(2.) It implieth assurance of safety and comfort: 'He shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' We have here his word to build upon : Ps. Ixii. 5, 6, ' My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expec- tation is from him. He is only my rock, and my salvation, and my defence ; I shall not be moved.' What should harm you when God taketh you into his protection, in whose hands are all persons and things ? If he be made a friend, and his power and love engaged for
30 SERMON UPON PSALM XCI. 1.
ns, your souls may dwell in full ease and content : Ps. v, 3, ' I laid me down and slept, for the Lord sustained me.' So Ps. iv. 8, ' I will lay me down and sleep, for thou only makest me dwell in safety.' There is ground of confidence that God is our preserver. Never shall we be free from vexing, tormenting cares and fears till we can thus dwell in God, and build all our hopes upon his truth, love, and power. A child of God is not stupid and foolhardy ; he hath as tender a sense of his natural interests as others have ; he doth often think of the vanity and uncertainty of all earthly things ; he has a greater reverence for all events of providence, as he eyeth God in them ; yet none are less discom- posed, whatever falleth out in the world, because they trust God, and can cast themselves into the arms of his providence, and depend upon his love and promise, even then when he seemeth to be an enemy to them. They have resigned themselves to God, and rest satisfied in the disposals of his providence, how harsh and severe soever they seem to them. III. How necessary a duty this is for all christians. It is necessary — 1. With respect to the honour of God ; for trust is the practical ac- knowledgment of his being and attributes — his wisdom, goodness, and power. Of his being. It is natural worship. Jure venit cultos ad sihi qinsque deos : Jonah i. 5, 'Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god.' Whom we take to be our god, we trust him with our all : Ps. Ixii. 8, ' Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before him ; God is a. refuge for ns.' All invocation and worship is founded in trust : Rom. x. 14, ' How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ? ' And as we ac- knowledge his being the proper object of our worship, so his attributes. His wisdom : Prov. iii. 5, 6, 'Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path/ We see none is so wise to guide and direct us as God. So we show that his power is above all power when we can depend on him, running the hazard of the greatest terrors : Dan. iii. 17, 18, ' If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace ; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, 0 king. But if not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' On the contrary, it is a despising or lessening of God's power to be afraid of man : Isa. li. 12, 13, ' I, even I, am he that comfortetli you ; who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ? and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the founda- tions of the earth ? ' So for goodness. You are so satisfied with the promise and thing promised that you can forsake all other happiness and hopes in confidence of salvation offered to you by Jesus Christ ; Heb. X. 39, ' We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.' In lesser things, it is a great owning of God's goodness, when you have this persuasion in your minds, and can say, I know that my good God will not forsake me, as the apostle doth in effect : 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, ' All men forsook me, but the Lord stood with me, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion ; and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me to his heavenly kingdom.'
SERMON UPON PSALM XCI. 1. 31
2. To quicken our duty ; for unless we can trust God, the soul will never be faithful and true to him ; but when we seek all safety and comfort from his protection, we will more study to please him. Our dependence is the great tie upon our obedience : 1 Tim. iv. 10, ' There- fore we both labour, &c., because we trust in God.' This giveth life to our service, comfort in our reproaches, support in all our trials ; so that we go on readily, without disquiet of mind, in all our difficulties, upright in our dealings. Men warp and turn aside to crooked ways, unless they be persuaded that God taketh care of them, and will maintain them by honest and lawful means. The ground of upright- ness is the persuasion of God's all-sufficiency : Gen. xiii. 1, ' The Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' On the other side, the ground of apostasy is unbelief : Heb. iii. 12, ' Take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. So it is the ground of shifts : Isa. xxviii. 15, ' We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.' They that cannot depend upon God fly to other means.