Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, Discourse · Part 2 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Of the ſeveral Privileges that belong to thoſe who have Gods Favour.
Conſ. 1. WHen you have this Favour, all your ſins are pardoned: Your God will not remember your Iniquities any more: All the Vanities of your Childhood and Youth, all your Omiſſions and your Commiſſions ſhall not riſe againſt you to condemn you: Tho you have often quenched the Holy Spirit, and ſtiffed his Convictions; yet all this, and many thouſands of other ſins that made you dead in Law, ſhall be blotted out; all your ſins of Ignorance, and all thoſe that have been done againſt Light, and Love, and Knowledge, ſhall all be covered by this Grace of God.
2. All your Prayers ſhall be heard. Being pardoned, and your guilt removed, you will have acceſs with boldneſs unto God; who will give you either the very things you deſire, or thoſe that are better, of another kind: Your Perſons are acceptable, and ſo will all you Duties be, and therefore ſucceſsful, becauſe Chriſt is your Interceſſor: who, as he hath once purchaſed Life for you with his Blood, will apply it to you for your further purification; Heb. 9.11, 14. Nay, you will not only prevail for mercies for your ſelves, hat being Favourites in the Court of Heaven, you will be in a capacity to obtain many bleſſings for others too: Matt. 18.19. If two of you ſhall agree on earth, as touching any thing that they ſhall ask, it ſhall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. God, as one ſays, ſometimes ſtands upon a number of Voices, for the carrying of ſome publick Mercy, becauſe he delighteth in the harmony of many praying Souls, and alſo loves to oblige and gratify many in the anſwer and return of the ſame Prayer. And therefore it is our duty to beg the prayers of thoſe that we think good People, becauſe of their intereſt in God. Many ſeek the Rulers favour, Prov 29.26. their wants, and their ambition puſh them forward, and make them very complaiſant and reſpectful to ſuch, in whoſe power it is to do them conſiderable kindneſſes; and they make a peculiar addreſs to ſuch as are principal Favourites; and it is reckoned as a main ſtep to Promotion, to have a Friend in Court; it is to our great advantage to be remembred in the Prayers of thoſe that ſhare in God's Favour.
3. When you are the Favourites of God, he will accept your ſincere ſervices, though they be mingled with many failings. The meaneſt Oblations that you lay upon his Altar, ſhall be grateful; while the more pompous and coſtly Sacrifices of others ſhall be diſeſteemed: your inward groans ſhall move his tender heart ſooner than their howlings and their loudeſt cries. Prov. 15.8. He will cheriſh your feebleſt breathings after him, and add more ſtrength to the bruiſed Reed, and more ſlame to the ſmoaking Flax: He will regiſter your good Actions, and not upbraid you with your evil ones. There was ſome good thing in Abijah toward the Lord God of Iſrael, in the houſe of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 14.12. and he took peculiar notice of it: and at the laſt day Our Lord mentions the Charities, and the Bounties of his People, which they themſelves had forgot long ago. He will not reject your Faith, though there be many doubts mingled with it; nor caſt off your deſires, though they have a great deal of deadneſs, and want many further degrees of life and fervour: He will remember his Covenant, tho' you forget your Duty: Mal. 3.17. I will ſpare them, as a man ſpareth his own ſon that ſerveth him.
4. God will either preſerve you from outward dangers, or give you ſtrength to bear them: He will be afflicted in all your afflictions, and tenderly regard you as the Apple of his Eye. What can you fear, whilſt you have ſo great a Defender! what may you not hope for, when you have ſo good a Benefactor! as he ſaid to Abraham, Gen. 14.2. Fear not, I am thy ſhield, and thy exceeding great reward: A Reward to quicken your ſervice, and a Shield to keep you from hurt in the day of battel. Or as in Dan. 10.19. O man, greatly beloved! fear not, peace be unto thee, be ſtrong, yea, be ſtrong. What ſafety muſt he needs have, that had the Almighty for his Helper! what honour muſt he have, whom an Angel called greatly beloved!
5. He will keep you in his favour, that you ſhall not finally be caſt away. Though you be ſaved as by fire, and by great difficulty, yet you ſhall ſurely be ſaved. He may ſuſpend his Influences, but he will not change his Covenant; he may be angry, but he will not be ſo for ever: You may fall, and bruiſe your ſelves, but his gentle hand will heal your wounds; Rom. 8. ult. He that loved you when you were Prodigals, will not ſhut you out when you return home again; He that pitied you in your blood, will not reject you when his Image is upon you, though ſullied with manifold defects: Your Life is hid with him in Chriſt; and though by various tentations and troubles it is weakned, yet it ſhall ſpring forth again. Chriſt is the Vine, whereof you are the Branches: though your Life is expoſed to many ſtorms, yet in him 'tis very ſafe; and you ſhall not expire by a total death, becauſe Chriſt himſelf will never die: the Faithfulneſs of God, and the Life of Chriſt, are both unchangeable Supports to you: you need not fear the rage of your Enemies, while your Saviour is your Guide; for he will bring forth Judgment unto Victory.
Sixthly, and Laſtly, God will be your God; his Wiſdom and his Power will direct and ſave you. Could I tell the Tradeſman that is ſetting up, that I could help him to a plentiful Trade; could I aſſure the Merchant of the ſuccesful arrival of his Ships; could I tell the Poor how to be rich; and the Rich how to get all that they wiſh for; I ſhould be a very acceptable Meſſenger: but to you that have the Favour of God, here are better tidings! the Lord of Heaven and Earth is yours; and then if you can tell the Stars, or the Sand of the Sea, or the drops of Rain, you may be able to number the Benefits that will accrue to you by ſuch a Privilege: whatſoever is truly uſeful to your ſpiritual welfare, whatever in in all the large Dominions of God, will do you good, you ſhall be ſure to receive; God the Father will be your Reconciled Father; God the Son your Mediator; God the Holy Ghoſt your Sanctifier: You ſhall in no diſtreſs want an Alſufficient and Almighty Friend; you ſhall have all your holy Prayers heard and granted; Life and Death ſhall be yours; the Mercy of God will relieve you when you are in Miſery; 2 Cor. 6.18. I will be a father to you, and ye ſhall be my ſons and daughters, ſaith the Lord Almighty: And he will ſay, as in Jer. 32.41. I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart, and my whole ſoul. To be a Child of a King, ſounds great, and carries with it an high degree of honour; but to be the Children of the King of kings, is infinitely more honourable; to have ſo great a Father, is an unſpeakable, and a mighty Privilege: All the Dignities that Ambitious Courtiers ſeek with all their Cringing Arts, are but little Trifles, when compared with this: all the Renown that Soldiers purchaſe with their ſweat and blood, is but diſgrace, when compared with the glory of being a Son or Daughter of the moſt High God. If the Queen of Sheba, when ſhe beheld Solomon, that in the ſplendor of his Court, and the wiſdom of his Actions, exceeded all the Report that ſhe had heard before, cried out with wonder, 1 King. 10.8. Happy are thy men, and happy are theſe thy ſervants which ſtand continually before thee, and that hear thy wiſdom! How much more may we ſay, Happy are the Servants of the Living God; that ſerve him day and night, that wait at his Temple, and that ſing his Praiſes; that ſee with what wiſdom he manages all the great Affairs of his vaſt and large Kingdom; and that the ſame eye that is in the Wheels, does watch for them, and all is carried on with a peculiar reſpect to his Glory, and to their Salvation: the Father of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt is their Father, the Angels are their Guard, the Spirit is their Teacher, Afflictions are their Phyſick; 1 Cor. 3.21. All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas; the ſtars that are in the right hand of Chriſt ſhine to give them light. The World is theirs, ſo much of it as is neceſſary to promote their real welfare. Life is theirs, wherein to prepare for happineſs; and Death is theirs, to convey them to it. They are Chriſt's, his Brethren, and his Subjects; and Chriſt is God's, who is delighted with his Son, and with them in him. This is the privilege of a Favourite of God. He is now, it may be, poor and low, affronted and diſgraced; but the day draws near, when the ſame perſon that is diſeſteem'd by the Sons of Pride, ſhall be owned of his Great Lord; clothed with Garments of Praiſe, and led out in triumph, and applauding-Angels ſay to the grief of the Wicked, Thus ſhall it be done to the man whom the King of heaven delights to honour. Thus you have ſet before you that which is Life indeed; a Life that ſhall never cloſe with Death: keep your mind full of theſe pleaſant Ideas, endeavour to get a greatneſs of ſoul, that may not ceaſe aſpiring after theſe glorious Privileges; and look with contempt upon all other Grandeur and Magnificence. Having ſeen how honourable it is to be favoured by the Lord of Hoſts; Let us all reſolve, that we will never admire this vain World any more; for we have now diſcerned a better World.
The End of the Second Part.
A DISCOURSE Concerning TROUBLE of MIND, AND THE DISEASE of MELANCHOLY. PART III.
PSAL. XXX. 5.
Weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning.