Waiting on God Only

We have seen what is the duty intended in the proposition, that God is the proper object of the soul’s waiting in its distresses and depths. We are next to consider the reason of it: why this is the first and principal duty of souls who in their depths have it discovered unto them that there is forgiveness with God; and the reason is, as expressed in our second observation above.

That the proper object of a sin-distressed soul’s waiting and expectation, is God udiself as revealed in Christ. I have, saith the Psalmist, waited for Jehovah: it is not this or that mercy or grace, this or that help or relief J but it is Jehovah himself that I wait for. And here we must show in what sense God himself is the object of the waiting soul j and then how it appears that waiting on him is so necessary a duty.

It is not grace, mercy, or relief absolutely considered, but the God of oil grace that is the full adequate object of the soul’s waiting and expectation; only herein he is not considered absolutely in his own nature, but as there is forgiveness with him through Jesus Christ. As in him he hath found a ransom, and accepted the atonement for sinners in his blood j as he is a God ia covenant, so he is himself the object of our desire.

All troubles, depths, entanglements, arise from the absence of God from the soul j and from his displeasure.

The absence of God from the souly by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally casts it into depths: “Wo unto them,’* saith the Lord,” when I depart from them.” Hos. 9: 12. And this wo, this sorrow attends not only a universal, a total departure of God from the soul, but a departure which is gradual or partial in some things, in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightening, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any ways or means whereby he hath formerly communicated himself unto the souls of any, then wo to them, sorrow comes upon them, and they fall into depths and entanglements. Now, this condition calls for earnest waiting on God. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return 1 So saith the prophet: “I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of .Jacob, and I will look for him.” Isaiah, 8: 17. If God hide himself, this is the natural and proper duty of the soul, to wait and to look for him: other courses of relief it cannot apply itself to. What that waiting is, and in what it consists, has been shown. Patient seeking of God in the ways of his appointment, is comprised in it: this the prophet expresses in that saying, “I will look for himj” it is indeed the same in the original with that in the psalm: ‘’ I will earnestly look out after him, with expectation of his return unto me.”

Ji sense of GotTs displeasure is another cause of these depths and troubles, and of the continuance of the soul in them, notwithstanding it has made a blessed discovery by faith, that there is with him forgiveness. It all has respect to sin; and the reason of the trouble that arises from sin, is because of the displeasure of God against it. What then is the proper posture and frame of the sinner towards God as displeased] Shall he contend with him 1 shall he harden himself against him % shall he despise his wrath and contemn his threatcningsl or shall he hide himself from him, so to avoid the effects of his wrath’? Who knows not how ruinous and pernicious to the soul such courses would be, and how many are ruined by them every day 1 Patient waiting on him is the soul’s only resource.

This duty flows also from the greatness and sovereignly of Him with whom we have to do: “My soul waiteth for Jehovah.” Indeed, waiting is a duty that depends on the distance between the :persons concerned in it, namely, he that waiteth and he that is waited on; so the Psalmist teaches us. Psalm 123: 2. And the greats this distance is, the more cogent are the reasons of the duty on all occasions. And because we are practically averse to the performance of this duty, or at least quickly grow weary of it, notwithstanding our full con-Forgivenoss. !• victions of its necessity, I shall a little insist on some such considerations of God and ourselves as may not only evince the necessity of this duty, but so satisfy us of its reasonableness that we may be engaged to it and preserved in it.

Two things to this purpose we may consider in God, in Jehovah, whom we are to wait for: 1. His being, and the absolute and essential properties of his nature; 2. Those attributes of his nature which respect his dealing with us; both which are suited to beget in us affections and a frame of spirit according with the duty proposed.

I. Let us consider the glorious Being of Jeliovahy with his absolute incommunicable essential excellences; and then try whether it does not become us in every condition to wait for him, and especially in that under consideration. This course God himself took with Job to recover him from his discontents and complaints, to reduce him to quietness and waiting. He sets before him his own glorious greatness as manifested in the works of his power, that thereby, being convinced of his o’n ignorance, weakness and infinite distance in all things from him, he might humble his soul into the most submissive dependence on him and waiting for him. And such was the result: “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job, 42: 6. His soul now comes to be willing to be at God’s disposal, and therein he found present rest and a speedy healing of his condition. It is the “high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,” Isa. 57: 15, with whom we have to do: he that “sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants of it are as grasshoppers before him; yea, the nations are as the drop of the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: he taketh up the isles as a very little thing; all nations before him are as nothing, they are counted unto him less than nothing, and vanity.” Isa. 40: 15, 17, 22. To what end doth the Lord thus set forth and declare his glorious greatness and power 1 It is that all might be brought to trust in him and wait for him, as at large declared in the close of the chapter. For shall grasshoppers, a drop of the bucket, dust of the’ balance, things less than nothing, repine against or wax weary of the will of the immense, glorious and lofty One 1 He that taketh up the isles as a very little thing may surely, if he please, destroy or forsake one isle, one city in an isle, one person in a city; and we are before him but single persons.

Serious thoughts of this infinite, all-glorious Being, will either quiet our souls or overwhelm them. All our weariness of his dispensations towards us arises from secret imaginings that he is such a one as ourselves j one that is to do nothing but what seems good irf our eyes. But if we cannot comprehend his being, we cannot make rules to judge of his ways and proceedings. And how small a portion is it that we know of God! The nearest approaches of our reason and imagination leave us still at an infinite distance from him; and indeed we know not well the import of what we speak of his greatness; we only declare our respect to that which we believe and adore, but are not able to comprehend. All our thoughts come as far short of his excellent greatness as our natures do of his — that is, infinitely. Behold the universe, the glorious fabric of heaven and earth! how little is it that we know of its beauty, order and design! yet was it all the product of the word of his mouth; and with the same facility can he, when he pleaseth, reduce it to its primitive nothing. And what are we poor worms of the earth, an inconsiderable unknown part of the lower series and order of the works of his hands, few in number, fading in condition, disregarded even by most of our fellow-creatures, that we should withdraw ourselves from under his dealings with us, or be weary of waiting for his pleasure! This he presses on us: ‘’ Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46: 10. Let there be no more repinings, no more disputings; continue waiting in silence and patience j consider who 1 am: ‘’Be still, and know that I am God.”

Further, to help us in this consideration, let us direct our minds towards some of the glorious, essential, incommunicable properties of his nature distinctly: as,

1. His eternity. This Moses proposes, to bring the souls of believers to submission, trust and waiting: “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” Psalm 90: 2. One that hath his being and subsistence, not in a duration of time, but in eternity itself. So doth Habbakkuk also: “My Lord, my God, my holy One, art thou not from everlasting V Hab. 1: 12. And hence he draws his conclusion against making haste in any condition, and for tarrying and waiting for God. The like consideration is managed by David also. Psalm 102: 27. How inconceivable is this glorious, divine property to the thoughts and minds of men! how weak are the ways and terms whereby they go about to express it!

One says, it is a nunc stans ;* another, that it is a perpetual duration. He that says most only signifies what he knows of what it is not. We are of yesterday, change every moment, and are leaving our station to-morrow. God is still the same from eternity. And now I cannot conceive what I have said, but only have intimated what I adore. The whole*duration of the world, from the beginning unto the end, takes up no space.in this eternity of God: for how long soever it hath continued or may yet continue, it will all amount but to so many thousand years — so long a time, and time hath no place in eternity. And for us who have in this matter to do with God, what is our continuance to that of the world a moment, as it were, in comparison. When men’s lives were of old prolonged beyond the continuance of empires or kingdoms now, yet this was the winding up of all — such an one lived so many years,” and he died.’* Gen. 5. And what are we poor worms, whose lives are measured by inches, in comparison of their span 1 what are we before the eternal God, God always immutably subsisting in his own infinite being 1 A real consideration of these things will subdue the soul into a condition of dependence on him, and of waiting for him.

2. The immensity of his essence, and his omnipresence should be in like manner considered. “Do not I fill heaven and earth 1 saith the Lord.” Jer. 23: 24. ‘’ The heavens, even the heaven of heavens,” the supreme and most comprehensive created thing, cannot contain him, saith Solomon. In his infinitely glorious being he is present with all places, things, times, all the works of

* Now remaining, continuing as before.

his hands j and is no less gloriously subsisting where they are not. God is where heaven and earth are not, no less than where they are; where there is no place, no space, real or imaginary, God is, for place and imagination have nothing to do with immensity; and he is present every where in the creation: where I am writing, where you are reading; he is present with you. The thoughts of men’s hearts for the most part are, that God, as to his essence, is in heaven only: and it is well if some think he is there, seeing they live and act as if there were neither God nor devil but themselves. But, on these apprehensions, such thoughts are ready secretly to arise and effectually to prevail, as are expressed, “How doth God know 1 can he judge through the dark 1 Thick clouds are as a covering unto him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of the heavens.” Job, 22: 13, 14. Apprehensions of God’s distance from men harden them in their ways: but he is 11 around them; God is every where; and a man may, on all occasions, say with Jacob, “God is in this place, and I knew it not.” Let the soul, then, who is thus called to wait on God, exercise itself with thoughts about this immensity of his nature and being. Comprehend it, fully understand it we never can; but the consideration of it will impress such awe of his greatness upon our hearts that we shall learn to tremble before him, and be willing to wait for him in all things.

3. Thoughts of the holiness of God, or the infinite purity of this eternal immense Being, are singularly useful to the same end. This is what Eliphaz affirms that he received by vision, to reply to the complaint and impatience of Job. After he has declared his vision with the manner of it, this he affirms to be the revelation that by voice was made to him: “Shall mortal man be more just than Godl shall a man be more pure than his Maker 1 Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants, and his angels he chargeth with folly. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!” Job, 4: 12-19. If the saints and angels in heaven do not answer this infinite holiness of God in their most perfect condition, is it meet for worms of the earth to suppose that any thing which proceeds from him is not absolutely holy and perfect, and so best for them 1 This is the fiery property of the nature of God, whence he is called a consuming fire, and everlasting burnings: and the law, on which he hath impressed some representation of it, is called a fiery law, as that which will consume and burn up whatever is perverse and evil. Hence the prophet, who had a representation of the glory of Ggd in a vision, and heard the seraphim proclaiming his holiness, cried out, “Wo is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah, 6:5. He thought it impossible that he should bear that near approach of the holiness of God. And with the remembrance of this Joshua stilled the people with the terror of the Lord. Joshua, 24: 19. Let such souls, then, as are under troubles and perplexities on any account, endeavor to exercise their thoughts about this infinite purity and holiness of God; they will quickly find it their wisdom to become as weaned children before him, and content themselves with what he shall guide them to, which is to wait for him. This fiery holiness streams from his throne, Dan. 7: 10, and would quickly consume the whole creation, as now under the curse and sin, were it not for the interposing of Jesus Christ.

4. His glorious majesty as the Ruler of all the world. Majesty relates to government, and it calls us to such an awe of him as renders our waiting for him comely and necessary. God’s throne is said to be in heaven, and there principally do the glorious beams of his terrible majesty shine forth. But he has also made some representation of it on the earth, that we might learn to fear before him. Such was the appearance of his glory in the giving of the law, whereby he will judge the world, and condemn the transgressors of it, who obtain not an acquittance in the blood of Jesus Christ. See the description of it in Exod. 19: 16, 18. “So terrible was the sight hereof, that Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” Heb. 12; 21. And what effect it had upon all the people is declared, Exod. 20: 18, 19. They were not able to bear it, although thqjr had good assurance that it was for their benefit that he so drew nigh and manifested his glory to them.

Are we not satisfied with our condition? cannot we wait under his present dispensations’? Let us think how we may approach his presence, or stand. before his glorious majesty. Will not the dread of his excellency fall upon us 1 Will not his terror make us afraid 1 Shall we not think his way best, and his time best, and that our duty is to be silent before him 1 And such manifestation has he made of his glory, as the great Judge of all, on the throne, to sundry of the prophets j as to Isaiah, chap. 6: 1-4; to Ezekiel, chap. 1 j to Daniel, chap. 7: 9, 10 J to John, Rev. 1. Read these places attentively, and learn to tremble before him. These are not things that are foreign to us. This God is our God. The same throne of his greatness and majesty is still established in the heavens. Let us, then, in the hastes and heats to which our spirits in any condition are prone, present ourselves before this throne of God, and then consider what will be best for us to say or do j what frame of heart and spirit will become us, and be safest for us. All this glory encompasses us every moment, though we perceive it not. And it will be but a few days before all the veils and shades that are about us shall be taken away and depart. And then shall all this glory appear to us, to our endless bliss or everlasting wo. Let us therefore know, that nothing in our dealings with him doth better become us, than silently to wait for him, and for what he will speak to us in our depths and straits.

5. It is good to consider the illustrations God has given of his infinite greatness, power, majesty and glory. Such was his mighty work of creating all things out of nothing. We dwell on molehills in the earth, and yet we know but the least part of the excellency of that spot of ground which is given us for our habitation here below. But what is it to the whole habitable world, and the fulness thereof! And what an amazing thing is its greatness, with the wide and large sea, and all sorts of creatures therein! The least of these hath a beauty, a glory, an excellency, that the utmost of our inquiries end in admiring. And all this is but the earth, the lower depressed part of the creation. What shall we say concerning the heavens over us, and all those creatures of light that have their habitation in themi Who can couceive their beauty, order, use, and course X The consideration hereof caused the Psalmist to cry out, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent and glorious art thou!” Psalm 8: 1. And what is the rise, spring, and cause of these things 1 Are they not all the effect of the word of the power of this glorious Godi And doth he not in them, and by them, speak us into a reverence of his greatness 1

The same also may be said concerning the mighty and strange works of Providence in the rule of the world. Is not this he who brought the flood of old upon the world of ungodly men 1 Is not this he who consumed Sodom and Gonlorrah with fire from heaven, setting them forth as examples to those that should afterwards live ungodly, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire 1 Is it not he who destroyed Egypt with his plagues, and drowned Pharaoh with his host in the Ked Seal Is it not he, one of whose servants slew a hundred and fourscore and five thousand in Sennacherib’s army in one night 1 who opened the earth to swallow up Dathan and Abirami and sent out fire from the altar to devour Nadab and Abihul And have not all ages been filled with such instances of his greatness and power 1

The end why I have insisted on these things, is to show the reasonableness of the duty we are pressing: to wait on God quietly and patiently in every condition of distress. For what else becomes us when we have to do with this great and holy One %

II. This waiting for God respects the whole of the condition expressed in the psalm j and this contains not only spiritual depths about sin, of which we have largely spoken, but also providential depths, depths of trouble or affliction, that we may be exercised with in the holy, wise providence of God. In reference also to these, waiting in patience and silence is our duty.

And there are two considerations that will assist us in this duty when in depths of trouble or affliction. And the first of these is, the consideration of those attributes of God which he exercises in an especial manner in all his dealings with us, and which in all our troubles we are principally to regard. The second is, the consideration of ourselves, what we are, and what we have deserved.

Let us begin with the attributes of God displayed

TOWARD us.

1. His sovereignty. This he declares, this we are to acknowledge and submit to, in all the great and dreadful dispensations of his providence in his dealings with our souls. May he not do what he will with his own? Who shall say unto him, What doest thou? Or if men will do so, what shall give them countenance in their so doing] He made all this world of nothing, and could have made all things quite otherwise than they are. It would not subsist one moment without his omnipotent support. Nothing would be continued in its place, course or use, without his effectual influence. If any thing can be, live, or act a moment without him, we may take free leave to dispute its disposal with him, and haste to the accomplishment of our desires; but, from the angels irt heaven to the worms of the earth and the grass of the field, all depend on him and his power continually. Why was this part of the creation an angel, that a worm, this a man, that a brute 1 Is it from their own choice, designing or contrivance, or brought about by their own wisdom 1 Or is it merely from the sovereign pleasure and will of God ] And what madness it is to repine against what he does, seeing all things are as he makes them, and disposes them j nor can be otherwise: even the repiner himself has his being and subsistence upon his mere pleasure.

This sovereignty of God Elihu pleads in his dealing with Job, chap. 33:8-11. He apprehended that Job had reasoned against God’s severe dispensations towards him, and that he did not humble himself under his mighty hand wherewith he was exercised, nor wait for him in a due manner; and therefore what does he propose to him to bring him to his duty! what does be reply to his reasonings and complaints 1 “Behold in this thou art not just: I will answer thee; God is greater than man.” ver. 12. “Why dost thou strive against him ‘? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.” ver. 13. *^Be it that in other things thou art just and innocent, that thou art free from the things wherewith thy friends have charged thee j yet in this thou art not just; it is neither just nor equal that any man should complain of, or repine against any of God’s dispensations: yea, I will suppose these dealings of God are very grievous, very dreadful, such as he has, it may be, scarcely exercised towards any from the foundation of the world; to be utterly destroyed and consumed in a day, in all relations and enjoyments, and that at a time when no such thing was looked for or provided against; to have a sense of sin revived on the conscience after pardon obtained, be the affliction what it may, yet if

WAITING ON GOI>* y7

thou complainest, thou art not just.” And what reason does he give 1 Why, God is greater than man; infinitely so, in power and sovereign glory; he is so absolute that he giveth no account of any of his matters; and what folly, what injustice is it to complain of his proceedings! Consider his absolute dominion over the works of his hands, over thyself and all that thou hast; his infinite distance from thee, and greatness above thee, and then see whether it be just or not to repine against what he doeth. And he presses the same considerations in chap. 34: 18, 19. If, when kings and princes rule in righteousness, it is a contempt of their authority to say to them they are wicked and ungodly, wilt thou then speak against him, contend with him “that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of his hands 1” And ver. 29. ‘’When he giveth quietness, who can make trouble 1 and when he hideth his face, who can behold him 1 whether it be done against a nation or against a man only.” Whatever God doeth, and towards whomsoever, be they many or few, a whole nation or city, or one single person, be they high or low, rich or poor, good or bad, ail are the works of his hands j and he may deal with them as seems good unto him. And this man alone, as God afterwards declares, made use of the right and proper means to take off Job from complaining, to compose his spirit to rest and peace, and to bring him to wait patiently for God: for whereas his other friends injuriously charged him with hypocrisy, and that he had in an especial manner above other men deserved those judgments of God which he was exercised with j he who was conscious of his own integrity was only provoked and exasperated by their arguings, and stirred up to plead his own uprightness. But this man, allowing him the plea of his integrity, calls him to the consideration of the greatness and sovereignty of God, against which there is no rising up. And to this God himself afterwards calls him.

Deep and serious thoughts of God’s sovereignty and absolute dominion or authority over all the works of his hands, are effectual means to bring the soul to this duty. Yea, this is that which we are to bring our souls to. Let us consider with whom we have to do; are not we and all our concerns in his hands, as the clay in the hand of the potter 1 and may he not do what he will with his own 1 shall we call him to an account 1 is not what he does good and holy, because he does it 1 Do any repining thoughts against the works of God arise in our hearts 1 are any complaints ready to break out of our mouths 1 Let us lay our hands on our hearts, and our mouths in the dust, with thoughts of his greatness and absolute sovereignty, and it will work our whole souls into a better frame.

And this extends to the manner, time, and season of all things whatever. As in earthly things; if God will bring a dreadful judgment of fire upon a people, a nation: Ah! why must it be London 1 If on London, why so terrible, raging, and unconquerable I why the city, not the suburbs 1 why my house, not my neighbor’s 1 why had such a one help, and I none 1 All these things are wholly to be referred to God’s sovereign pleasure; there alone can the soul of man find rest and peace. It is so in spiritual dispensations also.

Thus Aaron, on the sudden death of his two eldest sons, being reminded by Moses of God’s sovereignty and holiness, immediately held his peace, or quietly humbled himself under his mighty hand. Lev. 10; 3, 4. And David, when things were brought into extreme confusion by the rebellion of Absalom, followed by the ungodly multitude of the whole nation, relinquishes all other arguments and pleas and complaints in a resignation of himself and all his concerns to the absolute pleasure of God. 2 Sam. 15: 25, 26. To this in all our extremities must we bring our souls before we can attain any rest or peace, or the least comfortable persuasion that we may not yet fall under greater severities in the just indignation of God against us.

2. The wisdom of God is also to be considered and submitted to. *’ He is wise in heart; who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered V Job, 9: 4. This the prophet joins with his greatness and sovereignty. Isaiah, 40: 12-14. “There is no searching of his understanding.” ver. 28. And the apostle closes all his consideration of the works of God in a holy admiration of his knowledge and wisdom, whence his judgment becomes “unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.” Rom. 11: 33, 34. He seeth and knoweth all things, in all their causes, effects, consequences and circumstances, in their utmost reach and tendency, in their correspondences one to another, and suitableness to his own glory, and so alone judgeth aright of all things. The wisest of men, as David speaks, walk in a shade. We see little, we know little, and that but of a very few things, and in an imperfect manner; and of their present appearances, abstracted from their ends, and relations to other things. And if we would be further wise in the works of God, we shall be found to be like the wild ass’s colt. What is good for us or the church of God, what is evil to it or us, we know not at all; but all things are open and naked to God.

The day will come, indeed, in which we shall have such a prospect of the works of God, see one thing so set against another as to find goodness, beauty, and order in them all j that they were all done in number, weight, and measure; that nothing could have been otherwise, without an abridgment of his glory and the disadvantage of them that believe in him. But for the present all our wisdom consists in referring all to him. He who does these things is infinitely wise; he knows what he does, and why, and what will be the end of all. We are apt, it may be, to think at such seasons that all things will go to wreck in respect to ourselves, the church, or the whole world: how can this breach be repaired, this loss made up, this ruin recovered! Peace is gone, trade is gone, our substance is gone, the church is gone, all is gone, confusion and utter desolation lie at the door. If a man who is unskilled and ijiexperienced should be at sea, it may be, every time the vessel seems to decline on either side he would be apt to conceive they should be all cast away; but yet, if he be not childishly timorous, when the captain shall tell him there is no danger, bid him trust to his skill and it shall be well with him, it will yield quietness and satisfaction. We are indeed in a storm, the whole earth seems to reel and stagger like a drunken man; but yet our souls may rest in the infinite skill and wisdom of the great Pilot of the whole creation, who directs all things according to the counsel of his will: “His works are manifold j in wisdom hath he made them all,” Psalm 104: 24, and in the same wisdom does he dispose of them: “All these things come forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” Isaiah, 28: 29. What is good, meet, useful for us, for ours, for the churches, for the city, for the land of our nativity, he only knows, and of creatures not one. To this infinite wisdom of God are we therefore to resign and submit ourselves: his hand in all his works is guided by infinite wisdom. In thoughts thereof, in humbling ourselves thereto, shall we find rest and peace.

3. The righteousness of God is also to be considered. That term in Scripture is used to denote many excellences of God, all which are reducible to the infinite rectitude of his nature. I intend, at present, that which is called his righteousness in rule or government. This is remembered by Abraham, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right 1” Gen. 18: 25. And by the apostle, “Is God unjust, who taketh vengeance 1 God forbid.” This our souls are to own in all the works of God. They are all righteous; the works of Him who will do no iniquity, whose throne is established in judgment. However they may be dreadful, grievous, and seem severe, yet they are all righteous. It is true, he will sometimes rise up and do strange acts, strange works, Isaiah, 28: 21 J such as he will not do often, nor ordinarily; such as shall fill the world with dread and amazement. He will answer his people in terrible things; but yet all shall be in righteousness. And to complain of that which is righteous, to repine against it, is the highest unrighteousness. Faith, then, fixing the soul on the righteousness of God, is an efTectual means to humble it under his mighty hand.

God judgeih not as man judgeth. We judge by the seeing of the eye and hearing of the ear, according to outward appearances and evidences; but God searcheth the heart. We judge upon what is between man and man, God principally upon what is between himself and man. And what do we know or understand of these things 1 what is there in the hearts of men, what purposes, what contrivances, what designs, what corrupt affections, what sins, what transactions have been between God and them; what warnings he hath given them, what reproofs, what engagements they have made, what convictions they have had; to what use they were putting their lives, their substance, their families 1 Alas! we know nothing of these things, and so are able to make no judgment of the proceedings of God upon them; but this we know, that he is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, yea, in the most terrible of them. And when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, ah! how glorious will be his drowning of the old world, firing of Sodom, swallowing up of Dathan and Abiram in the earth; the utter rejection of the Jews, with all other acts of his providence seeming to be accompanied with severity! And so will he be glorious in our own trials, inward or outward.

God is Judge of all the worldy all ages timeSj placeSy persons; and disposes of all, so that they may tend to the good of the whole and his own glory in the universe. Our thoughts are bounded, much more our observations and ability to measure things, within a very small compass. Every thing stands alone to us, whereby we see little of its beauty or order, and do not know how it ought justly to be disposed of. That particular may seem deformed to us, which to His eye, who sees all at once, past, present and to come, with all those joints and bands of wisdom and order by which things are related to one another, is beautiful and glorious. For as nothing is of itself, nor by itself, nor to itself, so nothing stands alone j there is a line of mutual influence that runs through the creation and every particular of it, and that in all its changes and alterations from the beginning to the end, which gives it its loveliness, life and order. He that can at once see but one part of a goodly statue or colossus might think it a very deformed piece, when he that views it altogether is assured of its due proportion, symmetry and loveliness. Now, all things, ages and persons, all thus at once are naked to the sight of God, and he disposes them with respect to the whole, that every one may fill its own place, and sustain its part and share in the common tendency of all to the same end.

And hence it is that in public judgments and calamities God often suffers the godly to be involved with the wicked, and that not on account of their own persons, but as they are parts of the community which he will destroy. This Job expresses somewhat harshly; but there is truth in this assertion, “This is one thing, therefore I said it, he destroyeth the righteous with the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.” chap. 9: 22, 23. God in public desolations often takes good and bad together; a sudden scourge involves them all. And this God does for sundry reasons; as,

That he may manifest his own holi?iess; which is such that he can without the least injustice or oppression, even on account of their own provocations, take away the houses, possessions, estates, liberties and lives of the best of his own saints. For how should a man, any man, the best of men, be just with God if he would contend with him 1 No man can answer to him one of a thousand. Job, 9: 3. This they will also acknowledge: on account of righteousness none can open his mouth about his judgments without the highest impiety and wickedness.

He does so that his own people may learn to know his terror, and to rejoice always before him with trembling. Therefore Job affirms that in the time of his prosperity he was not secure, but still trembled in himself with thoughts of the judgments of God. Doubtless much wretched carnal security would be ready to invade and possess the hearts of believers, if God should always and constantly pass them by in the dispensation of his public judgments.

Such judgments also become a stone of offence and a stumbling-block to wicked men, who are to be hardened in their sins and prepared for ruin. When they see that all things fall alike unto all, and that those who have made the strictest profession of the name and fear of God fare no better than themselves, they are encouraged to despise the warnings of God and the strokes of his hand, and so to rush on to destruction.

God does it to proclaim to all the world that whai he does here is no final judgment and ultimate determination concerning things and persons. For who can see the wise man dying as the fool, the righteous and holy perishing in their outward concerns as the ungodly and wicked, but must conclude that the righteous God, the Judge of all, has appointed another day wherein all things must be called over again, and every one then receive his final award, according as his works shall appear to have been. Thus are we to humble ourselves to the righteousness with which the hand of God is always accompanied.

His goodness and grace is also to be considered in all the works of his mighty hands. As there is no unrighteousness in him, so all is good and gracious and whatever there is in any trouble, of allay from the utmost wrath, is of mere goodness and grace. Thy houses are burnt, but perhaps thy goods are saved; is there no grace, no goodness therein 1 or perhaps thy substance also is consumed, but yet thy person is alive j and should a living man complain 1 And say what thou wilt, this stroke is not hell, which thou hast deserved long ago; yea, it may be a means of preventing thy going thither. So this also is accompanied with infinite goodness, patience and mercy. And if the consideration will not quiet thy heart, take heed lest a worse thing befall thee.

These things, amongst others, are we to consider in God, to lead our hearts to acquiescence in his will, submission under his mighty hand, and a patient waiting for the issue.

II. Consider our mean and abject condition, and our infinite distance from Him with whom we have to do. When Abraham, the father of the faithful and friend of God, came to treat with him about his judgments, he does it with the acknowledgment of his condition that he was mere dust and ashes. Gen. 18: 27. A poor abject creature that God at his pleasure had formed out of the dust of the earth, and which in a few days was to be reduced again to dust. We can forget nothing more perniciously than what we are. “Man is a worm,” saith Bildad, “and the son of man is a worm.” Job, 25: 6. And therefore says Job himself, “I have said to corruption. Thou art my father j and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.” chap. 17; 14. His affinity, his relation to them is the nearest imaginable j he is no otherwise to be accounted of; and there is nothing that God abhors more than an elation of mind in the forgetfulness of our mean, frail condition. “Thou sayest,” said he to the proud prince of Tyrus, “that thou art a god, but wilt thou say thou art a god in the hands of him that slays thee ]” Ezek. 28: 9. That severe conviction did God provide for his pride. Thou shalt be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that slays thee. And when Herod prided himself in the acclamations of the vain multitude, “It is the voice of God and not of a man,” the angel of the Lord filled that god immediately with worms, which slew him and devoured him. Acts, 12:23.

There is indeed nothing more effectual to abase the pride of the thoughts of men than a due remembrance that they are so mean. Hence the Psalmist prays. Psalm 9: 20, “Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men:” in the Hebrew, poor, miserable, frail, mortal man. What is man 1 What is his lifel what is his strength 1 Said one — the dream of a shadow, a mere nothing; or as David better says, Every man living in his best condition is altogether vanity, Psalm 39: 5; and James, Our life (which is our best, our all) is but a vapor that appeareth for a little, time, and then vanisheth away. chap. 4: 14. But enough has been said by many on this subject. And we that have seen so many thousands each week in one city carried away to the grave, have been taught the truth of our frailty even as with thorns and briars.* But I know not how it comes to pass, there is not any thing we are more apt to forget than what we ourselves are: and this brings men into innumerable sins towards God and one another. Thou therefore that art exercised under the hand of God in any severe dispensation, and art ready on all occasions to fill thy mouth with complaints, sit down a little and take a right measure of thyself, and see whether this state of mind becomes thee. It is the great God against whom thou repinest, and thou art a man, and that is a name of a worm, a poor, frail, dying worm y and it may be, whilst thou art speaking thou art ready to drop in death. And wilt thou think it meet for such a one as thou art to magnify thyself against the great possessor of heaven and earth 1 Poor clay! poor dust and ashes! poor dying worm! know thy state and condition, and fall down quietly under the mighty hand of God. Though thou wranglest with men about thy concerns, let God alone. “The potsherds may contend with the potsherds of the earth j but wo unto him that striveth with his Maker.”

Again, consider that in this frail condition we have all greatly sinned against God. So did Job:” I have

* Referring to the plague of London, A. D. 1665, wherein 68,000 persons are computed to have died.

sinned, what shall I do unto thee, 0 thou preserver of men V Job, 7: 20. If this consideration will not satisfy thy mind, yet it will assuredly stop the mouths of all the sons of men. Though all the curses of the law should be executed upon us, yet every mouth must be stopped, because all the world is become guilty before God. Rom. 3: 19. ‘’ And why should a living man complain 1” saith the prophet. Lam. 3: 39. Why, it may be it is because that his trouble is great and inexpressible, and such as seldom or never befell any before him j but what then, saith he, *’ Shall a man complain of the punishment of his sins V If this living man be a sinful man, as there is none that liveth and sinneth not, he has no ground of murmuring or complaint. For a sinful man to complain, especially whilst he is yet a living man, is most unreasonable. For,

1. Whatever has befallen us, it is just because we are sinners before God j and to repine against the judgments of God, that are rendered evidently righteous on account of sin, is to anticipate the condition of the damned in hell, a great part of whose misery it is, that they always repine against the sentence and punishment which they know to be most righteous and holy. If it were now my design to treat of the sins of professors generally, how easy were it to stop the mouths of all men in respect to their troubles j but that is not my present business: I speak to particular persons, and that not with a special design to convince them of their sins, but to humble their souls. When our souls are ready to be entangled with the thoughts of any severe dispensation of God, and our own particular pressures, troubles, miseries occasioned thereby, let us turn into our-WAITIxNG ON GOD. 409

selves and take a view every one of his own personal provocations. And when we have done so, see what we have to say to God, what we have to complain of: let the sinner speak. Is not God holy, righteous, wise in what he hath done 1 And if he be, why do we not subscribe unto his ways, and submit quietly unto his wilH

2. Bat this is not all: we are not only such sinners as to render these dispensations of God evidently holy, these judgments of his righteous, but also to manifest that they are accompanied with unspeakable paHence mercy and grace. To instance in one particular: is it the burning of our houses, the spoiling of our goods, the ruin of our estates alone that our sins have deserved? If God had made the temporary fire on earth to have been to us a way of entrance into the eternal fire of hell, we had nothing of which righteously to complain. May we not then see a mixture of unspeakable patience, grace and mercy in every dispensation 1 and shall we then repine against itl Is it not a better advice, “Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee 1” For a sinner out of hell not to rest in the will of God, nor to humble himself under his mighty hand, is to make himself guilty of the especial sin of hell. Other sins deserve hell, but this repining against God is a prominent sin. The church comes to a blessed, quieting resolution in this case, Micah, 7: 9 5 “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him;” bear it quietly, patiently, and submit under his hand.

3. Consider, that of oursejves we are not able to make a right judgment of what is best for us, or what tends most directly to our highest good. “Surely every man walketh in a vain show j” in the Hebrew, in an image

Forgivencsa. lo full of false representations of things — in the midst of delusive appearances j so that he knows not what to choose or do aright, and therefore spends the most of his time and strength about things that are of no benefit to him. “Surely they are disquieted in vain;” and he gives one special instance: “he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them,” Psalm 39:6, which is but one example of the manifold frustrations that men meet with in the whole course of their lives, as not knowing what is good for them. We all profess to aim at one chief, principal end j namely, the enjoyment of God in Christ as our eternal reward; and in order thereto, to be carried on in the use of the means of faith and obedience tending to that end. Now. if this be so, the suitableness or unsuitableness of all other things, as good or evil to us, is to be measured by their tendency to this end. And what know we of thisl As to the things of this life, do we know whether it will be best for us to be rich or poor, to have houses or to be harborless, to abound or to want, to leave wealth and inheritance to our children, or leave them merely to the providence of God*? Do we know what condition will most further our obedience, obviate our temptations, or call most on us to mortify our corruptions] And if we know nothing of these things, as indeed we do not, were it not best for us to leave them quietly to God’s disposal 1 I doubt not but it will appear at the last day that a world of evil in the hearts of men was stifled by the destruction of their outward concerns; that many were delivered from temptations by it, who otherwise would have been overtaken to their ruin and the scandal of the Gospel; that many a secret imposthume has been lanced and cured by a stroke; for God does not send judgments on his own for judgment’s sake, for punishment’s sake, but always to accomplish some blessed design of grace towards them. And there is no one soul in particular, which shall rightly search itself and consider its state, but will be able to see wisdom, grace and care towards itself in all the dispensations of God. And if I would here enter upon the benefits that, through the sanctifying hand of God, redound to believers by afflictions, calamities, troubles, distresses, temptations and like effects of God’s visitations, it would be of use to the souls of men in this case. But this subject has been so often and so well treated that I shall not here insist upon it. I desire only that we should seriously consider how utterly ignorant we are of what is good for us or useful to us in these outward things, and so leave them quietly to God’s disposal.

4. “We may consider that all these things about which we are troubled fall directly within the compass of that good word of God’s grace, that he will make all things work together for the good of them that love him. Rom. 8: 28. All things that we enjoy, all things that we are deprived of, all that we do, all that we suffer, our losses, troubles, miseries, distresses, which the apostle instances in the following verses, they shall all work together for good; together with one another, and all with and in subordination to the power, grace and wisdom of God. It may be, we see not how or by what means it shall be effected; but he is infinitely wise and powerful who hath undertaken it, and we know little or nothing of his ways. There is nothing that we have, or enjoy, or desire, but it has turned out to some to their hurt. Riches have been kept for men to their hurt; wisdom and high places have been the ruin of many j liberty and plenty are to most a snare j prosperity slays the foolish. And we are not of ourselves, in any measure, able to secure ourselves from the hurt and poison that is in any of these things, but that they may be our ruin also, as they have already been, and every day are, to multitudes of the children of men.

It is enough to fill the soul of any man with horror and amazement to consider the ways and plans of most of those who are intrusted with this world’s goods. Is it not evident, that all their lives they seem industriously to take care that they may perish eternally 1 Luxury, riot, oppression, intemperance, and of late especially, blasphemy and atheism, they usually give up themselves to; and this is the fruit of their abundance and security. What now, if God should deprive us of all these things 1 Can any one certainly say that he is injured thereby? Might they not have turned to his everlasting perdition, as they do to thousands as good by nature, and who have had advantages to be as wise as we 1 And shall we complain of God’s dispensations about them 1 And what shall we say, when he himself has undertaken to make all things work together for our goodl Anxieties of mind and perplexities of heart about our losses, is not what we are called to in our trouble; but this is our duty: let us consider whether we love God or not, whether we are called according to his purpose; if so, all things are well in his hand, who can order them for our good and advantage. I hope many a poor soul will from hence, under every trouble, be able to say with him that was banished from his country, and found better entertainment elsewhere, “My friends, I had perished, if I had not perished:” had I not been undone by fire, it may be I had been ruined in eternal fire. God hath made all to work for my good.

Our design in all this is to evince the reasonableness of the duty of waiting on God, which we are pressing from the Psalmist’s example. Ignorance of God and ourselves is the great cause of all our disquiet. And this arises mostly, not from want of light and instruction, but from want of consideration and application. The truths we have argued concerning God are obvious, are known to all; so are those concerning ourselves; but by whom are they employed or improved as they ought 1 The frame of our spirits is as though we stood upon equal terms with God, and thought, with Jonah, that we might do well to be angry with what he doeth. Did we rightly consider him, did we stand in awe of him as we ought, it had certainly been otherwise with us.

Having thus shown that Jehovah himself is the proper object of the soul’s waiting in the condition described, I shall only add one direction how we may be enabled to perform and discharge this duty aright, which we have manifested to have been so necessary, so reasonable, so prevalent, for obtaining relief.

III. The avord of promise is the soul’s great support ju waiting for God. So saith the Psalmist: ‘’ In his word do I hope j” that is, the word of promise. As the word in general is the adequate rule of all our obedience to God and communion with him; so there are especial parts of it suited to these especial actings of our souls towards him: thus the word of promise, or the promise in the word, is what our faith especially regards in our hope, trust, and waiting on God j and it is suited to answer to the immediate actings of our souls therein. From this word of promise, or in other words, the promise of God, the soul in its distresses takes encouragement to continue waiting on him.

The end and use of the promise is to declare, reveal, and make known God to believers, what is in an especial manner in him and concerning him, which maygive them encouragement to wait for him.

The promises are a declaration of the nature of God especially of his goodness, grace, and love. God has put an impression of all the glorious excellences of his nature in his word, especially as he is in Christ, in the word of the Gospel. There, as in a glass, do we behold his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. As his commands express to us his holiness and his threatenings, his righteousness and severity; so do his promises declare his goodness, grace, love and bounty. And in these things do we learn all that we truly know of God; that is, we know him in his word. The soul, therefore, that in this condition is waiting on God, or for God, considers the representation which he makes of himself and of his own nature in the promises, and receives support and encouragement in its duty. For if God teach us by the promises what he is, and what he will be to us, we have firm ground to expect from him all the fruits of benignity, kindness and love. Let the soul frame in itself the idea of God which is exhibited in the promises, and it will powerfully prevail with it to continue in an expectation of his gracious return; they all expressing goodness, love, patience, forbearance, long-suffering, pardoning mercy, grace, bounty, with a full satisfactory reward. This is the beauty of the Lord mentioned with admiration by the prophet: “How great is his goodness! how great is his beauty!” Zech. 9: 17; which is the great attraction of the soul to adhere constantly to him. Whatever difficulties arise, whatever temptations interpose, or wearisomeness grows upon us in our straits, troubles, trials and desertions, let us not entertain such thoughts of God as our own perplexed imaginations may be apt to suggest. This would quickly cast us into a thousand complaints, misgivings and falls; but the remembrance of and meditation on God in his promises, as revealed by them, as expressed in them, is suited quite to other ends and purposes. There appears, yea, gloriously shines forth, that love, that wisdom, that goodness, tenderness and grace, which cannot but encourage a believing soul to abide in waiting for him.

2. The word of promise not only expresses God’s nature, as that in which he proposes himself to the contemplation of faith, but it also declares his will and purpose of acting towards the soul, suitably to his own goodness and grace; for promises are the declarations of God’s purpose and will to act towards believers in Christ Jesus according to the infinite goodness of his own nature, and this done in great variety, according to the various conditions and wants of those that believe. They all proceed from the same spring of infinite grace, but are branched into innumerable particular streams, according as our necessities require. To these do waiting souls repair for support and encouragement: their perplexities principally arise from their misapprehensions of what God is in himself, and of what he will be to them j and whither should they repair to be undeceived, but to that faithful representation which he has made of himself and his will in the word of his grace 1 “For no man hath seen God at anytime: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John, 1: 18.

Now, the Gospel is nothing but the word of promise explained in all the springs, causes and effects of it; thither must we repair to be instructed in this matter. The imaginings and reasonings of men’s hearts will but deceive them in these things. The instructions of other men may do so; nor have they any truth in them, further than they may be resolved into the word of promise. Here alone they may find rest and refreshment. The soul of whom we speak, is under troubles, perplexities, and distresses, as to its outward condition; pressed with many straits, it may be, on every hand; and as to its spiritual state, under various apprehensions as to the mind and will of God towards it, as has at large been explained. In this condition it is brought in some measure to a holy submission to God, and a patient waiting for the issue of its trials. In this state it has many temptations to, and much working of unbelief. The whole of its opposition amounts to this, that it is neglected of God j that its way is hid, and its judgment is passed over from him; that it shall not be at present delivered, nor hereafter saved. What course can any one advise such a one to for his relief, and to preserve his soul from fainting, or deserting the duty of waiting on God, but only this, to search and inquire what revelation God hath made of himself and his will in his word 1 And this the promise declares. Here he shall find hope, patience, faith, expectation, to be all increased, comforted, encouraged. Herein lies the duty and safety of any in their distresses. Men may bear the first impression of any trouble with the strength, courage and resolution of their natural spirits j they may for a time support themselves with former experiences, and other usual springs and means of consolation; but i[ their wounds prove difficult to be cured, if they despise ordinary remedies, if their diseases are of long continuance, this is that to which they must betake themselves: they must search into the word of promise, and learn to measure things, not according to the present state and apprehensions of their mind, but according to what God has declared concerning them. And there are great excellences in the promises; when hoped in or trusted in, that tend to the establishment of the soul in this duty of waiting on God.

The Divine grace contained in the promises: the good will of God in Christ, for help, relief, satisfaction, pardon and salvation, is suited to all particular condi iions and wants of the soul. As light arises from the sun, and is diffused in the beams thereof to the especial use of all creatures, enabled by a seeing faculty to make use of it; so cometh grace forth from the eternal good-will of God in Christ, and is diffused by the promises, with a blessed suitableness to the condition and wants of all believers. There can nothing fall out between God and any soul, but there is grace suited to it in one promise or another, as clearly and evidently as if it were given to the individual particularly and immediately. This they find by experience, who at any time are enabled to mix effectually a promise with faith.

The word of promise has a wonderful, mysterious, special impression of God upon it. By it he secretly and ineffably communicates himself to believers. When God appeared in a dream to Jacob, he awaked and said, ‘’ God is in this place, and I knew it not.” He knew God was every where, but an intimation of his especial presence surprised him: so is a soul surprised, when God opens himself and his grace in a promise unto him. It cries out, God is here, and I knew it not. Such a near approach of God in his grace it finds, as is accompanied with a refreshing surprisal.

There is a special engagement of the truth of God in every promise. Grace and truth are the two ingredients of an evangelical promise. I cannot now stay to show wherein this special engagement of truth in the promise consists. Besides, it is a thing known and confessed j but it has a special influence to support the soul, when hoped in, in its duty of waiting: for that hope can never make ashamed, or leave the soul to disappointment, which stays itself on Divine veracity under a special engagement.

This is the duty which the Psalmist engages himself in, as the only way to obtain a comfortable interest in forgiveness with God, and all its gracious effects.