The words contain a promise of a reward, and great farour unto good Idng Josiah, that he should die, and be gathered unto his fathers ; and that which is more, the manner considered, that he should ' die in peace ; ' the ground whereof is shewed unto him : ' Because thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.' God's promises are of three sorts. First, Such as he made
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upon condition of legal obedience : ' Do this and tliou shalt live.' Secondly, When we are humbled upon sight of our sins, then he propounds another •way, and promises that if we believe in Jesus Christ our surety, who hath made satisfaction for us, then we shall live. This is the grand promise of all, the promise of life everlasting, and pardon of sin. Thirdly, There are promises of encouragement unto us, when we are in the state of grace. As a father, who means to make his son an heir, doth give him many promises of encouragement, so God deals with his chikken, when they are in the covenant of grace. /
There are, I say, promises of particular rewards to encourage them, as they are sure of the main and great reward, namely, everlasting life. Therefore Josiah being an heir of heaven, God did propound a promise of encouragement unto him, by way of favour, to shew that his good works were not unregarded. In general her6,
T)oct. 1. First, We may observe GckVs gracious dealing with his children, that he takes notice of every good thing they do, and doth reward them for it, yea, in this life. There is not a sigh but God hears it, not a tear but he hath a bottle for it. Most men spare God a labour in this kind. He promiseth * to wipe away all tears from our eyes,' Rev. xxi. 4, but they will shed none. Yet the least tear shed, and word spoken in a good cause, goes not without a reward from God ; not so much as a cup of cold water, but he rewards. Which must needs be so :
Because God looks upon the good things we do, beingr his own works in us, as upon lovely objects, with a love unto them ; for though Josiah had said nothing, yet his deep humiliation itself, was as it were a prayer, that cried strongly in the ears of God, that he could not but reward it. So that parti}' because God looks upon us as lovely objects, he loving the work of his own Spirit, and partly because they cry unto God, as it were, and pluck down a blessing from heaven, they cannot go unrewarded.
Use. This is matter of comfort, that God will not only reward us with heaven, but will also recompense every good thing we do, even in this world ; yea, such is his bounty, he rewards hypocrites. Because he will not be beholding to them for any good thing they do, nor have them die unrewarded, he recompenseth them with some outward favours, which is all they desire. Ahab did but act counterfeit humiliation, and he was rewarded for it, 1 Kings xxi. 27-29. So the Scribes and Pharisees did many good things, and had that they looked for. They looked not for heaven, but for the praise of men. This they had, as Christ tells them, ' Verily, I say unto you, you have your reward,' Mat. vi. 5, God will be beholding to none ; but whosoever do anything that is good, they shall have some reward, whether they be good or bad. If the conscience of a man did judge well, he might come to God with boldness, not to brag of good works, but out of an humble heart saying, ' Remember me, 0 Lord, as I have dealt with thee.' So good Hezekiah did:' Remember, Lord, howl have walked before thee in truth,' Isa. xxxviii. 3. When we labour in all our actions to please God, we may with boldness approach to the throne of grace, and say with Peter, Remember, Lord, ' Thou knowest that I love thee,' John xxi. 15. If there were no other reward but this, that we have a privilege to go to God with boldness, our conscience not accusing us, it were enough. What a shame is it, then, that we should be so barren in good works, seeing our labour shall not be unrewarded of the Lord ! Oh then let us take counsel of the apostle : ' Finally, my brethren, be ye sted- fast and unmoveable, abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that
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your labour is not in vain in the Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 58. Ho hath a reward for every cup of cold water, for every tear. Every good deed we do hath the force of a prayer to beg a blessing; yea, our very tears speak loud to God, although we say nothing. But to como to particulars.
' Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers,' &c.
Here we see this word behold, a word serving to stir up attention, set before the promise, which was formerly set before a threatening, ' Behold, I will bring evil upon this place,' &c. Behold is as necessary before pro- mises as threatenings. For the soul is ready to behold that which is evil, and by nature is prone to dejection, and to cast down itself. Therefore there need be a ' behold' put before the promise, to raise up the dejected soul of Josiah or others, and all little enough. Christians should have two eyes, one to look upon the ill, the other upon the good, and the grace of God that is in them, that so we may be thankful. But they for the most part look only upon the ill that is in them, and so God wants his glory and we our comfort.