3. God doth good to every one according to their necessity and capa- city. He doth not give meat to the trees, nor stones to the beasts, but provideth food and nourishment convenient for them ; so to his people, according to their condition of nature and special capacity. The general capacity is the condition of their natures, the special capacity is want or earnest desire. If we extremely need or earnestly desire these blessings, then we may reason from God's general good- ness to all the creatures to that special act of goodness which we expect from him. Pray, mark how God's general goodness is expressed, Ps. cxlv. 15, 16, 'The eyes of all things wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season : thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.' He keepeth a constant eye of provi- dence, and if the desire be great, he doth not frustrate the natural ex- pectation of hungry creatures, but giveth them that sort of food which is fit for them. Now God expecteth the same from new creatures : if necessity and vehement desire meet, he promises supply : ' Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,' Ps. Ixxxi. 10; and Ps. cxlv. 19, ' The Lord will fnlfil the desire of them that fear him, he also will hear their cry, and will save them.' The beasts mourn and cry in their kind ; we pray and cry in our kind : needy desires will be heard. He is in a ca- pacity to receive spiritual blessings who is sensible of their necessity for the happiness of his immortal soul, and doth prize and value them, and earnestly desire them. The man of God was under a necessity, for he apprehended himself miserable, and at a loss without it ; for he desired no other mercy. A gracious heart cannot be satisfied with low things. Be thus affected, and then this argument will be of use to you.
Use 1. For reproof. Since God is so merciful, how much are they to blame —
1. Who render themselves incapable of the benefit of mercy by im- penitence persisted in against the means of grace ! They slight his common mercy, and cut off themselves from his saving mercy. Abused goodness will be destructive : Kom. ii. 4, 5, ' Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not know- ing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.'
2. The stupid and senseless, which do not take notice of the mercy of God which shineth forth in all the creatures ! A man can turn his eye nowhere but in every place and quarter of the world he shall see plain testimonies of God's mercy. But alas ! how much of this is lost
VeR. 64.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 191
and passed over for want of observation ! Isa. i. 3, ' The ox knowetli his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; bat Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.' All this goodness was left in the earth to invite our minds and hearts to God ; therefore, as the bee sucketh honey out of every flower, so should we still dwell on the thoughts of God's goodness, represented to us in everything we see and feel.
3. That think of God's mercy with extenuating and diminishing thoughts, and do not raise their hopes and confidence by a serious re- flection upon that ample discovery which he hath made of it in all his works ! If God be good to all his creatures, why should we be left out of the number ? Surely God will not be backward to those that earnestly desire his grace ; therefore those that deject themselves, that say, God will not hear me, or regard my prayers, are to be condemned.
Use 2. Information, the lively light of the Spirit is a special mercy. Our misery lieth in the ignorance of God and the transgression of his law ; our happiness in being enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. It is God's great gift : Jer. xxiv. 7, ' I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord ; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God ; for they shall return unto me with all their heart.'
Use 3. To exhort you to cherish in your souls good thoughts of God, and the fulness and largeness of his bounty and mercy. The devil seeks to weaken our opinion of God's goodness ; he thought to possess our first parents with this conceit, that God was envious, so as to draw them away from God. It will be of use to you : —
1. In all afilictive providences. Those who are poor and destitute, or in prison and banishment, or bereft of children, or oppressed with guilty fears, or assaulted with any other calamity : Job xiii. 15, ' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ; ' still he is a good God. Here is the glory of faith, to believe him as a gracious father when we feel him as an enemy. Satan will be sure to put in upon these occa- sions— to tell you that God is an enemy, harsh, severe, implacable in his dealings, one that regardeth you not in your misery, that giveth you no rest nor respite in your troubles ; if he did not hate you, how could he deal thus with you ? and so striketh a terror into the minds of men, that they are afraid of nothing so much as of God, and of coming to him by Christ. No ; ' God is love,' a father when he frowneth as well as when he smileth : Heb. xii. 10, ' He verily chastiseth us for our profit; ' and ' we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' And in reason should it not be so ? Did your parents hate you because they were careful of your breeding, and sometimes corrected you for your faults ? There is more of compassion than pas- sion in his severest strokes. He hath the bowels of a mother, but yet the wisdom of a father. His love must not be exercised to the pre- judice of his other attributes. He that pulleth you out of a deep gulf, though he breaketh your arm in pulling you out, doth not he love you ? God is love, and the giver of all good things.