Use 1. To rebuke our fears and misgiving of heart. When we see the best men go to the wall, and to be made objects of scorn and spite, we are apt to say, as the church doth in the prophet Isaiah, chap. xl. 27, ' My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God;' that is, in effect, that God doth wholly neglect them, and will not plead their cause. Oh no ! He knoweth what strife there is between us and our adversaries, and how good our cause is, and how much he is concerned in it ; only we must wait his leisure, and bear his indignation until he plead. True submission to God ought to prescribe no day to him, but refer all to his will.
Use 2. Let us commit our cause to the Lord, as the expression is, Job v. 8, ' I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause ;' who is the friend and advocate of the afflicted, and hath pro- mised to be so, and to keep us from the hand of the wicked and the mouth of the wicked ; from their hand and violence so far as it shall be for his glory : Isa. xlix. 25, ' I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children ; ' and from the mouth of the wicked : Ps. v. 15, ' He saveth the poor from the sword, and from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty ; ' from slanders that may endanger their life and credit. So ver. 21, c Thou shalt be hid from
VER. 154.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 143
the scourge of the tongue;' from their bitter reproaches. Therefore commit your cause to God. But then —
1. Be sure that your cause be good, for God will not be the patron of sin. Unless he hath passed sentence for us in his word, it is bold- ness to appeal to him ; as Baalam, that would hire God by sacrifices to curse his people. Hasty appeals to God in our passion and revenge- ful humours are a great dishonour to him. Sarah appealed : Gen. xv. 3, -The Lord judge between me and thee ;' and David appealed: 1 Sam. xxiv. 15, ' The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between thee and me, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.' But there was more of justice in David's appeal in the case between him and Saul than in Sarah's appeal in the case between her and Abraham ; it would have been ill for her if God had taken her at her word ; it showeth that even God's children are too apt to intitle him to their private passions.
2. Let us be sure that there be no controversy between God and our persons, when yet our cause is good. The Israelites had a good cause, Judges xx., but there was once and again a great slaughter made of them, before they had reconciled themselves to God. There must be a good conscience as well as a good cause, otherwise God will plead his controversy against us before he will plead our controversy against our enemies : Jer. ii. 35, ' Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger will turn from me : behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest I have not sinned.' Because we have a good cause, we think God hath no cause to be angry with us ; therefore he will first plead in judgment against us. So Hosea xii. 2, ' The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob accord- ing to his ways, according to his doings will he recompense him.' Though God may approve what is right in worship and profession, yet he will punish our shameful disorders and unanswerable walking in his people.
3. Let us pray in a right manner, with confidence, with earnestness. [1.] Confidence that God will plead our cause when he seeth it good
and for his own glory, whether there be any likelihood of it, yea or no ; for he hath promised to support the weak and humble, and pro- tect the innocent against their oppressors : Ps. cxl. 12, ' I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.' God is party with you, not against you, and leave him to his own ways and means. Faith should support us when sense yieldeth little comfort and hope. He knoweth how to justify your cause, and deliver your persons ; and you should know that he will do it, and can do it, though the way be not evident to you, and God seem to sit still for a while.
[2.] Earnestly. Oh ! be not cold in the church's suit. If you be Sion's friends, and are willing to take share and lot with God's peo- ple, awaken him by your incessant cries. Nay, it is God's cause : Ps. lxxiv. 22, ' Arise, 0 Lord, plead thine own cause ; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.' The godly are not maligned for their sins, but their righteousness. So Ps. xxxv. 23, ' Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.' There is a long suit depending between the church of God and her