this is ? Ans. First, Dost thou know what it is to presume 1 He presumes that takes a thing before it is granted. He wofe a prcsuiiiptuous man indeed that shouUl take your meat oft' your table wlio never was invited; but 1 hope your guest is not over bold who ventures to eat of what you set before him. For one to break into yoiu- house, upon whom you shut the door, were presumptuous; but to come out of a storm into your house, when you are so kind as to call him in, is no presumption, but good manners. And if God opens not the door of his promise to be a sanctuary unto poor, humbled sinners, flying from the rage of their lust, truly then I know none on this side heaven that can expect welcome. God hath promised to be a King, a Lawgiver to his people. Now, it is no presumption in subjects to come under their prince's shadow, and expect protection from him. God promiseth, Isa. xxxiii. 21, 22, that he will be 'a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby; for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.' God speaks to his people as a prince would to his subjects. He will secure them in their traffic and mer- chandise. Now, soul, thou art molested with many lusts that infest thee, and obstruct thy conunerce with heaven ; yea, thou hast complained to thy God, what loss thou hast suli'ered by them ; is it now presumption to expect relief from him, that he will rescue thee from them, that thou mayest serve liiin without fear who is thy liege Lord? Secondly, You have the saints for your precedents; who, when they have been in combat with their corruptions, yea, been foiled by them, have even then exercised their faith on God, and expected the ruin of those enemies, which for the present have overrun them : Psa. Jxv. 3, ' Liiquities prevail against me:' he means his own sins ; but see his faith: at the same time that they prevailed over him, he beholds God destroying them ; as appears in the very next words, * As for our transgressions, thou slialt purge them away.' See here, poor Christian, wlio thinkest that thou shalt never get above deck, holy David has a faith, not only for himself, but also all believers, of whose number I suppose thee one. x\nd nuu'k the ground he hath for this his confidence, taken from God's choosing act: ' Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts,' ver. 4. As if he had said, Surely he will not let them be under the power of sin, or in want of his gracious succour, whom he sets so near hhnself. This is Christ's own argument against Satan in the behalf of his people : ' The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan ; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee,' Zech. iii. 2. Thirdly, Thou hast encouragement for this expecting act of faith, from what God already hath enabled thee to do. Thou canst (if a believer indeed) through mercy say, that sin is not in that strength within thy soul, as it was before thy acquaintance with Christ, his word and ways. Though thou art not what thou wouldst be, yet thou art not what thou hast been. There was a time when sin reigned in thy heart without control : thou didst go to sin as a ship to sea, before wind and tide; thou didst spread thy aft'ections to receive the gale of temptation ; but now the tide is turned, and runs against those motions, though weakly ; yet thou findest a secret wrestling with' them, and God seasonably succouring thee, so that Satan hath not all his will on thee. Well, here is a sweet beginning, and, let me tell thee, tliis promiseth thee a readiness in God to perfect the victory ; yea, God would have thy faith improve this into a confidence for a total deliverance. Moses, when he slew the Egyptian, ' supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them,' Acts vii. 25. O, it is a bad improvement of the succours which (Jod gives us, to argue from them in favour of unbelief: ' He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out; but can he give bread also?' He broke my heart, saith the poor creature, when it was a rock, and brought me home when I was walking in the pride of my heart against him; but can he give bread to nourish my weak grace? I am out of Egypt ; but can he nuister those giants in iron chariots, that stand between me and Canaan ? He helped me in such a temptation, l)ut what shall I (lo in the next ? Oh ! do not grieve a good God with these heart-aching (piestions. You have the former rain, why should you (juestion the lattt-r ? Benjamin was a good pledge to nuike old Jacolj willing to go himself to Egypt. The grace whicli God hath already enriclicd thee with, is a sure pledge that more is coming to it.
488 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF I'AITH.