1. From the sinking weight that is in affliction, especially in some sorts of afflictions : they are heavy pressures, ponderous burdens in themselves. So Job speaks, " O that my grief were tlioroughly *' weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together ! For now ^' it would be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore mv words " are swallowed up," Job vi. 2, 3, 4. q. d. If all the sand that lies upon all the shores in the Avorld, were shovelled up into one heap, and cast into one scale, and my sorrows into the other, my grief would weigh it all up. How heavy are the hearts of the afflicted ! what unsupportable sorrows do they feel and groan under, especially when God smites them in the dearest and nearest concerns they have in the world.
2. But especially the reelings and staggerlngs of the mind, are oc- casioned by the inordinate and irregular workings of its own thoughts. Were it but possible to keep the mind in a serene, sedate, and ordi- nate frame, our burdens would be comparatively light to what we now feel them to be ; but the falling of the thoughts into confusions, and great distractions, spoils all. Upon this account it is, that afflic- tions are compared to a stupifying doze, which casts the soul into ama.^ement, Psal. Ix. 3. " Thou hast shewed thy people hard things, " thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment."' xNffiictions are called the wine of astonishment, from their effects upon the mind : for under a great and sudden stroke of God, it is like a ivatch ivound up above its due height, so that for a time it stands still, neither grace nor reason move at all : and when it begins to move again, O how confused and irregular are its motions ! it is full of murmurs, disputes, and quarrels: these aggravate both our sin and misery. It is our own thoughts which take th',' arrow of God shot at us, (which did but stick before in our clothes, and was never in- tended to hurt us, but only to warn us.) and thrust it into our very hearts.
For thoughts as well as poniards', can pierce and wound the hearts
94 THE BALM OF THE COVENANT
of men, Luke ii. 35. " A sword shall pierce through thine own soul ;^ i. e. Thy thoughts shall pierce thee. They can shake the whole fabric of the body, and loose the best compacted and strongly jointed parts of the body : Dan. v. 6. '' His thoughts troubled him, and the " joints of his loins were loosed.^ And thus a man's own mind be- comes a rack of torment to him ; a misery which no creature, except men and devils, are subjected to. O how many bodies have been destroyed by the passions of the soul ! they cut through it, as a keen knife through a narrow sheath, " Worldly sorrow works death,'' le Cor. vii. 10.
Proposition 2. TJie merciful God, in condescension to the weak- ness of his people, hath provided the best supports and reliefs for the feeble and afflicted spirits.
" In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts de- '* light my soul," Psal. xciv. 17. Carnal men seek their relief un- der trouble, from carnal things ; when one creature forsakes them, they retreat to another which is yet left them, till they are beaten out of all, and then their hearts fail, having no acquaintance with God, or special interest in him : for the creatures will quickly spend all that allowance of comfort they have to spend upon us. Some try what relief the rules of philosoph?/ can yield them, supposing a neat sentence of Seneca may be as good a remedy as a text of David or Paul ; but, alas ! it will not do : submission from fatal necessity will never ease the afflicted mind, as Christian resignation will do. It is not the eradicating, but regulating of the affections, that composes a bur- dened and distracted soul. One word of God will signify more to our peace than all the famed and admired precepts of men.
To neglect God, and seek relief from the creature, is to forsake the fountain of living waters, and go to the broken cisterns which can hold no water, Jer. ii. 13. The best creature is but a cistern, not a fountain ; and our dependence upon it makes it a broken cistern, strikes a hole through the bottom of it, so that it can hold no water. " I, even I (saith God) am he that comforteth you," Isa. Ivii. 12. The same hand that wounds you, must heal you, or you can never be healed. Our compassionate Saviour, to assuage our sorrows, hath promised he will not leave us confortless, John xiv. 18. Our God will not contend for ever, lest the spirit fail before him, Isa. Ivii. 16. He knew how ineffectual all other comforts and comforters would be, even physicians of no value, and therefore hath graciously prepared comforts for his distressed ones, that will reach their end.
Proposition 3. God hath gathered all the materials a7id principles of our relief into the covenant of grace, and expects that we betake ourselves unto it, in times of distress, as to our sure, sufficient and only remedy.-
As all the rivers run into the sea, and there is the congregation of all the waters; so all the promises and comforts of the gospel are gathered into the covenant of grace, and there is the congregation of
APPLIED To AFFLICTED SAIXTS. 95
all tlie sweet streams of refreshment that are dispersed throughout the scriptures. The covenant is the store-house of promises, the shop of cordials and rare elixirs^ to revive us in all our faiiitings ; though, alas ! most men know no more what are their virtues, or where to find them, than an illiterate rustic put into an apothecary's skojJ.
What was the cordial God prepared to revive the liearts of his poor captives groaning under hard and grievous bondage, both in Iv^ypt and in Babylon ? Was it not his covenant with Abraham ? And why did he give it the solemn confirmation by an oath, but that it might yield to him and all his believing seed, strong consolation , Heb. vi. 17, 18. the very spirit of joy amidst all their sorrows.
And what was the relief God gave to the believing ^wm^c/i^ that kept liis sabbaths, took hold of his covenant, and chose the things in which he delighted ? " To them (saith he) will I give in mine house, and " within my walls, a place, and a name better than that of sons or " of daughters,'' Isa. Ivi. 4, 5. Though they were deprived of those comforts other men have in their posterity, yet he would not have them look upon themselves as dry trees ; a covenant-interest would answer all, and recompense abundantly the want of children, or any other earthl}^ comfort.
Certainly, therefore, David was at the right door of relief and comfort, when he repairs to the covenant, as here in the text, " Yet " hath he made with me an everlasting covenant." There, or no- where else, the relief of God's afflicted is to be found.
Now, to make any thing become a complete and perfect relief to an afflicted spirit, these three properties must concur and meet in it, else it can never effectually relieve any man.
I. It must be able to remove all the causes and grounds of trou- bles.