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(seq. 21)
9 'of ye deepest dy, of ye heinousest guilt, of a 'scarlet colour yt comes nearest unto blood, 'sins in grain. Annot. Engl. If such be now weary of sin & hungry after mercy, there is satisfaction & good for such in God thro Christ. Hos. 14. 1-4. OR sinners, unbeleevers, Atheists, prodigal, profane, slothful, vain, secure persons, you yt have been so, yet come to this fountain of mercy, it is open for you if you will come,come & tast yea drink in largly of this grace of God, if you will now believe, if you will now accept it, if you will now shake off your sinfulness & reform your miscarriages, here are fulnes of good things for you even for you. If you be hungry after them, what hinders but yt you should be filled with them? God bids Psal. 81.10 'Open thy mouth wide, & I will fill it, i.e. ask free'ly & largely, even whatever you will, yea ask still 'greater & greater things & that with full assurance 'of faith, pressing your requests with fervency and 'importunity: And I will fulfill all your desirtes. [Jackson?]. They shall not want a gracious answer of prayer one way or other. Its nothing but want of appetite yt can hinder our being filled with good things. Mat. 5.6.
2. Obj. But I have waited long in a hungry posture & yet feel no supply, no satisfaction, am not filled.
An. 1. The time & measure of this supply & filling with good things is in Gods hand, at his soveraign dispose, he hath not bound himselfe to that any way. God wil take his own time & way for that. And some delay doe not disannull or evacuate God's promise. You must wait his pleasure.
2. Therefore hold on waiting. wait, still, give not over The hungry person will wait till he gets something to satisfy his hunger. If you be hungry indeed you will not give over till you receive wherewith you may be satisfyed. This is duty to hold on waiting tho under present discouragements, & it is the way to receive all needfull supply in due time. Psal. 27. 14. & 130. 5-8. After all tho long waitings, yet still wait. Isai. 30.18. - ' The Lord is a God of judgment] A 'God that doth all things with wisedom, moderation '& discretion, especially in his carriage towards & 'dealings with his children. Blessed are All they yt wait 'for him] while he waiteth to shew himselfe gracious 'to them. That are content to wait quietly, depend'ing upon him for deliverance, not running out this 'way & yt way, & seeking by indirect courses to re-
(seq. 22)
10/ 'relieve or secure themselves, but expecting it fro 'him when to him it shall seem seasonable to send 'it. Annot. Engl. So Psal. 33. 20, 21, 22. We cannot neither must we prefix any term of our waiting on the Lord. And therefore it was sin in him to [so?] in that manner; What should I wait for ye Lord any longer? 2 King. 6. 33
3.God may intend you good by delaying you so long. As the discovery of something yt lyes unseen, or the putting on to something hath been neglected, [?] ding something ^is or^ hath been amiss, making you more humble, tender & broken hearted, weaning you more from the world, creature or self-confidence, making you more watchful, diligent, earnest in supplication, meditation, examination, more serious & careful in ordering your conversation to walk with God, or ye like. & go while God delayes you faithfully ^consider &^ examine these things.
4. These good things are worthy long waiting for, tho it be All your life time. Waiting all our dayes will not be trouble comparable to the good and joy of obtaining at last. And therefore however long we have waited already, let us yet resolve to wait upon ye Lord for ever. As Job. 14. 14
3. Obj. But I have lost my hunger, my appetite to spiritual good things, am grown very cold, careless, indifferent about holy things, little breathings after God in dutyes, I am afraid I am gone out of ye way of these mercyes.
An. 1. This is a sad case indeed, to loose our Appetite to spiritual good things: To be dead, dul, listless, lifeless in every or most dutyes: To be flat, heavy, indisposed in what is of spiritul concernment, to be content & quiet in ye want of Gods favour & grace, to be able to bear this well, without much ado, it does not much [dis?] us. Truly such have cause to sit down in sorrow to bemoan themselves & their condition, it is forlorn. To be deserted not only as to comfort, but as to quickening: to be left to our own dul, vain, sinfull, lazy frame this is lamentable indeed. To have no heart to God nor good is a dismall condition for a poor soul to ly & languish in. To do All dutyes in formality & it may be in hypocrisy, to be carried to them from external connsiderations only, by a kind of outward force without any spiritual life or vigour or delight in them
(seq. 23)
11 2. Cry to God to give you this Appetite yt you may hunger after good things. This is Gods Work also, to dispose & prepare ye heart for ye reveiving of good Psal. 10 . 17. Tell him your misery & your Sin, that you cannot cry, you cannot pray, beg of him to open & affect & enlarge your heart. Psal. 25. 16, 17, 18. 3. Carefully examine whether there have been no grievous Sin either of Omission or comission yt hath provoked God to leave you to your selfe. Hath not there been some gross miscarriage one way or other towards God, or some woful neglect in some duty or other yt hath made God in anger to turn away his face from you? See to that & faithfully remove it 4. So doing yet hope in Gods mercy. Look out of [priso?] for help to come from God thro Chirst. Jonah 2.4. Hope against hope. Its presumption to hope for Salvation without attending ye means. But ye hoping in Gods mercy thro Christ for yr working of grace & good in us to make us conformable to Gods will this is duty when withall we are labouring in ye use of means for it, or at least waiting or desring to wait tho we can do nothing. 2. chron. 20. 12. It is pleasing to God yt we should humbly hope in his mercy. PS. 147.11. Tho we should not abuse yet we should improve ye gracious & merciful nature of God to encourage & strengthen our hope in him. And by ye frequent exercise of hopw we may come at last to beleeve & thence to feel something in our selves of ye quickening grace of God. Vse. Learn yt Poor Men have their absoute depenance upon God & good Men so acknowledge it. Man lives upon divine bounty, he must have an Alms from heaven every day. It is not all yt ye rich have yt can procure their filling, but yy are sent empty away. The hungry yt have nothing to feed on God fills them. They that would live indeed yy must live upon God, there is no other way fo ye soul to live. It is not in us, now by our procurement yt we can feed & satisfy our souls: we must be sustained by ye coninuall bounty of heaven. And this it is our duty to acknowledge, & those yt best know themselves do readily & fully own it. Vse. Learn to admire ye grace of God in this dispensation of his in filling of hungry souls. It is an exceeding gracious dispensation of divine mercy. (1) In yt God bestowes such good things upon Men. That God should open his heavenly treasure & supply sinful sons & daughters of Men with such spiritual store, pardon, acceptance &c These are gifts too great for sinners to receive, tho
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12. tho not too great for God to give. Such spiritual blessings are rich mercyes, for which God is to be admired & blessed. Eph. 1.3. (2) In yt God should till his servants with good things he fills - he does not only give, but ge gives plentifully, abundantly, that he should give any good thing is strange, but yt he should fill with good things & withold no good thing thing is wonderful indeed (3) In yt God should give so seasonably. to ye hungry. yt are in a necessitious condition. This heightens the dispensation of mercy yt it is given in such a [-ick?] of opportunity. Issai. 41.17,18. (4) That he gives them without price or payment They are gungry & needy to whom he gives. Such as have not wherewith to procure food for themselves. Isai. 55.1. God gives freely, to poor hungry souls, he receives nothing at their hand, & only desires their hearty acceptance, (5) that he gives without desert. Those whom God fills with his good things are not worthy for whom God should do this. There is no such qualification in them as should ingratiate them with God or move him to endow them with good things. See their condition when God gives good things to them. Ezek. 16.5-9. (6) That he gives contrary to desert. Jerem. 3.1, 12, 13. Isai. 43.24,25. Vse. Learn how much better it is to be a poor, hungry humble, empty soul, then to be rich, full & at ease. The former is ye way to be sustained by God, ye latter to be rejected by him. Those souls yt are most empty, are most happy. Shep. Sound Bel. p. 184. The designe of ye Gosepel is to humble & empty men of themselves & then to fill & enrich them: & therefore the poor in spirit, ye mourners, ye meek, ye hungry & thirsty yy are blessed, yy are near to blessings; Mat. 5.3.-6. God giveth grace to ye humble. I am 4.6. But the proud he knoweth afar off. Psal. 138.6.2.3. tho he know them well enough, yet it is not in a friendly manner, but with contempt, he stands aloof off from them, even as yy look with contempt upon others, so doth ye Lord upon them. Jacks. in loc.
(seq. 25)
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