First, The temptation was very great, for he speaketh of trouble and anguish. The joining of synonymous words, or words of a like import and signification, increaseth the sense ; and so it showeth his affection was not ordinary ; yea, both these words have their particular use and emphasis. Trouble may imply the outward trial, and the difficulties and straits he was in ; anguish, inward afflictions : the one, the matter of the trial, and the other the sense of it. The other expression also is to be observed, ' Have taken hold of me ; ' in the Hebrew, ' have found me ; ' so the Septuagint renders it, 0\tyei<; ical avd^tcai evpoaav /ne ; and the vulgar Latin out of them, tribulatio et angustice invenerunt me, 'have found me,' that is, ' come upon me/ as the expression intimateth. Troubles are said to find us, because they are sent to seek us out, and in time will light upon us. We should not run into them, but if they find us in our duty, we should not be troubled at them. Sometimes in scripture we are said to find trouble, and sometimes trouble to find us. We are said to find trouble. David said, Ps. cxvi. 3, ' I found trouble.' And so now here in the text, trouble and anguish found him. There is no difference, or if any, the one noteth a surprise. Trouble findeth us when it cometh un- looked for ; our finding it noteth our willingness to undergo it. when the will of God is so, especially for righteousness' sake.
Secondly, David's exercise under this great temptation, ' Thy com- mandments are my delights.' Where we have —
1. The object, ' thy commandments.' The commandment is put for the word in general, which includeth promises as well as precepts, the whole doctrine of life and salvation. However, the property of the form is not altogether to be overlooked ; even in the commandments or the conscience of his duty, he took a great deal of comfort.
2. The affection, 'delight.' He had said before that he did not forget God's statutes when he was small and despised, ver. 141 ; now he delighted in them. This was his great love to the word, that he could find sweetness in it when it brought him trouble, such sweetness as did allay all his sorrows, and overcome the bitterness of them.
3. The degree, ' delights,' in the plural number ; he did greatly delight in it. Omnis oblectatio mea, saith Junius — thy command- ments to me are instead of all manner of delights and pleasure in the world.
Thirdly, The next is the opposition of this exercise to that tempta- tion, ' yet.' It is not in the original, but necessarily implied, and there- fore well inserted by our translators, to show that the greatness of his straits and troubles did not diminish his comfort, but increase it rather. The points are these : —
1. God seeth it necessary sometimes to exercise his people with a great deal of trouble.
2. This trouble may breed great vexation and anguish of spirit, even in a gracious heart.
3. Notwithstanding this trouble and anguish, gracious hearts will manifest their graciousness by delighting in the word.
4. They that delight in the word will find more comfort in their
16 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [$ER. CLX.
afflictions than troubles can take from them, or such sweetness as will overcome the sense of all their sorrows. This was always David's help to delight in the word, and this brought him comfort though in deep troubles.
For the first point, that God seeth it necessary sometimes to exercise his people with a great deal of trouble. Though they are highly in favour with God, yet they have their share of troubles as well as others. This is true if you —
1. Consider the people of God in their collective body and com- munity, which is called the church. It is the church's name: Isa. liv. 11, 12, 'Oh thou afflicted, and tossed with tempest!' Names are taken a notionibus ; things are known and distinguished by their name; it is one of the way-marks to heaven: Acts xiv. 22, ' Through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God ; ' as the way to Canaan lay through a howling wilderness. If we were told before that we should meet with such and such marks in our journey to such a place, if we found them not, we should have cause to suspect we were out of our way. From the beginning of the world, the church hath always been bred up under troubles, and inured to the discipline of the cross : Ps. cxxix. 1, ' Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say.' The spirit of enmity wrought betimes. The first family that ever was in the world yielded Abel the proto- martyr, and Cain the patriarch of unbelievers. While the church kept in families, the outward estate of God's people was worse than their neighbours. Abraham was a sojourner, though owned and blessed by God, when the Canaanites were possessors, and dwelt in walled towns. Jacob's family grew up by degrees into a nation, but Esau's presently multiplied into many dukes and princes. And as they grew up, they grew up in affliction. Egypt was a place of retreat for them for a while, but before they got out of it, it proved a house of bondage. Their deliverance brought them into a wilderness, where want made them murmur, but oftener wantonness. But then God sent fiery serpents, and broke them, and afflicted them with other judgments. After forty years' wandering in the wilderness, they are brought into Canaan, a land of rest ; but it afforded them little rest, for they forfeited it almost as soon as they conquered it ; it flowed with milk and honey, but mixed with gall and wormwood. Their story, as it is delivered in the book of God, acquaints you with several varieties and intermixtures of providence, till wrath came upon them to the utmost, till God saw fit to enlarge the pale and lines of communication by treating with other nations. Now, if the Old Testament church were thus afflicted, much more the New. God discovered his appro- bation and improbation then more by temporal mercies and temporal judgments. The promises run to us in another strain ; and since life and immortality were brought to light in the gospel, we must not expect to be so delicately brought up as never to see an evil day. He hath told us, 2 Tim. iii. 12, ' We must be conformed to our head,' Eom. viii. 29 ; and expect to pledge Christ in his bitter cup, and our condition must inform us that our hopes were not in this world, 1 Cor. xv. 19. In the gospel dispensation God would deal forth temporal blessings more sparingly, and spiritual with a fuller hand ; the ex-