The Soul's Conflict with Itself

David comforts himself in this, that he should praise God; which shows he had inured himself well before to this holy exercise, in which he found •ch comfort, that he could not but joy in the fore-thoughts of that time, wher• ¹he should have fresh occasion of his •mer acquaintance with GOD. Thoughts of this nature enter not into heart that is strange to God.

David comforts himselfe in this, that he should praise God; which shewes he had inured himselfe well before to this holy exercise, in which hee found •ch comfort, that he could not but joy in the fore-thoughts of that time, wher• ¹he should have fresh occasion of his •mer acquaintance with GOD. Thoughts of this nature enter not into •eart that is strange to God.

1. 1Thoughts of praise should be precious to us.

It is a special Art in time of misery, […] think of matter of joy, if not for the •sent, yet for the time to come; for ⟨p. 430⟩joy disposeth to praise, and praise again stirs up joy; these mutually breed one another, even as the seed brings forth the tree, and the tree brings forth the seed. It is wisdom therefore to set faith on work, to take as much comfort as we can from future promises, that we may have comfort and strength for the present, before we have the full possession of them. It is the nature of faith to antidate blessings, by making them that are to be performed hereafter, as present now, because we have them in the promise. If God had not allowed us to take many things in trust for the time to come, both for his glory, and our good, he would never have left such rich promises to us. For faith doth not only give glory to God for the present (in a present believing of his truth, and relying upon him) but as it looks forward, it sees an everlasting ground of praising God, and is stirred up to praise him now, for that future matter of praise, which it is sure to have hereafter. The very hopes of future good, made David praise God