2. Do not forfeit this assisting grace by presumptuous sins. God withdraws his protection and defence when we provoke him : Isa. lii. 2, ' Your sins have separated between you and your God, and made him hide his face from you ;' and Hosea v. 15, ' Now I will go to my own place,' I will leave them to themselves, ' till they acknowledge their iniquity.' David prays for this after he had fallen foully : Ps, li. 12, ' Lord, uphold me with thy free Spirit.' He had lost his strength in God, his largeness of love ; he wanted the assistances of God's grace ; he had been tampering wdth forbidden fruit : Lord, come again ; 'Lord, uphold me with thy free Spirit.'
3. Do not expose yourselves to temptation, for you are weak and cannot stand without confirming grace, which is not at your beck, not given out according to your pleasure, but he giveth us ' to will and to do,' Kara evhoKiav, ' according to his good pleasure,' Phil. ii. 12. Christians ! when we will try mysteries, and run into the mouth of danger, and be dealing with them that are apt to seduce us into evil, God will no more show the power of his grace than Christ would show a miracle to satisfy Herod's curiosity and wanton fancy. Oh ! there- fore, let us not unnecessarily and unwarrantably throw ourselves upon the enticements of sin. For instance, as if no evil company could
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iufect, or no carnal sports corrupt, or ambitious affectation of high places, ,wlicn God doth not call us up by the voice of his providence; this doth but increase our temptation. When we will be rushing into places of danger, as Peter into the high priest's hall, we go thither without our defence. A man that is sensible what will do his body hurt is very cautious how he meddlcth with it. The like care should we have of our souls.
The second thing in the text is the ground and warrant of his request, ' According to thy word ;' or. by thy word, as some read it. God hath promised support to those that wait upon him : Isa. xl. 29, 31, 'He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be wear}', and they shall walk and not faint.' Before their full and final deliverance come, they shall have present support and strength renewed to them every day. This note should quicken us : —
1. To })ray to God for grace to stand with the more confidence. God hath i^romised to uphold those that cleave to him, and run to him ; therefore say, Lord, thy word bids me to hope ; though I am an unstable creature, I will hope in thy word : Ps. xxxi. 24, ' Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.' Though nothing else be stable, yet this is stable.
2. Bless God and own his grace ; look upon it as a fulfilling of his promise, if you have sustentation, or any strength renewed upon you, though your trials and temptations are yet continued to you : Ps. cxxxviii. 3, ' In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.' It is an answer of prayer, fulfilling of a promise, when we have strength to persevere without fainting; though we be not delivered, to have support before the deliverance come. I thank God, saith St Paul, for the susten- tation I have. Great sustentation I have, though spiritual suavities I taste not many. It is matter of thanksgiving and comfort if we have but sustentation, and keep up the life of grace in the soul, though we taste not Christ's banquets and dainties.
The third circumstance is the end, ' That I may live.' David speaks not this of bodily life, not the life of nature, but the life of grace. And then the note is this —
Doct. The children of God do not count themselves to live, unless their spiritual life be kept in good plight.
David, that enjoyed the pleasure and honour of the regal state, he doth not count that to live, though he were king in Israel, of an opulent and flourishing kingdom, and had mighty successes and victories over the people round about him, but when his heart was upheld in the Ava3'S of God. So Col. iii. 3, 'Your life is hid with Christ in God.' They had a life visible, as other men had; but your life, that which you chiefly esteem, and indeed count to be your life, is a hidden thing.
Here I shall inquire— (1.) What is this spiritual life. (2.) Show that there is a spiritual life distinct from the natural. (3.) The ex- cellency of the one above the other. (4.) When this s])iritual life is in good plight.
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1. What is meant by spiritual life ? It is threefold — a life of justification and sanctification and glorification.