3. Inure yourselves more to holy meditation. There must be some time to wind up the plummets, and lift up our hearts to God, Ps, XXV. 1. For want of this, no wonder if men's thoughts are loose and scattered, when they are left at random, when they are never solemnly exercised in consideration of divine truth ;' ver. 99 of this psahn.
4. Begin with God : Ps. cxxxix. 8, ' When I awake,' saith David, ' I am still with thee.' As soon as we awake, our hearts sliould be in heaven ; we should leave our hearts with God over-night, that we might find them with God in the morning. We owe God the first- fruits of our reason before we think of other things, for every day is but the lesser circle of our lives. We should begin with God before earthly things encroach upon us. Season your hearts with tlie thoughts of his holy presence ; that is the means to make the fear of God abide upon us all the day after ; and it is some recompense for those hours
166 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXV.
spent in sleep, wherein we showed not the least act of thankfulness to God, to exercise our reason again ; and when we are awake we should be thinking of God.
SERMON CXXV.
Thou art mij Judtng-place and my shield : I hope in thy ivord. — Yer. 114,
In these words you have — (1.) A privilege which believers enjoy in God, and that is protection in time of danger. (2.) David's right to that privilege, ' I hope in thy Avord.' From both the note will be this : —
Docf. They that hope in God's word for the protection which he hath promised, will find God to be a shield and a hiding-jjlace to them.
1. I shall speak of the nature of divine protection, as it is here set forth under the notions of a shield and hiding-place.
2. Of the respect which the word hath to these benefits.
3. Of the necessity and use of faith and hope in the word.
First, For the nature of this protection ; it is set forth in two notions, a hiding-place and a shield. Upon which I observe : —
1. David was a military man, and therefore often makes use of metaphors proper to his function ; when he wandered in the wilder- ness and the forest of Ziph, and they yielded to him many a lurking- hole, and so he knew the benefit of a hiding-place ; and being a man of war, he was more acquainted with the use of a shield in battle. That which I observe is this, that it is good to spiritualise the things that we often converse with, and from earthly occasions to raise heavenly thoughts. You will ever find our Lord Jesus so doing. AYhen he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, he discourseth of eating bread in his Father's kingdom, Luke xvi. 14, When he was at the well of Samaria, he falls a discoursing of the well of life, of the water that springeth up to eternal life, John iv. Again, when he was at the feast of tabernacles, you will find there it was the fashion of the people at that feast to fetch water from the pool of Siloam, and to pour it out until it ran in a great stream ; and then at the feast of tabernacles Christ cried out, ' He that cometh to me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,' John vii. He spiritualiseth that occasion. Thus should we learn to turn brass into gold, and by a holy chemistry to extract useful thoughts from these ordinary objects that we are cast upon. Thus doth David ; he had been acquainted with the use of a biding-place and with a shield, and accordingly expresseth his confi- dence by these notions. The Septuagint renders it simply and without the metaphor, My help and my undertaker ; but we, from the Hebrew, My hiding-place, my shield.
2, Observe, again, both the notions imply defence and protection. A shield is not a weapon ofi"ensive but defensive. Indeed elsewhere,
VeR. 114.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 167
Deut. xxxiii. 29, God said to Israel, ' I am the shield of thy strength, and sword of thy excellency.' God is a sword as well as a shield, a weapon offensive as well as defensive, in behalf of his people. But here both metaphors imply only defence and protection. It is not here a hiding-place and a sword, but a hiding-place and a shield. Why ? The godly are subject to many dangers and perils, from adverse powers, spiritual and bodily, and therefore need much preservation and defence.
[1.] The soul is in danger of Satan and his temptations. There are spiritual enemies, that will put . us upon the need of a shield and a hiding-place : Eph. vi. 12, ' We wrestle not against flesh and blood,' &c. ; that is, not princij)ally. We do not wrestle against bodily or human powers ; outward agents are not principals but instruments. Our chief war is with devils and evil spirits, who have a mighty power over a great part of the world ; they are the rulers of the dark- ness of this world, the ignorant and carnal part of the world ; and they assault us with much cunning and strength ; and invisible enemies are the worst, none like to them for craft, for strength, for malice, for number. They easily get the advantage over us by their crafty insinuations, and applying themselves to our humours, and feed- ing every distemper with a bait suitable ; and they are always about us, unseen and unperceived ; they lie in ambush for our souls, and assault us in company and alone, in business and in recreations, in the duties of religion, and in our ordinary affairs ; they follow us in our retirements, and pursue us with unwearied diligence. No such enemies as these for craft and subtlety of address. And then for their power and strength, they have their fiery darts to throw upon us, ver. 16. They inject and cast in blasphemous thoughts, and enkindle and awaken in us burning lusts, or fire us with rage and despair ; their power is exceeding great, because they have the management of fiery darts. And their malice is great ; it is not to hurt our bodies chiefly, that is but the shell of the man, but the cliiefest part, our immortal soul ; and therefore we need a hiding-place and a shield when we have to do with spiritual wickednesses, that are always assaulting us in this manner upon all occasions. And for their num- ber, there are many of them, and all engaged in this spiritual warfare against the saints : we cannot dream of ease if we would be Christ's soldiers. In the Gospel we find one man possessed with a whole legion of them : Mark v. 9, ' My name is legion, for we are many.' They cease not in this manner thus continually to assault and vex us, and therefore we need a hiding-place and shield.