2. Comfort to the godly.
[1.] God knoweth their persons: Exod. xxxiii. 12, 'I know thee by name : ' he taketb special notice of them. All tilings are under a providence, but they are under a special providence ; a father cannot forget how many cliildren he hath, though in a large and numerous family he cannot presently reckon up all his servants.
182 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. XXVI.
[2.] God knoweth their conditions, wants, and necessities: Mat. vi. 32, ' Your heavenly Father Icnoweth that you need these things ; ' Exod, iii. 7, ' I have seen the afflictions of my people, and known their sorrows.' God is so well acquainted with our wants, that he cannot forget us nor neglect us.
[3.] Our prayers are heard, not lost in the darkness of secrecy : Mat. vi. 6, 'Thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' He that knoweth thy heart, will give thee the desire of thy heart.
[4.] Thy duties are rewarded, and rightly understood. First, Certainly rewarded : 2 Chron. xvi. 9, ' For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect with him ; ' Heb. vi. 10, ' God is not unright- eous to forget your labour of love.' Secondly, Kightly understood. Men may be ignorant of what we do, but God is not ; as Potiphar was ignorant of Joseph's faithfulness ; he put him in prison for his integrity. Gen. xxxiv. 19, 20 ; the butler forgot him, Gen. xl. 43. Some will not own it, but God knoweth : 1 Cor. iv. 3, ' But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judg- ment.'
Use. Is to awaken all to a greater mindfulness of this truth.
First, Let it be believed, and the faith of it more settled in your hearts. Besides creation and providence, and God's immensity or omni- presence and government, the arguments mentioned before, there are evidences of it —
1. In the human nature of Christ ; he discovered himself God while he was in the flesh, and this perfection of his Godhead did shine forth through the human nature, that he knew men's hearts, and their inward thoughts. He turneth out the very inside of their minds in the story of his life often : John ii. 25, ' He knew what was in man.'
2. By the light of the prophetical spirit : 2 Kings v. 26, ' Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee ? ' As if he had said, I saw him light out of his chariot, and what he gave thee, and where thou laidst it. God had bestowed upon him an extraordinary spirit, whereby he could discern things done in his absence. So another prophet, Ahijah, when Jeroboam's wife thought to have put a cheat upon him, his eyes being dim by reason of age: 1 Kings xiv. 6, ' Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why feign- est thou thyself to be another ? '
3. The gift of discerning spirits bestowed on the apostles, 1 Cor. xii. 10, whether church-gifts, or sincerity of men's hearts, in order to discipline : Acts v. 9, ' How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord ? ' that is, the prophetical spirit.
4. Another instance is God's finding us out in our secret sins by his word, searching the heart : Heb. iv. 12, ' The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, •and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ; ' 1 Cor. xiv, 25, ' And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest.' By his Spirit enforcing the sense of our secret sins upon us : Job xiii, 26, * Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.' Old sins, long since forgotten, come into fresh
VeR. 20.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 183
remembrance, and we know not liow to get rid of the horrors of them. By his providence: Num. xxxii. 23, 'Behold, )'e have sinned against the Lord ; and be sure your sin will find you out ; ' Gen. xlii. 21, ' We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear him : there- fore is this distress come upon us.' The man was rough and untract- able to them, as they had been to their brother : afflictions open the eyes, they are God's rack.
Secondly, Remember it often in your whole conversation ; you are always before God, therefore serve him ' in holiness and righteousness all the days of thy life,' Luke i. 75 ; Prov, xv. 21, ' The ways of a man are before the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.' He weigheth every circumstance of thy life. If this were better thought of, there would be less disorder in the world. Heathens gave this advice, that in the presence of a Cato, or severe reprover, there needs no fiction or supposition in the case ; and a greater than Cato is here. God is really present everywhere, but we do not think of it. He seeth, and ' is of purer e)^es than to behold iniquity.' We should inure ourselves to these thoughts.