(2.) Because temptations raise strange clouds and mists in the soul, that though they grant principles, yet they cannot reconcile provi- dences with them. As Jer. xii. 1, ' Kighteous art thou, 0 Lord, yet let me plead with thee.' It is not to be questioned, much less doubted of, that God is upright and just in his dealings ; yet what mean those passages of his providence ? Their thoughts are fearfully imbrangled, the minds of the godly are molested : ' Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?' So Hab. i. 13. ' Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity ; wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously ? and boldest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he ? ' God is pure and holy, they know ; yet how can he bear with the enemy, in their treachery and violence against the church ? So brutified are they, that they know not how to reconcile his dispensations with his nature and attributes ; though they have faith enough to justify God, yet atheism enough to question his providence. When the heart is
272 SEiiMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. CXXXV.
over-charo-eJ with fears: Ps. Ixxiii. 1, 'Yet God is £^ood to Israel : iny feet were almost sj^one, my ste]i)s M-ell-nif^h slipped.' They hold fast the conclusion, ' Yet God is good to Israel ; ' yet cannot maintain it against all objections.
(3.) Carnal affections are hasty and impetuous, and if God give not a present satisfaction, they question all his love and care of them : Ps. xxxi. 22: ' I said in my heart, I am cut off;' Isa. xlix. 14, 'Zion said. The Lord hath forsaken, and my God hath forgotten rao ;' Jonah ii. 4, ' And he said, I am cast out of thy sight.' So that, did not God confute his unbelief by some sudden exi)erience, as in the first instance, or the word contain a suitable supjily, as in the second, or the principle of grace in some measure withstand (' but I will look towards thy holy temple'), the soul would be swallowed up in the whii-lpool of despair. Thus hasty and precipitant are we while we hearken to the voice of the flesh. We are apt to count all our troubles God's total desertion of us. Such a hasty principle have we within us, that will hurry us to desperate conclusions, as if it were in vain to wait upon God any longer.
(4.) Mutability in man. What a flush of faith and zeal have we at first, as stuffs have a great gloss at first wearing. We lose, as our first love, so our first faith : Gal. v. 7, ' Ye did run well ; who did hinder you?' There is a great forwardness at first, which abateth afterwards ; and men grow remiss, ' faint in your minds,' Heb. xii. 3, from one degree to another.
[3.] That this failing is but an infirmity of the saints ; though their hope be weak and ready to faint, it is not quite dead.
(1.) It is an infirmity of the better sort, not like the atheism and malignity of the wicked. Some diseases show a good constitution, and seize on none but such. This distemper is not incident to carnal men: Isa. xxxviii. 14, ' Mine eyes fail with looking up.' It arguelh a vehemency in our hope ; they that do not mind things are never troubled with such a spiritual disease ; for this failing cannot be but where there is vehemency of desire and expectation. Those that desire little of the salvation of God's i)cople, feel none of this.
(2.) There is a difference between them and others ; though they have their weaknesses, j^et their faith doth not quite expire ; there is a twig of righteousness still to trust to ; they are weary of watching, but they do not give over waiting ; and say, as he, 2 Kings vi. 3.">, ' What should I wait for the Lord any longer ?' Fainting is one thing, and quite dead is another : they strive against the temptation : though no end of their difficulties appeareth, they attend still, keep looking, though the vigour of the eye be abated by long exercise. There is life in the saints, though not that liveliness they could wish ; for they do not fall, and rise no more, and are quite thrown down with every blast of a temptation.
(3.) They confess their weakness to God, as David doth here, acquainteth God with it, and so shame themselves out of the tempta- tion, and beg new strength. It is an excellent way of curing such distempers to lay them forth before God in prayer, for he helpeth the weak in their conflicts. AVhen we debate dark cases with our own hearts, we entangle ourselves the more.
VeR. 124.] SEUMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 273
Use 1. It reprove th our tenderness when wo cannot bear a little while : ' What ! not watch with me one hour ?' Mat. xxvi. 40. David kept waiting till his eyes failed. Some their whole voyage is storms ; — Christ indents with us to take up our cross daily, Luke ix. 22 ; — who are their lifetime kept under this discipline ; and can we bear no check from providence ? We would have all done in an hour or in a year, can bear nothing when God.calleth us to bear much and long ; cannot endure to abate a little of our wonted contentment, when Grod will strip us of all.