4. That they may value eternal life the more, which they would not do if they had a stable condition here in the world. After death there will be a life out of all danger, and a life that is not in our hands, but in the hands of God ; none can take that life from us which God keepeth in heaven. Now that they might look after this life, and value and prize it the more, they are exposed to hazards and dangers here. The apostle saith, 1 Cor. xv. 19, 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' When they find the present life encumbered with so many sorrows, and exposed to so many dangers, then they conclude surely there is a better and safer estate for the people of God elsewhere in heaven. God's people cannot be of all men most miserable ; there is another life ; they have hojies in Christ, and for other things ; therefore they long for it, and look for it : Heb. xiii. 14, ' Here we have no abiding city, but we seek one to come.' All things are liable to uncertainties and apparent troubles, that we might look after that estate where the sheep of Christ shall be safely lodged in their eternal fold. Now God by their condition doth, as it were, say to them, as Micah ii. 10, ' Arise, this is not your rest.' Your stable comforts, your everlasting enjoyments are not here ; here all
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our comforts are in our hands, ready to deliver them up from day to day.
5. God doth by his righteous providence cause it to be so, that his people carry their life in their hands, to try their affections to him and his word. When we sail with a full stream of prosperity, we may be of God's side and party upon foreign and accidental reasons. Now God will see if we love Christ for his own sake, and his ways as they are his ways when separated from any temporal interest, yea, when exposed to scorn, disgrace, and trouble. It is easy to be good when it costs us nothing, and the wind blows in our backs rather than in our faces, the state of alfuirs is for us rather than against us. Halcyon times and times of rest are times of breeding the church, but stormy times are times of trying the church : 1 Peter iv. 12, ' Be- loved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.' God will put us into his furnace, there will a fiery trial come, to see if we have the same affection to truth when it is safe to own it, and when it is dangerous to own it, when it is hated and maligned in the world. Few professors can abide God's trial : Zech. xiii. 9, ' I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried.' When two parts fall away, there is a third part refined and tried by trials. When the generality proves dross, or chaff, or stubble in the furnace, there is some good metal preserved, to shine brighter, for trial as their zeal is increased and their grace kept more lively, and their faith and dependence upon a continual exercise. God will try whether we can live upon invisible supports, and go on cheerfully in the performance of our duty in the midst of all difficulty, without these outward encouragements. They are proved that they may be improved.
6. God doth cause such things to befall his jjeople, to show his power both in their preservation and in overruling all those cross providences for their good.
[1.] His power in their preservation ; when they have no temporal interests to back them, God will show he can preserve his people : Ps. xcvii. 1, ' The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multi- tude of isles be glad thereof.' It is well that the Lord reigns, else how could his people stand ? The Lord reigns, and the multitude of isles they have a share in the joy and benefit. One benefit that we have by his reign is this, ver. 10, compared with ver. 1, he preserveth the souls of his saints ; that is, their lives ; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. There is an overruling, a secret and in- visible providence, by which they are kept and hidden as in a pavilion, so they have often experience of wonderful preservation in the midst of all their troubles.
[2.] God shows his power for overruling all these accidents for the increase and benefit of his church and people. When the believers were scattered, and driven up and down, when exposed to hazards and inconveniences, it is said. Acts xi. 21, ' The hand of the Lord was with them ; and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.' God can make their loss turn to their increase. Christ often gets up upon the devil's shoulders, and is beholden more to his enemies than to
120 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. CXIX.