2. It will quiet and fix the heart, free it of cares, fears, and anxious thoughts : Phil. iv. G, 7, ' Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God ; and the peace of God, which passeth all un- derstanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Jesus Christ ;' Ps. xciv. 19, 'In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy com- forts delight my soul.'
3. A care to please, for dependence begets observance. They that have all from God will not easily break with him.
Doct. 2. Those that do trust in God must look to be reproached for it by carnal men.
1. There are two sorts of men in the world ever since the beginning — contrary seeds : Gen, iii. 15, ' I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.' Some born of the flesh, some of the spirit; the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent ; some that live by sense, some by faith : ever it will be so.
456 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX, [SeR. XL VIII.
And there is an enmity between these two, and this enmity vented by reproach : Gal. iv. 29, ' But as he that was born after the flesh perse- cuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now ; ' that perse- cution was by bitter mockings. So Ishmael : Gen. xxi. 9, ' Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, v/hich she had born unto Abraham, mocking.'
2. The occasion, from their low condition ; hence they will take liberty to mock at their interest in God, and to shame them from their confidence, as if the promise of God were of none effect. Carnal men measure all things by a carnal interest ; and therefore the life of those that live by faith is ridiculous to them ; those that trust in a promise are exercised with delay and distress : Heb. vi. 12, ' Be ye followers of them who, through faith and patience, have inherited the promises.' Here is matter for faith and patience. Now, they that know no arm but flesh, no security but a temporal interest, no happiness but in the things of this life, have them in derision that look elsewhere.
Use 1. Not to count it strange when it is our lot to be exercised with reproaches because of our trust ; so was Christ : Ps. xxii. 6-8, ' I am a worm, and no man, a repi'oach of men, and despised of the people : all they that see me laugh me to scorn ; they shoot out the lip, and shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him ; let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him ; ' Mat. xxvii. 39-43, ' And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself; if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross,' &c. If Christ Jesus was mocked for his trust, we should bear it the more patiently. So the people of God : 1 Tim. iv, 10, ' Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God.' It is no new thing for the adversaries of religion to scorn such as trust in God, and rely upon his promises ; therefore bear it the more patiently. (1.) Whether they be upbraidiugs of our trust: Mat. xxvii. 43, ' He trusted in God ; let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God ;' Job iv. 6, ' Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways ? * (2.) Or insultings over our low and comfortless condition. Men will tread down the hedge where they find it low. The Psalmist com- plaineth, Ps. Ixix. 26, ' They speak to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded ;' pour in vinegar and salt where they find a wound, and add affliction to the afflicted. You will hear bitter words. Christ himself was thus exercised : Mat. xxvii. 29, ' Hail, King of the Jews.' To be mocked and scorned we must expect, and that men will insult. (3.) Or whether they be perverse applications of providence. Thus Shimei insulted over David in his distress : 2 Sam. xvi. 7, 8, ' Come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial ; the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul,' &c. So men will say, This is for your rebellion, &c.
Use 2. Since there are two parties in the world, they that trust and they that reproach them for their trust, consider in what number you are. It is needful to be far from the disposition of the seed of the serpent, and not to have your tongues set on fire of hell, to be far from the disposition of those that are governed by sense and carnal interests.
VeR. 42.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 457
(1.) It is unmannerly to insult over any in distress, and to reproach them with their condition. Places blasted with lightning were ac- counted sacred amongst the heathens, because the hand of God had touched them ; so you should not speak to the grief of those whom God hath wounded, but pity them, and pray for them, if they are fallen into God's hands. ('2.) It is unchristian to reproach those that trust in God. It is easy to know them. Who are they that pray, that plead promises, that carry not on their hopes by present likelihoods ? Though they have their faults, they are, for the main, strict, holy, charitable. (3.) It is dangerous to offend any of Christ's little ones, and to grieve their spirits.