ment, Who am I, oh Lord God; and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto! Thou hast wonderfully distinguished me by thy providence and grace, protected and provided for me, made me good and made me great. And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, oh Lord God! Thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, oh Lord God? And what can David say more unto thee; for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. Yet this happy state of mind did not continue always. Sensible as he now was of the divine interpositions in his favour, he was sometimes led to call in question all his past experience, and to doubt even the divine faithfulness. The workings of unbelief turned his day into night, and that which should have supported him only encreases his sorrow: I remembered God, and was troubled. What was formerly his comfort is now his grief; and instead of hoping that what had been might be again, he is plunged deeper in distress by the review of past mercies. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God; with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Ok my God, my soul is cast down within me! 2 Sam. vii. 18-20. Psal. xlii. 4, 6.

3. Distrust with respect to future appearances. When faith was in exercise, David could say, The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the mouth of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine-The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will 1 be confident-This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. And yet by and bye we see him sinking again, and hear him speaking

like one that was utterly forsaken: Will the Lord cast off for ever; and will he be favourable no more? Is bis mercy clean gone for ever; doth his promise fail for evermore? Fear gains the ascendency over faith; and neither the promises which God had given him, nor the deliverances which he had wrought for him could support his soul, much less raise him above his distress. It was night with him, and he thought it would never be day. His prospects were as gloomy as his present experience was afflicting. This too is an infirmity common to all the saints: they cannot follow God in the dark, nor hope that the issue will be well when present circumstances make against them. I reckoned, says Hezekiah, till morning, that as a lion, so he will break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, It is hard to trust God when we do not see him, or to wait for him when he hides his face. 1 Sam. xvii. 37. Psal. xxvii. 1, 3. xlviii. 14. Isai. xxxviii. 13.

4. Refusing to be comforted in times of distress, is another of the infirmities of good people. The greatness of the mercy which we need, and a sense of our own unworthiness, tend to discourage our hopes; and we are apt to think we must not expect what we so little deserve. Moses told the children of Israel that the Lord would bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and give them the land which he had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; but they bearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. Job also was so cast down by the uncommon afflictions which had befallen him, and the cruel treatment he met with from his friends, that he could not think of taking comfort, or that his prayer would be heard: If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. Such too was the case of the psalmist: My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was

troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. He turned a deaf ear to every consideration tending to assuage his grief. No kind hand should pluck out the barbed arrow which pierced his soul. Arguments were lost upon him; and he resolved, like Jacob, to go mourning to the grave. This however is an unhappy disposition, and not a little offensive in the sight of God. Exod. vi. 9. Job ix. 16.

5. Giving vent to distrustful thoughts in unbecoming language, too frequently accompanies despondency. This was an evil into which David fell, though he often watched and prayed against it. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked are before me-Set a watch, oh Lord, before my mouth: keep the door of my lips. Yet too often, he not only thought, but like Job's friends, spake of God the thing that was not right, and his sore distresses betrayed him into unguarded expressions. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? What have I done, that he should deal thus severely with me? Is this the fruit of my labours and sufferings in his cause? Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency'. . . . But wo unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth-He that reproveth God, let him answer it. To conceive in our minds any thing unworthy of God, is bad; but when the corruption. comes to the birth, it is worse still. The thought arising in the heart is hurtful to ourselves, and dishonourable to God; but when expressed by the lips it becomes injurious to others, and to the cause of religion. Now we see in all this, not only one infirmity, but a complication of infirmities meeting together, and meeting in one who was not only a saint, but eminently so. This may lead us to enquire,

II. The reasons why God suffers such infirmities to attend his people in this life.

1. To promote humility and self-abasement. As creatures, our insignificance should make us humble; but as sinners, we have reason to be still more so. If there be one flower in the garden, there may be a thousand noxious weeds; and if we possess any degree of goodness, yet there is enough in us to keep us humble. But if this be not sufficient, the Lord will find other means to lay us low. Lest I should be exalted above measure, says Paul, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. This was a singular kind of discipline, but such as the Lord saw necessary, and he rendered it effectual. 2 Cor. xii. 7.

2. To excite watchfulness. Those who are liable to so many miscarriages ought certainly to be upon .their guard. If nothing else will preserve the christian from carnal security, yet the danger to which he is exposed should have that effect. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; for though he standeth, yet it is in slippery places. Others have fallen, and this should teach him to beware. Former sins, and a continual proneness to evil, should prove a check to self-confidence, and teach us the necessity of circumspection and prayer.

3. To encrease our sympathy and compassion towards others. We are made to know the heart of a stranger by being strangers ourselves. If others are overcome by temptation, we may be so too. If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. We ought to deal tenderly with others, if we expect compassion ourselves. Those who consider their own weakness, and how liable they are to evil, will not triumph over

others who may be overcome by it, but will endeavour to reclaim and heal them. Now God suffers his people to be compassed with infirmity, that they may be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven them. Gal. iv. 32.

4. To shew the necessity also of a frequent application to Christ our spiritual physician. If we had no infirmities, we should not want healing: the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. The value of the remedy is known by them who feel the disease, and the need of a Saviour by those who see themselves to be lost. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. This is mentioned, not to encourage sin, but to arm us against despair. Christ does not excuse the sin, though he intersedes for the sinner. One sin calls us to look to Christ; but repeated sins require us to be always looking, and to be constantly renewing our acts of dependence upon him. That blood which was shed for sin can alone cleanse from it. The atonement of Christ was necessary to our pardon, and a continual application of it is as necessary to our purity. Infirmities are suffere to attend the godly in the present state, in order,

5. To render heaven the more desirable. The psalmist is now free from all as infrmities, and so will every saint be when he get to glory. The conflicts we now have with the enemy, and the evils of our own hearts, will give a delightful relish to our happiness hereafter, and heighten the triumphs of the final victory. Present infirmities and sorrows may convince us that this is not our rust, and teach us to be looking for that which remaizeth for the people of God. For we that are in this tabernacie do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life-As for me, I will behold thy face in righteous