- Betray,' viz the pain suffered. — G. - Pliny, lib. vii. 2. Cf. also Luoan, Pharaalia, lib. ix. 1. 890, et seq. ; and (Elian, Hist. Am m, lib. i. c. 57, and lib. xvi. c. 27, 28. — (i.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 389
Christians see themselves and understand themselves. By delays God discovers much of a man's sinful self to his religious self ; much of his worser part to his better part, of his ignoble part to his most noble part. When the fire is put under the pot, then the scum appears ; so when God delays a poor soul, Oh ! how doth the scum of pride, the scum of murmuring, the scum of quarrelling, the scum of distrust, the scum of impatience, the scum of despair, discover itself in the heart of a poor creature ? Ezek. xxiv. 6. I have read of a fool, who being left in a chamber, and the door locked when he was asleep ; after he awakes, and finds the door fast and all the people gone, he cries out at the win- dow, 0 myself, myself, O myself ! So when God shuts the door upon his people, when he delays them, and puts them off, Ah ! what cause have they to cry out of themselves, to cry out of proud self, and worldly self, and carnal self, and foolish self, and froward self, &c. ? We are very apt, saith Seneca, utimur perspicillis magis quam speculis, to use spectacles to behold other men's faults, rather than looking-glasses to behold our own ; but now God's delays are as a looking-glass, in which God gives his people to see their own faults, Ps. lxxiii. 11, 12. Oh ! that baseness, that vileness, that wretchedness, that sink of filthiness, that gulf of wickedness, that God by delays discovers to be m the hearts of men ! But,
[5.] Fifthly, God delays and puts off his people to enhance, to raise the price of mercy, the price of deliverance. We usually set the highest price, the greatest esteem upon such things that we obtain with greatest difficulty. What we dearly buy, that we highly prize, Acts xxi. 8, Cant. iii. 4. The more sighs, tears, weepings, waitings, watch- ings, strivings, and earnest longings, this mercy and that deliverance, and the other favour costs us, the more highly we shall value them. When a delayed mercy comes, it tastes more like a mercy, it sticks more like a mercy, it warms more like a mercy, works more like a mercy, and it endears the heart to God more like a mercy than any other mercy that a man enjoys.
This is the child, said Hannah, — after God had long delayed her, — for which I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him, 1 Sam. i. 27. Delayed mercy is the cream of mercy ; no mercy so sweet, so dear, so precious to a man, as that which a man hath gained after many put-offs. Mr Glover, the martyr, sought the Lord earnestly and frequently for some special mercies, and the Lord delayed him long ; but when he was even at the stake, then the Lord gave in the mercies to him ; and then, as a man overjoyed, he cries out to his friend, ' He is come, he is come.'1 But,
[6 ] Sixthly, The Lord delays his people, that he may pay them home in his oivn coin. God sometimes loves to retaliate, Prov. i. 23, 33. The spouse puts off Christ : Cant. v. 3, 'I have put off my coat, how can I put it on ?' &c. ; and Christ puts her off, ver. 5-8. Thou hast put off God from day to day, from month to month, yea, from year to year; and therefore, if God put thee off from day to day, or from year to year, hast thou any cause to complain 1 Surely no. Thou hast often and long put off the motions of his Spirit, the directions of his word, the offers of his grace, the entreaties of his Son ; and therefore what can be
390 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 9.
more just than that God should delay thee for a time, aDd put thee off for a season, who hast delayed him. and put off him days without num- ber ? Jf God serves thee as thou hast often served him, thou hast no reason to complain. But,
[7.] Seventhly, and lastly, The Lord delays his people, that heaven may he the more sweet to them at last. Here they meet with many delays and with many put-offs ; but in heaven they shall never meet with "'lie put-off, with one delay ; here many times they call and cry, and can get no answer ; here they knock and bounce,1 and yet the door of grace and mercy opens not to them ; but in heaven they shall have mercy at the first word, at the first knock. There, whatever heart can wish shall without delay be enjoined.2 Here God seems to say some- times, Souls! you have mistaken the door, or I am not at leisure, or others must be served before you, or come some other time, &c. But in heaven God is always at leisure, and all the sweetness and blessedness and happiness of that state presents itself every hour to the soul there. God hath never, God will never, say to any of his saints in heaven, Come to-morrow. Such language the saints sometimes hear here, but such language is noway suitable to a glorified condition ; and therefore, seeing that the Lord never delays his people, but upon great and weighty accounts, let his people be silent before him, let them not mutter nor murmur, but be mute. And so I have done with the objec- tions.
I shalljcome now in the last place to propound some helps and direc- tions that may contribute to the silencing and stilling of your souls under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest trials, and the saddest pro- vidences that you meet with in this world ; and so close up this dis- course.