own cost as Isai 52.3 The Lord tells his people that they had sold themselves for nought they had made a poor Bargain or they had provocked God to sell them into their enemies hands for nought but they should be redeemed as cheap without money Isai 43.14 The Lord proves himself to be the Redeemer of his people by this that for their sakes he had sent to Babylon to get them redeemed hence and had brought down all their Nobles and the Caldeans whose cry is in the Ships or to the Ships to seek Vessels to run away when Cyrus came and turned in the River on the City And Isai 49.24 25 26. when they accounted the people of God their prey and lawful captives the Lord not only tells them that the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered but he will pay a ransome to the Caldeans for them and what is that I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine That shall be the ransome that he will give the Caldeans when he delivereth his people I shall not dwell on this in general it holds out this that they are in a sad and ill taking who are left by themselves to take Gods people to task they are as these who would go betwixt a Man and his Wife who when the friendship is made up will get little thanks and therefore they are rather to be pitied than envyed It bods little good to men when God makes use of them to be instruments of the afflictions of his people and any that ye would wish good unto pray that they may be preserved from that Pit and any ye see ingaged in it ye cannot do them a better turn than to stand in the Gapp for them and pray they may be delivered out of it for it is fatal and prodigious to be instruments of the people of Gods trouble and to be found standing in his way when he is to redeem them But in the 3d place I told you that their Delivery is called Redemption in relation to the issue of their delivery from their troubles as the Captive or Prisoner when he is redeemed or the ransom payed is set free enlarged and set at liberty to go where he will So God's delivering of a people brings freedom and enlargement a breaking of Bonds an opening of Prison doors a vindicating of them from bondage and slavery Hence the delivery of the saints is metaphorically expressed by setting of them at large or in a large place Psal 18.19 The Psalmist was hampered before when he was in trouble but he got enlargement and skiproom by God's delivering of him So Psal 31.8 David sayes Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the Enemy thou hast set my feet in a large place or room had I been amongst my enemies they had hemm'd me in but God in delivering me gives me elbow-room and Psal 118.5 I called on the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place or answered me in a large place for these words and set me are a supplement in the Text that is with enlargement by enlargement and freedom he delivered me So Job 36.16 Where Elihu is giving Job an account what he might have expected had he improved God's corrections aright Even so saith he would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place where there is no straitness Thou art would he say as verse 8. bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction but had thou hearkned to the instructions communicat to thee by the Rod God should have brought thee out of that strait into a broad place where there is no straitness so that in respect of the issue delivery is enlargement a giving of skuproom to them that were in bonds and pressures before And from this I would have you reflecting on two or three words 1. It imports that when the people of God are in trouble unredeemed they should be in straits and as under pressures sensible of their affliction their bonds should press them Therefore in that fore-cited place Job 36.8 Affliction is called bonds or fetters and cords and Job when he is viewing God's dealing with him says Chap. 13.27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks not only did he put him in prison for a man in prison has room to walk up and down but in prison he put his feet in the stocks importing that folks should find a pressure when God afflicts them they should be straitned when they are in the stocks stupidity is ill company when God is using means means to waken out of security and to make folk sensible and to be taking too much elbow room when folks are under an arrest of Providence it is no good evidence that he will give enlargement Job 35.15 Hypocrites in heart heap up wrath they cry not when he binds them when folks are straitned they would feel it and especially they should find their straitning that they may cry to God when he binds them Psal 107.12 He brought down their hearts with labour he brake their spirits with toil he hammered their undaunted hearts with sit-fast and sore pressures and further he dealt so with them till they fell down and there was none to help and then they cryed to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them c. That is the great design of pressures when folks are so hampered that they cannot stir their feet when they are so straitned that they wot not what hand to turn them to it is That they may cry to God and he may save them Hence 2. Many sad lamentations may the visible Church and even saints write over their own frames under pressures that they are so little affected and particularly that be they pressed never so much there is little prayer under their pressures as in that forecited place Job 36.13 When Elihu is telling what should be folks carriage when they are bound with fetters and holden in cords of affliction he tells the Hypocrites in heart heap up wrath they cry not when God binds them few folks pressures are seen in their prayers either in doubling their diligence in their duty or in their manner of going about it they have few prayers that look like distrest folks prayers O let fruitless improvers of pressures ponder at large Job 36.8 to 18. Where when Elihu has told the benefit of well improved pressures and the hazard of ill improved pressures he tells Job verse 16. Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place But verse 17. Thou has fulfilled the judgement of the wicked justice and judgement take hold on thee Therefore because there is wrath beware lest he take thee away with his stroak then a great ransom cannot deliver thee evil improved pressures will occasion sad reflections and may bring
estimation of it see their distance come with some measure of Confidence but an edge is put on their Affection and they are fervent and raised in Prayer for it I do not mean that Prayer with the loudest Voice is ay the most fervent Prayer when I think upon these Tones and Voices used by some in Prayer I often mind that word Eccles 9.17 the words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools It 's not the Tone though we ow the Voice to God that makes fervent Prayer to him Moses Exod. 14.15 prayed fervently he cried to God when he spoke not a Word and Lam. 2.18 Their heart cried unto the Lord O wall of the daughter of Zion But my meaning is that frequencie fervency and instancy in Prayer from the Heart is required in them that talk and cry out of the Depths ye talk of your saying of your Prayers and among the Prayers in the world many of them are but said Prayers but when it comes to crying out of the Depths your said Prayers will not do the turn our blessed Lord was never superficial in Prayer yet Luk. 22.44 it 's said being in an agony he prayed more earnestly there is a patern of Prayer out of the Depths and I wish I saw a practical Commentar of that among you which ye find Ps 107.12 13. He brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help that 's a posture that would put many to Pray and how far ye are from it if ye were awake ye would discern then they they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses So ye have heard the import of this crying out of the depths unto God As for the use of this whereof it affords divers though all along the point is practical and applys it self I know not if I dare break in farther upon it I suppose to ordinar hearers all is poyson that is spoken after the Glass but ye shall take a few words from it if this be the kindly result of blessed trouble to be put to crying to God out of the depths then ye may see what a dreadful plague it is that when people are cast in the Depths and the Spirit of Prayer is away and there is no crying out of them to God Shall I hold up to you a Glass to let you see your own foul Face in this matter Read Ezek. 24.23 And I pray you forget Judah and Israel and call this Scotland and your selves Professors in Scotland that are spoken to Ye shall not mourn nor weep but ye shall pine away for your iniquities O that is the Cop-stone of a peoples calamity when it is said to them Ye shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn and roar one towards another And will ye not get many such up and down the Land folks that are like wild beasts in a net strugling with their Calamity tatlers and talkers of their troubles he blaming him and he him roaring for the sad case themselves and the Land are in but where is their crying out of the depths to God Who have added to the weight and measure of their Prayers for all that is come over them Where will ye get a Daniel in all Scotland that for three full weeks gave himself to Fasting and Prayer Will ye have another Glass to see your foul spots in Read Dan. 9.13 As it is written in the Law of Moses all this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer to the Lord our God that we should turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth We feel well-enough all the evil that is on us and that it is come as it is written in the Law yet there is no Prayer to purpose Will ye yet take another Glass Then read Amos 4.6 c. Where the Lord tells what stroaks he had inflicted upon his people every one of them heavier than another I have done this and this to you saith the Lord and still the over-word is yet ye have not returned unto me Many folks are blyth when things rise to an height and then they think God will be seen on the Mount but they forget that continuing them in the Depths is to set them to Prayer it is the sin of the Generation that they look more to their Priviledges than their Provocations or so to their Priviledges as they forget their Provocations and lean so much weight on the righteousness of their cause as they forget that for which God hath put them in difficulties I may say on this account that fearers of God are self-destroyers O tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon that God hath taken such pains to put us to pray and repent and yet we will do any thing but Pray and Repent we will not I see no issue in this but to put off our Ornaments and see what the Lord will do with us And will ye yet take another word that may give folk a sight of their foul Face Even that Charge unjustly laid by Eliphaz against Job chap 15. vers 4. Which I doubt if we can lay so well from our door as he might Thou castest off fear saith he and restrainest prayer before God There is a threefold restraint of Prayer before God in Difficulties And I wish that one or all of them take not in the generality of the Generation we live in 1. When folk that wont to Pray give it over And what thousands are there of this stamp in Scotland and not a few in the West Countrey How many are there among us that sometimes have worshipped God in secret and now do not bow a knee to God How many have worshipped God in their Families who now have left it off And among you there are not a few such as we find by your shifting answers when you are asked thereaâ—ent a thing that rather might be expected in the barbarous parts of the Land than among you and is not Religion and Religious Duties much clipped where it had much place A Prognostick of little good when so few Families will be found having their posts sprinkled with the blood of sprinkling Now what shall I say of them that never Prayed when so many have quit Prayer that once used it O! I say it again publish it not in Gath c. That Apostasie hath so far prevailed that it hath driven many from the very form of Godliness A 2d Restraint of Prayer is in them who have keeped up a Form but alas they put me in mind of that word spoken of Pharaoh's Chariot Wheels They drive heavily There was a time when Religion was in request and then folks got borrowed Wings that they Flew with or Stilts in Religious Duties but when a man comes in the Depths he must have Divine Approbation or these will not do his turn or if he hold him by his
on and not be hasty under delays I shall offer four considerations to perswade you to it And the 1. which relates to what I spoke before of Faith is that ye would remember that delayed success is not denyed success so long as the Word speaks good news That the needy shall not always be forgotten that the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever Psal 9.18 There is no cause why our hearts should envy sinners but that our hearts should be in the fear of the Lord all the day long For surely there is an end and our expectation shall not be cut off Prov. 23.17 So long as the Word speaks thus we are to bless our selves in it that delayed success is not denyed success and that therefore all that God hath promised were it never so long betwixt the promise and the performance will certainly come to pass as is marked in the Book of Joshua 23.14 That of all the good things which the Lord had promised to that people and many a time there seemed to be an utter impossibility of the performance of it not one thing had failed but all did come to pass A man that hath good things laid up for him in the Scripture though he be put to wait for them he needs not make a cheap Market of them they will be found forth-coming to him And Isai 60 22. The Lord will hasten it in his time which is alway the best time the Lord will afford mercy and grace to help not when we will but in the time of need Heb 4. ult He will make out his mercies in the time when they will be found double mercies for their seasonableness Psal 94.18 When I said My foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up And as he will thus in due time make out all that he hath promised so in the mean time he will not deny support to them that wait on him it may be he let temptations such as are common to men ly on But 1 Cor. 10.13 He is faithful and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear but will with the temptation make a way to escape that they may be able to bear it It may be when they are crying for a good account of a messenger of Satan sent to buffet them that he remove it not but he will make out that My grace is sufficient for you my strength is made perfect in weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 That then is one Consideration to perswade you to waâ—t on That delayed success is not denyed success 2. This may press and perswade to on-waiting that if we be doing our duty we may very safely trust the love and wisdom of God with the time of doing us good There are three things which I have had occasion sometimes to hint at to you that I shall now resume in reference to this We may and ought to wait 1. Because God never comes out of time look things never so desperat-like to make up all that was looked for men may come out of season but God never comes out of season although it were come to that that there were nothing but dry bones in a Valley he can make these dry bones to live Ezek 37. Although there were no Witnesses left And O but it 's sad to see a decay of a faithful Ministry and few laying it to heart many going off the Stage and few coming in their room though they were killed after three days and an half they shall rise again and ascend up to Heaven in a Cloud and their enemies shall behold them Rev. 11.11 When thou hast said thy strength and thy hope is perished from the Lord it is as easie for him to make all things well as when thou hast all probabilities that things shall be well 2. We may safely remit the proofs of Gods love to himself if we consider he never delays so long but we may be getting good of delays It 's true thou may be ready to tyre fag and weary and look on thy continued trial as a lot thou wilt get no good of and thereupon turn idle or ly down and die but the longest trial if improven shall yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 If we were thrifty we might be getting good of every moments delay 3. We may and ought to wait and submit to the wisdom and love of God and trust him for good under our delays on this account that he never delays so long but he is able to give a satisfactory account of his delays Thou wilt say Why doth he delay so long from comâ—ng to comfort or give an out-gate But he can convince thee with satisfying reasons that his delays were needful When as it is Hab. 2.3 sense says The vision tarries he can make thy faith say Tarry for it because it will surely come and not tarry he can make thy self say he doth not tarry even when thy sense says he doth tarry This for the second Consideration for perswading you to wait on God under delays and not to be hasty 3. A third Consideration to perswade to waiting in opposition to making haste is That they that are sweet to wait would look if they be busie at work and at the work they are called to This is a needful diversion which I would offer to such folk were they busie in making use of long and feeding storms they would make less dinn in waiting for an issue of them but they would be ready to say rather Alas let him tarry never so long he will come ere I be ready for him ere I have reaped the blessed fruit of the dispensations of his providence that I am under And therefore a wearier and a hasty person under delays doth proclaim that he is an idle person not about his work for not only as ye know work is a mean to take away langour but in particular the thrifty improvement of a hard lot would make folk wonder that God should come to them at all 4. To perswade you to wait and that ye would not be hasty if none of the former Considerations will press you to it remember the Soveraignty of God and that ye are his Creatures when thou wearies to wait consider what thou art a bit of nothing a dependent bit of beeing to be made or not made formed or marred at his pleasure if he hath given thee a back why may he not lay on a burden and continue it on so long as pleases him Wherefore serves thy beeing in the world but to be at his disposing and to be what seems good to him This Argument prevailed with Job that was put otherways to it than any of us he was stripped in an instant of all that he had and sitting down on the dust he says Chap. 1.21 Naked came I out of the womb and naked shall I return God gave and God hath taken blessed be the Name
there were no promising evidence of it but rather the contrary 2. Another is saints when stript and emptied of all things do not give over waiting on God because he is not only able if he will to do their turn when all refuge fails them but his owning his people in difficulties is a special part of his glory which he will not give to any other little do we understand the intricacies of Divine Providence little know we wherefore he blasts probabilities and defeats all the expectations of his people but whatever else be in it it is for this chiefly that Himself may be seen to be their Deliverer and none other Therefore he does with them as he did with Gideon's army when he brought them to three hundred and with these three hundred with Trumpets and lamps in pitchers defeat the Midianites Judges 7. That their Delivery might be seen of him And if this were well seen it would give the people of God a comfortable look of God's laying by all second Causes stripping them naked of all helps making Dispensations threaten ruine they would say our Masters feet are behind these this is but a dark hour before the dawning So doth David reason in that forecited Psalm 142.4 5. When he looked on the right and left hand and there was no man that would know him refuge failed him no man cared for his soul What follows I cryed unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living And Psal 94.18 When I said my foot slips thy mercy O Lord held me up When there was nothing betwixt him and ruine but Gods Mercy he found that a present help But 3. The Children of God when stripped of all things but God have ground to wait on God and do wait on him not only because he is able to deliver them and delights to lay by other things that he may be seen in their delivery but whereas guilt is a great impediment and stares the waiter on God in the face that he knows not how to expect good from God till that be removed and taken out of the way yet he waits on God on this account that there is hope in Israel concerning that thing that his guilt shall be no impediment to his delivery or any good thing he wants and is needful for him if he do with it as the Psalmist doth here verse 3 4. If he take with it be humbled for it lay claim to pardoning Mercy in the right method he may notwithstanding say I wait for the Lord There are two notable grounds of encouragement which as they would not be abused so being rightly improven are very useful to waiters on God One is that right taking with guilt and repentance for it after much incorrigibleness is attainable when we have called our selves for any thing we can see in our selves or expect from means reprobat silver yet the Lord can humble and tame that uncircumcised heart Jer. 32.19 He can turn Ephraim who has resisted many means and hath been as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke Another is that which I am upon guilt taken with and acknowledged needs not hinder a man to wait on God These places that I cited the last day proves it as Isai 8.17 I will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him Though he be a God that is provocked to withdraw and hide his face yet I will wait on him look for him And Micah 6.7 8. When the Church is low yet she will look to the Lord and will wait for him and wait for the God of his salvation believing her God will hear her and on that ground bids the enemy boast at leisure She answers that Objection concerning guilt that she will bear the indignation of the Lord because she hath sinned she will take with guilt and stoop to his correcting hand till he plead her cause and execute Judgment for her she looks over the mountain of her guilt when she hath taken with it and waits for the Lord. So ye see what is first imported in this waiting for God that the eyes of the waiting man must be taken off all things and set on God only and that these who would wait on God would lay their account to be more and more stript of all things till they be left on God and being so they have good ground to wait on God and the waiter on God taking with guilt and pleading for mercy may in that humble posture wait still for God I proceed to the second thing imported in this waiting on God and that is The waiting man left on God and seeing an all-sufficiency in God to do his turn in the faith of that he so waits for God That is to wait for the Lord when the confidence of Gods help encourages the waiting man in waiting on God to stick closs by the way of God that he will not have a comfort but in his way he will not have a delivery but that which comes with Divine approbation He will not purchase a Delivery of Out-gate with the price of the least sin Why he waits for God in his way Troubles and delays are a great temptation to shake off tenderness the pressure and continuance of the least of troubles are ill counsellors in a waiting posture they will bid run to the leest row to the best shore take any course for an out-gate But he who is a waiter on God indeed his tenderness grows as his trouble grows and as his delays are protracted he studies to be the more tender I shall not insist on this but 1. It is certain a waiter for God should be and in so far as he waits rightly on God he is and will be a tender man as the Word is Psal 37.34 Wait on the Lord and keep his way a waiter on God hath his Ears nailed to the Posts of Divine Direction so that neither to the right nor left hand dare he move but as he hath a warrand from God So Heb. 11.35 There were folks that were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection mark it they were not tortured because deliverance was not granted but because deliverance could not be accepted on sinful Terms when offered The greatness of their trouble did not diminish their tenderness whatever it did augment it if at any time they found tenderness necessary they found it especially when their trouble was great 2. Ye shall mark that as true waiting requires tenderness so tenderness is attainable that is through Grace it is attainable That a Saint waiting on God in his way in a tender frame may attain to go through difficulties without sinning against God It is true temptations to sin will go thick and threefold when a Saint is put to wait for God in continued troubles and meets with temptations delays difficulties and pressures which as I said