[2.] Secondly, If God be most precious to thee, then all the dis- honours that are done to Ood, his truth, his uorshi'p, his ways, his ordin/inces, his institutions, his government, his people, are most grievous and burdensome to thee. * The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me,' Ps. Ixix. 9 ; * I beheld the trans- gressors, and was grieved, because they kept not thy word,' Ps. cxix. 158. The word that is here translated grieved is from katat, that signifies to loathe, abhor, and contend : I beheld the transgressors, and I loathed them ; I beheld the transgressors, and I abhorred them ; I beheld the transgressors, and I contended with them ; but not so much because they were mine enemies, as because they were thine. It is just between God and all those that have a precious esteem of him, as it is between two lute-strings that are tuned one to another ; no sooner one is struck but the other trembles. A saint cannot see God struck but his heart will tremble, Jer. ix. 1-4. A father, lying upon his death-bed,' called three children to him which he kept, and told them that one only of them was his natural son, and that the other two were only brought up by him ; therefore unto him only he gave all his goods ; but which of those three was his own son he would not in any wise declare. When he was dead, every one pleaded his birth- right, and the matter being brought to trial, the judge, for the making, if possible, a true discovery, took this course. He caused the dead corpse of the father to be set up against a tree, and commanded the three sons to take bows and arrows to shoot at their father, to see who could come nearest to his heart. The first and second did shoot and hit him, but the third was very much angry and displeased with them both, and through the natural affection of a child to a father, threw away his bow and arrows, and would not shoot at all. This being done, the judge gave this sentence, viz., that the two first that shot at their supposed father's heart were no sons, but that the third son, that would not shoot at all, and that was very much displeased with those that did shoot, was the true son, and that he should have the goods. O sirs ! every bitter word is an arrow shot at the heart of God, and every bloody oath is an arrow shot at the heart of God, and every heavy curse is an arrow shot at the heart of God, and every superstitious cus- tom is an arrow shot at the heart of God, and every snare that is laid for the righteous is an an-ow shot at the heart of God, and every yoke that is laid upon the people of God is an arrow shot at the heart of God, and every affront that by debauched persons is given to God is an arrow shot at the heart of God, &c. And what true bred sons, what ingenuous sons, can see such arrows every hour in the day shot at the heart of God, and hear of such arrows that are shot a thousand thousand times in a day at the heart of God, and not grieve and mourn, and not be afflicted, troubled, displeased, and astonished to see men and to hear of men that were once made in the image of God to be turned into such incarnate devils, as thus to deal with God, yea, with such a Grod as can speak them into hell at his pleasure. But,
' Mr Perkins's ' Government of the Tongue.'
Lam. III. 24.] AN AUK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. 99
[3.] Thirdly, If God be most precious to you, then you will 'part with anything for God, then you will let go anything, that you may hold your God, and enjoy your God, Philip, iii. 7, 8, Mat. xiii. 46 ; then your Isaac shall be made a sacrifice, if God will have it so. Gen. xxii., and your Benjamin shall be sent into Egypt, if God will have it so, Gen. xliii. ; then your Jonah shall be cast overboard, if God will have it so, Jonah i. ; then out goes the right eye, and off goes the right hand, upon a divine command ; then you will never cry out. Oh ! this mercy is too near to me to part with for God, and that comfort is too dear to me to part with for God, &c. Oh no ; but then you will say, as the king of Sodom said to Abraham, ' Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself,' Gen. xiv. 21. So you will say, ' Give us God, oh give us God, and let who will take the goods, let who will take the honours, and the profits, and the pleasures of this world ; it is enough that Joseph is alive ; it is enough if we may but enjoy our God. A prince will part with anything rather than he will part with his crown-jewels ; and so will a Christian rather part with anything, than, upon choice, to part with his God, whom he values above all the crown-jewels in the world. But,
[4.] Fourthly, If God be most precious to thee, then thou canst never have enough of God; thou canst never have enough of communion with God ; thou canst never have enough of the presence of God ; thou canst never have enough of the Spirit of God ; thou canst never have enough of the discoveries of God ; thou canst never have enough of the assist- ance of God ; thou canst never have enough of the secret influences and incomes of God ; thou canst never have enough of the comforts and strong consolations of God, &c.^ The grave, the barren womb, the mam- monist, the pope, the Turk, the devil, and hell, will be as soon satisfied as thou canst be satisfied without clearer, further, and fuller enjoyments of God. ' No man,' saith God to Moses, * can see my face, and live,' Exod. xxxiii. 20 ; upon which words Austin makes this short but sweet reply, ' Then, Lord, let me die, that I may see thy face.' It is impossible that ever a man's heart should rest satisfied till he comes to a full and perfect enjoyment of that which he hath set up as his grand interest, as his great all. But,
[5.] Fifthly and lastly. If God be most precious to thee, then thou wilt give up thyself wholly to God without any reservation. Whatever a man sets up as his great interest, to that he devotes himself, to the service of that he wholly gives up himself ; so when a man eyes God as his most precious interest, and sets up God as his most precious interest, he cannot but devote himself wholly to God, he cannot but give up him- self whoUy to God -? Ps. cxix. 94, ' I am thine, save me.' I am not my own, nor sin's, nor Satan's, nor the world's, nor friends', nor relations', , but * I am thine,' I am really thine, 1 am wholly thine, I am only thine, I am always thine, I am thine to be sanctified, and I am thine to be saved ; I am thine to be commanded, and I am thine to be ruled. Lord, I am thine own, and therefore do with thine own as thou pleasest, and dispose of thine own as thou pleasest. I am at thy foot, willing in some measure to be anything or nothing, as shall seem best in thine own eyes. When the keys of the whole house, and of every room in
• Ps^xxvii. 4 ; Ixxxiv. 1-12 ; xlii. 1, 2 ; Ixiii. 1-8 ; Caut. viii. 14 ; Eev. xxii. 20. 2 Cant. ii. 16 ; Acts vii. 2-4 ; xiii. 22 ; Luke v. 6, 7.
100 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24<.