. 19. Put your souls in Christ's hands and hold on your duty with courage and confidence chearfully and constantly You have no reason to doubt but Christ will take the custody and charge of the Soul that is committed to him 1 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed that he is able to keep that I have committed to him Venture your Souls in this bottom he hath power to keep it he hath pawned his Faithfulness in the Promise SERMON LXXXIV PSAL. CXIX 76. Let I pray thee thy mercifull kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy Servant IN the foregoing Verse he had acknowledged that God had afflicted him and now he prayeth that God would comfort him The same hand that woundeth must heale and from whom we have our Affliction we must have our Comfort Hosea 6. 1. Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will binde us up Affliction it is God's judicial Act a kind of putting the Creature in Prison which being done by the supream Judge who hath an absolute power to save and to destroy to ruine or pardon there is no breaking Prison or getting out without his leave He doth there not onely speak of Affliction but of the Justice and Faithfulness which God shewed in it 1. Justice Those that humbly confess the justice of his stroaks may with the more confidence implore his Mercy Judgement hath done its work when the Creature is humble and penitent There lieth an appeal then from the Tribunal of his Justice to the Throne of his Grace Though our Sins deserve Affliction yet there is Comfort in the mercifull Nature of God and the Promises of the Gospel David first acknowledgeth that he was justly afflicted and then he flyeth to Mercy and beggeth Comfort 2. He observeth also a Faithfulness in all God's Dispensations he doth not afflict his Children to destroy them but to prepare them for the greater Comfort As one of his Children and Servants David sueth out his priviledge God that is just and true will also be kind and mercifull To have Judgement without Mercy and Desolation without Consolation is the Portion of the Wicked but Lord saith he I am thy Servant Therefore I pray thee let thy mercifull kindness be for my comfort So that you see this Request is fitly grafted upon the former Acknowledgment In it observe 1. The original Cause of all the good which we expect Thy mercifull loving kindness 2. The Effect now sued for be for my comfort or to comfort me 3. The Instrument or means of obtaining it which is double 1. On God's part The Word According to thy Word 2. On our part Prayer Let I pray thee 1. In the Word there is the relief discovered and offered and thereby we are incouraged and assured 2. On our part there is Prayer In which we act Faith and spiritual Desire 3. We have hope given in the Word and we sue it out by Prayer 4. The Subject capacitated to receive this effect from that Cause in this order Thy Servant Doct. That the people of God have liberty and much incouragement from God's mercifull Nature and Promises to ask comfort in their Afflictions This Point will be best discussed by going over the parts and branches of the Text as they have been laid forth to you 1. The primary and principal cause of all Comfort is the mercifull kindness of God We reade in the 2 Cor. 1. 3. That he is the Father of Mercies and then it presently followeth That he is the God of all Comfort The remedy of all our Evils lyeth in the Mercy of God And his Kindness and Goodness is the Fountain of all our Blessedness I shall inquire 1. What his mercifull kindness is 2. What special incouragement this is to the People of God First What his mercifull kindness is you see here is a compound Word which importeth both his pity and his bounty Here is mercifulness and kindness mentioned First His mercifulness Mercy hath its name from misery Misericordia is nothing else but the laying of the misery of others to heart with intention of affording them relief and succour In God it noteth his readiness to do good to the miserable notwithstanding Sin The motion cometh from within from his own Breast and Bowels For our God is pitifull and of tender mercy James 5. 11. and the act of it is extended and reached out unto the Creature in seasonable relief For the Throne of Grace was erected for this purpose Heb. 4. 11. Two things there are in mercy First A propension and inclination to commiserate the afflicted Secondly A ready relief and succour of them according to our power affectus effectus First There is a compassion or a being affected with the misery of others This properly cannot be in God in whom as there is no passion so strictly speaking there is no compassion yet something Analagous there is a taking notice of our misery Something like a pity arising in his heart upon the sight of it which the Scripture frequently ascribeth to God and we can best understand as we consider the Divine perfections shining forth in the humane nature of Christ. Exod. 2. 24. He heard their groaning and Isa. 63. 4. In all their afflictions he was afflicted Judges 10. 16. His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel Forms of Speech taken from the manner of men who use to be thus affected when they see a miserable object God in his simple and perfect Nature cannot be said either to joy or grieve but he carrieth himself as one thus affected Or these expressions were laid in aforehand to suit with the Divine perfections as manifested in Christ who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities Secondly Mercy noteth the actual exhibition of help and relief to the miserable When his people cry to him he runneth to the cry Psal. 78. 38. He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath Mark there Gods forgiving the iniquity was not inflicting the temporal punishment or destroying the sinner presently the cause of all was not any good in the sinner but pity in God that moved him to spare them for the time So he doth sometimes for those that cry to him but in a natural manner as a
beast maketh its moan when 't is in pain But much more will his compassion shew it self to his people when they bemoan themselves in a spiritual manner Ier. 31. 18. 20. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself what then My bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. When Ephraim was bewailing his sins God taketh notice of it and returneth an answer full of fatherly affection that he would surely shew him mercy Gods compassion proceedeth from Love as the cause and produceth Relief as the effect Secondly The next word is Kindness that noteth the bounty of God or his free inclination to doe good without our merit and against our merit The cause is not in us but himself We draw an ill picture of God in our mind as always angry and ready to destroy No! The Lord is kind and that many times to the unthankfull and to the evil Luke 6. 35. We should all inlarge our thoughts more about Gods mercifull Nature that we may love him more that we may not keep off from him As long as we think he delighteth in the Creatures misery or seeketh occasions of man's ruine and destruction God is made hatefull No! You must conceive of him as one that is kind that doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men Lam. 3. 33. but is ready to doe good upon all occasions We need not fear any hurt from God but what we willingly bring upon our selves He destroyeth not humble Souls that lie at his feet and would have mercy upon his own terms Secondly What incouragement this is to the people of God 1. 'T is an incouragement because the object of mercy is misery Mercy is favour shewed to a miserable person Now the more sense of our misery especially of our true misery which is sin the greater hopes So that the broken-hearted are more capable of his mercy than others are God will revive the spirit of the contrite ones â—…sa 57. 15 16 17. He taketh care to comfort them and to look after them what ever be neglected Isa. 60. 2. None are so apt to presume of mercy as the careless nor none less capable of mercy or more deserve judgment While we make nothing of sin 't is easy to believe mercy In a time of peace sin is nothing Vanity and Carnality nothing a negligent course of profession nothing vain talk idle mispence of time pleasing the Flesh with all it craveth is nothing and there needeth no such niceness and strictness God is mercifull but when the conscience is awakened and we see our actions with their due aggravations especially at the hour of death and when earthly comforts fail then 't is hard to believe Gods mercy Sin is a blacker thing than they did imagine and they find it another manner of thing than ever they thought of and the same unbelief that now weakens their faith about their Duty and what belongeth to their Duty doth now weaken their faith about their comfort and what belongeth to their comfort Those that now question precepts will then question promises Well then the careless and negligent are not capable objects of the tenders of mercy but the sensible and the contrite and the serious these are the fittest objects though they think themselves farthest off from mercy Those that have a deep sense of their own unworthiness most see a need of mercy and most admire mercy Gen. 32. 10. They see that mercy doth all that there is somewhat of the pity and kindness of God in all things vouchsafed They apprehend they are alwayes in some necessity or in some dependance and they are unworthy and that it is at Gods mercy to continue or take away any comfort they have Health Liberty Strength all is dipt in mercy continued in mercy restored at mercy Secondly It is an incouragement to us because the Scripture saith so much of this mercy in God Id agit tota Scriptura ut credamus in Deum saith Luther 't is natural to him 1 Cor. 1. 3. The father of mercies not Pater ultionum but misericordiarum he is as just as he is mercifull but he delighteth in the exercise of one attribute more than the other Micah 7. 18. The other his strange work There is a fulness and plenty abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1. 3. and Psal. 51. 1. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies Our wants are many and so are our sins onely plentifull mercy can supply and overcome them They are tender mercies compared with those of a Father and Mother Of a Father Psal. 103. 13. As a Father pitieth his Children so doth the Lord pity those that fear him We need not much intreat a Father to pity his Child in misery An earthly Father may be ignorant of our misery as Iacob in Iosephs case an earthly Father pitieth foolishly but God wisely when 't is most for our benefit An earthly Fathers pity may goe no farther than affection and cannot always help his Children and relieve their misery But God as he is Metaphorically said to have the affection so he hath an alsufficient power to remove any evil present or avert that which is imminent With that of a Mother Isa. 49. 15. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee saith the Lord. In the general passions in Females are more vehement especially in humane Creatures the Mother expresseth the greatest tenderness and largeness of love God hath the Wisdome of a Father and Bowels of a Mother Mark 'T is not to an adopted Child but to her own Son her sucking Child that hangeth on her Breast cannot subsist without the Mothers care Mothers are wont to be most chary and tenderly affected towards them poor helpless Infants and Children that cannot shift for themselves Nature hath impressed this disposition on them Suppose some of them should be so unnaturall as to forget their sucking Babes which is a case rare to be found yet I will not forget you saith the Lord. They are durable compassions his compassions fail not Lam. 3. 22. They are continual mercies supplying daily wants pardoning daily failings bestowing daily mercies Oh that the miserable and the wretched those that find themselves so could believe this and plead this and cast themselves in the arms of this mercifull Father Surely the Penitent are not more ready to ask than he to give Therefore let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. Let not our Sins keep us from him our Misery rather than our Worthiness is an object of his mercy Thirdly His mercy is more to his People than to others There is a general mercy and a special mercy 1. There is a general mercy by which God sustaineth and helpeth any Creature that is in misery especially man so Christ calleth him mercifull as he sheweth himself kind to the unthankfull and evil
have it sought out this way Ezek. 36. 37. I will yet be inquired after to do it for them So Isa. 29. 10 11. Now the Reasons are these 1. Because in Prayer we act Faith and spiritual desire both which are as the opening of the Soul Psal. 81. 10. To raise our confidence or draw forth the principles of trust 2. We ask Gods leave to apply in particular what is offered in the word in general as in the next Verse let thy tender mercies come unto me Verse 77. In every thing we must ask God leave though we have right though in possession we ask leave because we may be mistaken in our claim Thirdly It is a fit way of easing the heart and disburthening our selves Phil. 4. 6 7. When we pray most and most ardently we are most happy and finde greatest ease Fourthly God will be owned as the Author of comfort whoever be the Instrument Isa. 57. 19. in prayer we apply our selves to him the Word is a soveraign Plaister but Gods hand maketh it stick many read the Scriptures but are as dead hearted when done as when they began The spirit is the comforter we are very apt to look to the next hand to the comfort but not to the comforter or the root of all which is loving kindness in God Fourthly The Subject capable thy Servant Here we may ask the Eunuchs question of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himself or of some other man Of himself questionless under the Denomination of Gods Servant But then the question returneth Is it a word of promise made to himself in particular or Gods Servants in the general Some say the former 2 Sam. 12. 13. the promises brought to him by Nathan I incline to the latter and it teacheth us these three truths 1. That Gods Servants are onely capable of the sweet effects of his mercy and the comfort of his promises Who are Gods Servants 1. Such as own his right and are sensible of his Interest in them Acts 23. 23. The God whose I am and whom I serve 2. Such as give up themselves to him renouncing all other Masters Renounce we must for we were once under another Master Rom. 6. 17. and Matth. 6. 24. and Rom. 6. 13. 1 Chron. 30. 8. 3. Accordingly frame themselves to doe his work sincerely Rom. 1. 9. Serve with my Spirit and Rom. 7. 6. In newness of Spirit so as will become those who are renewed by the Spirit diligently Acts 26. 7. and universally Luke 1. 74. and wait upon him for Grace to doe so Heb. 11. 28. These are capable of comfort The Book of God speaketh no comfort to persons that live in sin but to Gods Servants such as do not live as if they were at their own dispose but at Gods beck if he say goe they goe They give up themselves to be and doe what God will have them to be and doe 2. If we would have the benefit of the promise we must thrust in our selves under one Title or other among those to whom the promise is made if not as Gods Children yet as Gods Servants Then it is as sure as if our name were in the promise 3. All Gods Servants have common grounds of comfort every one of Gods Servants may plead with God as David doth The comforts of the word are the common portion of Gods people They that bring a larger measure of faith carry away a larger measure of comfort Oh then let us lift up our eyes and hearts to God this day and in as broken hearted a manner seek this comfort as possibly we can SERMON LXXXV PSAL. CXIX 77. Let thy tender Mercies come unto me that I may live for thy Law is my delight THE man of God had begged mercy before now he beggeth mercy again the doubling the request sheweth that he had no light feeling of sin in the troubles that were upon him and besides the People of God think they can never have enough of Mercy nor beg enough of Mercy they again and again reinforce their Suits and still cry for Mercy after he had said let thy mercifull loving kindness be for my comfort he presently addeth let thy tender Mercies come unto me that I may live In the words we have two things 1. His request let thy tender Mercies come unto me 2. A reason to back it that I may live First the request consists of three Branches 1. The Cause and Fountain let thy tender Mercies 2. The influence and outgoing of that cause or the personal application of it to David let them come unto me 3. The end that I may live 1. The cause and fountain is the Lords tender Mercies 't is remarkable that in this and the former verse he doth not mention Mercy without some additament there 't was mercifull kindness here tender Mercy Mercy in men implyeth a commotion of the bowels at the â—…ight of anothers misery so in God there 's such a readiness to pity as if he had the same working of bowels Ier. 31. 20. My bowels are troubled for him or sound for him Now some are more apt to feel this than others according to the goodness of their Nature or their special interest in the party miserable We expect from Parents that their bowels should yearn more towards their own Children than to strangers so God hath the bowels of a Father Psal. 103. 13. Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him There needeth not much a-doe to bring a Father to pity his Children in misery if he hath any thing fatherly in him 2. The outgoing of this Mercy is begged let it come unto me where by a fiction of persons Mercy is said to come or find out its way to him 3. The effect that I may live Life is sometimes taken litterally and in its first sense for life natural spiritual or eternal 2. By a metonymy for joy peace comfort now which of these senses shall we apply to this place 1. Some take it for life naturall that he might escape the death his enemies intended to him Certainly in the former Verse he speaketh as a man under deep troubles and afflictions and in the following words he telleth us that the proud dealt perversely with him and therefore he might have some apprehensions of dying in his troubles which he beggeth God to prevent 3. Some think he beggeth Gods mercy to preserve him in life Spirituall and 3. Bellarmine understandeth it of life Eternall But I rather take it in the latter sense for joy and comfort which is the result of life where 't is vitall and in its perfection Non est vivere sed valere vita 1 Thes. 3. 8. We live if ye stand fast in the truth A man that enjoyeth himself is said to live But if we take it in this notion a double sense may be started for it may imply either a release from temporal sorrows and so the sense will be have pity
see what is this Salvation which is here spoken of Salvation in Scripture hath divers acceptations it 's put 1. For that temporal Deliverance which God giveth or hath promised to give to his People So 't is taken Exod. 14. 13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord that he will shew you to day That is the wonderful deliverance which he will work for you So Lament 3. 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Meaning by Salvation their recovery out of Captivity 'T was their duty to wait for this deliverance and though it were long first yet having a Promise they were to keep up their Hope 2. For the Exhibition of Christ in the Flesh. Psal. 98. 2 3. The Lord hath made known his salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen He hath remembred his mercy and truth to the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God Clearly that Psalm containeth a Prediction of the setting up of Christ's Kingdom and a bringing of the Gentile World into subjection to it which was first to be offered to the People of the Iews and from thence to be carried on throughout all the Regions of the World So old Simeon expresseth himself Luke 2. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Meaning thereby Christ actually exhibited or born in the flesh which was the beginning of the Kingdom of the Messiah 3. For the Benefits which we have by Christ on this side Heaven as the pardon of Sin and the renovation of our Natures these are called Salvation as Mat. 1. 21. He shall save his people from their sins And Tit. 3. 5. He hath saved us by washing in the laver of regeneration And in the Old Testament Psal. 51. 12. Restore unto us the joy of thy salvation That is the joy which we have because God hath freed us from our sins 4. For Everlasting Life Heb. 5. 9. He is become the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him And 1 Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls Meaning thereby our final Reward The Text is applicable to all these But 1 most simply we must expound it of Salvation in the first sense because the drift of the Man of God in this Octonary is to shew how he was affected since God heard him not at the first cry or as soon as he prayed for deliverance Though he prayed for deliverance yet the help promised and hoped for was delayed so long till he was ready to faint and had fainted altogether but that the Promise revived and kept up his hopes 2 If these words be supposed to be spoken by the Church and in Her Name they fitly represent the longings of the Old Testament Fathers after Christ's coming in the Flesh. For as David expresseth himself here so doth old Iacob Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy salvation O Lord. That speech cometh in there by way of interruption for as he was blessing his Children he turneth to the Lord desiring his salvation by Christ of which Samson belonging to the Tribe of Dan the Tribe which he was then blessing was a special Type So 't is said of Abraham John 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Abraham knowing him to be the true Messiah did earnestly desire to see that day and to his great contentment got a sight of it by Faith 't was a sweet and blessed sight to him So Luke 10. 24. Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them That is David a King and other Prophets longed for this day So Heb. 11. 13. Having seen the promises afar off they were persuaded of them and embraced them Oh! they hugged the promises saying These will one day yield a Saviour to the world So 't is said of all the serious Believers of the Old Testament Luke 2. 25. That they waited for the consolation of Israel That is for the Redemption of the World by the blood of Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon which follow'd the calling of the Gentiles and the setting up of the Kingdom of God in the World These things the Saints longed for waited for and because the Lord suspended the exhibition of them till the fulness of time and did not presently satisfie their desires they might be said to faint but the Promise kept up their Faith in waiting and confidence I cannot wholly exclude this sense because the Salvation promised at the coming of the Messiah was the greatest and common to all the faithful They had many discouragements in expecting it from the wickedness and calamities of that people from whom as concerning the Flesh Christ was to descend But though they were ready to faint they did not give over the hope of that Salvation having God's word for it and the remembrance of it kept afoot by the Sacrifices and Types of the Law 3 Since Christ hath appeared in the Flesh and hath wrought Salvation for us we must wait and long and look for that part of Salvation which is yet to be performed as the deliverance of the Church from divers Troubles the freedom of particular Believers from their doubts and fears and finally our eternal Salvation which shall be compleated at Christ's second coming All that have the first-fruits of the Spirit are groaning for this and hoping for this Rom. 8. 23 24 25. We are to desire Heaven yet patiently to stay God's time for here is fainting and hoping or as the Apostle saith hastening to and yet waiting for the coming of the Lord 2 Pet. 3. 12. one is the effect of Desire the other of Hope Desire hastening and Hope waiting These things being cleared let us first apply the words to Temporal Deliverance Observe I. DOCT. The Afflictions of God's People may be long and grievous before any Comfort and Deliverance cometh For the Affliction continued so long upon David that his Soul even fainted There are three Agents in the Afflictions of the Saints 1. GOD. 2. SATAN 3. WICKED MEN. 1. God hath many wise Reasons why he doth not give Audience or a gracious Answer at the first call First Because he will try our Faith to see if we can depend upon him when it cometh to an extremity Thus by silence and rebukes Christ tryed the Woman of Canaan that her Faith might appear the more gloriously Mat. 15. 28. Then Iesus answered and said unto her O woman great is thy faith And by extremities he still tryeth his children Our graces are never exercised to the life till we are near the point of death that 's Faith which can then depend
upon God Job 13. 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him And Psal. 23. 4. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Many of his Children are reduced to great straits there may be no meal in the Barrel nor oil in the Cruse before God helpeth them There may be many mouths to eat little Food Iohn 6. 5 6. when there was a great deal of company and little provision Christ asketh one of his Disciples Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do So many a poor Believer is put to it Children increase Trading groweth dead Supplies fail What shall they do They pray and God giveth no answer This he doth to prove them 'T is a strong Faith which can hold out in such straits and difficulties 2dly To awaken our Importunity Luke 18. 1. And he spake a parable to them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint compared with Luke 11. 8. with the Parable ensuing So again an instance in the Woman of Canaan she turneth discouragements into arguments When Christ said It is not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it to dogs She said Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crums which fall from their masters table Mat. 15. 26 27. So the blind men Mat. 20. 31. the more they were rebuked cryed the more rather than his People shall neglect Prayer or grow formal in it God will cast them into great Afflictions as Christ suffereth the Storm to continue till the Ship was almost overwhelmed that his Disciples might awaken him Mat. 8. 25. 3dly To make us sensible of our weakness as Paul 2 Cor. 1. 9. But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead We are much given to self-confidence therefore God will break it and e're he hath done with us make us trust in him alone There is a twofold strength Natural and Spiritual 1. Natural which ariseth from that Courage that is in Man as he is a reasonable Creature This will hold out till all probabilities be spent Prov. 18. 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear Till a Man be struck at the heart his reason will support him 2. Spiritual Faith Hope Patience These may be spent when the Affliction is deep and pressing and God's help is long delay'd Faith is the strength of the Soul as Faith decayeth or is tired the Soul faints Faith may be damped and give up our case for gone Psal. 116. 11. Psal. 31. 22. They throw up all and think it is in vain to wait any longer Thus will God discover our weakness to our selves the weakness of our Reason the weakness of our Faith I remember Solomon saith Prov. 34. 10. If thou faintest in adversity thy strength is small Grievous or long Afflictions discover our strength or weakness Some are of a poor spirit give up at first assault before their strength faileth them before the probabilities which Sense and Reason offereth are spent They are lazy and love their ease Some are negligent do not make use of the helps of Faith but when evils continue long and sit close the strongest Faith is seen to be too weak God by this will humble us 4thly God doth this for his own glory and that his work may be the more remarkable and conspicuous John 12. 6 7. Iesus loved Lazarus and when he heard that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was Little love in that you will say a Man would hasten to his dying Friend Christ may dearly love his own and yet delay to help them even in their extremity till the fit time come wherein the mercy may be the more conspicuous 'T is said Eccles. 3. 11. God hath made every thing beautiful in his time Before its time God's work seemeth harsh and rough as a Statue when it is first hewn out but in its time t is a curious piece of workmanship God in his own time and way knoweth best how to comfort his People 2. 'T is the Devil's design to tire and weary out the People of God and therefore stirreth up all his malice against us Luke 22. 31 32. Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not The Devil if he might have the shaking of us and liberty to do his worst he would drive us from the faith of Christ and all hopes by him 3. Men are unreasonable in their oppositions and will not relent nor abate any thing of their rigor Zech. 1. 15. I was a litte displeased and they helped forward the affliction They are still adding to the Churches trouble and would destroy those whom God would only correct and purge as the Slave layeth on unmercifully Till God restrain it their wrath never ceaseth Well then 1 USE Let it not seem strange to us That Godly Men in their Afflictions though they flie to God and implore his Mercy are not presently delivered nor always at the first instance God hath many discoveries to make much work to do Would you have Faith rewarded before it be tryed or the beautiful frame and link of causes disturbed for your sakes Faith is not tryed to purpose till the thing we believe is not seen nor have any probability that ever we shall see it yea till we see nothing but the contrary and hope against hope we must stay till the mercy be ready for us and we ready for it an hungry Stomach would have the Meat e're it be roasted our times are always present with us when God's time is not come 2. Let us prepare for grievous and tedious Sufferings We would turn over our hard Lesson before we have sufficiently learned it we love the case of the flesh would have no Cross or a very short one Things will not be so soon or so suddenly effected as we imagine We make greater provision for a long Voyage We should be strengthned to long-suffering Col. 1. 11. as for all sort of Crosses so for long and tedious Crosses 3. If our Affliction be long observe your carriage under it Doth Faith and Hope keep you alive still Heb. 6. 12. Be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Do you keep up your prayerful affections Rom. 12. 12. Continue instant in prayer We pray as Men out of heart for fashions sake and with little life rather satisfying our Consciences than expressing our hope and confidence A damp on the Spirit of Prayer is an ill Presage Can you love God though you be not feasted with Self-comforts and present Benefits
patience continue in well doing and then we may lift up our Souls to it Our Reward is sure The second Point Is from the incident weakness because of the delay of help Mine eyes fail for thy word He had his eyes fixed upon the Promise till they were quite wearied II. DOCT. Though his People wait for him yet God may so long delay and suspend the performance of the Promises till they count it an hopeless business First Suspend The Reasons are these 1. Not because he is unwilling to give but because he will have us better prepared to receive Psal. 10. 17. Thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear We understand it usually of preparing the heart for Prayer to ask the mercy but it is also meant of preparing the heart to receive the mercy 2 Chron. 20. 35. The high places were not taken away because the people had not yet prepared their heart to the God of their fathers They were not fit to have a thorow Reformation accomplished in their days The Baker watcheth when the Oven is hot and then puts in the Bread At another time it went on roundly for God had prepared the People 2 Chron. 29. 36. When we are in a posture mercy will not be long a coming Heaven the great mercy is not given us till prepared as Heaven is prepared for us so we for it Rom. 9. 23. That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory And Col. 1. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light So other mercies our unpreparedness lieth as a block in the way and hindreth the free passage of God's mercy to us till he send his work before him c. Is. 40. 10. Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him Behold his reward is with him and his work before him 2. To awaken fervency of Prayer and that the Blessing may be the more earnestly sought after and highly valued A thing easily come by doth not stir up such a desire after it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We despise easie gotten Favors but that which is long and earnestly sought is the dearer to us Therefore the Lord to commend his Favors to us and to set a price upon them will have us pray much and long 1 Sam. 1. 27. For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me the petition which I asked of him 3. God doth it to prove and exercise our Faith Many of his servants have gone to the Grave and his Promises not yet accomplished and yet have gone to the Grave in hope Heb. 11. 13. These all dyed in the faith not having received the promises that is things promised But having seen them afar off were persuaded of them and embraced them Then is Faith tryed when we can wait for the fulfilling of the Promises when we have no present enjoyment and know not when we shall have yea likely never to see it in our days The Patriarchs lived and dyed Believers Delay and non enjoyment did not break their hearts nor could Death it self extinguish their Faith Death might bereave them of their Friends and their temporal Estate and all their earthly comforts but of Faith it could not 4. That Patience may have its perfect work It is marvellous Patience that can yet wait for the Word when it will yield us the expected comfort though our eyes fail in waiting Then is the greatest discovery of its perfection when difficulties are many hope long delayed It hath but a part of its work before to still the mind under lesser or shorter evils The perfection of a thing is never discovered till it be put to a full tryal Patience is seen in waiting as well as suffering To bear a little while is but the imperfect work of Patience some lesser degree of it as to know a letter or two in the Book is but an imperfect kind of reading but to bear much and long that 's the perfect work To lift up some heavy thing from the ground argueth some strength but to carry it for an hour or all day is a more perfect thing 5. God delayeth the accomplishment of his Promises because many times the frame of his Providence requireth it All God's works have their appointed hour and time and God will not disturb the order of causes or work sooner or later but as the beautiful frame of his Providence doth permit John 2. 4. Woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come Our time wherein we would have him work and his time wherein he will work are often very different For he will not manifest his help when it will please us best but when his glory in working may be best seen John 7. 6. My time is not yet come but your time is always ready II. The other Branch is That God may delay so long till they be disheartned and give it over as an hopeless business David saith His eyes failed for the word When a man is disappointed of the things he looketh for then his eyes are said to fail So the captive Iews complained Lam. 4. 17. As for us our eyes have yet failed for our vain help in our watching we have waited for a Nation that could not save us 1. God may delay so long till his Enemies wax high and proud as if above the reach of all evil and God had forgotten them or approved their ways Psal. 50. 21. I kept silence and thou thoughtest I was altogether like thy self So long till all their fears are over Job 21. 9. Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them And their oppressions are multiplied Psal. 10. 5 6. His ways are always grievous for he hath said in his heart I shall not be moved 2. God may delay so long till a Land be wasted by sundry successive common Judgments that light upon good and bad Ier. 12. 4. After the complaint of the prosperity of the wicked the Prophet subjoineth How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of the field wither When they relent not the Land may fare the worse for them and the Godly among the rest suffer in these general Calamities God may plague the Nation with Dearth and Famine Plague and Pestilence War and Sword Fire and Burning And all this while no ceasing of their iniquities or oppressions 3. God may delay so long till his People be strangely perplexed and know not what to make of his Providence They wonder how his Justice can endure it Jer. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that 〈◊〉 treacherously Hab. 1. 12 13. Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God
mine holy one we shall not dye O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgment and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he They cannot reconcile his Attributes and Providences We that are short-sighted and short spirited creatures see not God's Reasons yea God may delay so long till their hearts faint and their eyes fail as in these two verses Till their Faith and Patience be quite spent and they have left looking for it Luke 18. 8. Shall he find faith on the earth God loveth to shew his People their infirmity and to weaken all their courage before he will do any thing for them 4. God may delay so long in some cases that there is no hope that God will do any thing for them in this life But all Reasons for Patience are only taken from the general Judgment Jam. 5. 7 8. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. And stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh They are put off till then till the general Harvest and restitution of all things And in the mean time they must be content to sowe in tears that they may reap the fruit of their labours and sufferings at that time and have their Cause judged at his Tribunal He useth the similitude of an Husbandman Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain In some cases there may be no hope of our release till then as the Husbandman hath no profit by his seed until the Harvest Secondly I shall speak of this failing of the eyes 1. Certainly the failing of the eyes is a fault because it argueth the limiting of God which is a great sin Psal. 78. 41. They limited the holy One of Israel They limit God to times means instruments present likelihood and when these fail their hearts fail God cannot endure that his People who ought wholly to depend upon him and submit to him should prescribe to him how or when he should help as if they had a power of God or could set bounds to his Wisdom Mercy Omnipotency all which are as if he could do no more than what they conceive probable or should act when they conceive fitting and if he doth not then that he never will or can do it They prescribe to his Wisdom controul his Power question his Love and Truth 2. As it is a Fault so it is a Punishment Though David here saith Mine eyes fail with waiting for that salvation and mercy which thou hast promised in the Word yet 't is the usual Judgment of the wicked one of the Curses of the Law 'T is said Deut. 28. â—…2 Thy Sons and daughters shall be given to another people and thine eyes shall fail in looking and longing for them all the day long They should look and long for some help for the refcuing of their children even till their eyes did fail in waiting but all in vain So Iob 11. 20. The eyes of the wicked shall fail them they shall not escape but their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost They may look for good but never get the sight of it Again Deut. 28. 65. The Lord shall give thee trembling of heart and failing of eyes But though failing of eyes be a Curse of the Law yet Christ became a Curse for us 'T is said in his Name Psal. 69. 3. for that Psalm belongeth to Christ Mine eyes fail in waiting for my God And so 't is altered to us 't is a correction to humble us and fit us for better things 3. Though it be a Sin and Punishment yet the fault is not in God's delay but in the weakness and faintness of our hope There was a fault in our first resolution for Faith and Patience The Children of God usually set to themselves a shorter Period than the Lord doth And so God is not slack but we are hasty 2 Pet. 3. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And there is a weakness in the exercise of our Faith and Patience They that look long for good and the succor of his Promises the delay is troublesom to them Hope deferred maketh the heart sick Prov. 13. 12. Hope belongeth to love and the affections of pursuit and love maketh absence tedious when afflicted in the interim but Faith and dependence upon God should keep us waiting and Patience should enable us to tarry his leisure Jonah 2. 4. I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple There is our fault that we give over hope and calling upon God and depending on him and holding fast on his Covenant and Promise which we should not do When God seemeth to turn his back on the Saints yet they will not forsake him 4. The hopes of God's Children fail them long though not for ever He many times bringeth his Children to a low ebb and doth for a long time with-hold his aid yet he doth not altogether forsake them Isa. 54. 7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer USE Well then let us not be over-troubled at the delay of the promised and expected Blessings 1. We are hasty for Mercy slow to Duty Psal. 102. 2. When I call answer me speedily We cry How long But how justly may God cry How long We complain of the delay of the Promise God may more justly complain of the delay of our obedience How long do we make God stay and wait till our leisure come Jer. 4. 14. O Ierusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee And Jer. 13. 27. O Ierusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be To day now is the time we set God for Mercy to morrow for Duty God must tarry our sinful leisure and we will not tarry his holy leisure God is our Sovereign we are Debtors to him Ours is a Debt his a free Gift If God had been as quick with you as you with him where had you been 2. It argueth Weakness a short Walk is a long Journey to the weak and sickly 'T is the impatience of our Flesh and the weakness of our Faith We would make short work for Faith and Patience but God seeth then our Graces would not be found to any praise and honour God
is the best Judge of opportunities therefore all must be left to his will and pleasure Faith will not count it long for to the eye of Faith things future and afar off are as present Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen 'T is said Isa. 28. 16. He that believeth shall not make haste Sense and carnal confidence must have present satisfaction but Faith contents its self with Promises Love will not count it long For seven years to Iacob seemed as a few days Gen. 29. 20. Sufferings for Christ would not be so tedious where love prevaileth Patience would not count it long Cannot we tarry for him a little while Heb. 10. 37. Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We love our own ease and therefore the â—…ross groweth irksom and tedious 3. God is a God of Judgment Isa. 30. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment Blessed are all they that wait for him Mercy will not come one jot too soon nor one jot too late In the fittest time for God to give and for us to receive Heb. 4. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the time of need We think we stay for God but he stayeth for us If we were ripe for mercy God is always ready for he is a present help Psal. 46. 1. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble I come now to the second Clause His longing desire after it Saying When wilt thou comfort me That is David was ever and anon repeating and saying Lord When The Hebrews express their wishes by way of question Oh that thou wouldest comfort me III. DOCT. When our Hope and Help is delayed we may complain to God for want of comfort 1. What is the comfort which David intendeth In the general Consolation is opposed to Grief and Mourning Sin hath woven Calamities into our Lives and filled us with Griefs Troubles and Sorrows so that we need comfort Comfort is either Eternal Spiritual or Temporal First Eternal 2 Thess. 2. 16. Everlasting consolation and good hope through grace Luk. 16. 25. Remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Secondly Spiritual which is of two sorts 1. Comfort against the Trouble of Sin In which respect the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter In this respect the Holy Ghost biddeth them comfort the penitent incestuous person 2 Cor. 2. 7. 2. Against Affliction So God is said to comfort those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7. 6. and Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 2 Cor. 1. 3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God Thirdly Temporal So God is said to comfort those whom he freeth from Afflictions Psal. 71. 21. After deep and sore Troubles Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side So the Lord comforteth his People not by word only but also by deed not only by speaking comfort to them but also by relieving them and refreshing them and freeing them from their Troubles So Isa. 52. 9. Sing ye waste places for the Lord hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Ierusalem Though God's People lay low for a time yet his blessing can exalt them beyond all expectation and bring about such happiness as may make them forget their sorrows and miseries This is intended here Lord when wilt thou give that deliverance which I pray for and wait for at thy hands Let it not seem strange that temporal deliverance should be owned as a comfort to God's People Partly because they are Acts of God's Providence and Dispensations of his Grace sought not in a way of Faith and Prayer Zech. 1. 17. The Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Ierusalem Partly because by these he seemeth to own them and confirm them in the priviledge of his peculiar care and that they have an interest in his favor which by sad afflictions seemed to be annulled and made void But hereby God giveth proof of his favor to them Psal. 86. 17. Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me That in their affliction Godliness may not suffer nor wicked men be hardned in their insolency Partly as hereby Promises are made good and so Faith confirmed Isa. 57. 18. I will heal him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Partly as they are helps and encouragements to love and praise God and to live in a thankful course of holiness when not stopped or diverted by fear of enemies Isa. 12. 1. In that day thou shalt say O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortedst me We may serve God more cheerfully then Partly because as they have seen his Wisdom and Justice in their Troubles so now his Power and Grace and Truth in their Deliverance They are more comfortable because there is much of God discovered in them Psal. 115. 1. Lastly because they are comfortable to the natural life They are not so divested of all humane respects Yet therein the Saints moderate themselves they do not count these things their highest consolation so 't is said of the wicked Luke 6. 24. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation And Luke 16. 25. Thou receivedst thy good things Yet a sense they have otherwise how can we be humbled under Crosses or give thanks for Blessings 2dly We may complain of the delay of comfort God's Children have done so Psal. 6. 3. But thou O Lord how long Psal. 13. 1. How long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me So ver 2. How long shall mine enemies triumph over me Psal. 94. 3. Lord how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph How long shall they utter and speak hard things and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves Reasons 1. Partly because Prayer giveth ease 't is a vent to strong affections 2. It reviveth the work of Faith Hope and Patience 3. Though God knoweth when to bestow Blessings yet he will not blame the desires of his Children after them USE Well then let us seek comfort and complain not of God but to God Complaints of God give a vent to murmurings but complaints to God to Faith Hope and Patience 1. Refer the kind
will not fear what man shall do unto me And Psal. 121. 4. Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep In both there is a negative Gradation his Eye-lids try the Children of Men the Lord waketh for us all Secondly That usually he doth protect his People against the Plots of the Proud and bringeth the Mischief they intend to others upon their own heads Job 15. 35. They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit But to keep the Notion of the Text. Psal. 7. 15. He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made Psal. 9. 15 16. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth the wicked is snared by the work of his own hand They are sunk down into the pit they digged in the net which they hid is their own feet taken So Psal. 35. 7 8. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall And Psal. 10. 2. Let them be taken in the device they have imagined And Psal. 57. 6. They have prepared a net for my steps my soul is bowed down they have digged a pit before me in the midst whereof they are fallen themselves All these places shew how usual it is that their devices do not succeed yea that the wicked cannot take a nearer course to ruine themselves than to seek the overthrow of God's Church and People All their Machinations turn to their own loss and the Mischief they design to others falls constantly on themselves As a Stone thrown up or an Arrow shut up against Heaven returneth upon the head of him that throweth it Their Acts and Attempts of hurting others are converted to their own ruine and destruction seizeth upon them by that very means by which they thought to bring it upon other Men. This God doth partly as they are proud as they despise God and his People Psal. 10. 4. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts They are so confident of all they design that they will not so much as call upon God for a blessing this is so firmly laid that all things shall succeed They will not seek after God through the pride of their countenance or suppose they should pray 't is but as Balaam offering sacrifice to entice God to curse his own people The Lord tells us Prov. 21. 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Partly because of God's care and respect to his People The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal. 10. 14. He trusts his All with God who is the Patron of the innocent and oppressed USE To direct us to carry the Cause to God as David in the Text. Psal. 83. 2 3 4. For lo thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones They have said Come and let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance You must make the Lord the Party still against the wicked So Psal. 37. 12. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The wicked plotteth but do the just countermine him No the Lord interposeth he laugheth at him 'T is a mighty support to the soul to oppose his Justice to their wickedness his Omnipotency to their power his Wisdom to their craft his Love to their enmity They are in God's hands and cannot stir without him as if one designed to poyson me but cannot do it without my Fathers consent Wicked men are full of their boasts but their brags and threats are but as the brags of a man on the Scaffold who is ready to be executed Their day is coming 2dly When God doth so it must be acknowledged with thankfulness and praise yea though an old mercy Micah 6. 5. The Godly are preserved though there be Pits digged for them surely such experiences ought much to engage his Peoples hearts to him for it sheweth how mindful he is of their safety and welfare Blessed be God that yet we subsist that their devices are disappointed and their designs brought on them what they had projected against others Fourth Point That God's Law forbiddeth all Ungodly Treacherous Designs Attempts and Actions As contrary to Justice To design mischief and treachery against the life of any is the guise of wicked men As contrary to Sincerity and Godly Simplicity 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you wards Crafty and subtile dealings consenteth not with those that profess to direct their ways by the Word of God As contrary to Charity and Mercy which we owe to all men How God hath guarded the life of the innocent by his Precepts and what a base perverse spirit is it to dig Pits for them USE Here is some plea for Religion 'T is not Feralis Superstitio Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum It is not a false unnatural unkind Superstition when men under pretence of it commit such evils digging Pits laying Mines and Barrels of Gunpowder that Religion should persuade aâ—…l this The world thinks that Religion is a sowr superstition that it makes men ill natur'd no it is the peaceable and meekest thing that can be A false Religion indeed efferates the mind begets a bloody spirit Jud. 11. Gone in the way of Caâ—…n in the way of blood and murther They that have either a false Religion or are false in the true Religion indeed they are ill-natured and possest with a rough spirit unfit for humane society The true Religion which God hath established in his Law is the meekest thing in all the world Fifth Point That the Innocent should not be much troubled to be maligned and hated by them who contemn Gods Laws Why For their Wickedness Fraudulency and Cruelty is a certain Prognostick of their ruine The more their sins are aggravated their judgment cometh the sooner God's Law is wronged as well as our Interest endangered 'T is a great ease to the Conscience of the Godly that they dig Pits for us without a cause Psal. 35. 7. The most Godly and Innocent may have Pits digged for them It enencourageth us in our Addresses to God that we have no Enemies but those who are Enemies to God also and his ways and the most wicked men are most violent against Godâ—…s people Who was it first raged against the Christians but Nero and what a Beast
useful and refreshing when used in the day but if kept all night it perished and was useless It was useful in the Wilderness but ceaseth when they came to Canaan Uses are many First comfort to the Godly for their own particular He is an eternal God that ordereth and guideth all things that he may bring them to their eternal felicity and will in time admit them into it Psal. 48. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever and he will be our guide even unto death After death he will be their God still death doth not put an end to this relation for God is Abraham's God when he is dead Matth. 2â—… 32. God is the same still both in himself and to those that believe in him he will constantly guide them all the days of their life and after death receive us to the everlasting enjoyment of himself and revive our dust Oh what a blessedness is this to have an interest in such an eternal God! 2. As to the Community and Society to which they do belong God's Eternity is the Churches stability and so 't is urged in Scripture Mal. 3. 6. For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Iacob are not consumed Psal. 102. 27 28. Thou art the same and thy years shall have no end The children of thy servants shall continue So when the flourishing of the wicked is spoken of when they spring as grass Psal. 92. 8. But thou O Lord art most high for evermore If they be high God is higher and they are but upstarts to him their power is of a late rise and short continuance So Psal. 93. 2. Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting God's Throne is as eternal as his Being So Lam. 3. 17. Thou O Lord remainest for ever and thy throne from generation to generation Is the life of thy Enemies long God endureth for ever Is their power great 't is but dependent God had power before them and will have power when they shall be no more Second Use Is Terror to the wicked Heb. 10. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God They may out-live other Enemies but they cannot out-live God who abideth for ever to avenge his quarrel against them and judge you if his Controversie against them be not just since they are such impious Fools and Brutes as that they prefer the creature before the Creator and chuse temporal things rather than everlasting and prefer Earth before Heaven and the satisfaction of their bodily lusts before the saving of their souls Can you blame God of any injustice in dooming them to everlasting misery What part of the punishment would you have relaxed the Loss or the Pain the Loss is double of God's favor or their natural comforts Would you have God admit those to the sight and everlasting fruition of himself who never cared for him Or return again to their natural comforts that they may eternally run Riot with them or abuse them to an occasion of the flesh Or is it the pain Would you have God take off that when the sin and impenitent obstinacy doth still continue since they preferred a temporal good before that which is eternal and would sell their birthright for one morsel of meat Heb. 12. 16. How just is it for God to make them everlastingly to lie under the fruits and effects of their own evil choice Third Use. Is to press us to seek after the everlasting fruition of this blessed and ever glorious God because many live as if they had never heard of things eternal most live as if they did not believe any such thing the best do not improve those things as they ought therefore I shall a little insist upon a quickening exhortation to stir you up to seek an eternal happiness in God 1. As we are reasonable Creatures we were made for Eternity for God hath given us an immortal spirit and there is no proportion between an immortal soul and temporal things it cannot be content with any thing that shall have an end for then we may survive our happiness if we had souls that would perish it would be more excusable to look after things that perish What will you do when your Souls shall be turned out of doors when ye fail Luke 16. 9. To what Region will the poor shiftless harborless Soul betake it self when you dye All your thoughts that concern the present world perish and if you did perish too it were no such great matter But you shall live and what will you have to comfort your selves if you have not an interest in the Eternal God in whose hands will you be if you have slighted him while you were upon earth and the eternal happiness he offereth to us and could not find enough in God and his Eternal Salvation to take off your hearts from the pleasures and vanities of the world Can you expect that he will favour you and be kind to you 2. Eternity is made known to us Christians and clearly set before us in the doctrine of the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. he hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel Nature hath but guesses at it the Law but shadows but here 't is clearly certainly and fully revealed You know that you have an Eternal God to please and an infinite and eternal reward to expect The whole drift of our Religion is to call us off from Time to Eternity from this world to a better Christ came not to settle us here in a state of prosperity nor to make this world our Rest and Portion but to draw us up to God and Heaven 3. The same Religion sheweth that we are already involved in an Eternal misery and stand under a sentence binding us over to the Curse and Everlasting wrath of God Ioh. 3. 18. He that beleiveth not is condemned already and this is the Condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil God hath offered Life and Immortality to them who have so miserably lost it and involved their souls in Eternal death Therefore if we know what it is to be liable to the wrath of an eternal God and to be interessed in the hopes of eternal glory we should awaken and be more serious in a business of such concernment 4. You will shortly be summoned to give an account Luke 16. 2. You have received so much from me such Riches Honours Parts Sufficiencies such Invitations to draw you home to me what will you answer Nay there is not only a little time between you and Judgment but a little time between you and Execution nothing but the slender thread of a frail life which is soon fretted asunder and will you can you sleep in sin so near Eternity and laugh and dance over the brink of Hell you cannot soon enough flee from wrath to come 5. Consider what poor deluded
them afar off were persuaded of them and embraced them Secondly That the same common promises have been fulfilled to the Faithful in all Ages there is but one and the same way to eternal life in necessary things and the dispensations of God to every Age are still the same and so in every Generation the promises of God are still fulfilled as if they were directed to that time only God's Faithfulness hath been tryed many ways and at many times but every Age furnisheth examples of the truth of his promises from the beginning of the world to the end God is ever fulfilling the Scripture in his Providential Government which is double External or Internal 1. External in the deliverance of his People the answers of Prayer and manifold Blessings vouchsafed to Believers and their seed See Psal. 22. 4 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded The Godly in former times trusted God and trusted constantly in their Troubles and in their trusting they cryed and did never seek God in vain which should support us in waiting upon God and to depend on his mercy and sidelity For they that place their full affiance in God and seek his help by constant and importunate addresses shall never be put to shame 2. Internal in conversion to God the comforts of his Spirit establishment of the Soul in the hopes of the Gospel as to the pardon of sins and eternal life Certainly God that hath blessed the Word thoroughout many Successions of Ages to the converting and comforting of many Souls sheweth that we may depend upon the Covenant for pardon and eternal life How many have found comfort by the promises Now as the Apostle speaketh of Abraham It was not written for himself alone but us also Rom. 4. 23 24. So these comforts were not dispensed for their sake alone but for our benefit that we might be comforted of God having the same God the same Redeemer the same Covenant and Promises and the same Spirit to apply all unto us if they looked to God and were comforted why should not we his faithfulness is to all generations he is alike to Believers as they be alike to him Rom. 3. 22. there is no difference 5. That the experience of God's Faithfulness in former Ages is of use to those that follow and succeed to assure them of God's Faithfulness for God's wonderful and gracious works were never intended meerly for the benefit of that Age in which they were done but for the benefit also of those that should hear of them by any creditable means whatsoever 't is a scorn and a vile contempt put upon those wonderful works which God made to be had in remembrance if they should be buried in oblivion or not observed and improved by those that live in after-ages yea 't is contrary to the Scriptures 〈◊〉 Psal. 145. 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts Joel 1. 3. Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation Joshua 4. 6 7 8. That this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come What mean you by these stones then shall you answer them That the waters of Iordan were cut off from before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God So Psal. 73. 3 4 5 6 7. That which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us We will not hide them from their children shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done For he established a testimony in Iacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments From all which I observe 1. That we should tell generations to come what we have found of God in our time and more especially Parents should tell their children they are bound to transmit this knowledge to their children and they to improve it either by word or deed by word by remembring the passages of providences and publishing his mercies to posterity Psal. 89. 1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth I will make known thy faithfulness to all generations Or by deed putting them in possession of a pure Religion confirmed to us by so many providences and instances of God's goodness and truth 2. That this report of God's gracious works and owning his Covenant is a special means of Edification why else should God enjoin it but that the Ages following should receive benefit thereby Surely 't is an advantage to them to hear how God hath owned us in Ordinances and Providences 3. And more particularly I observe that this Tradition is a great means and help to Faith for 't is said Ver. 7. That they may set their hope in God 6. That to be satisfied in point of God's Faithfulness is of great importance to Believers Partly because their fidelity to God is much encouraged by his fidelity to us They that do not trust God cannot be long true to him Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be found in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God And Iam. 1. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that doth not stick fast to God and is ever unresolved being divided between hopes and fears concerning his acceptance with God A wavering Christian that is divided between God and some unlawful course for his safety divided between God's ways and his own and cannot quietly depend upon his promises but is tossed to and fro doth not intirely trust himself in Gods hands but doth wholly lean upon his own Carnal confidence And partly because God is Invisible and dealeth with us by proxy by messengers who bring the word to us We see not God in person Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversations Their manner of living their perseverance till death in this faith and hope And partly because the Promises are future and the main of them is to be accomplished in another world Now nothing will support us but the faithfulness of God Prov. 11. 18. The wicked worketh a deceitful work but to him that soweth righteousness there shall be a sure reward Men think to be happy by their sin but find themselves deceived at last but none can be deceived that trust in the living and true God Partly because
he in heaven and in earth and in the seas and all deep places Again Psal. 148. 8. Fire and hail snow and vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word So Iob 38. 12. The clouds are turned about by his counsels The changes in the Air by Storms and Tempests are not by chance but are all directed by God for some intent of his and in what work he doth employ them they fail not to execute his Will and by these things many times God hath executed great matters in the world Iudges 5. 20. The Stars in their course fought against Sisera By their influence Iosephus saith caused a great Storm of Hail and Rain that they could not hold up their Targets 4. Sickness and Diseases Mat. 8. 9. Speak but the word and my servant shall be healed Christ wonder'd at his Faith So that all things contained in Heaven and earth are at God's beck and do whatsoever he hath ordained Use is To teach us to increase our Faith by this meditation there are two things by which we glorifie God by subjection and dependence or the two bonds by which we adhere to him are Faith and Obedience Faith by which we trust our selves in his hands Obedience by which we submit to his Will to his commanding Will by holiness to his disposing Will by patience Now the one increaseth the other Faith doth mightily befriend obedience if we can depend upon God we will subject our selves and be faithful to him The first cause of man's warping was that he would be at his own finding God taunted him with it Gen. 3. 22. And the Lord said Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil While man contented his mind in the Wisdom Goodness and All-sufficiency of God he kept innocent but when he grew distrustful of God and desired as the Prodigal to have the stock and portion in his own hands he presently fell from God and would preserve himself by his own shifts and skill The â—…eason why we are not faithful to God is want of Faith and trust in his Fatherly care and will be at our own finding Heb. 3. 12. Trust him and you will adhere to him distrust him and you will depart from him Man would have his safety and comforts in his own hand rather than Gods and this is a deadly blow to our obedience 2. There is one consideration feedeth and encourageth both our dependance upon God and our subjection to him and that is a sound and thorough persuasion of God's All-sufficiency Gen. 17. 1. I am God Almighty walk before me and be thou perfect We will trust God in the way of our duty aâ—…d not flie to our own carnal shifts Now that which doth assure us of God's Power and All-sufficiency to effect his Promises and do us good is that which is here represented First His Power is implied which made the world out of nothing Other Artificers must have matter to work upon or else their Art will fail The Mason must have Timber and Stones prepared to his hand or he cannot build an House The Goldsmith must have gold and silver or he cannot make so much as a Cup or a Ring but God made the world out of things that did not appear Heb. 11. 4 yet it standeth fast Now this Power is engaged to us in the Promises 2dly Here is a Power which placeth and maintaineth all things in their order both in Heaven and Earth and causeth every part of nature to do its office and therefore why should not we live in a total dependance upon God for life and being every moment What God hath once setled it doth and shall continue in the order that he hath appointed The same power that created them upholdeth them The same wisdom directeth and ordereth them still therefore when he hath setled Grace in the established order of a Covenant with his people the Word of God is a foundation that cannot fail for God needeth no other means to effect any thing but his own Word and Will The Word of God is as powerful in the work of Grace as in the works of Nature to renew convince subdue and comfort the heart Heb. 4. 12. For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God To the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every thing that exalteth its self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Depend upon that word Psal. 130. 5. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 'T is as unchangeable as powerful Isa. 45. 23. The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return Psal. 89. 34. I will not alter the thing that is gone out of my lips 3dly Here is a Power to which they are subject For they are his servants and be they never so averse and opposite to God they cannot hinder his work for he performeth what he will and who can let certainly what God hath engaged himself to do he will not fail to bring it to pass to give grace at present and glory hereafter Psal. 84. 11. Look neither upon the weakness of the means nor the greatness of the work but the truth and power of him that promised 3. Here is something offered to each apart both to feed trust and dependance and to engage to subjection and obedience First For trust and dependance 1. We see here that God is a great God who taketh the care and charge upon him of the sustentation and government of all things to their proper ends and uses How soon would the world fall into confusion and nothing without his power and care Now this should recommend him to our esteem and love Oh what a blessed thing is it to have an interest in this powerful and Almighty God! All his strength and power is engaged for the meanest and weakest of his children 1 Pet. 1. 5. We are kept by the power of God to salvation And therefore we are bidden to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Surely they are blessed that have such a mighty God on their side and engaged with them against their enemies 1 Iohn 4. 4. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world He can enable them to do their work satisfie their desires maintain them in the midst of opposition Iohn 10. 24. My Father which gave them me is greater than all Such is the efficacy of his Providence that he can subject all things to himself make them servants to do what he would have them Oh how safe is a Christian in the Love and Covenant and
will Oh! then live not as your own or Satans and the Flesh's but as the Lords Let us come to the ground of his Plea Save me David doth not say Thou art mine save me but I am thine These two are Correlates he that speaks the one speaks both If we be Gods God is ours I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and yet David saith I am thine but doth not say Thou art mine for four Reasons 1. Because this is first in our apprehension we know God to be ours by giving up our selves to be his His choice and election of us that 's a secret till it be evidenced by our choice of him till we choose him for our Portion Well then a Believer cannot always say God is his but a Believer is always resolved to be the Lords by his own choice and dedication they resolve to be his and not their own Though you cannot discern your election that God hath chosen you yet it is comfortable to renew your Resignation of your selves to God Resignation that 's our Act and is more sensible to Conscience than God's Election Lord I have none in Heaven but thee and whom do I desire in comparison of thee God will not refuse such a soul that is thus willing to tack himself upon God will not be put off I am thine As the Campani when they begged the Romans to help them and they refused they came and gave themselves and their whole Estates to be Vassals to the Romans with this Plea If you will not defend us as your Allies defend us as your Subjects Thus a gracious soul will tack himself upon God and will not be put off I will not be my own but thine 2. I am thine he saith so because this was the best check to the present temptation David was then in fear of his life when he spoke this when the wicked lay in wait to destroy him ver 95. They wanted neither malice nor power to do it then saith David I am thine In afflictions God seems to break down the Hedge and lay his People open in common with others to the fury of the judgment that is then upon them In regard of God's outward dealings little appearance different between us and them but then we must say Lord I am thine though involved in the same judgment yet Lord thou canst put a difference I am thine 2 l et 2. 9. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation how to put a distinction and difference between his own and others so that our distinct interest I am thine it is a relief to the soul. 3. Saints observe a difference when they speak to God and when they plead with their own hearts when they speak to God then they mention their own Resignation Lord I am thine but when they would revive their own drooping souls then they say God is mine Compare the Text with Psal. 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul c he is my God God is mine and wilt thou be trou led But when they speak to God I am thine so they raise their hearts in a holy confidence The interest is mutual In dealing with our own unbelief it is best to urge our interest in God He is mine but when in Prayer God's interest in us Lord I am thine 4. This is the more humbling way to urge our own Resignation See Psal. 116. 15 16. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints then presently Ah Lord truly I am thy servant c. God's children may be exposed to hazards alike but their blood is precious to God Now though the world thinketh lightly of their death yet God doth not think so how doth David apply this comfort Precious in the sight c. He doth not say as the force of the words would seem to carry it Lord I am one of thy Saints but Lord I am thy servant he takes a more humble Title There 's many a man fears and doubts to apply the Priviledges of God's children under some higher Title yet they should apply them in a Title sutable to their condition and measure So did David he presumeth not to say Thou art mine that were a higher challenge but yet such as God's condescention will warrant him but he doth aver and assert his own Resignation which is a more dutiful and humble way of confidence Again he doth not say I am thus and thus but I am thine He doth not plead Property or good Qualification but he pleads God's Propriety in him Lord I cannot say I am perfect and upright as I should be yet I am thine It is good to own God in the humbling way and take hold of Promises on the dark side so doth Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying c. As if he had said Nay if that be a faithful saying then I can put in a Plea I am sinner enough for Christ to save Thus by these lower ways of application we may derive and take out to our selves the comfort of the Promises Doct. 2. God's interest in his People is the ground of his care for their safety It may be pleaded as a ground of his care for their safety Lord I am thine and therefore save me this is David's Plea in a time of danger And so Christ when he was to leave his Disciples to the troubles of a furious opposite world how doth he plead for them John 17. 6. Thine they were and thou gavest them me therefore keep them through thine own Name We may pray to God with more confidence for our safety in a time of danger when we can plead his Interest in us How doth his Interest prove a ground of confidence and plea for Prayer in a time of danger 1 God's knowledge of them 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Lord knows those that are his He hath a particular exact knowledge of all the Elect and who they are that shall be saved they are engraven as it were upon the palms of his hands he takes notice of them and of the condition in which they are Iohn 10. 3. He calleth his own sheep by name Christ knows them by Head and Pole 2 His care over them and his affection to them Interest in general is a very endearing thing That which is mine doth more affect me than that which is another mans 1 Tim. 5. 8. He that careth not and provideth not for his own is worse than an Infidel It is an unnatural thing for a man not to affect his own and will God suffer that which is his own to be snatched out of his hands and used by evil men according to their pleasure A Man is careful of his own children to dispose of them in a safe place and careful of his own Jewels the Saints are not as God's Lumber but as his Jewels they are dearer to God than all things else Isa. 43. 3 4. I am the Lord thy God
would desire to know more of God therefore the Word is dear and precious to them because it discovers so much of God Hosea 6. 3. This is their property they follow on to know the Lord. They do not content themselves with their first and infant Notions but aspire to know him more and more for their love fear and trust and all doth depend upon the knowledge of God If we had more knowledge of God we should love him more and trust him more Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee We know God but as men born blind know the fire they know there is such a thing as fire for they feel it warm them but what it is they know not so that there is a God we know but what he is we know little and indeed we can never search him out to perfection a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite The Saints are following on to know the Lord they desire to know more and more and there is no such means to discover God to them as this way 2 The use of the Word is to convert the soul and to bring it home to God Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the soul. There is the perfection of God's Word it is God's instrument for converting of souls or turning of them back to him again For Conversion take it in its whole latitude compriseth this to humble us to cleanse us to bind up our broken hearts because of all these uses the children of God love his Word It serves 1. To humble us for sin Ier. 23. 29. Is not my Word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces He appeals to it as things that we may find by experience that the Word of God is not only a hammer to break but a fire to melt As a batter'd Vessel when it is to be new form'd must be melted that it may be capable of this new form so no such way to melt the heart and make it capable of God's pâ—…pose as the Word of God no such thing to break the heart no such terrors and agonies like those the Word works and to melt the heart to make it pliable to God's use no such thing as the Word of God to affect us for sin for sin as it is a breach of God's Law or an offence to God 2. It hath this use to cleanse the heart and subdue it to the obedience of Christ Psal. 119. 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word Young men who more stubborn and boistrous than they that are carried on with great strength and fervor in the very heat of their rebellion against God Well the Word of God can cleanse the heart of a young man As Plato saith of Youth That it is such a Beast as will not easily come to hand Now for cicurating and taming this Beast for the captivating those rebellious affections in youth and cleansing and working out the filthiness that is in us nothing like the Word and it is by these spiritual weapons that every thought is brought into captivity to Christ 2 Cor. 10. and then as it is obstinate the power of the Word breaks the force of our lusts 3. For comforting and binding up the broken hearted Humane wisdom and eloquence can do nothing to purpose this way but when God by the Word reveals to a man his righteousness then his flesh shall come again as a childs he shall return to the days of his youth Iob 33. 25. Though a man before did walk up and down as a Ghost was as it were a walking Skeleton and his marrow was suck'd out of his bones by the terrors of the Lord that were upon him yet when he hath Godâ—…s Word to shew under God's hand for his pardon this brings his comfort his flesh shall revive he shall return fresher than a child and shall return to the days of his youth his strength joy and comfort shall come again therefore O how they love the Law because they have felt in their heart it must be God's Word for that which wounds must also heal 3 To make us perfect as well as to begin the work 2 Tim. 3. 17. it is said The Word of God is able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished to all good works so that in this perfection there are three Uses for which the Word serves 1. For building up in Faith or increasing in internal Grace The Word of God is not only for Novices but for grown persons that there may be a continual dropping into the lamps as it was in the Vision of Zechariah Acts 20. 32. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified It is not enough to lay a foundation but there must be a building up Now what is that which builds us up The word of his grace that is God's blessing upon the reading and hearing the Word for the Apostle speaks it when he was taking leave of the Ephesians I commend you to God and the word of his grace that is the word of grace sent among them by their ordinary Officers continued to them blessing the reading and hearing the Word by their ordinary Officers there would be no need of Paul the room should be supplied Habits of grace must still be maintained by fresh influences and they always come into us by the Word of God therefore after we are converted and born again the Word is useful that we may grow thereby 2 Pet. 2. 2. 2. To direct our practice that 's one use the Word serves for so it is said 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place In this state of ignorance wherein we are for that 's figured by those words in a dark place sure it is a great blessing to have a light shining to us that we may not wander and fall into the snares wherewith we are encompassed We are apt to forget and mistake our way we are very forgetful and our way is narrow hardly found and hardly kept and Satan is full of wiles and deceits like an ignis fatuus ready to lead us out of the way therefore we had need have a sure guide and a sure light Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths It is a light not only to our paths for the choice of our general way but for all our steps to direct us in all our ways 3. To comfort us in all conditions under our crosses confusions and difficulties we have all from the Word of God Psal. 119. 50. This is my comfort in my affliction for thy Word hath
his mouth and walk in the way that is pointed out by his Word and Spirit you shall have enough to direct you in all your ways 2. It doth warn us of all our dangers It doth not only in the general call upon us to watch Mat. 13. 37. and walk circumspectly Eph. 5. 15. but it discovers all those deceits particularly whereby we may be surprized diverted and turned out of the way There are snares in Prosperity snares in Adversity Temptations you meet with in praying trading eating drinking in your publick undertakings and in your private converse it shews your danger in all your ways before you feel the smart of them therefore give up your selves to God's direction reading hearing meditating believing and practising read hear it often then the deceits of Satan will be laid open and the snares of your own hearts Christians an exact Rule is of little use if you do not consult it Gal. 6. 16. Peace and mercy be upon all them that walk according to this Rule That order their conversations exactly the word signifies that try their work as a Carpenter doth by his square they examine their actions by the Word of God what they are now a doing therefore consult with it often then meditate of it ponder it seriously 2 Tim. 2. 7. Consider what I say and the Lord give thee understanding in all things If we would have understanding by the Word there must be consideration Man hath a discursive faculty to debate things with himself Why this is my duty what would become of me if I slep out of God's way here 's danger and a snare What if I should run into it now it is laid before me And then believe it surely Heb. 4. 2. The Word profited not not being mixed with faith in them that heard it Believe God upon his Word without making tryal You hear much of living by sense and by saith living by faith is when we bear up upon the bare Word of God and encourage our selves in the Lord but living by sense is a trying whether it be so or no as they that will not believe Hell shall feel Hell and they that will not believe the Word of God shall smart for it Heb 11. 7. Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark. It may be there were no preparations to the accomplishment of the Curse and Judgment the Word threatned it 's a thing not seen yet he prepared an Ark. When a man is walking in an unjust course all things prosper for awhile the misery the Word threatens is unseen Ay but if you would grow wiser by the Word than men can by Experience you must look to the end of things Psal. 73. 17. I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end And then practise it diligently A young Practiser hath more understanding than an ancient Notionallist Psal. 111. 10. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments It is not they that are able to speak of things and savor what the Word requires but they that do what they hear and discourse of Gregory saith We know no more than we practise and we practise as we know these two always go together The Word doth us no good unless there be a ready obedience therefore this is wisdom when we give up our selves to God's direction whatever it cost us in the world Doct. 2. That young ones may have many times more of this wisdom than those that are ancient Divers instances there are Ioseph was very young sold into Egypt about 17 years of age and when he was in Egypt Psal. 105. 22. He taught his Senators wisdom speaking of the Senators of Egypt With how much modesty did he carry himself when his Mistriss laid that snare Isaac was young and permitted himself to be offered to God as a Sacrifice Samuel was wise betimes 1 Sam. 2. 26. It is said The child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men From his Infancy he was dedicated to God and God gives him wisdom to walk so that he was in favor with God and men yea God reveals himself to Samuel when he did not to Eli. David when he was but 15 years of age fought with the Lion and Bear and somewhile after that with Goliah when he was a ruddy youth Iosiah when he was but eight years old administred the Kingdom before he was twelve sets upon serious Reformation Ieremiah was sanctified from the womb Ier. 1. 5. And Iohn the Baptist leapt in his Mother's womb Luke 1. 35. In the 32d of Iâ—…b the Ancients Iob's Friends are spoken of pleading their Cause wise young Elihu brings wiser words and better arguments than those that came to comfort Iob. Solomon asked wisdom of God when he was young Daniel and his Companions those four children as they are called Dan. 1. 17 18. it is said The Lord filled them with wisdom above all the ancient Chaldeans And Timothy the Apostle speaks of his youth and bids him flee youthful lusts he was young yet very knowing and set over the Church of God Our Lord Iesus at 12 years old puzled the Doctors In Ecclesiastical Stories we read of one at 15 years of age dyed with great constancy for Religion in the midst of sundry tortures Ignatius pleads the cause of the Bishop when he was but a very youth but a man powerful in doctrine and of great wisdom and therefore he saith He would have them not look to his appearing youth but to the age of his mind to his wisdom before God And he saith There are many that have nothing to shew for their age but wrinckles and gray hairs So there are many young ones in whom there is an excellent spirit and in all Ages there are instances given of youth of whom it may be said That they are wise beyond their years For the Reasons why many times young ones may have more wisdom than those that are aged God doth so 1. That he might shew the freedom and sovereignty of his grace He is not bound to years nor to the ordinary course of nature but can work according to his own pleasure and give a greater measure of knowledge and understanding to those that are young and otherwise green than he will to those that are of great age and more experience in the world You have this reason rendred Iob 32. 7 8 9. I said days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom There 's the ordinary course But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Great men are not always wise neither do the aged understand judgment Though all men have reason and a spirit yet the Spirit of God is a wind that blows where he lists Those that exceed others in time may come behind them in grace He gives a greater measure many times of grace and knowledge to shew his
first declinings are a cause of all the rest remitting your watch and spiritual fervor by degrees you do not walk with such a strait foot he that looketh to the House to keep it tight and in constant repair prevents the fall of it 2. If through our infirmity we miscarry at any time we must not persist in a wrong course but reclaim speedily not depart wickedly Psal. 18. 21. not lie in the dirt when we have caught a fall There is a departing out of infirmity and a departing wickedly A Candle sucketh light if presently kindled again the longer we lie in our sins the worse the more care and the more speedy the more likely to succeed when there is any breach between us and God not lie in it 2dly As to publick Actions We live in changeable times but it is well that we have a sure Rule this may stablish your hearts if governed by sense and interest with what a gracious face shall we appear to the world Though you meet with troubles for being exact and punctual as to principles of Conscience and many disappointments from God yet in the issue that will be found to be the best course for you and yours Now when you see your duty for which you must consult both with Word and Spirit take heed of two things 1. Unbelief Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God The cause of Apostasie is Unbelief they do not look upon God's directions as judgments Men that look to the present face of things cannot see things to come and so miscarry Hezekiah in the midst of dangers and difficulties was steddy to God 2 Kings 18. 5 6. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel He clave to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses Every duty hath a sanction invested with promises and threatnings therefore as there needeth obedience to make conscience of the precept so faith to believe the sanction which doth enliven the duty and keep our hearts under the awe of it 2. Mortification For till there be an indifferency to all events in temporal things we shall ever be departing and turning off from God sometimes allured out of our obedience sometimes afrighted out of it therefore till dead to worldly accidents and interests we are easily turned out of the way Heb. 12. 13. Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way That which is lame feeble and fearful good men may be carried away thus as Peter Too weak and unconstant are the best of men the least blast of temptation will make them leave off the course of well-doing and without respect had to conscience or credit openly to desert it For fear of man's offence Peter slippeth from his duty fear of losing applause or incurring hatred with men maketh us venture on God's dishonour unmortifi'd lusts make us more tender of our selves than of God Second Point That Divine Teaching causeth Constancy For therefore David saith I departed not for thou hast taught me Here 1. What it is to be taught of God 't is often spoken of in Scripture Isa. 54. 13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. John 6. 45. All taught of God Now God teacheth outwardly by his Word but inwardly by his Spirit these two must not be severed Our hearing is necessary Eph. 4. 21. If so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus The ordinary means of hearing him preached and set forth in the Gospel and publick Ministry and by that means doth Christ make use of it to teach us by his Spirit so Iohn 6. 45. Heard and learned of the Father it doth not seclude a teaching Ministry in the Gospel but it is said 1 Thes. 4. 9. Ye your selves are taught of God to love one another And 1 Iohn 2. 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him It is a Rhetorical insinuation the Negative to be understood comparatively man 's teaching is nothing to what you have already by the Spirit On the other side much more doth it not exclude the Spirit upon whom the efficacy dependeth God teacheth by men but the effect is from his grace Mark 16. 20. They went forth preaching the Word the Lord working with them 1 Cor. 3. 6. Paul may plant and Apollo water but God giveth the increase The internal efficacy working by external means Docet Spiritus Sanctus sed per verbum saith Ferus docent Apostoli sed per co-operationem Spiritus Sancti God worketh in and by the means 2. Inwardly God teacheth two ways 1. By common Illumination 2. Special Operation 1. Common Illumination barely enlightning the mind to know or understand what he propoundeth by his Messengers so Rom. 1. 20. God shewed it to the Heathen For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse But then 2dly By way of special Operation effectually inclining the will to embrace and prosecute duties so known Ier. 31. 33. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts This way of teaching is always effectual and persuasive now in this sense they are taught of God that they do not only get an ear to hear but an heart to understand learn and practise Secondly Why this teaching is the ground of constancy 1. They that are thus taught of God see things more clearly than others do God is the most excellent Teacher One man seeth a thing by candle-light another by day-light he seeth most clearly that seeth by noon-day The light of the Spirit doth clearly manifest things both Object and Faculty The Unction teacheth us all things 1 Iohn 2. 20. 2 Cor. 3. 18. A distinct clear abiding light Carnal men are blind 2 Pet. 1. 9. How sharp sighted soever in other things yet blind they do not see so as to affect their hearts 2. They know things more surely and with certainty of demonstration whereas others have but dubious conjectures and loose and wavering opinions about the things of God Iohn 6. 69. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God John 17. 8. Known surely that I came out from thee The many temptations and assaults we meet with need such a certain apprehension 3. This teaching is so efficacious and powerful as that the effect followeth Psal. 86. 11. Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth 1 Cor. 2. 4. 'T is a lovely teaching causing us to cleave to what is taught 4. God reneweth this
him from it but to preserve him in it If you ask why God's Children are thus afflicted I answer It is not Heaven we now enjoy 1. We are not in our eternal rest therefore here we must be exercised tried afflicted The World is a middle place between Heaven and Hell therefore have somewhat of both their principles and actions are mixt so their condition is mixt intermixt with sorrows and joys until they come there where they shall rest from all their labours So it must be 2. God doth it to purge out sin Isa. 27. 9. By this shall the iniquity of Iacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Gold is cast into the fire why to have its dross consumed Corn is beaten with the Flail why to be severed from its chaff husks and straw and Iron is fil'd to get off its rust so this is the fruit of all the taking away sin Afflictions are a necessary cure for sin Iohn 15. 2. Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Look as in a Vine there are certain superfluous luxuriant leafs and branches that grow up with the fruit and hindreth the increase of it which the Vine-dresser pares off not to destroy the Vine but to cultivate and manure it so it is with no ill intent So corruption grows up with our graces and hindreth us that we cannot bear fruit when we are in a flourishing condition therefore these need to be purged away 3. God doth it to humble us This was that which God aimed at in all his afflictive dispensations towards the people of Israel Deut. 8. 2. God's eminent servants need affliction to humble them David had many things to puff him up his Royal Dignity the Gift of Prophecy Familiarity with God great Opulency many Victories Pride of Life c. and he needed many afflictions to keep him humble Psal. 132. 1. Paul he was apt to be lifted up with abundance of Revelations therefore God humbled him with a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12. 7. Use 1. If we be out of affliction let us provide for a time of exercise David a Saint is afflicted God's Bosom friends may feel his hand sore upon them David a King is afflicted those in the highest station have their incident cares and troubles David an Old Testament Believer saith I am afflicted I observe this because God then dispensed himself to his people in and by temporal promises and yet even then they had great mixtures of trouble to shew that which they had in the world was not all they had to expect from God The promises now in the New Testament now life and immortality is brought to light they run to us in another strain not of temporal but spiritual things therefore we must expect our portion of sorrow before we go to Heaven Be not of such a woman like nature and so delicately brought up as never to see evil days for ought I see we are entring upon our trial The strain of our Ministry is mainly consolatory usually but there comes a time of expence and laying out when such comforts are to be laid up in our heart therefore let us be provided 2. If we be for the present under affliction let us bear it with patience observing how God's ends are accomplished It is smart and grievous now Heb. 12. 11. but it will be salutary and healthful it will yield to you righteousness and that righteousness will yield you peace give the peaceable fruit of righteousness If God will take away the fuel of our sin empty us of our pride self-conceit weaken the security of the flesh let us be content only let us take heed that the time of mortifying sin be not the time of discovering sin and that we do not trespass the more To be sinning and suffering is the case of the damned Take heed you do not sin in your suffering especially take heed of those sins that are proper to affliction Fainting If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is but small Distrust of God's Providence I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul Despair of God's Promises I said I am cut off c. Then you lose the benefit of God's Family Discipline when you yield to these sins But see how it drives you out of the way of Hell for affliction is a gentle remembrance of Hell for look as those whose garments were singed as when they threw the three Children into the Furnace their own garments were singed by the force of the flame they knew what it was to be thrown into the Pit So the Lord in effect doth tell you what will be in Hell this is a gentle remembrance stand farther off that you may not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 10. 32. And then how it quickens you to look after heavenly things for when the outward man decays then look to things not seen 2 Cor. 4. 17. When you are fitted more and more for your change when you grow more humble mortified as stones are hew'd and squar'd for the building Let us come to the degree I am afflicted very much the Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am afflicted very sore Doct. The Afflictions of God's People may not only be many but very sore and heavy So David here and Psal. 71. 20. Thou hast shewed me great and sore troubles Why many 1. Many and strong lusts are to be subdued and we need great afflictions to subdue many and great corruptions Some stains are not easily washt out but need much rubbing When Pride is deeply rooted in the heart God brings down even to the grave that a Man goes up and down like a walking Ghost and like a Skeleton or dry bones there is such an one described Iob 33. 17. with 22. and why to bring down pride in his heart The Physick must be according to the distemper if the distemper be more rooted the Physick must be more strong Psal. 107. 11 12. Because they rebelled against the Word of the Lord and contemned the counsel of the most high Therefore he brought down their heart with labor they fell down and there was none to help When people begin to grow high and stomackful contemptuous against God and his Ordinances then God brings them into sore distresses to break their pride and stoutness of heart 2. That God may have the more experience and tryal of his people In daily and little afflictions there is no tryal of their Courage Faith Patience and Submission and all other graces The tryal of â—…aith is in extremity Graces are exercised to the life when we are even at the point of death 2 Cor. 1. 9. We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead So patience it is not tried but by sharp affliction therefore the Apostle saith Let patience have its perfect work
Iam. 1. 2. So Christian courage and resolution that 's tried in deep affliction when we are slain all the day long Heb. 11. 35 36. Rom. 8. 37. In all these things we are more than Conquerors The strength of a man's back is not tried by a small weight but by a heavy burden how much he can bear so the sharper the affliction the greater the trial 3. That they may have the more experience of God for the sharper the affliction the sweeter their comfort and the more glorious their deliverance Psal. 71. 20. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles thou shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth God's power in raising them up is more seen 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered me from so great a death Use 1. If we be under sore troubles let us not faint remember 't is no more than we have deserved God will not afflict a man above his deserts he cannot complain of wrong Ezra 9. 13. It is never more it may be less when our afflictions are great our deserts are far greater Isa. 40. 1. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Why For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins God saith double he relents presently 2. Consider the degree of affliction it is not measured out by your selves but measured out by a wise God though afflicted very much and very sore the measure it is ordered by God as well as the kind of it If it were measured out by our selves it would be too light it would be too gentle The Patient must not be trusted in searching his own wounds and if it were left to our Enemies they would know no bounds Zech. 1. 15. I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction But it is left to the wise just and gracious God and Father he tempers the Cup in his own hand and therefore when the affliction is grown sore and strong it comes not only from a wise God but a tender Father that best knows what is good for us Iob 34. 23. That 's a notable place For he will not lay upon man more than right that he should enter into judgment with God That is the party afflicted hath no just complaint against God can take no exception against God's proceedings for he perfectly understands our need and understands our strength God perfectly understands our need 1 Pet. 1. 6. If need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations And understands our strength 1 Cor. 10. 13. Faithful is he who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able Many Parents do not correct their children in measure being ignorant of their nature and disposition Many Physicians mistake their Patient's constitution therefore the Physick may work too strongly and too violently for them but God understands our need and our strength and so suits all his remedies accordingly Use 2. To reprove those fond complaints that are extorted from us in deep and pressing afflictions as if 1. Sometimes there was never any so afflicted as I am God's people have been sore troubled Lam. 1. 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me Yes others have been afflicted in the same kind and degree if not worse 1 Pet. 5. 9. All these things are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world You think 't is such as the like hath never been known or heard of for every Man 's own pain seemeth most grievous Lam. 3. 1. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath Other Prophets foretold them I see them executed The best of God's people have their measures of hardships you are not singular do not stand alone This is one of Satan's deceits Satan will suggest this to a Child of God that he may question his Fathers affection lose the comfort of his Adoption and put your selves out of the number of God's Children your lot is not harder than the rest of God's Children all that are in the world have the same trials troubles pressing evils upon their hearts now and then 2. Another you find complaining taxing God of unfaithfulness as if he would break trust and lay upon you more than you are able to bear and you deceive your selves for if you cannot bear your present burden you would bear none you do not improve Christ's strength Phil. 4 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Christ doth not help us in such a degree or one trouble and no more but in all 3. Another we find complain I am cut off God will be merciful and gracious no more Psal. 77. 8 9 c. He hath forsaken me and forgotten me God's Children have been brought thus low yet have been raised as the Church Psal. 118. 18. Lord thou hast chastened me sore yet hast not given me over unto death Within a little while he will shew this was but our infirmity this would stop these idle complaints by which we give vent to our daily impatience We have seen David s case but what doth he do he goes to God about comfort and relief I am afflicted very sore O Lord quicken me according to thy Word There observe 1. That he prays and makes his addresses to God 2. For what he prays Doct. First That he prays Observe Affliction should put us upon Prayer and serious address to God Thus God's people are wont to do Isa. 2. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them They that have neglected God at other times will be dealing with him then and this God expects Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early 'T will be the first thing they will do the greatest thing they will take care off as that which we most care for most is thought of in the morning Nay it is that which God enjoins Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the time of trouble Some might hang off when God's Rod is upon their backs or be discouraged by the bitter sense of a trouble therefore God doth not only give us leave but commands us to call upon him This is the special season when this duty is performed with life and vigor Is any man afflicted let him pray Jam. 5. 13. Let him thus give vent to his trouble it doth mightily ease the heart An Oven stopt up is the hotter within the more we keep down grief and do not unburden our selves the more it presseth upon the heart Wind imprisoned in the bowels of the Earth makes a terrible shaking there till it gets vent so till our sorrow gets a vent it rends and tears the heart The Throne of Grace was appointed
them as unto children 2. If we interpret this word Law of the Commandments and directions of the Word and so I do not forget it that is either by way of omission I do not slacken my diligence in thy service for all this or by way of commission I do not act contrary to conscience and the effect of the whole Verse is this Though I walk in the midst of dangers and a thousand deaths continually yet at such a time when a man would think he should not stand upon nice Points yet even then he should keep up a dear and tender respect to God's Law And he doth the rather express himself thus I do not forget it because great temptations blind and divert the mind from the thought of our duty Our minds are so surpriz'd with the dangers before us that God's Law is quite forgotten as a thing out of mind and we act as if we had no such comfort and direction given us The Points are two 1. That such things may befal God's children that they may carry their Lives in their hands from day to day 2. When we carry our Lives in our hands no kind of danger should make us warp and turn aside from the direction of God's Word Doct. 1. That such things may befal God's Children that they may carry their Lives in their hands from day to day That this is often the lot of God's People we may prove 1 Cor. 15. 31. I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ Iesus our Lord I die daily How can that be I die daily since we die but once The meaning is I go still in danger of my life Such times may come when we run hazards for Christ every day so that in the morning we do not know what may fall out before night 2 Cor. 11. 23. In deaths often that is in danger of death So 1 Pet. 4. 19. Let those that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator Let them commit their Souls that is their Lives the Soul is sometimes put for Life for Life spiritual or Life eternal but there it is put for Life natural so let them commit their Souls to God that is in times of danger and hazard let them go on in well-doing chearfully and though there be no visible means of safety and defence let them commit their Lives to God in well-doing when they carry their Lives in their own hands let them be careful to put them into the hands of God let God do what he pleaseth for he is a faithful Creator that is as once he created them out of nothing so he is able to preserve them when there is nothing visible nothing to trust to often this may be the case of God's People that they carry their Lives in their hands from day to day That you may take the force of the expression consider when the People of God are in the midst of their Enemies then they carry their Lives in their hands Mat. 10. 16. Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves When they are among men no better affected to them than Wolves to Sheep and when men have them in their power and there is no outward restraint of Laws and Government for whatever Enmity they have or act against them Laws and Government are a great restraint As Gen. 27. 41. The days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother Iacob Till Isaac was dead there was a check upon him but sometimes it is in the power of their hands to do them mischief Micah 2. 1. They practise iniquity because it is in the power of their hand When men are ill affected no restraint upon them no impediment in their way yea when they begin to persecute and rage against the servants of God and we know not when our turn comes then we are said to have our Lives in our hand As Rom. 8. 36. For thy sake are we killed all the day long That is some of that body killed now one pick'd up then another in these cases they are said to carry their Lives in their hands when they are in the power of men that have no principle of tenderness to us no restraint upon them these begin to vex molest and trouble the Church For the Reasons why God permits it so that his People should carry their Lives in their hands 1. God doth it to check security to which we are very subject We are apt to forget changes if we have but a little breathing from trouble we promise our selves perpetual exemption therefrom As Psal. 30. 6. My mountain stands strong I shall never be moved When we have got a carnal Pillow under our heads to rest upon it is hard to keep from sleep and dreaming of temporal felicity to be perpetuated to us then we forget by whom we live and by whose goodness we subsist yea this may be when trials are very near the Disciples slept when their Master was ready to be surpriz'd and they scatter'd Matth. 26. 40. When we are in the greatest dangers and matters which most concern us are at hand now to prevent this security God draws away this Pillow from under our heads and suffers us to be way-laid with dangers and troubles everywhere that we might carry our Lives in our hands for this makes us sensible of our present condition in the world and that we subsist upon God's Goodness and Providence every moment 2. To wean us from creature confidences and carnal dependences 2 Cor. 1. 9. We received the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead Paul that went up and down everywhere to hunt the Devil out of his Territories and to alarm the carnal sleepy world this Paul was very prone to trust in himself a man that was whip'd imprison'd stoned oppos'd everywhere by unreasonable men what had he to trust to but God's Providence And yet he needs to be brought to this to take his life in his hands that he might learn to trust in God that raiseth from the dead The best are prone to trust in themselves and to lean to a temporal visible interest we would faâ—…n have it by any means therefore sometimes we take a sinful course to get it Well now God to cure his people of this distemper breaks every prop and stay which they are apt to lean upon breaks down the hedge the fence is remov'd and lays them open to dangers continually so that from day to day they are forc'd to seek their preservation from him 3. To check their worldliness We are very apt to dote upon present things and to dream of honours and great places in the world and seek great things for our selves when we should be preparing for bitter sufferings As the two sons of Zebedee employ'd their mother to speak to Christ
a Pit to take me they have hid snares for my feet Secretly conspir'd and practis'd his destruction And David Psal. 140. 5. The proud have hid a snare for me and cords they have spread a net by the ways side and set gins for my feet Selah Hunters and Fowlers did never go more cunningly to work to catch the Prey than those proud men had laid their design to bring his life under their power And in Psal. 35. 7. For without cause they have hid for me their net in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul. And Psal. 57. 6. They have prepared a net for my steps my soul is bowed down they have digged a pit for me into the midst whereof they are fall'n themselves Selah Now of this sort are St. Bartholomew's Mattens and the Plot and Contrivance to out the Protestants in France when they were invited to a Wedding that they might destroy them and of this nature was the Gunpowder Treason there was a snare laid When Orestes had plotted Clytemnestra's Death Euripides expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She fitly cometh into the snare 3. Of a mixt nature both to entice by endangering and endanger by enticing 1. As when they put them upon such conditions as may tempt them to Folly and Sin some think the Text verifi'd in David at that time when he said 1 Sam 26. 19. They have driven me out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying Go serve other gods Meaning they excited Saul to pursue him and persecute him and forc'd him to flee into an Idolatrous Countrey and so a snare laid to endanger his stedfastness in the true faith 'T is a great Temptation Necessitas cogit ad turpia Necessity is but an evil Counsellor and this joined with the other Temptation of bad company Psal. 120. 5. Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar 2. When they Enact a Law or Statute whereby to force them to sin or trouble as they had a Plot against Daniel either to make him neglect his God or render him obnoxious to Authority Dan. 6. 7 8. When they burden them with such Laws and Statutes as the godly cannot obey without sin or refuse without danger they have their ends either to draw them to sin or suffer Now Snares are laid by the wicked 1. Because usually they excel in Policy Craftiness and worldly Wit are superior to God's children therein their whole hearts run that way and their principle is intire and unbroken and therefore our Lord Christ telleth us Luke 16. 8. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light They applaud themselves in their Artifices Idolize their Wit Habak 1. 16. Sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their drag therefore use it to the Saints destruction 2. Because they are acted by Satan who will ever be doing against the Church though to little purpose Luke 22. 3. The Devil enter'd into Iudas when he plotted against Christ. They learn their Wiles from Satan and conceive mischief by copulation with the great Incubus of Hell 3. Their own hatred and malice against the People of God Malice is a laying snares Anger vents its self in a storm of words or in some sudden violent Action but hatred lurketh in the soul and puts them that harbor it upon Plots and Contrivances of revenge The Historian observeth of Tiberius In malitiam statim invectus est c. When Absalom hated Amnon because he forced his sister he plotteth how to take away his life 2 Sam. 13. 22. Now whence cometh this malice against the Children of God Either by envy at their Interests or hatred at their Holiness 1. Envy at their Interests their Esteem and Respect in the World when they come to be of any regard among men Esther 5. 9. Haman plotteth against Mordecai because he sate in the King's gate Psal. 112. 9 10. His horn shall be exalted with honour the wicked shall see it and he grieved and gnash with their teeth When the Gospel was like to get credit Acts 17. 5. the envious Iews raised an uproar Pride is loth to stoop to see opposites in glory and power whets their malice and they contrive how to root them out Every man would have himself and his own Faction admir'd and magnifi'd The Pharisees conspir'd to take Christ Iohn 12. 19. All the world is gone after him When Religion prevaileth and groweth in credit and fashion it is deeply resented by naughty men 2. Hatred at their Holiness Men cannot endure to be outstript in Religion and therefore hate what they will not imitate Hatred is quick-sighted in Revenge full of Plots and Contrivances and tickleth the soul with a delight in them but especially Religious Hatred when a man hateth another for his Godliness when Religion instead of a Party becomes a Judge that which should restrain our Passions feeds them no Hatred so great as that against the power of Godliness Cain when he saw Abel so punctual in God's service he plotteth to draw him into the Field 1 Iohn 3. 12. and beginneth a Discourse with him about Providence and Judgment to come and Rewards and Punishments and while Abel maintained God's part Cain fell upon him and slew him To apply this As these Snares tend to our temporal destruction so there is a double use to be made of them 1. To trust God with our safety in the midst of so many snares What shall we do Whatever remedy we have against violence no man by his own foresight can find out all the snares that are laid for him therefore commit your safety spiritual and temporal to the Lord go to him and say Psal. 141. 9. Keep me from the snare they have laid for me and the grins of the workers of iniquity Constant dependance upon God is necessary for there can be no snare hidden from him who watcheth over us and our safety by night and by day There is a double Arguâ—…ent why we should trust God with our safety because of his wisdom and because of his watchful providence Because of his wisdom Alas we are foolish and simple and often betray our selves into an evil condition but God is wise for them that are foolish Psal. 37. 12 13. The wicked plotteth against the just and guasheth upon him with his teeth the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming There is a wise God acting for a foolish People I tell you the wisdom of God for us is much greater than the wisdom of God in us where Enemies deal proudly God is above them where they deal craftily God is beyond them The wisdom of God for us is greater than the wisdom of any against us And also because of his watchful Providence he hath a waking love and care of us night and day Psal. 121. 4. Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep He
things Do you find the word afford maintenance in distress and want of all things The Covenant is a store-house that never fails when all else fails God is alive still and the Promises are the same when the Field yields no Meal when there are no Calves in the Stall c. yet then you can live upon your Covenant interest and comfort your selves in the Lord your God Hab. 3. 18. Though the course of Nature may fail yet the Covenant of God doth not fail for that 's beyond the course of Nature or beyond the common Providence of God when you can see that â—…ll the accideâ—… which fall out in the world can never take your portion from you you hâ—…e eough to live upon when you see more in the Promises thâ—…n the Creature can take away from you and can see all made up in God As the Children of Israel in the Wilderness had no house but Lord thou art our dwelling place Psal. 90. 〈◊〉 Faith gets a living from Promises when nothing comes to hand in sense and outward feeling and nothing can be taken from us but what the Covenant can restore again and to fetch quickning and support from Heaven Use 3. For Exhortation to press you to take Gods promises for an heritage the poorest that are born to nothing may put in for a share Take these Motives 1. Consider Every man hath an heritage he hath a chief good Psal. 4. 6. Many say Who will shew us any good There is something that Man takes to be his happiness The Soul in its self is a Chaos of desires like a Sponge that sucks and thirsts it hath not sufficiency in its self it was made for something without our selves Now Man being such a needy Creature is always looking abroad for a happiness for a portion to maintain and keep him up in comfort and life Every Man must have a portion Men are not Men without looking after something to maintain them as a Portion Now there is no Portion like this like the testimony of the Lord there is none so full as this Gods Covenant Notion is Alsufficiency here 's all things to be found in God When God came to indent with Abraham I am God Alsufficient He that hath the testimony of the Lord for his Portion hath Gods Alsufficiency engaged to give him every thing he stands in need of 2. This is a Portion will go along with you where ever you go If you go into Exile a foreign Land into Prison into the Grave your heritage will follow you there Your Estate though it lay in Jewels cannot be carried safe with you but this Portion you may carry with you they cannot plunder and deprive you of it There 's a notable Expression Prov. 14. 14. A good man shall be satisfied from himself A very strange Expression it is the highest Sacriledge and Usurpation that can be to be sufficient to our selves it is an incroachment upon God Man when he first fell from God self was the next Pretender to seek that in our selves which is only found in God how is it meant a good man shall be satisfied from himself What! shall the Lord be laid aside Shall he be sufficient to his own happiness No it is not meant in opposition to God but in opposition to external things that lye without him He is satisfied from himself that is from the comfort God lets into his own heart A godly man is independent his comfort doth not hang upon the Creature if you take away the Creature you do not take away his Portion As the Philosopher could say when all were bewailing the loss and spoil of the Enemy I carry all mine with me so a Christian carries all his treasure about him There 's the same Expression Heb. 10. 34. Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your Goods knowing in your selves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance A Christian hath a Substance that is out of the reach of spoiling since inward Comfort is far better than Riches and all this Lumber that is without 3. All other things will never give you satisfaction A worldly heritage may give us a belly full but cannot give us a heart full Psal. 17. 14. Their bellies are filled with hid treasure They which are rich and great in the world have more Dishes at their Tables but these have a more delicious Feast in their Souls that have chosen God for their Portion All other heritages do but yield more matter for sin more fewel for wickedness to be spent upon Lust Pride Luxury Appetite that 's all the difference The heart of man is not satisfied with these things and yet if the heart could be satisfied Conscience could not for that 's a sore place still our Sore will run upon us Thus you see there is no heritage like this that lieth out of the reach of the world and that will fill up the whole heart and yield satisfaction You know all other things cannot help us in many worldly Cases in sickness spiritual Comfort doth only relish of sweetness A man doth never relish the Comfort of the Covenant as when he is under sickness and deprived of other things For all other heritages we know the best of them at first but this is a heritage that grows upon us here we have the Pledge and Earnest of our inheritance an Earnest is a small thing to bind the Bargain in lieu of a greater Summ. 4. This heritage sanctifies all our heritages O it 's a sad thing to enjoy a heritage with a curse and the wrath of God First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be added then they are cast in over and above as Paper and Packthread into the Bargain and are cast in in a sanctified way A man may grow worse for every other portion all the world will not bring one Dram of Grace but this improves the world and betters us 5. Again this is a good sign of adoption when we have the Spirit of Gods Children both in Gods gift and our choice When men take the promises for their portion 't is a sign they have a good spirit There is no mark put upon them that have an excellent disposition and dexterity to grow great in the world but to be labouring and striving after an interest in the testimony of the Lord it 's a sign we have a Childs spirit 6. Again this is a peculiar portion and always goes along with the favour of God Other things a man may have with the hatred of God God giveth gifts to all his Creatures Isaac had the inheritance but the Children of the Concubines had gifts so every Creature may have common gifts a common portion abundance of supplies in outward things but no right in the Promises of God and all this may be without the love of God 7. Again they that refuse this heritage the Lord will cause his vengeance to seize upon
defence against the evil of trouble If God did leave us to shift for our selves and never express'd himself in his word for our comfort then we were more excusable though not altogether if we did shift and turn aside to crooked Paths because we are under an obligation to obey whatsoever it cost us But when he hath offered himself to be our shield and our hiding place to stand by us be with us carry us through fire and water all dangers and difficulties shall we warp now and turn aside from God Gen. 17. 1. saith the Lord I am God alsufficient walk before me and be thou perfect there is enough in God why should we trouble our selves or why should we run to any practices which God will not owne Use 4. It presseth us to depend upon Gods protection Shall I urge Arguments to you 1. This is one Every one must have a hiding place Saith Solomon The Conies are a feeble folk yet they have their burroughs and holes All Creatures must depend upon somewhat especially the Children of God that are exposed to a thousand difficulties you must expect to have your faith and patience tryed if ever you come to inherit the promises and during that time it is good to have a hiding place and a shield 2. Your hearts will not be kept in safety unless you make God your strong defence When Phocas fortified Cities to secure his ill-gotten Goods a voice was heard Sin within will soon batter down all those Walls and Fortifications Unless God be our hiding place and shield the strongest defences in the world are not enough to keep us from danger All the shifts we run into will but intangle us the more and drive us the more from God and to greater inconvenience 2 Chron. 28. 20. As the King of Assyria to Ahaz He distressed him but helped him not so many run away from Gods protection and seek out means of safety for themselves and will not trust him but seek to secure themselves by some shifts of their own they do but plunge themselves into troubles so much the more and draw greater inconveniences upon themselves There is a great deal of sin and danger in departing from God and he can soon blast our confidences All those places of safety we fancy to our selves can soon be demolished and battered down God will blast our carnalshifts 3. It is a thing that we owe to God by virtue of the fundamental Article of the Covenant If you have chosen God for your God then you have chosen him for your refuge Every one in his straits runs to the God he hath chosen Nature taught the Heathens in their distress to run to their gods You may see the Pagan Mariners a sort of men usually not much haunted with religious thoughts yet when the storm arose the Sea wrought and was tempestuous danger grew upon them and they were afraid they called every man upon his God Jon. 1. 5. they were sensible that some Divine Power must give them protection It immediately results from the owning of a God that we must trust him with our safety and so if we have taken the true God for our God we have taken him for our refuge and hiding place Ruth 2. 12. A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust When Ruth came to profess the true God by taking the God of Israel for her God it is exprest thus she did commit her self to his Providence and protection and therefore Covetousness because of its trust in Riches is called Idolatry it is a breach of the fundamental Article of the Covenant taking God for our God 4. This trust ever succeeds well It will be of great use to you to still and calm your thoughts and free you from many anxious cares and in due time it will bring deliverance according to his promise How may we thus trust in God Why commit and submit your persons and all your conditions and affairs to his Providence This is to trust in God to make him your hiding place and your shield These Notions are often used in Scripture 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prov. 16. 3. Psal. 37. 5. If there be a thing to be brought about for you commit it and submit it to God he is able wise loving and faithful he will do what shall be for the best commit your comforts your health liberty peace your all into Gods hands for he is the Authour of all let the Lord do what he will This is to trust in God when you can thus without trouble or anxious care referr your selves to the wise disposal of his Providence 1. No hurt can come to you without Gods leave No Creature can move or stir saving notonly by his permission but by his influence others may have a will to hurt but not power unless given them from above as Christ told Pilate The Devil is a raging Adversary against the people of God but he is forced to ask leave to touch either Iob's Goods or his Person he could not touch his Skin or any thing that belonged to him without a Commission from God Iob 1. Nay he must ask leave to enter into the Herd of Swine Matth. 8. 31. And Tertullian hath a notable gloss upon that If God hath numbered the Bristles of Swine certainly he hath numbered much more the Hairs of the Saints if he cannot enter into a Herd of Swine he cannot worry a friend of Christs without Gods leave 2. Consider how much God hath exprest his singular affection and his care and Providence over his people There are many emphatical expressions in Scripture that 's one Matth. 10. 29 30. The very hairs of your head are numbered Mark he doth not speak of the heart or hands or feet those that we call parts which are necessary to the conservation of life but he speaks of the excrementitious parts which are rather for convenience and ornament than necessity What 's more slight than the shedding a hair of the head Thus he expresses the particular care of his people Again Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye No part is more tender than the eye and the apple of the eye how hath Nature guarded it that it may receive no prejudice So Isai. 49. 15. Can a mother forget her sucking Child c. See how his tender affection and yearning Bowels are exprest passions in Females are most vehement therefore God alludes to mothers affections And mark it is not to a Child that can shift for it self but a sucking Child that is wholly helpless that was but newly given her to draw her love Nature hath left tender affections on the hearts of parents to their tender infants yet if a woman should be so unnatural yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord. Now shall we not trust him and make him our hiding place Isai. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will
is lawful and right 't is in the Margin Do judgment and justice Now when this is attribured to publick persons judgment signifieth due order in trying and finding out the state of a Cause and justice the giving out sentence on that tryal and judgment or causing justice to be executed for righting the wronged and punishing the wrong-doer When to private men the one implies the direction of Conscience the other the rectitude of our actions By judgment we discern between right and wrong and by justice doing things justly according to the Rule Thus 't is said Psal. 106. 3. Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times There is another Notion of these two words which I had almost forgotten First Judgment seemeth to be opposite to rigour and extremity and seemeth to import equitable carriage mixed with mercy and moderation in exacting our own from others Certainly so Judgment is sometimes taken Ier. 10. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Secondly Justice is just and faithful dealing in and about those things which we owe to others or are employed about or are intrusted with by others Doctr. It is a comely property in Gods Children and very comfortable to them to do judgment and justice 1. It is an excellent property First Because by it we are made like God Righteousness is part of Gods Image and herein we do most resemble his perfection Psal. 145. 5. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works There is a perfect holiness in his Nature and a condecency in all his actions Therefore 't is God-like in us when our Natures are sanctified and all our actions are righteous and holy It is said Ephes. 4. 54. That the new man is created after God in righteonsness and â—…rue holiness according to the pattern of God much like to him they that are most so are most like him Natural Conscience doth homage to the Image of God Mark 6. 20. And Herod feared Iohn knowing he was a just man Secondly 'T is acceptable and pleasing to God The just man is an object of Gods complacency Prov. 15. 9. The Lord loveth him that followeth after righteousnes God loveth all his Creatures â—…th a general love but with a special love those that bear his Image He doth not love men because they are rich and mighty fair and beautiful valiant and strong but as holy and just It is said Prov. 21. 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice God hath required both and we should make Conscience of both but yet the one is better than the other though the one be a Duty of the First Table the other of the Second because Moral and Substantial Duties are better than Ceremonial internal before external and Duties evident by natural light before things of positive institution It appeareth in this that God doth accept of Moral Duties without Ceremonial Observances For in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Acts 10. 35. but Ceremonial Observances without Moral Duties are of no account in Gods sight he still rejecteth their Offerings when they neglect justice not thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oil but to shew mercy and to do justly Mic. 6. 7 8. this is good Again he dispenseth with the Ceremonials and the Externals of Religion when they come in competition with Moral Duties even of the Second Table as David's eating the shew-bread when he was an hungry Matth. 12. 5. Well then how right and punctual soever we be in other things unleâ—… we shew mercy and do justice we are not accepted with God though zealous for and against Ceremonies of the stricter party in Religion 'T is true we cannot say they are better than faith and love and the fear of God and hope in his Grace for these are the substantial Duties of the First Table And compare Substantials with Substantials de ordine modus First Table Duties are more weighty But compare Internals of the Second with Externals of the First Moral Duties of the Second with the Ceremonies of the First natural and evident with the merely positive and instituted these latter are more weighty Give to God what is God's and to men what is mens Thirdly Because it â—…itteth for Communion with God When you are just and righteous you may call for and look for such blessings as you stand in need of for the righteous have an easie access to him and are sure of audience Psal. 17. 15. But as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I cannot behold the face of Saul he will not see my face but this comforts me that I can behold thy face Lord thou wilt look upon me and be gracious to me and hear my prayers Otherwise God will not hear the unjust as he saith he would not accept of their Peace-Offerings till judgment ran down as a River and righteousness as a mighty Stream Amos 5. 23 24. and rejects the Jewish Fasts Isai. 58. because they did not loose the oppressed c. On the other side he hath assured the protection of his Providence to him that is just Isai. 33. 15 16. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly â—…e that despiseth the gain of oppression and shaketh his hands from holding of Bribes that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure God will minister to him sure Comforts and sure supplies They that walk in a continual course of righteousness and just dealing of all sorts shall be as safe as if in a Fort impregnable not to be taken by any force and sufficiently furnished with store of provisions to hold out any Siege an high craggy place is such Bread and Water are tokens of God's full and final deliverance Isai 51. 1. Hearken unto me ye that follow after righteousness None must look to be thus qualified but the righteous Fourthly It is so suitable to the new Nature as Fruits to such a Tree What is works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance And bring forth fâ—…uits meet for repentance Matth. 3. 8. They are the kindly products of faith in Christ and repentance towards God 'T is as unâ—…uitable to those that are gracious to be unjust as that the Egg of a Crow should drop from a Hen or venomous Berries should grow upon a choise Vine That Grace that is put into our hearts which maketh us submissive and dutiful to God doth also make us kind and harmless to men These things are required of us as the fruits of true faith and repentance Isai 1. 16 17. Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings
Gold yea fine Gold for mark it is not more than I love Gold but more than any man some have an ardent desire of it however it be mortified in Gods Children I. For the Note of inference together with the Duty inferred Therefore I love thy Commandments Some refer it to Gods taking his time to work as the Judg of the world in punishing the wicked for their disobedience and contempt of his Law as if he had said Lord though thou dost connive and hold thy hands for a time yet I know thou wilt undertake the defence of the righteous and not let the wickedness of the wicked go unpunished it will cost them dear in the issue therefore I love thy Commandments c. This sense I cannot exclude If I thought fit to prosecute it it would yield this Doctrine That a little faith would help us to continue our affection to the word of God notwithstanding the wickedness of those that oppose it For in truth here this wickedness doth soon come to an end Psal. 73. 18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction But I rather referr it to the latter Clause They have made void thy Law therefore I love thy commandments Doctr. The more others despise the ways and laws of God the more should a gracious heart love and esteem them So doth David profess that his love to Gods ways was so far from ceasing that he found it encreased rather Reasons 1. Because the ways of God are still the same they were before if there be any difference they only need to be more owned by us with greater zeal and cheerfulness because they are despised and forsaken by others God is the same still Heaven the same and the Scriptures the same whether we have Company to walk with us in heaven-way yea or no and therefore why should not a Christian be the same he was before Their contempt and hatred of Gods ways doth not make void our obligation to God and the Bonds of our Duty to him If God had only required us to be good when we may be so with safety and ease and would dispense with us at other times when Religion is in disgrace then indeed a Christian might change his course and run with the Cry as others do but God hath required in the worst times we should take Gods part and stand for him in the worst places and keep his Name even there where Satans Throne is Rev. 2. 13. and be Saints though in Nero's Houshold Phil. 4. 22. under the nose of a raging Persecutor And as God is the same so his ways are the same Their contempt and hatred of holiness doth not hinder the loveliness of it to a spiritual eye There is a beauty in Gods despised ways Heb. 11. 25. Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season He saw more excellency in the Tents of Iacob than in the Courts of Pharaoh When the outward Glory of his wâ—…ys is darkened and they are put under reproach and trouble yet their inward beauty still remaineth and may be seen by a spiritual though not by a carnal eye by those that will not judge according to appearance but judge righteous judgment Iohn 7. 24. The external Glory which is the favour of the World outward prosperity and Countenance is foreign and accidental but this is essential and ever remaineth And as holiness is the same so the Scriptures are the same they do not speak one thing to day and another to morrow and leave us at a latitude to put our selves into all changes and postures 2 Cor. 1. 19. For the son of God Iesus Christ who was preached among you by us was not yea and nay saith the Apostle but in him was yea The Scripture doth not allow saying and unsaying and building again the things which we have destroyed Gal. 2. 18. For if I build again the things which I have destroyed I make my self a transgressor Truth is the same in all Ages not like an Almanack to be changed every Year or calculated peculiarly for one Meridian Nor is it always the same Indeed in some lesser things that serve only for the conveniency of Religion we may upon weighty grounds change practice and do that which is good where best may not be had So Heaven is the same still it not only serveth us as an Antidote in Prosperity but as a Cordial in Adversity and is at all times to be regarded Well then since God and Holiness and Scripture and Heaven are always the same why should not we If there be change it should be in the degree of our love that it be greater than it was before to repair God in point of Honour and to testifie against the defection of others that we are not of their stamp who do not see by their eyes nor walk by their principles nor allow of their warpings 2. God expects more from gracious hearts because of their relation to him and acquaintance with him and therefore if others despise the Laws of God they should esteem them the more Iohn 6. 66 67. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Then said Iesus unto the twelve Will you also go away It goeth nearer to Christs heart that those should forsake him that are trained up in his bosome that the Devil should steal away souls under his own arm Whatever defection others make yet that those who have tasted of his mercy drunk of his Cup feasted with his lâ—…aves have had experinence of his Grace will ye also He stood not upon the multitudes going so much as his Disciples Therefore they should rowze up themselves in evil times 3. The good and the bad do exercise and keep one another in breath and vigour When there are but two factions that stand in opposition to one another one apparently for God the other apparently for Satan it addeth zeal and indignation to both sides and they mutually inflame one another and are as Ieremiah's two Baskets of Figgs the good Figgs very good and the evil Figgs very evil Ier. 24. 3. When others are so very bad it should not quench zeal but inflame it we should be not only good but very good Corruption the more it is opposed the more it stormeth and groweth outragious as a River swelleth by opposing Damms and Banks against it they rage upon restraints now the floods break loose So on the other side should Grace be more earnestly and zealously exercised the more it is opposed as the casting on of water sets the Lime on fire To be sure their malice will put us to a great deal of trouble and trouble is a time to exercise Grace To be much in prayer and faith and patience and mortifying corruptions and watchfulness and wary walking that we may neither take infection our selves nor give occasion to others to stumble at
same which Mahometans have to the Alchoran Education in it Ancestors embracing of it the countenance of the Law the custom of the Country c. 3. The manner or way how we come by it by much prayer and serious deliberation Some by chance are surprized and affected with a good motion suddenly good but habitually bad they will in all haste become religious but alas this estimation or approbation of Gods ways is entertained but for a time but afterwards vanisheth and cometh to nothing There must be a clear distinct knowledge of the excellency of Gods ways otherwise in a fit or in a good mood we chuse that which is good but the interest in evil not being renounced in heart it causeth an easie retreat into the former sinful course Fourthly It must be such an esteem as hath a lively and effectual influence upon our hearts and ways There is a liking that only produceth a velleity and wish and doth not engage the soul to prosecute the things willed or forsake the things nilled but there is such an effectual liking and esteem as will produce a constant habitual willingness that will have the authority of a principle and hath a powerful command over the whole soul to set it a working to do the will of God and will admit of no contradiction by contrary desires but maketh us act with life power and earnestness Cold and inconstant wishes produce no fruit in the heart the general course of most mens lives is as if they had no liking to the Law of God It may be they may dislike and sacrifice some of their weaker lusts and smaller interests which they can well spare but corruption doth ordinarily bear sway in their hearts and lives In the Text 't is I esteem all thy precepts and hate every false way 'T is true a man that approveth the Law is not wholly freed from sin There are sins of ordinary infirmity that cleave to us while we are in the world yea taint our best actions Isai. 64. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags And sometimes though there be a principle of Grace a Child of God may be over-born by the violence of a temptation carried into presumptuous sins which may make strange havock in the soul. David prayeth Psal. 19. 14. that God would keep him from presumptuous sins but for the most part the Children of God are influenced by their consent and esteem of the Law of God And the renewed part for the generality hath the upper hand and prevaileth and the flesh is weakened as the house of David grew stronger and stronger 2 Sam. 3. 1. and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker Fifthly It must be an universal not partial esteem I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right Psal. 119. 6. When I have respect to all thy Commandments Luke 1. 6. Zachary and Elizabeth walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God blameless Acts 3. 22. Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And he shall fulfil all my will 'T is not enough to be right in Commands in general or the lump but in this and that particular not in some but in all We pretend to give up our selves to the will of God in the general but particulars we stick at Men are convinced that holiness is necessary that they must have some Religion therefore when they take up Duty in the lump and abstract notion or naked consent it doth not exasperate opposite propensions Ye cannot serve the Lord c. saith Ioshua Josh. 24. 18 19. but when they come to particulars and see what it is to wait upon a holy and jealous God they tire and grow weary so that there must be a consent and purpose to obey not some but all and every one without exception not partial like that of Herod to Iohn Mark 6. 20. He did many things The worst man in the world loveth some good and hateth some evil but he doth not esteem all Gods Commandments in every point Nay the great enemy of our salvation Satan can be content to let us yield to God in many things if he would be contented with half our duty one sin reserved keepeth afoot his interest in our hearts as a Bird tyed by the Leg is fast enough The Devil will suffer men to do many things but if he hath them fast by one lust be it an inclination to sensuality or love to the world he is contented The World likes many things in Religion they are good and profitable for men but sticketh at others To live godly in Christ Jesus will draw on persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. The flesh will dispense with us to do many things for the more cleanly conveyance of others if it can but get us to spare the bosome lust which the soul delighteth in Every man as he is inslaved by his own customes opposeth one this Law another that the proud man doth not approve of that Law that doth forbid his pride nor the sensual man that which toucheth his intemperance and unbridled Appetite nor the worldly man his covetousness cannot endure that part of the Law that would abridge him of his gain Nothing more common than to cast off what liketh us not in the Law of God and to wish there were no precept given in that kind but our consent must be to all in general and to this and that in particular Many could be content with Gods Law so far as it doth not cross their carnal interest or hinder their corrupt desires but we must esteem all the Laws of God they are all holy just and good not one excepted all conduce to perfect our Nature and make us happy Creatures they all conduce to the benefit of humane Nature they are all enjoyned by the authority of the same God God spake all these words They are linked as Rings in a Chain one preserveth another they are all necessary for our eternal happiness not one given in vain So much thou continuest thine own misery and art defective in the way that leadeth to true happiness as thou art willing to indulge to any one sin They are all written in the hearts of Gods Children Heb. 8. 10. all suited to the new Nature and he hath given Grace to keep all 1 Pet. 1. 15. perfection of parts not of degrees The new Creature is not maimed in the birth A Child hath not the bulk and strength of a man Want of perfection of parts cannot be supplied by any after-growth Nay all are necessary to our Communion with God Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments c. If we dispense with our selves in the least things we are not fit for Communion with God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having such promises of Gods being in us and dwelling in us and
thy heart for entertaining the light and power of these truths and in due time God will shew thee other things In the mean time bless God that whatever is necessary is plain to them that are docile and heedful and willing to do the will of God As in the world the most necessary things are at hand the less necessary are hidden in the bowels of the Earth so in Scripture necessaries are facile and easie 2. Let us use this method in learning and teaching of others In learning our selves First Be sure to get a clear understanding of and firm assent unto the main plain truths of Scripture That there is one God Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is That Jesus Christ is the Son of God Iohn 17. 3. This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent It is a corner truth that enliveneth all Religion Matth. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God then Upon this Rock will I build my Church John 6. 69. We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God This is the great enlivening truth that hath influence both on faith and obedience We must believe that he is able to bring us to God Iohn 14. 6. Heb. 7. 25. and must be obeyed Heb. 5. 9. that every man needeth this Christ to bring him to God Acts 4. 12. There is a necessity of his merit that God may be propitious of his Spirit as the foundation of a new life that we may be reconciled to God that we should live holily because there is a day of account when every one shall receive according to his works We should bestow more cost upon the main truths to get a clear distinct knowledge of them there must be a removing of Rubbish and digging to lay the foundation of the knowledge of the principles of the Doctrine of Christ before there can be any safe building or going on unto perfection Heb. 6. and firm assent to them For he is the best Christian that doth most clearly understand and firmly believe these things Not the Opinionist the Disputer he that best promotes the interest of his party or side which are the distempers now afoot in Christendome Those truths well accepted would so purifie the heart as we should sooner discern Gods interest in other things and be able to find out that So for teaching our Children God reckons on it from his people Gen. 18. 19. For I know Abraham that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Iustice and Iudgment Deut. 6. 6 7. And these words that I command thee this day shall â—…e in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up Train them up in wholesome truths in the nurture and admoniâ—…ion of the Lord Ephes. 6. 4. how to carry themselves towards God in matters of Religion how towards men in righteousness civility and good manners chiefly that they may be instructed in the knowledge of Christ and salvation by him 3. Let the entertainment we have upon our first entrance into the study of Religion encourage us to follow on to know the Lord that we may see more into his mind and counsel concerning us When we are first serious we have notable experience of light and comfort and power this is a bribe to draw us on further more light for it is a growing thing Prov. 4. 18. The path of the Iust is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day more taste 1 Pet. 2. 3 4. If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as to a living stone c. It should sharpen and put an edge upon our desires more power Iames 1. 18 19. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creation wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath You saw the entrance and your first acquaintance with the word succeeded well Doctr. II. By the word of God we get light or our understandings are enlightened Prov. 6. 23. For the Commandment is a lamp and the Law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life 1. Light is a great benefit This is the perfection of the rational Nature the benefit that we have above the Beasts He teacheth us more than the Beasts of the field They are guided by instinct ruled by a Rod of Iron we have Reason and in it more resemble God who is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Iohn 1. 5. we come nearest to our happiness in heaven it is called The inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. Our knowledge is perfected and the vision of God is our happiness 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a glass darkly then face to face now I know in part then I shall know even as also I am known 2. This light hath excellent properties First It is lux manifestans it manifesteth it self and all things else How do I see the Sun but by the Sun by its own light how do I know the Scripture to be the Word of God but by the light that shineth in it commending it self to my Conscience So it manifests all things else By this light a man may see every thing in its own colours it layeth open all the frauds and impostures of Satan the vanity of worldly things the deceits of the heart the odiousness of sin Ephes. 5. 8. 13. All things that be reproved are made manifest by light for whatsoever doth make manifest is light It sets out the odiousness of sin as a breach of Gods most holy Law enmity against the Great God the procurer of his eternal wrath Nothing manifests things as this light doth Secondly It is lux dirigens a directing light that we may see our way and work As the Sun lighteth man to his labour so doth this direct us in all conditions Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths It directs us how to manage our selves in all conditions in prosperity adversity in all affairs paths steps in all the particular actions of our life it filleth us with spiritual prudence the wayfaring the fool a man of parts that is a stranger the man of mean parts all may meet with plain and clear directions hence to guide them in the way to Heaven Thirdly It is lux vivificans a quickening light Lux est vehiculum influentiarum Joh. 8. 12. I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of
Psal. 17. 14 15. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasures they are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Christ gave his Purse to Iudas but his Spirit to the other Disciples But God deserteth them his people complain of it Isai. 49. 14. But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Yea Christ himself Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Answ. 1. There is a distinct consideration of Christ for he was to bear our sorrows Isai. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows to be forsaken for a while that we might be received for ever 2. Gods people are mistaken the Saints complain without a cause Sense maketh lyes of God Psal. 31. 22. For I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou hearest the voice of my supplication when I cryed unto thee Psal. 77. 9 10. Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies And I said This is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high The Disciples had Christ near them when they knew it not Luke 24. 16. Their eyes were holden that they could not know him 3. Though they are forsaken for while yet not for ever Isai. 54. 7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercy will I gather thee In a little wrath I have hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Use. Do not say God is a hard master When the compute is rightly made and you trace his Providence through all the passages of your lives there is more good than evil Iacob giveth an account of his life Gen. 48. 15 16. God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads So may others say Doctr. 2. Gods accustomed goodness and gracious dispensations to his people throughout all Ages should encourage us in waiting upon him and praying to him This emboldneth me that all thy servants in all Ages have found thee gracious and merciful unto them 1. From Gods unchangeableness He will not leave his old wont he is where he was at first Isai. 59. 1. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that he cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear Mal. 3. 6. For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Iacob are not consumed He is the same that ever he was 2. All his people stand upon the same terms therefore what he will do for one he will do for another Gods love is the same he is alike affected to all his Children his Saints now are as dear to him as ever Psal. 149. 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation They have the same Covenant it is a common Charter Acts 2. 39. For the promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call The same Redeemer 2 Cor. 1. 2. To them that are sanctified in Christ Iesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Rom. 3. 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference One hath not a more worthy Christ than another Faith is as acceptable as ever 2 Pet. 1. 1. To them that have obtained like precious faith They are interested in the same priviledges promises gifts and rewards Use. 1. Examples and instances of Gods mercy should confirm us It is not agreeable to Gods nature and practice to forsake his people or to be deaf to their prayers Psal. 22. 4 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them they cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded None of his people ever sought him in vain From the beginning of the world to this day God hath been gracious Psal. 9. 10. For they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee No Age can give an instance to the contrary therefore mark the usual dealings of God with his Children what was said to them was for the establishment of our comfort and hope Rom. 4. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Iesus our Lord from the dead compared with Gen. 15. 6. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Gods Word is a Book of Precedents as a Painters Master-piece is hung out to invite custome 2 Let us be sure we be of this number If there be Conformity to them in affection there will be in consolation if in Grace then in priviledges Psal. 145. 18 19 20. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He shall fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them The Lord preserveth all them that love him Doctr. 3. We should beg the favour of Gods people Common things should not satisfie a Child of God He must have what is peculiar to the Saints Psal. 106. 4 5. Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance Nothing will satisfie the people of God but his special love they have a new Nature that must be pleased a great noble and Divine end to be promoted which is to enjoy God the Creatures serve not for that Common men are put off with common mercies these they may have and perish Use. Let us be of this temper Men commonly think that God looketh upon those whom he blesseth with a large encrease of temporal things that he is merciful to those that never see evil nor feel pain or want David was not of this mind he would have God deal with him as with his Friends and Favourites he leaveth it to God how to express his mercy who only knoweth what is best for us only he beggeth the fruits of his special love The heart is earthly and worldly when spiritual things
the Text the words run thus Look upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name and what then Order my steps in thy word O this is to do good to us as he useth to do good to them that fear his name Mark some have only Providence and natural Conscience there are others that have the Word and have an enlightened Conscience that plead Gods interest in them but there are others are honoured so far that they are his people that have not only his Word but Spirit to enforce his Word upon their hearts How did Christ declare his love to his people Iohn 15. 15. I call you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you There 's Gods love declared when he shews us his whole will when he doth guide us in all his ways this is the favour of his people Psal. 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant There 's the great priviledge that God vouchsafes to his peculiar people they know the mind of God more than others do and in all doubtful debates and uncertain Controversies they are not left in the dark Mark 4. 11. Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God David surely found such direction to be a very special blessing Again another Argument from the Text that this must needs be a very great blessing partly because it helpeth us in our way to true happiness I gather that from the word steps for all motion hath a term to which it tends and every Journey hath its period Now whither doth the path of the Word lead us but to God and to the everlasting enjoyment of him O here they have an infallible direction that they cannot miscarry in so great an affair as this is as the getting home to God! Surely that 's a great blessing I remember David saith Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel and afterwards receive me unto Glory They that wait upon Gods direction are sure to be received into his heavenly Glory their steps are directed for the present and they may be confident that at length they shall get home to God for God will accept of what he hath ordered You are sure God will take pleasure in you when you walk according to his direction So you see the need from the value of this blessing 5. Consideration That the Children of God are sensible of their need of it that they cannot chuse but pray for it I take this from the very form of the Words Lord order my steps It is a prayer from the man of God They seek it humbly and earnestly therefore they shall find it They that make their bosome their Oracle and wit their Councellor God is disengaged from being their Guide they need him not but the snares they run into will soon shew how much they need him But the Children of God need him therefore they shall find it Prov. 3. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths You should ever go to God for the direction of your way then God will not disappoint you nor defeat your expectations Psal. 85. 13. Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps Sometimes we wander turn aside and walk out of the right way at other times we fall and stumble in the right way but the Lord will set us in the paths of his steps Use. To press us to seek this great priviledge of God beg of the Lord continually to order your steps according to his Word Alas evil may surprize you before you are aware Little did David think danger was so near him when he walked upon his Tarrace He gave leave to his eye to wander and his eye fired his heart Every morning be with God about this business Psal. 5. 3. O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up You need not only protection against dangers but direction against evils and snares As we seek for protection in the night so in the morning prayer is for the direction of the day Nay we need not go to God in the morning but all the day long Psal. 25. 5. On thee do I wait all the day Beg of him that you may not miscarry but carry your selves humbly and prudently and may do nothing that is contrary to the will of God and his Grace but that the Lord would support and guide you continually There is one Argument that may mightily encourage you in praying Consider your Covenant interest in God doth establish this blessing as the Saints always plead the relation Psal. 25. 5. Lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation Psal. 143. 10. Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God Psal. 48. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our Guide even unto death To be a God to any is to be a Guide for to a people in Covenant God makes over his whole self Now in God there are considerable these three great Attributes his Wisdom Power and Goodness Look as God by virtue of his Power is alsufficient against all dangers and by virtue of his Goodness is a fountain of everlasting happiness so also by his Wisdom is a fountain of all goodness to guide and direct us Now as God hath engaged all his goodness to make us as happy as heart can wish and his power to defend and maintain us so all his Wisdom to guide and direct us SERMON CXLVIII PSAL. CXIX VER 133. And let not any iniquity have dominion over me FOR the second Branch of the Prayer I observe Doctr. 2. That the dominion of sin is a great evil and ought earnestly to be deprecated even by the Children of God I. What is the dominion of sin II. That it is a great evil III. Why the Saints should deprecate this evil 1. What is the dominion of sin It may be known by some distinctions 1. There 's a dominion of sin that is gross and sensible and a dominion of sin that is more secret and close First More gross and sensible For though sin do reign in every one by nature yet this dominion more sensibly appears in some than in others who are given up to be visibly under the dominon of sin as the just fruit of their voluntary living under that yoke and usually these are set forth as a warning to the rest of the world God hangs them up in Chains of darkness in the sight of men as an instance of this woful slavery that every man that seeth them and are acquainted with their course of life may say without breach of Charity There goes one that declares himself to be a servant of sin This is either to sin in general or to some particular sin
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly 'T is but a little while and we shall receive the Crown and triumph over all our enemies III. Why the Saints should deprecate this evil 1. Because there is sin still in us all 'T is a bosome enemy that is born and bred with us and therefore it will soon get the advantage of Grace if it be not watched and resisted As Nettles and Weeds that are kindly to the Soil will soon choke Flowers and better Herbs that are planted by care and grow not of their own accord when they are neglected and not continually rooted out We cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till this outer Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay crumbled into dust Our old nature is so inclinable to this slavery that if God substract his Grace what shall we do 2 It is not only in us but always working and striving for the mastery it is not as other things which as they grow in age are more quiet and tame but Rom. 7. 8. Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy It is not a sleepy but a working stirring principle If it were a dull and unactive habit the danger were not so great but it is always exercising and putting forth it self and seeking to gain an interest in our affections and a Command over all our actions and therefore unless we do our part to keep it under we shall soon revert to our old slavery Sin must be kept under as a Slave or else it will be above as a Tyrant and domineer Once more The more it acts the more strength it gets as all habits are encreased by action for when we have once yielded we are ready to yield again Therefore any one sin let alone yea that which we least suspect may bring us into subjection and captivity to the Law of sin Rom. 7. 23. It doth not only make us flexible and yielding to temptations but it doth urge and impel us thereunto Again This bondage is daily encreasing and more hard to be broken for by multiplied acts a custome creepeth upon us which is another Nature And that which might be remedied at first groweth more difficult Diseases looked to at first are more easie to be cured whereas otherwise they grow desperate So sins before hardned into a custome before they bring us under the power of any Creature or Comfort which we affect 2 Cor. 6. 12. For then afterwards it cometh to a compleat dominion and slavery so that if a man would he cannot help it It behoveth then every Child of God to do his part that sin may not reign for where care is not taken it certainly will reign Use. To reprove the security and carelesness of many David suspected himself else he would never have made this prayer to God Lord keep me Let not any iniquity have dominion over me And we should all do so that would be safe Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief A constant watchfulness and holy jealousie and self-suspicion will be no burthen to you but a blessing Sin deceiveth us into hardness of heart for want of taking heed Many that are secure do not consider their danger and therefore they are not so careful to watch over themselves nor so humble as to implore the Divine assistance because they do not consider how soon they may be transported by a naughty heart and brought under the power and reign of sin Surely were we as sensible of the danger of the inward man as we are of the outward we would resist the first motions and not nourish and foster a temptation as we do The Saints do not tarry till the dead blow cometh but resist the first strokes of sin they do not tarry till it pines to death but resist the first inclinations An evil inclination if it be cherished and gratified gets ground the longer we let it alone the harder will our conflict be for sin secureth its interest by degrees 2. It sheweth the fearful estate of them that lye under the dominion of sin But who will owne it First It is certain that all men in their natural estate are in this condition Sin doth reign where there is no principle of Grace set up against it The Throne is always filled Mans heart cannot lye empty and void If Grace doth not reign sin reigneth Natural men are under the power of darkness Acts 28. 18. and Col. 1. 13. living in a peaceable subjection to sin till Christ come to trouble it all is quiet Wind and Tide go together Secondly It appeareth by your course Many will say There is not a just man on earth that doth good and sinneth not You are Sinners as well as we Answ. There is a difference though there be not a good man upon earth that sinneth not Eccl. 7. 20. yet there is a difference Some have not the spot of Gods Children Deut. 32. 5. There is a difference between sins Levit. 23. 24 27. God gave the Priest under the Law direction how to put a difference between leprous persons So still there is a great deal of difference between numbness and death and between dimness of sight and blindness want of sense and want of life between stumbling into a Ditch and throwing our selves headlong into an Ocean And so there is a difference between infirmities and iniquities a failing out of ignorance and weakness or some powerful temptation and a running headlong into all ungodliness Gods Children have their failings but a burning desire to be freed from them Though others wallow in their sin without any care of a remedy In the one there is a failing in point of Duty in the other a Rebellion Take Iudas and Peter both sinned against their Master the one denied the other betrayed him the one denied him out of fear the other betrayed him out of covetousness and greediness of gain the one plotted his death the other was surprized on a sudden There is a great deal of difference between purpose and a surprize the one wept bitterly the other is given up to a raging despair David did not make a trade of Adultery and bathe himself in filthy lusts Noah was drunk but not knowing the power of the juice of the Grape They dare not lye in this estate but seek to get out by repentance Thirdly Some things may beget caution and move you to suspect your selves that is when your souls readily comply with the temptation you are at sins beck If it saith Go you go if it saith Come you come It is of great concernment to know what goes to the determining a mans condition to know at whose beck he is whether he is at the Fleshes or Spirits beck Psal. 103. 20. The Godly are described that they hearken unto the voice of his Word so the wicked are those that hearken to the voice
nothing There we must begin They that have not the favour of God are left to their own sway and their own hearts and counsels but those whom he loves know his secrets and are guided by his Spirit 3. The connexion He prays not for one but for both for God giveth both together consolation and direction and we must seek both together for we cannot expect God should favour us while we walk in a wrong way and contrary to his will First Let me speak of the first Petition Where I might observe First The matter of the Petition Make thy face to shine Secondly The Person Upon me Thirdly The Character by which he describeth himself Thy Servant First As to the matter Make thy face to shine It is a Metaphor taken from the Sun When the Sun shines and sheds abroad his light and heat and influence then the Creatures are cheered and revived but when that 's obscured they droop and languish What the Sun is to the outward World that is God to the Saints Or else here 's a Metaphor taken from men that look pleasantly upon those in whom they delight And so the Lord gives a smile of his gracious countenance upon his people indeed it alludeth to both For the allusion to the light and influence of the Sun is clear in the word shine and the allusion to the pleasant countenance of a man upon his child is included in the word face The phrase may be understood by what is said Prov. 16. 15. In the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain That place will illustrate this we have in hand Look what the smiling and pleasing aspect of the King is to those that value and stand in need of his favour that is the favour of God to the Saints The same form of speech is used in other places as in the form of the Priests blessing Numb 6. 25. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee And in that prayer Psal. 67. 1. God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah Well then the thing begged is a sense of Gods love Secondly For whom doth David beg this For himself Cause thy face to shine upon me David a man after Gods own heart But did he need to put up such a request to God 1. Possibly God might seem to neglect him or to look upon him with an angry countenance because of sin and therefore he begs some demonstration of his favour and good will David had his times of darkness and discomfort as well as others therefore earnestly beggeth for one smile of Gods face 2. If you look not upon him as under desertion at this time the words then must be thus interpreted He begs the continuance and encrease of his comfort and sense of Gods love Gods manifestations of himself to his people in this world are given out in a different degree and with great diversity Our assurance or sense of his love consists not in puncto an indivisible point it hath a latitude it may be more and it may be less and Gods Children think they can never have enough of it therefore David saith Lord cause thy face to shine If it did shine already the Petition intimates the continuance and encrease of it Thirdly He characterizeth himself by the notion of Gods servant as Psal. 31. 16. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for thy mercies sake We must study to approve our selves to be the Lords servants by our obedience If we would have his face shine upon us we must be careful to yield obedience unto him The Points are four I. The sense of Gods favour may be withdrawn for a time from his choicest servants II. The Children of God that are sensible of this cannot be satisfied with this estate but they will be praying for some beams of love to be darted out upon their souls III. They that are sensible of the want or loss of Gods favour have liberty with hope and encouragement to sue out this blessing as David did Lord make thy face to shine upon thy servant IV. Gods Children when they beg comfort they also beg Grace to serve him acceptably I. The sense of Gods favour may be withdrawn for a time from his choicest servants David puts up this petition in point of comfort There 's a twofold desertion in appearance and in reality First In appearance only through the misgivings of our own hearts We may think God is gone and hides his face when there is no such matter as through inadvertency we may seek what we have in our hands Thus a Child of God thinks he is cast out of the presence of God when all the while he hath a full right and place in his heart Thus David Psal. 31. 22. We think God hath forgotten us neglects us casts us off hath no respect for us when in the mean time the Lord is framing an answer of Grace for us One chief cause is misinterpreting Gods Providence and our manifold afflictions The Lord sometimes frowns upon his Children as Ioseph upon his Brethren when his affections were very strong so the Lord covers himself with frowns and anger the visible appearance of it speaks no otherwise Secondly It may be really when he is angry for sin Isai. 57. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth As the Fathers of our Flesh shew their anger by whipping and scourging the Bodies of their Children so the Father of our Spirits by lashing the Soul and Spirits by causing them to feel the effects of his angry indignation Or else withdrawing the Spirit of comfort suspending all the acts and fruits of his love so that they have not that joyful sense of communion with God as they were wont to have Now the reasons why Gods people may want the light of his countenance are these 1. God out of Sovereignty will exercise us with changes here in the World Even in the inward man there we have our Ebbs and Flows that we may know Earth is not Heaven He hath an Eternity wherein to reveal his love and to communicate himself to his people therefore he will take a liberty as to temporal dispensations Isai. 54. 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer He hath an everlasting love and kindness for us therefore here in the world he will exercise us with some uncertainties as David concealed his love towards his Son Absolom when yet his bowels yerned towards him Here he takes liberty to do it because he will make it up in Heaven All your changes shall then be recompenced by an uninterrupted comfort 2. To conform us to Jesus Christ. We should not know the bitter agonies our Redeemer sustained
for us unless we had some experience of it our selves He tasted of this Cup Matth. 27. 46. And though it be a bitter Cup yet it must go round we must all pledge him in it Conceit will not inform us so much as experience 3. His Justice requires it when we surfeit of our comforts and play the Wantons with them that he should withdraw them We our selves breed the Mist and Clouds which hide from us the shining of Gods favour We raise up those Mountains of transgression that are as a Wall of separation between us and God whence that expression Isai. 59. 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you As the Sun dissolves and dispels Mists and Clouds by his bright Beams so God of his free Grace dissolveth these Clouds Isai. 44. 22. I have blotted out thy iniquities as a Cloud and thy transgressions as a thick Cloud Now there are two sins especially which cause God to hide himself First Too free a liberty in carnal pleasures and delights and Secondly Spiritual laziness First Too free a liberty in carnal pleasures and delights When we live according to the Flesh we smart for it these marr our taste and when our affections run out to other comforts we forfeit those which are better Psal. 30. 6 7. When we begin to sleep upon a carnal pillow to compose our selves to rest and lye down and dream golden Dreams of earthly felicity Carnal confidence and carnal complacency make God a stranger to us This carnal complacency hinders a sense of Gods love two ways Meritoriè effectivé Not only meritoriously as it provokes God to withdraw when we set up an Idol in our hearts but also effectively As carnal delights bring on a brawn and deadness upon the heart so that we cannot have a sense of Gods love for that requires a pure delicate Spirit Our tast must be purged resined sensible of spiritual good and evil Now this will never be except the soul be purged from carnal complacency for while there is so strong a relish of the Flesh-Pots of Egypt we are not fit to taste of the hidden Manna but always the more dead the heart is to worldly things the more lively to spiritual sense ever Iude 19. Sensual not having the Spirit i. e. spiritual joyes feelings operations When Solomon withheld not his heart from any joy God left him when he was trying the pleasures of the Creature and went a whoring from God God left him Secondly Spiritual laziness is another cause why God hides his face from his people Cant. 5. 6. compared with ver 2 3. The Spouse neglected to open to Christ upon light and frivolous pretences and then her Beloved had withdrawn himself If we lye down on the Bed of security and grow lazy and negligent then Christ withdraws 4. It is necessary and useful for us sometimes that God should hide his face Cloudy and rainy Days conduce to the fruitfulness of the Earth as well as those that are fair and shining and the Winter hath its use as well as the Summer We are apt to have cheap thoughts of spiritual comforts Iob 15. 11. apt to run riot and to grow neglectful of God and be proud 2 Cor. 12. 7. Paul had his buffettings to keep down his pride We have changes even in our inward man to keep us in the better frame the more watchful diligent and waiting upon God Use. Well if it be so all the use I shall make is To put this Question Is this your Case yea or no There is nothing that conduceth to the safety and comfort of the spiritual life so much as observing God's comings and goings that we may suit our carriage accordingly Our Lord saith Matth. 9. 15. Can the Children of the Bride-Chamber mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them Is God present or is he gone When God is gone not to lay it to heart argues great stupidness You are worse than that Idolater Iudg. 18. 24. He thought he had reason enough for his Laments and Moans when they had taken away his Images his Gods So if God be gone shall we digest and put up such a loss and never mind to lay it to heart Iob complains of this Chap. 29. 3. That the Candle of the Lord did not shine upon his head as it did of old Surely they that have any respect to God any tenderness left in their hearts will be sensible of Gods going On the other side if we get any thing of God his Grace and favour to our hearts it should be matter of joy and consolation to us Rom. 5. 11. We joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Jesus Christ hath made the atonement but we have received the atonement when we get any thing of the bloud of Christ upon our own Consciences when we have any sense of reconciliation A little Sun-shine inliveneth the poor Creatures the Birds fall a singing that were melancholy and sad before in cloudy Weather they are cheered and comforted when the Sun shines How should we observe the least glympse of Gods favour if he but shew himself through the Lattice Cant. 2. There is nothing keeps Grace lively and freeth us from a dead and stupid formality so much as this But when men are careless and do not observe Gods accesses and recesses hardness of heart encreaseth upon us presently and God loseth that worship and reverence and invocation and praise that is due from us to him Therefore our eye should still wait upon the Lord and as the eyes of servants are on their mistresses Psal. 123. 3. so should our eye be still on Gods hands and observe what he gives out in every Duty or what of God we observe in this or that Ordinance II. The Children of God that are sensible of this cannot be satisfied with this estate but will be praying and always seeking the evidences of his favour and reconciliation Psal. 80. 3 7 19. three times it is repeated Turn us again O Lord of hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Their great happiness is to be in favour with God They can dispense with other comforts and can want them with a quiet mind let God do his pleasure there but they cannot dispense with this with the want of his favour and manifested good will to them This is the life of their lives the fountain of their comforts this is the Heaven they have upon Earth without which they cannot joy in themselves Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled What are the Reasons of this 1. Because of the value of this priviledg the favour of God is the greatest blessing It may appear in sundry respects Take but that consideration Psal. 63. 3. Thy loving kindness is better than life The favour of God is the life of our souls and his displeasure is our death A Child of
God values his happiness by Gods friendship not by his worldly prosperity and is miserable by Gods absence and by the causes thereof his sin and offence done to God Nay his loving kindness is not only life but better than life A man may be weary of life it self but never of the love of God Many have complained of life as a burthen and wished for the day of death but none have complained of the love of God as a burthen All the world without this cannot make a man happy What will it profit us if the whole world smile upon us and God frown and be angry with us All the Candles in the World cannot make it Day nay all the Stars shining together cannot dispel the darkness of the Night nor make it Day unless the Sun shines so whatever comforts we have of a higher or lower nature they cannot make it day with a gracious heart unless Gods face shine upon us for he can blast all in an instant A Prisoner is never the more secure though his Fellows and Companions applaud him and tell him his Cause is good and that he shall escape when he that is Judge condemns him Though we have the good word of all the world yet if the Lord speak not peace to our Souls and shine not upon our Consciences what will the good word of the world do 2 Cor. 10. 18. He is approved whom the Lord commendeth A sense of Gods love in Christ is the sweetest thing that ever we felt and is able to sweeten the bitterest Cup that ever Believer drank of Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulation It will be a blessed thing when we cannot only bear tribulations but rejoyce in them but how come we to rejoyce in them Why because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us so he goes on If we would know the value of things the best way is to know what is our greatest comfort and our greatest trouble in distress For when we are drunk with worldly prosperity and happiness we are incompetent Judges of the worth of things but when God rebukes a man for sin what 's our greatest trouble then That we may take heed of providing sorrow to our selves another time then we find sin and transgression the greatest burthen when any notable affliction is upon us Iob 36. 9. and what will be your greatest comfort then for then your comforts are put to the proof One evidence of an interest in Christ a little sense of the love of God how precious is it Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. His thoughts were intangled and interwoven one with another as Branches of a crooked Tree for so the word signifies there when his thoughts were thus intricate and perplext then thy comforts delight my soul. O then what should we labour for but to be most clear in this that God loves us This will be our greatest comfort and rejoycing in all conditions 'T is good for us in prosperity then our comforts are sweet and in adversity and deep affliction to see God is not angry with us Though we feel some smart of his afflicting hand yet his heart is with us 2. They deal with God as worldly men do with sensible things for as others live by sense so they by faith Now worldly men are cheered with the good will of men and troubled with the displeasure of men upon whom they depend The down-look of Ahasuerus confounded Haman and put him to great trouble He was afraid Esth. 7. 8. Absolom professes 'twere better for him to be banished than to live in Ierusalem and not see the Kings face 2 Sam. 14. 32. Surely it is death to Gods Children to want his face and favour upon whom they depend Their business lies mainly with God and their dependance and hope and comfort is in God they live by faith Poor Worldings walk by sense therefore their souls run out upon other comforts in the smiling face of some great Potentate or some friend of the World this is their life peace and joy But they that live by faith see him that is invisible and value their happiness by his favour and misery by his displeasure 3. The Children of God have tasted the sweetness of it therefore they know it by experience The best demonstration of any thing is from sense Description cannot give me such a demonstration as when I taste and feel it my self 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious They have an experimental feeling of that which others know only by guess and hear-say Carnal men know no other good but that of the Creature The Spouse did so languish after her Beloved being sick of love when her desires were disappointed it made her faint Cant. 5. 6. They that have not seen and known him know not what to make of those spiritual and lively affections that carry us out after the favour of God with such earnestness and importunity but they that have tasted and know what their Beloved is their hearts are more excited and stirred up towards him Iohn 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift of God c. You would more admire the favour of God if you knew it especially by experience you would find it is a better good than ever you have yet tasted Use. Is this our temper and frame of our hearts Can we live contentedly and satisfiedly with the light of his Countenance A Child of God may be without the light of his Countenance but cannot live contentedly without it Are we troubled about it ever seeking after it Surely this is the disposition of the Children of God they are ever seeking after the favour of God I shall press to this by this Argument 1. God bespeaks it from you Psal. 27. 8. Thou saidest Seek ye my face There 's a Dialogue between God and a gracious heart The Lord saith Seek he saith it in his Word and speaks by the injection of holy thoughts by the inspiration of his Grace and the renewed heart like a quick Echo takes hold of this Lord thy face will I seek Psal. 106. 4. You should ever be seeking after God in his Ordinances seek his favour and face 2. The new Nature enclines and carries the soul to God it came from God and carries the soul to God again The Spirit of the World doth wholly encline us to the World They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and the Spirit of God doth encline us to God and therefore the people of God will value his favour above all things else David speaks in his own name and in the name of all that were like-minded with himself he speaks of all the Children of God in opposition to the many the brutish ones that were for sensual satisfaction Psal. 4. 6. Many say Who will shew us any good But
not be at our beck We have deserved nothing but must wait for him in the diligent use of the means as Benhadad's servants watched for the word Brother or any thing of kindness to drop from the King of Israel 2. Work for it for I press you not to a devout sloth All good things are hard to come by 't is worth all the labour we lay out upon it There is no having peace with God any sense of his love without diligent attendance in the use of all appointed means 2 Pet. 3. 14. Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless And 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure That comfort is to be suspected that costs nothing but like Ionah's Gourd grows up in a night that comes upon us we know not how IV. Gods Children when they beg comfort also beg Grace to serve him acceptably For teaching Gods Statutes is not meant barely a giving us a speculative knowledge of Gods will for so David here Make thy face to shine and Teach me thy Statutes And why do they so 1. Out of gratitude They are ingenuous and would return all duty and thankfulness to God as well as receive mercy from him therefore they are always mingling resolutions of duty with expectations of mercy and when they carry away comforts from him are thinking of suitable returns And while they take Christ for righteousness they devote and give up themselves to his use and service The nature of man is so disposed that when we ask any thing we promise especially if a Superior Hos. 14. 2. Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips The Children of God resolve upon duty and service when they ask favour So Psal. 9. 13 14. Have mercy upon me O Lord consider my trouble that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the Daughter of Sion We are thinking of honouring and praising God at that time when we seek his favour 2. The Children of God do know that this is the cause of Gods aversion from them that his Stautes are not observed and therefore when they beg a greater experience of Gods special favour they also beg direction to keep his Statutes They cannot maintain and keep up a sense of the love of God unless they be punctual in their Duty He knows nothing of Religion that knows not that the comfort of a Christian depends upon sanctification as well as justification and the greater sense of obedience the fuller sense of the love of God and the degrees of manifesting his favour are according to the degrees of our profiting in obedience for these go along still Jesus Christ is King of righteousness and King of peace He is Melchizedeck King of Salem he pours out the Oil of grace that he may pour out the Oil of gladness Heb. 7. 2. But especially see one place Iohn 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Christ was then most sweetly comforting his people but 't was not his mind that they should be emboldned thereby to cast off Duty No he says the only way to assure them that they were not delusions and to clear their right to these comforts was this He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him That 's the way to get confirmation and evidence of the love of God 3. This is a notable effect and evidence of Gods favour to guide you in his ways therefore 't is a branch of the former for whom the Lord loveth he teacheth and guides Rom. 8. 14. As many as are the Children of God they are led by the Spirit Others are left to their own hearts counsels And Psal. 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant The communication of Secrets is a note of friendship Now the secret of the Lord the knowledge of his Covenant and what belongs thereto it is to those that fear God There 's the qualification 4. He sheweth that he does not desire a greater proof of Gods love He would chiefly experience the good will of God to him in being taught the mind of God The most sleight that which David prizeth But if our hearts were as they should be we would prefer this before all other good things sanctification to be taught of God For First 'T is a better evidence of Gods favour than worldly comforts Pardon freeth us from punishment sanctification from sin and pollution sin is worse than misery and holiness is to be preferred before impunity Christ in the work of redemption considered the Fathers interest and honour as well as your salvation The taking away of worldly comforts doth not infringe our blessedness yea when it is accompanied with this benefit it maketh way for the encrease of it Psal. 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law All the comforts of the world are not worth one Dram of Grace The loss of them may be supplied with Grace and man be happy comfortable and blessed for all that but the loss of Grace cannot be supplied with temporal things We cannot say Blessed is the man that hath lost Grace for the worlds sake Again all the riches and honours heaped upon a man cannot make him better they may easily make him worse but Grace can never make us worse but always better more amiable in the eyes of God and fitter for communion with him These may be given to those whom God hateth Psal. 17. 74. But this is the favour of his people Grace is never given but to those whom he entirely loveth These may be given in wrath but sanctifying Grace never in wrath The more we have of these things the more wanton and vain Deut. 32. 15. They are often used as an occasion to the Flesh Gal. 5. 13. prove fewel to our lusts encrease our snares temptations difficulties in Heavens way Luke 18. 25. Our Table becometh a snare Psal. 69. 22. But the saving Graces of the Spirit make all easie and help us towards our own happiness Secondly Profiting in obedience or sanctification is a greater effect of God favour Sanctification is a greater priviledge than Justification Perfect and compleat holiness and conformity to God is the great thing which God designed as the glory of God is holiness Exod. 15. 11. Moral perfections exceed natural and of all moral perfections Holiness is the greatest 'T is better to be wise than strong to be holy than wise Beasts have strength Man hath reason but holy Angels a holy God Sanctification is a real perfection
by mourning for this Carnal men are hot in their own cause cold in Gods Gods Children are quite otherwise cold in their own cause and hot in Gods Therefore they are deeply sensible when Gods honour is weakned Moses was the meekest man upon Earth yet he brake the Tables How doth this agree The injuries that were done to himself he could look upon with a meek quiet spirit easily put them up but when he saw the people bring dishonour to the name of God then he hath a high and deep affection They cry out Iosh. 7. 9. Lord what wilt thou do for thy great name So Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory They go to God not to advance our faction and interest we are brought very low yet the wrath of man shall praise thee Thy name is dear and precious they are sorry to see any prophane it God hath abundantly provided for their respect he hath bid all men love them when he bid us love one another So that in effect all the respects of the world are devolved upon one person And they would have all men love God and honour God Secondly It comes from their compassion and pity and love to men O it grieves them to see so many that do not grieve for themselves and their eyes are wet because yours are always dry I tell you weeping saith Paul Phil. 3. 18. Compassion over the miserable estate of such Teachers and those that are led by them they and whole Droves run after fancies that endanger their souls False Teachers and their Proselytes should not only fall under our indignation but our pity They are Monsters in nature that want Bowels much more in Grace Religion doth not harden the heart but mollifie it Jesus Christ was made up of compassion and all Christians partake of Christs spirit Phil. 1. 8. God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Iesus Christ. Pray mark Paul had got some of Christs bowels and let me tell you they were tender ones Compassion towards others and weeping over their sins is somewhat like the love of Jesus Christ. He would take our burthen upon himself when he was not interested so the spirit of Christ worketh in all his Members he hath distributed his bowels among them and therefore they cannot but long for the salvation of others yea their heart is broken and mollified with Christs compassion to them and therefore long for fellows in the same Grace Though they have received personal and private injuries yet they pity their case and mourn for them 'T is matter of humiliation and lamentation 2 Cor. 12. 21. When I come again I fear my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the fornication uncleanness lasciviousness which they have committed It is matter of grief to see so many thousands perish or in a perishing condition Thirdly This disposition cometh from the antipathy and zealous displeasure that is in their hearts against sin They know what sin is the greatest enemy that God and Christ and their own souls have in the world It was sin that made Angels become Devils it was sin that blew up the sparks of Hell fire it was sin that opposed God that crucified Christ it is sin that grieves the Spirit of God and therefore they mourn when sin gets Proselytes A man cannot endure to see a Toad or Viper near him your hearts rise when you see them creep upon another so do the hearts of the Children of God rise that their enemy and Gods should find such respect and entertainment in the world It is said of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2. 2. That she could not bear those which were wicked And David saith Ps. 101. 3. I hate the works of them that turn aside They know this will grieve the spirit of God that this will press him as a Cart is pressed with sheaves and shall God be pressed and burthened and they not troubled It cannot be They that love the Lord will hate evil Psal. 97. 10. both in themselves and others Fourthly This disposition comes out of a sagacity of faith and serious foresight of the effects of sin They know what sin will come to and what is the danger of it therefore when they see sin encreasing Rivers of water run down their eyes Wicked men tremble only at the Judgment of God but good men tremble at his Word and therefore they mourn when others fall into danger of the threatning When Ezra plucked his beard and was in such a zealous indignation against the sins of the people bewailing them before the Lord Ezr. 9. 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel At fasts others are sleight and obdurate they look on threatning as a little mock Thunder they are not sensible of the danger I may set forth this by that allusion 2 Kings 8. 11. The Prophet Elisha wept when he saw Hazael that he looked wishly on his face till he blushed The man of God wept and Hazael said Why weepeth my Lord And he answered Because I know the evil thou wilt do unto the Children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their Children and rip up their women with child and Hazael said But what is thy servant a Dog c. So when the Children of God look upon sin they know by the complexion of it what will be the dreadful effects This will be bitterness in the issue in time this will produce pestilences famine fire sword and all other mischiefs and judgments and expressions of the angry indignation of the Lord. They foresee a Storm when the Clouds are but a gathering therefore they tremble when they see them This is the sagacity of faith Now carnal men on the other side look upon the threatnings of Scripture but as words of course used as in way of policy that God only would awe and scare them but doth not purpose to condemn them But Faith is sagacious Look as to the promises Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen So as to the threatnings the same evidence of things not seen The Apostle doth not only instance when he had given the general description of the objects of hope for the recompence of reward but he instances in the threatnings Noah being moved with fear prepared an Ark c. They know however men sleight the word of God one day it will be found true and therefore when they see men add sin to sin they are troubled The Word is as sure as execution and works upon them accordingly They have all things in a near view the nearer the objects of our faith are in our view the more they stir up our affections Dangers and death
I had been a brand fit for the burning Secondly Take heed of sensuality Hos. 4. 12. My people ask counsel of their Stocks and their Staff declareth unto them for the spirit of whoredome hath caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from under their God It taketh away the heart the tenderness and softness no one thing doth more brawn the spirit To be given to uncleanness past feeling Ephes. 4. 18. Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts Thirdly Beg the assistance of Gods Spirit he can smite the Rock and make waters gush out That thou may'st not be discouraged look upon Precedents in Scripture the tender hearts of Gods people there the Spirit of God wrought them to this frame Cry O arm of the Lord put on strength as in the ancient days God hath promised it Zach. 12. 10. I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son c. And then it follows And the Land shall mourn every Family apart c. SERMON CLIII PSAL. CXIX VER 137. Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Iudgments THIS Psalm is spent in commendation of the Word of God The man of God sometimes commends it for its efficacy sometimes for its sureness and certainty and at other times for its sweetness In this Octonary or Portion the Word of God is commended for its righteousness David was troubled with sore grief for the wickedness of his enemies yea tempted greatly to impatiency and distrust by looking upon their prosperous estate for if you consult with the Context you shall find this was spoken in a time of defection when Rivers of tears ran down his eyes because men kept not the Law of God When carnal men pass their time in joy and the Godly in tears it is good then to meditate of Gods righteousness So does David when they were making void Gods Law he was in deep sorrow and tears It is good so to do that we may humble our selves under his mighty hand and compose our soul to patience and a quiet submission and with hope to wait upon God in the midst of wrongs and injuries Simo Caltu telleth us That the Emperor Mauritius used these Words when he saw all his Children slain before his face and himself ready to be slain after them by Phocas The Historian tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he did in the presence of all meekly submit to this great and heavy calamity crying out Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Iudgments In the words the man of God reasons ab efficiente ad effectum à Legislatore ad Leges from the property of God to the Laws that he hath given us God being essentially righteous and perfectly righteous yea righteousness it self nothing contrary to Justice can proceed from him no iniquity from equity it self nor injustice from justice it self Gods Law all his dispensations that proceed from him are as himself is Therefore in the Text you have two things 1. What God is Thou art righteous O Lord. 2. What his Word and Works are Upright are thy Iudgments The Word Misphatim Judgments implies both both the rule and his Providential dispensations according to that rule In Gods Word there 's a Judicial Sentence concerning our thoughts words and works therefore his Law is called Judgments It is the Judgment of the great God concerning the actions of men and then the effect thereof when his Sentence takes place The Points are three I. That God is a righteous God II. That this righteous and holy God hath given a rule of Equity and Justice to his Creature III. That all the dispensations that proceed from him according to that Rule are all exactly righteous I. That God is a righteous God Here I shall shew 1. What is the righteousness of God 2. Prove that God is righteous 1. What it is Amongst men there 's a general and a particular Justice The general Justice is that whereby we carry our selves conformable to the rule of Religion 1 Pet. 2. 24. called there living unto righteousness And the particular Justice is that whereby we give every man his due so it is taken Tit. 2. 12. That we should live soberly righteously and godlily Godliness is that Grace which enclines us to give God his portion and sobriety is that Grace which helps us to govern our selves and righteousness that Grace whereby we give our Neighbour his due First Justice is sometimes put for the whole rectitude and perfection of the Divine Nature When God acts becoming such a pure holy and infinite Being and so God cannot do any thing that is against the perfection of his Nature he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2. 13. He will not give his Glory to another Isai. 42. 8. He cannot be indifferent to good and evil he will not damn and punish an innocent Creature there is a condecency in all his actions to the perfection of his Nature Secondly There 's a particular Justice with respect to his dealings with the Creature especially man And before I come to open that I must tell you That God must be considered under a twofold relation First As absolute Lord. Secondly As Governour and Judg of the World First As absolute Lord and so his Justice is nothing but the absolute and free motion of his own will concerning the estate of all Creatures In this respect God is wholly arbitrary and hath no other rule but his own will he doth not will things because they are just but therefore they are just because God wills them For 1. He hath a right of making and framing any thing as he willeth in any manner as it pleaseth him as a Potter hath power over his Clay to form what Vessel he pleaseth either of honour or dishonour Rom. 9. 21. and Ier. 18. 6. As the Clay is in the Potters hand so are ye in mine hand O house of Israel He hath not only might and power but full right to dispose of the Creature according to his own pleasure As he sustaineth the person of a Lord he doth what is agreeable to his free and sovereign will As the good man of the house pleaded Matth. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own so God as absolute Lord and Sovereign may do as he pleaseth Nothing before it had a Being had a right to dispose of it self Neither did God make it what it was by the necessity of Nature nor by the command counsel or will of any Superior or the direction of any Coadjutor neither is there any to whom he should render an account of his work but merely produceth things by the act of his own will
Psal. 94. 15. Iudgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it Sometimes they are asunder Earthly Judges may refuse the justice of righteousness a Judg may suspend the act of his own judgment but they shall not long be severed God will bring forth his righteous Judgment Zach. 8. 17. These things I hate saith the Lord. And then in regard of his Providence God will not be unmindful of his promise Psal. 9. 7 8 9. He hath prepared his Throne for judgment and he shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to his people in uprightness Courts of Justice among men are not always open they have Term-time but God is always ready to hear Paintiffs They make Complaints amongst men and they are delayed so much and so long that they are discouraged But we have a friend that is always ready to hear Psal. 48. 10. Thy right hand is full of righteousness for defending his people and punishing his enemies Use 3. To press us to acknowledge this Justice of God that he governeth all things righteously especially when you are under his mighty hand The Lord takes it ill when you question any of his Providences Ezek. 18. 25. Are not my ways equal He will be clear when he judgeth Psal. 51. 4. God will be justified in all that he hath done or shall do for the punishment of sin and therefore when the hand of God is upon you take heed you do not reproach God When his hand is smart and heavy upon you remember affliction opens the eyes of the worst men Nebuchadnezzar that knew no God but himself no happiness but in pleasing his own humour yet when he was whipped and scourged hear him speak Dan. 4. 37. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase Pharaoh Exod. 2 27. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked These Acknowledgments and Confessions come from wicked men as Water out of a Still forced by the fire But if affliction opens the eyes of wicked men surely when we are under Gods afflicting hand we should give him the glory of his Justice and acknowledge that he is clear in all that he brings upon us He takes it ill when we murmure and tax his Judgment Mic. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me And Lam. 1. 18. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandment And when we submissively stoop and accept of the punishment of our sin after he hath been provoked then God will plead for us Lev. 26. 41. When we stoop humbly under Gods correcting hand and bear it patiently and say God is just in all this then it will succeed well Observe the Justice of God especially his remarkable Judgments upon others The Church is brought in acknowledging of it Rev. 15. 3. Iust and true are thy ways thou King of Saints And Rev. 19. 3. True and righteous are his Iudgments Not that we should sit Crowners upon other mens souls and judge their spiritual condition and misinterpret Providence I look upon it as a great sin of a faction and perverse humors But clearly when mens sins are so great that the Judgments of God have overtaken them we ought to say Iust and true art thou O Lord and just in all thy Iudgments I might shew here is much to keep the Children of God in awe the Lord is a righteous God though they have found mercy and taken sanctuary at his Grace the Lord is impartial in his Justice God that did not spare the Angels when they sinned nor his Son when he was a Sinner by imputation will not spare you though you are the dearly Beloved of his soul Prov. 11. 31. The sinful courses of Gods Children occasion bitterness enough they never venture upon sin but with great loss If Paul give way to a little pride God will humble him If any give way to sin their Pilgrimage will be made uncomfortable Gods hand may be smart and dismal Eli for negligence and indulgence there 's the Ark of God taken his two Sons slain in battel his Daughter in Law dies he himself breaks his Neck O the wonderful Tragedies that sin works in the houses of the Children of God! And David when he intermedled with forbidden fruit was driven from his Palace his Concubines defiled his own Son slain a great many calamities did light upon him Therefore the Children of God have cause to fear for the Lord is a just God and they will find it so here upon earth he hath reserved liberty to visit their iniquity with Rods and their transgression with Scourges I might press you to imitate Gods righteousness 1 Iohn 2. 29. If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of God You have a righteous God and here 's the thing you should copy out SERMON CLV PSAL. CXIX VER 138. Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful IN the former Verse the Prophet had spoken of the righteousness of God now God is essentially righteous and therefore all that proceedeth from him is righteous A Carpenter that hath a Rule without him and a Line to measure his work by may sometimes hit and sometimes miss but if you could suppose a Carpenter the motion of whose hand were his Rule he could never chop amiss So must we conceive of God his Act is his Rule Holiness is his Essence not a superadded quality his righteousness is himself therefore from this righteous God there proceedeth nothing but righteousness and from this faithful God nothing but faith He discovereth his Nature both in the Acts of his Providence and the Institutions of his Word We cannot reason so concerning men that because they are righteous nothing cometh from them but what is righteous because righteousness is not their nature but an adventitious quality therefore good men may make ill Laws for though they be meant for good they may be deceived And sometimes wicked men may make good Laws to ingratiate themselves and for the interest of their affairs but God being essentially necessarily good holy and righteous his Laws are also good holy and true Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful In the Words observe I. That there is a Revelation of Gods Will in his Word Thy Testimonies II. The Authority wherewith his Revelation is backed Which thou hast commanded III. The intrinsick worth and excellency of these Testimonies it is double They are 1. Righteous 2. Very faithful In the Hebrew righteousness and faithfulness that is very right and very faithful the one word is referred to the Agenda in Religion the other to the Credenda they are worthy to be obeyed
worthy to be believed The Summ is God hath his Testimonies extant their Authority is inviolable and their Justice and Truth immutable Some read Praecepisti Iustitiam Testimoniorum tuorum fidem valde Thou hast highly charged and earnestly commanded the righteousness and faithfulness of thy Testimonies as referring to our Duty But most Translations agree with ours Our duty indeed may be inferred but I shall not make it the formal interpretation of the place In the Texture of the Words in the Hebrew these Attributes are given to the Word it self Doctr. They that would profit by the word or rule of faith and manners which God hath commanded them to observe should look upon it as righteous and very faithful So did David here and elsewhere Psal. 19. 9. The Iudgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether I shall make good the Point by these Considerations Prop. 1. That our faith and obedience must be well-grounded or else they will have no firmness and stability The want of a foundation is the cause of many a ruinous Building Men carry on a fair and lofty Structure of profession but when the Winds of boisterous temptations are let loose upon them all is blown down because they build upon the Sand and not upon the Rock They take up this profession without sound evidence and conviction in their Consciences and so they are not grounded or setled in the faith Col. 1. 23. not rooted and grounded in love Ephes. 3. 7. They take up Religion sleightly not looking into the reasons of it upon Tradition or vulgar esteem they are not undoubtedly perswaded that it is the very truth of God The good Seed withered that fell upon the stony ground because there was no depth of Earth Matth. 13. 5. no considerable strength of soil to feed faith Prop. 2. Faith and obedience cannot be well-grounded but on such a Doctrine as is true and righteous for who can depend on that which is not true or who can obey that which is not righteous Truth is the only sure foundation for faith to build upon and righteousness for practice Faith considereth truth Ephes. 1. 13. In whom ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation And that righteousness is that which bindeth to practice we may gather from Psal. 119. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way The Word commandeth nothing but what is just and righteous Prop. 3. This true and righteous Doctrine must be backed with a strong and powerful Authority not only recommended to us but strictly and severely enjoyned for two reasons First Because otherwise it will not be observed and regarded but be lookt upon not as a binding Law but as an arbitrary direction There is difference between a Law and a Rule A bare Rule may only serve to inform our understandings or to give direction but a Law is a binding Rule a Rule with a strong Obligation The Word of God is not his counsel and advice to us only but his Law that men may examine and regard it with more care and diligence God hath interposed his authority Psal. 1. â—…9 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently And in the Text Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded God hath commanded us to believe all truths revealed to obey all duties required and if God commandeth there is good reason why he should be obeyed Secondly Divine authority is one means to evidence the righteousness and truth of what is to be believed and obeyed The righteousness for if God who is my Superior and hath a full right to govern me according to his own pleasure doth command me any thing it is best that I should obey it without reply and contradiction yea though I see not the reason of it Acts 17. 28. For in him we live and move and have our being All Creatures have their Being not only from him but in him and therefore sometimes God giveth no other account of his Law but this I am the Lord Lev. 22. 2 3. Speak unto Aaron and to his Sons that they separate themselves from the holy things of the Children of Israel and that they prophane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me I am the Lord. Say unto them Whosoever he be of all your Seed among your Generations that goeth unto the holy things which the Children of Israel hallow unto the Lord having his uncleanness upon him that soul shall be cut off from my presence I am the Lord. Therefore it gives rules of practice to be embraced with all the heart as holy just and good Gods authority is founded upon the total dependance of all Creatures upon him and upon his infallible Wisdom Truth and Goodness by which he hath right to prescribe all Points of Faith to be believed and assented to upon his own testimony without contradiction 1 Iohn 5. 9. If we receive the testimony of man the testimony of God is greater A man that would not deceive us we believe him upon his word though he may be deceived himself but God doth not deceive nor can he be deceived by the holy God nothing can be given but what is holy and good and thereupon I am to receive it Prop. 4. This Divine authority truth and righteousness is only to be found in Gods Testimonies which he hath commanded or in Gods Word First There is a God-like authority speaking there and commanding that which it becometh none but God to command who is the universal King and Sovereign For it speaketh to the whole World without respect of persons to King and Beggar rich and poor Male and Female without reservation of Honour or distinction of Degrees The Word looketh on them as standing before God on the same level Iob 34. 19. He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regarded the rich more than the poor for they all are the work of his hands And speaketh to them indifferently and equally Exod. 20. 3. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Which is not the voice of any limited and bounded Power but of that which is supreme transcendent and absolute And by these Laws he bindeth the Conscience and the immortal souls of men Psal. 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Men may give Laws to the words and actions because they can take cognizance of them but the Word giveth Laws to the thoughts Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts Matth. 5. 28. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart And the internal motions and affections of the heart how we should love and fear and joy and mourn 1 Cor. 7. 30. They that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not Of these things God can only take notice the power
Souldiers being weary of this Pagan Emperour assoon as he dyed chose Iovinianus that had been banished and a fellow sufferer with him who recalled him and other Christians from their exile and after having reigned not full eight Months he dyed and Valentinian was chosen Emperour in his stead 3. The Third thing we should be zealous for is Gods Servants when they are opprest we should own and cherish them as good Obadiah did the Prophets who hid them by fifty in a Cave and fed them with Bread and Water 1 Kings 18. 4. And Ionathan owned David though his Father was greatly displeased with him and flung a Javelin at him 1 Sam. 20. 32. And Hester pleads for the Jews when they were doomed to Destruction Hester 7. 3. And Nicodemus pleads for Christ that he might not be condemned unheard Iohn 7. 50 51. When the Council was ready to condemn him Nicodemus saith to them he that came to Iesus by night being one of them doth our Law judge any man before it hear him And then they went their way That stopt the persecution for that time Certainly they have little zeal for God that can see good men perish before their eyes and have not a word to speak for them This Nicodemus that was before infirm and weak that sneaked unto Christ that came to him by Night gets courage in the time of need to speak for Christ. 3. What are the Acts of zeal with respect to these Objects 1. It quickens us to our duty and makes us publickly active for God Gal. 4. 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing O how remiss and sluggish would we be otherwise in matters of Gods Kingdom and Glory if we had not a strong degree of Love to stir us up to appear for God in the worst times and in the way and places that 's proper for us Paul when he saw the whole City given to Idolatry it is said his Spirit was stirred in him Acts 17. 16. He could not contain and again Acts 18. 5. Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Iews that Iesus was Christ. That heroical act of Phineas when he saw the Laws of God broken and no body ready to vindicate the honour of God he took a javelin in his hand and thrust the offenders through Numb 25. 7. And the Lord saith afterwards ver 11. Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron hath turned my wrath away from the Children of Israel while he was zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Iealousie He had an extraordinary call to do that he was High-Priest but he went then upon jus zenorum So Elijah 1 Kings 18. 40. He took the Prophets of Baal and brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there There was an extraordinary call but we are all to be active in spreading and defending the Truth and promoting the purity of Gods worship and welfare of his People as far as our calling and places permit 2. It maketh us spare no cost yea it judgeth that best done for God which costs us most as David would not serve God with that which cost nothing 2 Sam. 24. 25. That 's worth nothing that cost nothing in Religion Iezebel she was zealous for Baal and maintained 400 of his Priests at her Table In the Primitive times they sold all things that they had and had all things common And the Israelites they offered so plentifully to the Tabernacle that Moses was fain to forbid them to put a stop because there was enough given for the Advancement of Gods worship Exod. 38. 8. And therefore certainly they are cold and have little zeal for God that love as the Corinthians did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gospel without charges would be at no cost for Christ. This was Pauls case there the poor Saints of Macedonia which had but from hand to mouth they ministred to him and maintained him when he was at Corinth a rich and opulent Town Paul would depart from his right rather then prejudice the Gospel Therefore they that will be at no cost for Christ maintaining his Truth upholding his worship relieving his People have no zeal 3. It vents it self by holy Grief and Anger when any of these are violated 1. With holy Grief we should be touched and that to the quick with other mens sins when they neglect their duty pervert all that is right and honest and seem not to be concerned with the glory of God 1 Pet. 2. 7 8. It is said of Lot his Righteous Soul was vexed at the wickedness of the Sodomites and he vexed himself not with Sodoms injuries but with Sodoms impurities he could not redress the evils but he mourns for them So the Prophet Ieremiah for the stubbornness of the People Ier 13. 17. But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore c. Though they would not hearken amend nor any way regard these things yet it grieved him exceedingly So you shall see the like of Ezra Ezra 10. 6. He mourned because of the Transgression of them that had been carried away The Transgression of Gods People was very grievous to him Thus we read of Ely 1 Sam. 4. 13. Ely sate by the way side watching for his heart trembled for the Ark of God The Glory of God was dear to him and when Religion is in danger God dishonoured it leaves a mighty impression upon the hearts of those that have a zeal and strong love to God 2. It vents it self by indignation and holy anger As Christ whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple and shewed his divine power therein Iohn 2. 15. And remember them O God that defile the Priesthood Nehem. 13. 29. And Exod. 32. 19. Meek Moses yet his anger waxed hot and he cast the Tables out of his hand And Ezra 9. 3. When I heard this thing I rent my Garment and my Mantle and pluckt off the hair of my Head and of my Beard and sate down Astonied Thus deeply are Gods Children affected with Gods publique dishonour though not occasioned by themselves but occasioned by others and this is to have a zeal for God 4. The Qualifications and Concomitants of this holy zeal I 'le name three 1. It must be accompanied with knowledge and discretion that is to say there must be a distinct knowledge of the Cause that we take up else we may be Factors for the Devils Kingdom when we think we are acting for God and be persecuting the Saints when we think we are destroying his Enemies It must be out of the knowledge of the Cause of the evil to be renounced and the good to be established There is a blind zeal Iohn 16. 2. Whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service The Pseudo-Christians the Literal Christians have a blind zeal against the serious Christians
what is to come yet fear of punish ment alone sheweth you are slaves and only love your selves the Devils fear and tremble but do not love You may fear a thing though you hate it So far as the heart is affected with the fear of Hell 't is good 3. There are very good and sound Principles yet do not always argue Grace as when duties are done out of the urgings of an enlightened Conscience this may be without the bent of a renewed heart but yet the principle is sound for the first thing that influenceth a man is to consider himself a Creature and so to look upon himself as bound to obey his Creator I shall illustrate it by the Apostles words in another case I must preach the Gospel and wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. 17. Whether I do it willingly or unwillingly yet a Dispensation is committed to me So saith the Soul whether I be fitted to do God service or no God must be obeyed but because Gods precept is invested with a Sanction of Threatnings and Rewards here comes in the fear of Hell and the hopes of heaven The Lord hath commanded me to fly from Hell this is a good principle So the hope of Heaven Heb. 11. 26. 't is a sound principle a man may be gracious or he may not Many have a liking to Heaven and Eternal Life as 't is a state of happiness not of likness to God where 't is not alone 't is a very sound principle but as 't is it may sometimes be the sign of a renewed man and sometimes not 4. There are rare and excellent Principles when we Act out of thankfulness to God when we consider the Lords goodness that might have required Duty out of meer Soveraignty he hath laid the Foundation of it in the bloud of his own Son 1 Ioh. 4. 29. When we love him out of the sense of his love to us in Christ And when the grace of God that hath appeared teacheth us to deny ungodliness Tit. 2. 11. when the Mercies of God melt us Rom. 12. 1. when there are no intreaties so powerful as that of Love Again another principle that is rare and excellent is when the Glory of God doth season us in our whole Course that it may be to the praise of his glorious grace 1 Cor. 10. 31. Another is Complacency in the Work for the Works sake When we love the Law because it is pure when I see it will ennoble me and make me like God when I love God and his wayes when nothing but so noble imployment doth ingage me to his service and service to God is the sweetest life in the World SERMON CLVIII PSALM CXIX VER 141. I am Small and Despised yet do I not forget thy Precepts HEre David proveth the Truth of his former Assertion that seeing the Word of God was so Pure he loved it for its own sake and that he did not Court Religion for the portion that he should have with it but for it self Some are meer Mercenaries no longer then they are bribed by some Worldly profit they have no respect for God and his Wayes The Man of God was of another Temper if God would bestow any thing on him well if not he would love his Word still yea when it brought him apparent Loss Meanness and Contempt yet this could not make any divorce between his Heart and the Word I am small and despised c. In the Words we have 1. David's Condition 2. David's Carriage under that Condition His Condition might have been a Snare to him yet still he keepeth up his Affection 1. His Condition is set forth by two Notions the one of which implyeth the other Gods Providence I am small God had reduced him to streights the other Mans Treatment of him and despised the one sheweth what he was really in himself the other what he was in the opinion of others Mean in himself and Contemptible in the eye of others The Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the younger and set at nought Therefore the Greek Interpreters suppose it relateth to the story when God bids Samuel to anoint one of the Sons of Iesse to be King and the elder Children were brought forth who were Taller and more likely too and they said of them surely the Lords Anointed is before him and when Samuel enquired for another they told him 1 Sam. 16. 7. That there remaineth the youngest and he keepeth sheep then when he was but an Youth and a despised stripling his heart was with God and God favoured him Or else they refer it to the time when Eliab his eldest Brother despised him 1 Sam. 17. 28. Others think this was verified when the Elders of Israel forsook him and clave to Absalom rather I think it generally to any Afflicted Condition when he was little in Estate and Reputation rather than in years elsewhere so is this word small taken Amos 7. 2 5. Iacob is small by whom shall he arise When his Condition was helpless and hopeless and Interest inconsiderable in the World So here I am small and despised I am looked upon as a man of no Value and Interest 2. Davids Carriage under this Condition Yet do I not forget thy Precepts First here is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 less is said more is intended I do earnestly remember them Again a man may be said to remember or forget two wayes Notionally or Affectively Notionally a man forgets when the Notions of things formerly known are quite vanished out of our Minds Affectively when though he retaineth the notions yet he is not answerably affected he doth not act suitably So 't is taken here and implyeth as much as I am stedfast in the profession of this Truth as they say in a like Case Psal. 44. 17. We have not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant not parted with any point of Truth or neglected and dispensed with any part of Duty Precepts is put for the whole word of God I do not forget thy Word the Comforts and Duties of it None do so far forget God and his Precepts as those that make defection from him The sum of all is My mean and despicable Condition doth not make a breach upon my Constancy but still I keep the Credit of being a Faithful Servant to thee His Temptation was double his Faithfulness had made him small God seemeth to forget us in our low Estate yet we should not forget him and had made him despised though we lose esteem with men by sticking to the Word of God yet the Word of God should lose no esteem with us Doctrine They that love God may be reduced to a Mean Low and Afflicted Condition I am small saith David The Lord seeth it meet for divers reasons 1. That they may know their happiness is not in this World and so the more long for Heaven and delight in Heavenly things Psal. 17. 14 15. From men
to imply the whole Duty and Perfection of Man Thus Righteousness when 't is put alone In this general sense I take it here and Observe this point The Word of God is Righteousness This is one of the Notions by which it is expressed in this Psalm So 't is called in the Text. The Reasons 1. Because 't is the Copy of that Righteousness which is in God Gods natural Perfections are represented in the Creatures his Majesty and Omnipresence in the Sun but his Moral Perfections in the Word The Heavens declare his excellent Majesty and Glory but his Law his Purity Righteousness and Holiness Psal. 19. the Sun and the Law are compared together As the Creatures in their kind set forth God so doth the Word in its kind Well may it be called Righteousness because it is the fairest draught and representation of God in his Moral Perfections the chief of which are called Righteousness and Holiness The knowledge we get by the Creatures tendeth to Exalt God the knowledge we get by the Law to humble and abase Man because of our Impurity And therefore the Prophet when he saw God cryed out Isa. 6. 3. Wo is me I am undone I am a man of unclean Lips And David when he Contemplated the Holiness of the Law cryed out presently Psal. 19. 12. Lord cleanse me from my secret sins 2. 'T is the rule and pattern of all Righteousness and Justice in Man for our Righteousness is a Conformity to Gods Law Indeed habitual Righteousness is a Conformity to Gods Nature Actual Righteousness to his Law His Spirit reneweth our Nature according to the Image of God and telleth us what is pleasing to God Isa. 51. 7. Hearken unto me ye that know Righteousness the people in whose heart is my Law They that have the Law of God in their Hearts do only know Righteousness that is know what belongs to it the new Nature is tryed and all our Wayes tryed by it 3. 'T is the great Instrument to promote Righteousness It maketh the man that doth observe it Just and Righteous before God There is a twofold Righteousness before God the Righteousness of Justification and the Righteousness of Sanctification The Righteousness of Justification that is the great Truth revealed in the Scriptures Nature saw nothing of that the Heathen saw something of a breach that there was need of Appeasing God but nothing of a Righteousness before God That secret was hid from the Wise men of the World and reserved for the Scriptures and therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 3. 21 22. But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the Righteousness of God which is by Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe The Law and the Prophets set forth this Mystery to teach men that we are to be Justified before God by Faith in Christ Nature could Convince us of Guilt but not of a Righteousness 2. For the way of Sanctification or how a man that is Justified should approve himself to God and Men The Scripture cryeth up another Righteousness that becometh Justified persons that is the way to be Righteous is to do Righteousness 1 Ioh. 3. 7. Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is Righteous So 't is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth Luk. 1. 6. That they were Righteous before God and walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless So Deut. 6. 25. And it shall be our Righteousness if we observe to do all these Commandments before the Lord our God as he commanded us This Wisdom we learn from the Word where nothing but Righteousness is recommended for it cometh from the Righteous God who is Essentially Good and Holy and cannot be contrary to himself in commanding unjust things And therefore his Commandments are in all points right there is no way right to prove principles but by arguing ab absurdis and so prove the goodness of them What a miserable case would the world be in if there were not such a Law and Rule A place of Villanies and Wickedness And therefore here is Righteousness and all Righteousness we need not seek further for direction sure God can tell what will best please him and our sense and experience inform us what things are good and honest in the sight of men Use. Let us live as becometh them that have such a Righteous Rule Wisdom is Iustified of her Children Matth. 11. 19. Let us bear witness by our Faith Profession and Godly Life to the Doctrine of God This is to glorifie the Word Act. 13. 40. when we express the excellencies of it in our practice Do not only approve it in your Judgments and commend it with your Mouthes but express it in your Lives Practice glorifieth more than Verbal Praise Let us shew that the Word is Righteousness that is to say the Copy of Gods Righteousness by being the Rule and Instrument of of ours Let us look after the Righteousness of Justification we can never be truly Righteous unless we lay the Foundation of the spiritual Life in Faith in Jesus Christ and Repentance from dead Works that maketh way for the Spirit and Power of Godliness for Christ is made of God to us Righteousness before he is made Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. 30. There is no Acceptance with God without it Rom. 5. 19. By the Obedience of one many were made Righteous Thereby our persons are accepted in our selves there is none Righteous no not one and 't is dangerous to look after any other Righteousness while this is neglected Rom. 10. 3. Being ignorant of Gods Righteousness they went about to establish their own Righteousness c. Again let me press you to look after the Righteousness of Sanctification to see that we be renewed by the Spirit and entred into an holy Course and not only so but wego on still in Righteousness Rev. 22. 11. He that is Righteous let him be Righteous still We are renewed but in part Prov. 15. 9. The Lord loveth him that followeth after Righteousness that maketh it his business to grow more Righteous every day and increase the Acts to perfect the Habit this earnest indeavour must never be left off II. Now I come from the Notion to the Predication this Righteousness 't is an Everlasting Righteousness 'T is so in two respects In the Constitution among men and in the Effects of it 1. In the Constitution of it The Covenant of Grace is an Everlasting Covenant so 't is called Heb. 13. 20. and the Gospel is called the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 6. and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you Isa. 55. 3. The Priviledges of this Covenant are Eternal Christ hath obtained an eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. Dan. 9. 24. There is an Unchangeable Righteousness which Christ hath established in the Church he is the Lord our Righteousness His Righteousness is still the same and the plot was
of Hosts 5. Want of Faith Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that Labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest The Woman of Canaan that would take no denial Christ saith O woman great is thy Faith The blind man cryed after the Son of David as we run to a Rich man that is Charitably disposed for an Alms. If we were perswaded that we should be the better for coming to God we should not be so slight and careless in our approaches to him 2. Use. Is to press you to this crying or Holy vehemency in Prayer The Apostle biddeth us to continue instant in Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continue with all your might in Prayer Col. 4. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labouring fervently in Prayer for you The word signifieth to be striving in a Battel and in an Agony for them It hath life in it But what is it 1. When the Heart worketh in prayer as before 2. When you follow the suit and will not give over praying Luk. 18. 1. He spake a Parable to them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint Luk. 11. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because of his Importunity he will rise c. The Prophet telleth God plainly what he would do Isa. 62. 1. For Zions sake will I not hold my Peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest c. So Iacob Gen. 32. 26. I will not let thee go unless thou Bless me Absque te non recedam 3. When deaf to disappointments and discouragements from without from within from himself from God himself 1 Sam. 12. 23. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you c. Notwithstanding the many Objections in his heart what God would do to a Rebellious People So Elijah when the Heavens were as Brass and the Clouds as Iron And blind Bartimeus Mark 10. 48. Many charged him that he should hold his Peace but he cryed the more a great deal thou Son of David have mercy on me When God seemeth to cast out prayer to give no answer or a contrary one So Daniel when forbidden to pray Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his House and prayed three times a day as afore-time He doth not make one suit the less or abate one Jot of his Zeal To cleave to God when he seemeth to Thrust us from him Iob 13. 15. This is an Holy Obstinacy very acceptable unto God The Woman of Canaan standeth fending and proving with Christ till he giveth her satisfaction Then be it unto thee as thou wilt When we turn discouragements into arguments and motives of believing and draw near to Christ the more he seemeth to drive us from him however God wrestle with such for a while it is with a purpose to give Faith the Victory and to yield us himself to do for us what our Souls desire of him You pray and God keepeth silence He answered her not a word Matth. 15. 23. 'T is not said he heard not a word but he answered her not a word these two differ Christ often heareth when he doth not answer his not answering is indeed an answer and speaks this Pray on and continue your Crying still the Door is kept bolted that you may knock again afterwards a Rebuke First he answereth not a word then giveth an answer to the Disciples not to the Woman I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and then it is not meet to take the Childrens bread and to cast it to dogs But she turned the discouragement into an Argument And she said Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the Crumbs which fall from their Masters Table 4. Holy fervency and vehemency will be argumentative and plead with God as Abraham Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right So Iacob Gen. 32. 9. Iacob pleadeth Gods promise Return unto thy Fathers house I will deal well with thee Lord I undertook not this Journey but upon this incouragement The little honour God hath by the Churches Calamities Psal. 44. 12. Isa. 52. 4 5. The Praise God will have from his People Psal. 142. 6. do it as David in the Text I will keep thy Statutes The chief Arguments are Gods Covenant Psal. 74. 22. Arise O God plead thine own Cause remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily Have respect to thy Covenant The Merits of Christ. Lord hear for the Lords sake Desire is witty to find out Arguments and Reasoning to enforce the things we sue for But how shall we get it 1. Have a sincere desire to the things asked we will cry for what we value and earnestly desire Prov. 2. 3 4. If thou cryest for knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seek for her as for silver and searchest for her as for hid Treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God 2. Be perswaded of the Lords willingness to hear and power to help A Rich and Bountiful person a Beggar will not let him go if he see onely a Rich man Matth. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt thou canst It is in the power of your hand to help us But is not God willing also Suppose it be an uncertainty yet cry mightily unto God who can tell that he will not repent Ionah 3. 8 9. If there be but a possibility yet try what importunity will do Psal. 57. 2. I will cry unto God most high unto God who performeth all things for me He hath heard once and will again 3. Beg the Assistance of the Spirit our necessities are not sharp enough to quicken our Affections they need the secret influence of Grace it is his work to set us a groaning and crying to God How well are we provided for with an Advocate and Notary Rom. 8. 26. Iude 20. 4. Let us rowse up our selves Isa. 64. 7. There is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Psal. 57. 8. Awake up my glory awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early We must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up the gift of God which is in us 2 Tim. 1. 6. 5. Let us take heed we do not Quench the Spirit 1 Thes. 5. 19. bring deadness on our Hearts by carnal liberty So much enlarged as we are to the Flesh so much streightned in the Spirit where desires are after other things there will be little delight in Prayer 6. The way to be fervent is to be frequent and often with God A Key seldom turned rusts in the Lock The fire of the Sanctuary was never to go out by great interruptions we lose what we have wrought The way of the Lord is strength to the upright but destruction shall be to the Workers of Iniquity Prov. 10. 29. I come now to the Second Qualification With my whole Heart
thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in Secret c. We have more inlargement there because we represent our own Case to God Mourn apart Ier. 13. 17. My Soul shall weep in Secret places We are flat cold loose careless in private strive to speak with the same power life holiness in private as you would in publick 4. What you would be in Prayer you must be out of Prayer Prov. 26. 7. The Legs of the lame are not equal so is a Parable in the mouth of a Fool. As the legs of the Lame one doth not answer another They are devout all of a fire in their Prayers but neglectful of God in their Conversations Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance Prov. 28. 9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an abomination He doth not live his Prayers We must live in the same frame 5. You must pray as affectionately for Heavenly as you would for Earthly things A Carnal Mans Mind and Heart is upon Worldly things and Spiritual things lye by contrary to Matth. 6. 33. where we are bid First to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof c. And Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple They have no savour for other requests but can find tender affections for safety ease sloth other Petitions do but bear these Company there is their business with God if God will give these things we will give a discharge for other things So that their prayers do not come from Grace but Nature Thanks to his natural Necessities for all the Affections he hath in Prayer 6. We must not onely have our Flashes and good Moods So Balaam Numb 23. 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his So those Ioh. 6. 34. Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this bread Strange strivings for the present but it is onely for Priviledges 'T is vanishing Iob 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwaies call upon God They would have Heaven without Holiness Pardon of sin rather than power against it or a new heart He will pray when he seeth his Time as men take strong-waters in a Pang he hath a praying fit upon him in Adversity not in Prosperity Hosea 5. 15. In their Affliction they will seek me early 7. As you Pray to God so you must intirely Trust him Iames 1. 6 7. Let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed A Carnal Man wavereth he would fain have help from God but his heart runneth upon other things Hosea 7. 11. Ephraim is like a silly Dove without Heart they Call to Aegypt they Go to Assyria Their Hearts are for seeking to other Refuges however they call to God among the rest Ahaz would not ask a sign that would engage him to depend upon God and keep him from running to other shifts Sometimes he thinketh Prayer will do it and by and by desponds dareth not trust God upon his Prayers he knoweth not what course to take whither to shift for himself or to tarry Gods leisure But one that commits all to God is fixed Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil Tydings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. He is freed from Anxious Cares SERMON CLXIII PSALM CXIX VER 145. I Cryed with my whole Heart hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes SEcondly Here is the Petition Hear me or as it is in the Heb. Answer me not in Words but Deeds Doctrine Gods Children when they pray are earnest for an Answer To give you some Instances Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak A Gracious Heart doth not make Prayer a vain babling or an empty prattle but a Gracious Exercise that will in time get an Answer and obtain a good return or blessing from the Lord. Therefore they are listening and hearkening after News from Heaven if they can hear any thing from God how he receiveth their Prayers and what he will do for them Micah 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation My God will hear me They are not only waiting but observing and watching what cometh in upon prayer for they are certain 't is not breath poured out into the Air but a petition commended to their God who hath promised to hear them So Hab. 2. 1. I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say to me He compareth himself to a Watchman that is spying abroad if he can get any intelligence of any approaching Comfort So Psal. 5. 3. I will pray and look up as Elijah if he could spy a Cloud any preparation towards Mercy Reasons 1. Because they dare not take Gods Name in Vain as all do that pray cursorily and never regard what cometh of it like foolish Boys that knock at a door in wantonness but have no business and therefore will not stay till somebody cometh to open the door 'T is a great sin to take Gods Name in Vain in any Act of Worship much more in Prayer Now all do so that go about this duty as a task not as a means to do their Souls good or to obtain Blessings from God when I hear meerly that I may hear or receive the Lords Supper and rest in the act of receiving Every Ordinance must be gone about in Faith and Obedience expecting the ends of the Duty as well as being imployed in the Acts of it If you do it in good earnest and with respect to Gods institution you must do so All the Ordinances come under a fourfold Notion as Duties as Priviledges as Means as Talents As Duties injoyned and a part of our homage and Obedience to God this will breed an awe upon our Conscience to keep us to a due and constant observance of them 't is not a matter Arbitrary but our necessary Duty As Priviledges this keepeth us from weariness that we may not consider them as a burdensome task As Means of our growth and improvement that notion is necessary that we may not rest in the work wrought but look after the Grace dispensed thereby As Talents for which we must give an account which will quicken us to more earnest diligence in the Improvement Some do not look upon them as Duties and so neglect them Others not as Priviledges and so do not prize them are not Joyful in the house of Prayer Others not as Means and so rest in the bare performance without looking after the fruits to
Trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me So Col. 4. 2. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving We are to gather up matter of Praise to God we should not be so barren in gratulation if we did observe more of these experiences You would not only be glorifying God by way of invocation but Commemoration you may Commend him to others from your own experience Psal. 34. 8. O taste and see that the Lord is good 1. Use. Is to reprove them that throw away their Prayers and never look after them that play with such a Duty as this as Children that shoot away their Arrows and never look where they light Surely this argueth great Contempt and low Thoughts of God Formality in prayer and Stupidness of Heart It bespeaks low thoughts of God and of his Providence for if they did believe such a particular Providence reacheth to all persons and things they would study to produce some of these Experiences to be able to say I was in such a streight and God delivered me Psal. 34. 6. This poor man cryed unto the Lord and he heard him Great Formality in Prayer for if we pray not out of Course but in good earnest we cannot but hearken after the speeding of our requests Great stupidity of Spirit hearts that have any sense of life in them are observing Gods dealings and suit their Carriage accordingly Lively Christians are putting Cases 2. Use. Is to press us to hearken after the Answer of our Prayers Gods Children do so and get much Comfort thereby and Evidence of his Love Psal. 66. 18 19. But verily God hath heard me he hath attended to the voice of my Cry 't is no small favour and respect we have from Gods love to us 't is a great owning of our Persons our Mercies are the sweeter there is a double lustre and beauty put upon them when they come in the way of prayer out of the hand of God not by a Common Providence but by Covenant and by vertue of the Covenant put in suit by us as well as granted by God which is a pledge of God's respect to us To this End 1. Be perswaded that God will hear you and answer you when you pray according to his Will 1 Ioh. 5. 14. And this is the Confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us This is absolutely necessary for all that will pray aright and mind what they do for none can come to God aright but those that are perswaded they shall be the better for coming to him Iames 1. 5. Pray in Faith nothing wavering There must be a relying upon God if indeed we pray to him He that expects little in Prayer will neither be much in it nor serious about the answer of it 2. This Answer must be heedfully observed Careless Spirits will not easily discern it Psal. 130. 5 6. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his Word do I hope My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the Morning I say more then they that watch for the Morning As those that watched in the Temple for the dawning of the day this earnest waiting is an happy Token when we make much of prayers they are not lost Therefore as they watched for the Word Brethren so must you wait upon God for some discovery of his Love by a gracious answer and return unto your Prayers 3. Sometimes God giveth an answer presently sometime it may be after some competent space of time 1. Sometimes presently as Cornelius in the time of Prayer and while the duty is a doing God giveth in some tokens of Acceptance as an Angel was sent to Cornelius at the ninth hour which was the hour of prayer to assure him that his prayers were heard and duties accepted Acts 10. 3. Peter and Iohn went up to pray at the ninth hour Acts 3. 1. So Daniel Whilst I was speaking and praying and Confessing my sin yea whilest I was speaking in prayer the Man Gabriel was caused to fly swiftly The Lord is ready to answer the prayers of his servants in the very instant of their praying So Acts 4. 3. While they prayed they were filled with the Holy-Ghost The Cases brought are singular and extraordinary as to the token and manner of Assistance but as to the substance of the Blessing 't is the common practice of Gods free Grace Isa. 58. 10. When they call I will answer while they are yet speaking I will hear Acts 12. 12 18. A Company was met together in Prayer when Peter in Prison heard of the time of his Deliverance 2. Sometimes a good while after the prayers are in Gods book Mal. 3. 16. Now these must be waited for My God will hear me Mich. 7. 7. We cannot say assoon as the prayer is made for he saith I will wait for the God of my Salvation Paul prayed thrice for the removal of the Messenger of Satan 2 Cor. 12. then God said My grace is sufficient for thee We must knock again and again God heareth assoon as the prayer is made but he taketh his own time to dispatch an answer Abraham prayeth for a Child but many years pass over till he hath him in his Armes 4. When God giveth an Answer own it as an Answer sometimes we will not take notice of what is before our Eyes out of deep distress of Spirit 't is said Iob 9. 16. Though I had called and he had answered yet would I not believe that he had hearkned to my Voice Thus we mis-interpret Gods dealings in our troubles that we will not own Gods work as an Answer 5. Consider the several ways how God giveth Answer to his Peoples prayers 1. Extraordinarily as in Ancient time so an Angel was sent to Cornelius to tell him his Prayers were heard So to Daniel so to Abel Heb. 11. 4. probably by Fire from Heaven by Vision to Abraham by Voyce or visible token to Moses and the High-Priest in the Tabernacle of the Congregation from above the Mercy-seat But these returns were proper to those times 2. Ordinary and this several wayes 1 Either by granting the Mercy prayed for as to Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 27. For this Child I prayed and the Lord hath given me the Petition I asked of him So to David Psal. 21. 2. Thou hast given him his hearts desire and hast not with-holden the request of his lips So often to his People when they have humbly sought to him Sometimes instantaneous at the very praying 1 Sam. 7. 9 10. And Samuel cryed unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him and as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering the Philistines drew neer to Battel against Israel and the Lord discomfited the Philistines Or by degrees when God is preparing Instruments before he giveth Consummate deliverance Acts 7. 34. I have heard their groanings and I will send thee into Aegypt Their
success You cannot judge of your prayers by the wit by the length by the kind of words but by the faith the sincerity the obedience the holy desires exprest in them Cry with your whole hearts and God will hear you 1. Look to the fervency of the prayer set your selves in good earnest to seek God and good will come of it Dan. 9. 3. I set my face to seek the Lord God by prayer and supplications I seriously minded the work 2 Sam. 7. 27. Thy servant hath found in his heart to make this prayer unto thee he found his heart disposed to call upon God there is many a prayer we force upon our selves we do not find it there What incouragements from the Word what motions from the Spirit Resolve to seek after it till you have found it Psal. 27. 2. When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Wrestle with God Hosea 12. 3. He had Power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him Such as wrestle with God and have their hearts broken and melted before the Lord will prevail 2. Look to the sincerity of your prayers see that you do not feign and pretend to pray for a thing you desire not is your Confidence wholly in the Lord When your heart is divided and you hanker after carnal Lusts you cannot pray aright 3. Look that you ask more for his Glory then for your own Ease Iam. 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not because you ask amiss to consume it on your lust The less By-ends in prayer the more hope of Success Thirdly The promise of Duty I will keep thy Statutes Doctrine Gods Children when they think of Mercy are at the same time thinking of Duty and Obedience 1. Because they are ingenuous and thankful Now Obedience is the best expression of gratitude and therefore when they ask mercy they mingle Resolutions of Duty with Expectations of Mercy Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service 2. They are supernaturally or spiritually sincere and so propose this as their scope in all Conditions to live unto God all their desires and resolutions are to this purpose They have a sense of their own Benefit but still in subordination their purpose is to serve him diligently Phil. 1. 21. To me to live is Christ. Rom. 14. 7 8. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth unto himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live or die therefore we are the Lords 3. This is God's End in giving Mercy Temporal or Spiritual to bring them to Obedience Luke 1. 74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life Save me quicken me and I will keep thy Statutes Gods end in giving and the end of gracious souls in seeking of Mercies and Blessings is much the same that God may have the Glory as well as they the Benefit and Comfort of what he bestows upon them Use. Mind your Service more ingage your selves to God a-new in every prayer upon every Mercy and Answer of Prayer Lord I desire this only in order to Obedience SERMON CLXIV PSALM CXIX VER 146. I cryed unto thee save me and I shall keep thy Testimonies THis Verse is the same with the former onely these differences may be Observed 1. There the Qualification of the Prayer is expressed I cryed with my whole heart Here the Person to whom he Prayed I cryed to thee O Lord. He had told us before how he Cried now to whom he Cried to thee have I sought and to thee onely 2. The Request was general that God would hear him Now particular that he would deliver him There it was hear me now save me 3. The Notion which implyeth the Word of God is diversified there Statutes here Testimonies 4. Our Translation expresseth another difference there it is I will keep thy statutes as making it his Vow and Purpose here I shall keep thy Testimonies as making it the effect and fruit of his Deliverance Or as it is in the Marginal reading that I may keep thy Testimonies as making it his scope and aim In the words observe I. An Intimation of Prayer I Cryed unto thee II The Matter of his Prayer Save me or deliver me out of trouble III. The End and Scope of his Prayer not for the satisfaction of his Natural desire but that he might have an Heart and Opportunity to serve God and obey his Word That I may or then I shall keep thy Testimonies Observations from the Text. Doctrine I. We should not lightly give over our Suits to God Here is a Repetition of the same Prayer I Cried yea again I Cried and a third time Verse 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning and cryed Si ter pulsanti nemo respondet abito we use to knock at a door thrice and then depart Our Lord Jesus Mar. 26. 44. prayed the third time the same words saying Father if it be possible let this cup depart from me So the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 2. 8. For this I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me So 1 Kings 17. 21. And he stretched himself upon the Child three times and cryed unto the Lord and said O Lord my God I pray thee let this Childs soul come into him again This it seemeth was the time in which they expected an Answer in weighty Cases and yet I will not confine it to that number for we are to reiterate our Petitions for one and the same thing so often as occasion requireth till it be granted Now the Reasons are 1. Because the force of Importunity is very great the two Parables evidence that Luk. 11. and Luk. 18. If to obtain the Spirit or right upon our Enemies or Oppressors in both these Parables there is a Condesension to the suppositions of our unbelief if we suppose God tenacious and hard-hearted or if we suppose him regardless and mindless of the affairs of the Church or to put it in milder Terms if we think nothing due to us Luk. 11. 8. if he will not rise and give him because he is his friend or if our condition be so hard that we think it is past all relief whatever be our secret and mis-giving thoughts we ought always to pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not be overcome with Evil. Luk. 18 1. He spake a Perable unto them to this end that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint for Importunity is of great prevalence with God and Men. II. A Deliverance is never so sweet noâ—… so thankfully improved if it come at the first Call 1. It is not so sweet nolo nimis facilem we disdain things that
come too easily but that which costs us much pains and long crying is more prized the Reason is because Delay and Difficulty sharpen our Desires and the sharper our Desire in the absence of a Blessing the greater gust and sweetness we find in it when it cometh at last A sack that is stretched out is more capacious and holdeth the more so is the Soul more widened by inlarged desires to intertain the Blessing for always our delight is according to the proportion of our Desires as an hungry man or one long kept from meat relisheth his food better than another that hath it always at hand Isa. 25. 9. And it shall be said in that day lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation We that know Blessings more by the want than the worth of them in waiting we are acquainted with the difficulties and inconveniencies that attend the want of things and so are more fitted to prize them then ever we should have been if we had not so long waited 2. It is more thankfully Improved this follows upon the former and may be further made good because when we know the difficulty of getting a Blessing we will not easily part with it as they that get an estate are usually more careful how they spend it than they that are born to one therefore God holdeth his People long at prayer to prepare and season their hearts that when they have it they may know better how to imploy it for his glory and his own good Questionless Hannah would never have devoted her Child to God had she not continued so long without him and prayed for him with such bitterness of Heart but that wrought on her 1 Sam. 1. 11. And she vowed a vow and said O Lord of Hosts if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child then I will give him unto the Lord all the dayes of his life and no razor shall come upon his head Compare this with the 27 28 verses For this Child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord. The same effect you may observe in any spiritual Comfort you obtain for your Souls or any temporal Mercy or Comfort of the present Life which you get by Prayer if God had answered you at first it had been reckoned among the ordinary effects of his Goodness and so pass't by but what is won by Prayer is usually worn with Thankfulness you would not have been so sensible of the hand of Providence the graciousness of the Answer or your obligation to God or indeed that it had been an answer of Prayer at all III. Things often and earnestly asked of God come with the greater fulness of Blessing when they come and so as one saith God payeth them Use for forbearance the Mercy is the more ample and so every Prayer hath its reward Christ denied the woman of Canaan long but at length yieldeth up himself to her importunity Mar. 15. 26. O Woman great is thy Faith be it unto thee as thou wilt She lost nothing by the delay Hannah was long without a Child but at length the Child proved the more eminent she gets both a Child and a Prophet too Let God alone and do you continue praying and he will recompence you abundantly for all his delay Peter was in Prison and the Church made prayers without ceasing Acts 12. 5. and God doth not only bring him out but bring him out with a Miracle so that they were astonished verse 16. God delayed for a while and seemed to refuse their Prayers but when Herod was just about to bring him forth to Execution God brought him forth to Deliverance Every Prayer is upon the file and contributeth to make the Mercy the more compleat it remaineth day and night before the Lord 1 Kings 8. 59. And let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night as a memorial Acts. 10. 4. Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God IV. It argueth an ill spirit when we will not continue praying though we have not presently that which we pray for To be sure 1. There is dis-obedience in it for it is contrary to Gods Injunctions Luk. 18. 1. Men ought always to pray and not to faint We ought not to surcease our suits so Eph. 6. 18. Praying always and with all perseverance alwayes relateth to the constant exercise of this Duty upon all occasions with all perseverance to particular suits we put up to God Now our Duty must not be omitted whatever the discouragements be as Moses was to hold up his hands till the going down of the Sun so are we to continue our suits and press hard for an Answer till God give us the thing we pray for 2. There is weakness of Faith to yield to the Temptation and to go off upon every repulse yea sometimes too too plain Unbelief and Atheisme as if there were no Mercy to be expected from God or no good to be obtained by spiritual means Faith is to believe what we see not the Woman of Canaan cometh to Christ at first she gets not a word from him and afterwards his speech is more discouraging then his silence she is put out of the compass of his Commission I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel but still she is importunate afterwards a rough Answer it is not meet to take the Childrens bread and cast it unto dogs she turneth his Rebuke into an Encouragement then O woman great is thy Faith Mat. 15. 26. Many times we pray for Blessings and the Oracle is dumb and silent though God love the Supplicant yet he will not seem to take notice of his desires yea the more they pray the more they may go away with a sense of their unworthiness and revived Guilt yet the work of Faith is to make an Answer out of Gods silence a gracious Answer out of his Rebukes and to increase our importunity the more 3. Want of Love to God or coldness of Love it is the property of Love to adhere to God though we be not feasted with felt Comforts and present Benefits Yea though he appear an enemy for so will God try the Affection and Deportment of his Children Isa. 26. 8. Yea in the way of thy Iudgments have we waited for thee the desire of our Souls is to thee and to the remembrance of thy Name Iob 13. 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Not only when our Affections are bribed a Child of God should Love God for his
have passed by them but yet he came with an intent to appease the storm and help them Christ taketh notice of the distresses of his People but they shall not know so much but delayeth to help till all their patience be spent and yet then seemeth to pass by for their thorough Trial and exercise and to move them more earnestly to pray Sometimes he giveth them a seeming contrary Answer and Rebuke instead of an expression of favour he seemeth to pursue us in Anger God is the main Party against us we have to do with an offended God but yet we should not quit him but follow him when he seemeth to forsake us and fly to him when he is pursuing us in hot displeasure Such is the admirable power of Faith that it dares call on an angry God and follow him when he goeth away from us and lay hold on him when he smiteth and cast itself into his Arms in the midst of his Rebukes and Frowns Ionah 2. 4. Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet will I look again towards thy holy Temple God seemeth to cast us off as those he will not favour or care for which is a great trouble to a Child of God who liveth by his favour and valueth that above all things else now for such an one to be rejected by God in his own sense and feeling it goeth near his heart yet in such a case we should not cast away our Confidence nor give over all addresses to God but yet look to him and wait upon him 5. Whether God answereth or no it is the duty of Faith to answer it self The Answer of his Providence is not so sure as the Answer of his Word and that Faith hath to do with See Psal. 6. 4. Return O Lord deliver my soul save me for thy mercies sake Compare 8 9. verses The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping the Lord hath heard the voice of my supplications the Lord will receive my prayer When trembling for fear of wrath yet in prayer his heart groweth confident as if it had received news of an Answer from Heaven Psal. 55. 2. Attend unto me and hear me compared with verse 19. My God shall hear and afflict them He is confident of it that the Prayer should not miscarry So Psal. 53. 1 2. Deliver me from mine enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men Verse 10. The God of my mercy shall prevent me God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies Faith sees its own deliverance in the Promise and All-sufficiency of God when we have prayed according to Gods will we should take our prayer for granted and leave it lying at Gods feet 1 Ioh. 5. 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us Gods delay is not always an Argument of his hatred but some more glorious purpose which is to be helped on by prayer Iohn 11. 5 6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two dayes still in the same place where he was I observe again that he not only repeateth his Prayer but reneweth the Promise of Obedience to shew that it was no vanishing Notion but a settled Conclusion As Christ maketh Peter profess his love thrice to ingage him the more Iohn 21. So David I will keep thy Statutes and again I will keep thy Testimonies as if he had said indeed Lord I will it is the settled purpose of my heart to return to thee in the sincere Obedience of my whole Life The Note is Doctrine 2. That Purposes and Promises of Obedience should not be slightly made but with the greatest advertency and seriousness of Mind I. Because we are usually too slight in devoting our selves to God Deut. 5. 27 28 29. Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spake unto me and the Lord said unto me I have heard the voice of the words of this People which they have spoken unto thee they have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments alwaies that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever The Israelites again when Ioshua puts them to the question whether they would serve the Lord or other gods Ioshua 24. 18 19. We will serve the Lord for he is our God Ioshua said unto them ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God What is the Reason men are so slight Partly because they measure their strength by the present pang of Devotion that is upon them not considering the latent principle of sin and that proneness to transgress that is in their hearts Partly they take up duty by the lump and the general bulk and view of it without sitting down and counting the charges as Christ advises Luk. 14. whether they can be content to bear difficulties renounce lusts crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof A foolish builder doth not think of stormes Matth. 7. if his building stand for the present he is satisfied Partly because men will promise God fair to be rid of the present Anguish and Troubles yield to any thing to be out of the present danger but when they are out they seldom regard the Vowes of their distress as those Psal. 78. 34. to 37. made great Promises but their heart was not right with God neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Partly too when they are out of a Temptation and lusts are not stirring they are other men then when in Temptation and so think all will be easie 2. Because the nature of the work calleth for advertency and seriousness because it is a work of the greatest moment and so must be done with the greatest deliberation This devoting our selves to God both intitleth us to all the Comforts of Christianity and engageth us to all the Duties of it It entitleth us to all the Comforts you enter your selves Heirs to the Covenant of Grace when you enter into the bond of the holy Oath or give your hand to the Lord to be his people 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours because you are Christs and Christ is Gods If you have owned Christ as your dearest Saviour and Soveraign Lord with Love Thankfulness and Subjection and given him the supream command of your Souls then you are Christs and God is yours and all things yours Glory and Salvation shall be yours in the World to come Grace Help Maintenance Ordinances and Providences shall be yours in the present World and Death as the connection between the two Worlds as the
passage out of the one into the other shall be yours also It is also the beginning and foundation of all Obedience and if this were once seriously and heartily done other things would succeed the more easily He that is indeed Gods will use himself for Gods glory and service and God shall have a share in all that he hath and doth Rom. 14. 7 8. None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords They came off so freely 2 Cor. 8. 5. And this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the Will of God This enliveneth our whole work it is no hard matter to perswade them that have given up themselves to God to part with any thing for Gods Use. III. Because of the danger both in regard of Sin and Judgment if we do it not aright 1. In regard of Sin rash and sudden engagements are seldom sound Mar. 13. 20 21. The stony ground received the Word with joy and forthwith the good seed sprang up but the blade soon withered usually suddain undertakings are accompanied with faint and feeble prosecutions and though men are warm and passionate for the present within a while it cometh to nothing All their promises are broken as Tow is burnt in the fire 2. In regard of Judgment every Consecration implyeth an Execration if you break with God after you have ingaged your selves to him your Condition is worse it aggravateth every deliberate sin and hastens Judgment for God will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant Lev. 26. 25. better never begin or the word pass out of your Mouths or thought enter into your Heart unless you be sincere mean as you say It is dangerous to alienate things once Consecrated this is the worst kind of Sacriledge that shall not go unpunished Use. You see then what seriousness we should use in devoting our selves to God or promising Obedience to him 1. Remember the weakness of a Creature that you may resolve in God's strength 2. Consider incident Temptations whether any thing be like to shake you in your Covenanted Course that you may arm your selves against it 3. Consider your more particular affections where the business is like to stick most there are tender parts 4. Consider the weight and importance of Subjection he will not be contented with a little Religiousness by the by but you must love him with all your heart and all your soul and serve him with all your might 5. Consider the strength of your Resolution that you be irrevocably everlastingly put under the Soveraignty and Command of God Thus do and you will find success and comfort in your Deed. Now to the words themselves there is first an Intimation of a Prayer where 1. The Vehemency I cryed 2. The Object or Person to whom to thee I cryed David keepeth up his Fervour What Crying in Prayer is I have shewed in the former Verse I shall observe now Doctrine III. That great Trouble and sense of Danger puts an edge upon Prayer and kindleth our Affection in it When Israel was under sore bondage God saith Exod. 3. 6. I have seen the affliction of my people in Aegypt and have heard their cry Afflictions make us cry in prayer not only speak An ordinary Affection is vox orationis it speaketh to God in prayer but a vehement Affection is clamor orationis the cry of Prayer Ordinary prayers speak to God but earnest prayers cry to God and though remiss and cold wishes vanish in the Air yet strong cries pierce the Heavens They have a shrill accent and cannot be kept out from God Iudg. 4. 3. The Children of Israel cryed unto the Lord for he had nine hundred chariots of Iron So Iudg. 6. 5 6 7. They cryed to the Lord because of the Midianites who came up as Grasshoppers David Psal. 18. 6. In my distress I called to the Lord and cryed to my God he heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears He prayed not seldom but often and frequently not slackly but with fervency and earnestness 1. Affliction will teach men to pray that never prayed before The rude Mariners in a storm called every man upon his God Qui nescit orare discat navigare Ionah 1. 5. Those that neglect God at other times as if they had no need of him or pray faintly are then glad to seek to him for succor and safety Psal. 73. 34. When he slew them then they sought him and enquired early after God The natural principle of fear of death and love of self preservation puts them upon it So Ier. 2. 27. In their affliction they will say arise and save us Iudges 10. 10. And the children of Israel cryed unto the Lord saying we have sinned against thee And Verse 14. Go and cry unto the Gods that ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your Tribulation 2. Good ones that prayed before will pray better and oftener and with greater seriousness Therefore God puts his own in streights to quicken their Affections Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them So Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early When we are pressed hard on all sides then the Throne of Grace is more frequented we are driven to it Ioab would not come at Absaloms call till he set his Barly field on fire 1. Use. Be content to be cast into such an estate that you may learn to pray for alas we are but Cursory at other times but then our Necessities whip us to the Throne of Grace that was set up for a time of need Then is a time to put Promises in suit to make use of our interest in God We mis-expound the voice of Gods Providence we expound trouble to be his casting off putting us from him they are his voice calling his hand pulling us to him it is a time of drawing nigh we are allowed Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in a day of trouble The day of Trouble is the fruit of Sin a part of the old Curse when we think him feel him an enemy he is drawing us nearer to him Blessed season to bring God and you together When our Troubles Chase us to the Throne of Grace God is not wholly gone he hath left somewhat behind him to draw us to himself 2. Use. It reproveth them that neglect God in their Troubles Dan. 9. 13. All this is come upon us yet we have not made our Prayer unto thee You defer the dispensation Now you should make up your former negligene unprofitableness under the Rod is an ill presage when God
sends a tempest after us Oh how frequent and earnest should we be in the practice of this Duty 1. This is a time proper for it Prayer is a duty never out of season though some seasons are proper and solemn to it God is alwaies to be prayed unto Iob 27. 11. when freed from Trouble and Inconvenience we are not freed from Prayer still we must profess Dependance Subjection and maintain our Communion but this is a special Season Iames 5. 13. Is anyone afflicted let him pray 2. Though Afflictions drive us to the Throne of Grace yet if we come seriously and heartily we are not unwelcom to him those very Prayers which necessity doth extort from us are accepted by God and valued by him as an acceptable piece of worship therefore such as look toward God ought not to be discouraged though Afflictions drive them to it though they sought him not before or not in good earnest before provided that alwaies they find other errands and be careful to maintain a constant Communion with him Most that are acquainted with God are taken in the briars Jesus Christ in the daies of his flesh had never heard of many if their necessities had not brought them to him their Palsies and Possessions and Feavers Deafness Dumbness thanks to these as their awakening occasions a man will say say you come to me in your necessity God is willing to receive us upon any Terms 3. How desperate in appearance soever our Condition seem to be yet crying will bring Relief or help may be found in God for them that cry to him Iudges 3. 9. When they cried the Lord raised up a deliverer to the Children of Israel who delivered them even Othniel the son of Kenaz Iudges 3. 15. And when the children of Israel cried to the Lord the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud the son of Gera. So Psalm 107. frequently From that unto thee Doctrine IV. In our Troubles we must have recourse to God and sue to him by Prayer and Supplication for help and deliverance in due time 1. Because he is the Author of our Trouble in Miseries and Afflictions Our business lyeth not with Men but God by humble dealing with him we stop wrath at the Fountain head he that bindeth us must loose us he is at the upper end of Causes and whoever be the Instruments of our trouble and how malitious soever God is the party with whom we are to make our Peace for he hath the absolute disposal of all Creatures and will have us to acknowledge the Dominion of his Providence and our Dependance upon him in Treaties of Peace between two warring Parties the address is not made to private Souldiers but to their Chief The Lord hath taken away saith Iob chap. 34. 27. When he giveth quietness who then can make Trouble 2. He challengeth this Prerogative to be the God of Salvation Psal. 3. 8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord and therefore if we would be saved we must seek it of him Others cannot help if he help not for he hath all means and creatures and second causes at his Command if we lean to means they may fail but if we rely upon God he will never fail Therefore whatever means God offereth for our help Prayer to God is the best means and first to be used 3. There is Comfort in dealing with God whatever our Case be 1 Because of his All-sufficient Power 2 Because of his good Will and readiness to help 1 Because of his Power and All-sufficiency so that he hath waies of Deliverance more than we know of and can save his own when men do count their case desperate Dan. 3. 29. There is no other God that can deliver after this sort Let the streight be never so great the burden heavy and the Creature weak and at a desperate loss yet God can find out waies and means to do his people good 2 For his good Will and readiness to hear Psal. 65. 2. Oh thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come The readiness of God to hear Prayer doth open a door of access to all people who are sensible of their burdens and necessities He hath ever shewed himself ready to hear the cries and groans of his people and wo be to them against whom they cry Psal. 22. 5. They cried unto thee and were delivered Their cries and groans are not hid from him and cannot be shut out Psalm 106. 44. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction and he heard their cry 1. Use. To reprove divers sorts 1. Some seek to help themselves by impatiency fretting unquiet behaviour in their Troubles this doth increase their Misery Go pour out your hearts before the Lord that giveth ease Phil. 4. 6 7. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Iesus Your wrestling with Trouble within your selves doth but imbroyl you the more 2. Some trust in outward helps seek to men and means as Asa to the Physitians not to the Lord 2 Chron. 16. 12. It is not unlawful to use means but we must depend upon the Lord for the Blessing Seek to him first otherwise looking to man proveth a snare many waies as it tempts us to comply with their Lusts to neglect God maketh way for the greater sorrow in disappointment The Creature is vain in it self made more vain by our Confidence Psal. 60. 11. Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man You will be brought to it at last The more earnestly we seek God the more Confidence we way have of the Creature 2. Use. To inform us of the Priviledge and Duty of the Godly 1. Their Priviledge they have a God to go to The worldly man sigheth and cryeth he knoweth not to whom but the Godly man presenteth himself in his Lamentations to God my friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto God Iob 16. 20. He hath a Father in secret a Friend in a corner they need not go to Men nor to Saints and Angels they have God himself and can challenge him by his Office as the Judge of the World to help poor Creatures Psal. 94. 2. Lift up thy self thou Iudge of the World render a reward to the proud Yea by his peculiar Relation to them Psal. 5. 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray They do not cry unto him as a stranger but one in Covenant Relation with them 2. Their Duty to make God their Guardian and Saviour in all their distress when in their own sense they are near perishing Mark 8. 26. Arise save us we perish 2 Kings 19. 19. Now therefore O Lord our God I beseech thee save us out of his hand that all the Kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art
have it so so still the Scripture cryeth down Works and Merits in the Creature in all these gracious influences They all come from Gods Bowels of Compassion to his Creatures labouring under difficulties He loveth to act as a free Agent in giving continuing and actuating the life of his Creatures whether natural or spiritual Yea Lastly any other principle would be against our Profit as well as Gods Glory Our Profit both as to duty and success we should never carry it dutifully to God if we did not acknowledge that all came from Grace Whence cometh impatience murmurings contempt of things afforded but from a secret opinion of our merit and deserving They that prescribe to God ascribe too much to themselves that prescribe to God for time measure 〈◊〉 kind are hasty and murmur under delays and suspensions of Grace And as to 〈◊〉 â—…hout this modest and humble claim God rejecteth the request for he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5. 5. Spiritual Pride is the worst of 〈◊〉 The humble supplicant may expect increase of Grace which is denied to othâ—… Psal. 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Such as fear God and serve him diligently and yet put all their Confidence in his Mercy these are those whom the Lord delights in to keep Communion with them and pour out his Blessings upon them This is enough to shew you 't is an humble modest Plea II. It is a Comfortable Incouraging Argument which that it may appear to you let us Consider 1. The Nature of it 2. The Kinds of it 3. The Proofs and Demonstrations of it 4. The End of it 1. The Nature of it The loving-kindness of God noteth his disposition to do good upon his own motives or his self-inclination to do good to his Creatures especially to his People 2 Sam. 7. 21. According to thine heart hast thou done this His Native willingness to imploy what goodness is in him for the good of his Creatures Now this doth much incourage poor sinners to draw nigh to God for such mercy as they stand in need of Justice giveth what is due but Mercy what is needed Justice seeks a fit Object Mercy and Loving-kindness a fit Occasion His Justice will not hinder his Mercy to be Bountiful 2. The Kinds of it Gods Loving-kindness is twofold General and Special 1 There is a General kindness and good-will from God as Creator to all his Creatures especially to Mankind the effects and fruits of this general kindness flow in the chanel of common Providence So 't is said Psal. 145. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works God is good to all things to all persons he bestoweth many common Blessings upon the wicked as Natural Life and Being Health and Wealth c. So Psal. 147. 9. He giveth to the beasts his food to the young Ravens which cry To wicked men Matth. 5. 45. Common Blessings do not always argue a good People but they always argue a good God God giveth the Beasts their food in due season Psal. 104. 27 28. Now this is some ground of Hope and so improved Psal. 145. 15 16. if he heareth the cries of the Creatures he will hear the Prayers of the Saints if a Kite much more a Child You see the Lord doth not cast off the care of any living creature which he hath made but hath a constant eye of Providence upon them that their hunger may be satisfied and they may have that sort of good which is fitting for them and that in time and season before they are spent with wants and will he not answer the longings and expectations and cryes of his People and pity their faintings and give that Grace which they so earnestly seek 2 Over and above this common kindness there is a more intire special love and kindness towards Believers in Christ. This may be admired rather than expressed Psal. 36. 7. How excellent is thy loving-kindness O God! This is unto admiration his common kindness his preservation of Man and Beast This is the fruit of his Eternal love Ier. 31. 3. With everlasting love have I loved thee and therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee and this is expressed in blessing them with special and saving Benefits in Christ. The effects of his special kindness do all relate to Life and Godliness and are conveyed to us through the conduit of Christs Merit and Intercession in and by whom he doth fulfil in us all the good pleasure of his goodness 2 Thes. 1. 11 12. Now this special kindness must needs be a mighty incouragement to the Saints to come to him since he loveth them with such a free and special love for all that mercy they stand in need of The former speaketh the goodness of God to all his Creatures this to themselves in particular both together a notable support Yea though we have not yet any experience of the goodness of God yet since there is such a thing as self-inclication in God to do good to his People and besides this a readiness to express his love to all his Creatures more especially to every one without respect of Persons that cometh to him Psal. 86. 5. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee take the cause and you do not know what you may find It may be your portion and lot 3. The Proofs and Demonstrations of this Loving-kindness 1 He hath given evident proof and infallible demonstration of it in Christ 1 Ioh. 4. 12. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him The Cause or first motive was Love his Means was the sending of Christ to be a Propitiation his End Life Spiritual and Eternal This is such a glorious Instance and Manifestation of the Love of God that poor creatures are encouraged to draw nigh to God for such Mercy as they stand in need of 'T is an hidden Love here 's a convincing proof and real demonstration by so glorious an effect and fruit of it 'T was not a well-wishing love only nor a love concealed but manifested and that by a signal proof 2 The Instances of Gods Loving-kindness to others so that according to thy loving-kindness will be according to that Grace and Mercy which thou art wont to shew to others of thy servants All that have had to do with God will assure you that he is a gracious God full of Kindness and Mercy There are examples of it 1 Tim. 1. 16. And Eph. 2. 7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding â—…es of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Iesus Instances of Gods loving-kindness towards others have a peculiar fitness and efficacy to convince us how exceedingly gracious God is and so to
are likely to be Cruel because Profane When the Fear of God is layed aside and all respect to his Word there is nothing to be expected but the worst of Evils They mind not thy Law therefore care not what Mischief they do me 2. To increase his Confidence of help For God will not favour a Corrupt Party Psal. 139. 19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked O God Psal. 94. 10. The throne of wickedness hath no fellowship with thee Doctrine The iniquity of Persecutors is some matter of Confidence to the Oppressed As David from those that drew near to mischief him conceiveth some incouragement Because they were far from Gods Law There are several Considerations 1. Usually the Servants of God have been most hated and troubled by the worst of Men so it usually falls out that the worst and most virulent Enemies of Religion are those that are infamous for other Crimes They have the greatest pike against them because they cannot endure the Righteousness of Gods Image on them Psal. 38. 20. They are my Adversaries because I follow the thing that good is So Ioh. 7. 7. The world cannot hate you but me it hateth because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil 2. You may take notice of this wickedness and represent it so to God For he is the Judge of the World and it concerneth him to cut short their power to do mischief that have such a ready principle to act it and are likely to have no other restraints than God layeth upon them by his Providence and the Interest of their Affairs But of this before about aggravating the Danger 3. When we do so be sure the thing be true That they are not only injurious to us but open Enemies to God and Godliness before we speak thus of those that hate us or work any Trouble to us in the World As long as the Cause will admit of a favourable Construction we should take heed of such Suggestions I observe this the rather because man is so partial to himself that whosoever are Enemies to him he presently thinketh they are enemies to Godliness And therefore when we pass our Judgment on any Person and Cause it had need be conformed to Truth for otherwise it argueth great irreverence towards God to make him Conscious to our Revenges and private Passions Psal. 139. 21 22 23 24. We had need try our Cause when Gods quarrel and our interest are joyned that there be not some dregs of private Spleen and rash Censurings mixed therewith and that Passion doth not rule us but Duty in these Complaints and that it is not our own Interest but Gods Quarrel they being open Enemies to him And therefore we must be confident that such as we pray against are in a wicked condition and ingaged in an evil Course 4. When this is clear there is some Comfort and Confidence in the badness of our Enemies 1. Because God and we are ingaged in a common Cause for our Adversaries are against God as well as against us Now it is better to be afflicted by them than to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness or to cry up a confederacy with them that cry up a confederacy against God Psal. 139. 22. 2. 'T is a great satisfaction to us to be opposed by evil Men or common Enemies of the power of Godliness Certainly it would be more grievous to us to be oppressed by them that have a show of Godliness than the openly profane Psal. 55. 12 13. the worst that a professed enemy can do is more tolerable than the injury of a Friend It importeth a dishonour to be opposed by the good as having an ill Cause in hand or unworthy to be assisted but it helpeth to make the Cause more clear when we see what kind of Persons we have to do withal such as we cannot but count wicked because they have no regard to Gods Law Our Cause would not be so clear if it were with them that fear God 3. The more wicked they are the more ripe for Judgment especially if they be a corrupt party in the Visible Church For where we perceive wickedness to Reign there we may be sure Destruction will follow Use. Well then when ever this falleth out mind God of it and be not discouraged An ill Cause will not always prevail Only let us be prepared for Deliverance as they are ripe for Destruction Otherwise none so bad but good enough to make a Rod to scourge Gods Children And then have Patience such are our Enemies as are Gods also they are far from Obedience to Gods Law SERMON CLXIX PSALM CXIX VER 151. Thou art near O Lord and all thy Commandments are truth IN the former Verse the Enemies are represented as near and near to do Mischief but far from the Law of God Here in the Text there is somewhat put in opposition to both 1. For their nearness to do Mischief God is near to help 2. They are far off from the Law the Man of God asserteth that God's Commandments are Truth All their contempt of the Law did not abate and lessen his Esteem of it so that the summ of the Verse is That the Enemies cannot be so ready to hurt as God is to help and deliver they cannot go about to defeat Promises as God will go about to fulfil them Mark he compareth the readiness of wicked men to hurt with the readiness of God their Contempt of the Word with the Truth of the Word or God's Justification of it In short in the Verse we may observe two branches I. Something spoken of God And II. Something of his Law I. That which is spoken of God is That he is near a present help to those that persist in the Obedience of his Will for nearness doth not only import his favour or Inclination to help them but that he will not delay his help too long his help is at hand therefore called a present help in trouble Psal. 46. 1. and the Lord is at my right hand Psal. 16. 8. Ready as our Second in all Conflicts to stand by us support and comfort us in our Troubles yea to deliver us that is the Notion of nearness in the Text near as the Enemies are near onely he is near to defend as they are near to destroy when to appearance Danger is nearest at the same time help and salvation is nearest also and this doth allay all our Cares and Fears Phil. 4. 5 6. The Lord is at hand therefore be careful for nothing Still present by his Providence or hastening his second coming Rev. 22. 20. I come quickly I rather quote that place for the Septuagint have it here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore he bids us be careful for nothing certainly the belief of God's nearness should incourage us 2. That which is said of his Word and Law is Thy Commandments are Truth one would think it had been more
are Fugitives as well as Exiles we hang off from God and are loth to make use of the offered opportunity therefore the imprecation of our liberty is not only to be considered but also the Application of this grace to our Souls which is done by the Spirit of Christ. Certainly as to God he considereth us as united to Christ before he will be near to us Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Iesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It was purchased by the blood of Christ but it is not actually bestowed and applyed to the Elect until they be united to Christ and in him by saving Faith as branches in the root not only through Christ but in Christ something for us and something in us as to our selves overcome our averseness to set our hearts to seek the Lord. Nemo te quarere potest nisi qui prius invenerit vis igitur inveniri ut quaeraris quaere ut inveniaris potes quidem inveniri non tamen praeveniri None can be afore-hand with God we cannot seek him till we have found him he will be sought that he may be found and found that he may be sought he draweth nigh to us by his preventing grace that he may draw nigh to us by further grace and inclineth us to do what he requireth that he may Crown his own work Use. 1. To perswade us to enter into this state of nearness by taking hold of God's Covenant It is an excellent thing in the general all will grant it that it is good to draw near to God but it is not only good but good for you all things considered Psal. 73. 28. It is good for me to draw near to God it is our only blessedness the practical Judgment must be possessed with this Truth and then determine it so that it may have the Authority of a Principle and then the heart must be ingaged to draw nigh to God by an hearty resolution to come unto God till the heart be ingaged we are too easily inticed away from God now the engaging the heart is by Covenant yield your selves to the Lord 2 Chron. 30. 8. All Gods servants they are his by Covenant Ezek. 20. 37. I will cause you to pass under the rod and bring you into the bond of the Covenant as sheep to pass one by one out of the Fold God doth not Covenant with us in the lump and body but every man for himself must engage himself to live according to the Will of God It is not enough that Christ ingaged for us as our surety Heb. 7. 22. Iesus was made the surety of a better Testament something is to be done personally if we would have benefit by it It is not enough that the Church ingage for us as a visible political body professing Faith in Christ Ezek. 16. 7. but every man must ingage his own heart It is not enough our Parents did engage for us in behalf of little ones avouch God to be their God Deut. 29. 10 11 12. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your captains of your Tribes your elders and your officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and the stranger that is in thy Camp from the hewer of wood to the drawer of thy water that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day We must ratifie their Dedication and Covenant in our own Persons 2 Cor. 9. 13. by a prosessed subjection to the gospel of Christ. This Covenant and Oath of Allegiance you eat at God's Table to shew that God and you are agreed and entred into a strict Union and Fellowship one with another 2. Let us live as in a state of nearness to God let us fear him and love him and walk with him as Enoch did Gen. 5. 24. or set the Lord always before us as David did Psal. 16. 8. How so in point of Reverence in point of Dependance 1. In point of Reverence that we may not displease God with whom we walk Mich. 6. 8. to walk humbly with thy God Thou shalt humble thy self to walk with God it is not a fellow-like familiarity or the intimacy of equals but the common subjection of inferiours the Obedience of Children diligently taking heed lost a breach fall out betwixt God and them Deut. 23. 14. For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thee to deliver thee and to give up thine Enemies before thee therefore shall thy Camp be holy that he may see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee God threatens to leave them if he saw any filthiness among them if we sin against God we may find him near as a Judge to punish not as a Father to protect us Besides it is for the honour of God that a People near and dear to him should study to please him in all things and that they should walk worthy of God with whom they profess to be in Covenant and whose friendly presence they enjoy The nearer you are to God the greater your sins if you be the Spouse of Christ your sins are Adultery if you be the Children of God your sins are Rebellion and Parricide if you be the Friends of God Christ hath the more cause to complain Psal. 55. 12 13. For it was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then I would have hid my self from him but it was thou a man mine equal my guide and mine acquaintance Your sins are the injuries of a false Friend if you be of the houshold of God after you had eaten his bread will you lift up the heel against him Psal. 41. 9. Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me It is Treachery of an unfaithful Domestick and Servant Men will endure injuries from Strangers better than from nearer Relations Those that do not belong to God that are not so dear and near to him their sins are not so grievous In short if you be the People of God whom God will own in the World you should take care to live to his Honour 2. In point of Dependance did we believe more firmly that God were so near and so ready at hand to comfort support deliver and bless us this would stay our hearts in all our troubles Is God near us what should we be afraid of Psal. 23. 1 2. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters God admitteth you to his Table to assure you of his Bounty and Liberality he gives you this Supper as a sign of Reconciliation with you that God and you are Friends Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Especially let it
we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and every disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation The word spoken by Angels was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was only worth questioned no but the truth also because so little believed therefore so little thought of less desired least of all pursued and sought after 2 Pet. 1. 16. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Iesus but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty Use. Oh study to be informed more and more of this great Truth le ts think of and often consider the unerring Certainty of the Scripture 'T is a Truth not to be supposed and taken for granted but known that you may build sure Man is apt to suspect Evangelical Truths as being cross to his Lusts and Interests You will find it of use not only in great Temptations when we are apt to question all Psal. 73. 13. but in ordinary practice in every Prayer Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith 'T is not an Assurance of our particular estate or our Title to Eternal Life but a full Assurance of the Word and Promise of God that is necessarily required in every one that will draw nigh to God Let us ask in faith nothing doubting Iam. 1. 7 8. 2. Do not content your selves with a light Credulity but grow up to a full perswasion 2 Tim. 3. 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them And Col. 2. 2. That their hearts being comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding Not a fluctuating doubting Knowledge but a full perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel Luk. 1. 4. That thou mayest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed Col. 1. 23. If thou continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel a rooted perswasion that 't is the undoubted Truth of God the firmness of Faith should answer the firmness of Gods Word There are several degrees of Assent Conjecture Opinion weak Faith and receiving the Word in much Assurance 1 Thes. 1. 6. There is Belief Confidence Assurance and full Assurance Belief is grounded on Gods Word in general and all the Truths and Propositions therein contained Confidence on the Promise the one goeth before the other Fidelity is before Dependance and Belief for the Promise is first a Truth and so to be considered before it can be conceived under the formal notion of a Promise full Assurance is grounded on the Fidelity and Immutability of God no man believeth so far but he may believe more Doct. III. That Experiences of former times should give us encouragement to trust God for what is future Thy Testimonies I have known of old saith David So the Children of God make use of them See Davids Instance 1 Sam. 17. 36. Thy servant slew both the Lion and the Bear and this uncircumcised Philistian shall be as one of them Moreover David said the Lord hath delivered me from the paw of the Lion and the paw of the Bear and he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine Thus he argueth from former experience to future deliverance I trust in the same God who is able to give the same strength and why should I not look for the same success So Iacob Gen. 32. 10 11. I am not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and of the Truth thou hast shewed to thy servant for with my staffe I passed over this Iordan and now I am become two bands deliver me I pray thee from the hands of my brother Esau. So Psal. 23. 5 6. Thou hast prepared a table for me in the presence of mine enemies Surely goodness and mercy shall follow mee all the dayes of my life He hath been good to me and if it be for his glory he will be still good to me he hath been my God and will be my God and shall be my God for ever 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who hath delivered from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust he will yet deliver us In all respects of time we stand in need of deliverance when one is past another cometh there have been dangers there are dangers and there will be dangers but God hath doth and will deliver It is a Trade God hath used an Art he is versed in and never at a loss about Our God is a God of Salvation and is excellent in working of it Reasons of the Point I. Gods Constancy and Unchangeableness God is the same alwayes like himself for Mercy Power and Truth he is never at a loss what he hath done he can do and will do I am is Gods Name not I have been or shall be his Providence is new and fresh every Morning Lament 3. 23. God is but one God Gal. 3. 20. Alwayes like himself as he hath delivered so he doth and will Isa. 59. 1. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that he cannot save neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear No decay in him when we give to another we give from our selves we waste by giving the Creatures are at a stint and soon spend their allowance but God cannot be Exhausted there is no decrease of Love and Power no wrinkle upon the brow of Eternity II. Experience begets Confidence Rom. 5. 3. And patience experience and experience begets hope The heart is much confirmed when it hath Faith and Experience of his side If we were as we should be the Promise should be beyond all Experiences for it is the Word of him that cannot lye Experience addeth nothing to the certainty of the Promise nor any Authority to it only in regard of our weakness 't is an help and sensible Confirmation against our distrustful Cares and Fears Sense and Experience is not the ground of Faith we must believe God upon his bare word yet 't is an encouragement Ioh. 20. 29. Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Then more encouraged when felt Christ. We have a double proof and experience 1. What God is able to do for us 2. What God will do again when his own Glory and our need requireth it 1. We know what God can do former Deliverances are as so many Monuments and significations of his Power Isa. 51. 9. Awake awake O arm of the Lord art not thou he that cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon awake and put on strength as in the ancient dayes Rahab is Egypt Psal. 87. 4. the Dragon Pharaoh Ezek. 29. 3. the Dragon or Crocodile of Egypt Can he do this and not do that Upon every experience we that learn by sense should be more strongly perswaded of Gods Power 'T
upon us yet made we not our Prayer before the Lord our God You defeat the Dispensation now you should make up your former Negligence when we are pressed hard on all hands it should put an edge upon our Prayers otherwise our Afflictions will turn to a sad account When God sendeth a Tempest after us and this will not bring us back to him we are summoned to make our Appearance and will not come Ioab would not come till Absalom set his Barley Field on fire Use 2. To encourage us to come to God in our Afflictions now is a time to put the Promises in suit to begin an Interest if we have none to make use of it if we have any then our weakness and nothingness is discovered that we may more apply our selves to God and a time of need will be a time of help Psal. 46. 1. God is a refuge for us a very present help in Trouble that is when Trouble is Trouble indeed then therefore we should call for it most earnestly a necessitous Creature is a fit Object for Mercy You expound Providences amiss if you think Afflictions are a casting off no they are Gods Voice calling you nay his Hand pulling you to him Blessed seasons to bring God and us together then Gods aim is accomplished Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastening was upon them Afflictions do not work thus simply for then they would work upon all but as accompanied with some drawings of the Spirit every condition is blessed when it bringeth you nearer unto God though Crosses be great Trials to any yet if they chase us to the Throne of Grace God is not wholly gone but hath left somewhat behind him to draw us to him It is Desertion in point of Felicity but not in point of Grace Doctrine III. One great request of the Children of God in Prayer is that he would Consider their Affliction This David promiseth in the first place So elsewhere Psal 132. 1. Remember David O Lord and all his afflictions he beggeth God to take notice of his Person and Condition So also Psal. 25. 18. Look upon â—…p affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins he beggeth that his groanes might not be passed over So Hezekiah Isa. 37. 17. where many words are used to this effect Incline thine ear O Lord and hear open thine eyes and see and hear all the words that Senacherib hath sent to reproach the living God If God would but take notice hear and see all would be well And as for personal Calamities so in Publick and Church cases Psal. 80. 14. Return we beseech thee O Lord God of Hosts look down from heaven and behold and visit this Vine If God will but come and see it is enough So in the Lamentations Chap. 1. 9. O Lord behold my affliction for the enemy hath magnified himself So again ver 11. See O Lord and consider for I am become vile Yet again ver 20. Behold O Lord for I am in distress Thus do the Children of God lay open their Miseries before him in Confidence of his Pity But why do the Children of God press this point so earnestly as if they did doubt of his Providence and Omnisciency God knoweth all things and can forget nothing I Answer 1. Though God be not ignorant and unmindful of our Condition yet we are to put him in Remembrance Isa. 62. 6. Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Ierusalem a praise in the earth Christ is the Advocate we are Solicitours and Remembrancers for others and humble Supplicants for our selves indeed in so doing we do not put God in mind but put our selves in Mind of the Providence of God which is most graciously conversant about us in our aflicted Condition which is a great Comfort and Support to us The moving of God to Consider begets Faith in us that he will Consider and so we wrestle with God that we may catch an heat our selves 2. The sight of Misery is a real Argument it is clear that we are to use Arguments in Prayer for God dealeth with us as rational Creatures and as such we are to deal too with him Now among Arguments our Afflictions and Miseries are real ones they have a Voice to work upon his Pity and to move him to have Mercy upon us he being inclined to Compassion his eye doth affect his heart as a Beggar to move pity will not only plead with his Tongue but uncover his sores so do the Saints lay open their Misery and unfold their Estate before the Lord for God so loveth his People that the very show of their Miseries moveth him to help them Thus God saith that he would shew mercy to his People for I have seen with mine eyes Zech. 9. 8. God seeth our Case and every degree of our Trouble is marked by him which bringeth it the nearer to his heart yea Gods People themselves are comforted under their saddest sufferings by the Lords seeing and marking thereof Psal. 10. 14. Thou hast seen it for thou beholdest mischief and spight to requite it with thy hand it is enough to them thou hast seen it So Psal. 31. 7. I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble and known my soul in adversities It is a mighty comfort that God hath an eye upon them in particular and hath friendly Affections towards them 3. The Lord is said to consider when he doth in effect declare his not forgetting or remembring us for good and therefore though God cannot but see and consider our Trouble yet we cannot rest satisfied with it till by real effects he maketh it evident that we may know and all the World may know that he doth consider us and regard our condition and this is that which Saints beg so earnestly that he would by some act or work experiment the Truth or make it appear that he hath heard and seen and taken notice of our sorrows Though the Saints believe his omnisciency and particular Providence yet they cannot rest satisfied til they feel it by some effect by giving real support or help in need according to Covenant and so must all the places before mentioned be interpreted Use. When we or the Church of God or any of the People of God are in any distress 1. Let us go to God and beg that we may see and the World may see that he hath regard to us in our sorrows and doth not wholly pass us over To this end impress upon your hearts the belief of these two things the Eye of his Pity and the Arm of his Power 1. The Eye of his Pity which is more then bare omnisciency it
imports his knowledge accompanied with a tender Love This is often spoken of in Scripture Exod. 2. 28. God looked on the Children of Israel and had respect to them So Exod. 3. 7. And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their task-Masters and have known their sorrows Acts. 7. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people or seeing I have seen the very sight of God is a comfort and support to a sinking Soul it is some comfort to us to have our crosses known to such as we are assured do love us if they condole with us though they be not able to help us so that the Lord looketh upon us with a merciful pitiful Eye 2. As God will cast the Eye of his Pity on us so he will put forth the Arm of his Power as he hath a merciful Eye so he hath a powerful Hand ready to help though sometimes we see nothing of this 2 Chron. 16. 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth to shâ—…w himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him there is his Care and effective Providence 2. Be sure you keep up your Qualification I do not forget thy Law Many times when men in their Prosperity do not regard God and his Commandments he regardeth them in their Streights for though we forget the Duty of Children he doth not forget the Mercies of a Father but surely he will not forget them that do not forget his Law Therefore it is not credible that God should forget us and our Condition that we should be more mindful of his Law than he of our Affliction he that puts us in mind of his Law will also put himself in mind of the troubles we endure for the keeping of it for certainly God is more mindful of his part of the Covenant then we can be of ours See Christs Argument Ioh. 17. 10. And all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them Doctrine IV. We may ask Deliverance from Temporal Troubles not only Support but Deliverance So doth David 1. God hath promised Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of Trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me 2. Much of God is discovered in it His Wisdom 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of Temptation We are at a loss many times but God is never at a loss His Power Dan. 3. 17. If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King when the wrath of the King was great and the fiery furnace burning before them His Goodness God is sufficiently inclined to it by his own Grace and delights to do it Psal. 149. 4. The Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with Salvation he loveth the Person of Believers and loveth their Prosperity and Happiness and delighteth to see them do well in the World he hath pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants Psal. 35. 27. which is a good incouragement to pray for it 2 Sam. 14. 1. Ioab perceived that the Kings heart was towards Absalom Yea not only his Love but the constancy and unweariedness of his Love 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivereth us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us there are all respects of time Solomon saith Prov. 25. 17. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbours house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee Men waste by giving but I AM is Gods Name we still need and he is still a giving 2 Tim. 3. 11. Thou hast fully known my persecutions afflictions which came unto me at Antioch c. But out of them all the Lord delivered me So many Troubles so many gracious Experiences of God Psal. 34. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of them all Iob 5. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven shall no evil touch thee Seven is the number of perfection God can and doth deliver us as often as we need deliverance When Clouds return after the Rain or one evil treadeth on the heels of another he hath a succession of Mercies for our succession of Sorrows We are dismayed when we see one trouble is over and another cometh we have the same God still the same certainty of his Mercy in delivering Many times God so delivereth that the Troublers of his people shall come in their room Prov. 11. 8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his stead As the Leprosie of Naaman went to Gehazi His Faithfulness which he hath laid at pledge with us that he will make a way to Escape 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the temptation also make a way for you to escape that you may â—…e able to bear it His Dominion and Soveraignty Psal. 44. 4. Thou art my King O God command deliverances for Iacob he hath all things at his Command all second causes the hearts of his Enemies 3. We have greater opportunities to serve God Psal. 119. 134. Deliver me from the oppression of man so will I keep thy precepts Luk. 1. 74 75. That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies should serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life Use. They are too nice that think we may not ask of God temporal Mercies it is lawful to ask them if we ask them lawfully with a submission to God and for his Glory that we may serve him more chearfully so you may ask a deliverance out of your Troubles Doctrine V. Those that would have God to deliver them out of their Afflictions should be sure they do not forsake their Duty All the Evil that David suffered could not weaken his love to the Law of God nor draw him from the Obedience of it and what was the issue He pleadeth this in Prayer to God Reasons 1. Because if we do so the nature of our sufferings is altered both as to God and Man as to Man we do not suffer as evil doers 1 Pet. 4. 15. But let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an evil doer or as a busie body in other mens matters which will much darken our Comfort and Glory in suffering though for the main you have an interest in God if by your miscarriage you have deserved the stroke of humane Justice as to God your sufferings are not Castigatory but Probatory Rev. 2. 10. The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed not punished but tryed 2. Because
his Misery notwithstanding sin And so the giving of Christ to be the Saviour of the World Tit. 3. 4. But after the loving-kindness of God our Saviour to mankind appeared his Man-kindness this was pity to us above the Angels no remedy was plotted for them And then his peculiar Mercy is to his Elect in Christ so the Lord saith Rom. 9. 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy This is again seen either in the first Grace or bestowing that upon us or in all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of 1. The first Grace is Pardoning all our past sin or receiving us into a state of Favour upon our Repentance so 't is made the motive Ioel 2. 13. Turn unto the Lord for he is merciful Penitent sinners will find him so to be The Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1. 13. But I obtained mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was overwhelmed in mercy So also in giving us an heart to Repent and turn unto him 1 Pet. 1. 3. we were unworthy and miserable sinners could not help ourselves and then his eye pitied us and his handsaved us by his preventing grace he brought us home to himself 2. In all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of so the Objects of his Mercy must have a qualification such as fear God Psal. 103. 12. Such as love him and keep his Commandments Exod. 20. 6. That walk according to the Rule of his Word exactly Gal. 6. 16. To the Merciful Matth. 5. 7. For to the Unmerciful God will not shew himself Merciful Iam. 2. 13. but to those that are thus qualified he reneweth his pardoning mercy in taking away the guilt of our daily failings Psal. 25. 7. His sanctifying mercy by freeing them more and more from the dominion of Sin Rom. 6. 14. His preserving mercy by delivering them from Afflictions so far as it is convenient Psal. 119. 41. Let thy mercies come unto me O Lord even thy salvation according to thy Word Lam. 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercy we are not consumed because his compassions fail not His rewarding mercy Iude 21. Looking for the mercy of God unto eternal Life So Psal. 62. 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his work He will graciously Accept Reward and Crown every sincere and faithful Servant of his when they have done their work Sincerity and faithfulness shall be accepted and rewarded when Infirmities and Weaknesses shall be pardoned and covered Secondly Let me now open the two Adjuncts of his Mercy 1. 'T is Tender Mercy Luk. 1. 78. Through the tender mercy of our God The word signifieth Bowels as when you see a poor miserable Creature your Bowels work within you especially if you be related to him Misericordia complectitur affectum effectum Let us take the nearest Relation If you be a Father we need not much intreat a Father to pity a poor helpless Child his own Bowels will perswade him to it Psal. 103. 13. Like as a father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Or if you think passions in Females more vehement take the relation of a Mother as Hagar was affected to Ishmael when the water was spent in the Bottle she sate over against the Child and lift up her Voice and wept Gen. 21. 16. God will take the Affections of a Mother as Isa. 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea she may forget yet will I not forget thee 'T is passionately set out by the Prophet if all the Compassions of all Fathers and Mothers were joined together 't were nothing to God he is the Father of Mercies he is Pitiful and Merciful Iam. 5. 11. 't is true there is in God no Sickness or trouble of Mind no Commotion but there is Pity and tender Love though no Perturbation which will not stand with the perfection of his Nature that is he layeth to heart and taketh notice of our Misery The tenderness of God may be known by the Compassion which Christ had in the dayes of his Flesh for he was the express Image of his Fathers Person now we read Matth. 9. 36. When he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were as sheep scattered abroad that had no shepherd Their Teachers did not do their duty to them in any profitable way this wrought upon Christ heart when he saw the Multitude So when he saw many sick and under noisom Diseases Matth. 14. 14. when they followed him he pitied them and helped them So Matth. 15. 37. Iesus had compassion on the multitude when they continued with him three dayes and had nothing to eat The Care of mans welfare lieth near unto Christ's heart before the Disciples took notice of it he taketh notice of the Peoples Necessities and is affected with it he would not send them away fasting The two Blind men when they feelingly layed out their Miseries Matth. 20. 34. Iesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes So Luk. 7. 13. The Widow of Naim lamented her only Son the Lord saw her and had compassion on her and said unto her weep not This for a taste what a tender heart Christ had and in heaven he is still a Merciful High-Priest he came down on Purpose to acquaint himself with our Greifs and Sorrows Surely he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and Gods Pity though it hath no Trouble with it is real operative and efficacious 2. His Tender Mercy is seen in his readiness to hear and help and come in to the Cry of his People if they be but any thing humble and profitable in their Afflictions Isa. 58. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day Luk. 15. 20. And he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him When the Son was coming the Father run to meet him Isa. 65. 2 4. Before they call I will answer as if God could not tarry to hear the Prayer made Psal. 32. 5. I said I would confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Ier. 31. 19 20. Surely after I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. The first relentings of the Creature work upon the Bowels of Gods Mercy when we do but conceive a
purpose the Lord is easie to be intreated 3. By the Motives that do induce God to shew Mercy the bare sight of our misery and therefore the Saints do so often represent their Condition Psal. 69. 20. I am poor and sorrowful let thy salvation O Lord set me on high You see he bringeth no other Argument but his Grief and Misery Justice seeketh a fit Object Mercy a fit Occasion Deut. 32. 36. For the Lord shall Iudge his people and repent himself for his seruants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left II. The next Adjunct is Great the mercies of God are seldom spoken of in Scripture but there is some additional word to shew their Plenty and Excellency As Psal. 130. 7. For with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption 1 Pet. 1. 3. Which according to his abundant mercy And Eph. 2. 4. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us So Eph. 2. 7. The exceeding riches of his Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul thinketh he can never word it enough when he speaketh of mercy he saith it over over-abounded all to shew the multitude and greatness of Gods mercies So Psal. 51. 1. we read of the multitude of his tender mercy it must needs be so if we Consider 1. How many there are to whom God hath done good even as many as there have been are and shall be Creatures in the World None that ever had a being but tasted of Gods goodness Nay for his special mercies the many Persons that are pardoned all the Elect from the beginning of time till the Day of Judgment What hath God been doing these Thousands of years that the World hath continued but multiplying Pardons and passing Acts of Grace in favour of his People Time would be no more but only that there are some more whom God meaneth to Pardon 2 Pet. 3. 9. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance When we come to Heaven how many Monuments of Grace shall we see there A man would think that the unthankful World had given discouragement and God should wait no longer but yet there are some vacant places to be filled In my Fathers house are many Mansions Ioh. 14. 2. We waste by giving give from our selves what we give to another but this fountain is never dry Rom. 5. 10. The free gift is of many offences 2. How many Benefits he bestoweth on every one many repeated Acts of Grace of the same kind divers kinds of Benefits Bodily mercies Soul mercies Psal. 40. 5. Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to usward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more then can be numbered Private mercies and Publick mercies mercies in hand and mercies in hope Psal. 31. 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men We have not one sin but many sins not one misery but many miseries therefore we have many mercies the Creatures are always in some necessity and so are alwayes an Object of mercy how many supports this life continually needeth all which the Providence of God supplieth to us 3. The greatness of these effects the sending of his Son 1 Ioh. 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins The gift of the Spirit himself to be Everlastingly with us Ioh. 14. 16. and by present Troubles to prepare us for future Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. And Rom. 8. 18. Surely nothing but mercy and great mercy could do all this for us Use. I. To Exhort us to consider of this and to meditate much upon this Attribute To this End I shall lay down a few Considerations 1. All that come to God should consider of his mercy 't is the great motive to Repentance and beginning our acquaintance with God Ioel 2. 13. And rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Our distrustful and unbelieving thoughts draw an ill Picture of God in our Minds we think him an hard and Austere one that is more ready to Condemn us than to receive us to mercy Thus we look upon him in the Glass of our guilty Fears Oh no! he is merciful if we will but stoop to him Besides 't is a great check to our pursuit of Carnal Vanities Ionah 2. 8. They that seek after lying vanities forsake their own mercies Thus to the secure and careless when they consider all this Grace and tender Mercy 't is the great means to overcome them with kindness A serious consideration of what God hath done and is ready to do for us Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of God Saul wept when David had spared him 1 Sam. 24. 16. if we had not let all Ingenuity I am not worthy of all the mercy and truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant Gen. 32. 10. Then when we come to a reckoning and audit with God how great is the sum of them there are more effects of his mercies and of more diverse kinds Psal. 139. 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great are the summe of them 2. 'T is not enough to know that God is merciful but we must also consider how great and tender his mercy is for Gods Children are wont to have great and large thoughts of it we must think of it as becometh the infiniteness of his Nature whose mercy it is Isa. 55. 8 9. For my thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my ways as your ways saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts Hosea 11. 9. For I am God and not man We must not streighten God to our scantling our drop is soon spent Peter a good man what forgive seven times a day How tender it is 'T is so natural to God Acts of punitive Justice are exercised with some Reluctancy but he rejoyceth over them to do them good he is strongly inclined to let out his goodness to unworthy and miserable sinners who deserve the contrary from him The Sea doth not more naturally flow nor the Sun more naturally shine nor Fire more naturally burn than God doth naturally shew mercy These thoughts will answer all the Doubts and Fears of a Penitent thou canst never have too large Thoughts of
answerable to your hope 1 Thes. 2. 12. On the other side Hope study Promises Rom. 15. 4. The God of hope fill you with joy in believing he is not only the Object but the Author of it SERMON CLXXXII PSALM CXIX VER 167. My soul hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly THE Man of God goeth on in his plea in the former verse he had spoken of the influence of his hope upon obedience Now of the influence of his Love and so more expresly and directly maketh out this Qualification or Title to the Promise mentioned verse 165. Before we go on let me Answer a Question or two First How can a gracious Heart speak so much of it self and insist so much upon the plea of Obedience Is not this contrary to our Saviours Doctrine who in the Parable of the Pharisee and Publican that went up to pray Luk. 18. Teach us to make use of the plea of Mercy not of Works 1. I Answer As to that part of the scruple which concerneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cannot be imagined to be faulty in David who was a Prophet and therefore to instruct the World propoundeth his own instance and setteth forth himself as a pattern of obtaining comfort in the way of Godliness 2. As to the plea of works they may be produced by way of Evidence not by way of Merit as they prove our interest in the Promises not as the ground of self-confidence The Pharisee he came not to beg an Alms but to receive a debt and therefore went away without any mark and testimony of the Divine favour and approbation But Holy Men plead this to God as expecting Mercy and Favour at his hands not in regard of any merit in themselves or of reward deservedly for the same done to them for they acknowledge all that they do or can do to be but duty and due debt But in regard of his Gracious Promise freely made unto them in an humble and modest manner they dare appeal to God himself for the sincerity and integrity of their hearts for their serious care and sedulous endeavours to please him and approve themselves to him Secondly But why is this plea reiterated for three verses together Answer Too much care cannot be used in making out an interest in so sweet a Promise and teacheth us this Iesson that we had need examine again and again before we can put in our claim Jesus Christ puts Peter to the question thrice Iohn 21. 15 16 17. Peter lovest thou me So here 't was Davids plea thrice repeated for the more assurance I have done thy Commandments my soul hath kept thy Testimonies and again I have kept thy Commandments and thy Precepts after a believer hath found marks of saving grace in himself it is Wisdom for him to examine them over and over again that he may be sure they are in him in Deed and in Truth the heart is deceitful our self-love is great our infirmities many and our graces so weak that we should not easily trust the search Truly such an holy Jealousie doth well become the best of Gods Children and doth only weaken the security of the Flesh not their rejoycing in the Lord. In the Words you have the Testimony of Davids Conscience concerning the sincerity of his Heart evidenced by two Notes I. The Sincerity of his Obedience my soul hath kept my Testimonies II. His exceeding love to the Word I Love them exceedingly or if you will by the manner of his Obedience and the principle of it I. The Spirituality of his Obedience my soul hath kept thy Testimonies mark the notion by which the act of Duty is expressed is varied in the former verse it 's I have done thy Commandments here it is I have kept thy Testimonies done more exexpressely noteth his sedulity and deligence kept his Constancy and diligence perseverance notwithstanding Temptations to the contrary And how kept them Saith he my soul hath kept them not with outward observance only but with inward and hearty respect My Soul that is my self a part for the whole and the better part I with my soul and so it sheweth his sincerity 't is an usual expression among the Hebrews when they would express their vehement affection to any thing to say they do it with their souls as Psal. 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and Luke 1. 45. My soul doth magnifie the Lord. As on the contrary vehemency of hatred Isa. 1. 14. Your New Moons and appointed Feasts my soul hateth that is I hate them with my heart The note is Doctrine God must be served with our Souls as well as our Bodies David saith My soul hath kept thy Testimonies 1. Because he hath a right to both as he made both and therefore hath required that both should serve him he that organized the body and framed it out of the dust of the ground did also breath into us the breath of Life and framed the spirit of man within him therefore since God may challenge all 't is fit he should have the best my son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Look upon it whose Image and superscription doth it bear Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods he hath redeemed both 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God both in your body and spirits which are Gods Shall we rob God of his purchase so dearly bought We would not rob a man of his Goods and will you rob God He challengeth a peculiar right in Souls all Souls are mine and therefore they should be used and exercised for his glory If we use them for our selves only and not according to his direction we do as Reuben did that went up into his Fathers bed To withhold the Heart from God is Robbery nay Sacriledge which is the worst kind of Robbery For Gods right in Redemption is confirmed and owned by our Personal dedication in Baptism Once more God hath right to the Service of both body and soul because he offereth to Glorifie both and Reward both in the Heavenly Inheritance the Body and the Soul are Sisters and Co-heirs as Tertullian speaketh If we expect wages for both we must do work with both if God should make such a division at Death as men do all their Life to him can they be happy if any part of them be excluded Heaven If the Body and lifeless trunck were taken into Heaven and the Soul left in Torments what were you the better But that cannot be God will have all or no part therefore your whole Spirit and Soul and Body must be kept blameless unto the coming of the Lord Iesus Christ 1 Thess. 5. 23. Otherwise your souls cannot be joyned to God in Heaven if they be divided from him on Earth 2. Because this is service suitable to his nature when we serve him and obey him with our souls God is an All-seeing Spirit and
Lord walketh in the midst of the Camp therefore let thy Camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee The Flesh will soon seduce us were it not for the awe of Gods Eye Inferiours when they are in the sight and presence of their Superiours are very careful of their behaviour he were an unhappy Son or a lewd Servant that would misdemean himself in the sight and presence of his Father or Master Children at School all is whist when the Master cometh she were a Lewd and Impudent Wife that in the sight and presence of her husband would Prostitute her self to another Man This is our Case God is Father and Lord and we are always in his sight if we believe it and can remember it would we be so shameless as to sin he looking upon us The wise Heathens were sensible that such a thought would be a curb to us therefore admonished their Disciples that they should alwayes set before them some Cato ar Coelius some Grave and Reverend Person that they might behave themselves as in their presence for saith Seneca Mâ—…pars peccatorum toâ—…tur si peccatoris testis ad fuit a great part of sins would be prevented if when we are about to sin some witness were present with us They thought this Fiction would be a restraint and the Fiction of Grave Men. But we speak now of the Eyes of God and that not as a fiction and supposition but as a certain and undoubted truth no less certain than that there is a God which of all truths is most certain Therefore should not the Eye of God restrain who is with us always and in all places 2. For the incouragement to every good work and so 't is a spur to us God looketh on he that is thy Judge and Rewarder he knoweth how faithfully we keep his Law All the Labours Miseries Slanders which thou endurest for his sake are known to him Rev. 2. 3. I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience he taketh notice of thy Faithfulness Do not think only that God doth spy out our sailings Prov. 15. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good He taketh notice of both both as Rewarder and Avenger Now Cowards will adventure much in the presence of their General and idle Servants will work while their Master looketh on and shall not we do the Lords work since he taketh notice He knoweth our work and our discouragements and will help accordingly Rev. 2. 13. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satans seat is and thou holdest fast my name See Basil regulis Brevioribus Quest. 34. Secondly More Particularly 1. 'T is a great means to make us serious in all our Addresses to God that we may behave our selves with that Reverence and Awefulness that will become the Divine Majesty What 's the reason men are so slight and customary in their Prayers and other Acts of Religion they do not see the Invisible God and think of him to whom they speak From practical Atheism and Unbelief we have little sense of things unseen in speaking to a man we behave our selves with that Gravity and Reverence that his Quality deserveth but in speaking to God our thoughts wander our hearts are dead and vain because we see not him with whom we have to do Make us gods to go before us Exod. 32. 1. Aye that we would have a Visible God whom we may see and hear but the true God being a Spirit and an invisible Power all the service we do him is a task performed more out of Custom than Affection in a slight perfunctory manner Now when we believe Gods Eye and are sensible of his Presence that maketh us more serious He telleth man his thought Thoughts speak louder in his Ears than our Words Oh with what Reverence should we creep into his presence before whom all things are naked and open 'T was a direction 〈◊〉 gave to his friend Lucilius Epist. 10th Sic vive cum hominibus tanquam Deus videat sic loquere cum Deo tanquam homines videunt So live with men as if God saw so speak with God as if men saw Shall such a speech come out of the mouth of an Heathen and shall not Christians remember God and set themselves as in his sight when they come before him We would be ashamed if our hearts were turned in and out in any Duty and men did know all our light foolish sinful thoughts that take up our Minds and doth not God see and hate these things more than men So that 't is a powerful Consideration to make us come with Humility and Reverence into Gods Presence 2. It maketh us sincere in our whole course for this is sincerity to do all things in order to God sincerity lieth in the Universality of Obedience and Purity of Intention 1. For Universallity of Obedience we have an Instance here in the Text David by keeping himself as in Gods All-seeing Presence performed an uniform acceptable obedience to him So will all do that habituate this thought and make it familiar to them this is that that maketh them obey in Presence and Absence to perform secret Duties Matth. 6. 6. Therefore a Christian is as Religious if not more alone and in secret as before others the Hypocrite walketh before men who see the outward man only seeketh chiefly to approve himself to men and therefore is more Religious before others than alone but 't is otherwise with an heart deeply possessed with a sense of Gods Omnisciency and Omnipresence So to avoid secret sins which are only liable to Gods Cognisance he that knoweth all the workings of his heart lye open before God maketh it his business to abstain from fleshly Lusts as from sinful Practices which would betray him to shame before the World and dareth not allow himself to sin any where but there where God cannot see that is no where Yea when Gods Children forget themselves to be in their Fathers presence and Corruption gets the start of Grace they afterwards come to be ashamed and grieved for those sins for which the World cannot tax them Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his errours cleanse me Lord from secret sins All our Actions are seen by the Lord some of them may be known to men but others may escape their eye therefore if we look to men only we are partial but if to God universal in our Obedience if this be all our aim that men may not impeach us of any Crime but if this be our aim to approve our selves to God 't is a sign we are sincere 2. As to Purity of Intention the proper reason of that is because God seeth our Aims as well as our Actions and knoweth all the deceits and tricks of a false heart our business is not with men but with God the searcher of hearts who can distinguish between the motions of the Flesh
and those inspired by his spirit certainly if we make him Paymaster we must intend his work Rom. 2. 29. For he is not a Iew who is one outwardly but he is a Iew which is one inwardly whose praise is not of men but of God He that maketh God his Witness Approver and Judge must chiefly mind what God looketh after Prov. 16. 2. All the wayes of a man are clean in his own sight but the Lord weigheth the spirit That which he chiefly regardeth are Mens Principles and Ends. 3. It maketh us Faithful in our Relations by considering he appoints them to us and seeth how we improve them for his Glory Magistrates there is a special presence of God not only to direct and protect but also to note and observe them 2 Chron. 19. 6. The Lord is with you in the Iudgment Psal. 82. 1. God standeth in the Congregation of the mighty and judgeth among the gods when they are for the Execution of his Office God is there and therefore they above all must be men fearing God have a Reverend regard to his eye and presence Diadorus Siculus telleth us of some Heathens that had several empty Chairs advanced aloof near their Tribunals as for their Gods to shew they were present and had an Inspection over all Acts of Judicature So for Ministers they must not only give an Account at last but are observed for the present God hath a watchful eye over them as they have and should have over the Flock He observeth how we discharge our trust and what are our Aims whether to promote our own interest or his 2 Cor. 2. 17. But as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Our Doctrines must not only be sound but our Aims and Principles 'T is not enough to speak of God in his Name his Truth but sincerely approve our hearts to him in the faithful discharge of our Duty So 1 Thes. 2. 4. We speak not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts In all singleness and sincerity of heart discharging our trust So Masters of Families are to walk in their houses with a perfect heart Psal. 101. 2. though they are shut up in their Families from the Observation of others yet at home as well as abroad they must be careful to walk with God in their Domestical Converse where men are wont most to discover themselves and should behave themselves prudently and holily and faithfully there The Apostle mindeth Masters of their Master in Heaven Eph. 6. 9. one who noteth and observeth your dealings and will call you to an account for all your Carriage Your Sins and Graces are not hid from him So for Servants Col. 3. 21 22 23. Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men-pleasures but in singleness of heart fearing God and whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Still the Consideration of Gods Eye is suggested to them they must be careful of their Masters Concernments whether their Master be present or absent or whether the things they do will come to his knowledge yea or no for though the eye of men will not find them out yet the eye of God must be regarded therefore with respect to God they must be Careful and Faithful So again Eph. 6. 5 6. Servants be obedient to them which are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men They should be Cheerful Laborious Painful shewing all Faithfulness in things committed to their Trust even to a Pin or the smallest matter not Saucy Stubborn and Malipert because the Lord looketh upon them and if they so do will own them and bless them Thus you see we should have better Magistrates better Ministers better Masters better Servants better Fathers better Children if this Principle were once deeply imprinted upon their hearts that all their ways are before the Lord and he still observeth what they do in all their Actions Use. Is to press us to walk as in the sight of God and to foresee him before you in all your ways To press you hereunto Consider these things 1. You are in the sight of God whether you think so or no We can no more be removed from the Presence of God than from our own Beings for he is in every thing that subsists and it subsists by him The Apostle telleth us Eph. 4. 6. There is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all The Sun is some Representation of Gods Eye nothing is hid from its sight if the Sun were an Eye it would see all things that it shineth upon So doth God only with this difference the Sun cannot pierce thorough dark and thick Bodies but God is over all and through all and in all upholding and over-ruling all by his powerful Providence Therefore you cannot lye hid from God only this sight is not comfortable and profitable to you unless you see him as he seeth you They say of the Panther when it hideth the head it thinketh it is not seen because it seeth not and so is taken by the hunters this is an Emblem of wretched sinners they see not God and therefore think they are not seen by him and so go on doing evil till their Iniquities find them out 2. What a noble thing it is always to live in the sight of God for by this exercise in some measure and as this mortal state will permit you enjoy the happiness of the blessed Angels for this is the priviledge of the blessed Angels Matth. 18. 10. That they always behold the face of our Father which is in Heaven So when you live in the thought of God in some measure you are doing their work and your minds become as it were another heaven For Heaven is where God is and there God is in that heart that thinketh of him not only there by the powerful effects of his Providence and the Impressions of his Grace but there by the workings of our hearts 3. The Profit is exceeding great by conversing with God often ye become like him As musing of Vanity maketh us Vain Heavenly and Holy Thoughts produce an Heavenly Mind and frequent Remembrance is one means to introduce the Divine Nature Moses in that extraordinary Converse with God his face shone he carried away some Strictures and Rayes of the Divine Majesty in his Countenance We cannot look for that effect upon our Bodies but serious and ponderous Thoughts leave some change upon the Soul there is the lustre of Grace and the beauty of the Divine Nature which is a greater thing left upon us The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 19. For we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the spirit
it That is one Lesson God hath been teaching his People in all Ages that Salvation belongeth unto the Lord they must take their Deliverance out of his hands He sits at the upper end of Causes and saveth his People when he will and how he will and by what means he will and till he take their cause in hand how sadly do the most hopeful attempts and expectations miscarry for to give Salvation is a Divine Property given to no Creature and must not be usurped by them looking to man is the readiest way to miscarry 2. It implyeth a dependance upon his fatherly Care and powerful Providence and a perswasion that he will guide us unto Heaven in a way that is most convenient for us The great Cause of Gods Anger against his People in the Wilderness was because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation Psal. 78. 22. He had undertaken to bring them into Canaan but they mistrusted his Conduct either that he had not power enough or enough Fatherly Love and Care to do it and therefore his Wrath was kindled against Iacob and his Anger was hot against Israel and so do they greatly dishonour and provoke God by their distrust who do not believe that God will bring them out of every streight in a way most conducing to his own Glory and their welfare Now Gods Children are so satisfied in his Conduct that in their worst Condition they can cheerfully depend upon God and look and long for salvation from him Hab. 3. 18. I will joy in the Lord I will rejoyce in the God of my Salvation Luk. 1. 47. My spirit doth rejoyce in God my Saviour They are satisfied in his Love and Power Psal. 13. 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy Salvation 3 Holy Desires vented in Prayer there we express and act our Longings Words are but the Body of Prayer but Desires are the Life and Soul of it The Children of God are described once and again to be such as love his Salvation Psal. 40. 16. Now there are but two Acts of Love Desire and Delight the one concerneth the Object as future the other as present either to Faith or to Sense they rejoyce in it as present to Faith in the Promise as well as when they enjoy it But the Desire we are now upon this is vented in Prayer there they express their Vehement Longings for his Salvation Psal. 35. 3. Say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation Gods saying is doing He speaketh by his Providence and this is that the Saints long for they plead with him Psal. 119. 94. I am thine save me for I have sought thy precepts 4. It expresseth waiting Gods Leisure and submission for the kind time and means of Deliverance Lam. 3. 26. 'T is good to hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of God They continue looking and waiting Isa. 30. 18. Blessed are all they that wait for him We must wait in the middest of manifold disappointments when Means miscarry 't is in his power to rescue his People from the greatest dangers and hath a Prerogative to save and deliver those whom Reason and Probability have condemned and given over for lost As the Israelites Exod. 14. 13. Stand still and see the Salvation of God They were enclosed the Mountains on each side the Egyptians behind the Sea before yet what cannot the Salvation of God do There is an holy obstinacy in Faith trusting him in all dangers Nay when God himself appeareth as an Enemy cutting off our Hope and hewing and hacking at us yet we must wait upon him all strokes come from the hand of God and no wound given by himself is above his own cure Iacob when he fainted was forced to interrupt his speech and utter this Ejaculation Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy Salvation O God! In short God hath ways of deliverance more than his People know of and can save his own when they count their case desperate Psal. 68. 20. He that is our God is the God of Salvation and the issues from death belong unto him The escapes from Death and imminent destruction II. The Reasons and Incouragements of looking and longing for Gods Salvation 1. God hath bound himself by Covenant as our God 't is his Covenant Stile to be the God of our Salvation Psal. 68. 19 20. in the one Verse he is called the God of our Salvation in the other 't is said he that is our God is the God of Salvation If he be the God of salvation he will be the God of our salvation for whatever God is in himself that in the Covenant he will be to his People you shall see the blessing of his People is inferred out of his Title Psal. 3. 8. Salvation belongeth to the Lord thy blessing is upon thy people Selah If God can save and the salvation be a blessing to his People he will save them and deliver them 't is true this Title doth mainly concern our Eternal Salvation but the conduct of his Providence by the way is aimed at in the Covenant as well as our entrance into Heaven at the end of the Journey Promises relating to Temporal things are put into the Believers Charter but the dispensing thereof is left in the hands of their Wise and Tender Father Now Temporal Deliverance being a part of our Charter if it be not alwayes performed 't is not for want of Power or Truth but out of Wisdom and Love God doth what is most convenient for us 't is in a Wise Hand if it be good for me I shall have it Now this is a mighty incouragement to look and long for Gods salvation he shall have the stateing of it for Time Means and Kind of Deliverance but we must look for it 2. We must look to God for Deliverance because he is every way able and fitted and furnished to make good his Covenant-undertaking He hath Power enough Wisdom enough and Love enough 1. Power enough 1 Sam. 14. 6. There is no restraint in the Lord to save by many or by few The same supported Asa 2 Chron. 14. 11. The same supported the three Children Dan. 3. 17. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of the fiery furnace Now a Desire is mightily quickned by this Confidence God hath promised to do what is good and 't is in the power of his hands to do this for us 2. He hath Wisdom enough to bring it about in such a way as may be most for his Glory 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of Temptation 'T is an Art he is versed in how to distinguish between his People and their Enemies to bring it about so as may be most for his Glory What is the usual work of Providence but to give salvation according to his Covenant in such a way as the beauty of his providence may be seen the patience and Faith
of his People may be tryed and yet his Enemies reckoned with 3. He hath Love enough God doth concern himself in all our Affairs 1 Tim. 4. 10. We trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe A protector and deliverer yea 't is said he saveth Man and Beast Psal. 36. 6. The object of his providence is very large all Creatures have their Being and Preservation from him much more Man much more his Children they are allowed to believe a special providence and the more they depend upon him the more is his care assured to them 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all your care upon the Lord for he careth for you The Lord is free from all passions of Care and Sorrow but we shall find no less proof of his keeping off danger or delivering us from danger than if we were solicitous for our selves surely our Father is not unmindful of us 3. Because there is no difficulty that can fall out to check this Confidence which is built upon Gods undertaking and sufficiency to make it good 1. Not any danger from men though of never so dreadful an appearance 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who hath delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us The danger was Trouble in Asia a great danger pressed above measure and above strength great Trouble was at Ephesus where the people in an Uproar were ready to tear him in pieces so that he received the sentence of Death in himself yet God found a way and meanes to save and he came off safe and sound 2. Not any appearance of Anger from God himself Iob 13. 15. Though he slay me yet I will put my trust in him Sometimes Trouble may represent God as the party dealing with us yet Faith can take him for a Friend when he seemeth to deal like an Enemy and we must resolve to adhere to God and his wayes and trust his power with submission to his good will and pleasure and believe that he hath more respect and care over us than is seen in the present dispensation III. 'T is natural to all to seek deliverance out of Troubles Isa. 51. 14. The captive exile hasteth that he may be delivered and that he should not die in the pit How then is it any part of Grace to Long for Gods Salvation I Answer 'T is proper to the Godly to love no Deliverance but what God sendeth by his own Means in his own Time and to wait for it in Gods way 1. There is somewhat of Grace in it that they look for Salvation from God alone as the Author and are resolved to take it out of his hands whencesoever it cometh Man naturally would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live upon himself be sufficient to his own happiness and so they are vexed when they are left upon God and put upon dependance and submission and waiting upon him for they think it little worth to wait upon God as long as any other shift will serve the turn As Ahaz when troubled with the fear of Rezin and Pekah and the Prophet assureth him of Gods Salvation and biddeth him ask a sign Isa. 7. 11 12 13. I will not tempt the Lord. I will not trust the Lord he meaneth though he useth that pretence his expectation was fixed on the friendship of his Confederates if he had asked a sign of God he must wait for the issue in Gods way now Ahaz could not indure to trust God alone he depended on the Assyrianâ—… and not on Gods Salvation he believed nothing the Prophet spake but counted it vain and frivolous and was resolved to go another way to work 2. Gods salvation as to the means not by our shifts that maketh a breach upon our sincerity Gen. 17. 1. I am God almighty walk before me and be thou upright A man that doth not trust God cannot be long true to him you go off from God to the Creature by distrust and unbelief Heb. 3. 12. this is making more hast than good speed Isa. 28. 16. it plungeth us in sin 't is the greatest Hypocrisie that can be to pretend respect to God and shift for our selves 't is to break prison to get out of Trouble before God letteth us out 3. In his own Time thy Salvation they resolve to wait till he sendeth it carnal men when other means and expectations fail will seek to God they are beaten to him but if their expectation in waiting upon God be delayed they wax weary and faint as that King put on Sackcloth for a while 2 King 6. 30. afterwards said This evil is from the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer They give it over as an hopeless service 4. That in the height of Trouble they still go to God and will not cast away their confidence and dependance come what will come Isa. 26. 8. In the way of thy Iudgements we have waited for thee our desires are to thee and to the remembrance of thy name They still look to him and though often disappointed will seek Salvation from no other they still cleave to Gods way Psal. 44. 17. All this is come upon us yet have we not forsaken thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant They persevere in prayer Psal. 88. 13 14. Unto thee have I cryed in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee Lord Why castest thou me off why hidest thou thy face from me They will not give over but shew their vehement Longings after God whereas wicked and carnal men when great Troubles continue are driven to despair and give over all hope Use. In times of Trouble let us look to God and continue looking all the time that God will exercise our Faith and Patience and express our Longings and Desires of Gods salvation in humble and earnest prayer 1. 'T is no time to look else-where for God will shew us that vain is the help of man by many disappointments Isa. 48. 11. I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour He will break all Confidences till we come to this he shall be my salvation As Iob resolved when God brake him with his Tempests and pursued him with his Waves and was ready to slay him as he thought In all extremities this should be our fixed ground of Faith that Salvation and Deliverance is to be expected from God only Ier. 3. 23. Truly in vain is Salvation hoped for from the hills and the Mountains truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel God will teach us this Lesson e're he hath done with us Usually there is no serious dealing with God till we find the vanity and inability of all other dependancies looking to the Hills and Mountains strength of situation Forces all these will fail us 2. 'T is no time to dally with God and his service any longer for when Troubles come close and near the spirit of Prayer should
Heaven in order in one whole Body is like an Army in Rout and most are forced to get home in straggling Parties Now every tender Soul should Long for Gods Salvation to get up to that Counsel of Souls who with perfect Harmony are Lauding and Praising God for evermore Heb. 12. 23. Use. I. Is to reprove them that are loth to leave this woful Life and do not long and prepare for a better God driveth us out of the World as he did Lot out of Sodom yet we are loth to depart as if it were better to be Miserable apart from God and Christ then happy with them Surely they are far from the Spirit of true Christians who would live alwayes here are at home in the World and cannot endure to think of a remove There are two Causes of this 1. An Unmortifyed Heart 2. An Unsettled Conscience 1. An Unmortified Heart they are not yet weaned from the World their Hearts are set upon satisfying the Vile Lusts of the Body carry it as if their Portion lay in this World Psal. 17. 14. sucking yet upon the Worlds Dugg they have no longing nor desire for that Happiness and Glory which God hath provided for them that love him they desire no other Portion than what they have in hand 2. And the other cause is an Unsettled Conscience some fear the state of the other World rather than desire it and long for it there are two degrees notknowing for certain it shall go well with us and not knowing for certain but that it shall go ill with us both suppress this desire especially the latter Use. II. Is to Rowse up our languid and cold Affections that they may more earnestly be carryed out after heavenly things that we may seek after them with more Fervency and Constancy and Self-denial The Motives to press us are these 1. God giveth Heaven to none but to those that Look and Long for it Men may go to Hell against their Wills but none go to Heaven against their Wills In a Punishment there is a force offered to us but not in a Reward We suffer what we would not as Christ saith to Peter another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not Ioh. 21. 18. But happiness must be imbraced pursued and sought after Well then let the concernments of the other World more take up our Hearts and Minds and stand as at heavens Gate expecting when God will open the door and call you in Christ will appear to them that look for him Heb. 9. 28. 2. The Children of God Long to see God in his Ordinances Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of God all the dayes of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple And Psal. 42. 2. My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal. 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Now if there be so Great and Longing a desire to see the glory of the Lord in a Glass wherein so little of his Glory is seen with any comfort and satisfaction how much more to see him immediately face to face if a Glimpse be so comfortable what will the immediate Vision of God then be surely if this be Salvation every one of us should long for this Salvation 3. If it be not worth our Desire 't is little worth the Estate being so excellent such a compleat Redemption from all our Troubles so perfect and so full an happiness in Body and Soul will not you send a groan or an hearty Act of Volition after it 't is great ingratitude that when Christ hath procured a great state of blessedness for us at a very dear rate we should value it no more he procured it by a life of Labour and Sorrow and the Pangs of a bitter Cursed death and when all is done we little regard it surely if we choose it for our happiness there will be longing and looking for it No man will fly from his own happiness a mans heart will be where his Treasure is Math. 6. 21. if you prize it you will sigh and groan after it the Apostle saith Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you count it better to be there than else where you will be desiring to be there and longing to be there for we are always longing for that which is better chiefly for that which is best of all there is the best estate the best work the best company all is better if you count it so it will be no difficult thing to bring you earnestly to desire it 4. All the Ordinances serve to stir up this longing after Heaven and to awaken these desires in us the Word is our Charter for Heaven or Gods Testament wherein this rich Legacy is bequeathed to us that every time we Read it or Hear it or Meditate upon it we may get a step higher and our Hearts more drawn out after Heavenly things In Prayer whether in Company or Alone 't is but to raise and act these heavenly Desires there we groan and long for Gods Salvation In the Lords Supper we come solemnly to put our selves in mind of the new Wine we shall drink in our Fathers Kingdom Matth. 26. 29. to put a new heavenly Relish upon our Hearts 5. The Imperfection of our present Estate We are now imperfect and streightened like a Fish in a Pail or small vessel of Water which cannot keep it alive it would fain be in the Ocean or swiming in the broad and large Rivers So we are pent up cannot do what we would there is a larger Estate when filled up with all the fulness of God that Holiness we have now maketh us look for it and long for it and surely Holiness was never designed for our Torment 6. We are hastning into the other World apace and therefore we more desire it Natural motion is in principio tardior in sine velecior the nearer to fruition the more impatient of the want of it When a Man is drawing home after a long Journey every Mile is as tedious as two We are drawing nigh to the other World let us leave this willingly not by force let not Trouble chase us out of it but Love and Desire draw us out of it God doth loosen our Roots by little and little that we may now be sit for a Remove the Pins of our Tabernacle are taken down insensibly and by leisurely Degrees Now as fast as we are going out of this World we should be going into another the inner Man Renewed day by day
to God to prolong their Lives a while Rom. 15. 31 32. Now I heseech you Brethren for the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the Love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your Prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea and that my service which I have done for Jerusalem may be accepted of the Saints that I may come unto you with joy by the VVill of God and may with you be refreshed 4. To breed up their Children in the Nurture of the Lord and that they may be usefull in their Familyes as Iacob desired to see Ioseph 5. We may beg it that we may not fall into the Hands of Men lose our Life by Murtherers Psal. 31. 15. My Times are in thy Hand deliver me from the hand of mine Enemyes and from them that persecute me The Dispensation of all Mercies Comforts Troubles Life Death are in Gods Hand not in Mans Power therefore we pray that it may rest there that we may not be given up to the Will of those that hate us All These Desires have a respect to the Glory of God and if conceived with submission and trust that God will do what is for the best they are all lawful Use of all 1. Exhortation it presseth you 1. To Consecrate your selves to God Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a Living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is your Reasonable Service Under the Law the Bodyes of Beasts were to be slain yours is a Living Sacrifice both were set apart for God the one to dye the other to live to God 2. Having given up your selves to God use your selves for God there will be an enquiry what share God hath in your Time Acts. 27. 23. The God whose I am and whom I serve 3. Praise the Lord with Heart Mouth and Life a Christians Conversation is nothing but an Hymn to God 1 Pet. 2. 9. But ye are a Chosen Generation a Royal Priest-hood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his Marvellous Light The Virtues of God his Attributes 4. When â—…er you pray for continuance of Life in any danger or distress either for your self or others propound this as the end not so much for our own Satisfaction as the honour of God A Christian is not content to have the use of the benefit to himself alone 1. For Self Every man desireth Life the whole World would all and every of them put this request to God Let my Soul live but very few consider why they should live Some desire Life only to please the flesh and that they may enjoy the Delights of the present World A Brutish wish A Heathen could say He doth not deserve the name of a Man qui unam diem velit esse in voluptate c. Certainly not of a Christian that would desire Life merely to enjoy the Delights of the flesh These would not leave their Hogs Trough to go home to their Father Some there are who desire Life to see their Children well bestowed or to free their Estate from incumbrance and are loth to part from their Natural Relations Wife Children Friends This is a natural Respect and should be subordinate to an higher End Though this Desire keeping its place may be Lawful yet out of its place sinful We use to profess Psal. 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee In short two Motives I will urge why the Glory of God should have the chief Respect in our Affections 1. The benefit it giveth Hope of prolonging Life if this desire be true and real And it giveth certain Assurance of not perishing for ever The one it doth for God doth all things with respect to his Glory Psal. 119. 94. The other also for he will glorifie those that glorifie him 2. This is the Temper of a sincere Christian surely to a Believer 'T is a piece of Self-denial to be kept out of Heaven longer Therefore it must be sweetned with some valuable Compensation something there must be to calm the Mind and contentedly to spare the enjoyment of it for a while Now next to the good pleasure of God which is the Reason of Reasons there is some Benefit we pitch upon there is nothing worthy to be compared but our service If God may have Glory if our Lives may do good a Gracious heart must be satisfied with Gracious Reasons 2. For others If we make it our Request we must have the same Aims in this Case that the Faith and Grace of others may benefit them Mar. 2. 5. When Iesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsie thy sins be forgiven thee Now in such Requests bare natural Reasons should not move us but that God may not loose an Instrument of his Glory and that his Power and Providence may be more seen in the World in the Recovery 'T is good to beg of God for God Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us but unto thy Name give glory It should be accounted as a Mercy unto us Phil. 2. 27. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him and not on him onely but on me also least I should have sorrow upon sorrow 5. This End is known by the Use in Having and submission in asking 1. The use in Having how we use a Mercy when we have it if we do indeed live to the Glory of God and the rather for these Experiences 2. Submission in Asking whether we sight or are Crowned Work or receive our Reward For God is the best Judge of what is most for his own Glory Use. II. Is Direction but of this See Verse the 17. I come now to the second Point Doctrine II. That Gods Iudgments are a great help and relief to his People who desire to praise him even when they are in danger of their lives Here I shall shew I. What are Gods Judgments II. How they are an Help I. What is the meaning of Misphalim Judgements here 1. God Governeth the World that is called Judgement Psal. 9. 7. 8. He hath prepared his Throne for Iudgment he shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister Iudgement in uprightness So Ioh. 5. 22. When the Government is put into the hands of Christ 't is said For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Iudgment unto the Son 2. God governeth the World according to this Word there is his Judgment concerning Things and Persons stating what is good and evil The Reward of the one and Punishment of the other Psal. 19. 9. The Iudgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether The Precept is the Rule of our Duty the sanction of Gods Process Therefore in Scripture the Punishments of the wicked are
we fail in particular application as the Heathens that knew there was a Divine an Eternal and Almighty Power in general yet were vain in their imaginations in their discourses and practical inferences Or if we should know how to use thâ—…se Truths if we know them habitually yet we do not actually consider here 's a great part of mans misery being hurried by a multitude of business or violence of Temptation that being laid asleep by the pleasures of the Flesh many times fall off Though men have a perfect knowledge of their Duty and how to apply it habitually yet actually do not consider their sin carries them away they consider not that they do evil Eccl. 5. 1. Thus for the understanding 2. Our Affections they are so apt to be led by Sense and not by right Reason that there 's many times great danger that in seeing we should not see lest seeing knowing and approving that which is better we should embrace and follow that which is worse act contrary to our Knowledge and Conscience Rom. 2. 18. Thou approvest the things that differ yet doest thus and thus Many have an approbation yet cannot bring forth Grace to victory cannot govern their hearts according to their speculative approbation Now if a man be such a blind indigent Creature it is his Wisdom still to look out of himself to lift up his Eyes to God that is the God of our salvation and our guide and defence all our Confidence must be in him IV. We learn hence the encouragement which one hath who is right for the main but hath run into some Errors of Life to apply himself to God to remedy that evil as the good shepherd who must seek the lost sheep and reduce him into the right way Here let me shew two things First Who are those that are right for the main and may look upon their sins as particular errors and frailties Secondly What encouragement they have to apply themselves unto the Lord. First Who are those that are right for the main and whose sins are infirmities such as Davids are represented to be here in this Text. for I will go no farther then the Text. To represent that in five things 1. Such as have a Conscience an awful sense of their Duty I do not forget thy precepts He had transgressed some of Gods Commandments but still he had a sense of his Duty that was kept alive in his heart that awakened him to return again to the Lord. 2. Such as have an habitual will to keep the Commandment of God though there be failings as David when he asks for his Servant seek thy Servant he acknowledged his Duty still Gods Children may sometimes go astray but not totally and finally They never fall so but there remains something that maintains Gods interest in the Soul 1 Iohn 3. 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin he cannot sin c. he doth not sin so as to lie in sin the seed of God still remains and so is more easily reclaimed then others Look as in Nebuchadnezzars Vision there was represented a Tree that was to be cut down by the Watchman but yet the stump of the roots remained in the Earth Dan. 4. 23. that is in his melancholly when he crept of all four like Beasts I suppose there was not a transformation into a Beast he did lodg in the Forrest among Beasts and eat their kind of Food yet there was a stump of this great Tree that should bud and scent again there was a stock of humane nature that should recover and shew it self again So here though a Child of God behave himself like a bruit Beast and be mastered by his sense yet the root of the matter is still in him there is something that will put forth it self again Or as a spinster leaves a Lock of Wool to draw on the next thread so there is something left they do not wholly cast off the fear of God nor the Yoke No their souls are habitually bent to please God more then they are to sin I am thy servant 3. As here 's a Conscience of his Duty and an habitual will to serve God so here 's a broken hearted confession of his Error I have gone astray like a lost sheep and so a repentance of the sin committed It is grievous to a Child of God in the remembrance of it the sin is thereby more mortified and subdued 4. Here 's an unfeigned desire to return to his Duty and Grace humbly sought that he may be set in joint again Lord seek thy servant He would not remain in this condition still his desire was to do the Will of God and to live in no neglect and therefore he complains of his straying Disposition and would fain have it cured Lord seek thy servant 5. The Conscience of his sincerity was not wholly lost Mark not only the Conscience of his Duty but of his sincerity for he prays still to be sought as a sheep belonging to the Fold I am thine though I am gone astray Ioh. 10. 3. The sheep hear his voice Now this Evidence was yet left I am Lord thy servant and I do not forget thy Precepts He was willing to hear the Voice of God In grievous falls â—…is otherwise If a man fall grievously this doth not relate to any grievous fall then all were to begin anew that robs all our peace as David Lord create in me a clean heart Psal 51. 10. After his grievous fall he speaks as if all was lost David here professeth still his devotedness to God as his servant his love and respect to his Law as his Rule he could own such a thing in it it was an Evil that annoyed him but it had not rifled his Peace Secondly To speak of the Encouragement that we have to go to God if this be our Case as the Man of God here desires the Lord to seek him out and to bring him again into the right way Those that have gone astray yet should not keep off but run to their shepherd Seek thy Servant Why 1. We have a shepherd that loves us whereof he hath given full proof and demonstration in that he dyed for us Ioh. 10. 11. I am the good shepherd that laid down my life for the sheep He is not only the Great shepherd as called sometimes but the Good shepherd gave his Life in a way of Ransom to expiate our sins When he came to seek and save that which was lost his first work was to redeem them by his blood If he could find in his heart to redeem us by his blood and expiate all our faults he will recover us 2. It is one great part of his Office to reduce his People from their stragling Psal. 23. 1. The Lord is my shepherd what then ver 3. He receiveth my soul If the Lord be our shepherd it s a great part of his work to receive our souls We fall into the disease of sin
that are comfortable though they have things sparingly though they have of the meanest yet they have that which is good for them So Psalm 84. 11. No good thing will he withhold He may keep us low and bare feed us Cibo extemporali as Lactantius but that is good for us If it were good for us to have larger revenues and incomes we should not want them The true and absolute ground of all submission is to think that which God sendeth is good be it prosperity or adversity the having or wanting Children or other comforts 2. The next measure is this that Good is to be determined by its respect to the chief Good or true Happiness Now what is our chief Happiness but the Injoyment of God Our Happiness doth not consist in outward comforts Riches Health Honour civil Liberty or comfortable Relations as Husband Wife Children but in our Relation to and Acceptance with God other things are but additional Appendages to our Happiness Matth. 6. 33. Affliction taketh nothing from our Essential solid Happiness rather helpeth us in the Enjoyment of it as it increaseth Grace and Holiness and so we injoy God more surely That is Good that sets us nearer to God and that is Evil which separateth us from him therefore Sin is Evil because it maketh an estrangement between us and God Isa. 59. 2. But Affliction is good because many times it maketh us the more earnestly to seek after him Hosea 5. 16. In their Afflictions they will seek me right early Therefore every Condition is Good or Evil as it sets farther off or draweth us nearer to God that is Good that tendeth to make us better more like unto God capable of Communion with him conduceth to our everlasting Happiness So It is good that a man â—…ear the Yoke from his Touth Lam. 3. 27. that he be trained up under the Cross in a constant obedience to God and subjection to him and so be fitted to entertain Communion with him In Afflictions conduce to this end they are good for then they help us to â—…joy the chief Good 3. That Good is not always the Good of the flesh or the Good oâ—… outward prosperity and therefore the Good of our condition is not to be determinâ—… by the interest or the Flesh but the welfare of our Souls If God should bestow upon us so much of the Good of the outward and animal life as we desire we could not be said to be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…tion if he should deny us Good Spiritual We should lose one half of the 〈◊〉 of the Coâ—…nt by doating upon and falling in love with the rest the flesh is importâ—… to be pâ—…sed but God will not serve our carnal turns We are more concerned as a Soul 〈◊〉 a Body Heb. 12. 10. He verily for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Certain it is God will chasten us for our Profit What do we call Profit the good things of this world the great Mammon which so many worship if we call it so God will not he meaneth to impart to us Spiritual and Divine Benefit which is a participation of his own Holiness And truly the People of God if they be in their right temper value themselves not by their outward Injoyments but their inward by their improvement of Grace not the injoyment of worldly Comforts 2 Cor. 4. 16. For this cause we faint not but though our outward mâ—…n perish our inward man is renewed day by day A discerning Christian puts more value upon Holiness wrought by Affliction than upon all his Comforts So that though Affliction be Evil in it self 't is good as sanctified 4. A particular Good must give way to a general Good and our personall benefit to the advancement of Christ's Kingdome The good of the Church must be preferred before our personal contentment Paul could want the Glory of Heaven for a while if his continuance in the Flesh were needfull for the Saints Phil. 7. 24. To abide in the Flesh is more needfull for you We must not so desire Good to our selves as to hinder the Good of others All Elements will act contrary to their particular for the conservation of the Universe That may be Good for the Glory of God which is not Good for our personal contentment and ease Now the Glory of God is our greatest Interest if it be for the Glory of God that I should be in pain bereft of my comforts my sanctified subjection to the will of God must say 't is Good Iohn 12. 27 28. there you have expressed the innocent inclination of Christ's humane Nature Father save me from this hour and the overrulling sense of his duty or the obligation of his office but for this cause came I to this hour We are often tossed and tumbled between inclination of Nature and conscience of Duty but in a gracious Heart the sense of our duty and the desire of glorifying God should prevail above the desire of our own Comfort Ease and Safety and Welfare Nature would be rid of trouble but grace submits all our interests to God's honour which should be dearer to us than any thing else 5. This Good is not to be determined by present feeling but by the Judgment of Faith Affliction for the present is not pleasant to natural sense nor for the present is the fruit evident to spiritual sense but 't is good because in the issue it turneth to good Rom. 8. 28. All things work together for good While God is striking we feel the grief and the Cross is tedious but when we see the end we acknowledge 't is good to be afflicted Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grievous but afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness A good present is the cause of joy and an evil present is the cause of sorrow but there are two terms of abatement the sorrow is from the present sense and the conceit of the sufferer When we are but newly under the Affliction we feel the smart but do not presently find the benefit but within a while especially in the review 't is Good for me 't is matter of Faith under the Affliction 't is matter of sense after it Good Physick must have time to work that which is not good may be good though it be not good in its nature 't is good in its seasonable use and though for the present we see it not we shall see it Therefore Good is not to be determined by seeling but by Faith The Rod is a sore thing for the present but the bitter root will yield sweet fruit If we come to a person under the Cross and ask him what is it good to feel the lashes of God's correcting Hand to be kept poor and sickly exercised with Losses and Reproaches to part with Friends and Relations to lose a beloved Child sense will complain But this poor Creature after he hath been Exercised and Mortified and gotten
Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us He doth not say Upon me but upon us as the common language of all the Saints The favour of God is so dear and precious to the Saints that they can compare with the affections of carnal men take them at the greatest advantage He doth not consider their worldly things in their decrease but he considers them when they are encreased and he considers them in the very time when they are encreased in the Vintage and Harvest time the shouting of Vintage and joy of Harvest are proverbial and the comforts of this life when new and fresh most invite delight They that place their happiness in these things cannot have so much joy as they that have a sense of their interest in God Now shall we be wholly strangers to this temper and disposition of soul 3. If we be backward to seek after the favour of God the Lord whips his people to it by his Providence for sometimes their spiritual disposition may be marr'd Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early The Lord withdraws his gracious presence for this reason not that we may seek ease or freedom from trouble but that we may seek his face and the applying of his Grace to our Consciences 4. God is not wholly gone neither is the desertion total when there is such a disposition in the heart He hath left something behind him which draws you after him The estimation of Gods favour keeps his place warm till he come again it keeps room in the soul Psal. 88. 13 14. Unto thee have I cried in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Lord why castest thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me But when they can digest such a loss with patience it is an indifferent thing whether they have any sense of Gods love yea or no. 5. We find it to be a sad thing to lose any worldly comfort and shall we lose the favour of God too and never lay it to heart and live contentedly without it It is a sign we despise that which the Saints value and which is the principal blessing you will not have cheap thoughts of the consolation of God Iob 15. 11. 6. Unless we seek Gods favour all our labour is lost in other Duties 2 Chron. 7. 14. If my people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from Heaven c. This is put in among other conditions and without this the promise is not made good to us Many seek to the Lord in their distresses but it is only for redress of temporal evils or obtaining necessary temporal supplies but do not seek his face then their prayers are but like howlings but like the moans of Beasts Hos. 7. 14. They do not seek reconciliation and communion with God but only ease and riddance of present trouble Those are not holy prayers 7. It is the distinguishing point that will separate the precious from the vile to have a tender sense of Gods favour Psal. 24. 6. This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Iacob There are many thoughts of Interpreters about that place I find though they differ in it yet they all agree in this sense that they are the true Israelites the true Iacob's posterity that cannot brook Gods absence that seek his face that will not let him go but strive with him till they get the blessing These are not Israel in the letter but Israel in the spirit Iacob said I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Gen. 32. 36. Such diligent Seekers of God should we be never to give over till we find him Or as Moses said Lord if thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence We will not stir a foot without thy favour and presence III. They that are sensible of the want or loss of the favour of God have liberty to sue for it with hope and encouragement to find it For so doth David Make thy face to shine Whence comes this liberty First Because of Gods promise because of the mercy of God pawned to us in his promises He hath told us none shall seek his face in vain Isai. 48. 19. and Prov. 8. 17. and Psal. 22. 20. One that seriously and diligently is seeking after God before he hath done his search he shall have some opportunity to bless and praise the Lord some experience of Grace shall be given to him if he conscionably diligently and seriously seek it Secondly Because of the mediation of Jesus Christ you may come in his name and seek the favour of God Psal. 36. 7. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! therefore the Children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings Interpreters upon that place conceive the shadow of Gods wings does not allude to an ordinary similitude of a Hen that when Vultures and Kites are abroad covers her little Ones gathers her Chickens under her wings No but they think the allusion to be to the outstretched wings of the Cherubims and this is the ground of our trust and dependance upon God Let the Sons of men put their trust under the shadow of his wings there to find God reconciled in Christ for the Throne of Grace was a Figure of that propitiation He is called the propitiation God propitiated and reconciled in Christ is the Throne of Grace interpreted However that be it is clear Psal. 80. 1. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth When they would have God hear they give him the title of one that sits upon the Mercy-Seat reconciled by Christ. Though the Cloud of sin doth hide Gods favour from thee he can make it shine again and here 's our ground the merciful invitation of Gods promise and then God propitiated in Christ. Use. O then let us turn unto the Lord in prayer and in the use of all other means humbling our selves and seeking his favour 1. Waiting for it with all heedfulness Psal. 130 6. My soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning and he repeats it again I say more than they that watch for the morning Look as the weary Centinel that is wet and stiff with cold and the Dews of the Night or as the Porters that watched in the Temple the Levites were waiting for the day-light So more than they that wait for the morning was he waiting for some glympse of Gods favour Though he do not presently ease us of our smart or gratifie our desires yet we are to wait upon God In time we shall have a good answer Gods delays are not denials Day will come at length though the weary Centinel or Watch-man counts it long first so God will come at length he will