Tec. 92.] sermons upon psalm cxix. 427
dreams and visions ; I am well contented with the gift of the scrip- tures.
4. It shows how much they are to blame that are under a scripture institution and do so little honour it by their patience or comfort under troubles. "Wherefore were the great mysteries of godliness made known to us, and the promises of the world to come, and all the directions concerning the subjection of tbe soul to God, and those blessed jirivileges we enjoy by Christ, if they all be not able to satisfy and stay your heart, and compose it to a quiet submission to God, when it is his pleasure to take away his comforts from you ? Is there no balm in Gilead ; is there no physician there ? Will not the wliole word of God yield you a cordial or a cure ? It is a disparagement to the provision Christ hath made for our comfort.
[1.] Surely this comes either from ignorance or forgetfulness ; you do not meditate in the word, or study the grounds of comfort, and re- member them : Heb. xii. 5, ' Have you fcn-gotten the exhortation whicli speaks unto you as unto children ? ' Hagar had a well of comfort nigh at hand, yet ready to die for thirst.
[2.] You indulge a distemper, and the obstinacy and peevishness of grief : Jer. xxxi. 15, ' A voice was heard in Eama, lamentation and bitter weeping, Kacliel weeping for her children, and refused to be comforted.' Certainly you do not expostulate with yourselves, and cite your passions before the tribunal of reason, Ps. xlii. 5 ; or else look altogether to the grievance, not to the comfort ; aggravate the grievances, extenuate the comforts ; you pitch too much upon tempo- ral happiness, would have God maintain you at your own rate : Heb. xiii. 5, 6, ' Let your conversation be wdthout covetousness, and be con- tent with such things as you have ; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' A man must be purged from inordinate affec- tion when he would trust in God. Do not pitch too doatingly upon temporal happiness.
Use 2. Let us get these comforts settled upon our hearts. W^as this peculiar to David alone ? No ; every godly man, as Theodoret ob- serveth, may say in his trouble. Unless thy word had been my delights, I had perished in mine affliction. So Daniel when forbidden to pray ; so the three children in the furnace ; all the martyrs ; yea, all the afflicted servants of God. Therefore let us —
1. Prize the scripture, and be more diligent in hearing, reading, meditating on the blessed truths contained therein. The earth is the fruitful mother of all herbs and plants ; yet it must be tilled, ploughed, harrowed, and dressed, else it bringeth forth little fruit. The scripture containeth all the grounds of comfort and happiness, but we have little benefit unless daily versed in reading, hearing, meditation. Surely if we prize it as we should we would do so : Ps. cxix. 97, ' Oh, how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day.' There is the only remedy of sin and misery, the offer of true blessedness, the sure rule to walk by.
2. If you would have these comforts, you must get such a spirit of application under afflictions : Job v. 27, ' Lo this, we have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.' All efficacy is con- veyed by the touch ; the nearer the touch, the greater the power and
428 SERMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. XCVIII.
efficacy ; bring it down to j'our hearts : Eom. viii. 31, ' What shall we then say to these things ? If God be for ns, who can be against us ? ' 3. The law of God must be your delight in prosperity, if you would have it your support in adversity : Ps. cxix. 105, ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.' That which is our antidote against our lusts is our best cordial against our passions : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust/ When afflictions come upon you, consider what is your greatest burden and what is your greatest comfort, for then you are best at leisure to consider both ; your greatest burden, that you may avoid it, your greatest comfort, that you may apply yourselves to it.
SERMON XCVIII.
I ivill never forget thy 'precepts : for loilh thon thou hast quicJcened
me. — Ver. 93.
In these words observe two things : —
1. David's thankful resolution, 7 ivill never forget thy 'precepts.
2. The reason of \i,for with them thou hast quickened me. First, In his thankful resolution, take notice : —
1. Of the object, thy precepts.
2. The duty promised, and negatively expressed, I loill never forget.
1. For the object, ' Thy precepts ; ' thereby may be meant the word in general ; he had found benefit by it, and the word of God should ever be dear and precious to him, especially the gospel part of it. Surely that is the great means of quickening ; that may be comprised in the term, thy precepts, if not princiimlly intended ; or else most especially some particular truth which God had blessed to the use and comfort of his soul : I shall never forget that truth, those precepts of thine.