Part 3
4. Lastly, All that shall remain of him shall be buried in hell, Rev. 20:14. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." Old Adam brought in the old man into the world, and he spread his poisonous efficacy over all: so that look where ye will, ye shall not see in all this world that in which there is not sin, or some effect of sin. But then all shall be gathered from off believers, and from off the now groaning creatures, and cast into the lake of fire; so that there shall not be the least sin, nor effect of sin, without the boundaries of hell.
II. When will the old man be thus destroyed? You will easily conceive, from what is said, that destruction will have two periods.
1. At the death of the believer, and not till then. Till then the child of God must wrestle on with it; for so did Christ with it as imputed to him, till death set him free. It is a grave question, how come believers to die being freed from the curse of the covenant of works? ANSWER. They die in conformity to Christ their head; that as death came in by sin, sin may go off by death. It is not dying that does it indeed; for sin goes through death in them that are out of Christ, not moved from off them for all that death can do. But at death, Christ gives the redding stroke betwixt the new and old man, kills the old man outright, as 2 Sam. 1:10. And he does it, by letting in a full measure of every grace from himself into the believer, which takes up the whole man wholly; and so the old man is gone in a moment, as the darkness upon the sun's displaying his beams over all.
2. At the end of the world. Then comes the utter abolition of all vestiges of it out of hell.
III. The certainty of it. It is even as sure as the death of Christ could merit its destruction, and as the end of his death cannot be frustrated, and as he rose again from the dead free from the imputed guilt of it, and sits in heaven to-day without sin so much as imputed to him.
USE. Let the saints then take courage, and renew the battle vigorously with the old man; for the victory will undoubtedly fall to their side. And as for you that are still for keeping the old man's head and heart hale; as ye do interpretatively desire none of Christ's cross, it is an argument ye have as little saving interest in it.
DOCTRINE V. In the meantime, till the, old man be destroyed quite and clean by virtue of the cross of Christ, by virtue of the same cross
the believer shall not be a servant to the old man more. That is the present piece of freedom from it the believer has.
1. The believer has heartily given up with him for a master. Some time he said, as Exod. 21:5. "I love my master,—I will not go out free." But now he hates him mortally, and would fain be altogether free at any rate, Rom. 7:24. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The very being in the house with the old man is a burden.
2. He will get no work, but forced work, off his hand more, Rom. 7:15. "For that which I do, I allow not," &c. He will not yield his members to the old man voluntarily, as before, chap. 6:13. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin." He will never get work with whole good will at his hand more, but half will at most.
USE. This writes death to such as have given their hand to Christ at his table, and are ready to go back into the service of their lusts. If from henceforth ye enter not into a struggling life against sin, ye have not felt the virtue of Christ's cross.
DOCTRINE VI. ult. Believers should go out against the old man in Acts of holiness, in the faith that he is a crucified man; i. e. Believe your old man is crucified with Christ, and in this belief bestir yourself against him in the use of appointed means. If you believe it not, how can your hands be strong, having all to do yourself alone? But believe it firmly, and it will make you as a giant refreshed with wine.
WORM JACOB THRASHING THE
MOUNTAINS
A Sermon preached on a sacramental occasion.
Worm Jacob,—thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. - ISAIAH 41:14, 15.
RELIGION is a mystery, and the truly religious are a mystery too. They are a mystery to the world, 1 John 3:1, "The world knoweth us not;" yea to themselves, ver. 2, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." That is a matter not of sight and feeling, but of faith. There are many odd connexions, which folk would think contradictions and impossibilities, in their character. See a cluster of them, 2 Cor. 6:9, 10, "As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live: as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." That is a strange connexion, an old man and a new man in one man: but none more strange and surprising than this in the text: A worm thrashing the mountains; and that not ridiculously, without effect; but most efficaciously, beating them small. In these words we have two things.
1. What the church and people of God are. They are named by him who misnames none, "Worm Jacob." Their name from their nature is a worm; they are poor, weak, despised creatures, ready to be crushed by the foot of every passer by: yet "worm Jacob;" believing, praying, wrestling worm as he was.
2. What they shall certainly and infallibly do, "Thrash the mountains, and beat them small," &c. I find interpreters generally understand by the "mountains" the great and lofty potentates of the earth, setting themselves against the church. And no doubt these were in the prophet's view; but the view was not confined to them only. God's bringing down the Babylonian monarchy at their prayers, and the victories afterward of the Maccabees over their enemies, cannot reasonably be supposed to complete the intent of this prophecy. We must needs look to the kingdom of Christ for it; of which there is plainly an account, vers. 17, 18, 19. Compare Dan. 2:34, 35. And we must carry on our view, all along to the end of time, Rev. 2:26, 27; the rather that it is the manner of the prophet, to wrap up in one expression, temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverance; the deliverance from Babylon, which was temporal, being the first and nearest in view, Is. 26:19, "Thy dead men shall live," &c.; but not terminating it. Here then we may consider,
(1.) What "worm Jacob" has to encounter or yoke with, "mountains," and "hills," whose weight is sufficient to crush millions of him; difficulties quite disproportionable to his strength, as a mountain to that of a worm.
(2.) The success of this so very unequal match. The mountains shall not crush the worm; but the worm shall thrash the mountains, as one does a sheaf of corn with repeated strokes. They did not in those days thresh their corn with flails, as we do; but tread it out with the feet of men or beasts, or else by drawing a kind of cart, drag, or sledge, over and over it, called in the text "a thrashing instrument." I do not find the word here denoting the notion of the worm, and rendered "thrashing," applied at all to that drag: but as it formally signifies "to
tread out," as rendered Hos. 10:11, "Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn;" as appears from Is. 25:10, "For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill." So it is applied to a self-moving creature, man, Micah 4:13, "Arise and thrash, O daughter of Zion;" or "beast," Jer. 50:11. Here lies the mystery then, uniting the two notions of the self-mover and the instrument, that the worm shall tread out the mountains, as one would do a molehill. And if ye say, Alas! such a treader! what weight has it? I will make (says the Lord) the feet or belly of the worm like a new-shod thrashing drag for them, that shall tread out the highest and rockiest of them all to purpose.
(3.) The degree and pitch of the worm's success against those mountains: it shall beat them small, till they be like dust, as the word is used, Deut. 9:21; or like chaff: so that they shall be blown away with the wind, and no vestige of them remain.
(4.) The insurance of this success of the worm. Who could insure it, but the mighty God? He has done it. Jesus Christ, Jehovah, the most high God, and worm Jacob's Kinsman-redeemer, hath, by his word of promise, engaged his almighty power on the side of the worm against the mountains. Let not then the worm fear or doubt the success. A worm, seconded by Jesus Christ, will be an overmatch for all the mountains and hills setting up their heads from earth or hell.
DOCTRINE. The mystery of grace carried on by Jesus Christ in his church and people, is like a worm's thrashing the mountains, infallibly to issue in its thrashing them away quite and clean. Briefly,
worm Jacob shall thrash the mountains, and thrash them away quite and clean.
Here we shall consider,
I. The character of the subject wherein this mystery of grace is carried on by Jesus Christ.
II. The mystery of grace carried on in them by Jesus.
III. I shall account for this mystery, worm Jacob thrashing the mountains of difficulties in his way, and thrashing them away quite and clean.
IV. Apply.
I. First, I shall consider the character of the subject wherein this mystery of grace is carried on by Jesus Christ. It is in worm Jacob, denoting the church in general, and every believer or true member thereof in particular: for of these the church consists, as in the text, ver. 14. without the supplement, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel." One would think, that one designed to be a thrasher of the mountains should be a party of a signally great and swelling character, a hero, a giant, or if there were any thing could carry the character higher: but, on the contrary, it is very low, surprisingly low, worm, worm Jacob. This character points at these five things especially, in the case of the people of God. It points them out as,
1. Weak creatures, really weak for the encounters they must make, as a worm for a mountain. God himself gives them this name of extreme weakness: therefore they must be so in very deed. They have weak
heads, hearts, hands, for the work they are called to. Not only does the first grace find them really weak, but the after supplies of grace also, Heb. 11:34. "Out of weakness were made strong."
2. Humbled souls, truly sensible of their own weakness. By nature they were swelling vipers, but by grace they are humbled worms. And,
1st, Habitually humbled, in respect of their state, as the creeping worm, whose nature it is to go on its belly. So the humble and the gracious are equivalent terms, Psal. 34:2, 3. "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." There is a law-work, followed with gospel-grace, wrought on them; issuing in a thorough humiliation, breaking down their natural self-conceit, tumbling down their towering imaginations about themselves which they had in their state of blindness, bringing them, in their own eyes, from the consistence of mountains to that of worms; and convincing them, they are, have, and can do, nothing, Luke 15:17; 2 Cor. 10:4, 5.
2dly, Actually humbled, in respect of their frame. As the worm still retains its creeping gait, at the mountain, as in the valley; so God's people, at difficulties to be happily surmounted, still keep up the sense of their own utter emptiness, and weakness for them, 2 Cor. 3:5, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." If the worm Jacob begin to swell again, he will be so unwieldy that he will thrash no mountains till he fall anew, 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:11.
3. Despised creatures. As the lofty mountains overtop the crawling worm, so doth the carnal world contemn worm Jacob, Psal. 22:6,
"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people;" and 123:4, "Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud." Though they may value worm Jacob for his gifts which he has in common with themselves, they will never value him for his grace, that leaves him still as a worm in their sight. What of religion lies beyond the reach of the natural man, they despise; the Christian entertainment on words and promises, they despise, as we do the dust the worms lick up; the Christian way of doing in faith, they despise, as we do the crawling of the worm: Like Sanballat, when he mocked the Jews, saying, "What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burnt?" Neh. 4:2, 3.
4. Yet united to Jesus Christ. Though a worm, yet worm Jacob. Our Lord Jesus himself is of the worm family, Psal. 22:6, viz. worm Jacob, Psal. 24:6, "This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." Compare Is. 49:3. "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." This intimates an union between him and them as his worm brethren, Heb. 2:11. Being lowered and humbled to the condition of the worm, they are knit to and built on him by faith, Luke 6:48.
5. Lastly, Daring adventurers, daring wrestlers. Worm Jacob ventured on him that formed the mountains, and wrestled with him, and prevailed too, Gen. 32:24; Hos. 12:4. What wonder to find him then venturing on the mountains themselves? He must have the blessing, and must be forward whatever mountains be in the way, I proceed to,
II. The Second thing to be considered, namely, the mystery of grace carried on in them by Jesus Christ. We may take it up in these two.
1. An apparently hopeless encounter they are led to by him, worm Jacob thrashing the mountains. What a hopeless like encounter is a worm thrashing a mountain! so hopeless like are the encounters the people of God have to make in their way to the eternal rest. These thrashers are certainly thrashers in hope, 1 Cor. 9:10. But the naked eye cannot discover the ground of hope in it: it is faith only which shews it hopeful, while sight represents it as a hopeless case; and therefore they must close their eyes, and thrash in faith, as Abraham did, Rom. 4:19, 20.
We take up this hopeless like encounter in five things.
1st., The Lord lays in his people's way mountains of difficulties quite above their strength; difficulties which they look to, as a worm to a mountain before it: 2 Cor. 1:8, "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life." However plain the way to hell be, the way to heaven will be a mountainous way, in the experience of all that travel it: they will never want mountains in their way, till they come to the hill of God.
2dly, They must not go about the mountains in their way, shifting the difficulties which the Lord calls them to; but they must make their way over them, thrashing them down, Micah 4:13, "Arise and thrash, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, &c. If they offer to go about one mountain, they will be sure to meet with a higher in their way. Peter tried it, denying his Master, and found it
so; encountering another as high above the former, as the anger of God is above that of the creature; and which was like to crush him, Matth. 26:75, "He went out, and wept bitterly.
3dly, Therefore worm Jacob falls a-thrashing the mountains, combating the difficulties which the Lord lays in his way. He puts on a brow for a bargain, and resolutely bestirs his weak hands and feet, thrusting forward maugre all opposition, Gen. 32:26; Matth. 11:12. For there is a spirit in worm Jacob more daring and venturous than ever was in any unbelieving hero; a spirit for thrashing mountains, while they did but scatter molehills, Numb. 14:24; Prov. 16:32.
4thly, They continue the combating of difficulties resolutely and patiently. Thrashing is a continued action, consisting of repeated strokes. It takes some time to thrash a sheaf; how much more to thrash a mountain? It is the ruin of many that they are not able to endure; if a stroke or two would do the business, they would bring their matters to a good account; but they have no heart to be thrashers. "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing," James 1:4. "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved," Matth. 24:13.
Lastly, Worm Jacob has many mountains to thrash. One would be enough, we would think, for the worm; but there is a plurality of them. The truth is, this world is full of mountains to the people of God; and when they have thrashed one, they will have another to fall to, till they be out of this mountainous country. Having passed one difficulty, they will get another to grapple with, till they be within the gates of the city. So they must have a thrashing lifetime of it till they come there.
2. A surprising success; even as surprising as a worm's thrashing and beating the mountains small to dust, and thrashing them away. Such will be the issue of the encounter which the people of God now have with their difficulties in their way through the world; for which the text is plain. We take it up in these two. They will have,
1st, Partial successes in their way, very surprising; surprising to others and to themselves; Psal. 126:1, 2, "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them." What mountains of difficulties were in David's way to the kingdom! He thrashed long at them, and they never appeared to give way; nay he was like to be crushed with them, saying, "One day I shall perish by the hand of Saul." But see the surprising success, Psal. 18 entitled, "A Psalm of David,—in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul;" wherein, after recapitulating the various difficulties he had to encounter with, he particularly mentions the happy deliverances he met with, and the surprising manner of the same. Some mountains God's people are kept thrashing at all their days, particularly the mount of corruption; and they never fall quite down till death. But, as a pledge for the time to come, God makes some mountains now and then fall down before the worm Jacob; wherewith he is surprised, and transported with wonder, how it has come to pass: Mark 16:4, 5, "And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away;—and they were affrighted."
2dly, A total success at the end of their way, which will swallow them up in surprise and eternal wonder: 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." When the mystery is finished, the web cut out, it will appear an admirable piece. There will not be left then the least vestige of all the mountains that stood between heaven and them: the thrashed mountains will then be blown away with the wind; and they will lay by the flail, as an instrument they have no more use for.
OBJECTION. But have not others, as well as worm Jacob, mountains of difficulty in their way, which they become masters of too at length? ANSWER. This world is so mountainous, that none can get through it without meeting mountains in their way: carnal men make a shift to creep through some of them; but they can thrash none of them, as worm Jacob doth; they want his head-staff, John 15:6, "Without me ye can do nothing." They creep into others of them, and nestle in them; the mountains of their corruptions, which in a special manner stand between heaven and them; and at length they will be eternally buried under them.
USE 1. Here is a touchstone for trial of true Christians and worthy communicants, worm Jacob thrashing the mountains.
1st, They have a heart and spirit for thrashing mountains in their way to heaven. They are peremptory and resolute to break through them, without exception, as men that must be there, must not perish: Matth. 11:12, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Though they have long thrashed in vain to their own sense, they are resolute to hold on; like Paul, "pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," Phil. 3:14. This casts the delicate and soft-hearted in this
case, that are not for thrashing mountains: they are for the easier tasks, but have no heart nor hand for that. These I think are the "fearful," Rev. 21:8, like the unbelieving spies and people in the wilderness. Take heed here how ye stand disposed,
(1.) To a vain world; whether there is in you a heart to row against that stream or no; Rom. 12:2, "Be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," &c. If ye have no heart for it, but must go along with it; be ye young or old, ye are no good Christians, Gal. 6:14, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And young communicants, leaving that gap open, make naughty and worthless old ones after.
(2.) To the sin that most easily besets you. Have you no heart to thrash that mountain? ye have not the spirit of worm Jacob, who is one "that keeps himself from his iniquity," Psal. 18:23; and ye will be buried under it at length; like the young man, who was grieved at Christ's discourse about self-denial and the cross, and went away from him and never returned, Mark 10:21, 22.
(3.) To the crook in your lot. Have you no heart to set yourselves to a Christian way of bearing it, but must needs have it evened to your mind? ye have not the spirit of worm Jacob; for the Lord has said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Matth. 16:24.
2dly, Yet they are but worms in their own eyes, an unequal match for the least of the mountains; 2 Cor. 3:5, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God." This casts the proud legalist, that minds nothing but binding
himself to duty, reckoning himself man enough for the duties of Christianity.
The sum of this mark is, the Christian communicant is resolute and peremptory for doing all, yet convinced that he is sufficient for nothing.
USE 2. Here is likewise a ground of full comfort to such. Let not the height, rockiness, nor bulk of the mountains discourage thee; nor yet the felt unsuccessfulness of thy attempts hitherto. God has said it, "Worm Jacob, thou shalt thrash the mountains and beat them small." Be not afraid; only believe.
USE 3. Lastly, Here is, moreover, a strong inducement to all to come to Christ: he will make you "thrash the mountains, and beat them small." Come ye that are wandering on the mountains of vanity, like to be worried on the mountains of prey, nestling in the mountain of corruption, unable to get over the mountains of difficulty before you; come to Christ, and ye shall "thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff."
III. Thirdly, I shall account for this mystery, worm Jacob thrashing the mountains of difficulties in his way, and thrashing them away quite and clean. How can this be?
1. God has said it, and therefore it cannot fail; "Thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." Compared with Numb. 23:19, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the Son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? He speaks things into being, and they must start out of the womb of
nothing, or of not being, at his word, which calls them forth, Rom. 4:17. There is as much for worm Jacob's thrashing and beating away the mountains as there was for making the world, and all the mountains in it; Psal. 33:9, "He said and it was." (Heb.) Shall not his word that said them into being, be as effectual to say them away again? "Thus saith the Lord," is enough to insure the accomplishment of the hardest things prophesied.
2. The glory of his grace, which is the great design of the whole mystery of God, necessarily requires it. What does he intend by the mystery of Christ, but "the glory of his grace"? Eph. 1:6; to shew the "exceeding riches" of it, chap. 2:7. Therefore he has chosen the way that leads straight to that point, Rom. 4:16, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." The worm is despicable in itself; but being the subject of glorious grace, if it should miscarry in its attempts, the glory of grace is sunk, as the precious loading with the ship cast away. Wherefore, that his grace may be glorified, if it be in a worm thrashing mountains, those mountains must needs be thrashed away by that worm. Though that sacred fire be but like a spark in the midst of a sea of corruption, it must not only be preserved in, but dry up that sea quite and clean.
3. By an unalterable decree, there must be a conformity betwixt the little worm and the great worm Jacob, the little one's KinsmanRedeemer; Rom. 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." Now, the great worm, the man Christ, a worm and no man, (Psal. 22:6), has encountered mountains, and thrashed them away. Where are the four monarchies, the most towering mountains that ever set up their
heads on the earth? The chief worm Jacob has thrashed them away to chaff, which is away with the wind, Dan. 2:35. The mountains stood before him through the world, with all the fastness that human learning and the power of the sword could give: but by his few fishermen he thrashed them away; and the prophecy is fulfilled, Psal. 72:16, "There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." Now many mountains stand before the little worm: but where will that conformity to heaven's beloved pattern be, if they also do not thrash them away?
4. The little worm Jacob is in reality but a member of the great one, Jesus Christ. Take away that, and worm Jacob is as insignificant for thrashing of mountains, as any worm that crawls on the earth, John 15:5, "Without me ye can do nothing." Fix that, and worm Jacob has a kind of derived omnipotence, ver. 7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." And it is fixed: so their thrashing is Christ's thrashing, Col. 1:24. And ye may well allow Christ's thrashing away mountains, with a little finger of his body. If with the finger of God he cast out devils, with the least of his fingers he may cast down mountains.
5. Lastly, All the mountains that stand before worm Jacob are burnt mountains; so they are far easier to thrash than one would think. The mountain of the Babylonish monarchy stood before worm Jacob, and barred his way seventy years: at length God sets fire in the bowels of it, and makes it a burnt mountain; and then bids worm Jacob thrash, and it flies away with the wind; Jer. 51:25, "Behold, I am against
thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth, and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain." By the death and resurrection of Christ, all the mountains that stand between worm Jacob and heaven, are burnt mountains. Christ has gone through the bowels of them with his fire, undone their consistence, burnt the rooks to lime; they are nothing now but the shape of mountains, with a thin scorched surface: they will give way at the thrashing of worm Jacob, like the apples of Sodom, that being touched go to dust between one's fingers: Micah 2:13, "The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." Nahum 3:12, "All thy strong holds shall be like fig-trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater." Compare Is. 26:19, "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise: awake, and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Hos. 13:14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes."
INFERENCE 1. The struggles of the church with all her adversaries will have a surprisingly comfortable issue at length. As weak as she is, and as strong and numerous as they are, she will infallibly have success, surprising success, against them, attending the encounter with them: Micah 4:11, 12, 13, "Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves
into the floor. Arise and thrash, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." And as to the present state of the church, learn,
1st. It is not at all strange, nor will it make the case of this church hopeless, that prodigiously high mountains, higher than our fathers saw, are raised up against her, overtopping worm Jacob, and threatening to crush him: mountains of national guilt of forty years' gathering, laid upon the top of the mountains of guilt raised by our fathers: profanity overflowing, and become fashionable; a conspiracy carried on in the house of her friends against the grace of Christ and serious godliness, to palm upon us refined heathenism for Christianity; the foundations struck at, mountains of damnable heresies and blasphemies against the person of Christ, and divine authority of the Scriptures; and the advanced learning of the age improved to these monstrous ends. But,
2dly, Assuredly these mountains will be brought down: and though we have all ground to expect that multitudes shall be crushed to death with thrashing judgments for bringing them down; yet neither the one nor the other shall crush worm Jacob, but he shall see them all blown away with the wind.
3dly, It is worm Jacob that shall thrash and beat them small: a believing, praying, wrestling, though despised remnant, will bring them down; though they stand immoveable against all the merely rational and politic methods used against them.
INFERENCE 2. They are not for heaven, that are not for thrashing away the mountains in their way to it. As,
1st, Such as are not exercised unto godliness; that pretend to believe, but trouble not themselves with the work of mortification, letting these mountains stand unmolested: Gal. 5:24, "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Whatever kindred ye pretend to worm Jacob, if you had any thing of his nature, you would thrash, in mortification.
2dly, Such as are partial in their obedience, that are not for thrashing the mountains in their way without exception, Mark 10:21, 22. Such a lust they are content to sacrifice, but there is a darling one to be spared: any trouble they would bear, but only such an one as God lays before them, they can never think to lay their fair neck under that yoke: that is to say, they will scatter the molehills, but have no heart to venture on the mountains.
3dly, Backsliders, that fall a-thrashing, but give over before the mountains begin to give way, or be beaten small; (Heb. 10:38); they draw back their hand, Luke 9:62. These are like those that came out of Egypt, but fell in the wilderness through their unbelief, thinking there was no making it against the Anakims.
INFERENCE 3. Last, Serious souls, sensible of their weakness, but resolute to combat whatever difficulties are between them and heaven, be the issue what it will, shall certainly be blessed with surprising success, to their own eternal wonder. The worm shall thrash away the mountains.
I would say to such, Go on and prosper: thrash on, worm Jacob, thou shalt beat them small.
1. Thrash on the mountains of opposition that stand in your way, from earth or bell: thou shalt get through them all at length; and thou shalt "stand on the sea of glass, having the harp of God;" and shalt "sing the song of Moses, and of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints," Rev. 15:2, 3.
2. Thrash on the mountain of troubles, trials, and afflictions. Let none of them, be they never so high and formidable, prevail to separate betwixt your God and you; they will be beat to dust at length, and blown away from before you; Rev. 7:9, 10, 14, "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.—These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
3. Thrash on the mountain of corruption, indwelling sin; thrash on every height therein, particularly that top of it that is the sin that easily besets you: infallibly you will get it down at length. Paul saw this while he was thrashing it, Rom. 7:24, 25, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Say not, Alas! I am weak, my thrashing will be in vain. No, though you have no more strength for them than a worm for a mountain, it
will not be in vain. God will have these mountains thrashed by worms.
But thou wilt say, Alas! I have thrashed long without success. ANSWER. Thrash on; there must be patient enduring ere the mountain fall, Heb. 6:15, "After Abraham had patiently endured, he obtained the promise:" but there is an oath mediating betwixt the promise and its accomplishment that it cannot fail, ver. 17. (Gr.) Mind the walls of Jericho. Have ye not had a partial success sometimes? be sure then of the total. So it is with Jesus himself, Heb. 2:8, "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him."
The last mountain to be thrashed away is death, and ye shall beat that small too, 1 Cor. 15:54, 55, "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
After all, it is a mighty wonder, worm Jacob thrashing the mountains. But the thrashing worm is shod from heaven, and so fitted to thrash. Three things this thrashing instrument is shod with. (1.) A word of command, calling to the work. (2.) A word of promise, securing the success. (3.) The use of means of Heaven's appointment for reaching the end. If any of these be wanting, there will be no thrashing the mountains away: a plain instance we have in the rationalists of the age laying aside the doctrine of a crucified Christ, and substituting in the room thereof the dry and sapless doctrines of
heathenism; which God will never countenance to renew the hearts or reform the lives of any, as being contrary to the appointment of Heaven for that purpose. But worm Jacob, influenced by the command of God, excited by the promise of success, and using the proper means, "shall thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff."
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYING ALWAYS,
AND NOT FAINTING
Two Sermons preached, on a sacramental occasion, at Maxton, July 15 and 16, 1727.
And he spake a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. - LUKE 18:1.
THE time of this life is the time of trial; only in the life to come is full ease to be expected. Now is the warfare, and partial victories: the complete victory comes not till death. If we must have our portion of goods in hand presently, and cannot wait, we will soon be through it, and have nothing when we need most. If we mind for heaven then, we must be resolute, set a stiff heart to a stay brae, and hold forward whatever storms blow in our face, as we see in the words of the text. Wherein we have,
1. The Lord's insisting to teach his disciples, "And he spake a parable unto them," &c. That the relative them refers to his disciples, appears by the continued connexion of these words with the discourse from chap. 17:22. And he changes in it his manner of teaching, making a practical improvement, in a parable, of what he had before taught
them in plain style. (Gr.) "Now he spake also a parable unto them," to impress the lesson the more lively, both on their minds, memories, and affections."
2. The new lesson he taught them, "That men ought always to pray, and not to faint;" that there would be a necessity of their praying always, and not fainting. The discourse whence it is inferred, among other things, bears, (1.) That their comforts should be less than they were then, ver. 22, "And he said unto the disciples, The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it." (2.) Their temptations more, ver. 23, "And they shall say to you, See here, or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them." (3.) That the world would be long in deep security, and they long in deep distress, so that they might be in hazard of giving it over; see vers. 26–33. (4.) That the Lord would come to them at length, and make all right: but when or where, they are not to know.
Now, to direct them how to carry in such a difficult situation, he speaks the following parable; the scope and sum of which comes to this, "That men ought always to pray, and not to faint." So he tells them, (1.) The course they must hold, blow the wind as it will: they must "always pray;" not that they must be always on their knees, but they must keep a habitual course of praying. (2.) What they must beware of; they must "not faint." The word signifies a succumbing or yielding under the pressure of evils or hardships, as one sinking under a burden, or giving over by reason of the badness of the way, Eph. 3:13, and is well rendered fainting; for the apostle explains it by being loosened, Gal. 6:9, because in fainting or swooning the nerves are loosened, relaxed, or unbended, and so activity is gone. So whatever hardships are met with, we must not be so outwearied with
them as to give over. (3.) The necessity of this; men ought or must needs always pray, and not faint. If we give over, we are gone; if we faint, and break off our course, all is lost.
DOCTRINE. Our Lord Jesus Christ has kindly intimated to all that have business at the court of heaven the necessity of so managing themselves that they still hang on there, and not faint, whatever entertainment they meet with during the dependence of their process.
In this doctrine there are three heads to be considered.
I. Our Lord's kind intimation of this way of his Father's court.
II. The way of the court of heaven, in trysting petitioners with some hardships during the dependence of their process.
III. The duty of the petitioners, to hang on and not faint whatever they meet with.
IV. Apply.
I. The first thing to be considered, is, our Lord's kind intimation of this way of his Father's court. And here we would shew, 1. The import of Christ's making this intimation to petitioners there; and, 2. The weight and moment of this intimation.
First, I shall shew the import of Christ's making this intimation to petitioners at his Father's court.
1. The darkness that is naturally on the minds of poor sinners, with respect to heaven's management about them. We may say, as Jer.
5:4, "Surely these are poor, they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God." The obscurest shepherd from the remotest corner, would know more of the king's court, if he had business there, than the wisest mortals naturally know of the way of the court of heaven. Dark clouds are about the sovereign manager to us: "His way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known." Even Job, that had been a long hanger-on about the court of heaven, knew little of the way of it, and behoved to have a new lesson of it, Job 38:1, 2, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"
2. Christ's good-will to the sinner's business going right there: Exod. 28:29, "And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment, upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually." He shews it by his concern for their right managing it: he knows they are unacquainted with the manner of the court of heaven, and so are in hazard of marring their own business; and therefore he is concerned to set them on the road to get a good answer. The poor soul that is sometimes at the brink of groaning and giving it over, is moved to start back from that precipice, and groan and look up again. Whence is that, but from Christ's secret making of this intimation to them by his Spirit? Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
3. That our Lord sees sinners are in hazard of fainting from the entertainment they may meet with during the dependence of their
process, Heb. 12:3. He knows their frame, the hastiness of their spirits, John 7:6, how apt they are to take delays for denials, and be discouraged with what is designed only for their trial. Therefore he opens and forewarns them of the manner of the court, Is. 28:16, "He that believeth shall not make haste."
4. That they that shall hang on, and not faint, shall certainly come speed at length. Luke 18:6, 7, 8, "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." It is not possible that the soul, continuing resolute to go to no other door, but hanging on at his door, to make its grave there, if it be not let in, can be shut out always, John 6:37, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Wilful faith, that will be forward in face of "killing" and "slaying," Job 13:15, will get all its will at length, Matth. 15:28, "Then Jesus answered, and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
Secondly, The weight and moment of this intimation. This will appear, if it is considered in a fourfold light.
1. Jesus Christ, who makes it, has experienced it in his own case. The man Christ, the head of the church, had the most important business at the court of heaven that ever came before it; viz., for throughbearing in a work on which his Father's glory, and the salvation of an elect world depended. And he was often in prayer: he spent a whole night in it, Luke 6:12. But see his experience of this manner of the court, Psal. 22:1, 2, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my
roaring? O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not; and in the night-season, and am not silent." And 69:1–3. "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." Now, if this was the manner with the great Petitioner, how can we expect it should fare otherwise with us? Nay, God, in his dealing with Christ the Head, set down a pattern to be followed thereafter in his dealing with the members, Rom. 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." Compare ver. 28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
2. He is the great Prophet of heaven, whose office it is to reveal the manner of the court to poor sinners. He is fitted for it, as being on all the secrets of it, which the most favourite angel cannot dive into, John 1:18. Therefore we may be very sure this is the manner of the court; and that those who will manage their business at it otherwise will be sure to mar it.
3. He is the only Intercessor there, the Father's Secretary, the Solicitor for poor sinners there. There is never a petition received at the throne of grace, but what is presented by him; nor graciously granted there, but through his intercession, Rev. 8:3, 4; nor an answer graciously returned, or an order issued out for the sinner's relief, but it comes through his hand, John 5:22, "For the Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Who then can doubt of the necessity by him intimated? and who
must not see the kind aspect that the intercessor's hinting this to the petitioners has on their business?
4. He is himself the hearer of prayer. The angels are called to worship him, Heb. 1:6. Stephen, in his most serious moments, when he was nearest heaven, prays to him, Acts 7:59; a plain evidence that he is true God, the Father's equal, the Supreme, the most high God: for it is written, Deut. 10:20, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name." Compare Matth. 4:10, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Psal. 83:18, "That men may know, that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth." And the Scripture condemns serving those that are not by nature gods, Gal. 4:8. Therefore Christ is God by nature, true God, necessarily existent, independent, God of himself, though not a Son of himself: but the divine essence being eternally and necessarily communicated from the Father to the Son, the Father's communicating it, and the Son's receiving it, are equally glorious. Since then he is the hearer of prayer that makes this intimation, it is equivalent to a promise that prayers so managed shall certainly come speed at length; as appears from Is. 45:19, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain."
II. The Second thing to be considered, is, The way of the court of heaven, in trysting petitioners with some hardships, during the dependence of their process. Here I shall give you, 1. A swatch of that way; and, 2. Some reasons of that way, whereby to account for it in a suitableness to the divine perfections.
First, A swatch of that way in a few particulars. Though the Lord sometimes gives his people very quick dispatch, (Is. 65:24, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear"); yet it is very usual to try them another way.
1. Oft-times there is deep silence from the throne, Matth. 15:23; and that even when the petitioner is crying with the greatest earnestness, and crying incessantly, Psal. 22:1, 2, and is at the point of being overwhelmed for want of help, Psal. 143:7; yet no voice to be perceived, no motion appearing towards the petitioner's relief.
2. Oft-times they get a very angry-like answer. The woman of Canaan got a couple of them, one on the back of another, Matth. 15:24, 26, "But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.—It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." It is very ordinary for Heaven's petitioners to hear some Sinai thunders when they are on Mount Zion; to come in a low and heavy case to the throne, and to go away laid lower then they came. So going with their petitions to the throne of grace, they are teazed there to purpose, and many a foul ply of their heart and life is opened out to them, and they come back with a breast full of convictions, Judges 10:10–14.
3. Many a time, at the sight of the King on the throne, they falter, and their speech fails, that they cannot get words to tell what they would be at, Psal. 77:3, 4. Hence many broken sentences in their petitions, which yet are understood well enough in heaven, the blauks being filled up with groans, Psal. 6:3; Rom. 8:26, 27.
4. Disappointed expectations are a piece of very ordinary entertainment there, Jer. 8:15, "We looked for peace, but no good came: and for a time of health, and behold trouble." Hope may be raised, and yet be deferred, till it make a sick heart. These disappointments may meet the petitioner over and over again; Cant. 3:1, 2, "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him but I found him not." If ye ask how long the course of them may last? I know of no term fixed for them but one, and that one is enough for faith, Psal. 9:18, "For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." And if ye go to another door than the Lord's, the course of your disappointments will have no end.
5. Many a time, looking for an answer, providence drives a course apparently just contrary to the granting of their petition; so is fulfilled that Psal. 65:5, "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation." And it may be so stunning, as to require much faith not to take that for the final answer, as if God had said, speak no more to me of that matter: and yet the wheel of providence may be but fetching a compass to come to the point desired. Thus the sunk spirits of the Israelites were raised in hope, Exod. 4:31, "And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." But the very first thing that comes after that, chap. 5, is, that they are in a worse condition than ever, their bondage is more intolerable; which made Moses' faith stagger; vers. 22, 23, "And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this
people? why is it that thou hast sent me? for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered the people at all.
6. Lastly, Oft-times the Lord, instead of easing the petitioner, lays new burdens on him, Jer. 8:15, "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble." Instead of curing the old wound, there are new ones given. So that sometimes the waters come in on every side, and compass the poor soul: and yet the Lord, though he see it meet to give the sinner such a gliff, may have no mind he should drown for all that; Psal. 116:3, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow." Ver. 6, "The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me:" and 88:17, "They came round about me daily like water, they compassed me about together." So it was in Job's case.
USE 1. Whosoever of you would manage your business successfully at the court of heaven, on this occasion, put on resoluteness to hang on about the Lord's hand, and not to faint, till ye get it to a happy issue. And,
1st, Lay the great business of salvation close to heart, let it be your main business; the securing of your saving interest in Christ, now when you have this solemn occasion of both the word of the covenant, and the seal of the covenant together; not knowing if ever ye may have such a favourable occasion again. Time goes away, death is hastening on, it is dangerous to delay. If ye be indifferent in the business, ye will never hang on.
2dly, Lay it down for a conclusion, ye must have Christ, or ye perish. Pinching need makes men importunate: if ye feel not that, ye will soon weary, and never bring the matter to a good issue, John 6:67, 68, "Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." The sinner will hang on at Christ's door when he sees all others shut against him.
3dly, Embrace Christ in the great promise of the gospel, believing the promise; taking a dead gripe of it, never to part. It is held out to you, and every one of you, Heb. 4:1, "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." It is the report from heaven to be believed, Is. 53:1. Without faith there is no eviting of fainting, Psal. 27:13, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
4thly, Take an eternal farewell of the vain world, and deceitful lusts,; resvolving, that, come what will, ye will hang by Christ in the promise, if ye should die there; saying with Job, chap. 13:15, "Though he slay me yet will I trust in him." None come aright to Christ but they that come resolutely.
Lastly, Be not hasty, but resolve to wait in expectation, setting no time to the Lord's comforting you, Is. 28:16,—"He that believeth, shall not make haste." Micah. 7:9, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness." If all thy life long should pass uncomforted, peace and comfort in the end is well worth waiting on.
Use 2. Be not surprised, nor offended at the way of God, though in your addresses to the throne ye meet with apparent harsh entertainment. They have seemed to themselves to be boasted away, who taking the buffet, have got the bit too by waiting on, like the woman of Canaan, Matt. 15:21–28. The importunity of faith, that is, a continued trust in the promise, and an incessant use of the means, will prevail.
Secondly, I shall give you some reasons of that way, whereby to account for it in a suitableness to the divine perfections.
1. This way is taken with petitioners in the court of heaven; for thereby God is glorified, and his attributes more illustrated than otherwise they would be. In this view of it, Paul welcomes it in his own case, though it was hard to sense, 2 Cor. 12:9, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." God treating his people thus, displays his wisdom, in guiding the broken vessel safely through many rocks and shelves to land without splitting; that afterwards they are made to say, None else but he could have done it, Is. 9:6, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor;" his power, in supporting them under a pressure that otherwise they would sink under, 2 Cor. 1:8, 9, "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead;" his grace, mercy, and goodness, in seasonable interposings thereof when their
foot is ready to slip, Psal. 94:18, "When I said, My foot slippeth: thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." 2 Cor. 12:9, forecited.
2. Hereby the state of petitioners is tried, and a plain difference constituted between hypocrites and the sincere, Matt. 24:13, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." God's petitioners in the gross are like Gideon's army, Judges 7 far more than are to be trusted. So God brings them down to these waters of trial; and there is a heap of them that must have a fill presently, or they faint, cannot go forward; so they are set on, like the men that bowed down on their knees to drink, Job 27:10, "Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?" Others are disposed to endure hardness, without fainting, like the men that lapped; and they are kept as meet to have their petitions granted at length, Luke 18:7, "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
3. Hereby the graces of believing petitioners are tried, both as to the reality and strength of them; particularly their faith and patience, 1 Pet. 1:6, 7. "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. James 1:12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." Our Lord takes great pleasure in the faith and patience of his people, and therefore he puts them sorely to it in these points, like the woman of Canaan, Matt. 15 that they may have occasion to exert themselves vigorously. Sometimes they meet with
such a shock that they are foundered in them: anon there is a secret breathing, and they get to their feet again, and act more vigorously than before, like a giant refreshed with wine, Jonah 2:4, "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple." Hereby they have a double benefit; they see the reality of their faith and patience better than in a calm, and the strength of them more than they could have expected, and withal that they are other things than efforts of natural abilities, no more to be their product, than roses of the desart: Rom. 5:3, 4, 5, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
4. Hereby believers are humbled, and taught that they hold of free grace. The exalting of grace is the great design of the whole contrivance of the gospel. Therefore faith is made the turning point in it, the hinge of it as to us; Rom. 4:16, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace: to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. Therefore this method is used in the dispensation of Heaven's favours according to it, Deut. 8:2, "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or not." They that buy with their money must be served presently; but beggars must be content to wait on. There are powerful remains of a legal spirit in the best, kything in requiring supply for their needs, with little sense of their unworthieness; and in a disposition to fret, if they be not quickly answered. It takes much hewing to bring down
these; to empty the man of himself, and to let him see that God is no debtor to him for any thing, great or small.
5. This way is taken for honour of the word, Psal. 138:2, "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." There are many letters of God's name, but this Bible is the capital letter of it: and there is not one dispensation of providence, that magnifies the Bible more than this. It is even the thing that bears the head above, and keeps the heart from fainting, in this case, Rom. 15:4, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." This treatment at the court of heaven sends the petitioner to the records, which gladden his heart, finding that it has been the ancient way of the court; and in a desert way it is no small comfort to the traveller, to find a track, and the print of some one's feet before him. It makes him mark narrowly, and greedily catch at a word; and to discover a treasure, where many a time, when he went over it before, he saw nothing.
6. Lastly, It is taken to make them long to be home. God's children are in this world, young heirs that are abroad out of their Father's country: they send their letters, and draw their bills on their Father: and while they are speedily answered, at every turn, they live at ease in the strange country, and are not solicitous to be home: but their Father cures them of that, letting them at length write over and over again, without an answer; and ceasing to answer their bills: and then they long to be home.
III. The third thing to be considered, is, The duty of the petitioners to hang on, and not to faint, whatever they meet with. We may view it
in these things following.
1. They must never lift their process from the court of heaven, John 6:67, 68,—"Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." It was Saul's ruin, that when God answered him not, when he went to a witch; and the unbelieving Israelites when they heard of the giants of Canaan, that they would be back to Egypt again, Numb. 14:4; and it is the ruin of many, when they find not the sweet in religion that they expected, to go back to the world and their lusts, that will answer them, they think, sooner. But whatever be your sore, ye should protest that it shall run for you, till the Lord put forth his own healing hand, and that ye will not go to another for a cure, Lam. 3:49, 50, "Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission: till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven."
2. They must never give over praying, but "pray always." They that will pray about the time of a communion, and afterwards leave it off by degrees, will lose all their pains, and prove themselves to be hypocrites, Job 27:10, "Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?" And Satan sometimes plies distressed souls to give up with it, as what they may see they will do no good with, for that God will not hear them. But that is a deceit of hell which ye must never yield to; no not though God should continue to answer you not a word; nay not though your attempting to pray, should seem to serve for nothing but to set a-raging against you; for it is God's command, that "men pray always." There is less ill in mismanaging prayer than in giving it over altogether; for that is tamely to yield yourselves to Satan's will. And though ye may be in such confusion, as to take the devil's whispers within you for your
own voice, God will carefully distinguish the two, and not lay that to your charge wherein ye are pure sufferers. And continuing to pray, ye are in the way of duty, wherein ye may expect God will hear and pity at length.
3. They must insist on their tabled petitions, while their need remains, whatever entertainment they seem to meet with, as the woman of Canaan did, Matt. 15. If ye insist not, ye will be construed to have fallen from it: but importunity will speed at long-run, Luke 11:8, "I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend: yet, because of his importunity, he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth. And indeed, need continuing to pinch, and the petitioner giving over his crying for supply, is fainting with a witness.
Case. But may it not be that the Lord may say Speak no more to me of this matter? ANSWER. It is true, it may be so, as the Lord did to Moses, Deut. 3:26, "But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee, speak no more unto me of this matter. But in that case I conceive, (1.) The Lord shows his people they do not need that thing; let it suffice thee, or thou hast much, or enough. And to quiet Moses in this case, he gave him a sight of the land from Pisgah, ver. 27. (2.) The help of the Spirit as to praying in that particular is withdrawn. There is an embargo laid on them in that point, "Speak no more unto me of this matter."