labours, endeavours, faith, repentance, obedience, and all upon his name. As David says, "My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart," &c. Psalm lxxiii. 26. So I may say, your comfort in prayer, in hearing, your joys may be gone, your own graces and all promises made to them may seem gone; your own hearts may fail, and being creatures, they use to fail again and again but God's name and his Son's name rested on, will never fail you. Lean on these, not by halves in distress, but trust "perfectly," as the apostle says, 1 Peter i. 13, "Hope to the end," upon that grace revealed. That is, cast your whole souls upon it. He only hath "perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on God," Isaiah xxvi. 3. Have not only half thy soul upon that "rock which is higher than thou," Psalm lxi. 2; but get all upon it, and when all fails, renew thy faith on his name. Thereon rest: there die. To this purpose may that of Solomon serve. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe," Prov. xviii. 10. Now what is the use of a tower in a city? Is it not when all the outworks are taken by the enemy, the walls scaled, the fortifications forsaken, houses left; then the tower holds out last, and is a refuge to fly to. So also when Satan and God's wrath beset thee round, and encompass thy soul, and the comfort of every grace in thee is taken from thee, and thou art driven from, and art forced to forsake all other thy holds and grounds of comfort, then fly to the name of the Lord, as thy city of refuge, Heb. vi. 18. Say, There is mercy in thee, Lord, and that is THY NAME, and there is righteousness in thy Son, and that is his name: and I am directed to trust in thy name in time of need. Here rest and catch hold, as on the horns of the altar, and if thou die, die there. XXV. Immanuel's a friend in need, Who shall the saints arraign? He pleads-and who shall now condemn ? Pleads for his own Jerusalem, And never pleads in vain. He pleads his own atoning blood, He pleads the righteousness of God, He stands before his Father's throne, Sing then, ye saints, who shall condemn ? Jesus, the victim slain, Pleads for his own Jerusalem, And never pleads in vain. XXVI. There is nothing that the desponding soul, under the hiding of God's countenance needs more to be directed to, than waiting upon God, thus trusting in his name, in the constant use of all ordinances and means of grace. Waiting is indeed but an act of faith, further stretched out. Waiting upon God is but a continuing to believe on God, and to look for help from him, with submission, though he stay long ere he come. Waiting is an act of faith resting on God, and an act of hope expecting help from him; an act of patience, the mind quietly contenting itself, till God doth come; and of submission, if he should not come. Therefore, says the church, being in this very case, "It is good to hope, and quietly to wait for the salvation of God," Lam. iii. 26. It is good indeed to do so for God will afflict the less, ease you the sooner, and comfort you the more, when he doth come, and in the meanwhile it makes you to "possess your souls," and upholds them: to do otherwise, to be impatient, and to give over looking for the Lord, as Ahaz did, is the greatest folly, for, as Job says, chap. xii. 14, " He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening." All the world cannot let you out; he keeps the keys of the dungeon, and you must stay his leisure; and he waits but for a fit time to let you out, Isaiah xxx. 18. He will wait to be gracious to you, for he is a God of judgment, a wise and judicious God, and knows the fittest times and seasons; that he stays so long, is not out of want of mercy, for he waits and longs to be gracious, but he doth it out of judgment, and his wisdom sees not yet a fit time; he is grieved as well as you, that you are not fit for mercy; that his mercy would not be exalted if he should show it, till you further see your misery; and, therefore, he says, "Blessed are all they that wait for him." And as he now waiteth but to be the more gracious to thee, so he did heretofore a long while wait for thee, that thou shouldest begin to turn to him and say, "When shall it once be?" Jer. xiii. 27. Thou madest him stay thy leisure in turning from sin, why may he not make thee stay his time for the pardon of it? And, indeed, the escaping hell in the end is so great a mercy, that it is worth waiting for all thy days, though thou endure an hell here, and get not one good look till the very last gasp and moment of thy life; therefore put thy mouth in the dust, and wait quietly, if there may be hope, at the last, Lam. iii. 29. And waiting thus, go on to use all the means of grace more diligently, more constantly, though thou findest a long while no good by them. Omit no ordinance which God hath appointed for thy comfort and recovery. As the woman in the scriptures, who had the bloody issue, spent all upon physicians, Luke viii. 43, in the use of means for her recovery; that trouble of mind only doth hurt you, that drives you from the means: therefore Satan endeavours nothing more, than to keep desponding souls from the word, from christian communion, from the sacraments, from prayer, by objecting to them that now all is in vain, and that you do thereby only increase your condemnation. But, first, if thou learn no other lesson in the use of the means, but that thou art thyself most unprofitable; and that, unless "God teach thee to profit," Isaiah xlviii. 17, no good is done, and thus learn to depend upon God in Christ in the ordinance, this, alone, is a great degree of profiting. And, secondly, though thou shouldest forget in a degree all thou hearest, and seemest to reap no benefit by it; yet, still hear, for some secret strength is gotten by it. And, as for increasing thy condemnation, know, that utterly to neglect and despise the means of grace is greater condemnation; therefore, read, pray, meditate, hear, confer, forbear not these your spiritual meals. Indeed when the body is sick, you use to forbear your appointed food, but when the soul is sick, there is more need of it than ever. All these are both meat, medicine, food, cordials and all. through comfort of the scriptures, that we have hope, Rom. xv. 4. Therefore, read them much attend on preaching, for "God creates the fruit of the lips, peace," Isaiah Ivii. 19. So also, receive the communion frequently, those days are often sealing days; go to the Use reading the word: it is : house of God, and confess thy sins, write over again thy pardon, put in all thou knowest of thyself, bring it to Christ to set his seal to it. Only take this caution, that thou trust not to the use of the means, but unto God in the means; many rest in the means, instead of looking through them to Christ. To think, Oh! I shall have comfort by such a man, at such a time, in such an ordinance, is presumptuous. So, believe in God as if you used no means, and yet as diligently use the means, as if your sole confidence were in them. XXVII. Let the whole race of creatures lie Whate'er his sov'reign voice has form'd, If light attend the course I run, When he reveals the book of life, Oh! may I read my name XXVIII. Upon trials a thousand times successfully repeated, we proclaim Christ the help of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the health of the sick, the strength of the weak, the riches of the poor, the peace of the distressed, the comfort of the afflicted, the light of those that sit in darkness, the companion of the desolate, the friend of the friendless, the way of the bewildered, the wisdom of the foolish, the righteousness of the ungodly, the sanctification of the unholy, the redemption, |