Consider : —
1. That natural comforts are the gifts of God : 1 Tim. i. 17, ' He giveth us richly all things to enjoy,' and sets forth the bounds of our
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liabitation, where and how much we shall have, and giveth and taketh these things at his pleasure, raising up some from the dunghill, pulling down others from the throne of glory, 1 Sam. ii. 7, 8. That prosperity may never be without a curb, nor adversity without a comfort, God will acquaint the world with such spectacles now and then : all things are at his dispose.
2. That moderate delight and contentment that we have in our earthly blessings is his allowance. The creature without God is like a deaf-nut ; when we crack it, we find nothing, Eccles. ii. 24, 25, and Eccles. iii. 13. It is the gift of God, and it is one of the chiefest earthly mercies, that in this valley of tears, where we meet with so many causes of grief and sorrow, we take comfort in anything. With- out this, a crown of gold will sit no easier than a crown of thorns upon the head of him that weareth it ; yea, a palace becomes a prison, and every place a hell to us. It is not abundance of honour that makes a man happy, but comfort, Luke xii. 15. If God send leanness into the soul, or a spark of his wrath into the conscience, all is as the white of an egg, unsavoury. A secret curse eateth out all the contentment of it. He that liveth in a cottage is happier than he that liveth in a palace, if he have comfort there.
3. For spiritual comfort, which ariseth either from the sense of his love, or the hope of glory, we cannot have one drop of it but from God. His Spirit is called ' the comforter.' All the world cannot give it if he doth not give it us : he hath an immediate and sovereign power over the hearts of men ; if he frown, nothing can support us. When the sun is gone, all the candles in the world cannot make it day. We can procure our own sorrows quickly, but he only can comfort us. None but divine comforts are authentic.
TJrirdli/, The means of conveying and procuriDg this comfort.
1. The means of conveying it on God's part is his word. David pleadeth that where the remedy of his misery was discovered and offered. We read often in this psalm how David revived his comfort by the word ; and Kom. xv. 4, ' Comfort of the scriptures.' There is the matter of true spiritual comfort: 1 Cor. xiv. 31, 'That all may learn and all be comforted.' This follows from the former ; God is the God of comfort, and we should not have the heart to come to him unless he had opened the way to him by his promise. The world cannot give it to us ; philosophy cannot. The word of God can. And this comfort is both strong and full, for measure and matter. Matter ; there the death of Christ is laid down as the foundation of comfort. If we consider God as holiness itself, and we nothing but a mass of sin and corruption, you will see there can be no reconciliation without satisfaction given. Mercy must see justice contented ; one attribute nmst not destroy another. Justice hath no loss, it is fully satisfied in Christ, and that is the ground of our comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3. There are the promises of deliverance, protection, support, the liberties and privi- leges of Christians laid forth. These are the breasts of comfort, Isa. Ixvi. ; suck of these and be satisfied. In short, our great comforts are, God's presence with us while we are in these houses of clay, our pre- sence with God in his palace of glory: 1 Thes. iv. 17, 18, ' We shaU ever be with the Lord ;' and ' Comfort one another with these words.'
308 SERMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. LXXXIV.
2. The means on our part, receiving the sweet effects of God's mercy and word, and that is prayer. We cannot have it without deahng with God in a iuimble manner. Whatever God giveth he will have it sought out this way ; Ezek. xxxvi. 37, ' I will yet be inquired after to do it for them;' so Isa. xxix. 10, 11. Now the reasons are these : —
[1.] Because in prayer we act faith and spiritual desire, both which are as the opening of the soul, Ps. Ixxxi. 10, to raise our confidence, or draw forth the principles of trust.
[2.] We ask God's leave to apply in particular what is offered in the word in general : as in the next verse, ' Let thy tender mercies come unto me,' ver. 77. In everything we must ask God's leave though we have right ; though in possession we ask leave, because we may be mistaken in our claim.
[3.] It is a fit way of easing the heart and disburthening ourselves, Phil. iv. 6, 7. When we pray most, and most ardently, we are most happy and find greatest ease.
[4.] God will be o.wned as the author of comfort, whoever be the instrument, Isa. Ivii. 19 ; in prayer we apply ourselves to him. The word is a sovereign plaster, but God's hand niaketh it stick ; many read the scriptures, but are as dead-hearted when done as when they began. The Spirit is the comforter ; we are very apt to look to the next hand, to the comfort, but not to the comforter, or the root of all, which is loving-kindness in God.