And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
— Nehemiah 9:8
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
— Genesis 15:18
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
— Ezekiel 36:24-26
And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
— 2 Kings 23:3
As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
— Proverbs 10:25
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
— Hebrews 6:7-8
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
— Matthew 5:45
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
— Matthew 13:30
When a Person Has Received a Temporal Mercy Which He Prayed For, How May He Know Whether It is Granted In Answer to Prayer, and Comes to Him as a Covenant Blessing?, by Samuel Pike and Samuel Hayward. The following contains Case Seventeen of their work, “Religious Cases Of Conscience Answered In An Evangelical Manner.”
Case 17. When a person has received a temporal mercy which he prayed for, how may he know whether it is granted in answer to prayer, and comes to him as a covenant blessing?
It ought to be the concern of every person who has any regard for his own soul, to see that his temporal mercies come to him with a divine blessing. Such a pious concern as this, excited a friend to put this question to me. And seeing the importance of it, I have therefore ventured to take it under consideration, and I will do these three things.
I. State the question itself,
II. Give a solution to it.
III. Make an application of it.
I. As for the question itself, I conceive it to stand in the following light. A person who hopes he has experienced the love of God in a covenant way, earnestly desires to receive every mercy as coming from the hand of a covenant God, with love in His heart, with a smile in His countenance, and with the addition of His blessing. The gracious soul is assumed to have been in earnest with God for a particular, important favour of divine Providence. The consequence of this has been that God has been pleased to grant him the mercy he requested. He is therefore ready to hope that it comes in answer to prayer, and he desires that his heart may be affected with it, not only as a providential favour, but likewise as an instance and token of God’s especial love. But he desires to know how he will be assured that it comes as a token of divine acceptance. And he would be glad to be certain that he may venture to look at the present providential favour in this encouraging light. He knows it is the very mercy he has prayed for; he likewise knows it is a favour that calls for special gratitude; and his conscience tells him that his soul was enlarged in prayer for it. These things, then, he is well assured of. But at the same time, he sees that he cannot from positively conclude from this, that the favour is sent in answer to prayer; and if it is, he cannot be certain from this, that it comes with a divine blessing. For he is ready to suspect that he has been too eager in his supplications for a temporal blessing; that he has laid too great a stress upon it; and therefore he fears, though it is granted, that it may be given to him not in love, but in anger. He therefore greatly desires to know in what manner, and upon what plan he may judge in this affair — whether the favour comes in anger or in love; and whether he may humbly depend on a divine blessing, to make it turn out for his real and spiritual good. Doubtless nothing would be matter of greater joy and pleasure to a gracious soul, than to have reason to conclude that a divine blessing will attend the providential mercy received. On the other hand, nothing can be a greater damper to a serious mind, than to have a prevailing suspicion that what is granted will prove to be a snare and stumbling block, rather than a covenant blessing. This is the question.
But to amplify it a little, I would endeavour to make it familiar by an instance or two. You know that every Christian prays that God would give him day by day his necessary food. Now, this temporal favour is what God gives to those who do not pray for it, and have no sense of their dependence upon him for it. Nor can we be sure that our daily provision is sanctified to us, merely because we pray for it, and God gives it. Again, perhaps in some special cases we pray for a deliverance out of some great trouble, such as granting some important favour in providence. And since it doesn’t immediately follow that these special mercies that are granted, will be attended with a divine blessing, the question still remains, how may we know whether they come in covenant love? I would therefore now proceed,
II. To give a solution to this serious and experimental question. And here, let it be observed that three or four things are previously necessary to assure us that what we receive comes to us in a covenant way.
1. The person praying must be someone in covenant with God. One who is destitute of saving blessings, may be so far led into the knowledge of the divine providence, as to be stirred up to pray for a temporal mercy; yes, and to be thankful for it when he has received it. And yet this cannot assure him that it will be really blessed to him. God may hear the cries, and answer the requests of an unregenerate person; and yet, after all, there is still a curse on his basket and store. For we know that, as to unrenewed persons, their very prosperity is cursed. Thus God heard Ahab when he humbled himself; and yet it doesn’t appear that he was ever savingly renewed. Thus every one of the mariners on Jonah’s ship prayed to his god, and the Lord answered their request; but we have no reason to think that their deliverance came as a covenant blessing to them. Don’t let any therefore presume to infer that they are interested 43 in God’s special love, merely because He answers their prayers with respect to temporal favours. But if you are a person in covenant with God, and have an interest in the blessings of grace, you then have more reason to hope that what is granted comes with a blessing. “For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,” Rom 8.28. No temporal mercy can come as a covenant blessing to a person who is destitute of saving grace, unless it is made a means of bringing him to Christ. But it may be granted to someone who is already in Christ by vital union to him.
2. The mercy prayed for must be such that it is lawful for us to ask for it at the hands of God. Sometimes the desires of the children of men, indeed of the children of God too, are so wild and irregular, that they seek what would be hurtful rather than helpful to them. And if we were allowed to choose for ourselves in all temporal cases, we would many a time make a wretched choice. And then, indeed, if God were to answer such requests, he would do it not in love, but in anger. Thus we find the Israelites asked for their fleshly lusts,“and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls,” Psa 106.15.
3. The views of the mind in asking the blessing must likewise be lawful. Perhaps we may desire a particular favour in order to gratify our pride, to indulge our lusts, or to be at a greater liberty to enjoy ourselves, without bringing any glory to God. Now, when a person prays for a temporal favour with such views, he has no reason to expect it will be granted to him. Or if it is granted, that it will be a blessing to him. For it is a mocking of God to ask for a temporal favour with such a view. It would be a mercy rather than a judgment, for God to deny such a request. Jas 4.3. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts.” We should therefore look well to our aims and ends in praying for a providential mercy, if we hope to have it granted in love.
4. The methods taken to obtain the mercy sought should likewise be lawful. For however valuable the favour may be in itself, yet if it be obtained in an unlawful manner, we have no reason to expect the divine blessing upon it. It is true, God may and sometimes does bring good out of evil, as in the case of Jacob’s obtaining his father’s blessing by fraud. But this must not be a pattern for us; nor can we expect God to smile upon unlawful means. And even if they prove to be successful, it is a thousand to one; and what is obtained may become a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and a recompense to us, Rom 11.9.
These four things, I say, must be previously supposed. Otherwise we can have no reason to think that the mercy received will be a real blessing to us. And I further apprehend that supposing we are right in these four particulars, they are not of themselves sufficient to ascertain the present important point. For some other thoughts must be added in order to give us ground to conclude that what we receive comes in a covenant way.
Do you then earnestly desire to know whether a special temporal mercy comes with a divine smile and blessing? I must beg you to make the following inquiries:
1. Inquire whether you have prayed for it as a covenant blessing. If our hearts are right with God, and our minds in a proper frame when engaged in the duty of prayer, we don’t ask for any mercy with a higher view than as a temporal favour. We seek such a mercy, that God may be glorified, that our souls may be endeared to him, and that we may be rendered more capable to honour him by what he gives us. We desire to receive it from Christ not only as King of Providence, but likewise as King of Grace. We are willing to forego the mercy if God sees it will not be for his glory and our good to grant it; and we dread the thought of receiving any favour merely as a temporal one. It is in the nature of true prayer in such a case, to look abundantly above and beyond the mercy sought, however desirable it may be to flesh and blood. True prayer teaches us to seek such a favour as a branch of the covenant — as a mercy that would subserve the glory of God’s name and our spiritual good. We desire that the Father may be glorified in it, not only as a God of Providence, but as a God of Grace. We desire that the Son may be glorified by it, as a fruit of his redeeming love and grace. We desire that the Holy Spirit may be glorified in it by making it effectual for quickening, humbling, and endearing its purposes. Now, if these are our real views in seeking a temporal mercy, then we have the highest reason to think that when it is granted, it comes from a covenant God, attended with the blessing of Christ, and the influences of his Spirit.
2. Inquire whether you received it as a covenant blessing. When it came into your hands, or when it was bestowed upon your persons or families, be solicitous to observe with what frame of spirit you received it. Was it merely as a temporal favour? Was it merely with thankfulness, because God had been so good to you, as to thereby increase your substance, your family, or reputation? If this was all, then you have reason to fear that it has not come in a covenant channel. But if, on the contrary, you have been made to see something of the connection between temporal mercies and spiritual blessings, and have received the present mercy as a token of God’s love — and if in receiving it, it made such an impression on your soul as to endear your heart to a God of grace, and stirred up your desire to spend and employ it for God in Christ — then this is a happy token that God has granted it as a real blessing.
3. Inquire whether you enjoy it as a covenant blessing. Now that you have the mercy, doubtless you rejoice in it, and are thankful for it. But how do you enjoy it? Oh! there is a great deal of difference between the enjoyment that a believer has of a mercy when in a right frame of mind, and that enjoyment of it which others have. Unrenewed persons can taste a natural sweetness in a temporal mercy, and can enjoy it with a natural pleasure. But the believer in a right frame can take a spiritual pleasure, and taste a spiritual sweetness in the enjoyment of it. It is the real desire of a true believer, in the want of all things, to enjoy all in God — and in the fulness of all things, to enjoy God in all.
4. Inquire whether you endeavour to employ the mercy as a covenant blessing. You have now gotten what you prayed for; what do you desire to do with it now? Are you for making the best of it only in a natural way, and upon carnal principles? Or, are you for employing it in a way of gratitude to the God of grace who has freely given you his Son, and has in him, and with him, freely given you this and every other mercy that you partake of?
If you can conscientiously and seriously give an answer in the affirmative to the foregoing questions, upon a close examination, you may then with the utmost certainty conclude that what you have received comes to you in a covenant way; and it will be blessed to you and yours in accord with the most desirable and spiritual purposes.
III. I now come to the third general division. And that is to make some application of the whole, which will be done by the following remarks:
1. How unhappy are all unbelievers, even in their best enjoyments! They may indeed spend all their days in pleasure, honour, and wealth. They may have as to this world more than a heart could wish. But it is their great misery that in all these things, they don’t know God; and therefore they can have no real enjoyment of him. Alas! what are all their pleasures worth while they enjoy them with a curse? These temporal mercies, unless free grace prevents it, will be found only to fatten them up for the day of slaughter Jas 5.5. There is such an awful curse upon all the possessions and enjoyments of the unbeliever, that in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is grief Pro 14.13.
2. See from this what the best method is to attain the sweetest enjoyment of what we have. O, my brethren! If you desire to have a true relish of your mercies, esteem it a poor mean thing to have riches, honours, and pleasures without God. Let it be your first concern to seek an interest in the covenant of grace; and then see to it that all you receive comes from the hands of God with a design for your spiritual and everlasting good. And if you can arrive at this happy frame of spirit, it will lighten every cross, and add a double sweetness to every enjoyment. For temporal mercies on this account are abundantly sweeter to believers than to any others. The creature is vain and insufficient of itself. Its pleasures, however delicate, are either defective or cloying; the honours that the creature can bestow, however elevated, are empty and despicable; and the supplies which the creature can afford, however opulent, are uncertain and unsatisfying. They will be found to be such by everyone who observes his own experience, or has the least notion of what is truly good and great. To those who are destitute of the grace of God, they are perpetually ensnaring and polluting, and will prove a preparation for hell rather than heaven. But if a person is made a partaker of Christ, and is enabled to maintain communion with God, then he will find the creature sanctified, blessed, and sweetened to him. He will have such a relish of it, that it will abundantly surpass all the pleasure that the carnal man can enjoy, or even conceive.
But I cannot represent this most spiritual and heavenly experience better than by transcribing a letter to a friend, dictated by the eminently pious Edward Polhill, Esq., of the last age, after he had lost his sight. It is a letter which shows a heart full of love for God, and lifted up above the creature in communion with him.
“WORTHY SIR — Yours I received, and return many thanks to you for your kindness and prayers. I am blind, but bless God, content. All that he does is wise and just. All that comes in his will is welcome. His choice is better than mine. Eyes might have blinded, but blindness will enlighten me. God has not cast me off, but called me aside into the invisible world. There Jesus Christ is the only Sun. Mercy is like a sea of infinite sweetness for faith to bathe in. The promises are like green pastures of comfort. God himself is the dew that makes a spring of graces in the heart. Heavenly truths are the firmament over our heads. The pure air is the Holy Spirit breathing in saints and ordinances. In this world the blind have a prospect, and may see the land afar off, which lies beyond the line of time, in another world. I may say it is good being here. I cannot see outward things; but the new creature in the heart is a better sight than all the world. I cannot read the letters in the Bible; but if I have the quickening Spirit, it is enough. The covenant may be felt in the heart. The promises may bud and blossom into grace, and notions may fire and be inflamed into holy love. The veil is upon my eyes; but my work is to tear off the veil of time from my heart, and to look into eternity; to put back all creatures, and to have all in God, eyes and all, and this is the greatest possession. If I have all things in themselves, I have them but in a finite sphere. But if I have them all in God, I have them eminently, and in a kind of infinity. In waiting, I wait upon the Lord till he inclines and gives me eagle’s wings of faith and love to soar up to him. Near enough to him, I cannot be. O that I were unearthed and unselfed, that my soul might be in perpetual ascensions to him, my love going forth in raptures after him! O for the circumcision of the heart! If the film were off my eyes, I would see the outward world; but if the flesh were off my heart, I would love the blessed God, which is infinitely better. Through grace I hope to come to that blessed region where God is all. In his light we shall see light, and in his love, we shall be forever inflamed to him. But I forget myself, and run out, but not beyond the pardon of my good friend. “My kind salutes to yourself; and begging all your prayers, I take leave, and subscribe myself, “Your obliged friend and servant,
— “Edward Polhill.”
O that there were such a spirit breathing in each of us! Then we should know what it is to receive, enjoy, and improve every temporal mercy as a new covenant blessing.
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