152 SERMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. 10.
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understandingbeing enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheri- tance in the saints.' There is no prospect of the other world by the light of a natural spirit, but by faith : 2 Peter i, 9, ' He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,' A mere natural man acteth at little higher rate than a beast. A beast seeth things before him, tastes what is comfortable to his senses, is guided by fancy and appetite ; but the spirit of faith maketh a man live as in the sight of God, and under a sense of another world. His end enlighteneth him ; for, Mat. vi. 22, ' The light of the body is the eye ; if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.' When a man hath fixed his end, he will the sooner understand his way. Finis est mensura mediorum — The end is the measure of the means. A good end and scope en- lighteneth and governeth a man in his whole course. As a man's end is, so he judgeth of happiness and misery. If a man's end be to live well in the world, then ' happy are the people that are in such a case.* If his end be to enjoy God, then ' happy is the people whose God is the Lord,' Ps. cxliv. 15. It is a blessed opportunity to be waiting upon him. So he judgeth of liberty and bondage. If his end be to please God, then corruption is his yoke ; if to please the flesh, duty is his yoke. So he judgeth of wisdom and folly. A carnal man counteth himself wise when he has made a good bargain ; then he applaudeth himself : Ps. x. 3, ' The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and bless- eth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.' The godly man then counteth himself wise, when he has redeemed time for spiritual uses : Eph. v. 15, 16, 'Not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.' And the eunuch, when he was instructed by Philip, * went on his way rejoicing,' Acts viii. 39.
Use 1. If these things be so, then it informeth us how cheerfully we should pass through our sabbath duties: Isa. Iviii. 13, 'If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honour- able, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own work, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,' &c. It followeth naturally from the point in hand ; for if a day in God's house be better than a thousand elsewhere, then a christian should be in his element when he is wholly at leisure for God. His sabbath time should not hang upon his hands, nor should he count this day as a melancholy inter- ruption. Few are of this spirit ; they are out of their course : Amos viii. 5, 'When will the sabbath be gone, that we may set forth wheat?' They are weary of sacred meetings, and long to have them over, that they might follow their gain, and satisfy their worldly humour. They make the world and their gain their great errand, and look upon attendance upon God as a matter by the by, and therefore are soon weary of it.
Use 2. Let us reflect the light of this truth upon our own hearts. Have we this love and affection to the means of grace ? If we profess it, the t)"uth of it is best known to God; but in some measure it should be known to ourselves also, if we would take comfort in it. Therefore let us a little state it.
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1. This aflfection and respect to ordinances is to tliem as pure; to those meetings where God is sincerely and purely worshipped, 'As new-born babes desire \oyiKov dSoXov yaXa, the sincere milk of the word/ 1 Peter ii. 2. The new nature is suited to God's institutions. As the puking infant, when he sucketh a stranger, doth in effect say, This is not my mother's milk. Christ is there where he is worshipped in his own way : Mat. xxviii. 20, ' Teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' The church hath nothing to do about ordaining or instituting, but only about ordering the natural circumstances of worship.
2. It is not the empty formality which the saints prize, but meeting with God : Ps. Ixxxiv. 1,2,' How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.' The profane blind world neither careth for the duty, nor for God in the duty; the formal hypocritical part of the world is for the outward duty, and rests satisfied with the bare ordinance, but the sincere christian would meet with God there. They do not only serve him, but seek him, to find God in the means, and his lively operation upon their hearts ; and therefore they would not go from him without him : Gen. xxxii. 26, ' I will not let thee go except thou bless me/ They must have somewhat of God ; this is what they long for, some new warmth, and comfort, and quickening.