Secondly, I shall speak of them distinctly ; and so —
1. Show why W'C should not be afraid to own the testimonies and ways of God before any sort of people in the world.
[1.] Because holy boldness in confession is an especial gift of God. David asketh it here, ' Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth;' and promiseth that if God would give him this gift, the splendour of worldly greatness should not dazzle his eyes, and he would behave himself as one armed against all terrors of men, or gotten above the hopes and fears of the present world. And indeed it argueth some good degree of profiling in the word of God when it is so with us. Fearlessness of men in God's cause is an excellent grace, which God hath promised to his choice servants. To Christ : Isa. 1. 7, ' For the Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded ; there- lore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed ; I shall not be confounded, for God is at my right hand.' To Jeremiah, Avhom God set up ' as a brazen wall ' against all opposi- tions : Jer. i. 18 ; and to Ezekiel, chap. iii. 8, ' Behokl, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.' So to the disciples : Mat. x. 19, 20, ' They shall bring you before rulers and governors ; but take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak.' None have the gift of boldness but those to whom God gives it. If left to ourselves, we shall falter, as Peter did at the damsel's question ; but God will assist the resolved heart by his Spirit, and assist him in that very hour when the trial cometh ; and then we need not be afraid before whomsoever we come, we need not be anxious. The servants of God beg this gift : Acts iv. 29, ' Grant unto thy ser- • vants that with all boldness we may speak thy word ;' wdien the world rageth against them.
[2.] Tiiough it be an especial gift of God, yet the duty is contained in our first dedication aod resignation of ourselves to Christ ; when we professed ourselves to be dead to every worldly interest, and promised to own him and his ways, whatever it cost us : Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple ;' ver. 33, ' So likewise, whosoever he be of you that for- saketli not all he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' Therefore this should not be retracted, but verified in our whole course, for that showeth this dedication was sound: Heb. iii. G, 'Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto
492 SEKMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LII.
the end ; ver. 14, ' For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end/ And therefore we should be * ready to render a reason of the hope which is in us, to every one that asketh us, with meekness and fear,' 1 Peter iii, 15. Ao'^ov iXirlSo^ is an account of our religion, €tol/jUoi,, ready to confess Christ in persecutions and dangers : it is the same with eTOL/u.a)^ e;^a) — Acts xxi. 13, 'I am ready not only to be bound, but to die at Jeru- salem, for the name of the Lord Jesus ; ' the same with eTOLfiaata t?}? elpr}vrj<i rod evafyyeXtov, ' the preparation of the gospel of peace,' Eph. vi. 15 ; a prepared resolved heart to encounter all difficulties for the gospel's sake, so satisfied with the truth and hopes thereof.
[3.] This duty is confirmed in us by many Christian graces, as faith, love to God, fear of God, a deep sense of the world to come. We are afraid to own God and his ways, because we have not such a high opinion of God as we should have, but too great a love to ourselves ; therefore faith, fear, and love is necessary to confirm and strengthen this resolution in us, and also the lively hope of blessedness to come.
(1.) Faith informeth us of the truth, goodness, power, and excel- lency of God, the worth of his favour, and the terror of his wrath, that the displeasure of God is much worse than the frowns of men. When we think of a higher Lord, why should we be afraid of a man that shall die, and the son of man that is as grass ? If a great man stand by, we are not afraid of an underling. If the King of kings be with us, whom should we fear ? Heb. xi. 27, ' By faith Moses feared not the wrath of the king,' meaning Pharaoh. Why ? For ' he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.' A heathen could say, Regum timen- dorum in j^^'oprios greges, reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis. A believer should much more oppose God's heavenly majesty to their earthly dignity. Their power is great, and to be reverenced next to God ; but God is greater. We serve a king whose power is everlast- ing, and whose kingdom is to all generations.