me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure ! for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head ; as an heavy burthen, they are too heavy for mea." Even good men will, at times, adopt the language of Cain : " Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven V Nor is this to be wondered at : for when we view sin with all its aggravations, and especially as committed against the love of Christ and the strivings of his good Spirit, it does assume a character most odious, and justly deserving of God's heaviest indignation.]
2. Under the assaults of indwelling corruption —
[These continue long after a man is turned to the Lord. They have indeed received a check; but often, like water obstructed by a dam, they rise and swell the more for the opposition that is made to them. St. Paul's experience in this respect has kept thousands from utter despondency. How bitterly he complains of " the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin that was in his members ! '" From hence, like a man bound with chains to a lothesome carcase, from which he cannot get loose, he cries, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death0?" He indeed saw that deliverance was laid up for him in and through Christ. But many are driven almost to despair : their conflicts with sin and Satan are so frequent and so violent, and sometimes, in ap- pearance at least, so ineffectual, that they are ready to imagine that God has given them up, and that it is in vain for them to contend any more. In this state they are strongly tempted to say, " There is no hope: I have loved strangers ; and after them will I god."]
3. Under the pressure of long-continued afflictions —
[These will oppress and overwhelm the strongest man, if he be not succoured from above with strength according to his day. Under these, David frequently complains, as if God had left him and forsaken him : " Lord, why castest thou off my soul ? Why hidest thou thy face from me ? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up : while I suffer thy terrors, I am dis- tracted : thy fierce wrath goeth over me ; thy terrors have cut me offe." The patient Jobf, the pious Jeremiah g, the intrepid Elijah, all fainted through their troubles: the two former
a Ps. xxxviii. 1 — 4. b Gen. iv. 13. See the marginal version. c Rom. vii. 23, 24. d Jer. ii. 25. « Ps. lxxxviii. 14— 16. f Job iii. 1. and xxvii. 2. s Jer. xx. 1 — 18.