It is remarkable that when the saints of old were tried and proved, there was found in them not only evil, but the very evil we should least of all have anticipated. We should have said for instance of Noah, he is one whose sobriety and self-restraint will be carried with him to his grave. He stood alone amid a luxurious, sensual, intoxicated world, condemning their lasciviousness and revelry. Yet no sooner is he placed in circumstances of temptation than he falls. Noah becomes
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drunken ! Again Abraham stands out pre- eminent for faith and courage ; yet, when he goes to Egypt and Gerar, his faith gives way and he utters lies through fear. Lot had withstood all the sensuality and filthiuess of Sodom, and his righteous soul mourned over their abominations ; yet, scarce is he delivered from the city's destruction, than he falls into drunkenness and lust, equal to that of the cities that had been consumed. Job, though marked for his patience, gave way to impa- tience in the day of trial. Moses, the meekest of all men, displayed his auger, and " spake unadvisedly with his lips." David was one of the bravest that ever fought the battles of the Lord in Israel, and he had gone out against Goliath with a sling and a stone, yet when he fled before Saul and came to king Achish at Gath, his courage is gone, and he feigns himself a madman through fear of his enemies. Elijah had stood before kings with- out trembling, to pronounce the sentence of judgment, to shut up the heavens, and to wield the sword of Jehovah's vengeance, though alone amid tens of thousands. Yet he flies before a woman's threat, he gives up all for lost and requests to die. Ezekiel, whose char-
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acter shines out as one of singulai holiness and obedience, yet records against himself a strange instance of unsubmissiveness, when sent by God on an errand of judgment to Israel : " I went in bitterness, in the heat (marg. hot anger) of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me."* Peter's attachment to his Lord is one of his peculiar characteristics, yet it was Peter that denied him. John was the disciple who seems to have been likest his master in gentleness and love, yet it was John who wanted to call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritan village. Lord, what is man ! And what is a human heart? — the heart, even of thy saints when proved, and held up to view ! " O heart, heart,"' said John Berridge of himself, " what art thou '} A mass of fooleries and absurdities, the vainest, wickedest, craftiest, foolishest thing in nature." What deep-hidden evil, what sel- fishness, what pride, what harsh tempers, what worldiiness come out in a moment, wiien the stroke goes deep into the soul ! How long Job remained stedfast, holding fast his integrity and confidence in G<~d. Stroke after stroke laid him prostrate, yet he gave glory to God in the * Ezek. iii. 14.
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midst of desolation and sorrow. The inner circle of self had net been reached. But when a loathsome disease drove him to the dung- hill, and his friends rose up against him, and addressed him as a man marked out by God as guilty, then his faith and patience gave way. The very centre of his being had been reached and probed ; and forth came the stream of impatience and unbelief. It takes a sharp arrow, and a strong-drawn bow to pierce into the inmost circle ; yet God in kindness spares not. The seat of the disease must be reached, and its real nature brought out to the light.
/~ Of all the evils which are thus drawn forth from the heart of the saint ; the worst, and yet the commonest, are hard thoughts of God. Yet who would have expected this 1 Once, indeed,
(in our unbelieving days our souls were full of these. Our thoughts of God were all evil to- gether. When the Holy Spirit wrought in our hearts the mighty change, the special thing which he accomplished was teaching us to think well of God, shewing us how little he had deserved these hard thoughts from us, how much he had deserved the opposite. The i wondrous tale of manifold love, which the Gos-
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pel brought to us, won our hearts and made us ashamed of our distrust. We said then, surely we shall never think ill of God again. . " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." We thought that affliction would only make us cleave to him the more. Yet scarcely does he begin to smite us, than our former thoughts return. We wonder why he should treat us thus. We suspect his love and faith- fulness. Our hold 6f his grace seems to loosen, as if at times it would wholly give way.
We are like Jonah with his withered gourd. We think we do well to be angry, even unto / death. God does not seem the same loving God as when first we believed and tasted for- giveness from his gracious hands. Alas, the treachery of our hearts has been at length dis- covered. We find that we were not serving God for naught.