many particulars of his proceedings, to help us in humbling our souls unto it, take these considerations.

(1.) That God judgeth not as man judgeth. Man judgeth according to the seeing of the eye, and the hearing of the ear; but God searcheth the heart. Little do we know what is in the heart of men; what transactions there are, or have been between God and them, which, if they were drawn forth as they shall be one day, the righteousness of God in his procedure, would shine as the sun. Rest on this, we know much less of the matter, on the account whereof God judgeth, than we do of the rule whereby he judges. Most things are to him otherwise than to us.

(2.) God is the great Judge of all the world, not of this, or that particular place; and so disposeth of all, as may tend to the good of the whole, and his glory in the universality of things. Our thoughts are bounded, much more our observation and knowledge, within a very narrow compass. That may seem deformed unto us, which when it lies under an eye that at once hath a prospect of the whole, is full of beauty and order. He that was able to see at once but some one small part of a goodly statue, might think it a deformed piece; when he that sees it altogether is assured of its due proportion and comeliness. All things in all places, of the age past and to come, lie at once naked before God, and he disposes of them so, as that in their contexture and answer one to another, they shall be full of order, which is properly righteousness.

(3.) God judges here, not by any final determinate sentence, but in a way of a preparation to a judgment to come. This unties all knots, and solves all difficulties whatever. This makes righteous and beautiful the deepest distresses of the godly, and the highest advancements of wicked men. And there let our souls rest themselves in quietness; Acts xvii.

(4.) His goodness, kindness, love, tenderness. Our souls must submit themselves to believe all these to be in all God's dispensations. I shall but name that one place wherein the apostle disputes for it, Heb. xii. 1-6. and add that wherewith Hosea closes his declaration of God's various dispensations and dealings with his people; chap. xiv. 9.

This now it is to humble our souls to the law of God's providence, in all his dispensations, to fall down before his sovereignty, wisdom, righteousness, goodness, love, and mercy. And without this frame of heart, there is no walking with God; unless we intend to come into his presence to quarrel with him, which will not be for our advantage.

This was Paul's frame; Phil. iv. 11. I have learned it saith he, it is not in me by nature; but I have now learned it by faith, I have humbled my soul to it; v ois siμɩ, in the things, state, condition, good or bad, high or low, at liberty, or in prison, respected or despised, in health or sickness, living or dying, iv olç simu, therein to bow myself to the law of the good providence of God, which is contentment. So was it also with David; Psal. cxxxi. 1. He did not exercise, himself, or trouble himself about the ways and works of God, that were too high and too hard for him. How then did he behave himself? ver. 2. Something in his heart would have been inquiring after those things, but he quieted himself, and humbled his soul to the law of the providence of God; which hath that comfortable issue, mentioned, ver. iii. an exhortation not to dispute the ways of God, but to hope and trust in him, on the account mentioned before. This is also the advice that James gives to believers of all sorts; chap. i. 9, 10. Let every one rejoice in the dispensations of God, willingly bowing their hearts to it.

This is a popular argument of daily use. Should I insist on the reasons of it, its consequence, effects, and advantage; its necessity, if we desire that God should have any glory, or our own souls any peace, the perfect conquest that will be obtained by it over the evil of every condition, and stretch it in application to the saddest particular cases imaginable, for all which the Scripture abounds in directions; I should go too far out of my way.

This then, I say, is the second thing we are to humble ourselves unto.

2. My other inquiry remains, namely, how or by what means we are thus to humble ourselves to the law of grace and providence.

I shall but name one or two of the principal graces, in the exercise whereof, this may be performed.

(1.) Let faith have its work. There are among others

two things that faith will do, and is suited to do, that lie in a tendency hereunto.

[1.] It empties the soul of self. This is the proper work of faith, to discover the utter emptiness, insufficiency, nothingness that is in man unto any spiritual end or purpose whatever. So Eph. ii. 8, 9. Faith itself is of God, not of burselves; and it teaches us to be all by grace, and not by any work of ours. If we will be any thing in ourselves, faith tells us then it is nothing to us; for it only fills them that are empty, and makes them all by grace, who are nothing by self. While faith is at work, it will fill the soul with such thoughts as these: I am nothing, a poor worm at God's disposal, lost if not found by Christ; have done, can do, nothing on the account whereof I should be accepted with God; surely God is to be in all things submitted to; and the way of his mere grace accepted. So Rom. iii. 27. This is the proper work of faith, to exclude and shut out boasting in ourselves; that is, to render us to ourselves such as have nothing at all to glory or rejoice in, in ourselves, that God may be all in all. Now this working of faith will keep the heart in a readiness to subject itself unto God in all things, both in the law of his grace and providence.

[2] Faith will actually bring the soul to the foot of God, and give it up universally to his disposal. What did the faith of Abraham do when it obeyed the call of God? Isa. xli. 2. It brought him to the foot of God. God called him to be at his disposal universally, by faith to come to it, following him, he knew not for what, nor whither. Leave thy father's house and kindred he disputes it not. Cast out Ishmael, whom thou lovest: he is gone. Sacrifice thiné only Isaac: he goes about it. He was brought by faith to the foot of God, and stood at his disposal for all things. This is the proper nature of faith, to bring a man to that condition. So was it with David; 2 Sam. xv. 26, 27. This faith will do. Will God have me to suffer in my name, estate, family? It is the Lord, saith faith. Will he have me to be poor, despised in the world, of little or no use at all to him or his people? Who, saith faith, shall say to him, what doest thou? In any state and condition faith will find out arguments, to keep the soul always at God's disposal.

(2.) Constant abiding reverence of God will help the

soul' in this universal resignation, and humbling of itself. Now this reverence of God, is an awful spiritual regard of the majesty of God, as he is pleased to concern himself in us, and in our walking before him, on the account of his holiness, greatness, omniscience, omnipresence, and the like. So Heb. xii. 28, 29. Psal. lxxxix. 7. Psal. iii. 9.

Now this reverence of God ariseth from three things, as is evident from the description of it.

[1.] The infinite excellency and majesty of God and his great name. This is the apostle's motive; Heb. xii, 29. and iv. 13. So Deut. xxviii. 58. The excellency of God in itself, is not only such as makes wicked men and hypocrites to tremble, whenever the thoughts of it seizes on them, Isa. xxxiii. 14. but also it hath filled the saints themselves with dread and terror; Heb. iii. 16. Nor is there any bearing the rays of his excellency, but as they are shadowed in Christ, by whom we have boldness to approach unto him.

[2.] The infinite, inconceivable distance wherein we stand from him. Thence is that direction of the wise man to a due regard of God at all times; Eccles. v. 2. He is in heaven, whence he manifests his glorious excellency in a poor worm creeping on the mire and clay of the earth. So did Abra ham; Gen. xviii. 27. What an inconceivable distance is there between the glorious majesty of God, and a little dust which the wind blows away and it is gone?

[3.] That this inconceivably glorious God is pleased of his own grace to condescend to concern himself in us poor worms, and our services which he stands in no need of; Isa. lvii. 15. His eye is upon us, his heart is towards us. This makes David break into that admiration, 1 Chron. xvii. 16. and should do so to us.

Now what are the advantages of keeping alive a reverence of God in our hearts; how many ways it effectually conduces to enable us to humble our souls to the law of his grace and providence; what an issue it will put to all the reasonings of our hearts to the contrary, I cannot stay to declare. And the improvement of these two graces, faith and reverence, is all that I shall at present recommend unto you, for the end and purpose under consideration.

But I come, in the next place, to that part of this whole discourse which was at first principally intended.

SERMON XXIV.

We have at large considered the nature of this duty. III. Let us now proceed to prove the proposition at first laid down, and shut up the whole, viz.

Humble walking with God is the great duty, and most valuable concernment of believers.

'What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?' This is sufficiently asserted in the words of the text itself, which being so emphatically proposed, stand not in need of any farther confirmation by testimony; but because this is a business the Scripture doth much abound in, I shall subjoin a single proof upon each part of the proposition: that it is both our great duty, and most valuable concernment.

For the former take that parallel place of Deut. x. 12, 13. That which is summarily expressed in my text by walking humbly with God, is here more at large described, with the same preface, 'What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" It gives us both the root and fruit; the root in fear and love; the fruit in walking in God's ways, and keeping his commandments. The perfection of both is to fear and love the Lord with all the heart and all the soul, and to walk in all his ways. This is the great thing that God requires of professors.

A place of the same importance, as to the excellency of this concernment of believers, which is the second consideration of it, you have in the answer of the scribe commended by our Saviour, Mark xii. 33. as if he should say in these days, This is better than all your preaching, all your hearing, all your private meetings, all your conferences, all your fastings: whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices were then the instituted worship of God, appointed by him, and acceptable to him, as are the things which I now repeated. But all these outward things may be counterfeited, hypocrites may perform the outward work of them, as they then offered sacrifice; but walking humbly with God cannot: nor are they, in the best of men, of any value, but as they are parts and fruits of humble walking. If in and under the performance of them, there be, as there may be, a proud unmortified heart, not subdued to the law of the spirit of life, not humbled in