with scourges, and their feet made fast in the stocks, " had the sentence of death in themselves," and expected nothing but a speedy and a cruel death d. And we, too, are warned by our blessed Lord, that we must be ready to lay down our lives for him; and that on no other condition can we hope for a favourable acceptance with him in the last day.
But there are other troubles yet more afflictive than these, to which every child of God is exposed, and under which he may be brought into the depths of despondency. There are seasons of temptation and spiritual desertion, in which the soul is led to say, with Heman, " My soul is full of troubles; my life draweth nigh unto the grave. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me ; thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Lord, Why castest thou off my soul ? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted, and ready to die. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me ; thy terrors have cut me offe." Here was a man of consum- mate piety, and yet thus bereft of consolation, and almost of hope. And such afflictive visitations are experienced by many at the present day. When the spirits have been broken by a long train of misfortunes, and disease of body has still further enfeebled the mind, it is not uncommon for Satan to make a fierce assault upon the soul, and, by his fiery darts, to inflict on it a deadly wound, such as causes it to despair even of life. The Saviour himself, in the depths of dereliction, cried, " My God, my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? " It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if his followers also be called to taste of that cup which he drank even to the dregs.]
In the Prophet's experience, however, we see,
II. What remedy is open to them —
[" I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon : hide not thine ear at my breathing and my cry." Affliction drove him not from God, but to him : and though his overwhelming calamities disqualified him for that kind of orderly address which, in a season of calm reflection, he might have presented at the throne of grace, yet, by sighs and cries, he made known his desires to the Lord, who understands the language of the heart, though not expressed in clear and ap- propriate terms by the lips. To the same effect David says, " I opened my mouth and panted ; for I longed for thy com- mandments'':" by which I understand, that his desire to fulfil the commands of God was too great for utterance ; so that he
d Acts xvi. 23, 24. e Ps. lxxxviii. 3, 0, 7, 14 — 16.
f Ps. cxix. 131. VOL. IX. z