with any sin; it may surprise thee sometimes as an enemy, but let it not lodge with thee as a friend.

And mind this other thing-prescribe nothing to God. If thou hast begun to wait, faint not, give not up, wait on still. It were good reason, were it but upon little hope, at length to find him; but since it is upon unfailing assurance, that in the end thou shalt obtain, what folly were it, to lose all, for want of waiting a little longer! See Ps. xl. 1: "In waiting, I waited, waited and better waited," but all was overpaid; he did hear me so Ps. cxxx.: "I wait and wait, until the morning." These two joined are all, and may well go together-earnest desire, and patient attendance.

These words, as others of the prophet's we call consolations, I conceive, look beyond the deliverances from outward troubles, to the great promise of the Messias. Sure I am, the strain of something following is too high for that, and cannot but have an aspect to the days of the gospel, as that, ver. 26. Now, the Lord hath set his time, that fulness of time for the coming of the blessed Son in the flesh, and till that time came, the Lord was waiting to be gracious, to open up his treasures more fully than ever before; which when he did, then was he exalted to shew mercy, and exalted in shewing mercy. Christ himself was lifted up on the cross, there to shew that rich mercy that is for ever to be admired; lifted up, to shew his bowels, as the word is here. Did he not let us see into his heart, there to read that love which can no otherwise be uttered? And in that the Lord was most eminently manifested a God of judgment; wisdom, and justice, and mercy, all shining brightest in that contrivance. There He was lifted up, and then after that lifted up into glory, who is the desire of the nations, the salvation and joy of all ages, both before and after. Before he came, they were from one age to another waiting, and more particularly at the time of his coming; God stirred up the expectation of believers to welcome him, being so near. Luke ii. 25,

38. And in all times, before and after that, he is the happiness of souls, and they only are blessed that wait for him. Whether you do, or do not believe it now, the day is coming, when all the world shall know it to be so.

SERMON VIII.

JEREMIAH xiv. 7-9:

O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a way-faring man, that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

If we look backwards and forwards in this chapter, we find the three great executioners of God's anger in the world foretold, as having received commission against this people.

In all troubles felt or feared, this is still the great recourse of them that are acquainted with it, and can' use it, PRAYER. And their labour in it is not altogether lost, even where the judgment is determined and unalterable, as here it was; for some mitigations of time and measure are desirable, and by prayer attainable: and whatsoever there is of that kind, the prayers that have been made long before, have had a concurrence and influence in it, and always at the least, prayer carries the personal good of them that present it; if it return unto their bosom, as David speaks, without effect for others, it returns not thither

empty, brings peace and safety thither with it; they save their own souls. The mourners, if they turn not away the destroyers' weapons from the city, yet they procure one sent along with them, with an inkhorn for their own marking and sparing. And were there nothing in this, nor any following effect, prayer hath within itself its own reward: did we know it, we should think so. The very dignity and delight of so near access to God, to speak with him so freely, this in itself is the most blessed and honourable privilege that the creature is capable of; it is a pledge of heaven, something of it beforehand, a standing in pretension to the life of angels* (to be but a little lower, as the word is, Ps. viii. 5). Many practise a form; few know the vital sweetness of it.

Oh, my brethren, be aspiring to more heavenliness, and a higher bent of the soul in it than yet you know, and use it more that way; use it for yourselves and others, this whole land, these kingdoms, the church of God through the whole earth. We have seen no times wherein it hath been more needful, and none wherein less plentiful; there is none that stirs up himself to lay hold on God. Some, no doubt, there are in these times; yet so few, so general a decay and negligence in the zeal and frequency of prayer, that, to speak of, there is none. And is it not so now with us? Many discourse one to another, and yet, most to little or no purpose: but little is spoken where nothing would be lost in humble supplication to God: and this is the saddest sign of that long-lasting trouble. Oh! pity the kingdom and yourselves, and learn to pray.

This prayer of the prophet is made up of the two usual ingredients, confession and petition.

O Lord, Jehovah. A chief point of prayer is, the presenting of the soul before God, remembering to whom we speak, that it is to the great King, the holy God; which this expresses, where it is indeed, when we say, O LORD, or should remind us of, when we * Angelorum candidati. Tertull.

forget it, to have such apprehensions as we can reach, of his glorious Majesty. Consider, if we find our hearts filled with Him when we are before Him. Oh, how seldom think we that He is God, even while we speak to Him, and how quickly do we forget it, and let slip that thought! When we have any thing of it, how soon are we out of it, and multiplying vain words; for so are all those we utter to Him without this. Oh! pray to be taught this point of prayer, and watch over your hearts in prayer, to set them thus, when you enter to him, and to call them in when they wander, and pluck them up when they slumber, to think where they are, and what they are doing.

Confession fitly

Our iniquities testify against us. begins. All the difference betwixt God and us, lies in this, our iniquities. Now, humble confession is one great article of pacification; it is a thing judg ment certainly aims at, Hosea v. 15, a thing mercy is mainly moved with, Psalm xxxii. 5, Jer. xxxi. 18.

When we are to encounter any enemy or difficulty, it is sin weakens us. Now, confession weakens it, takes away the power of accusations, anticipates the great accuser, leaves him nothing to say, takes off the stroke of sins testifying against us-says, "You need not, I confess all, and more than you can say.'

وو

For this, a right knowledge of God's law is requisite, and then a diligent use of it; laying it to our ways, as a straight rule to shew our unevenness, which, without it, we discern not. Set that glass before you; but, withal, beg light from heaven to see by, otherwise our applications to this work of searching our hearts, and comparing them with the law, is but poring in the dark, where nothing is to be seen of our spots, though we set the glass before us, and open the leaves of it. "The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord;" but it is so when he lights it, and directs a man by it into himself, to see the secret corners and pollutions that lie hid within him. Sin dis

covered by this light, appears in its native vileness, and that makes lively resentments and confessions.

Their confession of sin is varied here in three several expressions, none of them empty; the adding one to another, testifying a deep sense, and each of them having much under it, when issuing from an awakened, sensible mind.

Our iniquities testify against us. This expresses a deep and clear conviction. Our iniquities are undeniable; they stand up and give in witness against us, and we cannot except against them, nor deny the charge they lay.

And thus it shall be with all transgressors in their day, and with each of us. It is not far off; our particular day, it is coming, when the most ignorant shall be forced to know, and the most obstinate and impudent shall be forced to acknowledge, their iniquities. Such as now will not be warned and convinced, that hide their sin as men, as Adam, that shew themselves in that his children, they (as he) shall be called for, and forced to come out of the thickets, and convicted, of their disobedience. This, men find sometimes in a day of distress, when some outward or inward pressure seizes on them, lays on the arrest, and brings them to stand and hear what these witnesses have to say against them. However, there is a day coming for this at the long-run, a day of particular judgment for each one, and that great solemn day for all together; the light of that fiery day shall let them see to read the bill they would not look on sooner.

If men would consider this, when sin is speaking them fair, and enticing them, in how different a style it will afterwards speak; it would spoil the charm of it, as Solomon speaks of the strange woman, Prov. v. 4. So are all the ways of sin. Those same sins that looked so pleasing and friendly, and entreated thee, shall appear again in another tune, and with other language, to witness against thee, and cry for vengeance. Men think sin evanishes as it is acted, and forget it as if they were to hear no more of it, and