26 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LV.
would give them rest in another world, they might well endure the inconveniences of their pilgrimage: Heb. xi. 16, ' But now they de- sire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their Grod, for he hath prepared for them a city.' The holy patriarchs left their country, flitted up and down upon this hope; but to us Christians the case is clear: Rom. viii. 18, 'For I reckon that the sufferings of this })resent life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us ;' 2 Cor. iv. 17, ' For this light affliction, that is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'
2. When the qualification of the person is not clear, we must not absolutely promise ourselves the effect : Jonah iii. 9, ' Who can tell whether God will turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not ? ' So Joel ii. 14, ' Who knoweth if he will return, and leave a blessing behind him ? ' In this clause I put believers who have sinned away their peace and assurance : 2 Sam, xii. 22, ' Who can tell if God will be gracious unto me, that the child may live ?' He speaketh doubt- fully ; Zeph. ii. 3, ' It may be that ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's fierce anger ;' Amos v. 15, ' Hate the evil and love the good; it may be the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.' In such cases the soul is divided between the expectation of mercy and the sense of their own deservings, and can speak neither the pure language of faith nor the pure language of unbelief — half Canaan, half Ashdod. There is a twilight in grace as well as in nature. God in these eases raiseth no other confidence, to heighten mercy, and try how we can venture upon God, and refer ourselves to his will, when we have any business for him to do for us : Mat. viii. 2, ' Lord, if thoti wilt thou canst make me clean ;' 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26, ' And the king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city ; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation : but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee ; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good to him.'
3. In the promises of spiritual and eternal mercies, when God's con- ditions are performed by us, we may be confident, and must give glory to God in believing and being persuaded that he will fulfil them to us : 2 Tim. i. 12, ' I know whom I have believed, and I am per- suaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day ; ' Rom. viii. 38, 39, ' For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' I am persuaded ; there is no doubt : the stronger our confidence, the better.
4. When God raiseth in our minds some particular express hope (as in some cases he may do) to these things that are of a temporal nature, and are conditionally promised, and where our qualification is clear, he will not disappoint us, 2 Cor. i, 12. Though the promises of temporal things have the limitation of the cross im})lied in them, and are to be understood in subordination to our eternal interest and God's glory, without whicli they would not be mercies l)ut judgments, yet
VeR. 49.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 27
his usual course is to save, deliver, and supply them here: Ps. ix. 10, ' And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee ; for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.' And when God by his Spirit doth jiarticularly incline his peo]ile to hope for mercy from him, he will not fail their expectations. Where the qualification is un- certain, yet the faith of general mercy wrestleth against discourage- ments ; as in the case of the woman of Canaan : there is the plea of a dog, and the plea of a child, in grievous temptations to fasten our- selves upon God. God will make good the hope raised in them by his Spirit.
Use. For direction, what to do in all our distresses, bodily and t^piritual. Our necessities should lead us to the promise, and the pro- mise to God.
] . Be sure of your qualification ; for David pleadeth here partly as the servant of God, and partly as a believer : first, ' Remember thy word imto thy servant ;' and then, ' wherein thou hast caused me to hope.' There is a double qualification — with respect to the precept of subjec- tion, with respect to the promise of dependence : the |)recept is before the promise. They have right to the promises, and may justly lay hold upon them, who are God's servants ; they who ap[)]y themselves to obey his precepts, these only can regularly apply his promises. None can lay claim to rewarding grace but those that are partakers of his sanctifying grace. Clear that once, that you are God's servants, and then these promises, which are generally offered, are your own, no less than if your name were inserted in the promise, and written in the Bible. Let us remember our promises made to God, and then desire him to remember his promises to us. The next part of the qualifica- tion is, if you be believers, and can wait and depend upon God, though he seemeth to delay, and forget his promise : ' Our eyes must wait upon the Lord, until he have mercy upon us,' Ps. cxxiii. 2. Tlie benefit of some promises droppeth, like the first ripe fruit, into the moutli of the eater ; but others must be tarried for. It is said, Acts vii. 17, ' When the time of the promise drew night, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt.' The promise is recorded. Gen. XV. 5, of ' multiplying his seed like the stars of heaven.' Abraham was seventy-five years old when the promise was made, a hundred years old when Isaac was born ; when Jacob went into Egypt they were but seventy souls, but at their coming forth they were G03,550. Now, if faith wait, Isa. xxviii. 16, ' He that belie vetli maketh not liaste ; ' Lam. iii. 26, ' It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of God ; ' Hosea xii. 6, ' Keep mercy and judgment, and wait on the Lord continually.' God delayeth because lie would have us make use of faith. Pteal believers are such as have ventured upon God's word, denied themselves for the hopes offered therein : 1 Tim. iv. 10, 'Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God ; ' Heb. vi. 10, ' God is not un- righteous, to forget your work and labour of love, whicli ye have showed towards his name.' God's servants must wait for his promises with patience and self-denial : Rom. ii. 7, ' To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life ; ' Lukeviii, 15, ' Those iu the good ground are they whicli