Eeason 2. Because then we pray according to the new nature ; old nature would have ease, the new nature would have grace ; the flesh would be pleased, but the spirit would be profited ; and God hears not the voice of the flesh, but the spirit in prayer : Bom. viii. 27, 'He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God.'
Let me give you some rules.
1. This good is not always the good of the flesh, not always the good of prosperity. Sometimes the good of prosperity may be good : Prov. xxiv. 25, ' But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.' A good blessing shall come upon them that plead God's cause against the wicked. There is the blessing of prosperity-good and adversity-good. All good is more or less, so as it Cometh near or less near the chiefest good ; therefore that is good that tendeth to make us spiritually .better, more like to God, and capable of communion with him. Lam. iii. 27, ' It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.' That is good wliicli conduceth to our everlasting good.
2. God knoweth what is better for us i than we do ourselves. We ask a knife wherewith to cut ourselves. It would be the greatest misery if God should always carve out our condition according to our own fancy ; we would soon pray ourselves into a snare if our will were the rule of our prayers, and ask that which would be cruelty in God to grant. I will give you an instance in Lot, Gen. xix. 17, 18, ' Make haste, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed : I cannot, saith he, escape to the mountain, jjchold now this city is near, it is but a little one, and my soul shall live.' Lot presenteth his own fancy to God's counsel and choice for him : this little place was in the plain ; he was persuaded the shower of brimstone Avould overtake him before he got thither. Often it is thus with us ; though God should com- mand and we obey, we lift up our will above his, and doat upon our
^ Qu. ' what is good for u.s better ' ?— Ed.
VeR. 122.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 255
own ftmcies, and will prescribe to God, think it is better to live by sense than by faith. This mountain was the weaker border of the plain.l Now this was weakness in Lot surely. God, that had taken him out of Sodom by the hand of his ano-els, stricken the Sodomites with blindness, which was an instance of God's great power and good- ness to him. Now compare the 17tli and 18th verses with the 30tli verse, ' And Lot went out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, he and liis two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar ; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.'' Mark here, when God biddeth him go to the mountain, then he goeth to Zoar ; when God gave him leave to tarry in Zoar, then he goes and dwells in the moun- tain : he was afraid in Zoar, when he saw the horrible desolation of all the country about it. Now see the ill success of his own choice, and how badly we provide for ourselves : a little time will show us our sin and folly : his abode in the mountain drew him to incest. Another instance : Hosea xiii. 11, ' I gave them a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.' God may let things succeed with as to our hurt : ' If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us ; ' 1 John v. 14. God is a God of wisdom, he knoweth certainly what will be good for us. He is a God of bowels, and loveth us dearly, and will certainly cast all things for the best ; therefore God is to be judge both for time and kind of our deliverance, otherwise we may meet with wrath in every condition, whether we want or have our will ; but if we refer it to him, we shall never want what is best for us. The shepherd must choose our pastures, whether lean or fat, bare or full grounds. The child is not to be governed by his fancy, but the father's discretion ; nor the sick man by his own fancy, but the physician's skill : our will is not the chief reason of all things.
3. That which is not good may be good, and though for the pre- sent we see it not, yet we shall see it ; though not good in its nature, it may be good in its fruit : Rom. viii. 28, ' We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God ; ' a little faith and a little patience will discover it. As poisonous ingredients in a medi- cine, take them singly, and they are destructive ; but as tempered with other things by the hands of a skilful physician, so they are whole- some and useful : Heb. xii. 11, 'No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous.' The rod is a sour thing for the present, but wait a little, this bitter root may yield sweet fruit : God can so over- rule it in his providence. So Ps. cxix. 71, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.' Ask a man under the cross, Is it good to feel the lashes of God's correcting hand ? No ; but when he hath been exercised, and found lust mortified, the world crucified, and gotten evidences of God's favour, then it is good that I have been afflicted.