2. To keep them in continual'^ dependence vpon himself. He
' " Namque bonos non blanda inflant, non aspcra frangunt, Sed fidei iiivictsD gaudia vera juvant."
I'rosp. Epig. in Sent. August. » Ps. oxix. 67 ; IIos. v. 15 ; Heb. xii. 10, II; 1 IVt. i. 0'.
3 " In cajlo non in terra nicrcedeni proniisit reddendam. Quid alibi poscis, quod alibi dabitur?" — Ambros. Offic, lib. i. cap. 16.
OF ESSEX COUNTY, AND COMMITTEE. 81
hatli promised his own daily bread, — not goods laid up for many years. Many children have been undone by their parents giving them too large a stock to trade for themselves ; it has made them spendthrifts, careless, and wanton. Should the Lord intrust his people with a con- tinued stock of mercy, perhaps they would be full, and deny him, and say, " Who is the Lord ?" Prov. xxx. 9. Jeshurun did so, Deut. xxxiL 14, 15. Ephraim "was fdled according to their pasture, and forgot the Lord," Hos. xiii. 6. Neither, on the other side, will he be • always chiding. " His anger shall not burn for ever" — very sore. It is our infirmity at the least, if we say, God hath forgotten to be gracious, and shut up his tender mercies in displeasure, Ps. Ixxvii. 9. But laying one thing against another, he keeps the heart of his in an even balance, in a continual dependence upon himself, that they may neither be wanton through mercy, nor discouraged by too much op- pression. Our tender Father is therefore neither always feeding nor always correcting. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall, not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light," saith the prophet Zecliariah, chap. xiv. 6, 7, seeking out God's dispensations towards his, ending in .joy and light in the evening.
Use. Labour to have your hearts right tuned for songs on Shigi- onoth, sweetly to answer all God's dispensations in their choice variety. •That instrument will make no music that hath but some strings in tune. If when God strikes ^vith mercy upon the string of joy and .gladness, we answer pleasantly; but when he touches upon that of ^ sorrow and humiliation, we suit it not ; — we are broken instruments, .that make no melody unto God. We must know how to receive good and evil at his hand. " He hath made every thing beautiful in its time," Eccles. iii. 11, — every thing in that whole variety which his wisdom hath produced. A well-tuned heart must have all its strings, all its affections, ready to answer every touch of God's finger, to im- prove judgments and mercies both at the same time. Sweet harmony ariseth out of some discords. When a soul is in a frame to rejoice with thankful obedience for mercy received, and to be humbled with .soul-searching, amending repentance for judgTnents inflicted at the same time, — then it sings a song on Shigionoth, then it is fit for the days wherein we live. Indeed, both mercies and judgments aim at the same end, and should be received with the same equal temper of mind. A flint is broken between a hammer and a pillow ; — an of- fender is humbled between a prison and a pardon; — a hard heart
' "'Cum vexamur ac premimur, turn maxime gratias agimus indulgent issinio patri, "quod corruptelam iiostram nou patitur longius procedere: bine intelligimus nos ess:e Deo curte."^ — Lactan.
VOL. VIII. C
82 A MEMORIAL OF THE DELIYERA^'CE
may be mollified and a proud spirit humbled between those two. In such a season the several rivulets of our affections flow naturally in the same stream. When hath a gracious soul the soundest joys, but when it hath the deepest sorrows? " Habent et gaudia vulnus." When hath it the humblest meltings, but when it hath the most ravishing joys? Our afflictions, which are naturally at the widest distance, may all swim in the same spiritual channel. Rivulets rising from several heads are carried in one stream to the ocean. As a mixture of several colours make a beautiful complexion for the body ; so a mixture of divers affections, under God's various dispensations, gives a comely frame unto the soul. Labour, then, to answer every call, every speaking providence of God, in its right kind, according to the intention thereof; and the Lord reveal his mind unto us, that so we may do.
Having passed the title, let us look a little on those parts of the prayer itself that follow.
Verse 2. The beginning of it in verse 2 hath two parts.
1. The frame of the prophet's spirit in his address to God: "O Jehovah, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid."
2. His request in this his condition: "O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make kno'wai ; in wrath remember mercy."
1. In the first you have, —
(1.) Particularly his frame; — he was afraid, or trembled; which he wonderfully sets out, verse 16, "When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice : rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself"