2. Among all sorts of holy divertisements none is of such use as Gods word. There is matter enough to take up our thoughts and allay our cares and fears, and to swallow up our sorrows and griefs, to direct us in all straits. In brief, there is comfort there and counsel there.
[1.] Comfort, whilst the word teacheth us to look off from men to God, from providence to the covenant, from things temporal to things eternal, from men to God, as Moses ' feared not the wiath of the king when he saw him that is invisible,' Heb. xi. 27 ; and Eccles, v. 8, ' If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perversion of judg- ment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than
222 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX, [SeR. XXIV.
tliey.' There is a higher judge that sitteth in heaven ; and if he pass sentence for us when they pass sentence against us, we need to be the less troubled. If he give us the pardon of sins and the testimony of a good conscience, it is no matter what men say against us : Ps. xl. 4, ' Blessed is the man that maketli the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.' Is not God able to bear you out in his w^ork ? From providence to the covenant : providence is a very riddle ; we shall not know what to make of it till we gather principles of faith from the covenant : Heb, xiii. 5, ' He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' God overrules all for good : Kom. viii. 28, ' We know that all things work togetlier for good to those that love God, to those that are the called according to his purpose.' From things temporal to eternal : 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18, ' For our light affliction, that is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal ; ' Piom. viii. 18, ' For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.' A feather or a straw against a talent, a man would be ashamed to compare them together.
[2.] For counsel. A Christian should not be troubled so much about what he should suffer, as what he should do, that he may do nothing unseemly to his calling and hopes, but be kept blameless to the heavenly kingdom. Now, the word of God will teach him how to carry himself in dangers, to pray for persecutors (fire is not quenched with fire, nor evil overcome with evil) ; how to keep ourselves from unlawful shifts and means, how to avoid revenge, lying, flattering, yielding against conscience, or waxing weary of well-doing, that we may not fight against Satan or his instruments by their own weapons, for so we shall be easily overcome. The wicked shall not be so wise to contrive the mischief, as a saint instructed by the word is how to carry himself under it : Ps. cxix. 98, ' Through thy commandments thou hast made me wiser than my enemies.^ Malice and policy shall not teach them to persecute, as God's word to carry yourselves in the trouble.
3. The word must not be slightly read, but our hearts must be exercised in the meditation of it. A cursory reading doth not w^ork upon us so much as serious thoughts. In all studies, meditation is both the mother and nurse of knowledge, and so it is of godliness, without which we do but know truths by rote and hearsay, and talk one after another like parrots ; but when a truth is chased into the heart by deep inculcative thoughts, then it worketh with us, and we feel the power of it. Musing maketli the fire burn, ponderous thoughts are the bellows that blow it up. Eggs come to be quickened by sitting abrood upon them. In a sanctified heart the seeds of comfort by meditation come to maturity ; by constant meditation our affections are quickened, this turneth the promises into marrow : Ps. Ixiii. 5, 6, ' My soul shall be filled as with marrow and fatness, when I meditate on thee in the night watches.' It giveth more than a vanishing taste, which hypocrites have.
Use i. In all your troubles learn this method, to cure them by
VeR. 24.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 223
gracious means, prayer or meditation. By meditation on the word of God, that will tell you that we are horn to trouble, and therefore we should no more think it strange to see God's children molested here than to see a shower of rain fall after a sunshine, or that the night should succeed the day : 1 Peter iv. 12, ' Beloved, think it not strange con- cerning the fiery trial, as though some strange thing happened unto you.' It were strange if otherwise; as if a man were told that his journey lay through a rough stony country, and should pass over a smooth carpet-way. Our waymark is many tribulations: Acts xiv. 22, ' Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heaven.' God had one Son without sin, none without the cross.