2. Take lieed of despondency. The throne of grace is set up. on purpose for such a time : Heb. iv. 16, * Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need;' Ps. 1. 15, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' Open your case before the Lord.
3. Take heed of pitching too much upon outward things, either as to the time or way of deliverance. Lust is vehement ; but the more you seek, the more comfortable will be the issue : Ps. li. 18, ' Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion ; build thou the walls of thy Jerusalem.'
Secondly, We come now to David's supplication or petition there- upon ; where observe —
1. The request itself, quicken tliou me.
2. The argument, according to tliy word.
First, The request itself, ' Quicken thou me ; ' which noteth either the renewing of comfort or the actuation of graces, the restoring or putting life into his affairs.
1. The renewing of comfort ; quicken me, revive me, or restore life to me again ; and this either by outward deliverance — so quickening is used Ps. Ixxi. 20, ' Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth,' where deep trouble is compared to the grave, and deliverance a kind of resurrection or recovery from the dead — or by the letting in of inward comfort and spiritual reviving from the sense of God's love ; so Ps. Ixxx. 18, 19, ' Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, 0 Lord God of hosts ; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.' The shining of God's face, or the sense of God's love, is the reviving of afflicted spirits.
2. The actuation of grace ; there may be life where there is no
240 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XXVI.
vigour. Xow when we are stirred up to be lively in God's service, we are said to be quickened, as in the 19th verse of the psalm before quoted ; and often it is thus used in this psalm, as ver. 37, ' Quicken thou me in thy way.' The point is this —
That God's children need often to go to God for quickening, because they often lie under deadness of heart, and therefore should desire God, who is the fountain of grace, to emit and send forth his influence.
They need this quickening — (1.) By reason of their constant weak- ness ; (2.) Their frequent indispositions and distempers of soul.
1. Their constant weakness in this world. 1.] By reason of their inclination to sin.
2.] The imperfection of their motions towards that which is good. 1.] By reason of their inclination to sin. Carnal concupiscence draweth us aside from God to sensual objects : James i. 14, ' A man is drawn away by his own lust.' There is a strong bias of corruption drawing us from Christ to present things : Heb. xii. 1, ' Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.' There is a carnal affection or corrupt inclination which carrieth us out in- ordinately to things lawful, or too often to things unlawful; this hangeth as a weight, retarding us in all our heavenly flights and motions. The love and care of the world, which is apt to press down the. soul, and doth twine about us, and insinuate with us; the apostle calleth it ' a law in his members,' Eom. vii. 23, a warning to us how, when the flesh draweth us off so strongly one way, to implore the divine grace to draw us more strongly to the other.
[2.] Because of the imperfection of their motions to that which is good, though there be a purpose, bent of heart, and inclination that way. Our gyves are still about us ; we feel the old maim. Grace is like a spark in wet wood, that needs continual blowing.
2. Their frequent indispositions and distempers of soul. Some- times they feel a loathness in their souls and a shyness of God's pre- sence ; their hearts hang off ; the spirit indeed is willing, but some fleshly thought or carnal excuse checketh the motion. It is God alone that can make the soul willing ; he giveth both will and deed. God bendeth the unwilling will, as well as helpeth the fainting affections. Again, sometimes they find a great deadness ; there is no vigour or liveliness in their affections, and they cannot follow after God with such zeal and earnestness : though there be not a formal deadness, such as usually is in the duties of hypocrites, yet there is not always the same strength and agility of grace in the children of God ; their souls do not so earnestly reach after Christ. Now, what can help but divine quickening ? Therefore go to God for it. We should rouse and stir up ourselves. God giveth out influences according to his will or pleasure, but we must still stir up ourselves.
But to answer a case of conscience, whether we are to do duty in case of deadness and indisposition, &c. ?