[4.] The mutual love between God and them. Gocl loveth them, and they love Gocl ; and so they are near and dear to one another : 1 Sam. xviii. 1, ' The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.' Such love is here between Christ and believers, and between them and God. God beginneth, he loveth first, and best, and most ; no father or mother loveth their children so tenderly as God doth them : Isa. xlix. 15, ' Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.' No husband loves his spouse as Christ doth the church : Eph. v. 25, ' Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it ; ' not only gave himself to the church, but for it. Alas ! when we are at our best, we love God too little. There is a strong love which the saints have to God and Christ ; they cannot live without him, are always crying, Abba, Father : Gal. iv. 6, ' And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.' They cannot brook his absence, are dejected if they cannot hear from him at every turn.
7. There being such a ground laid for our nearness, all familiar intercourses do pass freely between God and us, through Christ, by whom and through whom are all things, and we by him, 1 Cor. viii. 5. Our commerce with God is in donatives and duties.
[1.] On God's part, it is seen in his readiness to hear our prayers : Isa. lviii. 9, ' Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry, and he shalt say, Here I am.' God is at hand ; when we knock at heaven's gates, he answereth presently, saying, And what would you have ? If God should make an offer to us as Jonathan did to David, 1 Sam. xx. 14, ' Whatever thy soul desireth, I will do for thee,' we would think then we should never want more. What would the world give for such a promise from an earthly potentate ? You have it from God, if you like the condition : Ps. xxxvii. 4, ' Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.' Thou canst not desire anything regularly, and consisting with the condition of the covenant, with thy delight in Gocl, but thou shalt have it. In a holy sense, you have God at command, to do for you
108 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLXIX.
what you would have, as if you had his sovereignty at command : Job xxii. 27, 28, ' Thou shalt make thy prayers unto him, and he shall hear thee ; and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee ; and the light shall shine upon thy ways.' Decree, and it shall be established ; speak the word, and it shall come to pass, Is it for us to enact decrees, to appoint what shall be ? Their prayer is a duplicate or counterpart of God's decrees. God guideth their hearts to ask such things as are pleasing to him ; God is ready to help us, to give supplies in all our necessities ; he is remembering us for good upon all occasions, especially in our low estate ; when we have none to help, he will help : lea. lix. 1G, ' And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor : therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him.' It was when he that dcparteth from evil maketh himself a prey ; he cannot be safe unless he be wicked ; and none will bestir himself in the behalf of truth and right, or own the good cause, by speaking a word for it ; therefore God himself would take the business in hand : Ps. cv. 14, ' He suffered no man to do them wrong.' They that are God's confederates, he hath a wratchful eye over them ; they are under his defence and protection. An afflicted people are more sensible of God's presence, help, and assistance than others are ; for straits and troubles are means to open men's eyes and waken their senses. ISTow you will ever find God with you when he seemeth most to forget you. But especially in duties of worship, the visits of love there, and the entertainment at God's table : Ps. lxv. 4, ' Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach to thee, that he may dwell in thy courts : we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple/ They have many sweet experiences of God, which they find not else- where ; there he doth comfort, quicken, and revive them.' Ps. xxxvi. 8, ' They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ; thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures.' God biddeth them welcome to this table, and will not send them away empty ; indeed, there they come to feel joys unspeakable and glorious. Not that we should build always on sensible experiences, or tie God to our time, or make an essay of curiosity ; but if they humbly, resolutely wait upon God according to the encouragements of his promise, first or last they shall have a full meal, and God will own them, and fill their hearts with goodness. Thus in answering their prayers, helping them in straits, visiting in duties.