Proposition 2. The merciful God, in condescension to the weakness of his people, hath provided the b
us, (which did but stick before in our clothes, and was never intended to hurt us, but only to warn us,) and thrust it into our very hearts.
For thoughts as well as poniards, can pierce and wound the hearts of men, Luke 2:35. "A sword shall pierce through thine own soul;" i.e.
Thy thoughts shall pierce thee. They can shake the whole fabric of the body, and loose the best compacted and strongly jointed parts of the body: Dan. 5:6. "His thoughts troubled him, and the joints of his loins were loosed." And thus a man's own mind becomes a rack of torment to him; a misery which no creature, except men and devils, are subjected to. O how many bodies have been destroyed by the passions of the soul! they cut through it, as a keen knife through a narrow sheath, "Worldly sorrow works death," 2 Cor. 7:10.
Proposition 2. The merciful God, in condescension to the weakness of his people, hath provided the best supports and reliefs for the feeble and afflicted spirits.
"In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul," Psal. 94:17. Carnal men seek their relief under trouble, from carnal things; when one creature forsakes them, they retreat to another which is yet left them, till they are beaten out of all, and then their hearts fail, having no acquaintance with God, or special interest in him: for the creatures will quickly spend all that allowance of comfort they have to spend upon us. Some try what relief the rules of philosophy can yield them, supposing a neat sentence of Seneca may be as good a remedy as a text of David or Paul; but, alas! it will not do: submission from fatal necessity will never ease the afflicted mind, as Christian resignation will do. It is not the eradicating, but regulating of the affections, that composes a burdened and distracted soul. One word of God will signify more to our peace than all the famed and admired precepts of men.
To neglect God, and seek relief from the creature, is to forsake the fountain of living waters, and go to the broken cisterns which can hold no water, Jer. 2:13. The best creature is but a cistern, not a fountain; and our dependence upon it makes it a broken cistern, strikes a hole through the bottom of it, so that it can hold no water.
"I, even I (saith God) am he that comforteth you," Isa. 57:12. The same hand that wounds you, must heal you, or you can never be healed. Our compassionate Saviour, to assuage our sorrows, hath promised he will not leave us comfortless, John 14:18. Our God will not contend for ever, lest the spirit fail before him, Isa. 57:16. He knew how ineffectual all other comforts and comforters would be, even physicians of no value, and therefore hath graciously prepared comforts for his distressed ones, that will reach their end.
Proposition 3. God hath gathered all the materials and principles of our relief into the covenant of grace, and expects that we betake ourselves unto it, in times of distress, as to our sure, sufficient and only remedy.
As all the rivers run into the sea, and there is the congregation of all the waters; so all the promises and comforts of the gospel are gathered into the covenant of grace, and there is the congregation of all the sweet streams of refreshment that are dispersed throughout the scriptures. The covenant is the store-house of promises, the shop of cordials and rare elixirs, to revive us in all our faintings; though, alas! most men know no more what are their virtues, or where to find them, than an illiterate rustic put into an apothecary's shop.
What was the cordial God prepared to revive the hearts of his poor captives groaning under hard and grievous bondage, both in Egypt and in Babylon? Was it not his covenant with Abraham? And why did he give it the solemn confirmation by an oath, but that it might yield
to him and all his believing seed, strong consolation, Heb. 6:17, 18 the very spirit of joy amidst all their sorrows.
And what was the relief God gave to the believing eunuchs that kept his sabbaths, took hold of his covenant, and chose the things in which he delighted? "To them (saith he) will I give in mine house, and within my walls, a place, and a name better than that of sons or of daughters," Isa. 56:4, 5. Though they were deprived of those comforts other men have in their posterity, yet he would not have them look upon themselves as dry trees; a covenant-interest would answer all, and recompense abundantly the want of children, or any other earthly comfort.
Certainly, therefore, David was at the right door of relief and comfort, when he repairs to the covenant, as here in the text, "Yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant." There, or nowhere else, the relief of God's afflicted is to be found.
Now, to make any thing become a complete and perfect relief to an afflicted spirit, these three properties must concur and meet in it, else it can never effectually relieve any man.
I. It must be able to remove all the causes and grounds of troubles.
II. It must be able to do so at all times.
III. It must be capable of a good personal security to us.
For if it only divert our troubles, (as creature-comforts use to do,) and do not remove the ground and cause of our trouble, it is but an anodyne, not a cure or remedy. And if it can remove the very ground and cause of our troubles for a time, but not for ever, then it is but a temporary relief: our troubles may return again, and we left in as bad