3 For these references see BearrVs Theatre of Judgment. * Ps. 1. 21. It were very strange that I should please a world of men, when God him- self doth not give every man content. — Salv[iaii\.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 385
not strewed, Mat. xxv. 24, &c. Oh ! the infinite reproach and scorn that is every day, that is every hour in the day, cast upon the Lord, his name, his truth, his ways, his ordinances, his glory ! Alas ! all the scorn and contempt that is cast upon all the saints all the world over, is nothing to that which is cast upon the great God every hour ; and yet he is patient. Ah ! how hardly do most men think of God, and how hardly do they speak of God, and how unhandsomely do they carry it towards God; and yet he bears. They that will not spare God himself, his name, his truth, his honour; shall we think it much that they spare not us or our names ? &c. Surely no. Why should we look that those should give us good words that cannot afford God a good word from one week's end to another? yea, from one year's end to another? Why should we look that they should cry out ' Hosanna, hosanna!' to us, whenas every day they cry out of Christ, ' Crucify him, crucify him !' Mat. x. 25, ' It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord ; if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub ' (or a master-fly, or a dunghill god, or the chief devil), ' how much more shall they call them of his household!' It is preferment enough for the servant to be as his Lord ; and if they make no bones of staining and blaspheming the name of the Lord, never wonder if they fly-blow thy name. And let this suffice to quiet and silence your hearts, Christians, under all that scorn and contempt that is cast upon your names and reputations in this world.
The tenth and last objection is this,
Obj. 10. Sir, In this my affliction I have sought to the Lord for this and that mercy, and still God delays me, and puts me off ; I have several times thought that mercy had been near, that deliverance had been at the door, but now I see it is afar off; how can I then hold my peace ? How can I be silent under such delays and disappointments ? To this objection, I shall give you these answers.
(1.) First, The Lord doth not always time his answers to the swift- ness of his people's expectations.1 He that is the God of our mercies, is the Lord of our times. God hath delayed long his dearest saints, times belonging to him, as well as issue : Hab. i. 2, ' O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear ! even cry out unto thee for violence, and thou wilt not help !' Job xix. 7, ' Behold, I cry out of violence, but I have no answer ; I cry, but there is no judgment.' Ps. lxix. 3, 'I am weary of crying, my throat is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.' Ps. xl. 1 7, ' Make no tarrying, O my God.' Though God had promised him a crown, a kingdom, yet he puts him off from day to day, and for all his haste he must stay for it till the set time is come. Paul was delayed so long, till he even despaired of life, and had the sentence of death in himself, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. And Joseph was delayed so long, till the irons entered into his soul, Ps. cv. 17-19. So he delayed long the giving in of comfort to Mr Glover, though he had sought him fre- quently, earnestly, and denied himself to the death for Christ.2 Augus- tine being under convictions, a shower of tears came from him, and casting himself on the ground under a fig tree, he cries out, ' O Lord,
1 Ps. lxx. 5 ; xciv. 3. 4 ; xiii. 1, 2 ; Zech. i. 12.
2 Clarke's ' Martyrologie,' as before, pp, 463, 464. — G. VOL. I. B b
386 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 9.
how long ?' How long shall I say, To-morrow, to-morrow ? why not to- day, Lord, why not to-day ? Though Abigail made haste to prevent David's fury, and Rahab made haste to hang out her scarlet thread; yet God doth not always make haste to hear and save his dearest chil- dren. And therefore hold thy peace. He deals no worse with thee than he hath done by his dearest jewels.
(2.) Secondly, Though the Lord doth defer and delay you for a time, yet In will come, and mercy and deliverance shall certainly come} He will not always forget the cry of the poor : Heb. x. 37, ' For yet a little, little while, and be that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' Hah. ii. 3, ' The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it.' God will come, and mercy will come ; though for the present thy sun he Set, and thy God seems to neglect thee, yet thy sun will rise again, and thy God will answer all thy prayers, and supply all thy necessities : Ps. lxxi. 20, 21, 'Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side.' Three martyrs being brought to the stake, aud all bound, one of them slips from under his chain, to admiration, and falls down upon the ground, and wrestled earnestly with God for the sense of his love, and God gave it in to him then, and so he came and embraced the stake, and died cheerfully a glorious martyr. God tit 'lays him till he was at the stake, and till he was bound, and then sweetly lets out himself to him.
(3.) Thirdly, Though God do delay thee, yet he doth not forget thee. He remembers thee still ; thou art still in his eye, Isa. xlix. 14?— 16, and always upon his heart, Jer. xxxi. 20. He can as soon forget himself, as forget his people, Ps. lxxvii. 9, 10. The bride shall sooner forget her ornaments, and the mother shall sooner forget her sucking child, Isa. liv. 7-10, and the wife shall sooner forget her husband, Isa. lxii. 3-5, than the Lord shall forget his people. Though Sabinus in Seneca could never in all his life-time remember those three names of Homer, Ulysses, and Achilles, yet God always knows and remembers his people by name, Gen. viii. 1 ; xix. 29-31 ; 1 Sam. i. 9 ; Jonah iv. 9-11, &c. Therefore be silent, hold thy peace; thy God hath not forgotten thee, though for the present he hath delayed thee.
(4.) Fourthly, God's time is always the bed time : God always takes the best a nd fdtest seasons to do us good. Isa. xlix. 8, ' Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salva- tion have I helped thee.' I could have heard thee before, and have helped thee before, but I have taken the most acceptable time to do both. To set God his time is to limit him, Ps. lxxviii. 41 ; it is to ourselves above him, as if we were wiser than God. Though we are not wise enough to improve the times and seasons which God hath set us, to Berve and honour him in, yet we are apt to think that we are wise enough to sel God his time, when to hear, and w hen to save, and when liver. To circumscribe God to our time, and to make ourselves lords of time ; what is this but to divest God of his royalty and sove-