(1.) Fear, because of the mightiness of them that oppress, or threaten to oppress. The fear of man we are told is a snare : Pro v. xxix. 25, ' The fear of man bringeth a snare ; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.' We are full of distracting and perplexing thoughts, and if we cherish them they will weaken our trust in God and dependence upon his promises ; for fear of man and trust in God <nre there opposed. Nay, the mischief will not stop there ; for they that trust not God can never be true to him : it will destroy our trust in God, and then we shall run to carnal shifts, and so fear men more than God, do things displeasing to God for fear of being oppressed by men ; so that you may be soon sensible of the mischief of carnal fear. But how shall we ease our hearts of this burden by prayer ? Partly because then we use our fear aright when it only driveth us to seek his protection ; that is the commendable use of fear : 2 Chron. xx. 3, ' Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord.' When Jacob
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402 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXLIX.
feared Esau, he set liimself to wrestle with God, Gen. xxxii. And partly because prayer discovereth a higher object of fear: Eccles. v. 8, ' There is a higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they.' And so the fear of God drivetli out the fear of man, as a great nail driveth out the less. In God's strength we may defy enemies : Ps. xxvii. 1, ' The Lord is my liglit and salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid ?' We can set God against the creature, and this will quell our fears of them. When we set ourselves against them, our interest against theirs, we may see cause to fear ; but set God against them and engage him, and you have no cause to fear. Then —
(2.) For grief and sorrow. It cloggeth the heart, and stayeth the wheels, so that we drive on heavily in the spiritual life. Worldly sorrow worketh death, 2 Cor. vii. 10. It brings on deadness and hard- ness of heart, and quencheth all our vigour: Prov. xv. 13, 'By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.' A dead and heavy heart doth little to the purpose for God. Now how shall we get rid of this ? The cure is by prayer ; for vent giveth ease to all our passions : Phil. iv. G, ' Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God/ As when wind is gotten into the caverns of the earth, it causeth terrible con- vulsions and earthquakes till it get a vent ; so the mind is eased when we can pour out our care into the bosom of God, and wait till deliverance cometh from above. Prayer showeth there is some life in our affairs, that our right for the present is not dead, but sleeps ; there is a God in heaven, that heareth our groans, and is sensible of our sorrows, and then we may say, Ps. xlii. 5, 'Why art thou cast down^ 0 my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him,' &c. Prayer is the old refuge of the saints, and the blessed means to pluck up their spirits. Whilst there is a God in heaven, we are not at an utter loss. So ver. 9, ' I will say unto God, my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me ? why go I mourning because of the oppressor ?' David first reasoned with him- self, yet the distemper continued ; but when he comes to reason the case with God in prayer, then he gets ease.
(3.) The violent passions of anger, envy, and revenge against oppres- sors, these are all naught, and do a world of mischief. Anger discom- poseth us, and transports the soul into uncomely motions against God and men, makes us fret and malcontent ; it tempts us to atheism, Ps. Ixxiii., maketh us weary of well-doing, Ps. xxxvii., tempts us to imita- tion of their wicked course. The devil worketh much upon spleen and stomach and discontent, and we are apt to run into these disorders. Now how shall we do to get rid of these distempers ? By prayer, in which we get a sight and prospect of the other world, and then these things will seem nothing to us ; acquaint ourselves with God, and the process of his providence, and so we shall see an end of things, Ps. Ixxiii. 17 ; then all is quiet. And as for revenge, too, that is an efiect of the former; when we plead before God, we see the justice of what is unjust, and hard dealing from men to be justly inflicted by God; and so the heart is calmed : ' The Lord bid him curse,' 2 Sam. xvi. 11. There is reason enough for this dispensation in the upper tribunal, whereunto when we appeal we should render no man evil for evil.