Psalm 119:176
Verse 176. — I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servajit; for I do not forget thy commandments.
These words are the close of the whole psalm. In them observe, —
1. A representation of his case, or, if you will, a confession of his sin; “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.”
2. A petition for mercy, “seek thy servant.”
3. A protestation of obedience by way of argument, “I do not forget thy commandments.”
The chiefest matter that needs to be opened, is the representation of his case; “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” Sheep are animalia gregalia, such kind of creatures as naturally gather together, and unite themselves into a flock. Many other creatures live single and apart; they may sometimes sort together, yet are oftener severed and kept asunder; but the property of sheep, and their safety, is to come together in a flock. But now, when they are out of the flock, then they are exposed to all manner of misery; and therefore a strayed sheep is usually put in Scripture for misery and sin. Lost sheep are represented as those that are ready to perish (Isa. liii. 6; Matt. xv. 24). Now, the business is, whether this similitude here mentioned, is to be interpreted of David’s misery or his sin. Interpreters are divided, both ancient and modern. The similitude itself is applicable to either, and accordingly used in Scripture. Sometimes it is put for sin: “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isa. liii. 6). SheeiJ are creatures very subject to stray and wander, especially if driven by wolves or dogs; and sometimes by a disease, a sort of madness incident to them, follow not the rest of the flock. And so they would have it signify here, his going astray out of infirmity, from the way of God’s commandments. Or else, sometimes the condition of strayed sheep is put for misery; as, “The Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place” (Hos. iv. 16). A lamb that is out of the fold, goes up and down bleating, to seek the fold again, and some company with which it may join itself. It is spoken of them that affected liberty: the Lord by his prophet tells them they should have liberty enough, but little for their profit and comfort; leave to wander in the world, and should bleat alone, bewailing their solitude and danger, and be exposed as a prey to the next wolf; he would not feed them in the flock and body of the Israelites together, but would scatter them by exile and banishment, so that there should be Israelites amidst many Assyrians, like a lamb bleating up and down that is gone out of the fold. Some
SEKMONS ON PSALM CXIX.
think David here represents his misery, when he was a banished exile from the assembHes of the faithful; not living like a prince in his palace, but wandering from place to place to shift for his life, as a poor sheep doth that is driven from the flock, exposed to beasts of prey; and thus it befel him in the case of Saul’s and Absalom’s persecution. If this be the meaning, the following clauses must be suitably expounded: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant;” that is, consider my affliction, and in thy good time relieve me and restore me; and the last clause, “for I do not forget thy commandments:” he did not forget his duty, whatever his condition was.
If we should follow this sense, it yields us these points.
I. That a believer may be driven from place to place, in perpetual hazards and distresses; wandering up and down like a strayed sheep, driven by the wolf, and scattered from the fold: “We have (saith the Ajrostle) no certain dwelling-place” (1 Cor. iv. 11).
II. In such a case, we may with confidence go to God, the good shepherd, who hears the bleating of the poor wandering sheep; takes care of them, seeks them, and reduceth them into the fold.
III. That whatever befalls us, we should still go on in the way of obedience; “I have gone astray,” &c.; driven up and down; and yet “I do not forget thy commandments;” when God seems to forget us, we should not forget his precepts. These points might profitably be insisted upon.
But, because many ancient and modern, both Jewish and Christian, interpreters, understand it of sinful errors; and the words will commodiously enough bear this sense, and it being a similitude very frequently used in Scripture, to compare the faithful to sheep, and God to a shepherd, I shall handle the words with respect to this interpretation; “I have gone astray,” &c. We may all of us make this confession to God, we are too apt to straggle from our duty; and we all of us need to make this petition to God, to beg his watchful providence, and shepherd like care over us; and we may do it with encom-agement to be heard of God, if our hearts are unfeignedly set to keep his law, that God will hear us and keep ns from wandering.
Doctrine. — That a Christian that is obedient for the main, yet may run into many failings and errors of life.
David was right for the main course of his life; he profcsseth here he did not forget God’s precepts, he did not cast off the 3’oke of his law; but yet, in particular acts, he acknowledgeth he did err and fail, and went astray like a lost sheep. And so many who are God’s own servants, that do not forget his precepts, may thus err and go astray.
First, In our natural estate, man is of a straying nature, apt to turn out of the way that leadeth to God and true happiness. The Holy Ghost sets forth the degeneracj- of mankind, by the similitude and emblem of a strayed or lost sheep: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way “(Luke xv., and Isa. liii. 6). Mark, he speaks of our estate by nature collectively and distributively. Collectively, and in common,” All we like sheep have gone astray; and distributively, “Every one to his own way.” We all agree in forsaking the right way of pleasing and enjoying God; but we disagree, as each one hath a by-path of his own. Some are running after this lust, some after that; and so are not only divided from God, but divided from one another, whilst every one makes his own will his law; quicquid velit, licet. As tho channel is cnt, so corrupt nature in every one finds an issue and passage: “They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that duetli good; no, not one” (Psahn xiv. 3). Some run this way, some that way; some are ensla ed by pleasures, others are captivated by the honours of the present world, and some are oppressed by the cares of this life. Every man hath his way of sinning, and rumiing away from God. But howevei-, the emblem and similitude of the Holy Ghost is to be considered, that our departing from God and his ways, is like the straying of a sheep. What doth that note?
1. In general, it implies this, that we arc brutish in our sin and defection from God, led by sense, fancy, and appetite; and therefore our condition could not be expressed but by a comparison fetched from the beasts. Silly sheep are carried away by their fancy and appetite, from the flock. “Man, being in honour, abidethnot; he is like the beasts that perish” (Psalm xlix. 12); that is, he abode not in the honour of his creation. Some would render it for a night; Adam abode not for a night. What we translate man is Adam, the excellency and dignity wherein God had set us; he became like a beast. How is man like a beast? We are governed by our senses and lower appetites. The senses are grown masterly and inordinate, so eagerly set upon their objects, that they will not be reclaimed, and man’s life just like that of the brutes. It is things of the same nature we value and adhere unto; terrene and earthly things, the comforts of the animal life; and, as we have the same objects, so the same ends, to enjoy our sensual pleasures, and satisfy our fleshly minds as long as we may. Now, what is this, but to suffer the beast to ride the man; to put reason and conscience in vassalage and subjection to sense and appetite?
2. This similitude is used to show our proneness to err. There is no creature more prone to wander, and lose its way, without a shepherd, than the sheep. Sheep are creatures subject to straying, if they be not kept in the pasture; so all men are obnoxious to erring and straying: they love to wander (Jer. xiv. 10); it is a delight to us to be pleasing our flesh, and gratifying our carnal senses. So, “It is a people that do err in their hearts” (Psalm xcv. 10). We do not only err in our minds, but err in our hearts. To err in our mind, is to err out of ignorance; but to err in our heart, is to err out of sensual obstinacy: so are we carried away with the desires of the flesh, think ourselves never better than when we run away from God. Ah! the best of us is soon out of the way! If God takes off his guidance, and leaves us to ourselves, we are apt to transgress the bounds wherewith God hath hedged up our way, and make it our business still to be running away from the chief good, into the bushes and thickets of carnal error, wherein we are entangled.
3. Our inability to return, and set ourselves into the right way again; for we stray like sheep, not like swine and dogs. Swine and dogs, though they wander, they will find the May home again; but a sheep is irrecoverably lost, without the shepherd’s diligence and care: “My people hath been lost sheep, &.c.; they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place” (Jer. 1. 6). So should we run, and keep running away from, and forget our resting place. I remember Austin in his meditations hath this passage, Domine, ermre pofui, rcdire non potui: Lord, I could go astray by myself; but I cannot return of myself. The sheep easily straggle; but it is the shepherd must bring home the lost sheep upon his own shoulders (Luke xv. 5). And to this we may apply that of the Prophet, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help” (Hosea xiii. 9). We could destroy and ruin ourselves; but we cannot recover and save ourselves. The shiftless infant can defile himself; but it is the nurse must cleanse it; and we ourselves can fall from God, but to recover us to God, that is the shepherd’s care.
4. It shows our readiness to follow evil example. A sheep is animal seguax, a creature that runs after the drove: they run out of the gap one after another, and one straggler draws away the whole flock. When the Apostle speaks of the sinful state of mankind, he reckons up example as one: “Walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now woi keth in the children of disobedience” (Eph. ii. 2), In that place, there is the Devil, the world, and the flesh. There is the prince of the power of the air, and there is the course of this world (that I quote it for now); there is Satan, corrupt example, and evil inclination; all which are depravers of mankind, and all concur to our ruin and destruction. We easily swim with the stream and the torrent of common example, do as others do, and so mutually propagate and receive taint from one another. Imitation is not the whole cause of sin, but propagation and inclination of nature; yet imitation and example doth much to the perverting of the world and increasing wickedness, and fleshlymindedness makes us addicted to worldly vanities; and so we run with the fowl into the snare, walking according to the course of this world (Eph. ii. 2): “I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean hps” (Isa. vi. 5). We have sin within; but it is mightily increased by example without: by dwelling among those that are polluted, we are more defiled; we catch sickness one of another, we do not get health one from another. As in the law, by touching an unclean thing a man was made unclean, but not on the contrary, we, being polluted ourselves, are more defiled by others, by conversing with them. We live among them that are neglectful of God, and unmindful of heavenly things; and we come also to grow more so ourselves.
5. To represent the danger of straying. Sheep, when they are out of the pasture, are in harm’s way, exposed to a thousand dangers: “All that found them have devoured them” (Jer. 1. 7). So are we in danger to become a prey to the roaring lion, who goes about seeking whom he may devour, and to the dogs and wolves that are abroad. In this sinful state, man is a sheep whom no man taketh up, out of God’s protection, and a ready pi-ey for Satan, taken captive by him at his pleasure (2 Tim. ii. 26), till the Lord recover him by repentance. Thus God forms, represents, and points out, our condition before conversion: certainly, before we were converted to God, we were as sheep wandering in our ignorance and sinful ways to our own destruction, and in hazard to be preyed upon continually by the roaring lion.
Secondly, See if it be better with us after conversion. For here is a man of God; he saith, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” Now, after grace received, though our heart was set to walk with God for the main, yet we often swerve from our rule, through ignorance, or through inadvertency, and sometimes are blinded by worldly desires and fleshly lusts, and so transgress our bounds, and neglect our duty. “Who can understand his errors?” (Psalm xix. 12.) Our errors are so many, who can bear them all in mind? who can know and remember them all? I say, even the best who are tender of displeasing and dishonouring God by sin, they have their errors; yea, and sometimes too their foul faults. Let me a little show this.
1. There are some unavoidable infirmities, and frailties which we cannot get rid of, though we fam would; as, “What I hate, that do I “(Rom. vii. 15; and, ‘-The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do” (verse 19); and, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, &c.: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. V. 17). A true Christian would love God more perfectly, delight in him more abundantly, and bring every thought into subjection to his will. He would get rid of the fountain of sin, of natural concupiscence, and all the stirrings of envy, lust, pride, anger; but, alas! the spirit that worketh in us, lusteth to envy, and bewrayeth itself in these carnal affections. These are aberrations from the strict law which God hath given to us, but such as men are subject unto in this state of frailty. Though they be hated, resisted, though they be restrained in a great measure, that they do not break out into gross act; yet a child of God cannot get rid of them: though this fire is not blown up, but smothered; yet, in some degree, it burns in our bosoms; there is life in it still.
2. There are other things which they might get rid of, if they would; and yet they are not always so happy as to withstand it: certain sins that are avoidable by the ordinary assistance of gi-ace which God vouchsafes to his people; yet a believer may relapse into them many times. Men are not always so watchful, nor is the bent of their hearts so strongly fixed in them; and there is very much security in the saints, and they run into the snare till they be awakened either by some powerful convictions, or some smart affliction; as David saith, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray” (Psalm cxix. 67). The best of God’s children, many times in their peace and prosperity they fall asleep, and forget themselves, and so let some infirmity still be upon them, before God doth awaken them, and bring them to themselves again. Hezekiah was no sooner settled in a peaceful estate, but presently he forgets himself, and suffers pride to steal upon his heart, till the Lord humbled him for the pride of his heart (2 Chron. xxxii. 25, 26). When all things went happily with him, he was recovered out of his sickness, and had congi-atulatory messages from the princes of the nations round about him, and lived in great prosperity; then his heart was lifted up. Some carnal distemper may grow upon us, or evil practice we may fall into. David, when he had gotten a carnal pillow under his head, he lay down and slept, and dreamed of nothing but prosperity, a perpetual, uninterrupted temporal happiness (Psalm xxx. 6). He was full of carnal complacency, until God made him look about him. Thus by our carelessness do we often provoke God to use sharp remedies. There are some are not avoidable, but left for humiliation; but those that are avoidable by such ordinary assistances of God’s grace to his people, yet many times, through our folly and inadvertency and sleepiness of conscience, we run into them.
Having showed the kinds of these sins, let me now show the causes why many times those whose hearts are right with God, that do not forget his precepts, yet they go astray like lost sheep.
1. The first cause is their present imperfection. Though grace doth heal all the faculties, yet it doth not totally heal them, or wholly overcome the weakness which is in them. God promiseth to put his law into their hearts and minds; yet both the understanding and will, and all the inferior faculties, they are but in part sanctiiied. You know our soul is divided into two parts, into the V/yfoi’iico)’, and thefacultie swhich should command and direct, and into the faculties which should be commanded and directed. The commanding faculties are called spirit, and the faculties which should be commanded are called soul. The reason, or the incitation, the atiections, the disposititions, which incline us to things good for us; there is a weakness in all these. Whence come all the weaknessscs and ei-rors of the saints.^ There is a defect in the leading or commanding part of the soul, which is the vmderstanding and the will: in the understanding, is the dii’ective counsel; and, in the will, is the imperial power. Now, the understanding, which should direct and guide us, is blind and sleepy, and not so vigilant and watchful as it should be; and so, in many cases, it proves but a dark and imperfect guide and director to us, and so we err like lost sheep. We have not always so clear and so deep a sense of our duty as we ought, and find not such lively, powerful, and eifectual thoughts of God and heavenly things, and so clear a sense, so that the directive part fails us. Then for our wills which should command us where the imperial power resides, they are imperfect. There is, I confess, in the regenerate, a sincere will to please God in all things; but it is not a perfect will; so that our willing and nilling, our consent and dissent, are not so powerful as they ought to be; but, the will being tainted by the neighbourhood of a distempered sense, it yields a little, and bends to the flesh, and gives way to evil, and many times it opposeth that which is good; at least, we are often overtaken in a fault, being inconsiderately and suddenly surprised, as the Apostle useth that expression, “If a man be overtaken in a fault” (Gal. vi. 1). Though a regenerate man hath a new light put into his mind, he is renewed in the spirit of his mind, though he hath a new bent and bias put upon his heart; yet the imperial and directive powers have flesh in them still, and the wisdom of the flesh is so ingrained and kneaded into our natures, that it cannot be totally dispossessed, any more than we can sever the leaven and the dough, when once they are mingled together. If there be a defect in the governuig and leading part of the soul, there will be disorders in the life and conversation.
Come we now from the iiytfioviKbr, the leading faculties, to the faculties which should be commanded and directed, Alas! they are by sin grown obstinate and masterly, and are so eagerly set upon their objects (carnal vanities) that they will not be reclaimed, but rebel against the direction of conscience and inclinations of the renewed M’ill. The Apostle speaks of a law of his members warring against the law of his mind (Rom. vii. 23). In the lower, in the more sensitive faculties, there is much headstrong opposition against the directions of the will. We have but a slender, feeble guide. The leading part of the will is defective; and there is much of the wisdom of the flesh there. It is a trouble to the flesh to be restrained from what it desires and inclines us to, as a headstrong horse is loth to be governed; therefore we yield and suffer ourselves to be transported, and led away by our passions and carnal affections. Now, though the rebellious and disobedient disposition of the appetite and senses is in a great measure broken and subdued in us by the power of grace, yet the best have somewhat of inordinate sensuality and weakness; and, being imperfect, are tempted by the world and sense, as well as others. Well then, ever weigh in your mind, for your direction, these two grand reasons of all the weakness that is in the sahils; there is the debiHty and weakness uf the leading and coninianding part, and the rebelling of the interior faculties, which should be ruled and commanded.
(1.) The debility and weakness of the leading and commanding part of the soul. And thence it is that we are so inconsiderate, so dull of apprehension, have such dark and inefiectual thoughts of God and heavenly things; and thence is it that the will doth not so potently and rulingly command the directive faculties, but is apt to yield, that it doth not stand upon its authority as it was wont to do.
(2.) The other part is the rebellion of the inferior faculties, and stubbornness of our sensual and carnal inclinations. Look, as in a kingdom and commonwealth, where are rebellious subjects and a feeble empire, things must needs run into disorder; so here the reins are managed very weakly; there is a feeble empire in the soul, and here are strong, rebellious desires not easily controlled, and so draw the soul away. To make this more evident a little, I will show the order of all human operations, if rightly constituted. Their actions are governed in this manner. The understanding and the conscience, they are to direct the will; the will, according to right reason and conscience, moves the affections; the affections, according to the counsel and command of the understanding and will, move the bodily spirits; the bodily spirits, they move the senses and members of the body. But now, by corruption, there is a manifest inversion and change; for bodily pleasure doth affect the senses, the senses corrupt the fantasy, the fantasy moves the bodily spirits, and by them the lighter part of the affections; the affections, by their violence and inclination, captivate the will, and blind the mind; and so the man is carried headlong to his own destruction. Now, though this servitude be in a great measure broken in them that are called into the liberty of God’s children, they are not slaves to their lusts and the vain pleasures of this life; yet, too, too often, the senses are too masterly, and too, too often transmit objects into the soul in a rebellious way, against the command of sanctified reason and conscience. Affections are stirred by thoughts, and thoughts by objects thus represented. I am the larger in this, that you may more perfectly understand the reason of the weakness of the saints.
2. The violence of temptations. As sheep may be driven out of the pasture by the wolf, so is a poor soul hurried into evil, to commit knoMii sin or omit known duty, by the incursion and shock of temptations; though, for the main, he doth adhere to Christ by faith, love, and new obedience. Thus Peter was drawn to deny Christ; and many are drawn, in the violence of passion, to do things which their hearts do utterly condemn and disallow. In a storm, it is hard for a skilful pilot to steer aright; and, though it be dangerous to dash against the rocks, yet Christians come off without a total shipwreck, though they may be sore bruised and battered. In such hurries, God”s children may go astray; but God will not suffer them to be totally lost. David wandered far as well as Saul; but God sought David again, he would not lose him so. A strong temptation may drive us out of the way; as sheep, when thieves come, are driven out of the fold, whither, else, they would not have gone.
3. The Lord may withdraw himself for just and wise reasons; and then, when the shepherd is gone aside, we have neither wisdom to direct ourselves, nor strength to defend ourselves; as, when Moses went away
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SKEMONS ON PSALM CXIX.
for a while, how soon did Israel corrupt their way? So, if God be gone, we see how little we can keep ourselves. God left Hezx’kiah to try him (2 Chron. xxxii. 31). God will show us what is in our hearts, and that our standing is not of ourselves. We represent ourselves to ourselves in a feigned likeness; and therefore God will truly show ourselves to ourselves. We do not know what pride, and passion, and carnality, lie hid in our hearts, when he is present, warming, comforting, quickening, guiding, directing the soul in the way to life. Now, God, by withdrawing, will show us the folly of our wisdom, and the weakness of our strength, and the pride of our humility, and the passionateness of our meekness. Divines distinguish of desertion; they say that there is desertio correctiva., et desertio eruditiva; a desertion by way of coiTection, and a desertion by way of instruction. Sometimes by way of correction, because of former sins, or some unkindness, or ungracious dealing with God, God withdraws; and there is a desertion by way of instruction, to teach us to know the sovereignty of grace, and to know our own weakness. Usually, both go together in the same dispensation. It is very hard almost to imagine that the same dispensation should not be both instructive and corrective; but the reason why they distinguish thus is this, because some dispensations are more clearly for correction, and others more clearly for instruction; but, usually, they go together. We provoke the Lord by some slight or unworthy dealing with him; and then the Lord corrects us, and corrects us that he may instruct us, to see our all depends upon him, and how he should be prized in these things.
4. The fourth reason is some special disease, it may be, not yet cured, in our going astray like a lost sheei”), even though our hearts be right in the main with God. It may be some corruption, too, that they cherished, some carnal interest which is too near and dear to us, either worldly, ambitious, or sensual lusts. Though these reign in the unconverted, yet they dwell too much in a heart that is gracious, and so may prevail sometimes to turn us away from God; something there is which we may call our iniquity (Psalm xviii. 23). Though in the general we keep ourselves from it, as an upright heart will, yet it may sometimes foil us.
Use I. — Let us stand upon our guard. Oh! let us not leave the boat to the stream; for there is an erring, straying disposition in a great measure left in the people of God. Consider, Satan is subtle and assiduous in tempting: “He goes about like a roaring lion” (1 Peter v. 8): he is searching up and down after the prey; and an unwary and unmortified soul soon falls into his snare. The flesh is ready to close with the temptation, as soon as it is presented; and therefore the best of God’s children had need be circumspect and diligent: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matt. xxvi. 41); lest you be surprised unawares by some sin or other. There is enough corruption in every one of you to betray you to it, if j’ou be not aware; and your resisting graces are very weak, and imperfect in degree; and, which is one consideration more, the danger of a fall is very great; for thereby God is dishonoured (2 Sam. xii. 14), and your own peace is mightily ruffled: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long, &c. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer” (Psalm xxxii. 3, 4); yea, and a stumblingblock is laid before others; and you may destroy those for whom Christ died, and wo be to men by whom offences come (Matt, xviii. 7). Under the law, the Lord ordered that, if two men strove and hurt a woman with child, that her fruit departed from her, he who did it should surely be punished. To hinder birth was counted murder; so to hinder those that are coming on by any sins of yours in a way to life. If the olfcnce be foul, you may feel it long afterwards, as an old bruise is felt upon every change of weather; and this sin may cost you dear, though your salvation be secured. This should make us stand upon our guard; it shows that a Christian should live in constant vigilancy, and daily conflict with sin, and deny the desires of the flesh, that he may love God, and live to him.
Use II. — It shows us the need of the new covenant, wherein the pardon of sins is established. All the saints that ever lived have had their failings; and what would become of them, even of God’s own children, if there were not a forgiving God, and a gracious covenant, a way found out to remit their offences.^ If the righteous God should call us to a strict account, how could the best of his children stand before him? (Psalm cxxx. 3.) So it would go ill with all the world, if strict justice of law were still in force (Psalm cxliii. 2). All are guilty, and all must perish; the holy, humblest soul cannot abide the trial of that court; not only God’s enemies, but his servants cannot. The good they do, it cannot be laid in balance against the evil, it would yield no relief as to remission and pardon. Plainly, if the guilt of sins remain upon us, our duties will not compensate with our sins. But such was the Lord’s mercy, that, when we all like sheep had gone astray, the Lord found a ransom for us, and laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all (Isa. liii, 6), that there might be pardon for poor creatures.
Use III. — It teacheth us again the necessity of dependence upon God’s care and power for our spiritual preservation. Of all creatures, sheep need a shepherd; so do we a spiritual shepherd to keep us from straying, to reduce us from our wanderings, to weaken our distemper, to drive away the wolf. In short, these two considerations will enforce the necessity of dependence, the indefatigable malice of Satan, and the unknown weakness and imperfection of the saints.
1. The indefatigable malice of Satan, and his unwearied diligence in tempting us to sin. His hatred and envy against God and mankind are such, that he leaves no man untempted, he would not leave the Lord Christ untempted. Especially, in some regards above others, he labours to draw the children of God into sin, because he knows their sins, by reason of their profession, will give great occasion of scandal to the weak, and blasphemy to the profane and wicked. Now, as his power is very great, 60 are his subtilty and diligence. That which Hannibal said of Marcellus perfectly agrees with him, whether he gives or takes the foil, he ever renews and reinforceth the fight. When Job had carried it very innocently in his prosperity in a dangerous time, yet try him in adversity (Job. i. 12); nay, when he had carried it off in a very grievous trial, as the loss of his goods and children (Job ii. &;c.).
2. The weakness and imperfection of the saints. How easily, if we take not more diligent heed and care, may we fall into sins, both with respect to the weakness of our understandings and perverseness of our affections.
(1.) Our vmderstanding is so weak that we are ignorant of many things necessary to be known; for we know but in part (I Cor. xiii. 12). And if we know something in general, we do not know it as we ought to know it (I Cor. viii. 2). How is that? Either we fail in particular application,
2 K 2 as the heathens that knew there was a Divnie, an eternal, and ahnighty power in general, yet were vain in their imaginations, in their discourses, and practical inferences; or, if we should know how to use these truths, if we know them habitually, yet we do not actually consider, here is a great part of man’s misery, being hurried by a multitude of business, or violence of temptation, that, being laid asleep by the pleasures of the flesh, we many times fall off. Though men have a perfect knowledge of their duty, and how to apply it habitually, yet actually do not consider, their sin carries them away: “They consider not that they do evil” (Eccl. v. 1). Thus for the understanding.
(2.) Our affections they are so apt to be led by the sense, and not by right reason, that there are many times great danger, that in seeing we should not see, lest seeing, knowing, and approving that which is better, we should embrace and follow that which is woi’se, act contrary to our knowledge and conscience. Thou approvest the things that differ (Rom. ii. 18), yet doest thus and thus. Many have an approbation, yet cannot bring forth grace to victory, cannot govern their hearts according to their speculative approbation. Now, if a man be such a blind, indigent creature, it is his wisdom still to look out of himself, to lift up his eyes to God, that is the God of our salvation, and our guide and defence; all our confidence must be in him.
Use. IV. — We learn hence the encouragement which one hath, who is right for the main, but hath run into some errors of life, to apply himself to God to remedy that evil, as the good shepherd who must seek the lost sheep, and reduce him into the right way.
Here let me show two things: —
1. Who are those that are right for the main, and may look upon their sins as particular errors and frailties.
2. What encouragement they have to apply themselves unto the Lord. 1 st, Who are those that are right for the main, and whose sins are
infirmities, such as David’s are represented to be here in this text; for I will go no further than the text. To represent that in five things, —
1. Such as have a conscience, an aweful sense of their duty: I do not forget thy “commandments.” He had transgressed some of God’s commandments; but still he had a sense of his duty, that was kept alive in his heart, that awakened him to return again to the Lord.
2. Such as have an habitual will to keep the commandment of God, though there be failings, as David when he asks for his servant, “Seek thy servant,” he acknowledged his duty still. God’s children may sometimes go astray, but not totally and finally: they never fall so, but there remains something that maintains God’s interest in the soul: “Miosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin, Sec.; he cannot sin,” &cc. (1 John iii. 9), he doth not sin so as to lie in sin; the seed of God still remains, and so he is more easily reclaimed than others. Look, as in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision there was represented a tree that was to be cut down by the watchman, but yet the stump of the roots remained in the earth (Dan. iv. 23); that is, in his melancholy, when he crept on all four like beasts (I suppose there was not a ti-ansformation into a beast), he did lodge in the forest among beasts, and eat their kind of food; yet there was a stump of this great tree, that should bud and scent again; there was a stock of human nature, that should recover and show itself again. So here, though a child of God behave himself like a brute beast, and be mastered by his sense, yet the root of the matter is still in him; there is something that will put ibrth itself aijaiii. Or, as a spinster leaves a lock of wool to draw on the next thread, so there is something left, they do not wholly cast oti’ the fear of God, nor the yoke. No; their souls are habitually bent to please God more than they are to sin; “I am thy servant.”
3. As here is a conscience of his duty, and an habitual will to serve God, so here is a broken-hearted confession of his error: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep;” and so a repentance of the sin committed. It is grievous to a child of God in the remembrance of it, the sin is thereby more mortified and subdued.
4. Here is an unfeigned desire to return to his duty, and grace humbly sought that he may be set in joint again; “Seek thy servant.” He would not remain in this condition still: his desire was to do the will of God, and to live in no neglect; and therefore he complains of his strayhig disposition, and would fain have it cured; “Seek thy servant.”
5. The conscience of his sincerity was not wholly lost. Mark, not only the conscience of his duty, but of his sincerity; for he prays still to be sought as a sheep belonging to the fold. I am thine, though I am gone astray: “The sheep hear his voice” (John x. 3). Now, this evidence was yet left, I am, Lord, thy servant, and I do not forget thy precepts. He was willing to hear the voice of God. In grievous falls, it is otherwise. If a man fall grievously (this doth not relate to any grievous fall), then all were to begin anew, that robs all our peace; as David, “Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm li. 10). After his grievous fall, he speaks as if all were lost. David here professeth still his devotedness to God as his servant, his love and respect to his law as his rule; he could own such a thing in it; it was an evil that annoyed him, but it had not rifled his peace.
2ndly, To speak of the encouragement that we have to go to God if this be our case, as the man of God here desires the Lord to seek him out, and to bring him again into the right way. Those that have gone astray, yet should not keep ofi”, but run to their shepherd; “Seek thy servant:” Why?
1. We have a shepherd that loves us, whereof he hath given full proof and demonstration in that he died for us: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John x. II). He is not only the great Shepherd (as called sometimes), but the good Shepherd, who gave his life in a way of ransom to expiate our sins. When he came to seek and to save that which was lost, his fii’st work was to redeem them by his blood. If he could find in his heart to redeem us by his blood, and expiate all our faults, he will recover us.
2. It is one great part of his office to reduce his people from their straggling, “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalm xxiii. 1 )• What then? “He restoreth my soul” (verse 3). If the Lord be our Shepherd, it is a great part of his work to restore our souls. We fall into the disease of sin, sometimes wander out of the path, in which we should perish if God did not reclaim us from our wandering. Now, it is his work to restore our souls; that is, to keep us from going on still in our by-paths: therefore we may come and press it. He is inclined to show favour to those who confess their errors; and, for the glory of his grace, and constant love, and sworn covenant, he will not be unmindful of us.
3. He delights to guide us in our wanderings (Luke xv, 4, 5). The good Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine, and seeks out the strayed saeep upon the hills and mountains, and brings it home upon his own shoulders rejoicing. It is a pleasing thing to Christ to be reducing strayed souls. He was angry with the under-shepherds, and rebukes them because they discharged not their duty; “The diseased have ye not strengthened,” &c. (Ezek, xxxiv. 4); and he promiseth his own care, “So will I seek out my sheep” (verse 12).
4. He will bear with our infirmities, and, if humbly sought to, will take care of us. We straggle sometimes out of weakness, and out of vanity of spirit, and lose ourselves through our own folly; therefore Christ saith, I will seek that which was lost. Sometimes we are driven away by wolves; Christ will fetch us back again, that we may not be meat for their mouth. If sin be as a breach upon conscience, he will heal that wound, and bind up the broken. If we be weak, ready to straggle, he will confirm us, and strengthen us more and more. Having such a shepherd, this should encourage us more to go to him.
Use V. — Here is caution; take heed not to run into infirmities, as if it were matter of nothing. Why? They must be repented; and it is part of wilfulness, voluntarily and avowedly to do that which he must undo again, and which must necessarily be repented of; as David confesseth his error. Little sins allowed, and customarily committed, on the presumption of a pardon; they are not infirmities, but are of a dangerous nature. If you indulge iniquity, you lose your claim, as those that are devoted to God; you will hazard this, if you indulge your straying humour; and consider, even infirmities may cost us dear; for, though they do not make void the eternal reward, yet usually God reduceth us, not by internal grace, but by some smart providence; as David, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray” (Psalm cxix. 67). God will teach you your duty by briars and thorns, by sharp affliction. And where the distemper is more rooted in us, if it be not an act only, but a kind of rooted distemper, then the dispensation of God’s providence may be very sharp. As Paul’s thorn in the flesh, when he was apt to be lifted up in pride, he prays thrice, the Lord was terrible to him; possibly it was the stone or gout, some racking pain (2 Cor. xii.). Though he prays, God would not release him, but still keeps the pain and trouble upon him; so our strayings will cost us dear. To be sure, they must cost us repentance; but they may cost us a great deal of sorrow in the world. We should not incur the hazard of God’s temporal displeasure. Again, you have no assurance and command of the time and measure of the Spirit’s assistance; and therefore, if you give way to little failings, they may become grievous enormities in the end; and, when you grieve the Spirit, you do what lies in you to drive him from you, and provoke him to suspend his assistance the longer: and therefore, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephes. iv. 30).