Psalm 119:146

Verse 146. — I cried unio thee; save me, and I shaWkeep thy testimonies.

This verse is the same with the former, only these differences may be observed: —

L There the qualification of the prayer is expressed, “I cried with my whole heart;” here the person to whom he pi’ayed, “I cried unto thee,” O Lord. He had told us before how he cried, now to whom he cried; to thee have I sought, and to thee only.

2. The request was general, that God would hear him: now particular, that he would deliver him. There it was, “hear me;” now, “save me.”

3. The notion which implieth the word of God is diversified; there “statutes,” here “testimonies.”

4. Our translation expresseth another difference: there it is, “I will keep thy statutes,” as making it his vow and purpose; here, “I shall keep thy testimonies,” as making it the effect and fruit of his deliverance: or, as it is in the marginal reading, “that I may keep thy testimonies;” as making it his scope and aim.

In the words observe, —

1. An intimation of prayer, “I cried unto thee.”

2. The matter of his prayer, “Save me,” or deliver me, out of trouble.

3. The end and scope of his prayer; not for the satisfaction of his natural desire, but that he might have a heart and opportunity to serve God, and obey his word: That I may, or then “I shall keep thy testimonies.”

Observations from the text: —

DocTKiNE I. — We should not lightly give over our suits to God.

Here is a repetition of the same prayer, “I cried;” yea, again I cried, and a third time, “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried” (verse 147). *SV ter pnlsantl nemo respondef, ahito; we use to knock at a door thrice, and then depart. Our Lord Jesus “prayed the third time the same words” (Mark xxvi. 44), “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” So the Apostle Paul: “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me” (2 Cor. xii. 8). So, “And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee let this child’s soul come into him again” (1 Kings xvii. 21). This, it seemeth, was the time in which they expected an answer in weighty cases; and yet I will not confine it to that number; for here we are to reiterate our petitions for one and the same thing as often as occasion requireth, till it be granted.

Now, the reasons are, —

1 st. Because the force of importunity is very great; the two parables evidence that (Luke xi. and xviii.). If to obtain the Spirit, or right upon our enemies or oypressors, in both these parables there is a condescension to the suppositions of our unbelief; if we suppose God tenacious and hard-hearted, or if we suppose him regardless and mindless of the affairs of the church, or, to put it in milder terms, if we think nothing due to us: “Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend” (Luke xi. 8); or if our condition be so hard that we think it is past all relief; whatever be our secret and misgiving thoughts, we ought always to pray; (^ jxfi IkkokbIv, not to be overcome with evil: “He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke xviii. I); for importunity is of great prevalence with God and men.

2ndly, A deliverance is never so sweet, nor so thankfully improved, if it come at the first call.

1. It is not so sweet. Nolo minis facilem: we disdain things that come too easily; but that which costs us much pains, and long crying, is more prized. The reason is, because delay and difficulty sharpen our desires; and the sharper our desire in the absence of a blessing, the greater gust and sweetness we find in it when it cometh at last. A sack that is stretched out is more capacious and holdeth the more: so is the soul more widened by enlarged desires, to entertain the blessing; for always our delight is according to the proportion of our desires; as a hungry man, or one long kept from meat, relisheth his food better than another that hath it always at hand: “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isa. xxv. 9). We that know blesshigs more by the want than the worth of them, in waiting we are acquainted with the difficulties and inconveniences that attend the want of things, and so are more fitted to prize them than ever we should have been if we had not so long waited.

2. It is more thankfully improved. This follows upon the former, and may be further made good, because, when we know the difficultj’ of getting a blessing, we will not easily part with it; as they that get an estate are

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usually more careful how they spend it, than they that are born to one. Therefore God holdeth his people long at prayer, to prepare and season their hearts, that, when they have it, they may know better how to emijloy it for his glory and their own good. Questionless, Hannah would never have devoted her child to God, had she not continued so long without him, and prayed for him with such bitterness of heart; but that wrought on her: “And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child; then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (1 Sam. i 11). Compare this with verses 27, 28: “For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord.” The same effect you may observe in any spiritual comfort you obtain for your souls, or any temporal mercy or comfort of the present life, which you get by prayer. If God had answered you at first, it had been reckoned among the ordinary effects of his goodness, and so passed by; but what is won by prayer, is usually worn with thankfulness: you would not have been so sensible of the hand of Providence, the graciousness of the answer, or your obligation to God, or indeed that it had been an answer of prayer at all.

3rdly, Things often and earnestly asked of God, come with the greater fulness of blessing when they come; and so (as one saith) God payeth them use for forbearance: the mercy is the more ample; and so every prayer hath its reward. Christ denielh the woman of Canaan long, but at length y icldeth up himself to her importunity: “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matt. xv. 28): she lost nothing by the delay. Hannah was long without a child; but at length the child proved the more eminent; she gets both a child and a Prophet too. Let God alone, and do you continue praying; and he will recompense you abundantly for all his delay. Peter was in prison, and the church made prayers “without ceasing” (Acts xii. 5); and God doth not only bring him out, but bring him out with a miracle, so that “they were astonished” (verse 16). God delayed for a while, and seemed to refuse their prayers; but, when Herod was just about to bi’ing him forth to execution, God brought him foith to deliverance. Every prayer is upon the file, and contributeth to make the mercy the more complete; it remaineth day and night before the Lord: “And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God, day and night” (1 Kings viii. 59); “Thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God” (Acts x. 4).

4thly, It argucth an ill spirit when we will not continue praying, though we have not presently that which we pray for. To be sure, —

1. There is disobedience in it; for it is contrary to God’s injunctions: “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke xviii. 1), We ought not to surcease our suits, so, “Praying always, &c., with all perseverance” (Eph. vi. 18); “always” relateth to the constant exercise of this duty upon all occasions; “with all perseverance,” to particular suits we put up to God. Now, our duty must not be omitted, whatever the discouragements be; as Moses was to hold up his hands till the going down of the sun, so we are to continue our suits, and press hard for an answer, till God give us the thing we pray for.

2. There is weakness of faith to yield to the temptation, and to go oif upon every repulse; yea, sometimes too, too plain unbelief and atheism, as if there were no mercy to be expected from God, or no good to be obtained by spiritual means. Faith is to believe what we see not. The woman of Canaan cometh to Christ; at first she gets a word from him, and afterwards his speech is more discouraging than his silence; she is put out of the compass of his commission: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;” but still she is importunate; afterwards a rough answer: “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs:” she turneth his rebuke into an encouragement; then, “O woman, great is thy faith” (Matt. xv. 22 — 28). Many times we pray for blessings, and the oracle is dumb and silent; though God love the suppliant, yet he will not seem to take notice of his desires; yea, the more they pray, the more they may go away with a sense of their unworthiness and revived guilt: yet the work of f;iith is to make an answer out of God’s silence, a gracious answer out of his rebukes, and to increase our importunity the more.

3. Want of love to God, or coldness of love. It is the property of love to adhere to God, though we be not feasted with felt comforts and present benefits; yea, though lie appear an enemy; for so will God try the affection and deportment of his children: “Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thee, and to the remembi-ance of thy name” (Isa. xxvi. 8); “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job xiii. 15). Not only when our affections are bribed: a child of God should love God for his judgments, as well as fear him for his mercies; as lime, the more water you sprinkle upon it, the more it burneth. It was a high expression of Bernard’s affection to those that he took to be the people of God, AdlicEreho vohis eticmisi velitis, etiamsi nolitis; so should we adhere to God now. When you can only wait on him in the way of his mercies, not in the way of his judgments, your waiting and praj’ing is discouraged upon every difficulty and disappointment, you have little love to him.

4. Want of patience, or tarrying God’s leisure till the promise bring forth. Some are hot and hasty; if God will appear presently, they can be content to observe him; but to be crying and crying till their throat be hoarse and weary of crying, and no good come of it, they cannot away with this: “This evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer?” (2 Kings vi. 33.) They are discontented that God maketh them stay so long: though God waited long upon them, and had reason enough to take the discouragement and be gone, yet they cannot tarry a little for God, and think prayer a useless work, unless it yield them a quick return, and that it is better to shift for themselves.

Use. — Reproof to two sorts.

1. To those that cease praying or crying to God, if they have not a present answer, especially if they meet with a contrary rebuke in the course of his providence. You must cry, and cry again, not imagine that God will be at your beck; but foolish men suddenly conclude, “It is in vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?”’ (Mai. iii. 14.) Oh! no; consider something is due to the sovereignty of God, that Ave should wait his leisure; for he is supreme, and w ill govern the world

SERMONS ON PSALM CXIX.

according to his own will, not ours. And therefore we must stay his time for the mercies we expect: “They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert” (Psalm cvi. 13, 14). And something is due to the stated course of his providence; we cannot expect that God should turn all things upsidedown for our sakes, and invert the beautiful order of his dispensations: “Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?” (Job xviii. 4.) Shall God alter the course of nature, or change the order of governing the world, for us, or to please our humour? Something is due for the present estate of mankind, who are not to live by sense, but by faith: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, and it will not tarry. Behold, his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith” (Hab. ii. 3, 4). And that appointed time is for our trial, to see if we, out of duty and principles of faith, can keep up our respects unto God, though his providence doth not presently gratify our desires or satisfy our necessities. Besides, it concerneth us to suspect ourselves, rather than to blemish God’s dispensations: those always complain most of God’s not hearing prayer, who least deserve to be heard: “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” (Isa. lviii. 3 — 5.)

2. That, though they do not cease praying, yet do not pray with any life and hope, because of his delays and seeming denials. There are certain general blessings which we are always praying for, because, though we have them, yet we ought daily to ask them of God; the continuance of them, the sense of them, the increase of them; here never cease praying. There are other particular blessings, that either concern ourselves or the church of God, which we are to ask with earnestness, and yet submission: in these, we put it to the most sensible trial whether God will hear us or no. Now, for these things we must seek the face of God with hope and zeal.

(].) Because it is not enough to keep up the duty, unless we keep up the affections that must accompany the duty: “Continuing instant in prayer” (Rom. xii. 12), -n-pocFKapTEpHVTtc. In long afflictions, men wall pray; but they pray as men out of heart, for fashion’s sake or with little and weak affection; rather satisfying their consciences, than setting a work the power of God.

(2.) A seeming repulse or denial should make us more vehement: as blind Bartimeus, the more they rebuked him, he cried so much the more (Mark x. 48). God suffereth the faith of his servants to be tried with great discouragements; but the more it is opposed, the more should it grow, and the more powerfully and effectually should it work in our hearts; as the palm-tree shooteth up the faster, the more weight is hung upon it; or as fire, the more it is pent up, the more it striveth to break out: there-SERMON CLXIV. YEKSE CXLYI. 2(55

fore we should not only have fresh affections at first, but in every new prayer we should act over our faith again, and put forth spiritual desires anew.

(3.) God’s dearest children are not admitted at the first knock: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Alatt. vii. 7): it may be we have not at first asking, we need seek and knock. Mercj’ doth not come to us in all haste, we ha-ve not at first what we lack; delays are no denials: therefore we must not take the first or second answer, but continue with instance; give the Lord no rest (Isa. lxii. 7). Be importunate with him to hasten the deliverance of his people.

4. “We must not only continue praying, when Christ seemeth to neglect us, or to give no answer, but when he giveth a contrary answer; when he (to appearance) rejecteth our persons and prayers, and seemeth to forbid us to pray. Sometimes he seemeth to neglect us, and pass vis by, as if he took no notice; but yet he heareth when he doth not answer; yea, his not answering is an answer; pray, or continue your prayer. It is said, “He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them; and, about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them” (Mark vi. 48); but yet he came with an intent to appease the storm and help them. Christ taketh notice of the distresses of his people; but they shall not know so much, but he delayeth to help till all their patience be spent, and yet then seemeth to pass by, for their thorough trial and exercise, and to move them more earnestly to pray. Sometimes he giveth them a seeming contrary answer and rebuke; instead of an expression of favour, he seemeth to pursue us in anger. God is the main party against us; we hae to do with an olTended God; but yet we should not quit him, but follow him when he seemeth to forsake us, and fly to him when he is pursuing us in hot displeasure. Such is the admirable power of faith that it dares call on an angry God, and follow him when he goeth away from us, and lay hold on him when he smiteth, and cast itself into his arms in the midst of his rebukes and frowns: “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet will I look again toward thy holy temple” (Jonah ii. 4). God seemeth to cast us off, as those he will not favour or care for, which is a great trouble to a child of God, who liveth by his favour, and valueth that above all things else. Now, for such a one to be rejected by God in his Own sense and feeling, it goeth near his heart; yet, in such a case, we should not cast away our confidence, nor give over all addresses to God, but yet look to him and wait upon him.

5. Whether God answereth or no, it is the duty of faith to answer itself. The answer of his providence is not so sure as the answer of his word, and that faith hath to do with. See Psalm vi. 4, “Return, O Lord, deliver my soul; oh! save me, for thy mercies’ sake.” Compare verses 8,9: “The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping; the Lord halh heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.” When trembling for fear of wrath, yet in prayer his heart groweth confident as if it had received news of an answer from Heaven: “Attend unto me, and hear me” (Psalm Iv. 2); compared with verse 19, “God shall hear, and afflict them.” He is confident of it, that the prayer should not miscarry: so,” Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God; defend me from them that rise up against me; deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody

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men “(Psalm lix, 1,2); “The God of my mercy shall prevent me; God shall let me see my desu-e upon mine enemies” (verse 10). Faith sees its own deliverance in the promise and all-sufficiency of God: when we have prayed according to God’s will, we should take our prayer for granted, and leave it lying at God’s feet: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John V. 14). God’s delay is not always an argument of his hatred, but some more glorious purpose, which is to be helped on by prayer: “When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was ‘” (John xi. 6),

I observe again that he not only repeateth his prayer, but reneweth the promise of obedience; to show that it was no vanishing notion, but a settled conclusion. As Christ maketh Peter profess his love thrice to engage him the more (John xxi), so David, “I will keep thy statutes;” and again, “I shall keep thy testimonies;”’ as if he had said, ‘Indeed, Lord, I will; it is the settled purpose of my heart to return to thee in the sincere obedience of my whole life.’ The note is, —

Doctrine II. — That purposes and promises of obedience should not be slightly made, but with the greatest advertency and seriousness of mind.

1st, Because we are usually too slight in devoting ourselves to God: “Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak vmto thee, and we will hear it and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken. Oh! that thei-e were such a heart in them; that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever” (Deut. v. 27 — 29). The Israelites, again, when Joshua puts them to the question whether they would serve the Lord or other gods, “Therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God; and Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God” (Joshua xxiv. 18, 19). What is the reason men are so slight? Partly, because they measure their strength by the present pang of deotion that is upon them, not considering the latent principle of sin, and that proneness to transgress that is in their hearts. Partly, they take up duty by the lump, and the general bulk and view of it, without sitting down and counting the charges as Christ advises (Luke xiv.), whether they can be content to bear difficulties, renounce lusts, crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof. A foolish builder doth not think of storms (Matt, vii.): if his building stand for the present, he is satisfied. Partly, because men will promise God fair, to be rid of the present anguish and troubles; yield to anything, to be out of the present danger; but, when they are out, they seldom regard the vows of their distress; as those, Psalm lxxviii. 34 — 37, made great promises, but “their heart was not right with [God], neither were they steadfast in his covenant.” Partly, too, when they are out of a temptation, and lusts are not stirring, they are other men than when in temptation, and so think all will be easy.

2ndly, Because the natuie of the work calleth for advertency and seriousness; because it is a work of the greatest moment, and so must be done with the greatest deliberation. This devoting ourselves to God both cntitlcth us to all the comforts of Christianity, and engageth us to all the duties of it. It entitles us to all the comforts; you enter j-oursolves heirs to the covenant of grace, -when you enter into the bond of the holy oath, or give your hand to the Lord to be his people: “All things are yours,” because “ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23). If you have owned Christ as your dearest Saviour and sovereign Lord, with love, thankfulness, and subjection, and given him the supreme command of your souls, then you are Christ’s, and God is yours, and all things yours: glory and salvation shall be yours in the world to come; grace, help, maintenance, ordinances, and providences, shall be yours in the present world; and death, as the connection between the two worlds, as the passage out of the one into the other, shall be yours also. It is also the beginning and foundation of all obedience; and, if this were once seriously and heartily done, other things would succeed the more easily. He that is indeed God’s, will use himself for God’s glory and service; and God shall have a share in all that he hath and doth: “None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. xiv. 7, 8). They came off so freely: “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” (2 Cor. viii. 5). This enliveneth our whole work; it is no hard matter to persuade them that have given up themselves to God, to part with anything for God’s use.

3rdly, Because of the danger both in regard of sin and judgment, if we do it not aright.

1. In regard of sin, rash and sudden engagements are seldom sound. The stony ground received the word with joy, and forthwith the good seed sprang up; but the blade soon withered (Matt. xiii. 20, 21 ). Usually, sudden undertakings are accompanied with faint and feeble prosecutions; and, though men are warm and passionate for the present, within a while it Cometh to nothing: all their promises are broken, as tow is burnt in the fire.

2. In regard of judgment. Every consecration iraplieth an execration. If you break with God after you have engaged yourselves to him, your condition is worse: it aggravateth every deliberate sin, and hastens judgment; for God will avenge the quarrel of his covenant (Lev. xxvi. 25). Better never begin, or the word pass out of your mouths, or thought enter into your heart, unless you be sincere, mean as you say. It is dangerous to alienate things once consecrated; this is the worst kind of sacrilege, that shall not go unpunished.

Use. — You see, then, what seriousness we should use in devoting ourselves to God, or promising obedience to him.

1. Remember the weakness of a creature, that you may resohe in God’s strength.

2. Consider incident temptations, whether anything be likely to shake you in your covenanted course, that you may arm j-ourselves against it.

3. Consider your more particular affections, where the business is likely to stick most; there are tender parts.

4. Consider the weight and importance of subjection: he will not be contented with a little religiousness by-the-by; but you must love him with all your heart and all your soul, and serve him with all your might.

5. Consider the strength of your resolution, that you be irrevocably and everlastingly put under the sovereignty and couunand of God. Thus do, and you will find success and comfort in your deed.

Now to the words themselves. There is first an intimation of a prayer; where, —

1. The vehemency, “I cried.”

2. The object or person to whom, “To thee.”

“I cried;” David keepeth up his fervour. What crying in prayer is, I have shown in the former ^erse; I shall observe now, —

DocTKiNE III. — That great trouble and sense of danger puts an edge upon prayer, and kindleth our affection in it.

When Israel was under sore bondage, God saith, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry “(Exod. iii. 7). Afflictions make us cry in prayer, not only speak. An oi’dinary afiection is vox orationis, it speaketh to God in prayer; but a vehement affection is clamor orationis, the cry of prayer. Ordinary prayers speak to God; but earnest prayers cry to God: and, though remiss and cold wishes vanish in the air, yet strong cries pierce the heavens. They have a shrill accent, and cannot be kept out from God: “The children of Israel cried unto the Lord; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron” (Judg. iv. 3). So Judg. vi. 7, they cried to the Lord because of the Midianites, who came up as grasshoppers. David, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears” (Psalm xviii. 6). He prayed not seldom, but often and frequently; not slackly, but with fervency and earnestness.

1. Affliction will teach men to pray that never prayed before. The rude mariners in a storm called every man upon his god (Jonah i. 5): Qui nescit orarc, discat navigare. Those that neglect God at other times, as if they had no need of him, or pray fainth’, are then glad to seek to him for succour and safety: “When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God” (Psalm lxxviii. 34). The natural principle of fear of death, and love of self-preservation, puts them upon it. So, “In the time of their trouble they will say. Arise and save us” (Jer. ii. 27); “And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying. We have sinned against thee” ( Judg. x. 10); and, “Go, and cry unto the gods that ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” (verse 14).

2. Good ones, that prayed before, will pray better and oftener, and with greater seriousness. Therefore God puts his own in straits to quicken their affections: “Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer, when thy chastening was upon them” (Isa. xxvi. 16). So, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their ofience, and seek ray face; in their affliction, they will seek me early” (Hos. v. 15). When we are pressed hard on all sides, then the throne of grace is more frequented; we are driven to it. Joab would not come at Absalom’s call, till he set his barley-field on fire.

Use I. — Be content to be cast into such an estate, that jou may learn to pray: for, alas! we are but cursory at other times; but then, our necessities whip us to the throne of grace, that was set up for a time of need. Then is a time to put promises in suit, to make use of our interest in God. We misexpound the voice of God“s providence; we expound troubles to be his casting olT, putting us from him; they are his voice calling, his hand pulling us to him: it is a time of drawing nigh, we are allowed: “Call upon me in the day of trouble” (Psalm 1. 15). The day of trouble is the fruit of sin, a part of the old curse; when we think him, feci him an enemy, he is drawing us nearer to him. Blessed season to bring God and you together! When our troubles chase us to the throne of grace, God is not wholly gone; he hath left somewhat behind him to draw us to himself.

Use II. — It reproveth them that neglect God in their troubles: “All this evil is come upon us; yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God” (Dan. ix. 13). You defer the dispensation: now you should make up your former negligence; unprofitableness under the rod is an ill presage, when God sends a tempest after us. Oh! how frequent and earnest should we be in the practice of this duty!

1. This is a time jiroper for it. Prayer is a duty never out of season, though some seasons are proper and solemn to it. God is always to be prayed unto (Job xxvii. 10). When freed from trouble and inconvenience, we are not freed from prayer; still we must profess dependence, subjection, and maintain our communion; but this is a special season: “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray” (James v. 13).

2. Though afflictions drive us to the throne of grace, yet, if we come seriously and heartily, we are not unwelcome to him: those very prayers which necessity doth extort from us, are accepted by God, and valued by him, as an acceptable piece of worship: therefoi-e such as look toward God, ought not to be discouraged, though afflictions drive them to it, though they sought him not before, or not in good earnest before; provided that always they find other errands, and be careful to maintain a constant communion with him. Most that are acquainted with God, are taken in the briers: Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh, had never heard of many, if their necessities had not brought them to him: their palsies, and possessions, and fevers, deafness, dumbness; thanks to these, as their awakening occasions. A man will say, You come to me in your necessity; God is willing to receive us upon any terms.

3. How desperate in appearance soever our condition seem to be, yet crying will bring relief; or help may be found in God for them that cry to him. When they cried, “the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz” ( Judg. iii. 9); “But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera” (Judg. iii. 15). So Psalm evii., frequently.

From that, “Unto thee,” —

Doctrine IV. — In our troubles, we must have recourse to God, and sue to him by prayer and supplication for help and deliverance in due time.

1. Because he is the author of our trouble. In mercies and afflictions, our business lieth not with men, but God; by humble dealing with him, we stop wrath at the fountain-head: he that bindeth us, must loose us; he is at the upper end of causes, and, whoever be the instruments of our trouble, and how malicious soever, God is the party with whom we are to make our peace; for he hath the absolute disposal of all creatures, and will have us to acknowledge the dominion of his providence and our dependence upon hira. In treaties of peace between two warring parties, the address is not made to private soldiers, but to their chief: “The Lord hath taken away,” saith Job; “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” (xxxiv. 27.)

2. He challengeth this prerogative, to be the God of salvation: “Salvation belongeth unto the Lord”’ (Psalm iii. 8); and therefore, if we would be saved, we must seek it of him. Others cannot help, if he help not; for he hath all means, and creatures, and second causes, at his command: if we lean to means, they may fail; but, if we j-ely upon God, he will never fail. Therefore whatever means God offereth for our help, prayer to God is the best means, and first to be used.

3. There is comfort in dealing with God, whatever our case be. (1.) Because of his all-sufficient power. (2.) Because of his goodwill and readiness to help.

(I.) Because of his power and all-sufficiency, so that he hath ways of deliverance more than we know of, and can save his own, when men do count their case desperate: “There is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (Dan. iii. 29). Let the strait be never so great, the burden heavy, and the creature weak, and at a desperate loss, yet God can find out ways and means to do his people good.

(2.) For his goodwill and readiness to hear: “O thou that hearest prayer! unto thee shall all flesh come” (Psalm lxv. 2). The readiness of God to hear prayer, doth open a door of access to all people who are sensible of their burdens and necessities. He hath ever showed himself ready to hear the cries and groans of his people; and wo be to them against whom they cried! “They cried unto thee, and were delivered” (Psalm xxii. 5). Their cries and groans are not hid from him, and cannot be shut out: “Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry” (Psalm cvi. 44).

Use L — To reprove divers sorts.

1. Some seek to help themselves by impatiency, fretting, unquiet behaviour in their troubles; this doth increase their misery. Go, pour out your hearts before the Lord, that giveth ease: “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus” (Phil. iv. 6, 7). Your wrestling with trouble within yourselves doth but embroil you the more.

2. Some trust in outward helps, seek to men and means: as Asa to the physicians, not to the Lord (2 Chron. xvi. 12), It is not unlawful to use means; but we must depend upon the Lord for the blessing. Seek to him first; otherwise, looking to man proveth a snare many ways, as it tempts us to comply with their lusts, to neglect God; maketh way for the greater sorrow in disappointment. The creature is vain in itself, made more vain by our confidence: “Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man” (Psalm Ix. II). You will be brought to it at last. The more earnestly we seek God, the more confidence we may have of the creature.

Use II. — To inform us of the privilege and duty of the godly.

1. Their privilege; they have a God to go to. The worldly man sigheth and crieth, he knoweth not to whom; but the godly man presenteth himself in his lamentations to God: “My friends scorn me; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God” (Job xvi. 20). He hath a Father in secret, a friend in a corner. They need not go to men, nor to saints and angels; they have God himself, and can challenge him by his oflice, as the Judge of the world, to help poor creatures: “Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud” (Psalm xciv. 2). Yea, by

SE^OI0^’ cLxiv. — yekse cxlvi. 271

his peculiar relation to them: “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my king and my God; for unto thee will I pray” (Psalm v. 2). They do not cry unto him as a stranger, but one in covenant relation with them.

2. Their duty to make God their guardian and saviour in all their distress, when in their own sense they are near perishing: “Lord, save us; we perish” (Matt. viii. 25); “Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand; that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only” (2 Kings xix. 19). When they have a good cause and a good conscience, this they may do, and this they ought to do, and they will have comfort in it.

The last thing which I shall observe is, —

Doctrine V. — That prayer for deliverance should be accompanied with serious purposes of obedience. Then, saith David, “I shall keep thy testimonies.”

1. Because this is the best expression of gratitude and thankfulness. I take it for granted that every mercy from God deserveth a thankful return on the creature’s part: as we expect a return of our prayers, so God expecteth a return of his mercies; and therefore we should be as careful to give him what he requireth, as we are careful to seek of him that which we need; for, even in our commerce with God, there is ratio clatl et accepti. I presume again, that there is no such expression of thankfulness as obedience. Verbal thanks are but a cold return: thanks-doing is the best thanksgiving: “Whoso ofFereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God” (Psalm 1. 23). Yea, once more, that we should think of this aforehand; while we are asking the mercy in our distress, we should engage ourselves to glorify God both in word and deed. Again, the time that we have our mercies for: in affliction, we consider and are more serious; and afterwards we should keep the conscience of our obligation.

2. It is a sign the rod hath done its work; and then it will be gone, when it hath convinced you of former failings, and put you upon serious purposes: “Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more” (Job xxxiv. 31, 32). Otherwise, what we ask of temporal mercy, is either denied us, or we get it in wrath.

3. You have a true notion of deliverance, you look upon it as an engaging mercy: therefore, if God alter your condition, you are bound to serve him. The end of our great deliverance is service: “That he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (Luke i. 74, 75). All deliverances out of straits, are branches and appendices of the great redemption of our souls unto eternal life, and have the same end and use: “That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Psalm cv. 45). That is the end of all deliverance out of trouble, to engage the hearts of his people to obedience; heart to serve him, opportunity to serve him.

4. A gracious heart desireth nothing to himself alone, and cannot be content to have the use of any benefit to himself only, but eyes God in all his enjoyments and all his requests: therefore his great aim is that he may be in the better condition to keep God’s commandments; for they live unto God: “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself; for, whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. xiv. 7, 8). In every state, they would be unto God what they are when they seek to be delivered: it is that they may be in the better condition and capacity to serve God, and have more opportunities to glorify his name.

Use. — To persuade us to seek deliverance with these aims.

1. This is the temper of the people of God. That which urgeth to prayer, is his glory; that which is their scope, is his service. It is seen, partly, by the secret workings and purposes of their souls; what they do with their mercies when they have them; what they please themselves with in the supposition of obtaining them. What is it with? The satisfying of their revenge, providing for their families, living in pomp and ease; or that they may serve God? “When I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly” (Psalm lxxv. 2); if ever God give an opportunity again. And partly, by the preparations: they are afraid of a treacherous heart, therefore fitting themselves to enjoy the mercy before they have it, as the Apostle learned to abound (Phil. iv. 1 1, 12). Partly, by the arguments they urge in prayer: “Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of foigetfulness?” (Psalm lxxxviii. 10 — 12.) So, “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise” (Psalm cvi. 47). A true believer would have comfort, not for his own satisfaction, but to glorify God.

2. Then we are sure to speed, when our end is right: “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James iv. 3). We may speak it with confidence, our prayers miscarry for want of a right end.

3. The equity of this: God heai’s us, that we should hear him.