v>-alketli upriglitly?' God deligliteth not in dealing harshly with his people. The rod is not that he taketh pleasure in, if our case do not call for it : Lam. iii. 33, ' He afflicts not willingly.' We provoke him to it. And shall we grow weary of his service because we suffer justly for our sins ? There is reason indeed why we should grow weary of sin, Jer. ii. 19 ; we find the bitterness of it ; but no reason why we should grow weary of duty. Sin less and suffer less. Provoke not God, and nothing will proceed from him but what is good and com- fortable ; he doth not punish or chasten men for holiness and well- doing ; no, it is for want of holiness. Shall the physician be blamed for the trouble of physic, when the patient hath contracted a surfeit that makes it necessary ? It was sin in general brought us into a state of suffering, and particular errors that actually bring it on.
Secondly, The benefits and fruit of afflictions should allay and abundantly recompense the trouble of them, that they should not be a liindrance or a snare, but a help to godliness. They prevent our surfeit of worldly prosperity, which would cost us dearer than all the troubles of the flesh which we meet with. Alas ! what sad work doth honour and wealth and power make in the world ! Blessed be God that he keepeth us under, low, humble, and contemned, like bottles in the smoke. Shall a little affliction, which saveth us from these opportunities of discovering eur corruption, be so resented by us as that we should wax weary of God and forget his precepts ? Great and long prosperity would be a sorer temptation to us than sharp and tedious affliction ; the one keepeth us modest and humble, whereas the other would make us vain and proud and wanton. ' When Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked :' Deut. xxxii. 15, ' He forsook God that made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation ;' slighted God, and grew cold in duty, ready to sin. As a rank soil breedetli weeds, a j>leasant estate doth but fill us with vanity and folly.
Thirdly, God in good time will send help and deliverance. If we remember to plead the promise, God will remember to fulfil the pro- mise. And those who are not unmindful of their duty, God will not be unmindful of their safety : Mai. iii. 16, ' The Lord hearkened and heard ; and a book of remembrance was written before him, for those that feared the Lord, and thought upon his name.' You see there that God will not forget those that forget not his word. Those that keep their feet in the worst times, when ofhers reel and stagger, God hath a great care of them. Every word you speak for God, every inconve- nience you suffer for him, every duty you perform to him, it is all upon record.
Fourthly, We may with the more confidence recommend our case to God : Ps. cxix. 153, ' Consider mine affliction, and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law.' They that do not make haste to deliver themselves, God will deliver them. The same God that requireth duty doth assure them of comfort.
VeR. 85.1 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 381
SERMON XCII.
TJie proud have digged pits for me, luliich are not after thy law. —
Ver. 85.
This verse containeth a complaint against his enemies, whereas most of the other verses express his aflfection to the law of God. Yea, this verse strongly implieth it ; for he censureth and condemneth his enemies mainly upon this ground, because they did what they pleased, without any regard to that law which he himself took to be the rule of his duty, and the charter of his hopes and happiness. Observe three things : —
1. The character of David's enemies, the proud.
2. Their practice, or subtle and treacherous dealing with him, theij have digged, pits for me.
3. David's censure of that practice, or their manifest iniquity, which are not after thy law.
Let us explain the words.
The proud. — In the scripture it signifieth — (1.) Either the wicked in general: Ps. cxix. 21, 'Thou hast rebuked the proud which are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.' It is a horrible arro- gancy to oppose God's laws and interests in the world. (2.) More l)articularly such as are puffed up with worldly happiness and success, and so either Saul's or Absalom's counsellors may be intended.
Rave digged pits for me. — A metaphorical phrase, usual in scrip- ture, to represent the secret plots and treacherous dealings of wicked enemies ; an allusion to them who dig pits to take wild beasts. In the Greek it is, ' They have told me tales.' Though this rendering was occasioned by a mistake of the word, yet it agreeth well enough with the sense, for this digging of pits by false pretences and ensnaring counsels: Prov. xvi. 27, ' An ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is as a burning fire.' But let us keep to the translation we have. The manner of toils among the Jews was digging pits, and covering them over, and hiding snares in them, that as the beast pressed th.e clod, and fell therein, he might be caught, and kept from getting out again. Therefore David saith, Ps. xxxv. 7, 'Without cause have tliey hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul,'