[2.] Life spiritual : the soul hath no life but in communion with God, who is the fountain of this new life. Now the more sensible and close this is, the more they live ; the vitality of this life lietli in the sensible participation of the effects of his special grace and mercy ; then we have it more abundantly, John x. 10 ; not only living, but lively.
VeE. 77.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 315
[3.] For eternal life, a comfortable sense of God's mercy is the be- ginning and pledge of the true and heavenly life, Kom. v. 4-6. The shedding abroad the love of God in the heart of a believer maketh this his hope sure and certain, he needeth not be ashamed, for he hath earnest beforehand.
(1.) God's favour furnisheth us with a remedy against all evils and miseries ; i.e., wants, troubles, sins. The want of other things may be supplied by the love of God, but the want of the love of God cannot be supplied with anything else; if poor in the world, yet we may be rich in faith, James ii. 5 ; if afflicted, destitute, yet this loss may be made up by the presence of God in the soul 2 Cor. iv. 16. As our outward man decayeth, our inward man is renewed day by day. If they want the creature they have God ; there is no want of a candle when they have the sun ; if they want health, the soul may be in good plight, 3 John 2, as Gains had a healthy soul in a sickly body. If they want liberty, they lie open to the visits of liis grace ; the Spirit of God is no stranger to them, nor can his company and comforts be shut out. Tertullian telleth the martyrs, You went out of the prison when you went into it, and were but sequestered from the world, that you might converse with God : the greatest prisoners are those that are at large, darkened with ignorance, chained with lusts, committed not by the proconsul, but God. If they want the favour of men, they have the favour of God : God smileth when the world f rowneth : they may be banished, but every place is alike near to God and heaven. Some climates are nearer and some further off from the sun, but all alike near to the sun of righteousness. TTbi pater ihi patria, that is our country where God is. We are harassed, beaten, afflicted in sundry manners, but the sting is gone ; the rod that is dipped in guilt smarteth most, but a pardoned man may rejoice in tribulations, Eom. V. 1, 2. But now, on the contrary, suppose a man high in honour, wallowing in wealth, spending his time and wealth in ease and pleasure, but after all this God will bring him to judgment. The world is his friend, but God is his enemy and he is all his lifetime sub- ject to bondage, Heb. ii. 14 ; not always felt, but soon awakened ; and during the time of his comfort and delight, he is dancing about the brink of hell, liable to an eternal curse ; and there is but the slender thread of a frail life between him and execution, a few serious sober thoughts undo him.
(2.) Sin ; that is the great evil, both as to the guilt of it and the wages of it, the guilt and obliquity of it. No creature can provide a plaster for this sore ; to get our consciences settled and our natures healed, this is the special fruit of God's mercy in Christ ; his business is to save us from sin. Mat. i. 21 ; Acts iii. 26, ' God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquity ; ' Eom. xi. 26, ' There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob ; ' have God's image repaired, and restored to his grace and favour. Those that have felt sin a burden, nothing will satisfy till the Lord looks graciously upon them.
(3.) The favour of the Lord is the fountain of all blessings. Get an interest in his special mercy, and then aU things are yours. You
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have God for your God, who commandeth all things : 1 Cor. iii. 22, ' Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all things are yours ; ' Mat. vi. 33, ' First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you ; ' Prov. x. 22, ' The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.'
(4.) It sweetens every comfort ; a piece of bread with the love of God is a plentiful feast. ' A little that a righteous man hath is better than the revenue of many wicked.' Quid prodest I'egium alimentum si ad Geliennam pascat f — what profiteth it to be fatted for slaughter ?
2. Keasons from the subject, or disposition of the renewed heart.
[1.] They have once had an apprehension of their true misery by reason of sin and the curse. None prize the favour of God, but they have been burdened with the sense of sin and misery. We speak in vain to most men ; it is only the sick will prize the physician, the condemned be earnest for a pardon.