cannot but have seen in otliers, and probably felt within your- selves a disposition to depart from this ground, and to indulge a spirit of self-sufficiency and pride. I entreat you to examhie
yourselves with respect to it It is a common evil, and
is very apt to lurk in us unperceived. But if we see it not ourselves, we shall without fail discover it to others ; or, if they should not discover it, God will behold it, and that too with utter abhorrence''. Watch over yourselves therefore, and pray that you may grow continually in lowliness of mind, in tender- ness of conscience, in meekness of temper, and in purity ot heart. The more you resemble little children, the higher will you be in the kingdom of God*^.]
^ Prov. xvi. 5. and 1 Pet. v. 5. <= Matt, xviii. 4.
Ps. Iv. 6. And I said, 0 that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, and he at rest.
TROUBLE is the portion of all, without excep- tion; of the rich, as well as of the poor; of the godly, as well as of the ungodly : *' man is born to it, as the sparks fly upward." The godly indeed have, in some respects, a larger measure of it than others : for, from within, they have grounds of trouble which are unknown to others ; and, from without, they are beset on every side with enemies, who hate them purely for their righteousness' sake. Amongst all the saints of whom we read in Scripture, David seems to have been peculiarly distinguished as " a man of sor- rows and acquainted with grief." In the early part of his life, his persecutions from Saul kept him in continual jeopardy of his life : and during all his latter years, his own children furnished him with occasions of sorrow, which at times sunk him into the deepest distress, and rendered him weary even of life. The psalm before us was written on one of these occasions; we suppose at the time of Absalom's rebelhon. And so greatly was he oppressed in spirit, that he would gladly have fled to the ends of the earth, with the loss of all his honours and dignities, if he could but have obtained rest from his accumu- lated and overwhelming afflictions : he said, " O that