[2.] He doth so that his own people may learn to know his terror, and to rejoice always before him with trembling. Therefore Job affirms, that " in the time of his prosperity he was not secure," but still trembled in himself with thoughts of the judgments of God. Doubtless much wretched carnal security would be ready to invade and possess the hearts of believers, if God should always and con- stantly pass them by in the dispensations of his public judgments.
[3.] That it may be a stone of offence and a stumbling-block unto loicked men, who are to be hardened in their sins and prepared for ruin. When they see that all things fall alike unto all, and that
632 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. [Ver. o, 6.
those who have made the strictest profession of the name and fear of God fare no better than themselves, they are encouraged to de- spise the warnings of God and the strokes of his hand, and so to rush on unto the destruction whereunto they are prepared.
[4.] God doth it to proclaim unto all the world that luhat he doth here is no final judgment and ultimate determination concerning things and persons ; for who can see the '' wise man d}dng as a fool," the righteous and holy perishing in their outward concern- ments as the ungodly and wicked, but must conclude that the right- eous God, the judge of all, hath appointed another day, wherein all things must be called over again, and every one then receive his final reward, according as his works shall appear to have been? And thus are we to humble ourselves unto the righteousness wherewith the hand of God is always accompanied.
[5.] His goodness and grace is also to be considered in all the works of his mighty hands. As there is no unrighteousness in him, so also [there is] all that is good and gracious. And whatever there is in any trouble of allay from the utmost wrath, is of mere goodness and grace. Thy houses are burned, but perhaps thy goods are saved, — is there no grace, no goodness therein? Or perhaps thy substance also is consumed, but yet thy person is alive; and should a living man com- plain? But say what thou wilt, this stroke is not hell, which thou hast deserved long ago, yea, it may be a means of preventing thy going thither; so that it is accompanied with infinite goodness, pa- tience, and mercy also. And if the considerations hereof will not quiet thy heart, take heed lest a v/orse thing befall thee.
And these things amongst others are we to consider in God, to lead our hearts, into an acquiescing in his will, a submission under his mighty hand, and a patient waiting for the issue.
Secondly, [As to ourselves, what we are, and what we" have de- served] : —
1. Consider our mean and abject condition, and that infinite dis- tance wherein we stand from him with whom we have to do. When Abraham, the father of the faithful and friend of God, came to treat with him about his judgments, he doth it with this acknowledgment of his condition, that he was " mere dust and ashes," Gen. xviii. 27, — a poor abject creature, that God at his pleasure had formed out of the dust of the earth, and which in a few days was to be reduced again into the ashes of it. We can forget nothing more perniciously than what we are. " Man is a worm," saitli Bildad, " and the son of man is but a worm," Job xxv. C. " And therefore," says Job himself, " I have said to corruption. Thou art my father: and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister,'' chap. xvii. 14. His affinity, his relation unto them, is the nearest imaginable, and he is no other-
Yer. 5, 6.] god himself the object of our waiting. 633
wise to Le accounted of; and there is nothing that God abliors more than an elation of mind in the forgetfulness of om* mean, frail con- dition. " Thou sayest," said he to the proud prince of Tjtus, " that thou art a god ; but," saith he, " wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God?" Ezek. xxviii. 2, 9. That severe con- viction did God provide for his pride, " Thou shalt be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that slayeth thee." And when Herod prided himself in the acclamations of the vain multitude, (" The voice of a god, and not of a man ! ") the angel of the Lord filled that god immediately with worms, which slew him and devoured him, Acts xii. 23. There is, indeed, nothing more effectual to abase the pride of the thoughts of men than a due remembrance that they are so. Hence the psalmist prays, Ps. ix. 20, " Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men;" so, and no more: ^1?'} t^l^^, "poor, miserable, frail, mortal man," as the Avord sig- nifies. "What is man? what is his life? what is his strength?" said one; " The dream of a shadow; a mere nothing." Or as David, mucli better, " Every man living, in his best condition, is altogether vanity," Ps. xxxix. 5. And James, " Our life," which is our best, our all, " is but a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanish eth away," chap. iv. 14. But enough hath been spoken by many on this subject. And we that have seen so many thousands each week, in one city, carried away to the grave, have been taught the truth of our frailty, even as with thorns and briers. But I know not how it comes to pass, there is not any thing we are more apt to forget than what we oiu'selves are; and this puts men on innumerable mis- carriages towards God and one another. Thou, therefore, that art exercised under the hand of God in any severe dispensation, and art ready on all occasions to fill thy mouth Avith complaints, sit down a little and take a right measure of th3^self, and see whether this frame and posture becomes thee. It is the great God against whom thou repinest, and thou art a man, and that is a name of a worm, a poor, frail, dying worm; and it may be whilst thou ai-t speaking, thou art no more. And wilt thou think it meet for such a one as thou art to magnify thyself against the gi'eat possessor of heaven and earth ? Poor clay, poor dust and ashes, poor dying worm ! know thy state and condition, and fall down quietly under the mighty hand of God. Though thou wranglest with men about thy concernments, let God alone. " The potsherds may contend with the potsherds of the earth, but woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!"