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XI.

SONGS IN THE NIGHT.

(Delivered on Monday Evening, October 14th, 1850.)

"I call to remembrance my song in the night."-PSALM lxvii. 6.

And who was Asaph? appointed to praise the But he was not only a

THIS psalm is a psalm of Asaph. He was leader of a band of singers Lord in the order of their courses. musician, but a poet; and if in his compositions he has expressed his own views and feelings, he was as pious as he was poetical. This you know is not at all times the case. Gifts and grace do not always combine, as you see in the character of Balaam who had an enlightened understanding and a corrupt heart. You cannot therefore always infer what an author is by his works, as we see in the case of Bacon and others. Dryden wrote some beautiful lines in support of revealed religion. Who has not been affected by reading Burns' "Cottar's Saturday Night"? You may learn truth even from an enemy. I remember hearing Mr. Moore once saying in company, "You may judge of God's estimation of talent in two things: First, from the rareness of its bestowment, for if it were so valuable and useful as some suppose, it would be more general, for God renders things common and general in proportion as they are useful and necessary. The other is the character of those who commonly possess it." Good Mr. Ryland I remember saying something to this effect, when some persons were speaking in favour of a man of great talent, but who was not a good character: "I would rather be without talent if I have not piety; it always does more evil than good if it be not sanctified." The Apostle says, "Covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet I show unto you a more excellent way." As if he should say, "Covet earnestly the best graces," Faith, Hope, Charity; these three; "but the greatest of these is charity." What says Our Lord when referring to some who had talent enough? "Many

shall say unto me in that day saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; have we not eaten and drunk in Thy presence and in Thy name cast out devils, and done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them I never knew you; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." But talents are sometimes sanctified. Milton, who possessed so sublime a genius, dedicated himself to the service and glory of God. Dear Cowper sang

"O happy day that fixed my choice

On Thee, my Saviour and my God;
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad."

And you know how exemplary was the sweet psalmist in our British Israel; how he pointed to heaven and led the way. Doubtless, too, this was the case with Asaph. His language expresses his own views and feelings, but it expresses also the views and feelings of others, and I believe the views and feelings of some who are present here this evening.

"In the day of my trouble," says he, "I sought the Lord; my sore ran in the night and ceased not." What sore? Never were words so strangely rendered, says Patrick; and Scott and Clark tell us that literally rendered they would be, "My hand expanded and was lifted up in prayer, and ceased not to be continued in this action." He did not feel their weakness as Moses did and therefore required to be held up. "And ceased not in the night; " that is, he was engaged in this exercise all the night. "My soul refused to be comforted." This was very wrong. "I remembered God and was troubled : I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed." Then you see in what a sad condition he was. "Thou holdest mine eyes waking; I am so troubled that I cannot speak," that is, he could neither shut his eyes nor open his mouth. What a condition was this to be in! "Thou holdest mine eyes waking; I am so troubled that I cannot speak." But was it always so? No. "I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times." "I have thought of what Thou didst for Abraham, and of what Thou didst for Isaac, and of what Thou didst for Jacob, and of what Thou hast done in the days of old"-yea, and in nights also. "I call to remembrance my song in the night."

What, then, have gracious people nights of darkness? and nights of trouble and sorrow? Yes. So had Asaph,

and "many are the afflictions of the righteous." This may appear strange to some, and it appears strange even to some good men; and they have been ready to ask, “If I am His, why am I thus?" when they are thus because they are His. Surely," you are perhaps ready to say at times, "surely, if the Lord loves us, He would have kept us. Surely a inan would have kept his friend or his child from all suffering if he could. God could have saved us from suffering by a single volition, if He chose. Why, then, did He not? But as Cowper says,

"The path of sorrow, and that path alone.

Leads to the Land where sorrow is unknown;
No traveller e'er reached that blest abode
That found not thorns and briers on the road."

This is a truth as well as good poetry. But if we were to leave the case for reason to determine, I dare say she would decide that the favourites of heaven would be more privileged upon earth, and saved from those troubles and trials which others endure. But "God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways." No! therefore says Solomon, "He that spareth the rod hateth the child, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." There is something analogous here, and which should confirm us in our views of the dispensations of Divine Providence. Thus we know that severity is sometimes evidential of affection, while negligence and indifference are proofs of the want of it. God therefore says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." "If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." So you may remember my telling you of Luther, who in a state of suffering cried out,

"Strike on, Lord, strike on; for now

I know I am Thy child."

Various are the things which produce the nights of darkness and distress of Christians. They have their share of the common evils of human nature. Some are afflicted in regard to their health. Some of you perhaps enjoy such an abundance and continuance of this invaluable blessing that you know not how to sympathise with those who are deprived of it, and with those who are made to possess months of vanity and have wearisome nights appointed to them. You see how many of God's servants mentioned in Scripture were sick, as Lazarus,

of whom his sisters said to the Saviour, "Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick."

Sometimes, too, they are afflicted in their outward condition, that is, in their worldly circumstances; and they are allowed to feel this. Indeed, our trials will never do us any good unless they are felt. The Apostle says, "No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." But if they are insensible under them, and despise the chastening of the Lord, they will derive no benefit from it, and they may provoke God to lay a heavier affliction upon them. Thus you may have seen a child smitten by his father, who has said, "I don't mind that." "Then," says the father," you shall mind;" so he immediately applies the scourge more severely than before. Christians are allowed to feel their trials. How many have I known in my time reduced from affluence to dependence, and when this has been the case they have evinced that grace which has verified the promise, "As thy day so shall thy strength be."

Sometimes also they suffer relatively, and they may suffer more relatively than even the personal sufferers do. Perhaps you are all more or less aware of this. Indeed, all through life in proportion to our affections will be our afflictions, and we suffer more from our connections than from our enemies. Then when they are not outward, when they are not bodily they may be mental, they may be spiritual. Sometimes these are combined, and then the case is very sad. This was the case with David. "My bones are vexed, my soul also is sore vexed, but thou, O Lord, how long?" No affliction is to be compared to this, when both the body and the mind suffer together.

I was one evening at the Lock Chapel, in London, hearing a clergyman preach, who said he had just come from the dying bed of a professor of religion, who told him that he did not know that he ever had any affliction in all his life. "I began to wonder at this, while I thought of the Apostles words, 'Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, and chasteneth every son whom He receiveth:' but when he opened the case of his experience, and mentioned the doubts and the fears, the terrors and the agonies, through which his soul had been led, I did not wonder so much that he escaped all outward trouble."

We little know what some persons suffer. There are some thorns in the flesh driven in so deep that you connot see them,

but the anguish is not the less poignant. Some have complaints and distresses which they can hardly divulge to others, and the heart only knoweth its own bitterness.

Then sometimes God hides His face from His people, and then it is no wonder they should be led to say with David, "Thou didst hide Thy face and I was troubled."

So you see they have their nights of darkness and sorrow: "I call to remembrance my song in the night." The nights may be long and they may be dark, very dark, and yet many songs have been heard in them. God has promised the enjoyment of His presence and blessing. When Christians are entering into trouble, they may look for it, and their friends may look for it on their behalf. Yes, says the God of all grace, "When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the floods, they shall not overflow thee; when thou passeth through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee." Why, says the dear Saviour, "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace." "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "Be of good comfort: I have overcome the world. Ye now have sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy: and your joy no man taketh from you." "I will not leave you comfortless," or as it is in the margin, "I will not leave you orphans." "You must depend upon my presence, and my care." Now these assurances are not like the devil's promises, or like man's, which by the way are much like his; so that you can place no dependence upon them, and you are ready to say, "All men are liars." But "all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us." Depending upon the promises of men is like standing upon cracking ice, one is afraid of being engulfed; but relying upon the promises of Jehovah is like standing upon the earth, which comparatively liveth for ever. Yea, we have something firmer than the earth, for this shall pass away, but His Word shall not pass away; His promises shall be fulfilled.

See how the words before us have been exemplified. Sometimes they have been exemplified even literally. Christians have songs in the night. You see this literally fulfilled in the case of Paul and Silas. They were scourged, and while they were suffering from the scourge, they were thrust into the inner prison, and their feet were made fast in the stocks. But at