Of whatever kind our trials be, the direction given us is this : " Cast thy burthen on the Lord, and he will sustain thee5." Are we assaulted by persecutors ? David's example will shew us where to go, and how to obtain relief: " Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me : fight thou against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me : say unto my soul, I am thy salvation1"." Is our trouble rather of a spiritual kind ? The Prophet Isaiah clearly directs our way : " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God1." To all, then, in the name of God himself, I would say, " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, (the perfections and the promises of thy God ;) and shut thy dooi's about thee : hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast m."]
Not to rest in this general view, I will go on to shew,
III. What he may hope to obtain by fervent and per- severing prayer —
See what the petitions of David were : " Hear me speedily, O Lord ! my spirit faileth : hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning : cause me to know the way wherein I should go : deliver me from mine enemies : teach me to do thy will ; and lead me into the land of uprightness." Now, what in these petitions he sought, we also may hope by similar importunity to obtain :
1. The manifestations of God's favour —
[An upright soul cannot but earnestly desire these : for " in His favour is life, and His loving-kindness is better than life itself"." In comparison of this, there is nothing good, nothing desirable, in the whole universe : " Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us0 !" If a sense of God's favour be withdrawn, and his face be hid from an upright soul, it is as the precincts of hell itself^. Seek then, in the first place, to be reconciled to God through the Son of his love : and cease not to importune him, till the morning arise upon you, and a sense of his loving- kindness be shed abroad in your hearts.]
1 Ps. lv. 22. * Ps. xxxv. 1—3. 1 Isai. 1. 10.
m Isai. xxvi. 20. n Ps. lxiii. 3. ° Ps. iv. G.
p Ps. lxxx. 3—5.