A29371:822
I. Scripture-light the most sure light ... delivered in three sermons on 2 Pet.…
I. Scripture-light the most sure light ... delivered in three sermons on 2 Pet. I. 19 : II. Christ in travel ... in three sermons on Isai. 53. 11 : III. A lifting up for the down-cast ... delivered in thirteen sermons on Psal. 42, 11 : four several sermons ... / preached by William Bridge ...
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1656
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Arg. 3 Thirdly: If thy heart be upright in the matter of thine Assurance, God will certainly give Assurance unto thee:1 for ye know what the Psalmist saith, The Lord will give Grace and Glory: and no good thing will he withhold from them that ⟨p. 126⟩walk uprightly. If therefore (I say) thy heart hath been upright in the matter of thine assurance, the Lord will give thee assurance, though for the present thou wantest it. Now I pray, when is a mans heart upright in the matter of his Assurance, but when he doth desire Assurance of Gods love, and of his own Salvation, rather that he may praise, and serve God the more, than for his own comfort. For this look in Psal. 9. and see how David reasons to this purpose. vers. 13. 14. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy Salvation. Here are three things observable, First, he was in a very low condition, at the gates of death: From the gates of death, saith he. Gates of death, that is, the power of death: The gates of Hell shall not prevail, that is, the powers of Hell shall not prevail; so here, the gates of death, that is, the powers of death. David was under the power of death, at the gates of death, and now in this condition, he prays unto the Lord for mercy, that the Lord would lift him up, but why doth he pray so? mark his end. At vers. 14. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble, why? That I may show forth thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: O Lo•d, bring me from the gates of death, that I may praise thee in the gates of the daughter of Zion, not for my own comfort, Lord, but that I may praise thee. Well, but what inference doth he make of this? see what follows in the latter end of vers. 14. I will, or shall rejoice in thy Salvation, O Lord, my heart hath been upright in this petition, and now I know thou wilt grant my prayer, I will, I shall, rejoice in thy Salvation.
Arg. 3 Thirdly: If thy heart be upright in the matter of thine Assurance, God will certainly give Assurance unto thee: