but what if this vineyard prove barren, what will he then do? Nay, but he will so deal with it, that it shall never be so barren, as to cause him to cast it up. He is not with it for nought, his presence is attended with grace and kindness. 'I water it,' saith he; and that not now and then, but every moment.' He pours out fresh supplies of his Spirit upon it to make it fruitful. Thence it becomes a vineyard of red wine,' ver. 2. the best wine, the most delicious, the most precious, to cheer the heart of God himself; as Zeph. iii. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save thee, he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.' He causes them thereby that come out of Jacob to take root, he makes Israel blossom and bud, to fill the face of the world with fruit. This is that which God promiseth his people; he will not forsake them, he will always give them his presence, in the kindness and supplies of a God in covenant, to protect them from others, to make them fruitful to himself: this is his not-forsaking them he will preserve them from others; who shall take them out of his hand? he will make them fruitful to himself; he will work, and who shall let him?

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2. The reason why the Lord will not forsake his people, why he will continue doing them good, is expressed in these words, for his own name's sake;' and in this assertion two things are considerable:

1. A tacit exclusion of any thing in themselves, for which, or upon consideration whereof, God will constantly abide with them. It is not for their sakes, for any thing in them, or what they have done, may, or can do; it is not upon the account of any condition or qualification whatever, that may, or may not be found on them, but merely for his name's sake; which in the like case he expresseth fully, Ezek. xxxvi. 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!' The truth is, they may prove such, as on all accounts whatever shall deserve to be rejected, that nothing in appearance, or in their own sense, as well as others, though the root of the matter be in them, may be found upon them, when God takes delight in them. Like those you have described at large, Isa. xliii. 22-25. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been

weary of me, O Israel: thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings, neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices: I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense: thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities: I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins any more.' Weary of God they are, neglecting his worship, making his patience and forbearance to serve with their iniquities. It seems to be impossible almost for any creature to apprehend that God will not give them up to everlasting confusion. Yea, perhaps they may be froward in their follies, and contend with God when he goes to heal them; Isa. lvii. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness, was I wroth and smote him; I hid me and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.' Iniquity is upon them, a vile iniquity, the iniquity of covetousness.' God is wroth with them, and smites, and hides him, and they go on frowardly: and yet for all this he 'forsakes not for ever;' he abides to be their God; and that because his so doing is not bottomed on any consideration of what they are, have been, or will be, but he doth it for his name's sake, and with regard unto that which thereupon he will do for them. And upon this account, this promise of God's abiding and continuing with his, let grace be never so weak, corruption never so strong, temptations never so violent, may be pleaded, and the Lord rejoices to be put in remembrance of it by the weakest, frailest, sinfullest saint or believer in the world.

2. The cause or reason is positively expressed, why God will not forsake them: it is, 'for his great name's sake.' His great name is all that he consults withal, about his continuance with his people: this he calls himself, Isa. xliii. 25.

I blot out thy sins for my own sake;' that is, for no other cause in the world that may be found in thee or upon thee. The name of God is all that whereby to us he is known; all his attributes, his whole will, all his glory. When God is d to do any thing for his name, it is either the cause and of what he doth, or the principle from whence, with the wherefore, he doth it, that is by him intended. In

the first sense, to do a thing for his name's sake, is to do it for the manifestation of his glory, that he may be known to be a God, in the excellency of those perfections, whereby he reveals himself to his, with (most frequently) a special regard to his faithfulness and grace. It is in those properties to make himself known, and to be exalted in the hearts of his. So all his dispensations in Jesus Christ are for the praise of his glorious grace;' Eph. i. 6. That he may be exalted, lifted up, made known, believed and received as a God pardoning iniquity, in the Son of his love. And in this sense may the Lord be said to abide with his people' for his name's sake;' for the exalting of his glory; that he may be known to be a God faithful in covenant, and unchangeable in his love, who will not cast off for ever,' those whom he hath once received into favour. It will not enter into the hearts of believers sometimes, why the Lord should so deal with them as he doth, and not cast them off; their souls may go to rest as to this thing he himself is glorious herein; he is exalted, and doth it on that account. 2dly. If by his name you understand the principle from whence he worketh, and his motive thereunto, as it comprehends the whole long-suffering, gracious, tender, unchangeable nature of God, according as he hath revealed himself in Jesus Christ, in whom his name is; Exod. xxiii. 21. and which he hath committed to him to be manifested; John xvii. 6. so evidently two things in God are engaged, when he promiseth to work for his name's sake, or according to his great name.

1. His power or sufficiency: upon the engagement of the name of God on his people's behalf, Moses carefully pleads this latter or part thereof; Numb. xiv. 17-19. God hath given his name unto his people: and this is wrapped up in 'that mercy, that he will lay out his power to pardon, heal, and do them good in his preserving of them and abiding with them. Let thy power be great, according as thou hast spoken; the Lord is long-suffering:' and, as when he works for his name, the way whereby he will do it, is according to the greatness of his power; so the fountain and rise from whence he will do it, is,

2. His goodness, kindness, love, patience, mercy, grace, faithfulness in Jesus Christ. And thus under the title of f John xvii. 3. 26. Psal. xxii. 22. Ixiii. 4. lxix. 30.

his name, doth he call poor, afflicted, dark, hopeless, helpless creatures (upon any other account in the world), persons ready to be swallowed up in disconsolation and sorrow to rest upon him. Isa. 1. 10. 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.' When all other holds are gone, when flesh fails, and heart fails, then doth God call poor souls to rest upon this name of his. So the psalmist, Psal. lxxiii. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth (all strength, natural and spiritual, faileth, and is gone), but God is the strength of my heart (saith he), and my portion for ever.' Now this is the sole motive also of God's continuance with his: he will do it, because he himself is good, gracious, merciful, loving, tender: and he will lay out these properties to the utmost in their behalf, that it may be well with them, lifting up, exalting, and making himself gracious in so doing. This the Lord emphatically expresseth five times in one verse; Isa. xlvi. 4. ‘Even to your old age I am he, even to hoary hairs, will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear, I will carry and will deliver you.' This then, I say, is the reason, and only ground; this the principal aim and end, upon the account whereof the Lord will 'not forsake his people.'

3. The rise of all this goodness, kindness, faithfulness of God to his people, as to the exercise of it, is also expressed; and that is, his own good pleasure, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.' This is the spring and fountain of all the goodness mentioned. God is essentially in himself of a good, gracious, and loving nature, but he acts all these properties, as to works that outwardly are of him, 'according to the counsel of his will;' Eph. i. 11. according to the purpose which he purposeth in himself; and his purposes all of them have no other rise, or cause, but his own good pleasure. Why did the Lord make us his people, towards whom he might act according to the gracious properties of his nature, yea, and lay them forth and exercise them to the utmost on our behalf? Was it because we were better than others? did his will? walked with him? Did he declare we should be his people upon condition we did so and so? Not on any of these, or the like grounds of proceed

ing doth he do this, but merely because 'it pleaseth him to make us his people;' Matt. xi. 26. And shall we think that he who took us to be his people, notwithstanding our universal alienation from him, on the account of his own good pleasure, which caused him to make us his people (that is, obedient, believing, separated from the world), will, upon any account, being himself unchangeable, not preserve us in, but reject us from, that condition? Thus is God's mercy, in not forsaking his people, resolved into its original principle, viz. his own good pleasure in choosing of them, carried on by the goodness and unchangeableness of his own nature to the appointed issue. This then is the sum of this argument. What work or design the Lord entereth upon, merely from his own good pleasure, or solely in answer to the purpose which he purposeth in himself, and engageth to continue in mercy for his name's sake, thereby taking upon him to remove, or prevent, whatever might hinder the accomplishment of that purpose, work, or design of his, that he will abide in unchangeable to the end. But this is the state of the Lord's undertaking to abide with his people, as hath been manifested at large.

Let us add in the next place that of the psalmist; Psal. xxiii. 4. 6. 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and staff doth comfort me: surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' The psalmist expresseth an exceeding confidence in the midst of most inexpressible troubles and pressures. He supposes himself walking through the valley of the shadow of death, as death is the worst of evils, and comprehensive of them all, so the shadow of death is the most dismal and dark representation of those evils to the soul, and the valley of that shadow the most dreadful bottom and depth of that representation. This then the prophet supposed, that he may be brought into a condition, wherein he may be overwhelmed with sad apprehensions of the coming of a confluence of all manner of evils upon him, and that not for a short season, but he may be necessitated to walk in them, which denotes a state of some continuance, a conflicting with most dismal evils, and in their own nature tending to death, is in the supposal. What then would he