Use 2. That a few wicked men may bring a great deal of hurt and mischief, as Achan upon Israel ; two dry sticks may set a green one on fire, as the whole metal is melted that the dross may be severed.
Use 3. All judgments on the visible church are to sever the dross from the gold. God suffereth them a while to be mingled, and then come trying judgments to separate the one from the other ; which is a comfort to us ; the church is the purer for these judgments : Isa. i, 25, ' And I will turn my hand upon thee, and I will surely purge away thy dross, and take away thy tin.' So Mai. iii. 3, ' And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.' He will send such judgments as will destroy the incorrigible wicked ones, and purify the rest. It is a com- fort against persecutions. We murmur under them, know not how they shall be turned away ; God, who is the purger of his church, will find out some way. And it is a comfort under his judgments ; they are not to destroy, but to purge. God intendeth only our purging, how hot soever the furnace be ; therefore let God alone with his work.
Use 4. To teach us to wait upon God in the way of his judgments. He is putting away the wicked of the earth like dross ; it is not only a work that he hath done, or will hereafter do, but he is always doing of it. We should observe how God hath already done it, and so by faith we should look upon him as still about it. First, he beginneth with his people ; he is purging away their wickedness : ' Isa. xxvii. 9. ' By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged,' ' But many shall cleave to them by flatteries, and some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them and to purge, and make them white,' Dan. xi. 35. Now, when God hath employed wicked men to fan and purge his people, then their turn cometh next : Jer. xxv. 29, ' For lo I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished ? Ye shall not be unpunished ; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth ; ' 1 Peter iv. 17, 'If punishment begin at the house of God, where shall the wicked and ungodly appear ? ' Prov, xi. 31, ' Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner.' When the Lord
228 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXX.
Lath performed his work upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem, tlien he will reckon with his enemies. He beginneth with his church, and maketh an end with their enemies : his enemies drink the dregs of the cup, and their end must needs be unspeakably terrible.
tise 5. Let us see we be not put away like dross, when God's judg- ments are abroad in the earth : 1 Cor. xi. 32, ' We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.' We shall put that out of question if we do two things: — (1.) If we be faithl'ul to God, and cleave to God's peoj^jle, truth, and interest, how great soever our trials be : Ps. xliv. 17, ' All this is come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in the covenant.' To consume in the melting is the property of dross ; but the pure metal is the more united, and cleaveth together the more closely. (2.) If you are refined by all these trials: Isa. xxvii. 9, ' By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.' A Christian loseth nothing by his afflictions but sin, which is better parted with than kept.
We come now to the second branch of the text, and that is the effect it had upon David's heart, ' Therefore 1 love thy testimonies.' This use he made of all God's judgments.
Doct. A gracious heart, that observeth the providence of God, and the course of his judicial dispensations, will find more cause to love the word of God than ever before.
1. Because thereby he hath sensible experience of the truth of it. God's providence is a comment upon his word ; the effect is answerable to the prediction, and the word that God hath said is fulfilled to a tittle. Now, the more confirmation the word receiveth, the more is affection increased. The apostle telleth us that ' the word spoken by angels was steadfast,^ Heb. ii. 2, because every ' transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.' The ])unishment of the transgressors of the law was a proof of God's authorising their doctrine ; the same law made formerly is valid. We see the word doth not threaten in vain, and they that slight it smart for it. Now I see the word of God is to be valued, for God will make it good, even to a tittle.