Lam. iii. 22, 23. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not con- sumed, because his compassions fail not. They are neiv every morning : great is thy faithfulness.
IT is in affliction chiefly that the children of God attain to any considerable eminence in religion. By trouble, they are led to realize their principles ; and to seek at the fountain-head those consolations which the broken cisterns of this world are no longer able to supply. If David had never been an object of persecution to his enemies, we may well doubt whether he would ever have soared as he did in hea- venly contemplations, or evinced such transcendent piety as glows throughout his Psalms. Jeremiah was a man deeply conversant with trouble ; as he says : " I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath a." But what sublime lessons does he teach us in the words which we have just read ! Truly we may see in these words,
I. The views of a saint under affliction —
A man undisciplined in the school of affliction pores over his troubles, and thereby greatly disquiets his own soul. But a man who is taught of God will have his mind very differently occupied. He will delight rather in contemplating,
1. The lightness of his affliction, in comparison of
his deserts —
[Who, that calls to mind the multitude of his past trans- gressions, must not justify God in all his dispensations, how- ever painful they may be to flesh and blood? " Shall a living man complain, (he will say,) a man for the punishment of his sinsb?" No: he will acknowledge that hell itself is his proper portion ; and that any thing short of that is far " less than his iniquities have deserved0." Instead, therefore, of complaining, like Cain, that " his punishment is greater than he can beard," he will say, " It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not utterly consumed, even because his compassions fail not."]
a ver. 1. b ver. 39. c Ezra ix. 13. d Gen. iv. 13.