114 UPON THE SINGING OF BIRDS. done? Art not thou better than many sparrows? Luke xii. 7. Why then dost thou despond more than they, and distrust thy Father's providence? Hast not thou more promises to depend upon than ever they had? and more experiences of Divine Providence, both in former deliverances and continual protection and provision? Thou hast the use of reason, which they want, to assist thee, and some comfortable hopes of the truth of grace, and that God has accepted thee, received thee into his family, and adopted thee for his child; thou hast the word and ordinances to bear thee up, and many promises of Divine protection and provision which they have not; many encouragements from God himself; read Matt. vi. 25, to the end, and Matt. x. throughout, and see whether there be any cause of desponding. It is thy duty to be careful for nothing, but to make thy request known to God in prayer, Phil. iv. 6. Children make their needs known to their parents, and trusting in them fear no want; nor need they, their parents take care for them: and these very birds, if wisely observed and diligently heeded, might root those distracting cares out of thy heart, and teach thee to cast all thy care upon God, who careth for thee. But though thou hast not wanted, thou art questioning with Israel, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?" Psa. lxxviii. 19. What if this cruse of oil fail, and this barrel of meal be wasted? what shall I eat? what shall I drink then? or wherewithal shall I be clothed? If these or these things happen, what will become of me or mine? What if famine come? or what if I be UPON THE SINGING OF BIRDS. 115 put into prison? or that little I have be taken from me? What if I be banished, sent into some remote wilderness, etc. how shall I be fed? how shall I be clothed? what will become of my wife and children? etc. As if, when the pipe is cut, there were no water in the fountain. Are not these sometimes thy thoughts and fears? and though thou hast had many silencing providences, and God unexpectedly has removed thy doubts, and answered thy objections, yet, upon new apprehensions of danger, how hard dost thou find it to trust God, upon his bare word, when the world frowns? or to depend upon him when deliverance is out of sight? Has not Christ himself told thee, that if thou seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, all other things shall be added unto thee, Matt. vi. 33. Grace is the way to glory, and holiness to happiness; if men be not gracious, there is no heaven to be had; if they are, they shall have heaven, and earth also for godliness has the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," 1 Tim. iv. 8. All earthly enjoyments that are good for thee, are entailed upon piety; but alas! the strength of the ground is so spent in nourishing weeds and trash, that the good corn is starved and choked: these thorns choke the seed, and it becomes unfruitful, Matt. xiii. 22. Has not God promised that he will "never leave thee, nor forsake thee?" Heb. xiii. 5; and is not this better than if all the kings upon earth had said to thee that thou shalt want nothing that is good. And wouldst thou have that which is hurtful? was he ever known to be worse than : 116 UPON THE SINGING OF BIRDS. his word? and canst thou imagine he will first fail thee? Will he that feeds the fowls, and clothes the grass, starve the children? O my soul, make sure of the main thing, and use diligence for the rest. Cast thy care upon God, and make thy requests known to God, and he can as well deny himself, as deny thee in any lawful suit five thousand years' experience cannot produce an instance of any godly man that was forsaken. Make sure of the main covenant, and all other things will be given in. O my God, "I believe; help thou mine unbelief," Mark ix. 24: pardon my distracting and distrustful thoughts, increase my faith, silence my doubts and fears, by clearing up my evidences for heaven. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry, Psa. cxlvii. 7-9. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understandng, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, Phil. iv. 6, 7. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim. iv. 8. XXXIV. UPON THE TONES OF A PARROT. HEARING a parrot talk and counterfeit man's voice, and utter words which yet he understood not; when I had considered it, I thought it was a lively emblem of a hypocrite: for as this bird imitates man, and counterfeits his voice, so does a hypocrite imitate a true Christian, both in words and gestures, speaks as he speaks, and acts as he acts, for what action or what duty can a Christian perform, as to the external part of it, which a hypocrite cannot, does not do? As there is no herb in the garden, but there is some counterfeit of it in the field, which resembles it, so there is no grace in the heart of a believer, but the hypocrite has its counterfeit. What can a true Christian do in respect of duty, but a hypocrite can do also, yea, sometimes seem to exceed him? And as in duty, so in conference and discourse, it is hard to discern the one from the other. There is indeed a difference now, both in garb and language; the one is truly beautiful, the other is but paint and varnish, which time makes to fade: they speak, it is true, the same things, but the one speaks what he knows, and the other by hearsay; both may discourse of the deep mysteries of religion, but the one class understandeth not what they say. Can a true Christian discourse of redemption, regeneration, 118 UPON THE TONES OF A PARROT. conversion, adoption, sanctification, etc.? so can the other also: but the one speaks what he feels, the other not; the Christian finds the marks and tokens of it in his own soul, the other not. Can the one discourse of the workings of the Spirit in the heart of a believer, the actings of grace, of communion with God, etc.? so can the other. Can the one utter his experiences of the goodness of God, the vanity of the creature, the bitterness of sin, the comforts and directions of the Spirit, the beauty of holiness, etc.? the other can count this also. But all this while the hypocrite's heart and tongue agree not: he declaims against that sin which he loves, and pleads for the holiness and integrity which he secretly hates and abhors, and speaks well of God and his laws, his ordinances and his people, which in his heart he abhors. The knowledge of the one differs from the knowledge of the other as much as that of a traveller who has been at Rome, or Venice, or Jerusalem, or Constantinople, and has seen those places, and known their inhabitants, and dwelt among them, differs from his who has only heard or read of them, or spoken with those who have seen them. The latter perhaps may speak as much (nay more) of the situation of the place, the manners of the people, the government, customs and laws they are ruled by, than the former an; yet their knowledge is not alike. The one s assured by ocular demonstration of what he peaks, the other not: "These eyes saw it," says one; "These ears heard it," saith the other. So it is here, one speaks what he knows, the other what he hears. Or it is like the difference |