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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>L A M E N T A T I O N S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. III.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two foregoing
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chapters, but the composition is somewhat different; that was in long
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verse, this is in short, another kind of metre; that was in single
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alphabets, this is in a treble one. Here is,
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I. A sad complaint of God's displeasure and the fruits of it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:1-20">ver. 1-20</A>.
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II. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and
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distress,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:21-36">ver. 21-36</A>.
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III. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:37-41">ver. 37-41</A>.
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IV. The complaint renewed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:42-54">ver. 42-54</A>.
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V. Encouragement taken to hope in God, and continue waiting for his
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salvation, with an appeal to his justice against the persecutors of the
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church,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:55-66">ver. 55-66</A>.
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Some make all this to be spoken by the prophet himself when he was
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imprisoned and persecuted; but it seems rather to be spoken in the
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person of the church now in captivity and in a manner desolate, and in
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the desolations of which the prophet did in a particular manner
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interest himself. But the complaints here are somewhat more general
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than those in the foregoing chapter, being accommodated to the case as
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well of particular persons as of the public, and intended for the use
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of the closet rather than of the solemn assembly. Some think Jeremiah
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makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor for Israel, but as a
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type of Christ, who was thought by some to be Jeremiah the weeping
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prophet, because he was much in tears
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:14">Matt. xvi. 14</A>)
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and to him many of the passages here may be applied.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prophet's Personal Affliction.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 I <I>am</I> the man <I>that</I> hath seen affliction by the rod of his
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wrath.
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2 He hath led me, and brought <I>me into</I> darkness, but not
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<I>into</I> light.
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3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand <I>against
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me</I> all the day.
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4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my
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bones.
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5 He hath builded against me, and compassed <I>me</I> with gall and
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travail.
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6 He hath set me in dark places, as <I>they that be</I> dead of old.
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7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made
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my chain heavy.
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8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
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9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my
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paths crooked.
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10 He <I>was</I> unto me <I>as</I> a bear lying in wait, <I>and as</I> a lion
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in secret places.
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11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he
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hath made me desolate.
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12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
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13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my
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reins.
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14 I was a derision to all my people; <I>and</I> their song all the
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day.
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15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken
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with wormwood.
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16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath
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covered me with ashes.
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17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat
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prosperity.
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18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>:
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19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
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the gall.
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20 My soul hath <I>them</I> still in remembrance, and is humbled in
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me.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The title of the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:1-28">102nd Psalm</A>
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might very fitly be prefixed to this chapter--<I>The prayer of the
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afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before
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the Lord;</I> for it is very feelingly and fluently that the complaint
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is here poured out. Let us observe the particulars of it. The prophet
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complains,
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1. That God is angry. This gives both birth and bitterness to the
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affliction
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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<I>I am the man,</I> the remarkable man, <I>that has seen
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affliction,</I> and has felt it sensibly, <I>by the rod of his
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wrath.</I> Note, God is sometimes angry with his own people; yet it is
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to be complained of, not as a sword to cut off, by only as a rod to
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correct; it is to them <I>the rod of his wrath,</I> a chastening which,
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though grievous for the present, will in the issue be advantageous. By
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this rod we must expect to <I>see affliction,</I> and, if we be made to
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see more than ordinary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel, for
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we are sure that the anger is just and affliction mild and mixed with
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mercy.
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2. That he is at a loss and altogether in the dark. Darkness is put
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for great trouble and perplexity, the want both of comfort and of
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direction; this was the case of the complainant
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>He has led me</I> by his providence, and an unaccountable chain of
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events, <I>into darkness and not into light,</I> the darkness I feared
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and not into the light I hoped for." And
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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<I>He has set me in dark places,</I> dark as the grave, <I>like those
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that are dead of old,</I> that are quite forgotten, nobody knows who or
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what they were. Note, The Israel of God, though children of light,
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sometimes <I>walk in darkness.</I>
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3. That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. God
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had been for him, but no "<I>Surely against me is he turned</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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as far as I can discern; for <I>his hand is turned against me all the
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day. I am chastened every morning,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:14">Ps. lxxiii. 14</A>.
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And, when God's hand is continually turned against us, we are tempted
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to think that his heart is turned against us too. God had said once
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:14">Hos. v. 14</A>),
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<I>I will be as a lion to the house of Judah,</I> and now he has made
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his word good
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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"<I>He was unto me as a bear lying in wait,</I> surprising me with his
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judgments, <I>and as a lion in secret places;</I> so that which way
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soever I went I was in continual fear of being set upon and could never
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think myself safe." Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? <I>He has
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bent his bow,</I> the bow that was ordained against the church's
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prosecutors, that is bent against her sons,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
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<I>He has set me as a mark for his arrow,</I> which he aims at, and
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will be sure to hit, and then <I>the arrows of his quiver enter into my
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reins,</I> give me a mortal wound, an inward wound,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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Note, God has many arrows in his quiver, and they fly swiftly and
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pierce deeply.
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4. That he is as one sorely afflicted both in body and mind. The Jewish
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state may now be fitly compared to a man wrinkled with age, for which
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there is no remedy
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>My flesh and my skin has he made old;</I> they are wasted and
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withered, and I look like one that is ready to drop into the grave;
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nay, <I>he has broken my bones,</I> and so disabled me to help myself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
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<I>He has filled me with bitterness,</I> a bitter sense of his
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calamities." God has access to the spirit, and can so embitter that as
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thereby to embitter all the enjoyments; as, when the stomach is foul,
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whatever is eaten sours in it: "<I>He has made me drunk with
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wormwood,</I> so intoxicated me with the sense of my afflictions that I
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know not what to say or do. <I>He has</I> mingled <I>gravel</I> with my
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bread, so that <I>my teeth</I> are <I>broken</I> with it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
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and what I eat is neither pleasant nor nourishing. <I>He has covered
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me with ashes,</I> as mourners used to be, or (as some read it) <I>he
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has fed me with ashes. I have eaten ashes like bread,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:9">Ps. cii. 9</A>.
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5. That he is not able to discern any way of escape or deliverance
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>He has built against me,</I> as forts and batteries are built
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against a besieged city. Where there was a way open it is now quite
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made up: <I>He has compassed me</I> on ever side <I>with gall and
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travel;</I> I vex, and fret, and tire myself, to find a way of escape,
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but can find none,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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<I>He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out.</I>" When Jerusalem
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was besieged it was said to be <I>compassed in on every side,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:43">Luke xix. 43</A>.
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"I am chained; and as some notorious malefactors are double-fettered,
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and loaded with irons, so he <I>has made my chain heavy. He has</I>
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also
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
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<I>enclosed my ways with hewn stone,</I> not only hedged up my way
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<I>with thorns</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:6">Hos. ii. 6</A>),
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but stopped it up with a stone wall, which cannot be broken through, so
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that <I>my paths are made crooked;</I> I traverse to and fro, to the
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right hand, to the left, to try to get forward, but am still turned
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back." It is just with God to make those who walk in the crooked paths
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of sin, crossing God's laws, walk in the crooked paths of affliction,
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crossing their designs and breaking their measures. So
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
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"<I>He has turned aside my ways;</I> he has blasted all my counsels,
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ruined my projects, so that I am necessitated to yield to my own ruin.
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He has <I>pulled me in pieces;</I> he has torn and is gone away
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:14">Hos. v. 14</A>),
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and has <I>made me desolate,</I> has deprived me of all society and all
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comfort in my own soul."
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6. That God turns a deaf ear to his prayers
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"<I>When I cry and shout,</I> as one in earnest, as one that would make
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him hear, yet he <I>shuts out my prayer</I> and will not suffer it to
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have access to him." God's ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his
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people, and his door of mercy to those that knock at it; but now both
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are shut, even to one that <I>cries and shouts.</I> Thus sometimes God
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seems to be angry even against <I>the prayers of his people</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:4">Ps. lxxx. 4</A>),
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and their case is deplorable indeed when they are denied not only the
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benefit of an answer, but the comfort of acceptance.
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7. That his neighbours make a laughing matter of his troubles
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
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<I>I was a derision to all my people,</I> to all the wicked among them,
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who made themselves an one another merry with the public judgments, and
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particularly the prophet Jeremiah's griefs. I am their song, their
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<I>neginath,</I> or hand-instrument of music, their <I>tabret</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+17:6">Job xvii. 6</A>),
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that they play upon, as Nero on his harp when Rome was on fire.
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8. That he was ready to despair of relief and deliverance: "Thou hast
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not only taken peace from me, but hast <I>removed my soul far off from
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peace</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
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so that it is not only not within reach, but no within view. <I>I
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forget prosperity;</I> it is so long since I had it, and so unlikely
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that I should ever recover it, that I have lost the idea of it. I have
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been so inured to sorrow and servitude that I know not what joy and
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liberty mean. I have even given up all for gone, concluding, <I>My
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strength and my hope have perished from the Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
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I can no longer stay myself upon God as my support, for I do not find
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that he gives me encouragement to do so; nor can I look for his
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appearing in my behalf, so as to put an end to my troubles, for the
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case seems remediless, and even my God inexorable." Without doubt it
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was his infirmity to say this
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:10">Ps. lxxvii. 10</A>),
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for with God there is <I>everlasting strength,</I> and he is his
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people's never-failing hope, whatever they may think.
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9. That grief returned upon every remembrance of his troubles, and his
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reflections were as melancholy as his prospects,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
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Did he endeavour as Job did
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:27">Job ix. 27</A>),
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to <I>forget his complaint?</I> Alas! it was to no purpose; he
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remembers, upon all occasions, <I>the affliction and the misery, the
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wormwood and the gall.</I> Thus emphatically does he speak of his
|
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affliction, for thus did he think of it, thus heavily did it lie when
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he reviewed it! It was an affliction that was misery itself. <I>My
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affliction and my transgression</I> (so some read it), my trouble and
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my sin that brought it upon me; this was <I>the wormwood and the
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gall</I> in <I>the affliction and the misery.</I> It is sin that makes
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the cup of affliction a bitter cup. <I>My soul has them still in
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remembrance.</I> The captives in Babylon had all the miseries of the
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siege in their mind continually and the flames and ruins of Jerusalem
|
|
still before their eyes, and <I>wept when</I> they <I>remembered
|
|
Zion;</I> nay, they could <I>never forget Jerusalem,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:1,5">Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>My soul,</I> having <I>them in remembrance, is humbled in me,</I>
|
|
not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble, but in bitterness for
|
|
sin. Note, It becomes us to have humble hearts under humbling
|
|
providences, and to renew our penitent humiliations for sin upon every
|
|
remembrance of our afflictions and miseries. Thus we may get good by
|
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former corrections and prevent further.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Words of Comfort to Israel; The Benefit of Afflictions; Comfort to the Afflicted.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
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22 <I>It is of</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s mercies that we are not consumed,
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because his compassions fail not.
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23 <I>They are</I> new every morning: great <I>is</I> thy faithfulness.
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24 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I
|
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hope in him.
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25 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> good unto them that wait for him, to the soul
|
|
<I>that</I> seeketh him.
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|
26 <I>It is</I> good that <I>a man</I> should both hope and quietly wait
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|
for the salvation of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
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27 <I>It is</I> good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
|
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28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne
|
|
<I>it</I> upon him.
|
|
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be
|
|
hope.
|
|
30 He giveth <I>his</I> cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled
|
|
full with reproach.
|
|
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
|
|
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
|
|
according to the multitude of his mercies.
|
|
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of
|
|
men.
|
|
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
|
|
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most
|
|
High,
|
|
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the
|
|
complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the chapter, and
|
|
yet here the tune is altered and the mourners in Zion begin to look a
|
|
little pleasant. But for hope, the heart would break. To save the heart
|
|
from being quite broken, here is something <I>called to mind,</I> which
|
|
gives ground for <I>hope</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. <I>I make to
|
|
return to my heart</I> (so the margin words it); what we have had in
|
|
our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes as if it were
|
|
quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to our
|
|
hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have occasion to use it.
|
|
"<I>I recall</I> it <I>to mind; therefore have I hope,</I> and am kept
|
|
from downright despair." Let us see what these things are which he
|
|
calls to mind.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they
|
|
are not worse. We are <I>afflicted by the rod of his wrath,</I> but
|
|
<I>it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
When we are in distress we should, for the encouragement of our faith
|
|
and hope, observe what makes for us as well as what makes against us.
|
|
Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is
|
|
hope that they may be better. Observe here,
|
|
|
|
1. The streams of mercy acknowledged: <I>We are not consumed.</I> Note,
|
|
The church of God is like Moses's bush, burning, yet <I>not
|
|
consumed;</I> whatever hardships it has met with, or may meet with, it
|
|
shall have a being in the world to the end of time. It is
|
|
<I>persecuted</I> of men, <I>but not forsaken</I> of God, and
|
|
therefore, though it is <I>cast down,</I> it is <I>not destroyed</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:9">2 Cor. iv. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
corrected, yet <I>not consumed,</I> refined in the furnace as silver,
|
|
but <I>not consumed</I> as dross.
|
|
|
|
2. These streams followed up to the fountain: <I>It is of the Lord's
|
|
mercies.</I> here are mercies in the plural number, denoting the
|
|
abundance and variety of those mercies. God is an inexhaustible
|
|
<I>fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies.</I> Note, We all owe it to
|
|
the sparing mercy of God <I>that we are not consumed.</I> Others have
|
|
been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have been in the
|
|
consuming, and yet <I>we are not consumed;</I> we are out of the grave;
|
|
we are out of hell. Had we been dealt with <I>according to our
|
|
sins,</I> we should have been consumed long ago; but we have been dealt
|
|
with <I>according to God's mercies,</I> and we are bound to acknowledge
|
|
it to his praise.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. That even in the depth of their affliction they still have
|
|
experience of the tenderness of the divine pity and the truth of the
|
|
divine promise. They had several times complained that God had not
|
|
pitied
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17,21"><I>ch.</I> ii. 17, 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
but here they correct themselves, and own,
|
|
|
|
1. That <I>God's compassions fail not;</I> they do not really fail,
|
|
no, not even when in anger he seems to have <I>shut up his tender
|
|
mercies.</I> These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never
|
|
run dry. No; <I>they are new every morning;</I> every morning we have
|
|
fresh instances of God's compassion towards us; he visits us with them
|
|
<I>every morning</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:18">Job vii. 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>every morning does he bring his judgment to light,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:5">Zeph. iii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
When our comforts fail, yet God's compassions do not.
|
|
|
|
2. That <I>great is his faithfulness.</I> Though the covenant seemed to
|
|
be broken, they owned that it still continued in full force; and,
|
|
though Jerusalem be in ruins, <I>the truth of the Lord endures for
|
|
ever.</I> Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain
|
|
any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is
|
|
both kind and faithful.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient happiness of his
|
|
people, and they have chosen him and depend upon him to be such
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;</I> that is,
|
|
|
|
1. "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood,
|
|
and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God."
|
|
Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is <I>portion for
|
|
ever.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. "While I have an interest in God, therein I have enough; I have
|
|
that which is sufficient to counterbalance all my troubles and make up
|
|
all my losses." Whatever we are robbed of our portion is safe.
|
|
|
|
3. "This is that which I depend upon and rest satisfied with:
|
|
<I>Therefore will I hope in him.</I> I will stay myself upon him, and
|
|
encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements
|
|
fail me." Note, It is our duty to make God the portion of our souls,
|
|
and then to make use of him as our portion and to take the comfort of
|
|
it in the midst of our lamentations.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. That those who deal with God will find it is not in vain to trust
|
|
in him; for,
|
|
|
|
1. He is good to those who do so,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is good to all; <I>his tender mercies are over all his works;</I>
|
|
all his creatures taste of his goodness. But he is in a particular
|
|
manner <I>good to those that wait for him, to the soul that seeks
|
|
him.</I> Note, While trouble is prolonged, and deliverance is deferred,
|
|
we must patiently wait for God and his gracious returns to us. While we
|
|
<I>wait for him</I> by faith, we must <I>seek him</I> by prayer: our
|
|
<I>souls</I> must <I>seek him,</I> else we do not seek so as to find.
|
|
Our seeking will help to keep up our waiting. And to those who thus
|
|
wait and seek God will be gracious; he will show them his <I>marvellous
|
|
lovingkindness.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. Those that do so will find it good for them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>It is good</I> (it is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort
|
|
and satisfaction) <I>to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of
|
|
the Lord,</I> to hope that it will come, thought the difficulties that
|
|
lie in the way of it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come,
|
|
though it be long delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent,
|
|
not quarrelling with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing
|
|
in the divine disposals. <I>Father, thy will be done.</I> If we call
|
|
this to mind, we may have hope that all will end well at last.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. That afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them
|
|
aright, will work very much for our good. It is not only good to hope
|
|
and wait for the salvation, but it is good to be under the trouble in
|
|
the mean time
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.</I> Many of
|
|
the young men were carried into captivity. To make them easy in it, he
|
|
tells them that it was good for them to <I>bear the yoke</I> of that
|
|
captivity, and they would find it so if they would but accommodate
|
|
themselves to their condition, and labour to answer God's ends in
|
|
laying that heavy yoke upon them. It is very applicable to the yoke of
|
|
God's commands. It is good for young people to take that yoke upon them
|
|
in their youth; we cannot begin too soon to be religious. It will make
|
|
our duty the more acceptable to God, and easy to ourselves, if we
|
|
engage in it when we are young. But here it seems to be meant of the
|
|
yoke of affliction. Many have found it good to bear this in youth; it
|
|
has made those humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world,
|
|
who otherwise would have been proud and unruly, and <I>as a bullock
|
|
unaccustomed to the yoke.</I> But when do we <I>bear the yoke</I> so
|
|
that it is really <I>good for us to bear it in our youth?</I> He
|
|
answers in the following verses,
|
|
|
|
1. When we are sedate and quiet under our afflictions, when we <I>sit
|
|
alone and keep silence,</I> do not run to and fro into all companies
|
|
with our complaints, aggravating our calamities, and quarrelling with
|
|
the disposals of Providence concerning us, but retire into privacy,
|
|
that we may <I>in a day of adversity consider, sit alone,</I> that we
|
|
may converse with God and <I>commune with our own hearts,</I> silencing
|
|
all discontented distrustful thoughts, and laying our hand upon our
|
|
mouth, as Aaron, who, under a very severe trial, held his peace. We
|
|
must keep silence under the yoke as those that have borne it upon us,
|
|
not wilfully pulled it upon our own necks, but patiently submitted to
|
|
it when God laid it upon us. When those who are afflicted in their
|
|
youth accommodate themselves to their afflictions, fit their necks to
|
|
the yoke and study to answer God's end in afflicting them, then they
|
|
will find it good for them to bear it, for it yields <I>the peaceable
|
|
fruit of righteousness to those who are</I> thus <I>exercised
|
|
thereby.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. When we are humble and patient under our affliction. <I>He</I>
|
|
gets good by the yoke who <I>puts his mouth in the dust,</I> not only
|
|
<I>lays his hand upon his mouth,</I> in token of submission to the will
|
|
of God in the affliction, but <I>puts it in the dust,</I> in token of
|
|
sorrow, and shame, and self-loathing, at the remembrance of sin, and as
|
|
one perfectly reduced and reclaimed, and brought as those that are
|
|
vanquished to <I>lick the dust,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+72:9">Ps. lxxii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
And we must thus humble ourselves, <I>if so be there may be hope,</I>
|
|
or (as it is in the original) <I>peradventure there is hope.</I> If
|
|
there be any way to acquire and secure a good hope under our
|
|
afflictions, it is this way, and yet we must be very modest in our
|
|
expectations of it, must look for it with an <I>it may be,</I> as those
|
|
who own ourselves utterly unworthy of it. Note, Those who are truly
|
|
humbled for sin will be glad to obtain a good hope, through grace, upon
|
|
any terms, though they <I>put their mouth in the dust</I> for it; and
|
|
those who would have hope must do so, and ascribe it to free grace if
|
|
they have any encouragements, which may keep their hearts from sinking
|
|
into the dust when they put their mouth there.
|
|
|
|
3. When we are meek and mild towards those who are the instruments of
|
|
our trouble, and are of a forgiving spirit,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>He</I> gets good by the yoke who <I>gives his cheek to him that
|
|
smites him,</I> and rather <I>turns the other cheek</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:39">Matt. v. 39</A>)
|
|
|
|
than returns the second blow. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of
|
|
this, for he <I>gave his back to the smiter,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:6">Isa. l. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
He who can bear contempt and reproach, and not <I>render railing for
|
|
railing,</I> and bitterness for bitterness, who, when he is <I>filled
|
|
full with reproach,</I> keeps it to himself, and does not retort it and
|
|
empty it again upon those who filled him with it, but <I>pours it out
|
|
before the Lord</I> (as those did,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:4">Ps. cxxiii. 4</A>,
|
|
|
|
whose <I>souls were exceedingly filled with the contempt of the
|
|
proud</I>), he shall find that <I>it is good to bear the yoke,</I> that
|
|
it shall turn to his spiritual advantage. The sum is, <I>If tribulation
|
|
work patience,</I> that <I>patience</I> will work <I>experience,</I>
|
|
and that <I>experience a hope that makes not ashamed.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. That God will graciously return to his people with seasonable
|
|
comforts <I>according to the time that he has afflicted them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:31,32"><I>v.</I> 31, 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Therefore</I> the sufferer is thus penitent, thus patient, because
|
|
he believes that God is gracious and merciful, which is the great
|
|
inducement both to evangelical repentance and to Christian patience. We
|
|
may bear ourselves up with this,
|
|
|
|
1. That, when we are cast down, yet we are not cast off; the father's
|
|
correcting his son is not a disinheriting of him.
|
|
|
|
2. That though we may seem to be cast off for a time, while sensible
|
|
comforts are suspended and desired salvations deferred, yet we are not
|
|
really cast off, because not <I>cast off for ever;</I> the controversy
|
|
with us shall not be perpetual.
|
|
|
|
3. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and
|
|
his hand is in it. It is he that causes grief, and therefore we may be
|
|
assured it is ordered wisely and graciously; and it is but <I>for a
|
|
season,</I> and when need is, that we <I>are in heaviness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:6">1 Pet. i. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
4. That God has compassions and comforts in store even for those whom
|
|
he has himself grieved. We must be far from thinking that, though God
|
|
cause grief, the world will relieve and help us. No; the very same that
|
|
caused the grief must bring in the favour, or we are undone. <I>Una
|
|
eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit--The same hand inflicted the wound
|
|
and healed it.</I> He has torn, and he will heal us,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+6:1">Hos. vi. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
5. That, when God returns to deal graciously with us, it will not be
|
|
according to our merits, but according to his mercies, <I>according to
|
|
the multitude,</I> the abundance, <I>of his mercies.</I> So unworthy we
|
|
are that nothing but an abundant mercy will relieve us; and from that
|
|
what may we not expect? And God's causing our grief ought to be no
|
|
discouragement at all to those expectations.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. That, when God does cause grief, it is for wise and holy ends, and
|
|
he takes not delight in our calamities,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
He does indeed <I>afflict, and grieve the children of men;</I> all
|
|
their grievances and afflictions are from him. But he does not do it
|
|
<I>willingly,</I> not <I>from the heart;</I> so the word is.
|
|
|
|
1. He never afflicts us but when we give him cause to do it. He does
|
|
not dispense his frowns as he does his favours, <I>ex mero
|
|
motu</I>--<I>from his mere good pleasure.</I> If he show us kindness,
|
|
it is because <I>so it seems good</I> unto him; but, if he write bitter
|
|
things against us, it is because we both deserve them and need them.
|
|
|
|
2. He does not afflict with pleasure. He delights not in the death of
|
|
sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but punishes with a kind of
|
|
reluctance. He comes out of his place to punish, for his place is the
|
|
mercy-seat. He delights not in the misery of any of his creatures, but,
|
|
as it respects his own people, he is so far from it that in all their
|
|
afflictions he is afflicted and his soul is grieved for the misery of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
3. He retains his kindness for his people even when he afflicts them.
|
|
If he does not <I>willingly grieve the children of men,</I> much less
|
|
his own children. However it be, yet <I>God is good</I> to them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:1">Ps. lxxiii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and they may by faith see love in his heart even when they see frowns
|
|
in his face and a rod in his hand.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VIII. That though he makes use of men as his hand, or rather
|
|
instruments in his hand, for the correcting of his people, yet he is
|
|
far from being pleased with the injustice of their proceedings and the
|
|
wrong they do them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:34-36"><I>v.</I> 34-36</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though God serves his own purposes by the violence of wicked and
|
|
unreasonable men, yet it does no therefore follow that he countenances
|
|
that violence, as his oppressed people are sometimes tempted to think.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+1:3">Hab. i. 13</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore lookest thou upon those that deal treacherously?</I> Two
|
|
ways the people of God are injured and oppressed by their enemies, and
|
|
the prophet here assures us that God does not approve of either of
|
|
them:--
|
|
|
|
1. If men injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that.
|
|
he does not himself <I>crush under his feet the prisoners of the
|
|
earth,</I> but he regards the cry of the prisoners; nor does he approve
|
|
of men's doing it; nay, he is much displeased with it. It is barbarous
|
|
to trample on those that are down, and to crush those that are bound
|
|
and cannot help themselves.
|
|
|
|
2. If men injure them under colour of law, and in the pretended
|
|
administration of justice,--if they <I>turn aside the right of a
|
|
man,</I> so that he cannot discover what his rights are or cannot come
|
|
at them, they are out of his reach,--if they <I>subvert a man in his
|
|
cause,</I> and bring in a wrong verdict, or give a false judgment, let
|
|
them know,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That God sees them. It is <I>before the face of the Most High</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>);
|
|
|
|
it is in his sight, under his eye, and is very displeasing to him. They
|
|
cannot but know it is so, and therefore it is in defiance of him that
|
|
they do it. He is <I>the Most High,</I> whose authority over them they
|
|
contemn by abusing their authority over their subjects, not considering
|
|
that <I>he that is higher than the highest regardeth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:8">Eccl. v. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That God does not approve of them. More is implied than is
|
|
expressed. The perverting of justice, and the subverting of the just,
|
|
are a great affront to God; and, though he may make use of them for the
|
|
correction of his people, yet he will sooner or later severely reckon
|
|
with those that do thus. Note, However God may for a time suffer
|
|
evil-doers to prosper, and serve his own purposes by them, yet he does
|
|
not therefore approve of their evil doings. <I>Far be it from God that
|
|
he should do iniquity,</I> or countenance those that do it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La3_37"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_38"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_39"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_40"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_41"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Duties of the Afflicted.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>37 Who <I>is</I> he <I>that</I> saith, and it cometh to pass, <I>when</I> the
|
|
Lord commandeth <I>it</I> not?
|
|
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and
|
|
good?
|
|
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the
|
|
punishment of his sins?
|
|
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
41 Let us lift up our heart with <I>our</I> hands unto God in the
|
|
heavens.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
That we may be entitled to the comforts administered to the afflicted
|
|
in the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:21-36">foregoing verses</A>,
|
|
|
|
and may taste the sweetness of them, we have here the duties of an
|
|
afflicted state prescribed to us, in the performance of which we may
|
|
expect those comforts.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. We must see and acknowledge the hand of God in all the calamities
|
|
that befal us at any time, whether personal or public,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:37,38"><I>v.</I> 37, 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is here laid down as a great truth, which will help to quiet our
|
|
spirits under our afflictions and to sanctify them to us.
|
|
|
|
1. That, whatever men's actions are, it is God that overrules them:
|
|
<I>Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass</I> (that designs a
|
|
thing and bring his designs to effect), if <I>the Lord commandeth it
|
|
not?</I> Men can do nothing but according to the counsel of God, nor
|
|
have any power or success but what is given them from above. <I>A man's
|
|
heart devises his way;</I> he projects and purposes; he says that he
|
|
will do so and so
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+4:13">Jam. iv. 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>but the Lord directs his steps</I> far otherwise than he designed
|
|
them, and what he contrived and expected does not <I>come to pass,</I>
|
|
unless it be what God's hand and his counsel had determined before to
|
|
be done,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+16:9,Jer+10:23">Prov. xvi. 9; Jer. x. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Chaldeans said that they would destroy Jerusalem, and it came to
|
|
pass, not because they said it, but because God commanded it and
|
|
commissioned them to do it. Note, Men are but tools which the great God
|
|
makes use of, and manages as he pleases, in the government of this
|
|
lower world; and they cannot accomplish any of their designs without
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
2. That, whatever men's lot is, it is God that orders it: <I>Out of the
|
|
mouth of the Most High do not evil and good proceed?</I> Yes, certainly
|
|
they do; and it is more emphatically expressed in the original: <I>Do
|
|
not</I> this <I>evil, and</I> this <I>good, proceed out of the mouth of
|
|
the Most High?</I> Is it not what he has ordained and appointed for us?
|
|
Yes, certainly it is; and for the reconciling of us to our own
|
|
afflictions, whatever they be, this general truth must thus be
|
|
particularly applied. This comfort I receive <I>from the hand of God,
|
|
and shall I not receive</I> that <I>evil</I> also? so Job argues,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:10"><I>ch.</I> ii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Are we healthful or sickly, rich or poor? Do we succeed in our designs,
|
|
or are we crossed in them? It is all what God orders; <I>every man's
|
|
judgment proceeds from him. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
|
|
away;</I> he forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at
|
|
first. Note, All the events of divine Providence are the products of a
|
|
divine counsel; whatever is done God has the directing of it, and the
|
|
works of his hands agree with the words of his mouth; <I>he speaks, and
|
|
it is done,</I> so easily, so effectually are all his purposes
|
|
fulfilled.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. We must not quarrel with God for any affliction that he lays upon
|
|
us at any time
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore does a living man complain?</I> The prophet here seems to
|
|
check himself for the complaint he had made in the former part of the
|
|
chapter, wherein he seemed to reflect upon God as unkind and severe.
|
|
"Do I well to be angry? Why do I fret thus?" Those who in their haste
|
|
have chidden with God must, in the reflection, chide themselves for it.
|
|
From the doctrine of God's sovereign and universal providence, which he
|
|
had asserted in the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:21-36">verses before</A>,
|
|
|
|
he draws this inference, <I>Wherefore does a living man complain?</I>
|
|
What God does we must not open our mouths against,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:9">Ps. xxxix. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that blame their lot reproach him that allotted it to them. The
|
|
sufferers in the captivity must submit to the will of God in all their
|
|
sufferings. Note, Though we may pour out our complaints before God, we
|
|
must never exhibit any complaints against God. What! Shall <I>a living
|
|
man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?</I> The reasons
|
|
here urged are very cogent.
|
|
|
|
1. We are men; let us herein show ourselves men. Shall <I>a man
|
|
complain?</I> And again, <I>a man!</I> We are men, and not brutes,
|
|
reasonable creatures, who should act with reason, who should look
|
|
upward and look forward, and both ways may fetch considerations enough
|
|
to silence our complaints. We are men, and not children that cry for
|
|
every thing that hurts them. We are men, and not gods, subjects, not
|
|
lords; we are not our own masters, not our own carvers; we are bound
|
|
and must obey, must submit. We are men, and not angels, and therefore
|
|
cannot expect to be free from troubles as they are; we are not
|
|
inhabitants of that world where there is no sorrow, but this where
|
|
there is nothing but sorrow. We are men, and not devils, are not in
|
|
that deplorable, helpless, hopeless, state that they are in, but have
|
|
something to comfort ourselves with which they have not.
|
|
|
|
2. We are living men. Through the good hand of our God upon us we are
|
|
alive yet, though dying daily; and shall <I>a living man complain?</I>
|
|
No; he has more reason to be thankful for life than to complain of any
|
|
of the burdens and calamities of life. Our lives are frail and
|
|
forfeited, and yet we are alive; now <I>the living, the living,
|
|
they</I> should <I>praise,</I> and not complain
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:19">Isa. xxxviii. 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
while there is life there is hope, and therefore, instead of
|
|
complaining that things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with the
|
|
hope that they will be better.
|
|
|
|
3. We are sinful men, and that which we complain of is the just
|
|
<I>punishment of our sins;</I> nay, it is far less than our iniquities
|
|
have deserved. WE have little reason to complain of our trouble, for it
|
|
is our own doing; we may thank ourselves. Our own wickedness corrects
|
|
us,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+19:3">Prov. xix. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
We have no reason to quarrel with God, for he is righteous in it; he is
|
|
the governor of the world, and it is necessary that he should maintain
|
|
the honour of his government by chastising the disobedient. Are we
|
|
suffering for our sins? Then let us not complain; for we have other
|
|
work to do; instead of repining, we must be repenting; and, as an
|
|
evidence that God is reconciled to us, we must be endeavouring to
|
|
reconcile ourselves to his holy will. Are we <I>punished for our
|
|
sins?</I> It is our wisdom then to submit, and to kiss the rod; for, if
|
|
we still walk contrary to God, he will punish us yet seven times more;
|
|
for <I>when he judges he will overcome.</I> But, if we accommodate
|
|
ourselves to him, though we be <I>chastened of the Lord</I> we shall
|
|
not be <I>condemned with the world.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. We must set ourselves to answer God's intention in afflicting us,
|
|
which is to bring sin to our remembrance, and to bring us home to
|
|
himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>.
|
|
|
|
These are the two things which our afflictions should put us upon.
|
|
|
|
1. A serious consideration of ourselves and a reflection upon our past
|
|
lives. <I>Let us search and try our ways,</I> search what they have
|
|
been, and then try whether they have been right and good or no; search
|
|
as for a malefactor in disguise, that flees and hides himself, and then
|
|
try whether guilty or not guilty. Let conscience be employed both to
|
|
search and to try, and let it have leave to deal faithfully, to
|
|
accomplish a diligent search and to make an impartial trial. <I>Let us
|
|
try our ways,</I> that by them we may try ourselves, for we are to
|
|
judge of our state not by our faint wishes, but by our steps, not by
|
|
one particular step, but by our ways, the ends we aim at, the rules we
|
|
go by, and the agreeableness of the temper of our minds and the tenour
|
|
of our lives to those ends and those rules. When we are in affliction
|
|
it is seasonable to <I>consider our ways</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hag+1:5">Hag. i. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
that what is amiss may be repented of and amended for the future, and
|
|
so we may answer the intention of the affliction. We are apt, in times
|
|
of public calamity, to reflect upon other people's ways, and lay blame
|
|
upon them; whereas our business is to <I>search and try our</I> own
|
|
<I>ways.</I> We have work enough to do at home; we must each of us say,
|
|
"What have I done? What have I contributed to the public flames?" that
|
|
we may each of us mend one, and then we should all be mended.
|
|
|
|
2. A sincere conversion to God: "Let us <I>turn again to the Lord,</I>
|
|
to him who is turned against us and whom we have turned from; to him
|
|
let us turn by repentance and reformation, as to our owner and ruler.
|
|
We have been with him, and it has never been well with us since we
|
|
forsook him; let us therefore now turn again to him." This must
|
|
accompany the former and be the fruit of it; <I>therefore</I> we must
|
|
<I>search and try our ways,</I> that we may turn from the evil of them
|
|
to God. This was the method David took.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:59">Ps. cxix. 59</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
|
|
testimonies.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. We must offer up ourselves to God, and our best affections and
|
|
services, in the flames of devotion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>.
|
|
|
|
When we are in affliction,
|
|
|
|
1. We must look up to God as a <I>God in the heavens,</I> infinitely
|
|
above us, and who has an incontestable dominion over us; for <I>the
|
|
heavens do rule,</I> and are therefore not to be quarrelled with, but
|
|
submitted to.
|
|
|
|
2. We must pray to him, with a believing expectation to receive mercy
|
|
from him; for that is implied in our <I>lifting up our hands</I> to him
|
|
(a gesture commonly used in prayer and sometimes put for it, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+141:2">Ps. cxli. 2</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice</I>); it
|
|
signifies our requesting mercy from him and our readiness to receive
|
|
that mercy.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Our hearts must go along with our prayers. We must <I>lift up our
|
|
hearts with our hands,</I> as we must pour out our souls with our
|
|
words. It is the heart that God looks at in that and every other
|
|
service; for what will a sacrifice without a heart avail? If inward
|
|
impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions,
|
|
we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. Praying is lifting up the
|
|
soul to God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:1">Ps. xxv. 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
as to <I>our Father in heaven;</I> and the soul that hopes to be with
|
|
God in heaven for ever will thus, by frequent acts of devotion, be
|
|
still learning the way thither and pressing forward in that way.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La3_42"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_43"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_44"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_45"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_46"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_47"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_48"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_49"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_50"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_51"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_52"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_53"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_54"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Complaining to God.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
|
|
pardoned.
|
|
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast
|
|
slain, thou hast not pitied.
|
|
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that <I>our</I> prayer
|
|
should not pass through.
|
|
45 Thou hast made us <I>as</I> the offscouring and refuse in the
|
|
midst of the people.
|
|
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
|
|
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and
|
|
destruction.
|
|
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the
|
|
destruction of the daughter of my people.
|
|
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any
|
|
intermission,
|
|
50 Till the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> look down, and behold from heaven.
|
|
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters
|
|
of my city.
|
|
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
|
|
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone
|
|
upon me.
|
|
54 Waters flowed over mine head; <I>then</I> I said, I am cut off.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves
|
|
out of it. The prophet had owned that a living man should not complain,
|
|
as if he checked himself for his complaints in the former part of the
|
|
chapter; and yet here the clouds return after the rain and the wound
|
|
bleeds afresh; for great pains must be taken with a troubled spirit to
|
|
bring it into temper.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. They confess the righteousness of God in afflicting them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:42"><I>v.</I> 42</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>We have transgressed and have rebelled.</I> Note, It becomes us,
|
|
when we are in trouble, to justify God, by owning our sins, and laying
|
|
the load upon ourselves for them. Call sin a transgression, call it a
|
|
rebellion, and you do not miscall it. This is the result of their
|
|
searching and trying their ways; the more they enquired into them the
|
|
worse they found them. Yet,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. They complain of the afflictions they are under, not without some
|
|
reflections upon God, which we are not to imitate, but, under the
|
|
sharpest trials, must always think and speak highly and kindly of
|
|
him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They complain of his frowns and the tokens of his displeasure
|
|
against them. Their sins were repented of, and yet
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:42"><I>v.</I> 42</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou hast not pardoned.</I> They had not the assurance and comfort
|
|
of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them for their sins were not
|
|
removed, and therefore they thought they could not say the sin was
|
|
pardoned, which was a mistake, but a common mistake with the people of
|
|
God when their souls are cast down and disquieted within them. Their
|
|
case was really pitiable, yet they complain, <I>Thou hast not
|
|
pitied,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:43"><I>v.</I> 43</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their enemies persecuted and slew them, but that was not the worst of
|
|
it; they were but the instruments in God's hand: "<I>Thou hast
|
|
persecuted us, and thou hast slain us,</I> though we expected thou
|
|
wouldst protect and deliver us." They complain that there was a wall of
|
|
partition between them and God, and,
|
|
|
|
(1.) This hindered God's favours from coming down upon them. The
|
|
reflected beams of God's kindness to them used to be the beauty of
|
|
Israel; but now "<I>thou hast covered</I> us <I>with anger,</I> so that
|
|
our glory is concealed and gone; now God is angry with us, and we do
|
|
not appear that illustrious people that we have formerly been thought
|
|
to be." Or, "<I>Thou hast covered us</I> up as men that are buried are
|
|
covered up and forgotten."
|
|
|
|
(2.) It hindered their prayers from coming up unto God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:44"><I>v.</I> 44</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud,</I>" not like that bright
|
|
cloud in which he took possession of the temple, which enabled the
|
|
worshippers to draw near to him, but like that in which he came down
|
|
upon Mount Sinai, which obliged the people to stand at a distance.
|
|
"This cloud is so thick <I>that our prayers</I> seem as if they were
|
|
lost in it; they cannot <I>pass through;</I> we cannot obtain an
|
|
audience." Note, The prolonging of troubles is sometimes a temptation,
|
|
even to praying people, to question whether God be what they have
|
|
always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They complain of the contempt of their neighbours and the reproach
|
|
and ignominy they were under
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:45"><I>v.</I> 45</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou hast made us as the off-scouring,</I> or scrapings, of the
|
|
first floor, which are thrown to the dunghill." This St. Paul refers to
|
|
in his account of the sufferings of the apostles.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+4:13">1 Cor. iv. 13</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of
|
|
all things.</I> "We are the <I>refuse,</I> or dross, <I>in the midst of
|
|
the people,</I> trodden upon by every body, and looked upon as the
|
|
vilest of the nations, and good for nothing but to be cast out as
|
|
<I>salt</I> which <I>has lost its savour. Our enemies have opened
|
|
their mouths against us</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:46"><I>v.</I> 46</A>),
|
|
|
|
have <I>gaped upon us as roaring lions,</I> to swallow us up, or made
|
|
mouths at us, or have taken liberty to say what they please of us."
|
|
These complaints we had before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:15,16"><I>ch.</I> ii. 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, It is common for base and ill-natured men to run upon, and run
|
|
down, those that have fallen into the depths of distress from the
|
|
height of honour. But this they brought upon themselves by sin. If they
|
|
had not made themselves vile, their enemies could not have made them
|
|
so: but <I>therefore men call them reprobate silver, because the Lord
|
|
has rejected them</I> for rejecting him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. They complain of the lamentable destruction that their enemies made
|
|
of them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:47"><I>v.</I> 47</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Fear and a snare have come upon us;</I> the enemies have not only
|
|
terrified us with those alarms, but prevailed against us by their
|
|
stratagems, and surprised us with the ambushes they laid for us; and
|
|
then follows nothing but <I>desolation and destruction,</I> the
|
|
<I>destruction of the daughter of my people</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:48"><I>v.</I> 48</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>of all the daughters of my city,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:51"><I>v.</I> 51</A>.
|
|
|
|
The enemies, having taken some of them <I>like a bird</I> in a snare,
|
|
<I>chased</I> others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of prey
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:52"><I>v.</I> 52</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>My enemies chased me sorely like a bird</I> which is beaten from
|
|
bush to bush, as Saul hunted David <I>like a partridge.</I> Thus
|
|
restless was the enmity of their persecutors, and yet causeless. They
|
|
have done it <I>without cause,</I> without any provocation given them.
|
|
Though God was righteous, they were unrighteous. David often complains
|
|
of those that <I>hated him without cause;</I> and such are the enemies
|
|
of Christ and his church,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:25">John xv. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their enemies chased them till they had quite prevailed over them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:53"><I>v.</I> 53</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They have cut off my life in the dungeon.</I> They have shut up
|
|
their captives in close and dark prisons, where they are as it were cut
|
|
off <I>from the land of the living</I> (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
or the state and kingdom are sunk and ruined, the life and being of
|
|
them are gone, and they are as it were thrown into the dungeon or grave
|
|
and a <I>stone cast upon them,</I> such as used to be <I>rolled to the
|
|
door of the sepulchres.</I> They look upon the Jewish nation as dead
|
|
and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its
|
|
resurrection. Thus Ezekiel saw it, in vision, <I>a valley full of dead
|
|
and dry bones.</I> Their destruction is compared not only to the
|
|
burying of a dead man, but to the sinking of a living man into the
|
|
water, who cannot long be a living man there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:54"><I>v.</I> 54</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Waters</I> of affliction <I>flowed over my head.</I> The deluge
|
|
prevailed and quite overwhelmed them. The Chaldean forces broke in upon
|
|
them <I>as the breaking forth of waters,</I> which rose so high as to
|
|
<I>flow over their heads;</I> they could not wade, they could not swim,
|
|
and therefore must unavoidably sink. Note, The distresses of God's
|
|
people sometimes prevail to such a degree that they cannot find any
|
|
footing for their faith, nor keep their head above water, with any
|
|
comfortable expectation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. They complain of their own excessive grief and fear upon this
|
|
account.
|
|
|
|
(1.) The afflicted church is drowned in tears, and the prophet for her
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:48,49"><I>v.</I> 48, 49</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>My eye runs down with rivers of water,</I> so abundant was their
|
|
weeping; <I>it trickles down and ceases not,</I> so constant was their
|
|
weeping, <I>without</I> any <I>intermission,</I> there being no
|
|
relaxation of their miseries. The distemper was in continual extremity,
|
|
and they had no better day. It is added
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:51"><I>v.</I> 51</A>),
|
|
|
|
"<I>My eye affects my heart.</I> My seeing eye affects my heart. The
|
|
more I look upon the desolation of the city and country the more I am
|
|
grieved. Which way soever I cast my eye, I see that which renews my
|
|
sorrow, even <I>because of all the daughters of my city,</I>" all the
|
|
neighbouring towns, which were as daughters to Jerusalem the
|
|
mother-city. Or, <I>My weeping eye affects my heart;</I> the venting of
|
|
the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and exasperate it.
|
|
Or, <I>My eye melts my soul;</I> I have quite wept away my spirits; not
|
|
only <I>my eye is consumed with grief, but my soul and my life are
|
|
spent with it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+31:9,10">Ps. xxxi. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Great and long grief exhausts the spirits, and brings not only many a
|
|
<I>gray head,</I> but many a green head too, <I>to the grave.</I> I
|
|
weep, ways the prophet, <I>more than all the daughters of my city</I>
|
|
(so the margin reads it); he outdid even those of the tender sex in the
|
|
expressions of grief. And it is no diminution to any to be much in
|
|
tears for the sins of sinners and the sufferings of saints; our Lord
|
|
Jesus was so; for, <I>when he came near, he beheld</I> this same
|
|
<I>city and wept over it,</I> which the daughters of Jerusalem did not.
|
|
|
|
(2.) She is overwhelmed with fears, not only grieves for what is, but
|
|
fears worse, and gives up all for gone
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:54"><I>v.</I> 54</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Then I said, I am cut off,</I> ruined, and see no hope of recovery;
|
|
I am as one dead." Note, Those that are cast down are commonly tempted
|
|
to think themselves cast off,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+31:22,Jon+2:4">Ps. xxxi. 22; Jon. ii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. In the midst of these sad complaints here is one word of comfort, by
|
|
which it appears that their case was not altogether so bad as they made
|
|
it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:50"><I>v.</I> 50</A>.
|
|
|
|
We continue thus weeping <I>till the Lord look down and behold from
|
|
heaven.</I> This intimates,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That they were satisfied that God's gracious regard to them in
|
|
their miseries would be an effectual redress of all their grievances.
|
|
"If God, who now <I>covers himself with a cloud,</I> as if he took no
|
|
notice of our troubles
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:13">Job xxii. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
would but shine forth, all would be well; if he look upon us, <I>we
|
|
shall be saved,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:19,Da+9:17">Ps. lxxx. 19; Dan. ix. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Bad as the case is, one favourable look from heaven will set all to
|
|
rights.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That they had hopes that he would at length look graciously upon
|
|
them and relieve them; nay, they take it for granted that he will:
|
|
"Though he contend long, he will not contend for ever, thou we deserve
|
|
that he should."
|
|
|
|
(3.) That while they continued weeping they continued waiting, and
|
|
neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any hand but his;
|
|
nothing shall comfort them but his gracious returns, nor shall any
|
|
thing wipe tears from their eyes <I>till he look down.</I> Their eyes,
|
|
which now <I>run down with water,</I> shall still <I>wait upon the Lord
|
|
their God until he have mercy upon them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:2">Ps. cxxiii. 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La3_55"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_56"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_57"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_58"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_59"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_60"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_61"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_62"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_63"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_64"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_65"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La3_66"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Goodness Acknowledged; An Appeal to God.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>55 I called upon thy name, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, out of the low dungeon.
|
|
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my
|
|
breathing, at my cry.
|
|
57 Thou drewest near in the day <I>that</I> I called upon thee: thou
|
|
saidst, Fear not.
|
|
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast
|
|
redeemed my life.
|
|
59 O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
|
|
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance <I>and</I> all their
|
|
imaginations against me.
|
|
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>and</I> all their
|
|
imaginations against me;
|
|
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device
|
|
against me all the day.
|
|
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I <I>am</I> their
|
|
music.
|
|
64 Render unto them a recompence, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, according to the work
|
|
of their hands.
|
|
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
|
|
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens
|
|
of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's
|
|
breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then
|
|
comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his
|
|
complaints, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:1-11">Ps. xlii</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a
|
|
conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here
|
|
are two things with which he comforts himself:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may
|
|
refer to the prophet's personal experience, with which he encourages
|
|
himself in reference to the public troubles. He that has seasonably
|
|
succoured particular saints will not fail the church in general. Or it
|
|
may include the remnant of good people that were among the Jews, who
|
|
had found that it was not in vain to wait upon God. In three things the
|
|
prophet and his pious friends had found God good to them:--
|
|
|
|
1. He had <I>heard their prayers;</I> though they had been ready to
|
|
fear that the cloud of wrath was such as their <I>prayers could not
|
|
pass through</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:44"><I>v.</I> 44</A>),
|
|
|
|
yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find it
|
|
otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, <I>Seek you me in
|
|
vain.</I> When they were <I>in the low dungeon,</I> as <I>free among
|
|
the dead,</I> they <I>called upon God's name</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:55"><I>v.</I> 55</A>);
|
|
|
|
their weeping did not hinder praying. Note, Though we are cast into
|
|
ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the
|
|
highest heavens. <I>Out of the depths have I cried unto thee</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+130:1">Ps. cxxx. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
as Jonah out of the whale's belly. And could God hear them out of the
|
|
low dungeon, and would he? Yes, he did: <I>Thou hast heard my
|
|
voice;</I> and some read the following words as carrying on the same
|
|
thankful acknowledgment: <I>Thou didst not hide thy ear at my
|
|
breathing, at my cry;</I> and the original will bear that reading. We
|
|
read it as a petition for further audience: <I>Hide not thy ear.</I>
|
|
God's having heard our voice when we <I>cried to him,</I> even out of
|
|
<I>the low dungeon,</I> is an encouragement for us to hope that he will
|
|
not at any time <I>hide his ear.</I> Observe how he calls prayer <I>his
|
|
breathing;</I> for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after
|
|
him. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only
|
|
<I>breathe</I> in <I>groanings that cannot be uttered,</I> yet we shall
|
|
not be neglected if we be sincere. Prayer is the breath of the new man,
|
|
sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises;
|
|
it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life. Some
|
|
read it, <I>at my gasping.</I> "When I lay gasping for life, and ready
|
|
to expire, and thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest
|
|
cognizance of my distressed case."
|
|
|
|
2. He had silenced their fears and quieted their spirits
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:57"><I>v.</I> 57</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee;</I> thou
|
|
didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and give me to see
|
|
thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from
|
|
me." Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty we may by faith
|
|
see him drawing nigh to us in a way of mercy. But this was not all:
|
|
<I>Thou saidst, Fear not.</I> This was the language of God's prophets
|
|
preaching to them not to fear
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+41:10,13,14">Isa. xli. 10, 13, 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
of his providence preventing those things which they were afraid of,
|
|
and of his grace quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the
|
|
witness of his Spirit with their spirits that they were his people
|
|
still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear.
|
|
|
|
3. He had already begun to appear for them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:58"><I>v.</I> 58</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>O Lord! thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul</I>" (that is, as
|
|
it follows), "<I>thou hast redeemed my life,</I> hast rescued that out
|
|
of the hands of those who would have taken it away, hast saved that
|
|
when it was ready to be swallowed up, hast given me that for a prey."
|
|
And this is an encouragement to them to hope that he would yet further
|
|
appear for them: "<I>Thou hast delivered my soul from death,</I> and
|
|
therefore wilt deliver <I>my feet from falling;</I> thou hast
|
|
<I>pleaded the causes of my life,</I> and therefore wilt plead my other
|
|
causes."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He comforts himself with an appeal to God's justice, and (in order
|
|
to the sentence of that) to his omniscience.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He appeals to God's knowledge of the matter of fact, how very
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spiteful and malicious his enemies were
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>):
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"<I>O Lord! thou hast seen my wrong,</I> that I have done no wrong at
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all, but suffer a great deal." He that knows all things knew,
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(1.) The malice they had against him: "<I>Thou hast seen all their
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vengeance,</I> how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by
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way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." Note, We should
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consider, to our terror and caution, that God knows all the revengeful
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thoughts we have in our minds against others, and therefore we should
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not allow of those thoughts nor harbour them, and that he knows all the
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revengeful thoughts others have causelessly in their minds against us,
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and therefore we should not be afraid of them, but leave it to him to
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protect us from them.
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(2.) The designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief:
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<I>Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:60"><I>v.</I> 60</A>),
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and again, "<I>Thou hast heard all their imaginations against me</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:61"><I>v.</I> 61</A>),
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both the desire and the device they have to ruin me; whether it show
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itself in word or deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products
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of it are not to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the
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day is perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and
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open." Note, The most secret contrivances of the church's enemies are
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perfectly known to the church's God, from whom they can hide nothing.
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(3.) The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him, all that they
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spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke reproachfully: "<I>Thou
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hast heard their reproach</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:61"><I>v.</I> 61</A>),
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all the bad characters they give me, laying to my charge things that I
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know not, all the methods they use to make me odious and contemptible,
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even the <I>lips of those that rose up against me</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:62"><I>v.</I> 62</A>),
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the contumelious language they use whenever they speak of me, and that
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at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie down at night and
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get up in the morning, when they sit down to their meat and with their
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company, and when they rise from both, still I am their music; they
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make themselves and one another merry with my miseries, as the
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Philistines made sport with Samson." Jerusalem was the tabret they
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played upon. Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or
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interlude, that was called <I>the destruction of Jerusalem,</I> which,
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though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who
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wished ill to the holy city. Note, God will one day call sinners to
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account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against him
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and his people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:15">Jude 15</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. He appeals to God's judgment upon this fact: "<I>Lord, thou hast
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seen my wrong;</I> there is no need of any evidence to prove it, nor
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any prosecutor to enforce and aggravate it; thou seest it in its true
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colours; and now I leave it with thee. <I>Judge thou my cause,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>.
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Let them be dealt with,"
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(1.) "As they deserve
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:64"><I>v.</I> 64</A>):
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<I>Render to them a recompence according to the work of their
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hands.</I> Let them be dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thy
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hand be against them as their hand has been against us. They have
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created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, <I>give them sorrow of
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heart</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:65"><I>v.</I> 65</A>),
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<I>perplexity of heart</I>" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded
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with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their
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way out. Give them <I>despondence of heart</I>" (so others read it);
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"let them be driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." God
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can entangle the head that thinks itself clearest, and sink the heart
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|
that thinks itself stoutest.
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(2.) "Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: <I>Thy
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curse unto them;</I> that is, let thy curse come upon them, all the
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evils that are pronounced in thy word against the enemies of thy
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people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:65"><I>v.</I> 65</A>.
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They have loaded us with curses; as they loved cursing, so let it come
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unto them, thy curse which will make them truly miserable. Theirs is
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causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is
|
|
just, and shall take effect. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed.
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Let the curse be executed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:66"><I>v.</I> 66</A>.
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<I>Persecute and destroy them in anger,</I> as they persecute and
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|
destroy us in their anger. <I>Destroy them from under the heavens of
|
|
the Lord;</I> let them have no benefit of the light and influence of
|
|
the heavens. Destroy them in such a manner that all who see it may say,
|
|
It is a destruction from the Almighty, who <I>sits in the heavens and
|
|
laughs at them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:4">Ps. ii. 4</A>),
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and may own <I>that the heavens do rule,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:26">Dan. iv. 26</A>.
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What is said of the idols is here said of their worshippers (who in
|
|
this also shall be like unto them), <I>They shall perish from under
|
|
these heavens,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:11">Jer. x. 11</A>.
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They shall be not only excluded from the happiness of the invisible
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|
heavens, but cut off from the comfort even of these visible ones, which
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|
are the <I>heavens of the Lord</I>
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+115:16">Ps. cxv. 16</A>)
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and which those therefore are unworthy to be taken under the protection
|
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of who rebel against him.</P>
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