Ver.4.] UNBELIEF AND JEALOUSY DISTINGUISHED. 555
a defence, he shall never be moved nor be shaken; but I am thus settled of God : therefore I shall not be moved." And therein he re- joiceth. It is an expression of exultation that he useth ; but what is the issue of it? In the midst of these pleasing thoughts of his, "God hides his face," and " he is troubled ;" he cannot any longer draw out the sweetness of the conclusion mentioned. It was in him before from the shinings of God's countenance, and not from any arguings of his own.
No disappointment, then, no tediousness or weariness, should make the soul leave waiting on God, if it intend to attain consola- tion and establishment. So dealeth the church, Lam. iii. 21, " This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope." What is that she calls to mind ? This, that " it is of the Lord's mercy that we are not con- sumed, because his compassions fail not," verse 22 ; — " I will yet hope, I will yet continue in my expectation upon the account of never- failing compassion, of endless mercies in him, whatever my present condition be." And thence she makes a blessed conclusion, verse 26, " It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LoED." And this is our third nile : — It is good to hope and wait, whatever our present condition be, and not to give over, if we would not be sure to fail; whereunto I speak no more, because the close of this psalm insists wholly on this duty, which must be farther spoken unto.
KULE IV.
Remove the hinderances of believing by a searching out of sin — Rules and direc- tions for that duty.
Seeing, in the course of our believing and obedience, that which is chiefly incumbent on us, for our coming up to establishment and consolation, is spiritual diligence in the removal of the hinderances thereof, let the soul that would attain thereunto malce tliorough work in the search of sin, even to the sins of youth, that all scores on that account may clearly be wiped out. If there be much rub- bish left in the foundation of the buildmg, no wonder if it always shake and totter. Men's leaving of any sin unsearched to the bot- tom will j^oison all their consolation. David knew this when, in dealing with God in his distresses, he prays that he would not " re- member the sins and transgressions of his youth," Ps. xxv. 7. Youth is oftentimes a time of great vanity and unmindfulness of God; many stains and spots are therein usually brought upon the con-
556 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM cxxx. [Ver.4.
sciences of men. "Childhood and youth are vanity," Eccles. x'l. 10; not because they soon pass away, but because they are usually spent in vanity, as the following advice of chap. xii. 1, to lem ember God in those days, doth manifest The Avay of many is to wear such things out of mind, and not to walk in a sense of their folly and madness, — never to make thorough work with God about them. I speak of the saints themselves ; for with others that live under the means of grace, whom God intends any way to make useful and industrious in their generation, this is the usual course: — by convic- tions, restraining grace, afflictions, love of employment and repute, God gives them another heart than they had for a season; another heart, but not a new heart. Hence, another course of life, another profession, other actions than formerly, do flow. With this change they do content themselves; they look on what is past perhaps with delight, or as things fit enough for those days, but not for those they have attained unto. Here they rest ; and therefore never come to rest.
But I speak of the saints themselves, who make not such thorough, full, close work in this kind as they ought. An after-reckoning may come in on this hand to their own disturbance, and an unconquer- able hinderance of their peace and settlement be brought in, on this account. So was it with Job, chap. xiii. 26, " He maketli me to pos- sess the iniquities of my youth." God filled his heart, his thoughts, his mind, with these sins, — made them abide with him, so that he pos- sessed them ; they were always present with him. He made the sins of his youth the sufferings of his age. And it is a sad thing, as one speaks, when young sins and old bones meet together; as Zophar, chajx XX. 11, "His bones are full of the sins of his youth." The joyous frame of some men's youth makes way for sad work in their age. Take heed, young ones ! you are doing that which will abide with you to age, if not to eternity. This possessing of the sins of youth. Job calls the " writing of bitter things against him;" as, indeed, it is impossible but that sin should be bitter one time or other. God calls it " a root that beareth gall and Avormwood," De\it. xxix. 18; "a root of bitterness springing up into defilement," Heb. xii. 15. This, then, is to be searched out to the bottom. Israel will not have success nor peace whilst there is an Achan in the camp. Neither success in temptation nor consolation in believ- ing is to be exj)ected, whilst any Achan, any sin unreckoned for, lies on the conscience.