and not a nuisance; a fruit-bearing tree, and not a noxious weed, in Thy garden; and therefore I hope that Thou wilt not cut me down, nor root me up, nor let foul creatures trample me under foot.  Have mercy on me, O Lord, in my trouble, for the sake of the truth which I long to learn, and for the good which I long to do.  Poor little weak plant though I may be, I am still a plant of Thy planting, which is doing its best to grow, and flower, and bear fruit to eternal life; and Thou wilt not despise the work of Thine own hands, O Lord, who died that I might live?  Thou wilt not let me perish?  I have stuck unto Thy testimonies:  O Lord, confound me not.

Therefore remember this.  If you wish to have reasonable hope when you have to pray—­“Lord, save me:”  pray first, and pray continually—­“Teach me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I will keep them to the end.”

SERMON XIII.  THE ONE ESCAPE.

PSALM CXIX. 67.

   Before I was troubled, I went wrong:  but now have I kept Thy Word.

Let me speak this afternoon once more about the 119th Psalm, and the man who wrote it.

And first:  he was certainly of a different opinion from nine persons out of ten, I fear from ninety-nine out of a hundred, of every country, every age, and every religion.

For, he says—­Before I was troubled, I went wrong:  but now have I kept Thy Word.  Whereas nine people out of ten would say to God, if they dared—­Before I was troubled, I kept Thy Word.  But now that I am troubled; of course I cannot help going wrong.

He makes his troubles a reason for doing right.  They make their troubles an excuse for doing wrong.

Is it not so?  Do we not hear people saying, whenever they are blamed for doing what they know to be wrong—­I could not help it?  I was forced into it.  What would you have a man do?  One must live; and so forth.  One finds himself in danger, and tries to lie himself out of it.  Another finds himself in difficulties, and begins playing ugly tricks in money matters.  Another finds himself in want, and steals.  The general opinion of the world is, that right-doing, justice, truth, and honesty, are very graceful luxuries for those who can afford them; very good things when a man is easy, prosperous, and well off, and without much serious business on hand:  but not for the real hard work of life; not for times of ambition and struggle, any more than of distress and anxiety, or of danger and difficulty.  In such times, if a man may not lie a little, cheat a little, do a questionable stroke of business now and then; how is he to live?  So it is in the world, so it always was; and so it always will be.  From statesmen ruling nations, and men of business “conducting great financial operations,” as the saying is now, down to the beggar-woman who comes to ask charity, the rule of the world is, that honesty is not the best policy; that falsehood and cunning are not only profitable, but necessary; that in proportion as a man is in trouble, in that proportion he has a right to go wrong.