124 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SEE. CLXX.
to another, we give from ourselves ; we waste by giving. The crea- tures are at a stint, and soon spend their allowance ; but God cannot be exhausted ; there is no decrease of love and power, no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity.
2. Experience begets confidence : Rom. v. 3, 'And patience experi- ence, and experience begets hope.' The heart is much confirmed when it hath faith and experience of his side. If we were as we should be, the promise should be beyond all experiences, for it is the word of him that cannot lie. Experience addeth nothing to the certainty of the promise, nor any authority to it ; only in regard of our weakness, it is a help and sensible confirmation against our distrustful cares and fears. Sense and experience is not the ground of faith. We must believe God upon his bare word ; yet it is an encouragement : John xx. 29, ' Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.' Then more encouraged when Christ felt. We have a double proof and experience: —
[1.] What God is able to do for us.
[2.J What God will do again, when his own glory and our need require! h it.
[1.] We know what God can do ; former deliverances are as so many monuments and significations of his power : Isa, li. 9, 'Awake, awake, 0 arm of the Lord ; art not thou he that cut Eahab, and wounded the dragon ? awake, and put on strength, as in the ancient days.' Eahab is Egypt, Ps. Ixxxvii. 4 ; the dragon, Pharaoh, Ezek. xxix. 3, the dragon or crocodile of Egypt. Can he do this, and not do that ? Upon every experience, we that learn by sense should be more strongly persuaded of God's power. It is a complaint they will not learn after all these signs and wonders : Mat. xvi. 9, ' Do ye not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?' Upon every experience we should have high thoughts of God's power and all-sufficiency. The great controversy between Christ and his disciples was their not profiting in faith.
[2.] We see and know what God is willing to do for poor sinners. He is not sparing of necessary supplies and comforts ; he hath been a present help. We have no cause to believe the contrary ; it is only distrust saith he will not ; it is a suspicion and jealousy without cause. It may be, for it hath been : 1 Sam. xvii. 36, ' The Lord hath delivered me,' &c. Particular and special confidence is not so usual now, but wTe have no reason to be discouraged in the ways of God ; though we cannot be absolutely confident, yet we should not balk duty out of distrust and jealousy. In such faintings take the cordial of experi- ence : Ps. lxxvii. 10, ' And I said, This is my infirmity ; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.'
3. Former mercies are pledges of future ; by giving, God becometh our debtor : Mat. vi. 25, ' Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment ? ' If he gives life, he will give food ; if he gives a body, he will give raiment : one mercy is an earnest of another. Rom. viii. 32, if he give us Christ, he will give us all things; if he give grace, he will give glory ; if we have the first-fruits, Rom. viii. 23, we shall have the harvest ; if we have the beginning, Phil. i. 6, we shall have the ending. There are some dispensations that are but
VEB. 153.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 125
as a tendency to other mercies, given out in such a way as to invite hope.
4. We are the more endeared to God by his own mercy and tender care of us : Zech. iii. 2, ' Is not this a brand plucked out of the burn- ing ?' The danger heightens the mercy.
Use 1. To reprove the people of God for their diffidence and distrust, when, after many experiences of God, they can no more quiet their hearts concerning future events ; upon every new trouble as much tormented and perplexed as if never known nor heard anything of God before. David : 1 6am. xxvii. 1, ' I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.5 When God hath abundantly done enough to evidence his power and love unto his : Ps. lxxviii. 19-21, 'They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?' &c. When we are to credit God in another work, as the disciples after the miracle of the loaves. When new temptations assault us, we should not be disheartened. What were God's motives before to help ? Because you were in misery ; the same you may expect again.
Use 2. To press you —
1. To observe your experiences, and compare them with the word. All that God doth is full of truth and faithfulness : Ps. cxi. 7, ' The works of his hands are verity and judgment, all his commandments are sure ;' exactly according to what he hath promised ; they certainly come to pass. Especially observe your experiences in your troubles and temptations, what hath been your greatest comfort and support then.