have a saying, that since the destruction of Jerusalem, the door of prayers hath been shut ; but the door of tears was never shut, saith one. God hath by promise engaged himself that those that ' sow in tears shall reap in joy,' Ps. cxxvi. 5. The tears of the saints have such a kind of omnipotency in them, that God himself cannot withstand them : 2 Kings XX. 5, ' I have seen thy tears, behold, I will heal thee ; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.'*
Thirdly, If you would recover assurance, then sit not down dis- couraged, hut he up and doing. Remember what a pearl of price thou hast lost, and ' repent and do thy first works,' Rev. ii. 4, 5. Fall close to the good old work of believing, meditating, examining, praying, hearing, mourning, &c.* Begin the world again, and set afresh upon those very ways by which at first thou didst get assurance ; fall upon family duties, apply thyself to public ordinances, be much in closet ser- vices ; stir up every gift that is in thee, stir up every grace that is in thee, stir up all the life that is in thee, and never leave blowing till thou hast bio wed thy little spark into a flame ; never leave turning thy penny, till thou hast turned thy penny into a pound; never leave improving thy mite, till thy mite be turned into a million. God will be found in the use of means, and he will restore our lost mercies in the use of means, Ps. xxii. 26. But this is not all.
Therefore, in the fourth place, wait patiently upon the Lord. David did so, and at length the Lord brought him out of a horrible pit, or out of a pit of noise and confusion, and set his feet upon a rock, and estab- lished his goings, and put a new song of praise into his mouth, Ps. xl. 1-3. God never hath, nor never will fail the waiting soul. Though God loves to try the patience of his children, yet he doth not love to tire out the patience of his children ; therefore he will not contend for ever, neither will he be always wroth, lest the spirits of his people should fail, Isa. Ivii. 16-19. Assurance is a jewel worth waiting for. It is a pearl that God gives to none but such as have waited long at mercy's door. It is a crown that every one must win by patient waiting before he can wear. God doth not think the greatest mercies too good for waiting souls, though he knows the least mercy is too good for impatient souls. .The breasts of the promises lie fair and open to waiting souls, Isa. xxx. 18, and Ixiv. 4, and xlix. 23. The waiting soul shall have anything of God, but the froward and impatient soul gets nothing of God but frowns, and blows, and wounds, and broken bones. Sad souls should do well to make that text their bosom companion, John xiv. 18, ' I will not leave you comfortless,' or orphans, ogpawu^, ' J will come to you.' And that Heb. x. 36, 37, * For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while' (as it is in the Greek), ' and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.'
Fifthly and lastly, If you would recover assurance, then take heed of refusing comforts when God hrings them to your door ; take heed of
1 Ps. xxxix. 12 ; Job xvi. 20 ; Mark ix. 24, 25, &c.
* A man that hath been recovered formerly out of such or such a disease, if be be relapsed, he will to the same means again, he will apply the same remedies again ; this did once do me good, I will try it again.
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throwing gospel cordials agavnst the wall. This was Asaph's sin : 'My soul refused to be comforted.'^ God comes and offers love to the soul, and the soul refuses it ; God comes and spreads the promises of con- solation before the soul, and the soul refuses to look upon them ; God comes and makes tenders of the riches of grace, and the soul refuses to accept of them. Sometimes the hand, the man that brings the cordial, is not liked, and therefore men refuse it. Well ! remember this : when gold is offered, men care not how great or how base he is that offers it. Neither should we care by whom the cordials and consolations of the gospel are offered to us, whether they are offered by the hand of Isaiah, a prophet of the blood-royal, as some think, or by Amos, from amongst the herdsmen of Tekoa. If the sweetmeats of heaven are set before thee, it is thy wisdom and thy duty to taste of them, and to feed upon them, without stumbling at the hand that presents them.
Now for a close I shall make a few short uses of what hath been said, and so conclude,
[1.] The first use. You that have as,surance, be thankful for it. It is a jewel more worth than heaven and earth ; therefore be thankful. Assurance is a mercy nobly-descended ; it is from above. Man is not bom with it in his heart, as he is with a tongue in his mouth, James i. 17. Assurance is a peculiar mercy ; it is a flower of paradise that God sticks only in his children's bosoms. Assurance is a mercy-sweetening mercy ; it is a mercy that puts the garland upon all our mercies. Assurance makes every bitter sweet, and every sweet more sweet. He enjoys little that wants it, he wants nothing that enjoys it ; therefore be you thankful that have and do find the sweetness of it.
If Philip rejoiced that Alexander was born in the days of Aristotle, how much more cause have you to rejoice, upon whose heads the Lord hath put the crown of assurance, a crown of more worth and weight than all princes' crowns in the world.*
[2.] The second use. If God hath given you assurance, then do not envy the outward felicity and happiness of the men of the world, Ps. xxxvii. 17, 18 ; Prov. xxiii. 17. Alas !^ what are mountains of dust to mountains of gold ? what are the stones of the street to rocks of pearl ? what are crowns of thorns to crowns of gold, &c. ? No more are all the treasures, honours, pleasures, and favours of this world to assurance. The envious man hath so many tortures as the envied hath praisers.* It is the justice of envy to kill and torment the envious. The men of the world are real objects of pity, but not of envy. Who envies the prisoner at the bar ? Who envies the malefactor that is going to execu- tion ? Who envies the dead man that is going to his grave ? God hath
' Ambrose saith, If I would offer thee gold to-day, thou wouldst not say, I will come to-morrow. And wilt thou lightly and slightly put God off when ho offers peace and comfort to thy soul ?
* Plato was very thankful that God made him a man, and not a woman ; a Grecian and not a barbarian ; a scholar to Socrates, and not to any other philosopher. Oh what cause then have you to be thankful for assurance "?
3 See Glossary under ' Alas.* — G.
* Socrates wished that envious men had more eyes and more ears than others, that they might be more tormented than others, by beholding others' happiness.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on eauth. 533
done more for thee by giving thee assurance than if he had given thee aU the world, yea, ten thousand worlds.