VeR. 36.] SERMONS UPON FSALIM CXIX. 425'
men, Heb. v. 2, that they might have more compassion ; so the Lord multiplies these instances of grace, that they might have more com- passion towards others. They that have felt the terrors of the Lord, and know the wounds and bruises of a troubled conscience, are more affective in persuading, more compassionate in mourning for others, 2 Cor. V. 7.
5. There must be^not only a constant disposition to mourn over the sins of others, but upon some more than ordinary occasions it must with much seriousness be exercised and set a-work. It is said of Lot, 2 Peter ii. 8, ' He vexed his righteous soul ' in seeing their filthiness with his eyes and hearing their blasphemies with his ears, these were continual torments to him ; he could go nowhere but he heard or saw something that was matter of grief to him. That is a sad prognostic of an approaching judgment when a countiy is so bad that it is made, as it were, a prison to a godly man. Daily a Christian hath his occasions of sorrow. How can we walk the streets with dry eyes when we here shall see a reeling drunkard, there hear a profane swearer rending and tearing the sacred name of God in pieces, a filthy speake]', theatres and the devil's temples crowded with such a multi- tude of people, that men may learn more how to please the flesh and hate godliness, and feast their ears with filthy talk ? To see people so mad against God, and ready to cast off the yoke of Christ everywhere, this occasions matter of grief and mourning before the Lord. But besides this, there must be solemn exercises, when our eyes must gush- out w^itli tears, and we must open the flood-gates. We nmst wish, as Jer. ix. 1, ' Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people ! ' There are certain times when this is necessary, as times of great sin, and of judgment felt or feared.
[1.] Of great sin, for then things begin to draw to a judgment. As for instance — ■
(1.) When outward gross sins are frequently committed, such as are against the light of nature : Hosea iv. 1, 2, ' The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is- no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood,' &c. God's severity is last mentioned wherein men bewray their high presumption in profaning the name of God and violating his commands without any the least appearance of profit and advantage — lying and falsehood, a sin inconsistent with Imman society. God, who is the God of truth and the patron of it, cannot endure it. So the lives, goods, chastity of men to be abused, this God cannot bear with : ' Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.' God doth not contend usually for lesser faults or ordinary infirmities, but gross sins, by way of omission or commission.
(2.) These sins are the more odious, and d» provoke God when universal : Isa. i. 5, 6, ' The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint ; from the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no sound- ness in it,' &c. Though there be a few secret mourners, yet when the contagion becometh general, and riseth to a head, the Lord will take
426 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLI.
no notice of them as to the keeping off a common judgment : Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 'And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the oity, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the fore- heads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after them through the city, and smite ; let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity ; ' and Ezek. xiv. 14, ' Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God ; ' and Jer. xv. 1, ' Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people : cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.' Yet the sentence against Sodom was revocable if but ten righteous persons could be found in it, Gen. xviii. 32. Nay, a larger offer concerning Jerusalem, larger than that which God made to Sodom ; if but a man : Jer. v. 1, ' Kun ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it.' Though Jerusalem were a city larger and more populous than Sodom xmd other cities. When the whole body of a people grows monstrous in sin. If a ruling party be sound, though the body be corrupt and vicious, that iniquity be not established by a law, or countenanced by them ; or if the ruling party be corrupt and vicious, yet if the body of the people, or a considerable number, be serious and holy, and mourn in secret for the sins of the times, God may spare a land. But when all flesh have corrupted their ways, then the flood comes.