my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. • If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me, he hath at• tended to the voice of my prayer. Bleffed be God which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his 'mercy from me1.'

§. X. Much of this kind might be cited, to fhew the displeasure of God against even his own forms of worfhip, when performed without his own fpirit, and that neceffary preparation of the heart in man, that nothing elfe can work or give: which above all other penmen of facred writ, is most frequently and emphatically recommended to us by the example of the Pfalmift, who, ever and anon calling to mind his own great flips, and the cause of them, and the way by which he came to be accepted of God, and obtain ftrength and comfort from him, reminds himself to wait upon God. • Lead me

in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my falvation; on thee do I wait all the day long.' His foul looked to God for falvation, to be delivered from the fnares and evils of the world. This fhews an inward exercise, a spiritual attendance, that stood not in external forms, but an inward divine aid.

And truly, David had great encouragement fo to do, the goodness of God invited him to it, and ftrengthened him in it. For,' fays he, I waited patiently upon the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me out of the miry clay, and fet my feet upon a rock.'. That is, the Lord appeared inwardly to confolate David's foul, that waited for his help, and to deliver it from the temptations and affiictions that were ready to overwhelm it, and gave him fecurity and peace. Therefore he fays, The Lord hath established my going;' that is, fixed his mind in righteousness. Before, every step he took bemired him, and he was scarce able to go without falling: temptations on all hands; but he waited patiently upon God; his mind retired watchful and intent to his law and fpirit; and he felt the Lord to in

i Pfal. lxvi. 16, 20. * Pfal. xxv. 5. Pfal. xl. 1, 2, 3.

cline to him. His needy and fenfible cry entered heáven, and prevailed; then came refcue and deliverance to David, (in God's time, not David's) ftrength to go through his exercises, and furmount all his troubles. For which he tells us, a new fong was put into his 'mouth, even praise,' fays he, to our God.' But it was of God's making and putting, and not his own.

Another time, we have him crying thus: As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, fo panteth my 'foul after thee, O God. My foul thirfteth for God, for the living God; when fhall I come and appear before him? This goes beyond formality, and can be tied to no leffon. But we may by this fee, that true worship is an inward work; that the foul must be touched and raised in its heavenly defires, by the heavenly spirit, and that the true worship is in God's prefence. When shall I come and appear?' Not in the temple, nor with outward facrifices, but before God, in his prefence. So that the fouls of true worfhippers fee God, make their appearance before him; and this they wait, they pant, they thirst for. O how is the better part of Chriftendom degenerated from David's example! No wonder, therefore, that this good man tells us, truly my foul waiteth upon God;' and that he gives it in charge to his foul fo to do; O my foul, wait thou upon God; for my expectation ' is from him.' As if he said, None elfe can prepare my heart, or fupply my wants; fo that my expectation is not from my own voluntary performances, or the bodily worship I can give him; they are of no value: they can neither help me, nor please him. But I wait. upon him for ftrength and power to prefent myself fo before him, as may be moft pleafing to him, for he that prepares the facrifice, will certainly accept it. Wherefore in two verfes he repeats it thrice, I wait for the Lord-My foul doth wait-My foul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for thẻ morning".' Yea, fo intenfely, and with that un-.

VOL. II.

weariedness of foul, that he fays in one place,

،

Mine

eyes fail, while I wait for my God".' He was not contented with fo many prayers, fuch a set of worship, or limited repetition; no: he leaves not till he finds the Lord, that is, the comforts of his prefence; which bring the answer of love and peace to his foul. Nor was this his practice only, as a man more than ordinarily infpired; for he fpeaks of it as the way of worship then amongst the true people of God, the fpiritual Ifrael, and circumcifion in heart, of that day.

• Be

hold (fays he) as the eyes of fervants look to the hand of their mafters, and as the eye of a maiden unto the hand of her miftrefs, fo our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.' In another place, Our foul waiteth for the Lord, he is our help and our fhield. I will wait upon thy name, for it is good before thy faints P.' It was in request with the truly godly of that day, and the way they came to enjoy God, and worship him acceptably. And from his own experience of the benefit of waiting upon God, and the faints practice of thofe times, he recommends it to others: Wait upon the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart: wait, I fay, upon the Lord'.' That is, wait in faith and patience, and he will come to fave thee. Again, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently upon him':' that is, caft thyself upon him; be contented, and wait for him to help thee in thy wants: thou canst not think how near he is to help thofe that wait upon him: O try, and have faith! Yet again, he bids us, • wait upon the

Lord, and keep his way.' Behold the reason fo few profit! they are out of his way, and fuch can never wait rightly upon him. Great reafon had David for what he faid, that had with fo much comfort and advantage met the Lord in his blessed way.

§. XI. The prophet Ifaiah tells us, that though the chastisements of the Lord were fore upon the people for

P Pfal. xxxiii. 20.

Pfal. xxxvii. 7.

$ Pfal.

The

their backflidings, yet in the way of his judgments (in the way of his rebukes and displeasures) they waited for him, and the defire of their foul (that is the great point) was to his name, and the remembrance of him. They were contented to be chid and chastised, for they had finned; and the knowledge of him fo, was very defirable to them. But, what! did he not come at last, and that in mercy too? Yes, he did, and they knew him when he came, (a doctrine the brutish world knows not) This is our God, we have waited for him, and he will 'fave us ".' O bleffed O bleffed enjoyment! O precious confidence. Here was a waiting in faith, which prevailed. All worship, not in faith, is fruitless to the worshipper, as well as difpleafing to God: and this faith is the gift of God, and the nature of it is to purify the heart, and give fuch as truly believe 'victory over the world.' Well! but they go on: We have waited for him, we 'will be glad, and rejoice in his falvation ".' prophet adds, 'Bleffed are all they that wait upon God:*' and why? For they that wait upon the Lord, fhall renew their strength; they fhall never faint, never be weary' ''The encouragement is great. O hear him once more! For fince the beginning of the world, 'men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither ' hath the eye seen, O God! befides thee, what he hath 'prepared for him that waiteth for him.' Behold the inward life and joy of the righteous, the true worshippers! thofe whofe fpirits bowed to the appearance of God's fpirit in them, leaving and forfaking all it appeared againft, and embracing whatever it led them to. In Jeremiah's time, the true worshippers alfo waited upon God: and he affures us, That the 'Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the foul that feeketh him.' Hence it is that the prophet Hofea exhorts the church then, to turn and wait upon God: Therefore turn thou to thy God; keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually 2.

31.

+ Ifa. xxvi. 8.
y Ifa. Ixiv. 4.

xii. 6.

u Ifa. xxv. 9. w Ifa. xxx. 18. * Ifa. xl. Lament. iii. 25. Hos.

z Jer. xiv. 22.

And Micah is very zealous and refolute in this good exercise: I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the • God of my falvation: my God will hear me.' Thus did the children of the spirit, that thirsted after an inward fenfe of him. The wicked cannot fay fo; nor they that pray, unless they wait. It is charged upon Ifrael in the wilderness, as the cause of their difobedience and ingratitude to God, that they waited not for his coun

fels.' We may be fure it is our duty, and expected from us; for God requires it in Zephaniah: There'fore wait upon me, faith the Lord, until the day that

I arife, &c. O that all who profefs the name of God, would wait fo, and not offer to arise to worship without him! and they would feel his ftirrings and arifings in them, to help, and prepare, and fanctify them. Chrift exprefsly charged his difciples, they fhould not ftir from Jerufalem, but wait till they had received the promise of the Father, the baptifm of the Holy Ghoft, in order to their preparation for the preaching of the glorious gofpel of Chrift to the world. And though that were an extraordinary effufion for an extraordinary work, yet the degree does not change the kind. On the contrary, if fo much waiting and preparation by the Spirit was requifite to fit them to preach to man; fome, at least, may be needful to fit us to fpeak to God.

C

§. XII. I will close this great scripture doctrine of waiting, with that paffage in John, about the pool of Bethefda. There is at Jerufalem, by the sheep-market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches; in these lay a great multitude of • impotent folks, of blind, halt, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went ⚫ down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whofoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. A moft exact representation of what is intended by all that has been faid upon the fub

■ Mic. vii. 7. Zeph. iii. 8. Acts i. 4-8. d John v. 2, 3. 4.

ject