Thy name to me, thy nature grant, Come, O my Saviour, come away! No longer from thy creature stay, The bliss, thou hast for me prepar'd, Come, my exceeding great reward, Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Let all I am in thee be lost, XCVIII. God "takes vengeance of his people's inventions," Psalm xcix. 8, though he accepts their persons and hears their prayers, that he may prevent the abuse of his covenant mercy. The price of redemption and pardon cost God dear, and he will not have the blessing of it esteemed common. There is, in the best saints, that corruption of nature, which, without the power of Divine restraints, would discover itself in the worst of sins. Samson went out to shake himself as at other times, relying upon God's promise when he had profaned His ordinance. Peter presumed upon safety from tempta. tion, though he went into the way of temptation. The tenor of the promise is :-" He will keep thee in all thy ways." Abounding grace has given occasion to some to have light thoughts of great sins. That freedom of access, which believers have to God, through Christ, has not always been kept from degenerating into a presumptuous boldness. Therefore, God so deals with his people, as that "Their own wickedness shall correct them, and their own backslidings shall reprove them," Jer. ii. 19. Samson falls into the hands of his enemies. Peter, instead of owning Him to the death, denies his Lord with oaths and cursing. If we are conformists to the world, we must take the world's lot. The punishment shall show what the sin is, for which God takes vengeance. A holy covenant obliges to a holy conversation. If the people of God, like the men at Bethshemish, look into the ark with an unwarrantable curiosity and presumption, they must pay for their rashness, 1 Sam. vi. 19. Vengeance is taken of God's own people, to prevent the abuse of covenant mercy; and also to discover the holiness of God's nature and of his law. "The Lord our God is holy," Psalm xcix. 9. There are some things becoming God, Heb. ii. 14:—namely, that He secures his own glory in all that he does-that He dishonors not himself in any of his acts of mercy-that what He professes himself to be, he makes appear that he is a God of righteousness, holiness and truth, before the whole world. Men see our sins, but they see not our repentance—our humiliations,—our pardon. They see God dishonored, and his law broken; but how this law is repaired by the obedience of Christ, or how God's people have interest therein, they see not. Therefore God testifies his displeasure against the sin, which is public, although he forgives the person, which is a more private and secret act. Reproach must be rolled off from his own name, though it abides upon thine. Hence says God to David, "Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also, that is born unto thee, shall surely die," 2 Sam. xii. 14. God's awful dispensations, though to believers they are no other than fatherly chastisements, are a public vindication of his holiness and justice before the world. By the "vengeance which God takes of his people's inventions," he discovers the holiness of his own nature and law. This He does to beget watchfulness and circumspection in all their walk before him. Sins, which God condemns in the life, lead to a narrow search and examination into the sins of the heart. Job was falsely accused by his friends, but righteously corrected of God: "I will say unto God, do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me," chap. x. 2. The very life of a believer lies in heart holiness, and in an aim after a conformity to Christ in every duty. "Cleanse thou me from secret faults," Psalm xix. 12. Those vain imaginations of the mind, such as no eye sees but God's; and those corrupt desires and affections which proceed from thence, pressing upon the will continually, resolutely, these are things which cast the soul into a dead, lifeless, carnal, loose frame-by these God is grieved: and here begins a believer's humiliation, watchfulness and cares. If thou canst but walk humbly with God, no doubt but thou wilt walk honorably before men. God punishes sin in thee, some sins unknown to others, that he may bring thee into a closer walk, and more humble frame and fellowship with himself. God loved his own and chose them from eternity; and if there be any blessing more than ordinarily sweet, it shall be bestowed upon those he loveth in his Son. If He rebukes he loves. The covenant subsists firm and invariable, when the dispensations of it change. Clouds and darkness may be about him now, but they will blow over in a little time. The everlasting covenant runs through life, and through death. God will suffer thee to talk with him of his judgments, though he does not remove them: ply the throne of grace and he will reconcile thee to them. "I will bear," says the church in Micah, (vii. 9) the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me." Our God has better things for us, than the utmost of what we can ask or desire. Communion, near and intimate fellowship with God, will make amends for the loss of any temporal mercy. God will answer and forgive his people, though he takes vengeance of their inventions, because of the relation he stands in unto them, as their covenant God. He hath already received a RANSOM for them, from the hands of their Surety. Their persons and their mercies are bought out of the hands of justice; and, if a price be paid, He is "faithful and just," not to detain the goods for which it is paid. God corrects his children, not for the satisfaction of his justice; the chastisement of our peace was upon another, by way of satisfaction; Christ hath borne the burden of every sin. All God's corrections are for the display of his holiness, and that we might be purified and made holy thereby. Moses and Aaron were a people near and dear unto God, even when corrected and reproved by him. Love to a believer's person is perfectly consistent with indignation against his sin. So long as there is virtue in Christ's blood, and acceptableness in his person and work, as our Advocate before the throne-so long fear not, soul, the continuance of God's favor, as a pardoning and prayer-answering God. There is worthiness in the Lamb that was slain, though there be new guilt and defilement from day to day in thee. God has found and accepted a ransom, therefore he will hear and pardon thee. Christ has more to say for believers before God, than all their sins have to say against them. God answers and forgives his people, because it is one of HIS TITLES, that so he will do: "O thou, that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come," Psalm lxv. 2.-"Thou art a God ready to pardon," Neh. ix. 7. Though he be a just God, yet is he also a Saviour. One part of God's name casts no dishonor or reproach upon another. If He prepares the heart to seek, will he not prepare the ear to hear? When He visits most sorely on account of sin, his visitations are all in mercy. Love lies at the bottom of all His dealings with his children, and there are comforts prepared for the most afflicted state any of them can be in. God will not be called "the God of all comfort" in vain. The light of God's countenance, and the love of his heart, are two things-one may be wanting, but the other never can be, to his elect. Should God mark iniquities and not forgive sin, (Psalm cxxx) there could be none among the children of men to serve him: "All we like sheep have gone astray." There is dross mixed with our finest gold. The Canaanite is left in the land to prove, but not to destroy us. There is corruption in the best to humble, but not to condemn. Grace and mercy are promised for a time of need. Shall we murmur then, or marvel at any of our trials? Look within, and you may see the cause of all. If sin be regarded in the heart, chastisement must follow in the life. Consider who God is, and what sin deserves; then, whatever be thy affliction, distress, or sorrow, thou wilt be dumb, because God hath done it. Does God answer and forgive, and yet take vengeance? Labour then to have your affections suited to Providential dispensations. The view of mercy is sweet. In prosperity give thanks. The appearance |