Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them : I will increase them with men like a flock ; ' and Jer. xxix. 12, 13, ' Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you : and ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart;' Dan. ix. 19, 20 ; and Ps. x. 17, ' Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.' Et •passim alibi.
4. When God is upon his judicial process, and there is not any course taken to reconcile ourselves to him. God hath been judging his people, judging the nation wherein they live. Judgment began at the house of God. What notable humiliation and reformation hath it produced there ? There is God's whole work to be done upon Mount Sion, Isa. x. 12. What fruit of all those terrible judgments ? Incor- rigibleness showeth our stripes will be many, our judgments long.
5. When dispensations tend to the removing of the candlestick, or look very like it : Eev. ii, 5, ' Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.' That is done either by destroying judgments, taking away the subject-matter of the church, or by their own apostasy and spri- tual fornication, or sad errors and confusions ; ill treatment of God's people, opposing his interests by his enemies, and the sinful mis- carriages and apostasies of professing friends, will help to wear out an unthankful, murmuring generation.
Doct. 2. When salvation is delayed, or deliverance long a-coming, tbe soul fainteth.
I shall show — (1.) The nature of this fainting ; (2.) The causes of fainting ; (3.) The kinds of fainting ; (4.) The considerations which may preserve us from fainting.
1. For the nature of this fainting. Here we must inquire what is meant by the fainting of the soul. Fainting is proper to the body, but here it is ascribed to the soul, as also in many other places. The apostle saith, Heb. xii. 3, ' Lest ye be weary, and faint in your minds ;' where two words are used, weariness and fainting, both taken from the body. Weariness is a lesser, fainting a higher degree of deficiency. In weariness, the body requireth some rest or refreshment, when the active power is weakened, and the vital spirits and principles of motion are dulled ; but in fainting, the vital power is contracted, and retireth, and leaveth the outward parts lifeless and senseless. When a man is wearied, his strength is abated ; when he fainteth, he is quite spent. These things, by a metaphor, are applied to the soul or mind. A man is weary when the fortitude of his mind, his moral or spiritual strength, is broken or begins to abate, when his soul sits uneasy under suffer- ings ; but when he sinketh under the burden of grievous, tedious, or long affliction, then he is said to faint ; when all the reasons and grounds of his comfort are quite spent, and he can hold out no longer.
2. The causes of fainting. The fainting of the body may arise either from labour, sickness and travel, or else from hunger and thirst. So the fainting of the soul is either, first, from the tediousness of present pressures ; or, secondly, from a fervent and strong desire.
VeR. 81.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 355
[1.] From the tediousness of present sorrows and pressures ; as Jer. viii. 18, ' When I would comfort myself against my sorrow, my heart fainteth within me.' And why ? Because of the length of their afflic- tions, ver. 20, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.' Sorrow doth so invade their spirits, that they are by no means able to ease themselves : expectations of this side, and that side, are cut off; they long look for help and relief, but none appeareth. So Lam. i. 22, ' My sighs are many, and my heart is faint.' They are overwhelmed with grief, and cannot bear up with any courage.
[2.] It may be caused by a fervent and strong desire : Ps. Ixxxiv. 2, ' My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of God.' Vehement desires cause a languor. So it is taken here : It is long, 0 Lord, that I have waited and attended with great desire for deliverance from thee. Those who vehemently desire anything are apt to faint. Where love is hot, desire cannot be cold. The benefit of the church, liberty to serve God, do strongly move the saints ; yea, the Spirit of God increaseth the vehemency of these motions; ' For he maketh intercession for the saints with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered,' Kom. viii. 20. He con- curreth to the vehemency of the desire ; but the fainting is from ourselves, from our weakness. The soul is so earnestly fixed in the expectation of God's salvation that it can no longer keep any equal tenour ; so that this fainting is one of the love-errors of the children of God, like a disease which is incident only to the best tempers.