2. By the promises of God. God hath promised to meet his people with sensible comforts, to talk and confer with them in their duties ; the very aim of all duties is more immediate communion with God. See God's promises to his old church, while grace was more sparingly dispensed : Exod. xxix. 42, ' At the door of the tabernacle of the con- gregation, there will I meet with you, and speak there unto you.' It is meant of God's gracious and social presence with his people in duties
14 SERMONS UrON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. XIX.
of worship ; there he will meet, and speak, and confer with them for their comfort and satisfaction : Isa. Iviii, 9, ' Thou slialt call, and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I.' Mark, when complaints are heightened into cries, then God's answer will be more sensible ; when we come in an affectionate manner, not only call, but cry. Sometimes God plainly discovereih himself in the very time of the duty ; he n^eets witli them in such and such ordinances, as if he should say. Poor soul, vvliat would you have ? here am I to satisfy thee. He communeth, talketh with them, and tells them their sins are par- doned, and they are accepted in Christ : Ps. xxxvi. 7-9, 'Thou shalt abundantly satisfy them with the fatness of thine house, and make them to drink of the rivers of thy pleasures ; ' there comforts are dis- pensed, thei-e flow the rivers of spiritual pleasure and chaste delights of the gospel.
Obj. JiiiL you will say, This is not always so ; there are many wait upon God long, and feel no comfort. I answer, It is true. Such dis- pensations are free, they are not at the creature's beck : God will be master of his own mercies ; we have deserved nothing, and we cannot murmur if we receive nothing ; yet if ever they find spiritual consola- tion, it will be in God's house. This is the established means ; if ever you taste the fatness and sweetness of grace, it will be by waiting upon him there. Earnest and affectionate duties are seldom without comfort and profit. And again I answer, tl)at delight, which is a duty, makes way for delight which is a dispensation : Cant. ii. 3, ' I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.' When you delight in God, then the Lord will give in sensible consola- tion. Delights are mutual and sensible; God delights in us, and we in God. When we delight in him, in the word, in prayer, or in the supper, by way of return God sends us secret consolation : Isa. Ixiv. 5, ' Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.' Tliose that delight in God's company, that do good with a willing heart, are bountifully entertained, sweetly refreshed, and sent away with a feast of loves. In our affectionate and spiritual duties, Christ will come and say, ' Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into thy master's joy ! ' The present returns and recom- penses, when we come before the throne of grace, carry some proportion with the entertainment we shall find with God hereafter when we come to be seated upon the throne of glory. I say, in earnest prayer, though we can prescribe nothing, but this is his wonted course, his answer is sensible in his ordinances. Saitli Luther, Utinam eodeni ardoix, &c. — Would to God that I could always pray with the like fervency and earnestness ! Why ? for I sensibly receive this answer, Thy desires are granted, Fiat quod velis — Be it unto thee as thou wilt. When we I'ejoice to converse with God in the ways of righteousness, then his dispensa- tions of grace are lull of sweetness.
3. The reasons why God observeth this course ; to exhibit and give out more sensible manifestations of his grace in the time of ordinances, when our graces are raised and drawn out to the height. The question consisteth of two parts.
[1.] Why grace or sanctification is necessary to the receiving of the testimony of the Spirit ?
V'eR. 4."! SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL IS
[2.] Why upon the raised operations of grace God is wont to give it into his people?
First, Why grace is necessary by way of evidence, though not by way of merit and cause ?
Alls. 1. Because this is the most sensible effect of God's spiritual bounty, for it is a work of God within us, and so more apt to give us an evidence. Election, that is in heaven, a secret which lies hid in the bosom of the Father ; redemption, that is without us, upon the cross ; justification is God's judiciary act, a sentence of the judge without us ; but sanctification is a work upon our heart, theretore it is called the 'earnest of the Spirit," 2 Cor. i. 22, and 'the first-fruits of the Spirit,' Rom. viii. 23. " Grace is an earnest to show how sure, and the first-fruits to show how good heaven is ; by grace God gives us a taste to show how sweet, and a pledge to show how sure all the privileges of Christianity are made over to our souls.