Sermon 7

Exodus 3:13-15. 13 And Moses said to God: behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your Fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, What is his Name? what shall I say to them? 14 And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me to you. 15 And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The LORD God of your Fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you: this is my Name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

If God be the Lord of being, full of being in himself, and giving being to every thing; learn then to give him his praise (Psalm 60:4). You shall praise the Lord, and you shall extol him by his Name Jah. For he only brings enterprises to pass; as he gives being to every thing, so he gives being to all the works that are wrought by the creatures. If our being be from him; much more all our works are wrought by him, because they are but dependants on our being. Now this God takes to himself, as most proper to himself, and that from his Name, Jehovah; there be many places for this; I will do it, for I am Jehovah, etc.

Now if the creature shall say: I have such a purpose, such a project in my heart, and I will do it, I will bring it to pass; what is it but to arrogate to himself, that which is proper to Jehovah? Which is a greater sin, than we are aware of; for it is no less than Idolatry; and the Lord so takes it (Isaiah 42:8). I am the Lord, that is my Name, and my glory will not I give to another, neither my praise to graven images; that is, I will take a special care, that you shall not say, that your images do bring things to pass, for then they should be called Jehovah, which is proper alone to me, to bring any thing to pass.

So a man may apply it to any thing else; if a man shall say, that his own wit, or worth, or industry, etc. does bring things to pass; he takes that praise which peculiarly belongs to God, and gives it to the creature; whereas the Lord says, Jehovah is my name, and there is not the least thing, but I bring it to pass. Take heed therefore of that secret Idolatry which God hates; it is a place which you know (Habakkuk 1:16): Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. To offer sacrifice, is to do that which is proper to God: now to go about any thing, and to say, that your wealth brings it to pass, is to sacrifice to your own net, that is, to attribute that to yourself, which is proper only to him.

Again, as it is Idolatry, so it is a vain thing to do it; for we are not able to do it (Psalm 37:5). He will bring it to pass; there the Lord takes it as peculiar to him only; therefore in Isaiah 26:12 (you may compare them both together) it is said there, Lord you will ordain peace for us, for you also have wrought all our works in us. The scope of this place is this: Other men (says he) they forget God, they carry themselves aloft, but it is he that will ordain us peace, though none else shall put his hand to it; it is he that does all our works for us, not our especial works only, but all; it is not any man, or any creature that does them, it is he that works all our works for us. And if we did believe this, we should look upon him with another eye, and serve him after another manner; we should be more dependent on him, we should be more fervent in prayer; and not when we would do any thing, turn every stone, and knock at every creature's door, to see what help they could give us; but our eye would be towards him; for it is in vain to run to them; no creature can do it, there is no enterprise but has many wheels, and the stopping of one wheel hinders the whole enterprise; and it is he, that turns all those wheels, commands all, must bring it to pass, or else the least thing will hinder our greatest enterprises. Therefore you see that the fairest blossoms of our endeavors do often wither, and the most improbable things do come to pass. See it in David, to give you an example of it; when he would trust God, he had a promise of the Kingdom, but not by himself; his own power should not do it; and yet the wheels of God's providence did bring it to pass. So when he stayed his hand from killing Nabal, did not the Lord bring it to pass in a better manner than he could have done? And when he had the Kingdom, Abner was his great enemy, but yet David did nothing, but that which was right; and you see how God did bring it to pass, he took away his life without any hand of his. So Ishbosheth was his enemy, yet when David sat still, and did nothing, his head was brought to him; (though they that did it, did it wickedly) yet it was an act of God's providence to him. Thus things are done for the best, when we commit them to him; but if we do them ourselves, we are as they that fished all the night long, and caught nothing, till Christ came, and bade them to cast in the net, then they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. So it is with us, when we go about any enterprise, it is in vain, we are not able to do it. There is a double going about any enterprise; when we go about an enterprise without God, and when we go about it with him. When we go about it without God, I confess, that yet some things are brought to pass; and that will serve to answer an objection which you have fully expressed in Psalm 37:7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret yourself because of him, who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass, etc. There is the objection.

Objection: For when we teach this doctrine of trusting in God, as David had before, verse 5. The objection then is; there are many that do not trust in God, and yet they bring their things to pass?

Answer 1: To this we answer, that either they do it not, it withers under their hand.

2 Or else, if they do it, it is to no purpose, they receive no comfort from it. Therefore he adds: the evil doer shall be cut off, that is, though they do go far in an enterprise, yet they never come to the end, they reap not the fruit of it, he cuts them off; so that, if you look to the issue, it is as good as nothing.

3 It tends to their own hurt, to their own ruin; if they get wealth, favor with great men, credit, etc., the sword turns to their own bowels, their ease slays them, and it turns to their own destruction. Therefore take heed of it; if you do go about it with God, he will give you the comfort of it. One thing brought to pass by him is better than a thousand by themselves without him.

Learn from here the only remedy against the vanity that all creatures are subject to, that we have to do with; for what is the reason of that mutability we find in all things? Is it not from here, that they have no being of their own? If you look to the rock, to the foundation from where they were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where they were dug, they were made of nothing, and are ready to return to nothing. Take a glass, or an earthen vessel — they are brittle; if you ask the reason, they are made of brittle materials: plate is not so; so that this is the reason of all the vanity under the sun, because they are made of nothing. Therefore there is no way to remedy this, but to look up to God (Acts 17:28): For in him we live, move, and have our being. This is the meaning of it. They have not only had their being from him at the first, but their being is in him. We have our being in him, as the beams in the sun, and an accident in the subject.

Then, if you would have constancy in anything, you must look up to God. Every creature is mutable; it is [reconstructed: only so far] unchangeable, as constancy is communicated to it from the unchangeable God.

Consider this for matter of grace. When you have got any good desires, or good purposes, at any time, remember that the being of them comes from God. Hence it comes to pass, that good purposes oftentimes do come to nothing, and like sparks go out again; because we remember not that they are from God; we think that if we have good purposes today, if we be spiritually minded today, we shall be so tomorrow; and thus you deceive yourselves, you must consider that the being of them comes from God: that place is remarkable (1 Chronicles 29:18), when David had rejoiced that the people had offered willingly, he prays that God would keep it in the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts. If we would thus hang upon him, and depend on him, when the Spirit has breathed in us at any time, when we have any sparks of truth, and are warmed with any holy affections, if we would give him the glory of this, that he gives a being, if we would make this prayer that David does, you would find it a means to make you more equal, and more even in grace. And what I say of this, I say of all other things. It is the fault of us all, we are subject to the which is said of wicked men (Isaiah 56:12): Come, you (say they) I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Now, from where comes this? Let a man have health today, he thinks he shall have it tomorrow; let him have peace and friends today, he thinks it will be so still. This is every man's thought; and it arises from here, that we forget Jehovah, he that continues the being of everything. If we did remember this, we should say: I do not know whether it be his pleasure that gives being to them — I know, that if he withdraw his hand, they will come to nothing. It is a great fault to boast of tomorrow; hereby you detract from God, and dishonor him exceedingly, you see how he complains of it (James 4:13-14): you enter upon his royal prerogatives. It is, as if a man should challenge many 100 acres of ground, and has not one foot; for future times are properly the Lord's. Now, when we will anticipate things in our thoughts, and rejoice in our projects beforehand, as if they were come to pass — this is a sinful rejoicing. And from there it is, that pride goes before a fall; because that when a man begins to lift himself upon a creature, and to build upon that which is but vanity, then the Lord begins to take away our foundation, and hinder our purposes, and then he falls and perishes. Why do you boast of tomorrow? Do you know what is in the womb of the day? You know no more, than they know what is in the womb of a woman, till they see it.

Now, God has an overruling hand in all these, and therefore he does disappoint us, because we are ready to give to the creature that which belongs to himself; therefore, if you would have anything to continue, depend upon him, because all things else are subject to vanity, and he only gives being, and continuance to them all.