and unprotected sheep ? The wonder rather is, that any are enabled to withstand him.
But once more : there are some who by God himself are brought into manifold temptations, and are suffered to expe- rience much darkness in their souls. And though at first sight it should seem as if these persons were less beloved of the Lord than others, the truth is, that they are often to be found amongst those who are his chief favourites : " Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth ;" and usually, those most, who are most beloved. We cannot doubt but that Job was an object of God's peculiar favour : yet who was ever more afflicted than he, even in the very way that we are now speaking of? Hear his own words : " The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit : the terrors of God do set themselves in array against meg." And need we say how deeply our blessed Lord himself was afflicted, when " his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," and his mind was so distracted, that " he knew not what to say11?"
That God sends these dispensations to his people in love, will appear even from our text : for Heman, who was eminent for his piety, declares, that he had been so " afflicted from Iris youth up." And where did he attain this extraordinary piety, but in the school of affliction ? Whilst others were intent on pleasure, he by his troubles was led to study his own heart, and to seek a'n acquaintance with his God ; and thus he gained a knowledge which well repaid him for all that he endured. And it is a well-known fact, that those who are most exercised with spiritual troubles, are usually best instructed in " the deep things of God."
It is evident, then, that pious souls may be reduced to great distress, and that, in fact, many in every age are really so reduced ; some through constitutional infirmity ; some by means of accumulated afflictions ; and some by an irretrievable loss of character consequent on some heinous transgression : some are brought into it by the assaults of Satan, and some by the wise and gracious appointment of their God.~\
Let us now turn our attention to,
II. The reflections which naturally arise from the subject — And, 1. How great is the evil and bitterness of sin —
[If there had been no sin, there would have been no sorrow. Sorrow is the fruit of sin ; the fruit which immedi- ately sprang up, as soon as this root of bitterness was planted in the human breast. Till Adam fell, he enjoyed the sweetest
b Job vi. 4. h John xii. 27.