suit in law.

We should be confident upon God's undertaking: "Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name; he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land" (Jer. 1. 34). It is a great ease in affliction to commit our cause unto God, and put our affairs into his hand.

2. God, who hath such power; we need not fear any opposite, if God be our surety: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm xxvii. 1.) "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea" (Psalm xlvi. 1, 2): a resolution to adhere to God and his truth whatever cometh; if they be mighty, God is mightier; if they be crafty, God is wiser. It is a great crime to fear men so as not to trust in God; it is a great sin to fear men so as not to fear God; when we comply with them in things displeasing to God, this is to set men above God.

II. We come to the limitation, end, or fruit of this suretyship, "For good." There are three expositions of this clause, as noting the end, the cause, the event. 1. Undertake for me, ut sim bonus et justus, so Rabbi Arama on the place, 'Be surety for me, that I may be good;" Theodoret expounds it, 'Undertake that I shall make good my resolution of keeping thy law.' He that enjoineth, undertaketh; though we have precepts and promises, without God's undertaking, we shall never be able to perform our duty. 2. In good, so some read it; God would not take his part in an evil cause. To commend a wrong cause to God's protection, is to provoke him to hasten our punishment, to make us serve under our oppressors; but, when we have a good cause, and a good conscience, he will own us. We cannot expect he should maintain us and bear us out in the Devil's service, wherein we have entangled ourselves by our own sin. 3. For good; so it is often rendered: "Show me a token for good" (Psalm lxxxvi. 17); "Pray not for this people for good" (Jer. xiv. 11); So, "Remember me, O my God, for good" (Neh. xiii. 31). So here, "Be surety for thy servant for good."

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DOCTRINE. We should only desire the interposing of God's providence so as may be for good to us.

I shall, first, give you the reasons, and then give you some rules concerning this good here mentioned.

REASON I. Because then we pray according to God's undertaking: "But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (Psalm xxxiv. 10): they may want food, want raiment, want many things; but they shall want no good thing: "No good will he withhold" (Psalm lxxxiv. 11). He may keep us low and bare, withhold many temporal mercies from us, feed us from hand to mouth, and short commons may be sweet and wholesome, and deny to give us larger revenues and incomes. If they were good for us, we should have them: God withholds these things so as our need and good doth require: "Whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good" (Jer. xxiv. 5). Their captivity was for good.

REASON II. Because then we pray according to the new nature. Old nature would have ease, the new nature would have grace; the flesh would be pleased, but the spirit would be profited; and God hears not the voice

of the flesh, but spirit, in prayer: "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. viii. 27).

Secondly, Let me give you some rules.

1st, This good is not always the good of the flesh, not always the good of prosperity. Sometimes the good of prosperity may be good: "But to them that rebuke him, shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them" (Prov. xxiv. 25). A good blessing shall come upon them that plead God's cause against the wicked. There is the blessing of prosperity-good and adversity-good. All good is more or less, so as it cometh near or less near the chiefest good: therefore, that is good that tendeth to make us spiritually better, more like to God, and capable of communion with him: "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth" (Lam. iii. 27). That is good which conduceth to our everlasting good.

2ndly, God knoweth what is better for us than we do ourselves. We ask a knife wherewith to cut ourselves. It would be the greatest misery, if God should always carve out our condition according to our own fancy; we should soon pray ourselves into a snare, if our will were the rule of our prayers, and ask that which would be cruelty in God to grant. I will give you an instance in Lot: "Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.' "I cannot," saith he, "escape to the mountain, &c. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh! let me escape thither, &c., and my soul shall live" (Gen. xix 17-20). Lot presenteth his own fancy to God's counsel and choice for him; this little place was in the plain; he was persuaded the shower of brimstone would overtake him before he got thither. Often it is thus with us: though God should command and we obey, we lift up our will above his, and dote upon our own fancies, and will prescribe to God, think it is better to live by sense than by faith. This mountain was the weaker border of the plain. Now, this was weakness in Lot surely! God that had taken him out of Sodom by the hand of the angels, stricken the Sodomites with blindness, which was an instance of God's great power and goodness to him. Now, compare the seventeenth and eighteenth verses with the thirtieth verse: "And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters." Mark here, when God biddeth him go to the mountain, then he goeth to Zoar; when God gave him leave to tarry in Zoar, then he goes and dwells in the mountain: he was afraid in Zoar, when he saw the horrible desolation of all the country about it. Now, see the ill success of his own choice, and how badly we provide for ourselves. A little time will show us our sin and folly; his abode in the mountain drew him to incest. Another instance: "I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath" (Hos. xiii. 11). God may let things succeed with us to our hurt. "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John v. 14). God is a God of wisdom, he knoweth certainly what will be good for us. He is a God of bowels, and loveth us dearly, and will certainly cast all things for the best. Therefore God is to be judge both for time and kind of our deliverance; otherwise, we may meet with wrath in every condition, whether we want or have our will; but, if we refer it to him, we shall never want what is best for us. The shepherd must choose our pastures, whether lean or fat, bare or full grounds; the child is not to be governed by his

fancy, but the father's discretion, nor the sick man by his own fancy, but the physician's skill; our will is not the chief reason of all things.

3rdly, That which is not good may be good, and, though for the present we see it not, yet we shall see it; though not good in its nature, it may be good in its fruit: "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. viii. 28); a little faith and a little patience will discover it. As poisonous ingredients in a medicine, take them singly and they are destructive; but, as tempered with other things by the hands of a skilful physician, so they are wholesome and useful. "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous" (Heb. xii. 11). The rod is a sour thing for the present; but wait a little, this bitter root may yield sweet fruit: God can so overrule it in his providence. So, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalm cxix. 71). Ask a man under the cross, is it good to feel the lashes of God's correcting hand? No; but, when he hath been exercised, and found lust mortified, the world crucified, and gotten evidence of God's favour, then, 'It is good that I have been afflicted.'

4thly, This good is not to be determined by feeling, but by faith: God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart" (Psalm lxxiii. 1). God is good to his people, however he seem to deal hardly with them; sense judgeth it ill, but faith saith it is good; it seeth a great deal of love in pain and smart. There is such a difference between faith and sense as there was between Elisha and his servant (2 Kings vi. 15, 16): the servant saw the host of the enemies; but he did not see the fiery chariots and horsemen that were for his help; Elisha saw both. So believers see not only the bitterness that is in God's chastenings, but the sweet fruits in the issue. Faith can look at the pride and power of wicked men as a vain thing, when they are in the height of their power and greatness: "I have seen the foolish taking root; but suddenly I cursed his habitation" (Job v. 3); that is, prophetically, not passionately; foretelling evil, not wishing it. When they were taking root, as themselves and other worldly men thought, I judged him unhappy, foretold his end and destruction. There is much of the spirit of prophecy in faith. When others applaud, make little gods of them, he looketh through all their beauty, riches, and honour: "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever" (Psalm xcii. 7). Grass will wither and dry up of its own accord, especially when there is a worm at the root. Their very prosperity, as it ferments their lusts and hardeneth their hearts, is a means to draw on their destruction: "Man at his best estate is altogether vanity" (Psalm xxxix. 5). Then when they seem to have all things under their feet, who could harm them? so that none dare open the mouth, move the wing, or peep; yet God can easily blast and whip them with an unseen scourge.

5thly, Good is of several sorts, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

1. Temporal good. Cross accidents conduce to that: "Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, and to save much people alive" (Gen. 1. 20). The Egyptians and themselves had wanted a preserver, if Joseph had not been sold and sent into Egypt. If a man were to go to sea, in a voyage upon which his heart was much set, but the ship is gone before he cometh; but, after, he heareth that all that were in the ship are drowned, then he would say, "This disappointment was for good.' As Crassus's rival in the Parthian

war was intercepted and cut off by the craft of the Barbarians, had no reason to stomach his being refused, many of us have cause to say, Perissem nisi periissem, we had suffered more if we had suffered less. In the story of Joseph, there is a notable scheme and draft of Providence. He is cast into a pit, thence drawn forth and sold to the Ishmaelites, by them sold into Egypt, and sold again. What doth God mean to do with poor Joseph? He is tempted to adultery; refusing the temptation, he is falsely accused, kept for a long time in ward and duress. All this is against him; who would have thought that, in the issue, this should be turned to his good? that the prison had been the way to preferment? and that by the pit he should come to the palace of the king of Egypt, and exchange his particoloured coat for a royal robe? Thus in temporal things we get by our losses, and God chooseth better for us than we could have chosen for ourselves. Let God alone to his undertaking, and he will manage our affairs better than we looked for.

2. Good spiritual: For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Heb. xii. 10). What do we call profit? The good things of this world, and the great mammon which so many worship? No; some better thing, some spiritual and Divine benefit, a participation of God's holiness. Then we profit, when we grow in grace, and are more Godlike; when we are more concerned as a soul than a body. It is a good exchange to part with outward comforts for inward holiness. If God take away our peace, and give us peace of conscience, we have no cause to complain. If our outward wants be recompensed with the abundance of inward grace, and we have less of the world that we may have the more of God, and be kept poor that we may be rich in faith (James ii. 5, 6); if we have a healthy soul in a sickly body, as Gaius had (3 John ii.), if an aching head maketh way for a better heart, doth not God deal graciously and lovingly with us?

3. Our eternal good. Heaven will make amends for all that we endure here. This mainly is intended in Rom. viii. 28: "All things work together for good to them that love God." And then, in the 29th and 30th verses, he presently bringeth in the golden chain, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also call ed; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." So, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. iv. 17): it shall either hasten or secure our glorious estate. A man may lose ground by a temptation, his external good may be weakened, his soul suffereth loss; but this warneth him of his weakness, and quickeneth him to stand upon his watch, and to look up more to Christ for strength against it. Or, it may be, cut off, and perish in the affliction; but then his glorious estate cometh in possession.

6thly, That may be good for the glory of God, which doth not conduce to our personal benefit; and the glory of God is our great interest: "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (John xii. 27, 28). There was the innocent inclination of his human nature, "Father, save me from this hour;" and the overruling sense of his duty or the obligation of his office, "But for this cause came I unto this hour." We are often tossed and tumbled between incli

nations of nature and conscience of duty; but in a gracious heart it prevaileth above the desire of our own comfort and satisfaction: the soul is cast for any course that God shall see fittest for his glory. Nature would

be rid of trouble, but grace submitteth all interests to God's honour, that should be dearer to us than anything else; were it not selfishness and want of zeal, that would be our greatest interest.

SERMON CXXXIV.

VERSE 122.-Be surety for thy servant for good; let not the proud oppress me.

USE.

It informeth us what reason there is to pray and wait with sub mission to the will of God. God will answer us according to our trouble'

He is wiser than we; for he knoweth

not always according to our will. that our own will would undo us. If things were in our own hands, we should never see an ill day; and, in this mixed estate, that would not be good for us. But all weathers are necessary to make the earth fruitful, rain as well as sunshine. We must not mistake the use and efficacy of prayer. We are not, as sovereigns, to govern the world at our pleasure; but, as supplicants, humbly to submit our desires to the Supreme Being; not to command as dictators, and obtrude any module upon God, but to solicit as servants: "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion" (Psalm li. 18). If we would have things done at our pleasure, we should be the judges, and God would have only the place of the executioner. Our wills would be the supreme and chief reason of all things. But this God cannot endure; therefore beg him to do good, but according to his own good pleasure.

1. Let us submit to God, for the mercy itself, in what kind we shall have it, whether temporal, spiritual, or eternal. If God see ease good for us, we shall have it; if deliverance good for us, we shall have it; or give us strength in our souls, or hasten our glory. We should be as a die in the hand of providence, to be cast high or low, as God pleaseth: "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good" (1 Sam. iii. 18).

2. Let us submit for the time. Though Jesus loved Lazarus, yet he abode still two days in the same place, when he heard he was sick (John xi. 6). It is not for want of love, if he doth not help us presently, nor want of power. Christ may dearly love us, yet delay to help us, even in extremity, till a fit time come, wherein his glory may shine forth, and the mercy be more conspicuous. He doth not slight us, though he doth delay us; he will choose that time which maketh most for his own glory. Submit to God's dispensations; and, in due time, you shall see a reason of them.

3. Let us submit for the way and means. We know not what God is a-doing : "Then cometh he to Simon Peter; and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter (John xiii. 6, 7). No wonder we are much in the dark, if we consider, first, that the worker of these works is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working" (Isa. xxviii. 29); infinitely beyond politicians, whose projects and purposes are often hidden from us; therefore much more his. Secondly, that the ways of his working are very strange and imperceptible; for he maketh