64 SERMONS LTON PSALM cxix. [Seb. OLXIV.
3. There is comfort in dealing with God, whatever our case be. (I.) Because of his all-sufficient power. (2.) Because of his good- will and readiness to help.
[1.] Because of his power and all-sufficiency, so that he hath ways of deliverance more than we know of, and can save his own when men do count their case desperate: Dan. iii. 29, ' There is no other God that can deliver after this sort.' Let the strait be never so great, the burden heavy, and the creature weak, and at a desperate loss, yet God can rind out ways and means to do his people good.
[2.] For his good-will and readiness to hear : Ps. lxv. 2, ' Oh, thou that nearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.' The readiness of God to hear prayer doth open a door of access to all people who are sensible of their burdens and necessities. He hath ever showed him- self ready to hear the cries and groans of his people, and woe be to them against whom they cry : Ps. xxii. 5, ' They cried unto thee, and were delivered.' Their cries and groans are not hid from him, and cannot be shut out: Ps. cvi. 44, 'Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, and he heard their cry.'
Use. 1. To reprove divers sorts.
1. Some seek to help themselves by impatiency, fretting, unquiet behaviour in their troubles ; this doth increase their misery. Go, pour out your hearts before the Lord, that giveth ease : Phil. iv. 6, 7, ' Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God ; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus/ Your wrestling with trouble within yourselves doth but embroil you the more.
2. Some trust in outward helps, seek to men and means ; as Asa to the physicians, not to the Lord, 2 Chron. xvi. 12. It is not unlawful to use means, but we must depend upon the Lord for the blessing. Seek to him first, otherwise looking to man proveth a snare many ways, as it tempts us to comply with their lusts, to neglect God, maketli way for the greater sorrow in disappointment. The creature is vain in itself, made more vain by our confidence: Ps. Ix. 11, ' Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.' You will be brought to it at last. The more earnestly we seek God, the more confidence we may have of the creature.
Use 2. To inform us of the privilege and duty of the godly.
1. Their privilege ; they have a God to go to. The worldly man sigheth and crieth he knoweth not to whom ; but the godly man pre- senteth himself in his lamentations to God : ' My friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God,' Job xvi. 20. He hath a Father in secret, a Friend in a corner ; they need not go to men, nor to saints and angels ; they have God himself, and can challenge him by his office, as the judge of the world, to help poor creatures : Ps. xciv. 2, ' Lift up thyself, thou judge of the world ; render a reward to the proud.' Yea, by his peculiar relation to them : Ps. v. 2, ' Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my king and my God ; for unto thee will I pray.' They do not cry unto him as a stranger, but one in covenant relation with them.
2. Their duty to make God their guardian and saviour in all their
VER. 14G.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 65
distress, when in their own sense they are near perishing : Mark viii. 26, 'Arise, save us, we perish;' 2 Kings xix. 19, 'Now therefore, 0 Lord our God, I beseech thee, save us out of his hand; that all the king- doms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.' When they have a good cause and a good conscience, this they may do and this they ought to do, and they will have comfort in it.
The last thing which I shall observe is —
Doct. That prayer for deliverance should be accompanied with serious purposes of obedience. ' Then,' saith David, ' I will keep thy testimonies.'
1. Because this is the best expression of gratitude and thankfulness. I take it for granted that every mercy from God deserveth a thankful return on the creature's part ; as we expect a return of our prayers, so God expecteth a return of his mercies ; and therefore we should be as careful to give him what he requireth, as we are careful to seek of him that which we need ; for even in our commerce with God there is ratio dati et accepti. I presume, again, that there is no such expression of thankfulness as obedience. Verbal thanks are but a cold return ; thanks-doing is the best thanksgiving : Ps. 1. 23, ' He that offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.' Yea, once more, that we should think of this aforehand ; while we are asking the mercy in our distress, we should engage ourselves to glorify God both in word and deed. Again, the time that we have our mercies for ; in affliction we consider and are more serious, and afterwards we should keep the conscience of our obligation.