Directions for Daily Communion with God (continued)
alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him, DEUT 32:12, Deuteronomy 32:12 (KJV) yet that is not all, I depend on thee only to do it; therefore I am easy, and think myself safe, not because I have hosts on my side, but purely because I have the Lord of hosts on my side.
Thou makest me to dwell in safety; That may look either backward or forward, or rather both: Thou hast made me to dwell in safety all day, so that the sun has not smitten me by day; and then it is the language of his thankfulness of the mercies he had received; or, thou wilt make me to dwell in safety all night, that the moon shall not smite me by night: and then it is the language of his dependence upon God for further mercies; and both these should go together; and our eye must be to God as ever the same, who was, and is, and is to come; who has delivered, and doth, and will.
2. His composedness in himself inferred from hence, I will both lay me down and sleep: Simul, or pariter in pace cubabo. ["At the same time (or) likewise, I will lie down in peace."] They that have their corn and wine increasing, that have abundance of the wealth and pleasure of this world, they lay them down and sleep contentedly, as Boaz at the end of the heap of corn, RUTH 3:7. Ruth 3:7 (KJV) But though I have not what they have, I can lay me down in peace and sleep, as well as they. We make it to join, his lying down and his sleeping; I will not only lay me down, as one that desires to be composed, but will sleep as one that really is so. Some make it to intimate his falling asleep presently after he had laid him down; so well wearied was he with the work of the day, and so free from any of those disquieting thoughts which would keep him from sleeping.
Now these are words put into our mouths, with which to compose ourselves when we retire at night to our repose; and we should take care so to manage ourselves all day, especially when it draws towards night, as that we may not be disfitted, and put out of frame, for our evening devotions; that our hearts may not be overcharged either on the one hand with surfeiting and drunkenness, as theirs often are that are men of pleasure; or on the other hand with the cares of this life, as theirs often are that are men of business: But that we may have such a command both of our thought, and of our time, as that we may finish our daily work well; which will be an earnest of our finishing our life's work well; and all is well indeed that ends everlastingly well.
Doct. As we must begin the day with God, and wait upon him all the day, so we must endeavour to close it with him.
This duty of closing the day with God, and in a good frame, I know not how better to open to you, than by going over the particulars in the text, in their order; and recommending to you David's example.
I. First, Let us retire to lay us down: nature calls for rest as well as food: man goes forth to his work and labour, and goes to and fro about it, but it is only till evening, and then it is time to lie down. We read of Ishbosheth, that he lay on his bed at noon, but death met him there, 2 SAM 4:5, 6, 2 Samuel 4:5-6 (KJV) and of David himself, that he came off from his bed at evening-tide, but sin, a worse thing than death, met him there, 2 SAM 11:2. 2 Samuel 11:2 (KJV) We must work the works of him that sent us while it is day, it will be time enough to lie down when the night comes, and no man can work; and it is then proper and seasonable to lie down: it is promised, ZEPH 2:7. Zephaniah 2:7 (KJV) They shall lie down in the evening, and with that promise we must comply, and rest in the time appointed for rest; and not turn day into night, and night into day, as many do upon some ill account or other.
A. Some sit up to do mischief to their neighbours; to kill, and steal, and to destroy; in the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the day time, JOB 24:16. Job 24:16 (KJV) David complains of his enemies, that at evening they go round about the city, PS 59:6. Psalm 59:6 (KJV) They that do evil hate the light. Judas the traitor was in quest of his Master, with his band of men, when he should have been in his bed. And it is an aggravation of the wickedness of the wicked when they take so much pains to compass an ill design, and have their hearts so much upon it, that they sleep not except they have done mischief, PROV 4:16. Proverbs 4:16 (KJV) As it is a shame to those who profess to make it their business to do good, that they cannot find in their hearts to entrench upon any of the gratifications of sense in pursuance of it:
Ut jugulent Homines, surgunt de nocte Latrones,
Tuque ut te serves non expergisceris?
["In order that they may murder men, robbers rise up by night, and do you not awaken that you may protect yourself?"]
Say then, while others sit up watching for an opportunity to be mischievous, I will lay me down and be quiet, and do no body any harm.
B. Others sit up in pursuit of the world, and the wealth of it. They not only rise up early, but they sit up late, in the eager prosecution of their covetous practices, PS 127:2, Psalm 127:2 (KJV) and either to get or save, deny themselves their most necessary sleep; and this their way is their folly, for hereby they deprive themselves of the comfortable enjoyment of what they have, which is the end, under pretence of care and pains to obtain more, which is but the means. Solomon speaks of those that neither day nor night sleep with their eyes, ECCL 8:16, Ecclesiastes 8:16 (KJV) that make themselves perfect slaves, and drudges to the world, than which there is not a more cruel task-master: and thus they make that which of itself is vanity, to be to them vexation of spirit, for they weary themselves of every vanity, HAB 2:13, Habakkuk 2:13 (KJV) and are so miserably in love with their chain, that they deny themselves not only the spiritual rest God has provided for them as the God of grace, but the natural rest, which, as the God of nature, he has provided, and is a specimen of the wrong sinners do to their own bodies, as well as their own souls. Let us see the folly of it, and never labour thus for the meat that perisheth, and that abundance of the rich which will not suffer him to sleep; but let us labour for that meat which endureth to eternal life, that grace which is the earnest of glory, the abundance of which will make our sleep sweet to us.
C. Others sit up in the indulgence of their pleasures; they will not lay them down in due time, because they cannot find in their hearts to leave their vain sports and pastimes, their music, and dancing, and plays, their cards and dice; or which is worse, their rioting and excess, for they that are drunk are drunk in the night. It is bad enough when these gratifications of a base lust, or at least of a vain mind, are suffered to devour the whole evening, and then to engross the whole soul, as they are apt enough to do insensibly; so that there is neither time nor heart for the