Psalm 42:6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites… 1. The first case is of those who are apt to think that the reformation of their lives hath not proceeded from a sincere love of God, and an unwillingness to displease Him; but from a mere dread of those punishments which He hath threatened. (1) Fear is one of the passions God has planted in our souls, as well as love; they are both the creatures of His wisdom and power; and whatever He did put in us was for some end, and may have a good use. Wherefore, when the passion of fear doth serve the end for which God grafted it in our minds, there can be no doubt but He will approve the good effects which it doth produce. (2) God hath enforced all the laws He hath given to the children of men by threatenings as well as by promises; but as promises are to work upon our love, so threats are to excite our fears; God having made the motives to our obedience to answer the different passions with which He hath endued our souls. (3) Our Saviour and His disciples address themselves not only to the passion of love, but also to that of fear: which they never would have done had they been conscious that the sacrifices of fear would not have ascended up to heaven with a grateful savour. 2. Some serious Christians complain of a want of inclination to holy things, and a coldness in their devotions. They do not come to God's house, nor address themselves to their prayers, with such an appetite as they do to the business of the world; but want earliest and fervent desires for the success of the petitions. Now, in abatement of their trouble, give me leave to lay the following observations before them. (1) The difference of degrees of affections with which men serve God often depends upon the difference of their tempers and constitutions. God will measure their obedience by the sincerity of their minds, that lies in their own power; and not by the difference of their constitutions, which was not made by themselves. (2) They who are not carried by their passions into the service of God, but render worship to Him upon rational motives, because He is the giver of all good things, seem to act upon a higher and more sublime principle: for notwithstanding they are destitute of that pleasing warmth in their passions which provokes others to pray unto God, and to be thankful unto Him, yet they do not cease to celebrate His praise, because it is their duty to do it, and because reason suggests that they ought to make grateful acknowledgments of His infinite mercies. (3) The most zealous are not always the best men. (4) The most holy servants of God cannot maintain an equal warmth in their devotions at all times. (5) What hitherto hath been said about coldness and damps in the minds of men while they are engaged in religious duty has been to comfort those who are exceedingly grieved at it. Now, notwithstanding it is not to be expected, nor necessary, that these innocent persons should meet with a complete cure of their grief, yet I must tell them that nothing will more enliven their spirits in the service of God than deliberate meditations of Him and of themselves before they enter upon any part of Divine worship. 3. I come to the case of those unhappy persons who have naughty and sometimes blasphemous thoughts start in their minds while they are exercised in the worship of God, and to fear that God hath utterly cast them off. That their case is not so dangerous as they apprehend it, I shall endeavour to show by the following considerations. (1) Because these frightful thoughts do for the most part proceed from the disorder and indisposition of the body. (2) Because they are mostly good people who are exercised with them. (3) Because it is not in the power of those disconsolate Christians, whom these bad thoughts so vex and torment, with all their endeavours to stifle and suppress them. (4) They who labour under the burden of such dismal thoughts are seldom betrayed into any great or deliberate sin. For they, having a very low opinion of the condition of their souls, are jealous of the least temptations. Which is the cause they commonly set a strict guard over their words and actions.Advice for behaviour under these perplexing disorders of mind, and for recovery from them. (1) Frequently observe how your thoughts are employed. Men cannot think foolishly and act wisely. Besides, idle thoughts are neighbours to bad ones, and there is a straight and short passage from one to the other. (2) Endeavour to keep all your passions within due bounds, since storms of passion confound the soul, and make way for evil thoughts. (3) Do not leave your calling, nor forsake the post wherein Providence has placed you. There is always more melancholy to be found in a cloister than in the market-place. (4) When you find these thoughts creeping upon you, be not mightily dejected, as if they were certain tokens of your reprobation. For so far as they depend upon the indisposition of the body, which for the most part they chiefly do, I take them no more to be marks of the Divine displeasure than sickness, or losses, or any other calamity you may meet with in the world. When these troublesome thoughts begin to stir, do not fall into any violent passion, which will abate the courage and shatter the resolutions of your soul; but having first commended your miserable case to the tender care and compassions of your Heavenly Father, who will not let you be afflicted above measure, endeavour with a meek and sedate temper quietly to bear them. (5) Do not think the worse of God for them, or accuse His providence of want of care of you. For He might have permitted such thoughts to have continued perpetually, or at least to have visited you much oftener, and in a more frightful manner, and all this without the least diminution of His justice. (6) Let not these afflicting thoughts discourage you from the exercise of your devotions; nor tempt you to omit, or negligently discharge any one Christian office or duty. (Bishop Moore.) Parallel Verses KJV: O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. |
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