One Hundred and Ninety Sermons on Psalm 119

That this is the practice of God's children, appeareth Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. God had said, Turn you, and you shall live; and they ask it of God, Turn us, as he required it of them. 'Twas Austin's prayer, Da quod jubes, & jube quod vis, Give what thou requirest, and require what thou wilt. It is the duty of the Saints: for, 1. It suiteth with the Gospel-Covenant, where precepts and promises go hand in hand; where God giveth what he commandeth, and worketh all our works in us and for us. They are not conditions of the Covenant only, but a part of it. What God hath required at our hands, that we may desire at his hands. God is no Pharaoh, to require brick where he giveth no straw. Lex jubet, gratia juvat. The Articles of the New Covenant are not only put into the form of precepts, but promises. The Law giveth no strength to perform any thing, but the Gospel offereth Grace. 2. Because by this means the ends of God are fulfilled. Why doth God require what we cannot perform by our own strength? He doth it (1.) To keep up his right. (2.) To convince us of our impotency, and that upon a trial without his grace we cannot do his work. (3.) That the creature may express his readiness to obey. (4.) To bring us to lye at his feet for grace.

That this is the practice of God's children, appeareth Ier. 31. 18. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. God had said, Turn you, and you shall live; and they ask it of God, Turn us, as he required it of them. 'Twas Austin's prayer, Da quod jubes, & jube quod vis, Give what thou requirest, and require what thou wilt. It is the duty of the Saints: for, 1. It suiteth with the Gospel-Covenant, where precepts and promises go hand in hand; where God giveth what he commandeth, and worketh all our works in us and for us. They are not conditions of the Covenant only, but a part of it. What God hath required at our hands, that we may desire at his hands. God is no Pharaoh, to require brick where he giveth no straw. Lex jubet, gratia juvat. The Articles of the New Covenant are not only put into the form of precepts, but promises. The Law giveth no strength to perform any thing, but the Gospel offereth Grace. 2. Because by this means the ends of God are fulfilled. Why doth God require what we cannot perform by our own strength? He doth it (1.) To keep up his right. (2.) To convince us of our impotency, and that upon a trial without his grace we cannot do his work. (3.) That the creature may express his readiness to obey. (4.) To bring us to lye at his feet for grace.