shall have of God, would you but be persuaded to enter into covenant
with him, to be his, wholly his. I tell you, many that sometimes thought
and did as you do now, that is, set light by Christ and hate God, and
see no loveliness in him, are now quite of another mind; they would not
for ten thousand worlds quit their interest in him. Oh, who dare say
that he is a hard Master? Who that knows him will say that he is an
unkind friend? Oh, what do poor creatures all, that they do entertain
such harsh, sour thoughts of God? What, do they think that there is
nothing in that scripture, “_Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou
hast laid up for them that fear thee!_” Doth the Psalmist speak too
largely? Doth he say more than he and others could prove? Ask him, and
he will tell you in verse 21, that he blesseth God. These were things he
could speak to, from his own personal experience; and many thousands as
well as he, to whom the Lord had showed his marvellous kindness, and
therefore he doth very passionately plead with the people of God to love
him, and more highly to express their sense of his goodness, that the
world might be encouraged also to have good thoughts of him.—_James
Janeway._
_Verse 19._—Very observable is that expression of the Psalmist, “_Oh how
great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee;
which thou hast wrought before the sons of men for them that trust in
thee._” In the former clause, God’s goodness is said to be _laid up_; in
the latter, to be _wrought_. Goodness is laid up in the promise, wrought
in the performance; and that goodness which is laid up is wrought for
them that trust in God; and thus, as God’s faithfulness engageth us to
believe, so our faith, as it were, engageth God’s faithfulness to
perform the promise.—_Nathanael Hardy._
_Verse 20.—“Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife
of tongues.”_ This our beloved God does secretly, so that no human eyes
may or can see, and the ungodly do not know that a believer is, in God,
and in the presence of God, so well protected, that no reproach or
contempt, and no quarrelsome tongues can do him harm.—_Arndt, quoted by
W. Wilson, D.D._
_Verse 22.—“I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:
nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications.”_ Who would
have thought those prayers should ever have had any prevalency in God’s
ears which were mixed with so much infidelity in the petitioner’s
heart!—_William Secker._
_Verse 22.—“I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine
eyes.”_—No, no, Christian; a prayer sent up in faith, according to the
will of God, cannot be lost, though it be delayed. We may say of it, as
David said of Saul’s sword and Jonathan’s bow, that they never return
empty. So David adds, “_Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my
supplications when I cried unto thee._”—_John Flavel._
_Verse 22.—“I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes,”_
etc. Let us with whom it was once night, improve that morning joy that
now shines upon us. Let us be continual admirers of God’s grace and
mercy to us. He has prevented us with his goodness, when he saw nothing
in us but impatience and unbelief, when we were like Jonas in the belly
of hell, his bowels yearned over us, and his power brought us safe to
land. What did we to hasten his deliverance, or to obtain his mercy? If
he had never come to our relief till he saw something in us to invite
him, we had not yet been relieved. No more did we contribute to our
restoration than we do to the rising of the sun, or the approach of day.
We were like dry bones without motion, and without strength. Ezek.
xxxvii. 1-11. And we also said, that ‘we were cut off for our parts, and
our hope was gone, and he caused breath to enter into us, and we live.’
Who is a God like to our God that pardoneth iniquity, transgression, and
sin? that retains not his anger for ever? that is slow to wrath and
delights in mercy? that has been displeased with us for a moment, but
gives us hope of his everlasting kindness? Oh! what love is due from us
to Christ, that has pleaded for us when we ourselves had nothing to say!
That has brought us out of a den of lions, and from the jaws of the
roaring lion! To say, as Mrs. Sarah Wright did, “I have obtained mercy,
that thought my time of mercy past for ever; I have hope of heaven, that
thought I was already damned by unbelief; I said many a time, there is
no hope in mine end, and I thought I saw it; I was so desperate, I cared
not what became of me. Oft was I at the very brink of death and hell,
even at the very gates of both, and then Christ shut them. I was as
Daniel in the lion’s den, and he stopped the mouth of those lions, and
delivered me. The goodness of God is unsearchable; how great is the
excellency of his majesty, that yet he would look upon such a one as I;
that he has given me peace that was full of terror, and walked
continually, as amidst fire and brimstone.”—_Timothy Rogers._
_Verse 22.—“I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine
eyes:”_—_i.e._, Thou has quite forsaken me, and I must not expect to be
looked upon or regarded by thee any more. I shall perish one day by the
hand of Saul, and so be cut off before thine eyes, be ruined while thou
lookest on (1 Sam. xxvii. 1). This he said in his flight (so some read
it), which notes the distress of his affairs: Saul was just at his back,
and ready to seize him, which made the temptation strong; _in his haste_
(so we read it), which notes the disturbance and discomposure of his
mind, which made the temptation surprising, so that it found him off his
guard. Note, it is a common thing to speak amiss, when we speak in haste
and without consideration; but what we speak amiss in haste, we must
repent of at leisure, particularly that which we have spoken
distrustfully of God.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 22.—“I said in my haste.”_—Sometimes a sudden passion arises, and
out it goes in angry and froward words, setting all in an uproar and
combustion: by-and-by our hearts recur upon us, and then we wish, “O
that I had bit my tongue, and not given it such an unbridled liberty.”
Sometimes we break out into rash censures of those that it may be are
better than ourselves, whereupon when we reflect, we are ashamed that
the fools’ bolt was so soon shot, and wish we had been judging ourselves
when we were censuring our brethren.—_Richard Alleine._
_Verse 22.—“Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications
when I cried unto thee.”_ As if he had said, when I prayed with so
little faith, that I, as it were, unprayed my own prayer, by concluding
my case in a manner desperate; yet God pardoned my hasty spirit, and
gave me that mercy which I had hardly any faith to expect; and what use
doth he make of this experience, but to raise every saint’s hope in a
time of need? “_Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,
all ye that hope in the Lord._”—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 22._—He confesseth the great distress he was in, and how weak his
faith was under the temptation; this he doth to his own shame
acknowledge also, that he may give the greater glory to God. Whence
learn, 1.—The faith of the godly may be slackened, and the strongest
faith may sometimes show its infirmity. “_I said in my haste, I am cut
off from before thine eyes._” 2.—Though faith be shaken, yet it is fixed
in the root, as a tree beaten by the wind keeping strong grips of good
ground. Though faith seem to yield, yet it faileth not, and even when it
is at the weakest, it is uttering itself in some act, as a wrestler, for
here the expression of David’s infirmity in faith, is directed to God,
and his earnest prayer joined with it, “_I am cut off from before thine
eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications._”
3.—Praying faith, how weak soever, shall not be misregarded of God; for
“_nevertheless_” saith he, “_thou heardest the voice of my
supplications_.” 4.—There may be in a soul at one time, both grief
oppressing, and hope upholding; both darkness of trouble, and the light
of faith; both desperately doubting, and strong gripping of God’s truth
and goodness; both a fainting and a fighting; a seeming yielding in the
fight, and yet a striving of faith against all opposition; both a
foolish haste, and a settled stayedness of faith; as here, “_I said in
my haste_” etc.—_David Dickson._
_Verse 22._—David vents his astonishment at the Lord’s condescension in
hearing his prayer. How do we wonder at the goodness of a petty man in
granting our desires! How much more should we at the humility and
goodness of the most sovereign Majesty of heaven and earth!—_Stephen
Charnock._
_Verse 23.—“O love the Lord, all ye his saints.”_ The holy Psalmist in
the words does, with all the warmth of an affectionate zeal, incite us
to the love of God, which is the incomparably noblest passion of a
reasonable mind, its brightest glory and most exquisite felicity; and it
is, as appears evident from the nature of the thing, and the whole train
of divine revelation, the comprehensive sum of that duty which we owe to
our Maker, and the very soul which animates a religious life, that we
“love the Lord with all our heart, and strength, and mind.”—_William
Dunlop, A.M., 1692-1720._
_Verse 23.—“O love the Lord, all ye his saints,”_ etc. Some few words
are to be attended in the clearing of the sense. “_Saints_” here in the
text is or may be read, _ye that feel mercies_. “_Faithful_,” the word
is sometimes taken for _persons_, sometimes _things_; and so the Lord is
said to preserve true men, and truths, faithful men, and faithfulnesses.
“_He plenteously rewardeth the proud doer_;” or, the Lord rewardeth
plenteously; _the Lord_, who doth wonderful things. _Plenteously_ is
either in _cumulum_, _abunde_, or _in nepotes_, as some would have it;
but I would rather _commend_, than go about to _amend_ translations:
though I could wish some of my learned brethren’s quarrelling hours were
spent rather upon clearing the originals, and so conveying over pure
Scripture to posterity, than in scratching others with their sharpened
pens, and making cock-pits of pulpits.—_Hugh Peters’ “Sermon preached
before both Houses of Parliament, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the
City of London, and the Assembly of Divines, at the last Thanksgiving
Day, April 2. For the recovering of the West, and disbanding 5,000 of
the King’s Horse, etc., 1645.”_
23. “_And plentifully rewardeth the proud doer._” The next query is,
_how God rewardeth the proud doer?_ in which, though the Lord’s
proceedings be diverse, and many times his paths in the clouds, and his
judgments in the deep, and the uttermost farthing shall be paid the
proud doer at the great day; yet so much of his mind he hath left unto
us, that even in this life he gives out something to the proud which he
calls “the day of recompense,” which he commonly manifests in these
particulars:—1. By way of _retaliation_—for _Adoni-bezek_ that would be
cutting off thumbs, had his thumbs cut off. Judges i. 7. So the poor
Jews that cried so loud, “Crucify him, crucify him,” were so many of
them crucified, that if you believe Josephus, there was not wood enough
to make crosses, nor in the usual place room enough to set up the
crosses when they were made. Snares are made and pits are digged by the
proud for _themselves_ commonly, to which the Scripture throughout gives
abundant testimony. 2. By shameful _disappointments_, seldom reaping
what they sow, nor eating what they catch in hunting, which is most
clear in the Jewish State when Christ was amongst them. _Judas_ betrays
him to get money, and hardly lived long enough to spend it. _Pilate_, to
please Cæsar, withstands all counsels against it, and gives way to that
murder, by which he ruined both himself and Cæsar. The Jewish priests,
to maintain that domination and honour (which they thought the son of
Joseph and Mary stole from them) cried aloud for his death, which proved
a sepulchre to them and their glory. And the poor people that crucified
him (through fear of the _Romans_ taking their city) by his death had
their gates opened to the _Romans_—yea, _Cæsar_ himself, fearing a great
change in his government by Christ living near him (which to-day sets
all the kingcraft in the world to work) met such a change that shortly
he had neither crown nor sceptre to boast of, if you read the story of
Titus and Vespasian, all which dealings of God with the proud is most
elegantly set forth unto us by the Psalmist. “Behold, he travaileth with
iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He
made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which be
made.”—_Hugh Peters._
24. “_Be of good courage._” Christian courage may thus be described. It
is the undaunted audacity of a sanctified heart in adventuring upon
difficulties and undergoing hardships for a good cause upon the call of
God. The _genus_, the common nature of it is an undaunted audacity. This
animosity, as some phrase it, is common both unto men and to some
brutes. The lion is said to be the strongest among beasts, that turneth
not away from any. Prov. xxx. 30. And there is an elegant description of
the war horse in regard of boldness. Job xxxix. 19, etc. And this
boldness that is in brutes is spoken of as a piece of this same
_courage_ that God is pleased to give to men. Ezek. iii. 9. This is the
Lord’s promise—“As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy
forehead.” The word “harder” is the same in the Hebrew that is here in
my text—_fortiorem petra_—the rock that is not afraid of any weather,
summer or winter, sun and showers, heat and cold, frost and snow; it
blusheth not, shrinketh not, it changeth not its complexion, it is still
the same. Such a like thing is _courage_, in the common nature of it.
Secondly, consider the subject, it is _the heart_, the castle where
courage commands and exerciseth military discipline; (shall I so say)
it’s within the bosom, it is the soul of a valiant soldier. Some
conceive our English word _courage_ to be derived from _cordis actio_,
the very acting of the heart. A valiant man is described (2 Sam. xvii.
10) for to be a man whose heart is as the heart of a lion. And sometimes
the original translated _courageous_, as Amos ii. 16, may most properly
be rendered _a man of heart_. Beloved, valour doth not consist in a
piercing eye, in a terrible look, in big words; but it consists in the
mettle, the vigour that is within the bosom. Sometimes a coward may
dwell at the sign of a roaring voice and of a stern countenance; whereas
true fortitude may be found within his breast whose outward deportment
promises little or nothing in that kind. Thirdly, note the qualification
of this same subject; I said a sanctified heart; for I am not now
speaking of fortitude as a moral virtue, whereof heathens that have not
God are capable, and for which many among them that are not Christians,
have been worthily commended. But I am now discoursing of courage as a
virtue theological, as a gracious qualification, put upon the people of
God by special covenant. And there are three things that do characterise
it, and which do distinguish it from the moral virtue of fortitude. (1)
The _root_, whence it ariseth; (2) the _rule_, whereby it is directed;
(3) the _end_, to which it is referred. The _root_, whence it ariseth,
is _love to God_: all the saints of God that love the Lord be of good
courage. The love of Christ constraineth me to make these bold and brave
adventures, saith the apostle. 2 Cor. v. 14. The _rule_, whereby it is
directed, is the _word of God_—what the Lord hath pleased to leave on
record for a Christian’s guidance in holy pages. 1 Chron. xxii. 12, 13.
“Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge
concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God.
Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and
judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be
strong, and of good courage: dread not, nor be dismayed.” Be a man of
mettle, but let thy mettle be according to my mind, according to this
rule. And the _end_, to which it refers, is _God_. For every sanctified
man being a self-denying and a God-advancing man, his God is his centre,
wherein his actings, his undertakings rest; and his soul is not, yea, it
cannot be satisfied but in God.—_Simeon Ash’s “Sermon preached before
the Commanders of the Military Forces of the renowned Citie of London,
1642.”_
_Verse 24. “Be of good courage.”_—Shall I hint some of the weighty
services that are charged upon all our consciences? The work of
mortification, to pick out our eyes, to chop off our hands, to cut off
our feet; do you think that a milksop, a man that is not a man of a
stout spirit, will do this? Now to massacre fleshly lusts, is (as it
were) for a man to mangle and dismember his own body; it is a work
painful and grievous, as for a man to cut off his own feet, to chop off
his own hands, and to pick out his own eyes, as Christ and the apostle
Paul do express it. Besides this, there are in Christians’ bosoms
strongholds to be battered, fortifications to be demolished; there are
high hills and mountains that must be levelled with the ground; there
are trenches to be made, valleys to be filled. O beloved, I may not
mention the hills that lie before us in heaven way, which we must climb
up, and craggy rocks that we must get over; and without courage
certainly the work put upon our hands will not be discharged. There are
also the walls of Jerusalem to be repaired, and the temple to be
re-edified. If Nehemiah had not been a man of a brave spirit he would
never have gone through stitch with that church work, those weighty
services which he did undertake. How this is applicable to us for the
present time, the time of our begun reformation, I speak not, but rather
do refer it to your considerations. I beseech you to read Neh. iv. 17,
18, “They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with
those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work,
and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had
his sword girded by his side, and so builded, and he that sounded the
trumpet was by me.” While they were at work, they were all ready for
war.—_Simeon Ash._
_Verse 24.—“And he shall strengthen thy heart.”_ Put thou thyself forth
in a way of bold adventure for him, and his providence shall be sweetly
exercised for thy good. A worthy commander, how careful is he of a brave
blade, a man that will fight at a cannon’s mouth! Doth he hear from him
that a bone is broken? Send for the bone-setter. Is he like to bleed to
death? Call for the surgeon; let him post away to prevent that peril.
Doth he grow weaker and weaker? Is there anything in the camp that may
restore his spirit? withhold nothing; nothing is too good, too costly;
would he eat gold he should have it. Thus it is with God. Oh, what
letters of commendation doth he give in manifestation of his own love to
them in Pergamos upon this very ground. “Thou, saith the Lord, thou hast
held forth my name, and not denied it, even in those days wherein
Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan
dwelleth!” thou didst fight for Christ in the cave where the devil
commanded; thou didst stand and appear for him when other men did lose
heart and courage. Here is a man that God will own; such a one shall
have God’s heart and hand to do him honour, to yield him comfort. And
therefore I appeal to your consciences, is not this courage worth the
having? worth the seeking?—_Simeon Ash._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—Faith expressed, confusion deprecated, deliverance sought.
_Verse 1 (first clause)._—_Open avowal of faith._ 1. Duties which
precede it, self-examination, etc. 2. Modes of making the confession. 3.
Conduct incumbent on those who have made the profession.
_Verse 1 (last clause)._—How far the righteousness of God is involved in
the salvation of a believer.
_Verse 2 (first clause)._—God’s hearing prayer a great condescension.
_Verse 2 (second clause)._—How far we may be urgent with God as to time.
_Verses 2, 3 (last and first clauses)._—That which we have we may yet
seek for.
_Verse 3._—Work out the metaphor of God as a rocky fastness of the soul.
_Verse 3 (last clause)._—1. A blessing needed, “_lead me_.” 2. A
blessing obtainable. 3. An argument for its being granted, “_for thy
name’s sake_.”
_Verse 4._—_The rescue of the ensnared._ 1. The fowlers. 2. The laying
of the net. 3. The capture of the bird. 4. The cry of the captive. 5.
The rescue.
_Verse 4 (last clause)._—The weak one girt with omnipotence.
_Verse 5._—I. Dying, in a saint’s account, is a difficult work. II. The
children of God, when considering themselves as dying, are chiefly
concerned for their departing immortal spirits. III. Such having chosen
God for their God, have abundant encouragement when dying, to commit
their departing spirits into his hand, with hopes of their being safe
and happy for ever with him.—_Daniel Wilcox._
_Verse 5._—The believer’s requiem.
Redemption the foundation of our repose in God.
I. What we do—_commit ourselves to God_. II. What God has done—_redeemed
us_.
_Verse 6._—Holy detestation, as a virtue discriminated from bigotry: or,
the good hater.
_Verse 7._—I. An endearing attribute rejoiced in. II. An interesting
experience related. III. A directly personal favour from God delighted
in.
_Verse 7 (centre clause)._—_Consider_ the measure, the effects, the
time, the tempering, the ending, and the recompense.
_Verse 7 (last clause)._—The Lord’s familiarity with his afflicted.
_Verse 8._—Christian liberty, a theme for gladness.
_Verse 9._—The mourner’s lament.
_Verse 9 (last clauses)._—Excessive sorrow, its injurious effects on the
body, the understanding, and the spiritual nature. Sin of it, cure of
it.
_Verses 9, 10._—The sick man’s moan, a reminder to those who enjoy good
health.
_Verse 10._—_My strength faileth because of mine iniquity._ The
weakening influence of sin.
_Verse 11._—The good man evil spoken of.
_Verse 12._—The world’s treatment of its best friends.
_Verse 14._—Faith peculiarly glorious in seasons of great trial.
The casting forth of the sheet anchor in the storm.
_Verse 15._—The believer the peculiar care of providence.
_Verse 15 (first clause)._—I. The character of the earthly experience of
the saints, “My times,” that is, the changes I shall pass through, etc.
II. The advantage of this variety. 1. Changes reveal the various aspects
of the Christian character. 2. Changes strengthen the Christian
character. 3. Changes lead us to admire an unchanging God. III. Comfort
for all seasons. 1. This implies that changes of life are subject to the
divine control. 2. That God will support his people under them. 3. And,
consequently, they shall result in our being abundantly profited. IV.
The deportment which should characterise us. Courageous devotion to God
in times of persecution; resignation and contentment in times of poverty
and suffering; zeal and hope in times of labour.—_From Stems and Twigs,
or Sermon Framework._
_Verse 16._—A sense of divine favour. 1. Its value. 2. How to lose it.
3. How to obtain a renewal of it. 4. How to retain it.
The heavenly servant’s best reward.
_Verse 16 (last clause)._—A prayer for saints in all stages. Note its
object, “_save me_;” and its plea, “_thy mercies’ sake_.” Suitable to
the penitent, the sick, the doubting, the tried, the advanced believer,
the dying saint.
_Verse 17._—The shame and silence of the wicked in eternity.
The silence of the grave, its grave eloquence.
_Verse 19._—See “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” No. 773. “David’s Holy Wonder at
the Lord’s Great Goodness.”
_Verse 20._—The believer preserved from the sneers of arrogance by a
sense of the divine presence, and kept from the bitterness of slander by
the glory of the King whom he serves.
_Verse 21._—_Marvellous kindness._ Marvellous that it should come to me
in such a way, at such a time, in such a measure, for so long.
_Verse 21._—Memorable events in life to be observed, recorded, meditated
on, repeated, made the subject of gratitude, and the ground of
confidence.
_Verse 22._—Unbelief confessed and faithfulness adored.
The mischief of hasty speeches.
_Verse 23._—An exhortation to love the Lord. 1. The matter of it, “_love
the Lord_.” 2. To whom addressed, “_all ye his saints_.” 3. By whom
spoken. 4. With what arguments supported, “_for the Lord preserveth_,”
etc.
_Verse 24._—Holy courage. Its excellences, difficulties, encouragements,
and triumphs.
Footnote 4:
Erasmus, on Matthew xxiii. 5.
Footnote 5: