3. That his people may be weaned from fleshly dependencies, and doting upon civil powers, and so be driven to depend upon him alone.. Ps. xciv. 20-22, ' Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 217
fchee, which estabhsh mischief by a law ? They gather themselves to- gether against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge.' There would not be such use of faith and dependence upon God if our danger were not great. It is harder to trust in God with means than without means. We are beaten out when outward helps fail, otherwise we are apt to neglect God, and then a world of mischief ensuetli. When the emperor of the Komans began to favour the Christians, poison was said to be poured into the church ; and in the sunshine of worldly countenance, like green timber, they began to warp and cleave asunder; and what religion got in breadth it lest in strength and vigour. God's people never live up to the beauty and majesty of their principles so much as when they are forced immediately to live 'upon God, and depend upon him for their safety.
4. That their testimony and witness-bearing to God's truths may be the more public and authentic in the view of the world. This testi- mony is either to them for their conviction and conversion : Mat. xxiv. 14, ' And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations ;' or against them : Mat, x. 18, 'And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a tes- timony against them and the Gentiles.' It is for a testimony, and that should comfort them in all their sufferings : Mark xiv. 9, ' Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.' The testimony is more valid as being confirmed by their courage in troubles ; they are principles that they will suffer for ; which, as it is a warning to the professors of religion that they should own no principles in a time of peace but what they would confirm by their avowed testimony in the extremity of trials ; so also it should convince their enemies in case they be put upon this exercise. It is need- ful that every truth should have a sealed testimony ; that is, we should not only vent opinions, but be willing to suffer for them if God should call us out so to do. God hath been ever tender of imposing upon the world without sufficient evidence, and therefore would not have his people stand upon their lives and temporal concernments, that thereby they may give greater satisfaction to the world concerning the weight of those ti'uths which they do profess.
Secondly, On the persecutors' part, or the persons molesting ; so the causes are —
1. Their ignorance and blind zeal : John xvi. 2, ' They shall put you out of their synagogues ; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that they do God good service.' They tliink it to be an acceptable service to God to molest and trouble those that are indeed his people. Those princes that sat and spake against David were not pagans and men of another religion, but of Israel ; and it is often the lot of God's people to be persecuted, not only by pagans and openly profane men, but even by men that profess the true re- ligion— pseudo-Christians, Ilev. xiv. 13, those that pretend they are for God and his cause, and seem to be carried on with a great zeal, and do not oppose truth as truth, but their quarrel is coloured by specious pretences.
218 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XXIV.
2. Their prejudices lightly taken up against the people of God. Satan is first a liar, and then a murderer : John viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do : he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him : when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it.' By lies he bringeth about his bloody design. Christ was first called a Samaritan, and one that had a devil ; and then they did persecute him as such a one. And, as was observed before, as Christians of old were covered with the skins of wild beasts, that dogs and lions might tear them the more speedily, so by odious imputations God's people are brought into distaste with the world, and then molested and troubled, represented as a company of hypocrites and unjust dealers ; and under that cloak, true religion is undermined. Now, in the persecutor, this is faulty, because they lightly take up every false suggestion ; and so Christians are con- demned Bia rrjv <j)i]/u.7]v, as Justin Martyr complained, because of the common reproach, without any distinct inquiry into their way and practice, nolunt audire qitod auditum damnare non possunt.