ye, fays the Lord, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: ceafe to do evil, learn to do well: feek judgment, relieve the oppreffed, judge the fatherlefs, plead for the widow. Upon these terms, and nothing fhort, he bids them come to him, and tells them, that though their fins be as fcarlet, they shall be white as fnow; and though they be as crimson, they fhall be white as wool. So true is that notable paffage of the Pfalmift; Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my foul: I cried to him with 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 attended to the voice of my prayer. Bleffed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." . X. Much of this kind might be cited, to fhew the displeasure of God against even his own forms of worship, when performed without his own spirit, and that neceffary preparation of the heart in man, that nothing else can work or give: which, above all other pen-men 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 to obtain ftrength and comfort from him, reminds him Pfalm lxvi. 16.20. felf 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 fpiritual 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 afflictions 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 righteoufnefs. Before, every ftep he took bemired him, and he was fcarcely able to go without falling: temptation on all hands; but he waited patiently upon God: his mind retired. watchful and intent to his law and spirit; and he felt the Lord to incline to him. His needy and fenfible cry entered heaven, and prevailed; then came rescue and deliverance to David, in God's time, not David's, ftrength to go through his exercifes, and furmount all his troubles. For which he tells us, A new fong was put into his mouth, even praife, fays he, 2 Pfalmi xxv. 5. * Pfalm xl. 1. 2. 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 muft be touched and raised in its heavenly defires, by the heavenly fpirit, and that the true worfhip 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 worshippers fee God, make their appearance before him; and this they wait, they pant, they thirst for. O how is the greater 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 had faid, None elfe can prepare my heart, or supply 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 so before him, as may be moft pleafing to him; for he that prepares the Pfalm xl. 3. facrifice, will certainly accept it. Wherefore, in two verses, 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 the morning. Yea, fo intently, and with that unweariedness 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 worship, or limited repetition; no: he leaves not till he finds the Lord, that is, the comforts of his presence; which brings the anfwer 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 spiritual Ifrael, and circumcifion in heart, of that day : Behold, fays he, as the eyes of fervants look to the hand of their masters, and as the eye of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, 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 on thy name, for it is good before thy faints. It was in requeft 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 fhall ftrengthen thy e d • Pfalm lxix. 3. d Pfalm cxxiii. 2. • Pfalm xxxiii. 20. they 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 thyfelf upon him; be contented, and wait for him to help thee in thy wants: thou canst not think how near he is to help those that wait upon him: O him: O try, and have faith. Yet again, he bids us, Wait upon the Lord, and keep his way." Behold the reafon fo few profit! They are out of his way; and such 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 bleffed way. §. XI. The prophet Ifaiah tells us, That though the chastisements of the Lord were fore upon the people for their backflidings, yet in the way of his judgments, in the way of his rebukes and difpleafure, 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 laft, 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 enjoyment! O precious confidence! Here was a waiting in faith, which prevailed. Pfalm xxvii. 14. Pfalm xxxvii. 34, Ifaiah xxvi. 8. |