o. Another thing God will try is our patience. We should prevent reproaches as much as we can, but by a holy conversation may bear them when we cannot avoid them : Ps. cix. 4, ' For my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer.' That was David's exercise, the revenge he took upon them, to pray to God for them. The Lord will try whether we have this meek humble patience, 2 Sara. xvi. 7. W^hen Shimei went about railing to the peril of his
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life, ' Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial,' and reproached him for being treacherous to the house of Saul, and Abishai would have taken away his head ; 'No,' saith David, ' let him alone ; God hath bid him curse/ A mad dog that biteth another makes him as mad as himself. Now it should not be so with Chris- tians ; if they bark or bite at us, yet we should possess our souls with patience. It is a time of reproach and rebuke, a time wherein God will humble his people ; therefore we should expostulate the case with the Lord, and humble ourselves before him, and see what is the matter ; God hath disposed this by his providence. We would revenge our- selves of those that reproach us if it were in onr power ; but David had meekness and patience that would not permit it. God will discover the patience of his servants, say the apostles : 1 Cor. iv. 13, ' Being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer it ; being defamed, we entreat ; though we are set forth as the filth of the world, and are the otf-scouring of all things unto this day ; ' the word is, the sweepings of the city, that are fit to be carried out of the city, to be swept away, unfit to live among men in civil societies. Christians, there must be a season for the trial of our graces. Now God makes this season for the trial of patience. Such a time as this discovers the strength of grace.
4. Another thing God would have to be tried is our uprightness, whether we can hold on our way, ' through good report and bad report, in honour and dishonour,' as the apostle speaks, 2 Cor. vi. 8 ; still approve ourselves faithful servants of Christ. If you search into the records of time, you shall find many have been discouraged in Christianity because of reproaches that have been cast upon them, for the devil works much upon stomach and spleen. When Tertullian was reproached by certain priests at Rome, he turned Montanist. Now God will try our uprightness. Look, as the moon shines and holds on her course though the dogs bark, so we should hold on our course. Let men talk their pleasure, yet we should abide faithful with God : Ps. cxix. 22, ' Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies.' David was not unsettled by con- tempt and reproach, but still kept God's testimonies and adhered to his ways. Some can be religious no longer than they can be so with honour. When reproaches come, when their secular interests are in danger, then they fall off, questioning the ways of God, and unsettling their hearts ; that is, to take a revenge upon God himself. Hypocrites take pet, like servants that run away when their master strikes them ; but a good servant will take a buffet patiently, and go about his work still. So when the Lord buffets us by wicked men, still we must follow our work, and go on with God.
Thirdly, The Lord doth it to do you good, to make you better. Reproaches are like soap, that seems to defile the linen, it cleanseth. There is nothing so bad but we may make a good use of it, and a Christian may gain some advantage by it. Or as dung, which seems to stain the grass, but it makes the ground fruitful, and the grass spring up with a fresher verdure. So reproaches are a necessary help to make us more humble, heavenly — to make us walk Avilli a holy awe This holy revenge we should take upon our enemies, to make us more strict and watchful. The way is, not to contend for esteem, but
420 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XLIV.
to grow better, more serious, more faithful in our lives ; for this is the way, (f)i/j.ovv, to muzzle the mouths of adversaries, as the mouth of a dog or wild beast is, 1 Peter ii. 15. Passionate retarns do but increase sin, but a holy conversation will silence all ; and therefore you should confute calumnies, you bind up their mouths thereby. In short, an innocent, meek, unblamable, profitable life will certainly have its due esteem in the consciences of men, do what men can. Therefore, do you go'on, and be you the more strict, and then these reproaches will do you good. This is the first use : advice to us what to do in case we be reproached.
Use 2. To those that either devise or receive the reproach : both are very faulty and sinful.
1. First, You that devise reproaches,