SERMON XCIX.

I am thine, save me: for I have sought thy precepts.—Ver. 94.

IN these words you have—(1.) David’s plea, I am thine. (2.) His request, save me. (3.) His argument to make good his plea, I have sought thy precepts. His plea is taken from God’s interest in him, ‘I am thine.’ His request is for safety, to be saved either from wrath to come or from temporal danger, rather the latter; for he seeth trouble lie in wait for him, therefore ‘save me.’ And then the evidence of that interest, which may serve as an argument to set on the request, ‘I have sought thy precepts.’

Let me speak of these in their order, and first of David’s plea, ‘I am thine.’

Doct. 1. That God hath a special people in the world, whom he will own for his.

David, as one of this number, saith to God, ‘I am thine.’ By a common right of creation all things are God’s: 1 Chron. xxix. 11, ‘Heaven and earth is thine, and all that is therein.’ He made all, and therefore by a just right he is lord of all: Ps. xxiv. 1, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.’ Now, as to this general right, God is no more bound to one than to another; there is no great privilege in this to be God’s in this sense, for so are the cattle upon a thousand hills, as we are his by creation. We cannot say with David, ‘I am thine; save me;’ for he that made them will not save them, if they have no other title and interest in him, Isa. xxiii. 11. Thus by creation all things are God’s, but more especially men: Ezek. xviii. 4, ‘All souls are mine.’ God hath a peculiar interest in the reasonable creatures, as their maker, governor, and judge. And yet further, his church is his by general profession; all the members of the visible church may say, Lord, we are thine; and that is some kind of plea for their safety and protection: Isa. lxiii. 19, ‘We are thine; thou never barest rule over them, they were not called by thy name.’ So may all the members of the visible church speak to God. Yet more particularly there is a remnant in the world that are his by a nearer interest, and they are the saints or new creatures, who are his peculiar people, Titus ii. 14, λαός περιούσιος. All the world else are but as the lumber of the house, but these are his treasure. A man is more chary of his treasure than of his lumber; yea, they are ‘his jewels,’ Mal. iii. 17, precious and dear to him, and of special interest in his heart and affection; they are ‘the first-fruits of his creatures,’ James i. 18. The first-fruits were the Lord’s portion. Now these God doth peculiarly take to be his portion, and valueth them more than all the world besides.

Let us see the grounds of his special interest in them; wherefore are they his?

He hath elected them before all the world: John xvii. 6, ‘Thine they were, and them thou gavest me.’ They were his by eternal election and choice, and they are purchased and bought by Christ, therefore called a purchased people, bought with a price, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, and upon this ground they are said to be Christ’s, 1 Cor. iii. 23. Now, as they are Christ’s and God’s by purchase, they are also his by conquest and rescue from Satan. Prisoners in war belong to the conqueror, Luke xi. 21. The strong man that holdeth captive the carnal part of the world, they are his goods; but the stronger than he shall come and bind him and take away his goods. They were Satan’s, but by rescue and conquest the prey falls to Christ: Col. i. 13, ‘Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.’ Once more, they are his by effectual calling and work of his grace: Eph. ii. 10, ‘We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,’ &c. So the title is changed by the right of the new creation. Again, they are his by covenant; we choose him to be our God, and the Lord chooseth us to be his peculiar people, Hosea ii. 23. They acquiesce in him as their all-sufficient portion, and surrender and give up themselves to his use and service. This is that which is chiefly intended here, namely, that we are his by contract and resignation; for so David saith, ‘Lord, I am thine.’ All this doth abundantly make good God hath a special people in the world whom he will own for his. The grace by which we are inclined to resign up ourselves to God, that flows from election, through the redemption of Christ, by sanctification of the Spirit; but the grounds, reasons, and motives for which we dedicate ourselves to God, they are his right in us by creation and redemption. It is but fit God should have what he hath made and bought; we are his creatures, his purchase, therefore we are his.

Use 1. For trial. Are we of the number of God’s peculiar people? As David paid to the Egyptian, ‘To whom belongest thou? whence art thou?’ 1 Sam. xxx. 13. So, if the question should be put to you, Whence are you? to whom do you belong? Can you answer, ‘Lord, I am thine.’ I belong to thee? If it be so, then:—

1. When did you solemnly dedicate yourselves to him? If you be God’s, can you remember when you first took your oath of allegiance to him? There is a solemn time of avouching one another, when God avouched you to be his people, and you avouched God to be your God: Deut. xxvi. 17, 18, ‘Thou hast avouched this day the Lord to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and judgments, and to hearken to his voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people.’ When did you give up the key of your hearts to God, and lie at God’s feet, and say, ‘Lord, here I am, what wilt thou have me to do?’ Acts ix. 6. They that are God’s come in this way, by resignation or spiritual contract, by entering into covenant with him.

2. What have you that is peculiar? Have you the favour of his people? Have you the conversation of his people? God’s peculiar people have peculiar mercies; at least their hearts and spirits are 444carried out after them: Ps. cvi. 4, ‘Lord, remember me with the favour of thy people.’ Common ‘mercies will not serve their turn, but they must have renewing and sanctifying mercies, and special pledges of his love; not increase of estate, honour, or esteem in the world; these are not things their hearts run upon; but, Lord, the favour of thy people; or, Ps. cxix. 132, ‘Do good unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.’ There is a goodness which God vouchsafeth to all his creatures; to the men of the world he gives a plentiful portion; their bellies are filled with thy hid treasure; but, Lord, let me have the comforts of thy Spirit, the manifestations of thy love and good-will to my soul in Christ Jesus. As Luther said and protested, God should not put him off with gold nor with honours; I must have his grace, his Christ, his Spirit; Valde protestatus sum me nolle his satiari. If you have such peculiar spirits, your hearts would be carried out after these distinguishing mercies. A man may have common mercies and go to hell and be cast away; but God’s peculiar people have peculiar mercies; then they will not be contented with a common conversation: Mat. v. 47, ‘If you love them that love you, what do you more than others?’ There is τί περισσὸν, something over and above, that should be seen in a Christian’s life. It is a fault, 1 Cor. iii. 3, ‘Ye walk as men.’ In the new creature there should be something more excellent. God’s peculiar people, as there is a difference between them and others in point of privileges, so also in point of conversation; they should live at a higher rate, more heavenly, meek, mortified, more charitable than others. Christians should walk so as to convince the world, and make them wonder at the beauty, majesty, and strictness of their lives. You harden carnal men when you profess yourselves to be God’s peculiar people, and there is no difference between you and others.

3. Doth your resignation appear in your living and acting for God? Is holiness to be written in visible characters upon all you do? Zech. xiv. 19, 20. The impress of God is upon his people, it is upon the horse bells, upon all the pots of Jerusalem; it is upon all they have, all they enjoy, ‘Holiness to the Lord:’ they spend their time as being dedicated to God, they spend their estates as being dedicated to God. Do you use yourselves as those that are Christ’s, improving your time, relations, talents, interests for his glory? This may be discovered partly by checking temptations upon this account: 1 Cor. vi. 15, ‘Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them to be the members of an harlot?’ This body is Christ’s, and therefore must be kept in sanctification and in honour; this time I misspend, this estate is Christ’s; and so you dare not give way to the folly and sin with which others are transported, for you look upon all that you have as Christ’s. And so also are your contrivances and projects for God’s glory; you will be casting about how you may honour Christ by your estate and relations, and everything you have: Neh. i. 11, ‘Grant me mercy in the sight of this man: for I was the king’s cup-bearer:’ that is, he was considering what use he might make of this authority and esteem which he had with the king of Babylon, and what use he might make of it for God. God hath advanced me to such honour and place; what honour hath God had? Look, as David, 2 Sam. xvii. 2, ‘I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God dwells within curtains.’ Here the Lord hath abundantly provided for me, but what have I done for God? When you are in all things seeking the things of God, and laying out yourselves for the glory of God, and if God needs anything that is yours, you freely and willingly part with it.

Use 2. To persuade us to resign up ourselves to God, and to live as those that are God’s.

First, To resign up ourselves to God: Isa, xliv. 5, ‘One shall come and say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.’ Come and subscribe to the God of Jacob, give it under hand and seal, enter your names in his muster-roll, that you are one of his subjects and servants. Motives are these:—

1. You owe yourselves to God, and therefore should give up yourselves to him: Philem. 19, ‘Thou owest unto me even thine own self.’ It is true with respect to God; thou owest all that thou hast to him, thou hast nothing but what he gave thee first. God calls it a gift, ‘My son, give me thy heart:’ but it is indeed a debt, for God gave it, not to dispossess himself and divest himself, but gave it for his use and service. He gave you yourselves to yourselves, as a man gives an estate to a factor to trade with, or as a husbandman scatters his seed upon the ground, not to bury it there, but expecting a crop from thence. So God scatters his gifts abroad in the world, gives life and all things; not to establish a dominion in thy person, but only a stewardship and a course of service. Hast thou life? Man is not dominus vitae, but custos—not lord of his life, but only the guardian and keeper for God. Now what is said of life is true of estates and all things else; there is no proper dominion we have.

2. God offers himself to thee, and therefore it is but reasonable thou give up thyself to God. In the covenant there is a mutual engaging between God and the creature to be each other’s, according to their several capacities; ‘I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’ The great God, Quantus quantus est, totus noster est, as great as he is, lie becomes ours; all in him ours, his wisdom, power, strength; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are our everlasting portion. God the Father will be our portion for ever, he will give his Son to be our redeemer, and his Spirit to be our guide; all the persons, with all their power and strength, are engaged for our use. Look, as when Jehoshaphat made a league with the king of Israel, this was the manner of it: 1 Kings xxii. 4, ‘I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.’ They mutually made over their strength one to another. So when God offereth to make over himself to us, this is the tenor, ‘I will be for thee, and thou shalt be for me,’ as Hosea iii. He makes over himself with all that is his. Now, when God offers to make over himself to us, and all that belongs to him to our use, his strength, power, and love, shall we stand demurring upon so blessed a contract, and not give up ourselves to the Lord? God, that needs us not, will engage himself to us to be for us, if we will be for him. Oh, then, let us resign up ourselves, and put ourselves under the power and sovereignty of God!

3. You never enjoy yourselves so much as when you give up yourselves to God; it is not your loss, but your gain; it is a kind of receiving: for you give up yourselves to become his people, to be sanctified, to be preserved by his grace, and governed by his Spirit; and all these are privileges, they are rather a gift for us. For a beggar to give up herself to match with a prince, she gets by giving; you give up your hearts to God to be better. Other things that are dedicated to God are only altered in their use, as gold and silver dedicated to the sanctuary; but when a man is given to God, he is altered in his nature, he is governed and fitted for God’s use. If there be any pretence of loss, it is this, a right or power to live according to your own will. Ay! but that you never had by virtue of your creation. You are bound to live according to the will of God; God’s precepts bind as a law where they are not received as a covenant; and therefore you have no power to dispose yourselves; you are God’s, whether you give up yourselves to him or no. When you consider how much you gain, you are interested in all the privileges of the Lord’s grace; it not only establisheth your duty, but your comfort and encouragement. If there were nothing but this free leave to go to God in all our straits and dangers, ‘I am thine, save me,’ this were a benefit not to be valued. If God be yours, you may expect salvation, temporal, eternal; therefore the benefit of this gift is not God’s, but ours; you give up yourselves, not to bring aught to God, but receive from God.

4. You cannot give other things to him unless you give up yourselves to him. 2 Cor. viii. 4, it is rendered as a reason of their forwardness in a good work, ‘They first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.’ When a man hath given himself to God, all things else will succeed more easily in the spiritual life; as a woman and man in the conjugal relation, they are easily kind one to another when they have bestowed themselves one upon another. As Quintus Fabius Maximus, answering to the ambassador that offered him gold, that it was not the fashion of the Romans to have gold under their power, but they were under a power that were owners and possessors of their gold. Apply it; the first thing God looks after is the person.

5. It is your honour to be in relation to God, therefore give up yourselves: Ps. cxvi. 16, ‘O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid.’ He repeats it thrice, as if he were wonderfully pleased with the relation. Mean offices about a prince are accounted honourable in the world; so to be in the meanest degree of service about God is a great honour; therefore give up yourselves to God.

Secondly, Live as those that are God’s. The first thing we should do is to determine whose we are, then to make good that relation. You are not your own, that is clear, 1 Cor. vi. 19; therefore not to live to your own will, your own ends, your own interest. All the disorder that is in the world comes from a man’s looking upon himself as his own: Ps. xii. 4, ‘Our tongues are our own:’ and therefore they take liberty to speak what they please. And saith Nabal, ‘My bread and my wine.’ When we are so eager to establish our own dominion and propriety, then we miscarry. As Bernard saith, Horreo quicunque 447 de meo ut sim meus—we should be in utter detestation of living to ourselves, and rather be God’s bondmen than our own freemen. And as they are not their own, so not the world’s: John xv. 19, ‘Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hates you.’ The world hates the godly because they have other principles and other ends. You should not conform to the world in judgment or practices, for you are not of the world; you are not of the flesh: Rom. viii. 12, ‘We are not debtors to the flesh:’ therefore this should not be your care and study to pamper and please the flesh. You are not Satan’s, for you are taken out of his power, Col. i. 13. Whose are you? You are the Lord’s; therefore your business should be to please God and honour God. It is easy to say, I am thine; do we make it good in our practice? This may be known two ways:—

1. When we make his glory to be the scope of our lives: Phil. i. 21, ‘To me to live is Christ:’ that is my business and employment, not to seek my own things, but the things of Christ Jesus. Do you give up yourselves to be governed and ordered by his Spirit, acting and living for his glory?

2. When we walk so as God may own us with honour; take his law for our rule, as well as to fix his glory for our scope. Exod. xxxii. 7, saith God to Moses, ‘Thy people whom thou hast brought up out of Egypt:’ thy people; God would not own them when they had corrupted their ways. We would say to God, Lord, I am thine; but alas! we act not as the Lord’s, but as if we were of the flesh, as if we belonged to Satan, to lust, and passion, and anger; by those cursed influences are we acted and swayed in our conversations. It is as sweet an argument and as forcible a reason as you can use to God in prayer to say, Lord, I am thine, if we could use it in good conscience, saith Chrysostom. All men are so, but how few can thus speak to God; for, saith he, his servants you are whom you obey; and the servant of sin lieth when he saith, I am thine. Alas! most every kind of sin may say, Thou art mine; lust and covetousness and ambition may challenge us. It is not words, but affections and actions that must prove us to be the Lord’s; then we are his when we seek to please him in all things. Judas was Christ’s in profession, but the devil’s in affection. David saith, ‘I am thine,’ but presently adds, ‘I seek thy precepts,’ I endeavour to do thy will. Oh! then, live not as your own, as of Satan and the flesh, but as the Lord’s.

Let us come to the ground of his plea, ‘Save me.’ David doth not say, ‘Thou art mine, save me,’ but, ‘I am thine.’ These two are correlates; he that speaks the one speaks both; if we be God’s, God is ours: ‘I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:’ and yet David saith, ‘I am thine,’ but doth not say, Thou art mine, for four reasons:—

1. Because this is first in our apprehension. We know God to be ours by giving up ourselves to be his. His choice and election of us is a secret till it be evidenced by our choice of him, till we choose him for our portion. Well, then, a believer cannot always say God is his, but a believer is always resolved to be the Lord’s by his own choice and dedication; they resolve to be his, and not their own. Though you cannot discern your election, that God hath chosen you, yet it is 448comfortable to renew your resignation of yourselves to God. Resignation, that is our act, and is more sensible to conscience than God’s election: ‘Lord, I have none in heaven but thee, and whom do I desire in comparison of thee?’ God will not refuse such a soul that is thus willing to tack himself upon God, will not be put off: ‘I am thine.’ As the Campani, when they begged the Romans to help them, and they refused, they came and gave themselves and their whole estates to be vassals to the Romans, with this plea, If you will not defend us as your allies, defend us as your subjects. Thus a gracious soul will tack himself upon God, and will not be put off: I will not be my own, but thine.

2. ‘I am thine:’ he saith so, because this was the best check to the present temptation. David was then in fear of his life when he spoke this, when the wicked lay in wait to destroy him, ver. 95; they wanted neither malice nor power to do it; then saith David, ‘I am thine.’ In afflictions God seems to break down the hedge, and lay his people open, in common with others, to the fury of the judgment that is then upon them. In regard of God’s outward dealings, little appearance different between us and them; but then we must say, Lord, I am thine; though involved in the same judgment, yet, Lord, thou canst put a difference, ‘I am thine.’ 2 Peter ii. 9: ‘The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation,’ how to put a distinction and difference between his own and others; so that our distinct interest, ‘I am thine,’ is a relief to the soul.

3. Saints observe a difference when they speak to God and when they plead with their own hearts; when they speak to God, then they mention their own resignation, Lord, I am thine; but when they would revive their own drooping souls, then they say, God is mine. Compare the text with Ps. xlii. 11, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ &c. He is my God; God is mine, and wilt thou be troubled? But when they speak to God, ‘I am thine:’ so they raise their hearts in a holy confidence. The interest is mutual. In dealing with our own unbelief, it is best to urge our interest in God: He is mine; but when in prayer, God’s interest in us: Lord, I am thine.

4. This is the more humbling way, to urge our own resignation. See Ps. cxvi. 15, 16, ‘Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints;’ then presently, ‘Ah, Lord, truly I am thy servant,’ &c. God’s children may be exposed to hazards alike, but their blood is precious to God. Now though the world thinketh lightly of their death, yet God doth not think so. How doth David apply this comfort, ‘Precious in the sight,’ &c. He doth not say, as the force of the words would seem to carry it, Lord, I am one of thy saints; but, Lord, I am thy servant; he takes a more humble title. There is many a man fears and doubts to apply the privileges of God’s children under some higher title, yet they should apply them in a title suitable to their condition and measure. So did David; he presumeth not to say, Thou art mine; that were a higher challenge, but yet such as God’s condescension will warrant him; but he doth aver and assert his own resignation, which is a more dutiful and humble way of confidence. Again, he doth not. say, I am thus and thus, but, I am thine. He doth not plead property or good qualification, but he pleads God’s 449property in him; Lord, I cannot say I am perfect and upright as I should be, yet I am thine. It is good to own God in the humbling way, and take hold of promises on the dark side; so doth Paul, 1 Tim. i. 15, ‘This is a faithful saying,’ &c.; as if he had said, Nay, if that be a faithful saying, then I can put in a plea, I am sinner enough for Christ to save. Thus by these lower ways of application we may derive and take out to ourselves the comfort of the promises.

Doct. 2. God’s interest in his people is the ground of his care for their safety.

It may be pleaded as a ground of his care for their safety, Lord, I am thine, and therefore save me; this is David’s plea in a time of danger. And so Christ, when he was to leave his disciples to the troubles of a furious opposite world, how doth he plead for them! John xvii. 6, ‘Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; therefore keep them through thine own name.’ We may pray to God with more confidence for our safety in a time of danger when we can plead his interest in us.

How doth his interest prove a ground of confidence and plea for prayer in a time of danger?

1. God’s knowledge of them: 2 Tim. ii. 19, ‘The Lord knows those that are his.’ He hath a particular exact knowledge of all the elect, and who they are that shall be saved; they are engraven as it were upon the palms of his hands; he takes notice of them, and of the condition in which they are: John x. 3, ‘He calleth his own sheep by name.’ Christ knows them by head and poll.

2. His care over them and his affection to them. Interest in general is a very endearing thing. That which is mine doth more affect me than that which is another man’s: 1 Tim. v. 8, ‘He that careth not, and provideth not for his own, is worse than an infidel.’ It is an unnatural thing for a man not to affect his own; and will God suffer that which is his own to be snatched out of his hands, and used by evil men according to their pleasure? A man is careful of his own children, to dispose of them in a safe place, and careful of his own jewels: the saints are not as God’s lumber, but as his jewels; they are dearer to God than all things else: Isa. xliii. 3, 4, ‘I am the Lord thy God, thy saviour; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee; since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life;’ that is, if the sword must drink blood, let it go to Seba and Ethiopia, to Arabia, and to Egypt; he strikes the king of Assyria in his wrath, and the sword shall be diverted that way, rather than they should be given up to be destroyed. But this is not all. The way how we come to be his own doth exceedingly endear us to him; as, for instance, we come to be God’s by eternal election; now this must needs endear us to God. A woman that carries her child in her womb but nine months, what a tender affection hath she to it! Isa. xlix. 14, 15, ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child?’ &c.; Eph. i. 4, ‘He chose us from the foundation of the world.’ We lay in the womb of his decree from all eternity, and therefore we are very dear to God, namely, as we are his by election. Again, as we are his by redemption; they were bought with a dear price, therefore they are 450a precious people; God hath a high esteem and value for them. That which cost dear, we will not lose it lightly. The saints are valuable, not so much in themselves, as in Christ, by whose precious blood they are purchased with God, 1 Peter i. 18. Adam sold us for a trifle, but Christ did not redeem us at a cheap rate. Then the work of the Spirit, who hath drawn the image of God upon us; God will not suffer his own work to be destroyed, Ps. lxxiv. 6. They came to God, and complained of the defacing of the material temple, that the carved work, the curious work which was wrought by the special direction of God’s own Spirit, was destroyed (for the Spirit of God directed Bezaleel to work in brass and all manner of curious works); certainly the temples of the Holy Ghost, which are formed for God’s praise, God will not suffer them to be destroyed and never look after them. Again, as they are God’s by dedication, so they are dear to him. Common gold and silver was not so valued as consecrated gold and silver. Goat’s-hair that was consecrated to the uses of the temple was more excellent than all other things that was for common use. We are dedicated, consecrated to God, set apart for himself: Ps. iv. 3, ‘The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.’

3. He hath a peculiar eye to his own. Why? Because he expects more work from them than from others, therefore they have more protection; God is known, glorified and owned among them. His revenues to the crown of heaven from the world come to little in regard of what he hath from his people and his church: Ps. cxlv. 10, ‘All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee.’ God hath most of his praise from his saints. His creatures show forth his glory, but his saints bless him. The common sort of people smother the glory of God in their atheism, security, and unbelief; but those only are the people that keep up his praise in the world, therefore he preserves them.

4. Because by covenant all that is God’s is theirs, for their use. His strength is theirs: Eph. vi. 10, ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ And his salvation is theirs: Ps. lxviii. 20, ‘He that is our God is the God of salvation.’ If God be a God of salvation, he is our God. If he hath salvation to bestow, it is ours. A believer hath full right to make use of all that God hath.

Use 1. To press you to get this interest in times of danger. We should now be more careful than at other times to get and clear up our interest in God. Oh, it will be no advantage to say, This and that is mine, but a great advantage to say, God is mine. When desolations are on the earth, there is great havoc made of great estates, and outward supplies will come to nothing; but this will be an ever lasting comfort to say, God is mine. See 1 Sam. xxx. 6, ‘But David comforted himself in the Lord his God;’ Hab. iii. 18, ‘I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation.’

2. It presseth you to make your interest more evident by fruits of obedience; as David, ‘I am thine.’ How makes he it good? ‘I sought thy precepts.’ We would have mercy, but neglect duty. Therefore saith David, ‘I sought thy precepts.’ It is an emphatical expression. To seek God’s precepts is more than barely to do them; to seek them, that is, with all diligence. We labour after the knowledge of them, and 451grace to practise them; it is to give up our minds and hearts; it notes earnest study and affection to them, will, and care, and all to the practice of God’s will. Where there is an honest and earnest endeavour to obey God’s command in all things, this proves a believer’s interest. In times of trouble you must expect your confidence will be assaulted. Now when Satan or conscience represent God as putting thee off thus. What! come you to me? thou art a grievous sinner; but, Lord, I am thine. How prove you that? I seek to know thy will. ‘How to perform that which is good, I find not,’ Rom. vii. We cannot always find it; that is, serve God with exactness of care; but if this be the bent of our hearts, if we seek it, we may come with confidence, and look God in the face, and say. Lord, I am thine.

3. We may improve it with confidence in prayer, I am thine, save me. God saves man and beast, Ps. xxxvi. 6, therefore will save his own, he that is our father and our God: ‘I know that my God will save me,’ saith David, Ps. xx. 6-8. There are some God will not save: ‘They are not mine, therefore I will break down their bulwarks.’ In the Book of Chronicles it is said, ‘Why transgress you the commandment of God, that you cannot prosper?’ There is an utter incapacity when men will be sinning away their protection. Here is your great plea in time of danger, in adversity, go to God and say, I am thine; Lord, save me.