[These are often very deeply felt. A person who has embraced the Gospel feels in himself a change that should rather recommend him to the favour of the world : his tem- pers, his dispositions, his habits, his conduct, are all greatly improved; and yet he finds, that he is become an object of dislike, perhaps too of indignation and abhorrence. This is painful to the young disciple: when he begins to love his fellow-creatures, then he himself begins to be hated by them. His former habits, if ever so licentious, exposed him to a little blame perhaps, but not to hatred : but his love to the Gospel exposes him to all manner of hatred and contempt. This, I say, is painful ; but yet it is very beneficial to his soul. He would be ready, like Lot, to linger in Sodom ; but these per- secutions tend to drive him out. They serve in a very peculiar manner to confirm in his mind the principles of the Gospel; because he is taught in that very Gospel to expect the treat- ment which he has received, and to bear his cross after Christ. He finds too in the Gospel, that to suffer for righteousness' sake is a matter for self-congratulation ; that he is to " rejoice in it, and leap for joy ;" to account it the highest honour ; and to expect from it the richest reward. Thus a new set of feelings are brought into his soul ; a set of feelings as far superior to any that he ever before experienced, as the most refined sensations of the soul are above the lowest appetites of a beast.]
But we will proceed to notice this subject,
II. In that particular view which is specified in the text — There are two things in particular to which our attention is called, and which are of the greatest possible advantage to the soul ;
1. Seclusion from the world —
[When there is nothing to oppress the mind, we are apt to be off our guard, and to degenerate into a dead and worldly frame. We too easily mix with worldly company, and are thereby led to adopt their sentiments, and to drink into their spirit. But when trouble comes upon us, we lose our relish for society: we affect retirement rather, that we may muse over the subjects of our grief; or, as our text expresses it, " We sit alone, and keep silence0." O, who can estimate the benefits arising from this source? By communing with our own hearts in their secret chamber, we attain a knowledge, which is not to be gained either from men or books, — the knowledge of our own hearts. In these seasons too we gain
c Jer. xv. 17.