But if you say you have long waited upon God for spiritual mer- cies to your souls according to the promise, and still those mercies are deferred, and your eyes fail whilst you look for them ; I would desire you seriously to consider of what kind those spiritual mercies are, for which you have so long waited upon God. Spiritual mercies are of two sorts : such as belong to the essence, the very being of the new creature, without Avhich it must fail; or its well-being; and the comfort of the inner man ; without which you cannot live so cheerfully as you would : the mercies of the former kind are absolutely necessary, and therefore put into absolute pro- mises, as you see, Jer. xxxii. 40. " And I will make an everlasting " covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to " do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that they " shall not depart from me.'' But for the rest they arc dispensed to us in such measures, and at such seasons as the Lord sees fit
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and many of his own people live for a long time without them, the donation and continuation of the Spirit to quicken, sanctify, and unite us with Christ, is necessary ; but his joys and comforts not so. A child of light may walk m darkness^ Isa, 1. 10. He lives by faith, and not by feeling.
You complain, providence delays to perform to you the mercies you have prayed and waited for ; but have you right ends in your desires after these mercies r It may be that this is the case, you ask and receive not, James iv. 3. The want of a good aim is the reason why we want good success in our prayers. It may be we pray for prosperity, and our end is to please the flesh ; we look no higher than the pleasure and accommodation of the flesh; we beg and wait for dehverance from such a trouble and affliction, not that we might be the more expedite, and prepared for obedience, but freed of what is grievous to us, and destroys our pleasure in the world.
Certainly if it be so, you have more need to judge and condemn yourselves than to censure and suspect the care of God.
Fourth Consideration.
You wait for good, and it comes not ; but is your will brought to a due submission to the will of God about it ? Certainly God will have you come to this before you enjoy your desires. Enjoyment of your desires is the thing that will please you, but resignation of your -wills is that which is pleasing to God : if 3^our hearts cannot come to this, mercies cannot come to you. David was made to wait long for the mercies promised him, yea, and to be content ^nthout it, before he enjoyed it, Psal. cxxxi. 2. He was brought to be a.s a 'iveaned child^ and so must you.
Fifth Considei'ation.
Your betters have waited long upon God for mercy, and why should not you? David waited till his eyes failed, Psal. Ixix. 3. The church*" waited for him in the way of his judgments," Isa. xxvi. 8. Are you better than all the saints that are gone before you ? is God more obliged to you than to all his people ? They have quietly waited, and why should not you ?
Will you lose any thing by patient waiting upon God for mer- cies ? Certainly, not at all ; yea, it will turn to a double advantage to you to continue in a quiet submissive waiting posture upon God.
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For, (1.) Though you do not yet enjoy the good you wait for, yet all this while you are exercising your grace ; and it is more excel- lent to act grace than to enjoy comfort. All this while the Lord is training you up in the exercise of faith and patience, and bend- ing your wills in submission to himself; and what do you lose by that? Yea, and (2.) Whenever the desired mercy comes, it will be so much the sweeter to you : for look how much faith and prayer have been employed to produce it, how many wrestlings you have had with God for it, so many more degrees of sweetness you will find in it when it comes. O therefore faint not, how long soever God delay you.
Seventh Consideration.
Are not those mercies you expect from God worth the waiting for ? If not, it is your folly to be troubled for the Avant of them ; if they be, why do not you continue waiting ? is it not all that God expects from you, for the mercies he bestows upon you, that you wait upon him for them ? you know you have not deserved the least of them at his hands. You expect them not as a recompence^ biit ix free favour^ and if so, then certainly the least you can do is, to wait upon his pleasure for them.
Eighth Consideration,
Consider how many promises are made in the word to waiting souls. One scripture calls them " blessed that wait for him,'' Isa. XXX. 18. Another tells us, " none that wait for him shall be " ashamed," Psal. xxv. 3. (i. e.) they shall not be finally disap- pointed, but at last be partakers of their hopes. A third scripture tells us, " they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength," Isa. xl. 31. a promise you had need make much use of in such a fainting time, with many more of like nature ; and shall we faint at this rate in the midst of s6 many cordials as are prepared to revive ijs in these promises ?
How long hath God waited upon you, when will you comply with his commands, come up to your engagements and promises ? You have made God wait long for your reformation and obedience ; and tlierefore have no reason to think it much, if God make you wait long for your consolation. We have our how-longs^ and hath not God his.? We cry, Psal. vi. 3. " But thou, O Lord, how long? " Psal. xiii. 1, 2. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for "ever.? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me.? How long '^ shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily ? «' How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me ?'' But surely
4T8 BIVIX'E CONDUCT ; Oli,
T<e should not think these things long, when we consider, how long the Lord hath exercised his patience about us. We have made him say, How long, how long ? Our unbelief hath made him cry, '^ How long will it be ere they believe me ?'' Numb. xiv. 11. Our corrupt hearts have made him cry, " How long shall " vain thoughts lodge within thee ?"" Jer. iv. 14. Our impure natures and ways have made him cry, " How long will it be ere '' they attain to innocency ?'" Hos. viii. 5. If God wait upon you with so much patience for your duties, well may you wait upon him for his mercies.
This impatience and infidelity of yours, expressed in your weariness to wait any longer, as it is a great evil in itself, so very probably it is that evil which obstructs the way of your expected mercies, you might have your mercies sooner, if your spirits were quieter and more submissive. And thus of the second case.
How may a Christian discern when a promdeiice is sanctified, and comes from the love of God to him ?
There are two sorts, or kinds of providences versant about men in this world, the issues and events of which are vastly different, yea, contrary to each other.