4. “But does not the scripture (it has been objected, fourthly) direct us to _wait_ for salvation? Does not _David_ say, _My soul waiteth upon God: for of him cometh my salvation_? And does not _Isaiah_ teach us the same thing, saying, _O Lord, we have waited for thee_?” All this cannot be denied. Seeing it is the gift of God, we are undoubtedly to _wait_ on him for salvation. But how shall we wait? If God himself has appointed a way, can you find a better way of waiting for him? But, that he hath appointed a way, hath been shewn at large, and also what that way is. The very words of the prophet which you cite, put this out of all question. For the whole sentence runs thus; _In the way of thy judgments_, or ordinances, _O Lord, have we waited for thee_. (_Isaiah_ xxvi. 8.) And in the very same way did _David_ wait, as his own words abundantly testify: _I have waited for thy saving health, O Lord, and have kept thy law, teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end_.
5. “Yea, say some, but God has appointed another way, _Stand still and see the salvation of God_.”
Let us examine the scriptures to which you refer. The first of them, with the context, runs thus:
_And when |Pharaoh| drew nigh, the children of |Israel| lift up their eyes――and they were sore afraid. And they said unto |Moses|, because there were no graves in |Egypt|, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? And |Moses| said unto the people, fear ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord said unto |Moses|, speak unto the children of |Israel|, that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of |Israel| shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea_, Exod. xiv. 10, _&c._
This was the _salvation_ of God, which they _stood still_ to see, by _marching forward_ with all their might!
The other passage wherein this expression occurs, stands thus. _There came some that told |Jehoshaphat| saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee, from beyond the sea. And |Jehoshaphat| feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all |Judah|. And |Judah| gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities they came to seek the Lord. And |Jehoshaphat| stood in the congregation, in the house of the Lord――Then upon |Jahaziel| came the Spirit of the Lord.――And he said――Be not dismayed by reason of this great multitude――To-morrow go ye down against them; ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves: stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord――And they arose early in the morning and went forth. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of |Moab|, |Ammon|, and |Mount Sier|――and every one helped to destroy another_, 2 Chron. xx. 2, _&c._
Such was the salvation which the children of _Judah_ saw. But how does all this prove, that we ought not to wait for the grace of God, in the means which he hath ordained?
6. I shall mention but one objection more, which indeed does not properly belong to this head. Nevertheless, because it has been so frequently urged, I may not wholly pass it by.
“Does not St. _Paul_ say, _If ye be dead with Christ, why are ye subject to ordinances?_ Col. ii. 20. Therefore a Christian, one that is _dead with Christ_, need not use the ordinances any more.”
So you say, “If I am a Christian, I am not subject to the ordinances of Christ!” Surely, by the absurdity of this, you must see at the first glance, that the ordinances here mentioned cannot be the ordinances of Christ! That they must needs be the _Jewish_ ordinances, to which it is certain, a Christian is no longer subject.
And the same undeniably appears from the words immediately following, _Touch not, taste not, handle not_――all evidently referring to the antient ordinances of the _Jewish_ law.
So that this objection is the weakest of all. And in spight of all, that great truth must stand unshaken, that all who desire the grace of God, are to wait for it, in the means which he hath ordained.
V. 1. But this being allowed, that all who desire the grace of God, are to wait for it in the means he hath ordained: it may still be enquired how those means should be used, both as to the _order_, and the _manner_ of using them?