Sermons on Psalm 119

Doct. The Godly have often Snares laid for them, not only by Satan, but by wicked men.

Now Snares are to entice, or endanger, or of a mixed nature.

1. Snares to entice them from their Duty. Thus the blandishments of the whorish Woman are called a snare. Prov. 7. 23. As the Bird hasteth unto the snare, and knoweth not that 'tis for his life. Of this nature are crafty Insinuations, Baits of Preferment, Profit, Pleasure, or any carnal advantage to pervert our Judgments, and draw us off from our Duty.

2. Snares to endanger their safety, clogged with some spiteful condition to entrap others, or when there is a Plot-laid to endanger others, as Jeremiah complaineth, Jer. 18. 22. They have digged a Pit to take me, they have hid snares for my feet. Secretly conspired and practice'd his destruction. And David, Psal. 140. 5. The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the ways side, and set gins for my feet. Selah. Hunters and Fowlers did never go more cunningly to work to catch the Prey, than those proud men had laid their design to bring his life under their power. And in Psal. 35. 7. For without cause they have hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. And Psal. 57. 6. They have prepared a net for my steps, my soul is bowed down, they have digged a pit for me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. Now of this sort are St. Bartholomew 's Matins, and the Plot and Contrivance to out the Protestants in France, when they were invited to a Wedding, that they might destroy them; and of this nature was the Gunpowder Treason, there was a snare laid. When Orestes had plotted Clytemnestra 's Death, Euripides expresseth it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , She fitly cometh into the snare.

3. Of a mixed nature, both to entice by endangering, and endanger by enticing.

1. As when they put them upon such conditions as may tempt them to Folly and Sin; some think the Text verifi'd in David, at that time when he said, 1 Sam, 26. 19. They have driven me out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods. Meaning, they excited Saul to pursue him, and persecute him, and forced him to flee into an Idolatrous Country, and so a snare laid to endanger his stedfastness in the true faith. 'It is a great Temptation, Necessitas cogit ad turpia, Necessity is but an evil Counselor, and this joined with the other Temptation of bad company. Psal. 120. 5. Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.

2. When they Enact a Law or Statute, whereby to force them to sin or trouble; as they had a Plot against Daniel, either to make him neglect his God, or render him obnoxious to Authority, Dan. 6. 7, 8. When they burden them with such Laws and Statutes, as the godly cannot obey without sin, or refuse without danger; they have their ends either to draw them to sin, or suffer.

Now Snares are laid by the wicked,

1. Because usually they excel in Policy, Craftiness, and worldly Wit, are superior to God's children therein; their whole hearts run that way, and their principle is entire and unbroken, and therefore our Lord Christ telleth us, Luke 16. 8. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. They applaud themselves in their Artifices, Idolize their Wit, Habak. 1. 16. Sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; therefore use it to the Saints destruction.

2. Because they are acted by Satan, who will ever be doing against the Church, though to little purpose. Luke 22. 3. The Devil entered into Judas, when he plotted against Christ. They learn their Wiles from Satan, and conceive mischief by copulation with the great Incubus of Hell.

3. Their own hatred and malice against the People of God. Malice is a laying snares, Anger vents its self in a storm of words, or in some sudden violent Action, but hatred lurketh in the soul, and puts them that harbor it upon Plots and Contrivances of revenge. The Historian observeth of Tiberius, In malitiam statim invectus est, &c. When Absalom hated Amnon, because he forced his sister, he plotteth how to take away his life, 2 Sam. 13. 22.

Now whence cometh this malice against the Children of God? Either by envy at their Interests, or hatred at their Holiness.

1. Envy at their Interests, their Esteem and Respect in the World, when they come to be of any regard among men. Esther 5. 9. Haman plotteth against Mordecai, because he sat in the King's gate. Psal. 112. 9, 10. His horn shall be exalted with honor; the wicked shall see it, and he grieved, and gnash with their teeth. When the Gospel was like to get credit, Acts 17. 5. the envious Jews raised an uproar. Pride is loath to stoop, to see opposites in glory and power, whets their malice, and they contrive how to root them out. Every man would have himself and his own Faction admired and magnifi'd. The Pharisees conspired to take Christ, John 12. 19. All the world is gone after him. When Religion prevaileth, and groweth in credit and fashion, it is deeply resented by naughty men.

2. Hatred at their Holiness. Men cannot endure to be outstripped in Religion, and therefore hate what they will not imitate: Hatred is quick-sighted in Revenge, full of Plots and Contrivances, and tickleth the soul with a delight in them; but especially Religious Hatred, when a man hateth another for his Godliness; when Religion instead of a Party becomes a Judge, that which should restrain our Passions, feeds them; no Hatred so great, as that against the power of Godliness. Cain when he saw Abel so punctual in God's service, he plotteth to draw him into the Field, 1 John 3. 12. and beginneth a Discourse with him about Providence and Judgment to come, and Rewards and Punishments, and while Abel maintained God's part, Cain fell upon him, and slew him.

To apply this: As these Snares tend to our temporal destruction, so there is a double use to be made of them.

1. To trust God with our safety in the midst of so many snares. What shall we do? Whatever remedy we have against violence, no man by his own foresight can find out all the snares that are laid for him, therefore commit your safety spiritual and temporal to the Lord, go to him and say, Psal. 141. 9. Keep me from the snare they have laid for me, and the grins of the workers of iniquity. Constant dependence upon God is necessary, for there can be no snare hidden from him who watcheth over us and our safety by night and by day. There is a double Argu •… ent why we should trust God with our safety, because of his wisdom, and because of his watchful providence. Because of his wisdom. Alas! we are foolish and simple, and often betray ourselves into an evil condition, but God is wise for them that are foolish. Psal. 37. 12, 13. The wicked plotteth against the just, and guasheth upon him with his teeth: the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. There is a wise God acting for a foolish People; I tell you the wisdom of God for us, is much greater than the wisdom of God in us; where Enemies deal proudly, God is above them; where they deal craftily, God is beyond them: The wisdom of God for us, is greater than the wisdom of any against us. And also because of his watchful Providence, he hath a waking love and care of us night and day. Psal. 121. 4. Behold he that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep. He will be so far from sleeping, that he will not so much as slumber; when we know nothing, his Providence finds out the secret contrivances that are against us. I tell you God is our Father, he will maintain us, and take care for us, when we live by Faith, and not by shifts, in a good, plain, down-right course of honesty. Gen. 17. 1. I am God all sufficient: walk before me, and be thou perfect. That is, they should go on, doing their duty, and refer the care of their safety to God: Oh then cast yourselves upon the Lord, he will either direct your way to eschew these snares, or pluck your feet out of them, if you be taken therein. Psal. 25. 13. Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; he shall pluck my feet out of the snare. Look to him for direction and counsel.

2. Bless God for your safety and preservation, 'tis a mercy to have a Being in the midst of so many dangers and snares as way-lay us everywhere; especially should we bless God when we have escaped some notable Trap and Pit that was digged for us. Psal. 124. 7. Our soul is escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. This is a passage we may use to God this day; there are two grounds usually of thanksgiving for this deliverance.

1. That their Devices came to naught. Job 15. 35. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity. It discovereth the wisdom, power, goodness, and watchfulness of God, that this dark and hellish machination that they thought so wisely laid, that all Devils in Hell could not discover it, yet the God of Heaven brought it to light. Prov. 21. 30. There is no wisdom nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.

Those three words set out the quintessence of parts. Wisdom, noteth a quick apprehension; Understanding, a wise foresight grounded upon Experience; Counsel, a designation of some rare Artifice. Isa. 8. 9, 10. Associate yourselves O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and all ye of far countries, gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

2. The mischief returned back upon themselves. Psal. 7. 15. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. Higgaion Selah. Their instruments, 'tis a high Note that we may observe it. An Iron heated red hot, burneth their fingers that hold it; they are taken in their own Pit, poisoned in their own Cup, holden in cords of their own vanity, so that in the issue it appeareth they laid a snare for themselves, rather than for us.

USE II. As they are Inticements to Sin, so we may make many uses of it.

1. You oug •… t to ask God's counsel, for you walk in the midst of snares▪ that he would guide you, and lead you. Psal. 27. 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord, lead me in a plain path, because of min▪ enemies. Those that watch for our halting are many, their craft is great, therefore go to the wise God for counsel, ask of him what your way and course shall be, for he seeth that which you see not.

2. Get spiritual wisdom and understanding. An ignorant, credulous heart is soon seduced, but a man of understanding that seeth his danger, is not easily drawn and allured into it. Prov. 1. 17. In vain is the snare laid in the sight of any bird. The vain, credulous, simple young man is soon enti •… 'd by the lewd woman in the 7th of the Proverbs.

3. Keep the Highway of Duty, and walk by a sure Rule, and then you are safe. David saith here, I erred not from thy precepts. In a time of snares, often consult with your Rule, 'tis Satan's aim to put us out of our way. As when the Fisherman would get the Fishes into the Net, he seeketh to rouse them out of their place. Take a man out of God's way, and he becometh a ready Prey to Satan. In doubtful cases there is no man chooseth the worst, but first he breaketh some known Rule, and clear moral Precept; therefore be punctual, and keep close to God's directions in clear and known cases, and you are safe.

4. There needs a mortifi'd heart to worldly Interests, our temporal Interest is to be shaken off. Men of carnal affections seeketh out the snare. Job 18. 8. He is cast into a net by his own •… eet, and he walketh upon a snare. If we will find the sin and disposition of heart, God will find the occasion; and a man that hath a Commodity to put off, (Faith and a good Conscience) will soon find a Chapman to truck with him. Judas was thinking of betraying Christ, and the High Priests were plotting how to do it just at the same time; worldliness layeth us open to the snare. 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. But he that is dead to worldly interests remaineth firm, whatever bait be proposed.

2. We come to the Persons that managed the Temptation, the wicked; The wicked have laid a snare for me.

Doct. It is the property of a wicked heart to plot, and lay snares for the mischief and ruin of others, especially God's People. David saith here, The wicked have laid snares for me.

1. 'It is a deliberate, voluntary Sin; and the more will and advisedness in any sin, the greater it is. Laying of snares is not a thing done in passion, but in cool blood; there is art and cunning in it, and the heart dwelleth long upon it. The Will sets the Wit awork, to weave the Net, and frame the Devise, Involuntarium minuit de ration peccati. When a thing is involuntary it lesseneth sin, a man may be overtaken with a fault, Gal. 6. 1. But when he studieth it, 'tis much the worse. God's children are surprised through unweariness, and made to stumble in a Fit of Temptation; but when men's wits are bended to project and plot sin, 'tis not an infirmity, but an iniquity. Prov. 6. 14. Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. 'It is the description of a naughty heart; so the Prophet, Micah 2. 1. Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds: when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hands. Their wickedness is premeditated, then woe to them.

2. 'It is a sign that Evil is connatural to them, when they are plotting; as Poison is to a Spider, they are always working it, never out of their way by night and by day, their hearts run upon it. Prov. 4. 16. Whenever they are abroad, they sleep not unless they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. Then when others cannot rest, they examine themselves. Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your hearts upon your beds. When our reins should instruct us, and suggest wholesome thoughts to us, Psal. 16. 7. Or when we should direct our Prayer to God in the morning, Psal. 5. 3. then they employ their thoughts and musings on Evil; the Apostle maketh it to be their disposition that are given up by God to a reprobate sense, to be inventers of evil things, Rom. 1. 30.

3. They that plot Evil, they are of the Devil's Trade, whose work it is to hurt and mischief those who are broken loose from him; 'tis his business to lay snares. 2 Tim. 2. 26. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. When Judas plotteth against Christ, the Devil entereth into him. So Acts 13. 10. 'tis said to Elymas the Sorcerer, O thou full of all subtlety and mischief, the child of the devil. They are like the Devil in their hatred of God and the Truth, and the Persecution of the Church, and like him for subtlety and politick contrivance, bloody designs and inventions, are the venom and poison of the old Serpent sinked into men's hearts, there are both cruelty and lying. John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

4. 'It is a sin contrary to the love of God and man, against double light and double obligations from both the Tables, Grace and Nature condemneth it, 'tis against God; for if we did love him, we would love his image; the Saints that are so near and dear to him, they are his jewels, Mal. 3. 17. they cost him dear, he gave an infinite price for them, the blood of Christ; they are the Apple of his Eye, to strike at them is to strike at God himself. And 'tis against man, if Reasons of Grace do not restrain such, yet Reasons of Nature should; to plot mischief against one that is of the same nature with us, natural light will teach us, we should do as we would be done by. Oh what a cruel creature is man to man, when God lets him alone to the sway of his own heart, and natural fierceness.

5. The contrary to the gentleness and simplicity of the Christian Religion; Christian Religion is a simple and harmless thing. Phil. 2. 15. That ye be holy and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoicing, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversations in the world.

'It is a sign men have drunk in a false Religion, when their spirits are efferated, and grow Monsters in wickedness; Men addicted to false worship, are subtle and cruel; subtle, for where there is real worth, there is no dissimulation, they carry things open and fair, they have a God and Conscience to bear them out, and this is worth all the world; and if things do not suit to their minds, they can tarry God's leisure, without base and creeping acts, and underhand designs and machinations; but a false Religion that hath not a God to depend upon, breadeth fears, and fear and pusillanimity puts men upon Plots, and bloody designs, as Herod, when afraid, seeketh craftily to murder Christ, Mat. 2. And as a false Religion is crafty, so 'tis mischievous and cruel. Jude 11. These walked in the way of •… ain. For a false Religion cannot subsist without the Plots of Blood and Tyranny, and Cruelty. When Judaism begun to fall, the Jews bound themselves under an Oath, That they would neither eat nor drink, till they had killed Paul. False worships put men upon a blind zeal, that breaketh out in Tragical Effects.

Use. Oh then let the Children of God abhor this hateful disposition, take heed of those kind of sins that have subtlety and malice in them, these are the Devil's sins, the cursed old Serpent, that hath been a Murderer from the beginning; take heed of plotting mischief, and secretly designing the ruin of others. I would have you Christians, that are of the true Religion, carry it meekly towards others, beware of deliberate sins; 'tis possible in some great temptation the Children of God may fall into these of sins, as David plotted Uriah 's death; but that sin was laid to his charge, more than all the sins that ever he committed. These sins are accompanied with some notable affliction and judgment, as on David 's sad house, they leave an indelible stain and blemish, and cost us dear. 1 Kings 15. 5. David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all his days, save in the matter of Uriah.

How many failings have we left upon Record? His distrust, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. His dissimulation, with his rash Vow to destroy Nabal; his injustice in the matter of Ziba and Mephibosheth; indulgence to Absalom, numbering the People, wherein he showed his carnal confidence: All these are passed over in silence, as his infirmities, save only in the matter of Uriah. And they will cost dear, there is always some eminent trouble and affliction that accompany such sins. When David had sinned in the matter of Uriah, what troubles were there in his house, his daughter ravished, Amnon slain in his drunkenness, Absalom driveth him from his Palace Royal, and then, poor man, his Subjects deserted him, he forced to go weeping up and down, and shift for his life, all Israel came to Absalom, his Wives defiled by his own Son. Thus you see what is the fruit of deliberate sins.

These sins cost us a great deal of bitter sorrow, sighs and tears to recover our peace, and God's love and favor. Again, how bitterly did David remember his sin, and beg that God would restore to him the joy of his salvation, Psal. 51. therefore take heed of deliberate sins, when we have time enough to have serious and sufficient consideration of the evil, and yet do it; when a man knoweth a thing to be evil, and yet resolveth to go forward with it. Sin is not done suddenly, in heat of blood, but at leisure; not limited to a minute, or an hour, or any short space of time, and yet to do it, this grieves the Spirit, and will cost us dear.

Doct. 2. The taking of God's Testimonies for our heritage, breeds joy and rejoicing in the heart.

Now this joy ariseth partly from the portion itself, partly from the disposition of the Saints, and partly from the dispensation of God.

1. From the portion itself. It is a portion that deserves to be rejoiced in, it is so full, and God cannot be possessed without great joy. A man cannot think of a little Pelf and worldly Riches that's his own, without some comfort, and can a man think of these great things without comfort? Consider both what we have in hand and hope, and still 'tis matter of joy. In hand, there's reconciliation with God, O to have God in amity with us! Rom. 5. 1. If one have but a Great Man to his friend, it comforts him that he hath such a prop and stay, O but now to have God reconciled! And then to have the care of Providence, to have God engaged as a Father, God caring for us, to be under a Promise that he will never fail us till he hath brought us to Heaven! And then to have Heaven kept for us, those glorious things (we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God) joy is pitched upon our hopes in many places, something in possession, and something in reversion, this must needs breed a joy in our Soul, Heb. 3. 6. The rejoicing of hope, and Rom. 12. 12. Rejoice in hope. A Christian hath cause to rejoice for what he hath in hand, God's at peace with him, he can go to him as a friend, as a God in Covenant with him; he is bound to provide for him as a Father, and then at the end of all, a glorious happiness that is to be enjoyed.

2. It ariseth from the disposition of the hearts of God's people, partly from their esteem, their faith, their assurance, they take it for their heritage, they esteem it as their portion, they believe it, and reflect upon their own interest; and all this causeth joy. It comes from their esteem; that which I esteem I will delight in, Mat. 6. 21. Where the treasure is there will the heart be. Affection follows esteem, and above all the affection of delight. A man may desire a thing that is nothing worth, when he comes to enjoy it then he sleights it. We are not acquainted with the imperfection of all worldly things until we come to enjoy them, but delight that's an argument of esteem, the choicest affection. And then it comes from Faith; Many hear of such great promises, but they hear like men in a Dream; but now a Believer that hath a piercing sight, that seeth the reality and truth of them, his heart leaps within him. Heb. 11. 13. It is said, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. When a man is persuaded of the truth, the reality and goodness of the promise, O his heart leaps, they hugged the promises; here's a promise that will yield Glory, Heaven and Happiness, and all that I stand in need of. Spiritual sight makes way for spiritual persuasion, and spiritual persuasion for holy rejoicing, that's the order. In whom believing we were filled with joy. Faith is the immediate ground; and that is the reason why carnal men do not feel such lively joy, they do not believe it. Then it comes too from assurance and reflection upon their own interest, when they can challenge it as theirs, when it is made over to them. The rejoicing of Faith is not only good in common, but propriety is a ground of rejoicing, and delight is nothing but a complacency in our portion, 1 Sam. 30. 6. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

3. It comes from the dispensation of God; for when we esteem the promises, and delight in them, then the Lord fills the heart with sweetness, Rom. 15. 13. The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. The Lord rewards delight with delight. Thou shalt call the Sabbath thy delight, in one place, then presently thou shalt delight thyself, there's the promise. There is a delight and rejoicing that is our duty, and a delight and rejoicing that is God's dispensation. God loves to reward Grace with Grace. Look, as in a way of Judgment he punisheth sin with sin, as when security is punished with sottish obstinacy and hardness of heart, so it is a sweet mercy when Grace is rewarded with Grace, when our delight in the promises is rewarded with a sweetness and taste of the promises.

Use 1. The portion of God's Children and Religion is no dark gloomy thing. The people of God have hidden joys. As the Sun shines many times when it rains, so though they be under affliction, yet they have the shine of God's face, the comfort of God's promises. Let me show the excellency of the spiritual heritage above the carnal. A carnal heritage, alas, that's a poor thing, there is no strong consolation in it. The comforts of wicked men are poor, weak comforts, they cannot comfort us in any affliction, poor things soon overcome, but to God's people their heritage affords strong consolation, in overcoming worldly Lusts, in spoiling the relish of other pleasures, overcoming worldly care and worldly sorrow, in bearing us out in all afflictions; nay, the strength of it is seen in overcoming the terrors of the Lord, Death, Hell, Judgment to come, the fears and doubts of our own Conscience; it will not only swallow up the sense of poverty, disgrace and affliction, but will bear us out in life and death, they have a joy that will help them to do and suffer the will of the Lord. When once they have tasted the Comforts of God's presence, other things will go down easy. I might press you to look after this rejoicing of heart. It makes much for the Glory of God, for the Honor of our Portion, that we do not repent us of our choice, that we bear up cheerfully. And it is of abundant profit, The joy of the Lord is a Christians strength, it bears him out in doing for God. To this purpose, you should beware of sin, that's a clouding, darkening thing, men or Angels cannot keep their hearts comfortable that sin against God; sin takes away all joy, peace, and the whole strength of men, and an Angel cannot make the Conscience of a Sinner rejoice; therefore the Children of God must take heed that they do not allow sin. In Act. 9. 31. They walked in the fear of God and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Usually these two go together, and the oil of Grace makes way for the oil of gladness, and usually obedience concurs to the establishing of our joy. Above all, look after Communion with God, for he is the fountain of joy, and the more Communion we have with him, the more we rejoice. The more Communion in Prayer, 1 Sam. 1. 6. when Hannah prayed she was no more sad; Prayer hath a pacifying Virtue in it. And then in the use of the Seals, for these are assuring Ordinances; now the more we revive the grounds of assurance, the stronger the consolation, that appears Heb. 6. 18. Act. 8. 39. The Eunuch when he was baptized went away rejoicing. When a man hath an inheritance made over to him, past in Court, all things done, the Title not to be made void, then he goes and rejoiceth; so when the promises have been confirmed by a solemn ratification, it makes joy. Then Meditation and Thanksgiving keep this joy alive, Thanksgiving gives vent, and Meditation that maintains it.

Doct. They that would sincerely and thoroughly obey God, must have an heart inclined to his Statutes.

Here I shall show,

• 1. What is this heart inclined.
• 2. The necessity of it.

1. What is this heart inclined. God expects the heart in all the service that we do him, Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thy heart, not the ear, or the eyes, or the tongue, but the heart: the most considerable thing in man in his heart, 'tis terminus actionum ad intra, and fons actionum ad extra. 'It is the bound of those actions that look inward; the senses report to the fancy, that to the mind, and the mind counsels the heart, Prov. 2. 10. if wisdom enter upon thy heart. 'It is also the well-spring of those actions that look outward to the life, Prov. 4. 23. Matth. 15. 19. You have both these in one place, Let thy heart keep my Precepts, let thine heart receive my words, Prov. 4. 4. In taking in, we end with the heart, the Statutes of God they are never well lodged till they are laid up in the heart: In giving out duty and service we begin with the heart, we must go so deep, or else all that we do is of no worth: the heart is the spring of motion, that sets all the wheels a working, Psal. 45. 1. My heart inditeth a good matter, my tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer, ready to praise God and serve him. When the Prophet would cure the brackishness of the water, he cast salt into the Spring. Our heart is blind, 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your heart to seek the Lord. There is a setting and fixing the heart which is the fruit of Grace, and ground of obedience. 1. 'It is the fruit of Grace: by Nature the heart is averse from God, desireth not to serve or enjoy him: See what the Scripture saith of man's heart, Prov. 10. 20. The heart of the wicked is nothing worth, a Sty and Nest of unclean Birds, Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually. The Scripture doth much set out the heart of man, 'tis foolish, vain, deceitful, Ier. 17. 9. vain, earthly, unclean, proud. There is a strange Beadroll, Mark 7. 21, 22, 23. Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, Adulteries, Fornications, Murthers, Thefts, Covetousness, Deceit, Lasciviousness, an evil eye, Blasphemy, Pride, Foolishness. 'Twas in, or else it would never come out. If a man should vomit nothing but Knives, Daggers, Pistols, and other instruments of destruction, of what a monstrous complexion would you judge that man to be! O no such Monster in the world as man's heart! if let alone to its own bent it would grow worse every day, as putrefied flesh grows more noisome every day; but now God by his Grace giveth a new heart, that hath other dispositions and inclinations, an heart that loveth God, and delights in God, tends to God; a new heart is the great blessing of the Covenant, Ezek. 36. 26. a new heart is a new placing of our desires and delights; for by these the heart is known.

2. 'It is the ground of obedience: for the heart is the main wheel of the Soul that moveth other things: a Bowl is made round, before it runneth round. Deut. 5. 20. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me! there must be somewhat to bear up our resolutions. But more particularly, What is this bent and inclination of heart? And first negatively.

1. 'It is not a simple approbation of the ways of God. Many go so far as to approve what is good, to condemn themselves for not doing it, to praise others that are holy, can be content that those that are under their power should take to the ways of God, as dissolute Parents would have their Children soberly brought up, video meliora probóque. Act. 5. 13. The people magnified them, yet durst not join themselves with the Disciples of Christ. Saul said unto David, (1 Sam. 24. 17.) Thou art more righteous than I; yet David was fain to go to his hold, as the Woman in Luke 11. 27, 28. cried out, Blessed is the Womb that bare thee, and the Paps that gave thee suck: but Christ said, Rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

2. 'It is not a bare desire or wish. Many that live ill, could wish to live well. Balaam had his wishes, but went on in his course, Numb. 23. 10. some flashes they have, a spark is not enough to set the heart on fire in holy things; in carnal things 'tis enough, many such languid motions carnal men have, yea many cold prayers, that God would make them better, but the soul of the Sluggard desireth and hath nothing, for his hands refuse to labor; they do not set themselves in good earnest to get that Grace they wish for: Would I were at such a place, but never stir a foot; would I had written such a task, and never put Pen to Paper.

3. 'It is not an hypocritical will; or, as one called it, a copulative will: we would, but with such or such a condition: I would if it did not cost me so dear, if I were not to mortify Lusts, to deny friends, interests, relations, they would come to the Supper (Matth. 22.) but one had marrried a Wife, another had a Yoke of Oxen to prove, another had found Merchandise; this is no full and perfect will: No doubt but the Chapman would have the Wares, but he will not come to the price; a Christian should say, I will whatever it cost me, I will whatever come of it, Psal. 27. 4. One thing I have desired of the Lord, and this I will seek after.

2. Positively. Then is the heart inclined, 1. When the judgment determineth for God, and comes to a full Decree about obedience to him, Act. 11. 23. Paul exhorted them, That with full purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, that's the fruit of Conversion: not a little liking or hovering, or faint resolution, but a full purpose, an absolute positive decree in the will, to own God and his ways whatever it cost us, a full consent to the duty of the Covenant.

2. When the will is poized and swayed with love and delight, and the heart is made suitable to obedience, Thy Law is in my heart, and I delight to do thy will, O God, Psal. 40. 8. Many times the Law of God is written in the mind, many have good apprehensions, but the will is not swayed, bent this way, Amor meus est pondus meum, eo feror quocunque feror: when there is a natural inclination.

2. When this bent of will is seconded with constant endeavors to attain what we resolve upon, and there is a continual striving to make good the Articles of our perfect resignation or first surrender of ourselves to God, Phil. 3. 12. I follow after that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. God taketh hold of us by his Grace, and we carry on this Grace in the way of diligent pursuit, or constant obedience. 'It is not one endeavor, or two, but such as hath its constant force, hath not its pangs of devotion, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to will is present with me, Rom. 7. 18. 'tis a daily habitual constant will, not a volatile devotion, that cometh upon us now and then, but such a will as is present, as constant as evil is, Rom. 7. 21. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 where ever you go, or whatever you are about, you carry a sinning nature about with you, 'tis urging the heart to vanity, folly and lust; so this will is present, urging the heart to good, and stirring up to holy motions.

2. Let me now show you the necessity of this inclined heart, that we may yield to God cheerful, uniform and constant obedience.

1. That we may yield to God cheerful obedience in all our services, God looketh for a ready mind. God that accepts the Will for the Deed, never accepts the Deed without the Will. The dregs of things come out with squeezing and wringing; Duty is best done when like life-honey it droppeth of its own accord, cheerful and hearty service only pleaseth the Lord. Now that is cheerful service which cometh not from the influence of bye-ends and foreign motives, or the compulsion of a natural Conscience, or legal fears; but from the native inclination and bent of the heart, 1 John 5. 3. This is love, to keep his Commandments, and his Commandments are not grievous, the work is not grievous, but pleasant, because suitable to the principles that are in us; 'tis not done against the hair: Cain offered Sacrifice, but with a grudging mind. 'It is somewhere said, They offered to the Lord whose hearts made them willing. When the heart is in it, 'tis not constrained, forced service, but natural and genuine; not like water out of a Still, but like water out of a Fountain.

2. For uniform obedience, to serve God in the whole tenor of our lives, that needs an heart inclined, that may be as a constant Spring of holiness. A man may force himself now and then to actions displeasing to himself, but his constant course is according to his natural bent and inclination; Haman could refrain himself from Murder, but his heart still boiled with rancor and malice. When men look only to the refraining of outward actions, or the restraining the outward man, it will never hold; the bent of the heart will discover itself, and so they will be off and on with God: the compulsion of Conscience will sometimes urge them to God, but the inclination of the heart will draw them to evil; therefore God wisheth that his people had a heart to serve him, Deut. 5. 29.

3. Constant obedience, that can never be till the heart be inclined. Judas was a Disciple for a while, but Satan entered into his heart, Luke 22. 3. Ananias joined himself to the people of God, but Satan filled his heart; Simon Magus was baptized, but his heart was not right with God, Act. 8. 22. here is the great defect: but now when God gets possession of the heart, there he dwelleth, Eph. 3. 17. there he abideth, as in his strong Cittadel, and from thence commandeth all the faculties of the Soul, and the Members of the Body.

Use 1. To press you to get this bent of heart, otherwise all your labor in Religion will be in vain, every difficulty will put you out of the way, and make you think of a revolt from God; till this, the work of Grace is not begun. God's first gift is a new heart, Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give unto you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: without this you can never hold out, but you will be uncertain and mutable in the profession of godliness, whatever restraints are upon you for a time, sin will be breaking out ever and anon with violence; and at length men will return with the Dog to the vomit, and with the Sow to her wallowing in the mire, 2 Pet. 2. 20. Oh then go to God for it, Ier. 17. 10. say, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.

2. Carry forth the work of God so far as you receive it, follow after to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ, Phil. 3. 12.

Use 2. Have we such an heart, an heart inclined to do the will of God? First, though there be such a bent and inclination, there will be failings, yea reluctancies and oppositions, Rom. 7. 8. To will is present with me, yet how to perform that which is good I find not. There is a ready will asserted, and a weak discharge complained of: observe, 'tis a will not a wish; a weak discharge, not that nothing is done, but not all that good that is required, nor in that purity, the work doth not perfectly answer the will, nor the motions of the Spirit by which it is excited; and mark, this weakness is not rested in, but complained of; and not only complained of, but resisted. I find not, that implieth he sought it; for the word finding implieth a diligent search, he laid about him on every side, he did not expect it should come by chance or a lazy enquiry.

2. If wrought: 1. How was it wrought in you? Did God turn thee, and thou wast turned? Were you ever brought to self-resignation? By what steps was this work carried on? Thy heart was naturally wedded to thy lusts and to carnal vanity, did ever God make you see the odiousness of sin, the vanity of the Creature, the insufficiency of self? Evil men seek contentment in the world as long as Conscience will let them hold out in that way: you cannot cleave to God till you are rent off from the world and self, was there ever such a separation? such a rending work? Conversion or the altering the bent of the heart lieth in three things, in turning from the Creature to God, from self to Christ, from sin to holiness. How to God? by making us a willing people, to yield up ourselves to his service. How drawn from self to Christ? To seek all this good in him. How from sin to holiness? By seeing the beauty of God's ways. Paul found it a sensible work before he was brought to this self-resignation. Act. 9. 6. Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? How did God draw you or drive you to this?

2. How is this bent of heart kept up towards God? Nature is apt to recoil, and the heart to return to its own bent and bias again. David beggeth verse 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies. 'It is an hard matter to keep up a bent of heart towards God, it will cost us much watching, striving, praying, to keep it fixed. The frame of man's heart is changeable and various, doth not always continue at the same pass; and lust will waken, and be pressing and importunate; deadness will creep upon us: the great business of the spiritual life is to keep the bent of the heart steady: neglected Grace will suffer decay, and worldly vanities and listlesness and deadness to holy things will encroach upon the Soul, and a gracious heart is much discomposed. As a Needle that bendeth towards the Pole may be jogged and put aside, though it cannot rest there, but turneth thither again; so the bent of the Soul towards God may be much disordered, and we may lose much of our free Spirit and ready mind, and grow uncomfortable and unchearful in God's service, and it may cost us much sorrow and deep humiliation to get in frame again: a cold profession is easily maintained, but to keep up a spiritual inclination is the work of labor and cost.

3. How doth it work in you? This bent of heart is seen in two things; First, in pulling back the heart from those sins to which corrupt Nature doth incline us. Nature carrieth us to carnal things. There is something within that puts you on, and something without to draw you forward; Nature thrusteth, Occasion inviteth, but Grace interposeth and checketh the motion, Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh; 'tis against the bent and inclination of the New Nature, there is a back Biass. Joseph had a temptation, we read of occasion inviting, but not of Nature inclining: but presently his heart recoiled. The heart of man is seldom without these counterbuffs: 'tis an advantage to have the new Nature as ready to check, as the old Nature to urge and solicit, 1 John 3. 9. He cannot sin, for his seed remaineth in him.

2. In putting on the heart upon Duties that are against the hair and bent of corruption. Such acts of obedience as are most troublesome and burthensome to the flesh, as are laborious, costly, dangerous. Laborious, as private Worship, wrestling with God in Prayer, holding the heart to Meditation and self-Examination, sluggish Nature is apt to shrink, but love constraineth, 2 Cor. 5. 14. Spiritual Worship, and such as is altogether without secular encouragement, that's tedious; to work truth into the heart, to commune with God, to ransack Conscience, 'tis troublesome, but thy striving will overcome it. So there is costly and chargeable work, as Alms, Contributions to public good, there must be a striving to bring the heart to it. Then for actions dangerous, as public Contests for God's Glory, or keeping a good Conscience, though with cost to ourselves; our great work is to keep the will afoot, Nature is slow to what is good: a Coachman in his journey is always quickening his Horses, and stirring them up, so must we quicken a sluggish will, do what we can, though we cannot do all that we should, the will must hold up still. A Prisoner escaped would go as far as he can, but his Bolts will not suffer to make long Journies, but yet he thinketh he can never get far enough; so this will is a disposition that puts us upon striving to do our utmost for God.

2. The matter resolved on, To perform thy Statutes always unto the end. Uniform obedience, always, or all his days. As long as life lasteth, we must be always ready to observe all God's Commands, which notes the continuity of our obedience, sincerity and perpetuity of it. We are to engage our hearts by a serious resolution to serve him, and that not by fits and starts, but always; not for a time, but to the end. Resolve to cleave to him, to hold him fast that he may not go, to keep our hold fast that we may not go. Take notice of the first decays, and let us keep our hold fast, and bewail often the inconstancy of our hearts, that we are so inconstant in that which is good. Every hour our hearts are changed in a duty: What a Proteus would man be if his thoughts were visible in the best duty that ever he performed! Rom. 7. 18. Evil is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not; our Devotion comes by pangs and fits, now humble, anon proud; now meek, anon passionate; not the same men in a duty, and act of a duty, unstable as water. Compare it with God's constancy, his unchangeable nature, his love to us, that we may be ashamed of our levity; from everlasting to everlasting, God is where he was, the same; the same to those that believe in him. Secondly, This to the end. God's Grace holdeth out to the end, so should our obedience. He that hath begun a good work will perfect it, &c. Consider how unreasonable it is to desire God to be ours unto the end, if we are not his. Psal. 48. 14. He is our God forever and ever, he will be our Guide till death; He doth not lay down the conduct of his Providence. So Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel, and afterwards receive me to Glory. We can give nothing to God, our obedience is but a profession of homage; if God be always in our eye, we shall be always in his. We receive life, breath and motion from him every moment, he sustaineth us, every day and hour yieldeth new mercy. God watcheth over us when we are asleep, yet how much of our time passeth away when we do not perform one act of love to God! The Devil is awake when we sleep to do us a mischief, but the God of Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth, how can we offend him? Let us then take up this serious resolution, To perform God's Statutes always to the end.

Doct. It is a sign of an unfeigned love to the Law of God, when we hate vain thoughts.

I observe it, because a man never begins to be really serious and strict, till he makes conscience of his thoughts, his time, and is sensible of his last account. Of his thoughts, for that's a sign he minds an entire subjection to the Law of God, that he may obey it from his very soul. Of his time, that it may not pass away before his great work be done. Of his account, that is not far off; the Christian that lives in a due sense of his great account is always preparing to reckon with God. The one of these doth enforce the other. A man that is sensible he shall be called to a reckoning will be careful how he spends his time, and he that is careful how he spends his time will make conscience of his thoughts.

• I. To give a taste of the vanity of thoughts.
• II. Shew what sins most occasion vanity of thoughts.
• III. The reasons why a godly man will make conscience of his thoughts.

I. Some taste of the vanity of thoughts. There are three solemn words by which the New Testament expresseth thoughts: 1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Discourses, with its compound 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which we render imaginations. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and sometimes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 musings. 3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which we render devices. These three ways the Dunghil of Corruption reaks out by our thoughts. Sometimes in our vain arguings and reasonings, by way of image and representations in our musings, sometimes by way of foolish inventions and devices that are in the heart of man.

1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , carnal Discourses of the mind, come under the notion of vain thoughts. If our more refined reason came to scan them, how light and vain would they be found▪ Our reasonings are usually against the Sovereignty of God, Rom. 9. 22. Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? We cannot see how it is just, that by one man's transgression all should be made sinners, that God should choose some and endow them with Grace, and leave others in their corruption; how he should have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and harden whom he will harden. Man would be free from God, but would not have God free; and therefore, contrary to these reasonings and vain discourses, the Scripture pleads the Sovereignty of God, Mat. 20. 15. to show he may do with his own as pleaseth him. And as against the Right and Sovereignty of God, so there are strange discourses against the Providence of God, many anxious traverses and debates in our minds; and therefore the Scripture takes notice how distrust works by our thoughts, Matt. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, &c. and v. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit to his Stature? We are tortured with many suspensive workings and discourses of mind within ourselves, whereas a little trust in God would save many of these vain arguings, Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. He showeth that want of trust in God, and his word and Providence, and committing all to his Dispose, is the cause of a great deal of confusion and darkness in our thoughts, and breedeth such perverse reasonings against the Providence of God. So against the truth of the Gospel, the Law is natural and runneth in by its own light, with evident conviction upon the heart, but the Gospel is suspected, looked upon with prejudice, received as a golden Dream, and as a well devised Fable, we have reasonings in ourselves against that which is discovered concerning the salvation of Sinners by Christ, therefore the Apostle saith, 2 Cor. 10. 5. Bringing into Captivity every thought, imaginations or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Reasonings. Those thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God in Christ. Then disputes against Christian Faith, the Mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ; we are saying as the Virgin Mary, when the Angel brought her tidings of it, How can these things be? So we have perverse reasonings against positive Institutions, 2 King. 5. 12. Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the Rivers of Israel? We are apt to say, Why is this? The means of Grace seems foolish and weak, 1 Cor. 1. 19. It pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So our arguings in perverting the truth of the Gospel, and holy principles of the Word to the countenance of our Lusts, as Deut. 29. 19. When we reason thus within ourselves, we shall have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our own hearts, we need not be so nice and strict, God will be merciful, he will pardon all, Jude 4. turning the Grace of God into lasciviousness, wresting the truth from its purpose to countenance a laziness. It is good to observe the different arguings in Scripture from the same principle. To instance in this principle, Our time is short, what doth a holy man argue from it? 1 Cor. 7. 29. Let those that have wives be as those that have none, those that weep as though they wept not, &c. Therefore we should be strict, temperate, sober in the use of all these things. Now let a carnal Wretch work upon this Principle, and what inference doth he draw? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die, 1 Cor. 15. 32. See this other Principle, The Grace of God brings salvation to poor Sinners, Tit. 2. 12. How doth a gracious heart work upon it! Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts, &c. O what shall be done for this God, the Grace that offers such salvation by Christ! Let a carnal wretch work upon this principle, and he will take liberty to sin that Grace may abound, Rom. 6. 1. Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound? God forbid. Such kind of reasonings there are in the hearts of the Godly; 2 Sam. 7. 2. saith David, I dwell in an house of Cedar, but the Ark of God dwelleth within Curtains. God hath fenced me with his Providence; What then? Here I may sit down and rest, and take my ease and pleasure, and gratify my sensual lusts? No, he doth not argue so, but what shall I do for God, that hath done so much for me? Now see those ungracious Jews after their return, how they reason, Hagg. 1. 2. The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built, no matter for God's House. It is the Lord's hand, let Eli work upon that, 1 Sam. 3. 18. Let him do what seemeth him good, he draws from it a submissive patience; O, the Sovereign God will take his own way, and the Creature must not murmur, repine, and set up an Anti-providence against him. But now saith that carnal Wretch, 2 Kings 6. 33. Behold, this evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer? he murmurs, and frets, and grows impatient. Solomon tells us, Prov. 26. 9. As a Thorn goeth up into the hand of a Drunkard, so is a Parable in the mouth of Fools. A Thorn was their instrument of sewing, now when a Drunkard should manage his Needle he wounds and gores himself, so is a Parable in a Fools mouth: a carnal heart wounds and gores himself with the most holy Principle of Religion. The

2. Sort of vain thoughts are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , musings; and here take notice the vanity of our thoughts appears,

First, In the slipperiness and inconstancy of them. We run from object to object in a moment, and our thoughts look like strangers one upon another, wondering like those vagabond Jews, Act. 19. 13. so they are called because of their uncertain station and frequent removes. Eccl. 6. 9. Better is the sight of the eyes, than the wandering of the desire; in the Original 'tis the working out of the Soul. Usually we have a straggling Soul, roving, wandering here and there, and all in an instant, especially this roving madness may we take notice of when we are employed in holy things, hearing, prayer, meditation. It is strange to see what impertinent, sudden discursions there are from good to lawful, from lawful to sinful, and how far the heart is removed from God when we are before him, when a man hath brought his body to God, his heart is turned back again. These vain thoughts pursue and haunt us in Duties, so that we mingle Sulphur with our incense (it is Gregory 's comparison) even in our prayers and holy addresses to God.

Secondly, The unprofitableness and folly of our musings. Our thoughts are set upon trifles and frivolous things, neither tending to our own profit, nor the benefit of others, Prov. 10. 20. The heart of the wicked is little worth, all their debates, conceits, musings are of no value: The tongue of the just is as choice Silver, but all their thoughts are taken up about childish vanity and foolish conceits, Prov. 24. 9. The thought of foolishness is sin, not only the thought of wickedness but foolishness. Thoughts are the first-born of the Soul, the immediate issues of the mind, yet we lavish them away upon every trifle. Follow men all the day long, and take an account of their thoughts, O what madness and folly are in all the musings they are conscious to, Psal. 94. 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. If we did judge as God judges, all the thoughts, reasonings, discourses of the mind, if they were set down in a Table, we might write at the bottom, Here's the Summ and Total Account of all, nothing but vanity.

Thirdly, The carnality and fleshliness of our thoughts, Phil. 3. 19. They mind earthly things. How sweet is it to us to be thinking of worldly matters, how to grow great, to advance ourselves here! This carnal mind is very natural to us. We are in our Element, and do with a great deal of savor and sweetness think of these things, it makes our heart merry; but when we come to think of that which is good, we are tired presently, and it is very tedious to spend our thoughts upon them. Good things come upon us like a flash of Lightning, soon gone; but on carnal things we can spend our thoughts freely. These carnal musings are stirred up by carnal desire or carnal delight; sometimes by a desire of worldly things, so they are forming images and suppositions of those things they hope for. As Faith works in a godly man, forming images and suppositions of that happy time when they shall be gathered to God, and all holy ones, and rejoice in his presence: He hath a Faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, Heb. 11. 1. which represents his hopes to him; so carnal men dream of preferment, riches, honors, vain-glorious applause, they are looking out after their hopes, they send their thoughts as Messengers of the Soul to forestal the contentment of those carnal things, which they do expect. Sometimes they are employed by carnal delight, when the thing we muse upon is enjoyed; the complacency men take in any carnal enjoyment, it is part of this vanity; when we go musing upon our own worth, and our own excellency, as that King, Dan. 4. 30. Is not this great Babel that I have built, for the honor of my Majesty? Men take some time every day to worship the Idol of self, and dote and gaze upon their own excellencies and achievements, their wisdom and wit, Hab. 1. 15. They gather them in their drag, therefore they rejoice and are glad. Or else pleasing themselves in their Estates, dialogizing within themselves, as the word is Luke 12. 13. Soul, take thine ease, thou hast Goods laid up for many years, &c.

Fourthly, By the impiety and apparent filthiness of them. When men are taken up with sin so as to act it over in their own minds, delighting themselves in fansying of sin, either by way of revenge or lust, or any other such thing, as an unclean person sets up a stage in his own heart, 2 Pet. 2. 14. Eyes full of adultery, or the adulteress, their fancy is upon the beauty of women, their soul is set upon it. The

3. Thing is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Devices. There are many devices, and carnal inventions in the hearts of men which the Scripture takes notice of; as,

First, When men devise, debate in their judgments by carnal means, without complying with God, I am. 4. 8. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double minded▪ By vain thoughts they mind carnal projects, how to get from under the judgment without reformation, humiliation; and complying with God by human means, or sinful shifts, without God's warrant and allowance, Isai. 9. 10. When it was ill with them they hope to mend it, The Bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn Stones; the Sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into Cedars. The state of our affairs is bad, but we can work it into better.

Secondly, When men spend their time wholly to compass their carnal end, as he Luke 12. 18. I will pull down my Barns, and build greater, &c. When they sacrifice their precious thoughts to their interest and lusts, and catering and progging how to satisfy carnal Nature, making provision for the flesh to fulfil it in the lust thereof. Or,

Thirdly, When men's designs are plainly wicked, and tend to the mischief of others, Prov. 16. 30. He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass. Moving the lips and shutting the eyes are gestures and postures of men that are pensive and musing, Mic. 2. 1. Woe unto them that devise evil upon their beds. When men seek to spin and weave out a Webb of wickedness, and carry on their sins with the greatest secrecy; This, in short, is some taste of the vanity of our thoughts.

II. What are the sins that do most usually ingross and take up our thoughts? I answer,

1. Uncleanness. Speculative wickedness makes way for active, He hath committed Adultery in his heart, Matth. 5. 28. There is polluting ourselves by our thoughts, and this is a sin usually works that way.

2. Revenge. Liquors are sour'd when long kept, so when we dwell upon discontents they turn to revenge, Prov. 14. 17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly; and a man of wicked devices is hated. He that is passionate and soon angry is a Fool; but when a man is not only angry but malicious, that puts him upon wicked devices, when he doth concoct his anger he is a Fool to purpose. Purposes of revenge are most sweet and pleasant to carnal nature, Prov. 16. 14. Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually. When men are full of revengeful and spiteful thoughts.

3. Envy. 'It is a sin that feeds upon the mind, 1 Sam. 18. 9. Those Songs of the Women, That Saul had slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands, they ran in Saul's mind, therefore he hated David. Envy is an evil disease that dwelleth in the heart, and bewrays itself mostly in thoughts.

4. Pride. Either Pride in the desires, or Pride in the mind, either vain-glory, or selfconceit; this is entertaining our hearts with whispers of vanity: therefore it is said, Luke 1. 51. He hath scattered the Proud in the imagination of their hearts. Proud men are full of imaginations.

5. Covetousness, which is nothing but vain musings and exercises of their heart, 2 Pet. 2. 14. An heart they have, exercised with covetous practices. And it withdraws the heart in the very time of God's Worship, Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their Covetousness.

6. Distrust, is another thing which usually takes up our thoughts, distracting motions against God's Providence.

III. Upon what grounds we are to make conscience of our thoughts.

1. Because they are irregularities contrary to the Law of God. It is said Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is pure, converting the Soul. The Law of God differs herein from the Laws of men. The Commands of the greatest and most mighty Potentates upon Earth can go no further than the regulating of the conversation, for that's all they can take account of; but the Law of God reacheth to the motions of the inward man, and to the reducing of our thoughts to the obedience of God; for God hath a Tribunal in the heart and conscience, he searcheth and trieth the reins, knows all our thoughts afar off, and therefore it is proper to him to give Laws to our thoughts.

2. God hath declared much of his displeasure against them. The Devils sin, for which he was cast out of Heaven, was a sin of thought, an aspiring thought, possibly against the Imperial Dignity of God. And so great were his Judgments upon men, that he doth not so much take notice of outward acts, as of inward thoughts, therefore Gen. 6. 5. he threatened the old World for the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts. We look to the stream, but God looks to the Fountain. Acts are hateful to men, because liable to their cognizance; so Ier. 6. 19. I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. Nay, in God's process at the Last Day, when God comes to judge the World, it is said, the secrets of their hearts shall be made manifest, 1 Cor. 4. 5. Men's inward Debates, Counsels, reasonings, and thoughts, they shall be brought into the judgment.

3. Make conscience of thoughts, because among all sins thoughts are most considerable, and that in these respects.

First, In respect of the Subject. They are the sins of the highest part of man, the mind, which is the leading part of the Soul. The errors and irregularities of the lower part of the Soul are not so considerable as the counsels, debates, reasonings, principles, that we are seasoned and guided by, Rom. 8. 7. The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God. That which should be the guide to man, his wisdom, that puts him upon opposition. If sensual appetite were only in the fault, it were not so much.

Secondly, From their Nature. They are the immediate issues of the Soul, the firstborn of original corruption. The free acts of the heart do discover more of the temper of it, than words and actions that are more remote. A man may be known by his thoughts, but not so much known by his words and actions, for words and actions may be over-ruled by by-ends, and restraints of fear and shame: Men may speak not as they would, do not as they would, but think as they would. To curry favor with others, a man may refrain his tongue, and do some unpleasing actions, or may profess opinions contrary to his own mind: But inward thoughts being the immediate Births of the Soul, very much discover the temper of the man. Hereby you may take the best measure of your spirits. A gracious man is full of gracious thoughts, and a wicked man full of wicked thoughts, Prov. 12. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Our thoughts we can best judge by, being the purest offspring of the mind, and the freest from restraint, Isai. 32. 8. The liberal man deviseth liberal things. The unclean man is devising unclean things, the earthly man is always talking with himself about building, planting, trading, these things take up his mind. You cannot judge of a Fountain by the Current of Water at a distance, six or seven miles off, it may receive a tincture from the Channel through which it passeth; but just at the Fountain where it bubbles up, there you can judge of the quality, whether sweet or bitter water: so you cannot judge of the Soul by things that are more remote, and where by-ends may interpose, Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, &c. Evil thoughts come first, other things come from the heart, but not so immediately: therefore thoughts being so considerable, we should make conscience of them.

Thirdly, They are considerable from their kind, here are the roots of all evils. Every thing that we do, every deliberate act that is done by a reasonable Creature, argueth some foregoing thought, every temptation is fastened upon the heart by some intervening thought. Before sin be formed, brought forth, and becomes a complete sin, there are musings, which are, as it were, the incubations of the Soul, or fitting abrood upon the temptation, Isai. 59. 4. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. The mind sits abrood upon sin. It is thoughts that bring the heart and object together. First men think, then they love, then they practice. Beating the Steel upon the Flint makes the Sparks fly out, so when the understanding beats and knocks upon the will by pregnant thoughts, by inculcation, that stirs up the affection: These are the Bellows which blow up those latent sparks of sin, that are in our Souls; therefore if you would make conscience of acts, you should make conscience of thoughts. It is the greatest imprudence that can be, to think to do anything in reformation, when we do not take care of our thoughts. See, when God adviseth us to return to him, Isai. 55. 7. he saith, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteouus man his thoughts. In vain do we lop off the Branches, and let the Root live. If we would forsake our way, we must first forsake our thoughts. When certain Fowl pestered a man, he asked, How he should be rid of them? The answer was, The Nest must be destroyed, and they must be crushed in the Egg; so here's the best way of crushing the Egg, by dashing Babylon's Brats against the Wall: so much is implied in that place, Ier. 4. 14. Wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved: how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? Wash thy heart, begin there. Medicines applied to the outward parts will do no good, unless the inwards be cleansed and purged; so until the soul be cleansed and purged from these evil thoughts, outward reformation will be to no purpose.

Fourthly, They are considerable in regard of their number, they are most numberless acts of the Soul, Isai. 57. 20. The Sea is always working, so the heart of man is always casting forth mire and dirt, Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually. There is a Mint in us that is always working towards that which is evil. This is a means to humble us. The Lord knows the best of our thoughts are but vain, this is that which raiseth the account in God's Book of remembrance, which makes us more admire the riches of his Grace even to the very last, Let him forsake his thoughts, Isai. 55. 7. What then? I will multiply to pardon. Certainly, if thoughts be sins, God must not only pardon, but multiply to pardon.

Use 1. To humble us all, the best of us, from first to last. Vanity of heart sticks to us, O how many carnal thoughts haunt us where ever we go! As thou walkest in the streets up and down, whereupon do thy thoughts run? The common vain thoughts should be laid to heart. Have we not a God, a Christ to think of, sweet and precious promises, Heaven and Glory, and the great concernments of our souls, and yet with what Chaff do we fill our minds? We go thinking of every toy and trifle, grinding Chaff instead of Corn every day. O how do we throw away our thoughts, rather than God should have them, upon every vain thing! It is very irksome a little to retire, and recollect ourselves, and think of God, Christ and Heaven, but what a deal of vanity do we take into our minds! If our hearts were turned inside outward, and all our thoughts liable to the notice of men, as they are to the notice of God, what odious Creatures should we be! and have we no reverence of the Great God? The Lord knows our hearts, he knows we have thoughts enough and to spare, more than we know what to do withal, and he knows we are backward to exercise them upon him, and things that lead to Communion with him. These thoughts are aggravated from the time, as upon God's Day, for then we are not to think our own thoughts, Isai. 58. 13. A Christian is then to sequester himself only for God. Nay, our vain heart bewrayeth itself in solemn Duties, a man cannot go to prayer but the vanity of his thoughts will trouble him, and run about him when he is hearing the Word; how do we course up and down like Spaniels hither and thither! Yea, to humble ourselves because of our wicked thoughts, our desperate thoughts against the Being of God, Psal. 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. Though we cannot open our eyes but the Creature presently doth show us something of God, and call upon us, whether we look upward or downward, yet how do we vent this thought, if there were no God, then we could live as we lift, without check and restraint! Thoughts which arise within us against the truth of the Gospel, as if it were but a well devised Fable. Thoughts against the purity of God's Laws, that we need not be so strict, that it is but nice folly, that we shall do well enough without repenting, believing, minding the work of our salvation. Yea, we have thoughts against the light of Nature, filthy unclean thoughts, such as defile and stain the heart. Of earthly thoughts, how natural is that in musing upon that esteem, honor, greatness that we shall have in the World! How do carnal thoughts haunt us, and this not only when we are in our natural condition, but even after Grace! And Christians are mistaken that do not think those thoughts evil though there be no consent of the will. I confess there are thoughts cast into the mind by Satan, but these not resisted, these cherished, fostered, they become ours; though they are Children of Satan's getting, and may be cast in, as the tempting of Christ was by injection of thought: but then we entertain these things: as Weeds thrown over the Wall are not to be charged upon the Gardener, but the envivious man; but if the Gardener lets them lie there, and root there, then it is his fault.

Use 2. Do we love the Law of God? Do we aim at a complete and entire subjection to the Will of God? Do we desire to serve him in spirit? Here's the evidence, do we hate vain thoughts? We cannot be free from them, but are they your burden? A Child of God is pestered with them, though he hates them.

1. Do we give them entertainment? Ier. 4. 23. How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? They may rush into a gracious heart, but they do not rest there. Wicked men may have good thoughts, but do not give them entertainment; take a snatch and away, but do not make a meal upon any spiritual truth; there is an occasional salute sometimes in wicked men of good things, but their heart doth not dwell upon them.

2. Do you make conscience of them? Do they put you upon remorse, caution, watchfulness, frequent recourse to God for pardon and Grace? Acts 8. 22. Pray, if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee. Are you humbled for them, as well as for other sins, because these grieve the Spirit of God, are conceived there where he hath his residence, chiefly in the heart? Doth this trouble you, that the Spirit should be grieved?

Use 3. It presseth us to take care of our thoughts. Thoughts fall under the Judicature of God's Word, Heb. 4. 12. Thoughts are hateful to God, The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, Prov. 15. 26. And as they are hated of him, so he knows them all, it is his Prerogative to tell man his thoughts, he understands our thoughts afar off, Psal. 139. 2. What thoughts we have when we are walking, praying, employed in our Calling, what comes in, what goes out, there is not a thought but God regards, and God will reckon with us about our thoughts.

1. Look more earnestly after a Principle of Regeneration, Rom. 8. 5. They that are after the flesh, employ their wisdom about the flesh, they are contriving for the flesh, savouring the things of the flesh; and they that are after the Spirit, savor the things of God, savor spiritual things. We must be renewed by the Spirit. The ground brings forth weeds, but not flowers of itself; so our hearts naturally bring forth vain thoughts, but they must be cultivated and dressed, we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind. There is nothing discovers the necessity of Regeneration so much as this, That we must take care of our thoughts. Moral restraints may prevent the excesses of life, or regulate the outward man. If sin did lie only in words and deeds, human Laws and Edicts would be enough, and we needed no other discipline to bring us to Heaven. There are excellent Laws for bridling man's speech and practice, for these things man can take notice of; but he that is only good according to the Laws of men, his goodness is too narrow, is not broad enough for God. It is the peculiar privilege of that Judicature God hath set up, to bring the thoughts under. Look that there may be within you a spring of holy thoughts.

2. Get a stock of sound knowledge. The mind of man is always working, and if it be not fed and supplied with good matter, it works upon that which is evil and vain. If there be not a plenty of good matter wherein to exercise yourselves, the Soul will necessarily spend itself in vanity of thoughts. Now abundance of knowledge supplies and yields matter. It is a good thing when our Reins instruct us in the night season, Psal. 6. 7. in the darkness and silence of the night, when we are taken off from all company, books, worldly employment, and distractions of sense, and the soul is left to itself, to its own operations, then to draw out knowledge, and have our reins instruct us. But men are barren of holy thoughts, and so are forced to give way to vanity. Deut. 6. 6, 7. Bind them upon thy heart: What then? When thou awakest it shall talk with thee; that is, as soon as you awake, before you have received images from abroad, a man is to parly with his soul about the course of his service that day. Words and thoughts are both fed by abundance in the heart. Thoughts are but verba mentis, words of the mind, and words are but thoughts expressed and languag'd. Now if a man would have these things present when he is lying down and sitting up, then these words must be in his heart. A man must have a good treasure within, that he may bring forth out of his treasure things both new and old, Mat. 13. 52. When the mind is the Store-house of truth, he will ever be drawing forth upon all occasions. He that hath more Silver and Gold in his pocket than brass Farthings, brings forth Gold and Silver oftener than Brass; so he that is stored with Divine Truths, and full of the knowledge of the Lord, his mind will more run upon these things, and will often out of the treasure of his heart bring forth things that are good.

3. Enure yourselves more to holy meditation. There must be some time to wind up the Plummets, and lift up our hearts to God, Psal. 25. 1. For want of this, no wonder if men's thoughts are loose and scattered, when they are left at random, when they are never solemnly exercised in consideration of Divine Truths, verse 99. of this Psalm.

4. Begin with God. Psal. 139. 8. When I awake (saith David) I am still with thee. As soon as we awake, our hearts should be in Heaven; we should leave our hearts with God over night, that we might find them with God in the morning. We owe God the first-fruits of our reason before we think of other things, for every day is but the lesser circle of our lives. We should begin with God before earthly things encroach upon us, season your hearts with the thoughts of his holy Presence; that's the means to make the fear of God abide upon us all the day after: and it is some recompense for those hours spent in sleep, wherein we shown not the least act of thankfulness to God, to exercise our reason again, and when we are awake we should be thinking of God.

Doct. They that hope in God's word for the protection which he hath promised, will find God to be a shield and a hiding place to them.

• I. I shall speak, Of the nature of Divine protection, as it is here set forth under the notions of a shield and hiding place.
• II. Of the respect which the word hath to these benefits.
• III. Of the necessity and use of faith and hope in the word.

I. For the nature of this protection, it is set forth in two Notions, a hiding place, and ashield. Upon which I observe,

1. David was a military man, and therefore often makes use of Metaphors proper to his function, when he wandered in the Wilderness and the Forest of Ziph, and they yielded to him many a lurking hole, and so he knew the benefit of a hiding place; and being a man of war he was more acquainted with the use of a shield in battle. That which I observe is this, That it is good to spiritualize the things that we often converse with, and from earthly occasions to raise heavenly thoughts. You will ever find our Lord Jesus so doing. When he sat at meat in the Pharisees house, he discourseth of eating bread in his Fathers Kingdom, Luke 16. 14. When he was at the Well of Samaria, he falls a discoursing of the Well of Life, of the water that springeth up to eternal Life, John 4. Again, when he was at the Feast of Tabernacles, you will find there it was the fashion of the people at that Feast to fetch water from the Pool of Siloam, and to pour it out until it ran in a great Stream, and then at the Feast of Tabernacles Christ cried out, He that cometh to me, out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living water, John 7. He spiritualizeth that occasion. Thus should we learn to turn Brass into Gold, and by a holy Chemistry to extract useful thoughts from these ordinary objects that we are cast upon. Thus doth David, he had been acquainted with the use of a hiding place, and with a shield, and accordingly expresseth his confidence by these Notions. The Septuagint render it simply and without the Metaphor, my help and my undertaker; but we from the Hebrew, my hiding place, my shield.

2. Observe again, Both the Notions imply defense and protection, a shield is not a weapon offensive but defensive. Indeed elsewhere, Deut. 33. 29. God said to Israel, I am the shield of thy strength, and sword of thy excellency. God is a sword as well as a shield, a weapon offensive as well as defensive, in the behalf of his people. But here both Metaphors imply only defense and protection. It is not here a hiding place and a sword, but a hiding place and a shield. Why? The Godly are subject to many dangers and perils from adverse powers, spiritual and bodily, and therefore need much preservation and defense.

1. The Soul is in danger of Satan and his temptations. There are spiritual enemies that will put us upon the need of a shield and a hiding place, Ephes. 6. 12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, &c. that is, not principally, we do not wrestle against bodily or human powers: Outward Agents are not Principals, but Instruments, our chief war is with Devils and evil Spirits, who have a mighty power over a great part of the world, they are the Rulers of the darkness of this world, the ignorant and carnal part of the world, and they assault us with much cunning and strength, and invisible enemies are the worst, none like to them for craft, for strength, for malice, for number. They easily get the advantage over us by their crafty insinuations, and applying themselves to our humors, and feeding every distemper with a Bait suitable, and they are always about us, unseen and unperceived, they lie in ambush for our souls, and assault us in company and alone, in business and in recreations, in the duties of Religion, and in our ordinary Affairs, they follow us in our retirements, and pursue us with unwearied diligence. No such enemies as these for craft and subtlety of address. And then for their power and strength, they have their fiery Darts to throw-upon us, ver, 16. they inject and cast in blasphemous thoughts, and enkindle and awaken in us burning lusts, or fire us with rage and despair, their power is exceeding great, because they have the management of fiery Darts. And their malice is great, it is not to hurt our bodies chiefly, that's but the shell of the man, but the chiefest part, our immortal soul; and therefore we need a hiding place and a shield, when we have to do with spiritual wickednesses, that always are assaulting us in this manner upon all occasions. And for their number, there's many of them, and all engaged in this spiritual warfare against the Saints, we cannot dream of ease if we would be Christ's Soldiers. In the Gospel we find one man possessed with a whole Legion of them, Mark 5. 9. My name is Legion, for we are many, they cease not in this manner thus continually to assault and vex us, and therefore we need a hiding place and shield.

2. The Bodies of God's people and their temporal lives are exposed to a great deal of hazard and danger from evil men, who are ready to molest and trouble us: sometimes upon one pretence, and sometimes upon another. They that indeed would go to Heaven, and have a serious sense of the world to come upon their hearts, they are a different party from the world, and therefore the world hates them, John 17. 14. and Rom. 12. 2. Be not conformed to this world. It was never yet so well with the world, but they were forced to stand upon their defense; and usually, as to any visible interest, they are the weakest, when their enemies are mighty and strong, and therefore they had need of a hiding place to run to, and a shield to defend them, to run to the covert and defense of God's Providence,

3. Observe the difference between these two Notions, hiding place, and shield. Sometimes God is said to be our strength and our shield, Psal. 28. 7. he furnisheth us within and without, he strengthens and fortifies the heart, then wields and keeps off dangers. And sometimes again he is said to be a Sun and shield, Psal. 84. 11. We have positive and privative Blessings, or a Sun to give us light, and a shield to give us strength, he promiseth to be both, but usually he so attempereth his Providence, that where he is more a Sun, there he is less a shield; that is to say, the more sparingly he vouchsafeth the knowledge of heavenly Comforts, the more powerfully doth he assist his people in their weakness by his Providence. As the Jews that were conversant about the shadows of the Law, and lived under the darkness of that Pedagogy, God was less a Sun to them, than he is to us; but yet they knew more of his powerful Providence, of his temporal protection. Now here it is a hiding place and a shield, what's the difference between these? God is a hiding-place to keep us out of danger, and a shield to keep us in danger. Either we shall be kept from trouble, that dangers shall not overtake us; or, if they do overtake us, they shall not hurt us, they shall only serve for this use, to make us sensible of God's defense, and to increase our thanksgiving for our protection, for God hides us, and as a shield interposeth himself between us and the strokes of our adversaries, those fiery Darts which are flung at us. Well then, they imply, either God will keep us from seeing the evil, or fortify us that the evil shall not hurt us. One of these Notions was not enough to express the fullness of God's protection, a hiding place, that's a fixed thing, but a shield and buckler we may constantly carry it about with us where ever we go, and make use of God's power and love against all conflicts when ever we are assaulted. Again, on the other side, a shield were not enough to express it, for that only respects actual assaul •… s, but God saves us from many dangers which we are not aware of, prevents troubles which we never thought of, Psal. 21. 3.

4. Let us view these Notions apart, and see what they contain for our comfort.

First, Let us look upon God as a hiding place. Men in great straits, when they are not able to make defense against pursuing enemies, they run to their hiding place, as we shall see the Israelites did from the Philistines, 1 Sam. 13. 6. When the men of •… srael saw that they were distressed, they hid themselves in Caves, in Thickets, in Rocks, in high places, and in Pits: and so God's Children when they are too weak for their enemies, seek a safe and sure hiding place, Prov. 22. 3. A wise man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. Certainly there is a hiding place for the Saints, if we had but skill to find it out; and where is it, but in God? Psal. 32. 7. Lord, thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble. I do not delight to squeeze a Metaphor, and to make it yield what it intends not, yet these four things are offered plainly in this Notion of a hiding place, there is secrecy, and capacity to receive, and safety, and comfort.

1. Secresie. It is not a Fortress wherein a man does profess himself to be, and to stand out assaults, but it is a hiding place, Psal. 27. 5. In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me upon a Rock. God's protection of his people is a secret hidden mystery, as everything is to a carnal man. The person hidden is seen abroad every day following his business, serving his Generation, doing that work which God hath given him to do, yet he is hidden while he is seen, by the secret power and love of God dispensing of all things for his comfort and protection, the man is kept safe by ways which the world knows not of. So Psal. 31. 20. Thou shalt hide him in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. There is a secret power of God by which they are upheld and maintained by one means or other, which they see not, and cannot find out.

2. The next thing considerable in a hiding place, is capacity to receive us; and so there is in God, we may trust him with our Souls, with our Bodies, with our peace, with our goods, with our good name, with our all. Our Souls, all that concerns us between this and the day of Judgment, as St. Paul did, 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. He calls his Soul and all the concernments of it a thing that was left, and that he durst trust, in the hands of God. Our Soul is much sought after. Satan that hath lost the favor of God himself, envies that others would enjoy it, therefore maligns the Saints, pursues them with great malice and power; but put it into the hands of God, he is able to keep it. And so for outward things, this hiding place is wide enough for all that we have, for goods, body, and good name. Psal. 31. 20. Thou shalt keep them secretly as in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues. As the hearts of men are in the hands of God, so are their tongues. There is the same reason why we should trust in God for all things, when we trust in him for one thing. And indeed, did we truly and upon scripture grounds trust him for one thing, we would trust him for all things. If we did trust him with our Souls, we would without anxious care trust him with our Bodies, and secular interests and concernments also.

3. Here is safety till the trouble be over, and we may be kept as quiet in God, as if there were no danger, Psal. 57. 1. Under the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities are overpast. There's an allusion to a Chicken under the Dams wing, when Hawks, Kites, and Birds of prey are abroad, that are ready to seize upon them with their sharp Beaks and Talens, they run to the Dams wings, and there they are safe. So Isai. 26. 20. Come my people, enter thou into thy Chambers, and shut the doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. There we have an allusion to a storm that is soon over, it is a little cloud that will easily be blown over; but in the mean time here's a covert and a defense. The use of God's protection and love is best known in a time of straits and difficulties.

4. There is not only safety but comfort. As under the Dams wings the Chickens are not only protected but cherished. Christians, it is not a dead refuge or hiding place, but like the wings of the Hen which yield warmth and comfort to the young brood, Psalm 34. 22. None of them that trust in him shall be desolate. There is sweet support, and spiritual experience, and inward comforts; so that a Believer that is hidden in the secret of God's presence, fares better than all those that have the world at will, and flow in ease and plenty, if he would judge of his condition by spiritual considerations. Thus we have seen the first Notion, God is a hiding place.

2. God is a shield. He is often called his people's shield in Scripture. Now the excellency and properties of a shield lie in these things.

First, In the largeness and breadth of it, in that it hides and covers the person that weareth it from all Darts that are flung at him, so as they cannot reach him, Psal. 5. 12. Thou wilt bless the righteous with favor, thou wilt compass him as with a shield. There's the excellency of a shield, to compass a person round about, that the Darts flung at him may not reach him. There's a comfortable promise, it runs in other notions indeed, yet I will mention it upon this occasion, because the expressions are so notable and emphatical, Zech. 2. 5. For I, saith the Lord, 'will be unto her a wall of fire round about. Mark every word, for every word hath its weight. It was spoken when the returning Jews were discouraged at their small number, they had not enough to people their Country, and build their Towns, nor to defend themselves against their numerous and potent adversaries, now what shall they do? God makes them this promise of a future increase, I will be a wall, &c. And there are three promises included in this one, (viz.) that he will be a wall, a wall round about them, and a wall of fire round about them; which is a further degree. A wall, there's a promise of that, Isai. 26. 1. We have a strong City; salvation will God appoint for Walls and Bulwarks. And a wall that doth encompass them on every side round about, there's a promise of that, Psal. 125. 2. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth even forever: he will be instead of all guards and defences. So likewise a wall of fire; not of Brass or of Stone, but of fire, that affrights at a distance, and consumes near at hand. Here's enough for a refuge, and to stay our hearts in the Lord's keeping; an allusion to those Countries, when they travel'd in the wilderness they were wont to make a fire about them, to preserve them from wild Beasts. Thus doth God express his all-encompassing protection, He that is our shield.

Secondly, The excellence of a shield lies in that it is hard and impenetrable. So this answers to the invincible power of God's Providence, by which he can break the assaults of all enemies; and such a shield is God to his people, Psal. 144. 2. My strength and my shield, in whom I trust.

Thirdly, Shall I add one thing more? Stones and Darts flung upon a hard Shield are beaten back upon him that flings them; so God beats back the evil upon his enemies, and the enemies of his people, Psal. 59. 11. Bring them down, O Lord our shield. Shall I speak in a word? The favor of God is a shield, Psal. 5. 12. With favor wilt thou compass him, as with a shield. The truth of God is a shield, Psal. 91. 4. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. And the strength and power of God that's our shield, Psal. 28. 7. He is my strength and my shield.

Well now, you see how this defense and this protection is set forth, Thou art my hiding place and my shield; God accommodates himself to lisp to us in our own Dialect, and to speak in such notions, as we can best understand, for the help of our faith. Having opened the nature of this desence, the next thing I am to do is to show,

II. The respect to the word, I hope in thy word.

1. The word discovers God to be such a protection, and such a defense to his people everywhere, Psal. 84. 11. God will be a Sun and a shield, Grace and Glory will he give. As a Sun, so he will give all things that belong to our blessedness; as a shield, so he will keep off all dangers from us. The Scripture shows not only what God can do herein, but what he will do for our sakes. So Gen. 15. 1. saith God to Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Abraham might be under some fear that the Kings which he had lately vanquished, would work him some trouble, and then God comes and appears to him and comforts him, and tells him, I am thy shield.

2. As the Scripture doth discover God under these notions, so it invites us, and encourageth us to put God to this use, Isai. 26. 20. Come my people, enter into thy Chambers, shut the door about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment. There are Chambers where we may rest, where are they but in the arms of God's protection, in the chambers of his Attributes, Promises, and Providence? The word invites us so to make use of God, to enter into him as into a Chamber of repose, while the Storm is furious, and seems to blow hard upon us. So Psal. 91. 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He that committeth himself to God for refuge shall not be thrust out, but suffered to dwell there, and enjoy the benefit of a covert and defense.

3. The Scripture assureth us of the Divine protection, that certainly it shall be so, Prov. 30. 5. Every word of God is pure; he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Do not think that these are careless expressions, that dropt into the Scripture by chance: no, they are the sure and pure words of the Lord, that will yield a great deal of comfort, peace and happiness. So Psal. 18. 30. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. God hath past his word, which he hath ever been tender of, in all Ages of the world, he invites us to depend upon it. Thus it assures us of the Divine protection.

4. It directeth us as to the qualifications of the persons who shall enjoy this privilege: Who are they?

1. You might observe, All those that believe, and none but those that believe; he is a buckler and a shield to all those that trust in him, Prov. 30. 5. Psal. 18. 30. Trust and have it. If you will glorify God by Faith, and depend upon him according to his word, you will find it to be so. We miss of our protection and defense by our doubts, unbelief and distrust of God. All those that in time of danger are duly sensible of it, and make use of God as their refuge and hiding place, shall find him to be that to them which their Faith expects from him. The

2. Qualification which the word directs us unto is this, Those that sincerely obey his Covenant, Psal. 84. 11. God is a Sun and a shield to those that walk uprightly: and the same is repeated Prov. 2. 7. God is a Buckler to them that walk uprightly: and Isai. 33. 15, 16. where God saith, they that seek him shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: they shall be preserved safe that fearhim, and walk with him according to the tenor of his Covenant. If you will not be faithful Servants to God, how can you expect he should be a good Master to you? Sincerely give up your heart to walk with God exactly and closely, and he will not be wanting to you. Others may be preserved by general Providence, or rather reserved to future judgment; they may be kept until the Pit be digged for the wicked, Psal. 94. 13. as a Malefactor is suffered to live till the place of execution be prepared. But to have this protection in mercy, it supposeth we are in covenant with God, and walk sincerely with him.

5. It directeth us how to expect this blessing, in what manner, only in the way and manner that it is promised, Zeph. 3. 3. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be you shall be hid; not absolutely, but as referring it to God's will. There is the keeping of the outward man, and the keeping of the inward man. As to the outward man, all things come alike to all, the Christian is safe whatever becomes of the man, the Lord will keep him to his heavenly Kingdom, 2 Tim. 4. 17, 18. That which the Christian desires mainly to be kept is his Soul, that he may not miscarry, and blemish his profession, and dishonor God, and do anything that is unseemly. I say, we cannot absolutely expect temporal safety. The righteous are liable to many troubles, therefore in temporal things God will not always keep off the temporal stroke, but leave us to many uncertainties, or at least hold us in doubt about it, that we may trust his goodness. When we trust God we must trust all his Attributes, not only his Power that he is able to preserve, but his Goodness that he will do that which is best, that there may be a submission and referring of all things to his will, as David 2 Sam. 15. 26. If he say, I have no delight in thee, behold here am I, let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him. God will certainly make good his promise, but this trust lies not in an absolute certainty of success. However, this should not discourage us from making God our refuge, because better promises are sure enough, and God's keeping us in suspense about other things is no evidence he will not afford them to us; it is his usual course, and few instances can be given to the contrary, to have a special regard to his trusting Servants, and to hide them secretly. They that know his name will find it, that he never hath forsaken them that put their trust in him, Psal. 9. 10. It is the only sure way to be safe; whereas to perplex our souls with distrust, even about these outward things, that's the way to bring ruin and mischief upon ourselves, or turn aside to crooked paths. Well then, you see what respect the word hath to this privilege, that God is a shield and a hiding place. The word discovers God under these notions, the word invites and encourageth us to put God to this use, the word assures us of the Divine protection, it directeth us to the qualification of the persons that shall enjoy this privilege, they that can trust God, and walk uprightly with him; and it directeth us to expect the blessing, not with absolute confidence, but leaving it to God.

III. The third thing I am to do, is to show this word must be applied by Faith, I hope in thy word. Hope is not strictly taken here, but for faith, or a certain expectation of the blessing promised. What doth Faith do here? Why, the use of Faith is,

1. To quiet the heart in waiting God's leisure, Psal. 33. 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. If God be our help and shield, then faith is quietly to wait the Lord's leisure, till he sends deliverance, the word must bear up our hearts, and we must be contented to tarry his time, Isai. 28. 16. He that believeth shall not make hast, will not out-run God.

2. In fortifying the heart against the present difficulties, that when all visible helps and interests are cut off; yet we may encourage ourselves in the Lord. When they were wandering in the wilderness, and had neither house nor home, then Moses the man of God pens that Psalm, and how doth he begin it? Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all Generations, Psal. 90. 1. What was wanting in sense, they saw was made up in the all sufficiency of God. And so here's the use of Faith, when in defiance of all difficulties we can see an all sufficiency in God to counterbalance that which is wanting in sense: So doth David, Psal. 3. 3. Lord (saith he) thou art my shield and glory, and the lifter up of my head. Look to that Psalm, it was penned when David was driven from his Palace Royal by Absalom; when he was in danger, God was his shield; when his Kingdom and Honor were laid in the dust, God was his Glory; when he was under sorrow and shame and enemies insulting over him; when the people rose against him, and he was in great dejection of spirit, God was the lifter up of his head. This is getting under the Covert of this shield, or compass of this hiding place.

3. The use of Faith is to quicken us to go on cheerfully in our duty, and with a quiet heart resting upon God's love, power and truth; so David Psal. 131. 5. Into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. David was then in great danger, the Net was laid for him, as he saith in the former verse, and when he was likely to perish, what doth he do? he casts all his cares upon God, and trusts him with his life, Into thy hands I commit my spirit, that is, his life, safety, &c.

Use 1. Admire the goodness of God who will be all things to his people; if we want a house, he will be our dwelling place; if we want a covert, he will be our shield, our hiding place; whatever we want, God will supply it. There's a notable expression, Psal. 91. 9. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation. Mark that double Notion, a habitation is the place of our abode in time of peace, a refuge the place of our retreat in a time of war. Be it peace or war, God will be all in all; he will be a fountain of blessing to us in a time of peace, he will be our habitation there where we have our sweetest comforts; and then in time when dangers and difficulties are abroad, God will be a refuge and a place of retreat to our souls.

Use 2. To persuade us to contentation in a time of trouble. Though we have not a Palace, yet if we have but a hiding place; though our condition be not so commodious as we do desire, yet if God will vouchsafe a little liberty in our service we must be content, if he will give us a little safety though not plenty, for here is not our full reward. And therefore it is well we can make this use of God, to be our shield and hiding place, though we have not that ample condition which a carnal heart would fancy. God never undertook in his Covenant to maintain us at such a rate, nor thus to enlarge our portion; if he will vouchsafe a little security and safety to us during the time of our pilgrimage, we must be content.

Use 3. This should more encourage us against the evil of sin, since God assures us of protection and defense against the evil of trouble. If God did leave us to shift for ourselves, and never expressed himself in his word for our comfort, then we were more excusable (though not altogether) if we did shift and turn aside to crooked Paths, because we are under an obligation to obey, whatsoever it cost us. But when he hath offered himself to be our shield, and our hiding place, to stand by us, be with us, carry us through fire and water, all dangers and difficulties, shall we warp now and turn aside from God? Gen. 17. 1. saith the Lord, I am God all-sufficient, walk before me, and be thou perfect: there is enough in God, why should we trouble ourselves? or why should we run to any practices which God will not own?

Use 4. It presseth us to depend upon God's protection. Shall I urge Arguments to you?

1. This is one, Everyone must have a hiding place. Saith Solomon, The Conies are a feeble folk, yet they have their burroughs and holes. All Creatures must depend upon somewhat, especially the Children of God that are exposed to a thousand difficulties, you must expect to have your faith and patience tried if ever you come to inherit the promises, and during that time it is good to have a hiding place and a shield.

2. Your hearts will not be kept in safety unless you make God your strong defense. When Phocas fortified Cities to secure his ill-gotten Goods, a voice was heard, Sin within will soon batter down all those Walls and Fortifications. Unless God be our hiding place and shield, the strongest defences in the world are not enough to keep us from danger. All the shifts we run into will but entangle us the more, and drive us the more from God, and to greater inconvenience. 2 Chron. 28. 20. As the King of Assyria to Ahaz, He distressed him, but helped him not; so many run away from God's protection, and seek out means of safety for themselves, and will not trust him, but seek to secure themselves by some shifts of their own; they do but plunge themselves into troubles so much the more, and draw greater inconveniences upon themselves. There is a great deal of sin and danger in departing from God, and he can soon blast our confidences. All those places of safety we fancy to ourselves, can soon be demolished and battered down. God will blast our carnalshifts.

3. It is a thing that we owe to God by virtue of the fundamental Article of the Covenant. If you have chosen God for your God, then you have chosen him for your refuge. Everyone in his straits runs to the God he hath chosen. Nature taught the Heathens in their distress to run to their gods. You may see the Pagan Mariners, a sort of men usually not much haunted with religious thoughts, yet when the storm arose, the Sea wrought and was tempestuous, danger grew upon them, and they were afraid, they called every man upon his God, Jon. 1. 5. they were sensible that some Divine Power must give them protection. It immediately results from the owning of a God, that we must trust him with our safety; and so if we have taken the true God for our God, we have taken him for our refuge and hiding place, Ruth 2. 12. A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. When Ruth came to profess the true God, by taking the God of Israel for her God, it is expressed thus, she did commit herself to his Providence and protection; and therefore Covetousness because of its trust in Riches, is called Idolatry, it is a breach of the fundamental Article of the Covenant, taking God for our God.

4. This trust ever succeeds well. It will be of great use to you to still and calm your thoughts, and free you from many anxious cares, and in due time it will bring deliverance according to his promise. How may we thus trust in God? Why, commit and submit your persons and all your conditions and affairs to his Providence. This is to trust in God, to make him your hiding place and your shield. These Notions are often used in Scripture, 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prov. 16. 3. Psal. 37. 5. If there be a thing to be brought about for you, commit it and submit it to God, he is able, wise, loving and faithful, he will do what shall be for the best; commit your comforts, your health, liberty, peace, your all into God's hands, for he is the Author of all, let the Lord do what he will. This is to trust in God, when you can thus without trouble or anxious care refer yourselves to the wise disposal of his Providence.

1. No hurt can come to you without God's leave. No Creature can move or stir, saving (notonly by his permission, but) by his influence: others may have a will to hurt, but not power unless given them from above, as Christ told Pilate. The Devil is a raging Adversary against the people of God, but he is forced to ask leave to touch either Job 's Goods or his Person; he could not touch his Skin, or anything that belonged to him, without a Commission from God, Job 1. Nay, he must ask leave to enter into the Herd of Swine, Matth. 8. 31. And Tertullian hath a notable gloss upon that, If God hath numbered the Bristles of Swine, certainly he hath numbered much more the Hairs of the Saints; if he cannot enter into a Herd of Swine, he cannot worry a friend of Christ's, without God's leave.

2. Consider how much God hath expressed his singular affection, and his care and Providence over his people. There are many emphatical expressions in Scripture, that's one Matth. 10. 29, 30. The very hairs of your head are numbered. Mark, he doth not speak of the heart, or hands, or feet, those that we call parts which are necessary to the conservation of life; but he speaks of the excrementitious parts which are rather for convenience and ornament, than necessity. What's more slight than the shedding a hair of the head? Thus he expresses the particular care of his people. Again, Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. No part is more tender than the eye, and the apple of the eye, how hath Nature guarded it, that it may receive no prejudice! So Isai. 49. 15. Can a mother forget her sucking Child? &c. See how his tender affection and yearning Bowels are expressed, passions in Females are most vehement, therefore God alludes to mothers affections. And mark, it is not to a Child that can shift for itself, but a sucking Child, that is wholly helpless, that was but newly given her to draw her love; Nature hath left tender affections on the hearts of parents to their tender infants, yet if a woman should be so unnatural, yet will I not forget thee, saith the Lord. Now shall we not trust him, and make him our hiding place? Isai. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. God will keep his people by day, lest by force they break in upon his heritage; and keep them by night, lest they steal in privily, and by secret machinations hurt them.

3. Again, consider how many Arguments there are to work us to this trust. Sometimes the Scripture teacheth us to argue from the less to the greater. Mat. 6. 30. If God so clothe the Grass of the Field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the Oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Sometimes the Scripture teacheth us to argue on the contrary, from the greater to the less, Rom. 8. 32. If God hath given us his Christ, will he not with him freely give us all things? Sometimes the Scripture teacheth us to argue from things past, God hath been your shield and helper, he hath delivered from the mouth of the Lion and Bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, 1 Sam. 17. 37. Sometimes from things past and present, to things to come, 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who hath delivered from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver. Sometimes from things to come, to things present, Luke 12. 32. Fear not, little Flock; for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Anne dabit Regnum, & non dabit viaticum? If he give a Kingdom, will he not give daily bread? Will he not preserve you while he hath a mind to use you? Thus our unbelief is overpowered by divers arguments to press us to this trust. Well then, run to your security, how so?

First, In defiance of all difficulty, own God as your hiding place and shield. David when he was driven from his Palace Royal, and wandered up and down for his life, and when his enemies began to say, Now there is no help for him in God, Psal. 3. 3. All Israel were against him. Many there be which say thus, His Son drives him from his Palace, now there is no safety, nor defense; but saith he, Lord, thou art my shield, and my Glory, and the lifter up of my head. This is the way to get under the Covert of his wing, when in the face of all difficulties we will own God as our hiding place.

Secondly, Sue out your protection by earnest prayer. God hath given us promises as so many Bonds upon himself, and we must put these Bonds in suit. Our necessity leads us to the promises, and the promises lead us to the Throne of Grace, Psal. 141. 9. I fly to thee, hide me O Lord, keep me from the snare which they have laid for me. Plead with him, and say, Lord, thou hast said thou wilt be my refuge and hiding place, whither should a Child go but to its Father? and whither should I go but to thee, for thou art my God? Challenge him upon his word. See how David expresseth himself, Psal. 17. 7, 8. Shew thy marvelous loving kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand, them which put their trust in thee. Keep me as the apple of the eye: hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Go challenge God upon his word, Lord, thou hast said thou wilt save those that trust in thee, those that depend upon thee. The eye is offended with the least dust, and Nature hath provided a fence and covert for it. Thus may we go to God, and challenge such kind of protection, Keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under thy wings. As the Dam is ready to flutter and spread her wings over the young Brood when they fly to her, so will God.

Thirdly, Take notice when ever it is made good, give God his honor when he hath been a hiding place and protection to you, that you may observe his Providence, Psal. 18. 30. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. Well, I have waited upon God according to these promises, and lo it is come to pass as the Lord hath said. So Psal. 28. 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him and I am helped. Gen. 48. 16. The Angel of the Covenant which hath fed me all my days, and redeemed me from all evil. He speaks of the faithfulness of God, and of the Mediator in all those promises of protection.

Fourthly, Constantly make use of God. You may think this discourse may be of no use to you, because you are out of fears and dangers: why, you are constantly to make use of God be it well or ill, and to live upon God. All our comforts are from God, as well as our support in trouble. Certainly he that lives upon God in prosperity, will live upon him in adversity. O when you are well at ease, and abound in all things, you take these things out of the hand of God; you will learn better to make him your refuge. But he that lives upon the Creature in his prosperity, when the Creature fails he will be in utter distress, and know not what to do.