Ps. 40:17.

Ps. 40:17.

The godly, on the other hand, “make their boast in the Lord”—

[They know, by bitter experience, that in themselves dwelleth no good thing, yea, nothing but what furnishes matter for the deepest humiliation. But they see in God sufficient to excite their devoutest adoration. Whether they contemplate the perfections of his nature, or the works of his hands, the wonders of his providence, or the riches of his grace, they are filled with wonder and astonishment; and, pouring contempt on all created excellencies, they exclaim, “O God! who is like unto thee?” “Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christc!”]

The Psalmist was the more induced to praise God in a public manner, from a consideration of

  II.      The effect he hoped to produce by this means—

He did not expect any particular benefit to accrue to the proud—

[The proud, alas! are disgusted with even the mention of God’s name, provided it be with reverence and love: nor do they ever speak of him themselves, unless it be to profane his name in oaths and curses. Their aversion to hear of him increases according to the degree in which he is honoured. They will suffer us to speak somewhat of God as he is manifested in creation; but they do not like to be told of his love in redemption. They will bear to hear a little of God (though but little) in his works of providence; but they cannot endure to hear one syllable of his gloriously rich and sovereign grace. If we utter but a word expressive of admiration and love on account of his condescension in revealing himself to our souls, we forfeit at once all title to respectability, and become in their eyes the most contemptible of beings. They would be less offended with oaths and blasphemies and the grossest obscenity, than with one such an expression of love to God.]

But he hoped that to the humble his adorations would afford matter of unfeigned joy—

[The godly are not so free from pride, but that flattery sometimes finds access to their hearts, and proves a gratification to their unwary minds. But in their better seasons, when their airy dreams have vanished, and they obtain juster views of themselves, they most unfeignedly lothe and abhor themselves, and desire that God alone should be exalted. To be told of their own goodness is nauseous and unpalatable: but to hear the praises of their God and Saviour, this is delightful to their souls. It is this that endears to them the ministers of God: he who with the clearest evidence and richest unction exhibits to their view the glory and excellency of their God, will be regarded as their best friend: and every one who in sincerity labours to fulfil this office, will be “esteemed by them very highly in love for his work’s sake.”]

To stir up within ourselves a similar disposition, let us consider,

  III.      His exhortation to co-operate with him in this blessed design—

He calls on all of us to unite with him in praising and adoring God: and his exhortation may well serve as an

  APPLICATION to the foregoing subject. We ask then,

  1.      Is it not a reasonable employment?

[Let any one call to mind the excellencies of God as they are described in Scripture, and then say whether it is not reasonable that we should exalt his name. But more particularly, let the wonders of redemption be surveyed (O wonders inexpressible, and surpassing all comprehension!); let the thought of God’s co-equal, co-eternal Son, becoming man, of his dying upon the cross, of his living again to make intercession for us in heaven; let the thought of this being done to deliver our souls from death, and to restore us to the favour of our offended Father; let this, I say, dwell upon the mind, and we shall see at once the reasonableness of this duty, and the utter unreasonableness of passing one day or one hour without renewed expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving.]

  2.      Is it not a delightful employment?

[Poor indeed is the mirth of this world, when compared with the joy of praising God. This is the work of all the glorified saints and angels: “they rest not day or night, saving, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts!”

And if this be the employment of heaven, what must such an exercise be to us, but a heaven upon earth? It is indeed a foretaste of heaven, as all who have ever engaged in it are constrained to acknowledge: nor, if we were always thus engaged, would any trouble or sorrow be able to molest us: our very afflictions would rather give energy to our souls, and enlarge at once our subjects of praise, and our disposition to abound in it.]

  3.      Is it not a necessary employment?

[It is grievous on such a subject as this to insinuate any thing of an alarming nature: but, if men will not be “constrained by love,” we must endeavour to “persuade them by the terrors of the Lord.”

God declared to his people of old, that, if they would not serve him with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things which he had so liberally bestowed upon them, they should endure all the curses denounced in his law. With how much greater force does this threatening come to us, if we neglect to praise him for the infinitely greater benefits he has conferred on us! We ourselves feel indignant if great and acknowledged virtues be despised, or eminent favours be disregarded. And shall God ever look with complacency on those who are blind to his excellencies, and insensible of his mercies? Whatever we may imagine to the contrary, none shall ever join the choir above, whose hearts have not been tuned to sing God’s praise below.]

DLI

GRATEFUL RECOLLECTIONS

             Ps. 34:6.

This poor man cried; and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

IT is of great advantage to have transmitted to us the experience of God’s saints; because in them we see exhibited, as it were, before our eyes, what we ourselves are authorized to expect. David, in this psalm, records his deliverance from the hands of Achish, king of Gath; who, there was every reason to fear, would have either put him to death or delivered him into the hands of Saul, if God had not mercifully interposed to prevent it. As for the means which David had recourse to, in order to deceive Achish, I am not prepared either to justify or condemn them. To feign himself mad before Achish, was doubtless a very humiliating measure. But, whether it was strictly correct or not, God was pleased to make use of it for the deliverance of his faithful servant from the danger to which, by fleeing to Gath, he had exposed himself: and David, in this psalm, commemorates this gracious interposition, and records it for the benefit of the Church in all future ages.

Let us consider the text,

  I.      As a grateful acknowledgment—

It is not necessary to confine our attention to the immediate occasion of the words, since David uses nearly the same expression in reference to mercies received during the rebellion of Absalom.

Throughout the whole of his life, David received marvellous mercies at the hands of God—

[His temporal deliverances were great on numberless occasions, from the persecutions of Saul — — — the assaults of enemies — — — and the rebellion of Absalom — — — but from all his troubles God had saved him; and for this salvation he did well to offer to God his most grateful acknowledgments.

But what shall I say of the spiritual mercies vouchsafed to him? These were beyond measure great, inasmuch as his terrors were sometimes of the most overwhelming nature— — — and his sins, of almost unparalleled enormity — — — But from all of these had God delivered him, in answer to his prayers; and for these merciful interpositions he most humbly and most thankfully adores his God — — —]

And have not we also innumerable mercies, both temporal and spiritual, to acknowledge?

[True in respect of temporal afflictions, none of us can bear any comparison with him. But still there are few of us who have not experienced some deliverances; and not one who has not reason to bless God, with all possible ardour, for his forbearance, at least, if not also for his pardoning love. Let us call to mind the various interpositions of our God in times of sickness, or trouble, or danger. But more especially, it ever we have cried to God under a sense of our sins, and an apprehension of God’s wrath, and have obtained mercy at his hands, what thanks should not we also render to him for such marvellous mercies! Methinks if we do not call upon all that is within us to bless his holy name, “the very stones will cry out against us.”]

But David intended these words to be considered, also,

  II.      As an instructive record—

The whole preceding part of the psalm shews that it was written by him with this view. “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be continually in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me; and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Yes, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” Behold, then, how plainly it instructs us,

  1.      That there are no troubles so great, but God is able to deliver us from them—

[Neither our temporal nor our spiritual troubles can well exceed those of David: yet, if he was saved from his, why may not we from ours? “Is God’s ear become heavy, that it cannot hear; or is his hand shortened, that he cannot save?” We must on no account limit either the power or the mercy of our God: but “be strong in faith, giving glory to his namei”— — —]

  2.      That there are no troubles so great but God will deliver us from them, in answer to our prayers—

[Who ever heard of any instance wherein God said to a man, “Seek my face in vain?” Jonah was heard from the bottom of the sea; and David, as it were, from the very gates of hell. Manasseh, too, was heard, and accepted, after all his great and aggravated crimes. Let none, then, despond, whatever be his trouble, or whatever his guilt: but let all be assured, that if their faith be only as a grain of mustard-seed, it shall prevail, to the casting of all the mountains, whether of difficulty, or of sin, into the very depths of the sea — — —]

  3.      That answers to prayer, so far from puffing up a man with pride, will invariably humble and abase him—

[Who is it that here designates himself by this humiliating appellation, “This poor man?” It is David, “the man after God’s own heart.” But did not God’s mercies to him puff him up? Quite the reverse. He never was more humble than when most honoured of his God. And so it was with Jacob in the Old Testament; and with the Apostle Paul in the New. If ever there was a man more highly honoured than others, it was the Apostle Paul: yet he still continued to account himself “less than the least of all saintsn,” yea, and as “the very chief of sinners.” And so will divine grace operate on us also. People imagine, that if we profess to have received special answers to prayer, and to have obtained the forgiveness of our sins, we must, of necessity, be elated with pride. But the very reverse of this was the effect produced on the minds of Job, and of the prophet Isaiah, who only lothed themselves the more in proportion as they were honoured of their God: and thus it will be with every real saint: he will account himself “poor” even to his dying hour, and will be ever ready to “prefer others in honour before himselfq.”]

If, then, this retrospective view of God’s mercies be so sweet on earth,

  1.      What must it be, the very instant we arrive at the gates of heaven!

[At the moment of our departure from the body, we shall have a complete view of all God’s dealings with us, whether in his providence or grace. And if here our partial views of these things fill us with such joy and gratitude, what will a full discovery of them do? As to any undue elevation of mind, on account of the mercies vouchsafed to us, it will produce a directly contrary effect: for all the glorified saints cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, and prostrate themselves before him, and sound no other name than his. And there they will have their salvation altogether complete. No further “trouble” to all eternity will they experience; for “all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes for evers.” Oh! look forward to that day with holy delight: and let the foretastes of it, which you here enjoy, stimulate your exertions to honour God, and to obtain a meetness for the blessedness that awaits you.]

  2.      How earnest should you be in commending to others the Saviour you have found!

[The Psalmist sets you the example: “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. Verily, God hath heard me, and hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me!” Thus, then, do ye also. Be not content to go to heaven alone. Tell to those around you the efficacy of prayer; and extol the Saviour, as “able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.” Thus will you fulfil the design of David in transmitting his experience to future ages; whilst you confirm his testimony, by your acknowledgment that God is still as gracious as ever, and an unchangeable Friend to all who come to him in his Son’s name.]

DLII

EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION ENFORCED

             Ps. 34:8.

O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

THERE is, in the minds of many, a prejudice against experimental religion, insomuch that the very name of Christian experience is an object of reproach. But, what is repentance, but a sense of sorrow on account of sin? And what is faith, but a resting of the soul on God’s promised mercy in Christ? And what is love, but a going forth of the soul in kindly affections towards God and man? The heart is the proper seat of religion: “My son,” says God, “give me thine heart:” and, to imagine that we can have hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, excited in the soul, and yet not possess any consciousness of such feelings, is a mere delusion. I mean not to decry those exercises of the mind which are purely intellectual; for they are necessary in their place. But it is not in them that piety consists: they may lay the foundation for piety; but there must be a superstructure of holy affections, before the edifice of religion can be complete.

This is intimated in the words before us: in which it will be proper to notice,

  I.      The experience recommended—

”That the Lord is good,” will admit of no doubt—

[This is seen throughout all the works of Creation; every one of which bears the stamp and character of wisdom and love — — — Nor is it less visible in the dispensations of Providence: for, though we see them very partially, and are constrained to wait the issue of events in order to form a correct judgment respecting them, yet, from what we have seen, who can but acknowledge that “God is good to all, and that his tender mercy is over all his works?” — — — But most of all does his goodness appear in the great mystery of redemption. Who can reflect on that stupendous act of mercy, the giving of his only-begotten Son to die for us, and to bear our sins in his own body on the tree? Who can reflect on the sending of his Holy Spirit to instruct and sanctify us, and on the providing for his people an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and never-fading, reserved for them in heaven? Who, I say, can take ever so slight a survey of these wonders, and not say with the Psalmist, “O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! — — —]

Let us, then, “taste and see how good the Lord is”—

[A man who had been immured all his days in a dungeon would have no conception of the radiance of the sun, in comparison of that which he would acquire by being subjected to the action of its meridian rays: nor will a person who has merely heard,and read of God’s goodness be able to form an estimate of it, in comparison of what he would after having had “the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost.” In the one state he might say, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear;” but, on his transition from it, he might add, “Now mine eye seeth thee.” This is what I would wish respecting you: I would wish all “the goodness of God to pass before you,” if not in visible splendour and in audible sounds, yet in a way perceptible to the organs of faith.

But how is this to be attained? I answer, As Moses was put into the clift of the rock, that he might be capable of sustaining the manifestations of God’s glory, so you must “be found in Christ;” and then you shall behold all “the glory of God shining forth in his face.”]

That we may be stirred up to seek this experience, let us notice,

  II.      The blessedness resulting from it—

A just view of God’s goodness will lead us to trust in him—

[”They that know thy name,” says David, “will put their trust in thee,” They will go to him with all their guilt to be pardoned, and all their corruptions to be mortified, and all their wants to be supplied. Those who know him not, are ever prone to limit either his power or his willingness to save: but those who have “tasted how gracious he is,” will commit to him their every concern, and trust him for body and for soul, for time and for eternity — — —]

And need I ask, whether persons so doing shall be “blessed?”

[Verily it is not in the power of language to declare the full extent of their blessedness. What tranquillity possesses their minds! It is well said, that “their peace passeth understanding,” and their “joy is unspeakable and glorified.” Conscious as they are of their ill desert, they nevertheless feel assured of mercy through the blood of sprinkling. Sensible as they are of a “body of sin and death,” and almost sinking under its weight, they yet can say, “Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Knowing by bitter experience, also, the power and subtlety of Satan, they yet anticipate a final victory over him, and doubt not but that he shall soon be for ever “bruised under their feet.” As for death, they have learned to number it amongst their treasures: and they look forward to a habitation infinitely better than any that this world can afford, even to “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

In every view that can be conceived, these persons are blessed; as indeed the whole Scripture testifies: but more especially does David assure us of it, when, in a solemn appeal to God himself, he says, “O Lord God of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.”]

  ADDRESS—

Are there any amongst you who doubt the blessedness of religion?

[Sure I am, that you can never have had any just experience of it. And what would you yourselves say to any one who should presume, under such circumstances, to judge of earthly things? Would you not reply, you are incompetent to judge? So, then, I say to you, Go first and taste whether God be not good to them that seek him. If you can truly say, that you have sought him with deep penitential sorrow, and he has shut up his bowels of compassion from you; that you have prostrated yourselves at the foot of the cross, and the Lord Jesus has spurned you from his foot-stool; and that you have truly and unreservedly given yourselves up to God, and he has denied you the assistance of his grace; if you will say, that, whilst you have thus turned with your whole heart to God, and retained no allowed sin within you, God has cast out your prayer, and refused to be gracious unto you; I will allow you to be judges in this matter. But where is the man that will dare to stand up and say to the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Thou hast declared that thou wouldst “on no account cast out any who came to thee;” but thou hast falsified thy word in reference to me, and suffered me to seek thy face in vain?’ No: there never yet existed an occasion for such a reproach, nor ever shall, as long as the world shall stand. I say, then, that those who doubt the blessedness of true religion are in darkness even to this very hour, and “speak evil of the things which they understand not.” And, if they pretend that they have endeuvoured to taste whether God were good, and found him not to be so, I hesitate not to say, that the fault has not been in God, but in themselves, in that their taste has been vitiated, and their souls rendered incapable of spiritual discernment.]

To those who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,”

[I would say, Be not satisfied with a taste. God invites you to “eat and drink abundantly,” till you are even “satisfied with his goodnessg.” Such is your privilege, as David has declared: “How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore shall the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings: they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.”

And be careful that you do not become “weary of the Lord.” We read of some, who, having “tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and having tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, yet so fell away, as never to be renewed unto repentance.” Beware, lest that ever become your state. Beware, lest ye so “crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” If men who have never tasted of his grace commit iniquity, they bring no particular disgrace upon religion: but if you, who profess godliness, offend, you cast a stumbling-block before the whole world; who conclude, from what they see in you, that there is not a sufficiency of love in Christ to make you happy, or of grace to make you holy. I pray you, bring not such dishonour upon him, or such guilt upon your own souls: but so “acquaint yourselves with him, that you may be at peace;” and so delight yourselves in him, that “your souls may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, whilst you are praising him with joyful lips.”]

DLIII

THE FEAR OF GOD INCULCATED

  Ps. 34:11–16.

Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good: seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

TO enlighten a dark world, and to guide wanderers into the paths of peace and holiness, is the most glorious office that can be committed to a human being. So at least David thought: for though he was well qualified to teach men the science of music (in which he eminently excelled), or the art of war (in which he was a great proficient), or the principles by which states and kingdoms should be governed, he considered none of those employments comparable to that of instructing men in the principles and practice of true religion. As a prophet of the Lord, (for at the time the psalm was written he was not yet exalted to the throne of Israel,) he regarded all, to whom he had accesss, as his children; and was anxious, as a loving parent, to gain their attention, that he might instil into their minds those truths which he himself felt to be of supreme importance. He wished in particular to shew them, what we also are desirous to point out to you,

  I.      Wherein the fear of the Lord consists—

The fear of the Lord is such a reverential regard to him as inclines us to walk in all things according to his revealed will, and to approve ourselves to him,

  1.      In our words—

[“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak;” and every evil that is in the heart will betray itself by the tongue. Truly the tongue is justly called an unruly member: like a helm of a ship, it is but a small matter; but it boasteth great things. It is declared by God himself to be “a world of iniquity,” “a fire, setting in flames the course of nature, and itself set on fire of hell.” So untameable is it, that the man who bridles it on all occasions is pronounced to be “a perfect man:” whilst, on the other hand, the man who has no command over it, however religious he may fancy himself, or be thought by others, is a self-deceiver, whose religion is vain. It is therefore with great propriety that David specifies the control of the tongue as the first evidence of the fear of God; “Whoso desireth life, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile.” Not only must all profane speeches and all impure communications be forborne, but every thing that is false and deceitful, or corrupt in any way whatever. Every proud, angry, passionate, revengeful word must be suppressed, whatever may be the provocation to utter it: all calumny, detraction, uncharitableness, tale-bearing, must be avoided, and “the law of truth and of kindness be continually in the lips.” God has said, that “of every idle word we must give account in the day of judgment,” and that “by our words we shall be either justified or condemned;” and therefore the fear of the Lord must of necessity cause us to “take heed to our ways, that we sin not with our tongue.”]

  2.      In our actions—

[Sin is “that abominable thing which God hates:” and it should be universally and irreconcileably hated by us: “We must depart from evil, and do good.” Whatever evil we may have been most tempted, and most accustomed, to commit, that is the evil against which we must most watchfully guard, and from which we must most resolutely depart — — — On the other hand, we must be occupied in doing good. The doing of good should be the great business of life: first, the doing good to our own household; then to all our neighbours; then to the Church of God at large. The devising of good, and the executing of good, and the uniting with others in the good devised by them, and the stirring up all around us to do good according to their opportunities and ability; this is a life worthy of a Christian, and necessarily flowing from the fear of God. If we truly fear God, we shall “abhor that which is evil, and cleave (be glued) to that which is good,” and “be fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”]

  3.      In our whole spirit and temper—

[A peaceful, loving spirit will characterize every child of God. “God is love;” and all his children will resemble him in this glorious attribute. True it is, that it is not always possible to be at peace, because some are so wicked and unreasonable that they will take occasion even from our very peacefulness to injure us the more. Hence St. Paul says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Whether we succeed or not, our constant aim and effort must be for peace. For the preservation of it we should account no sacrifice too great: and we should be as studious to promote it amongst others, as to preserve it with ourselves. If we see an unkind spirit prevailing any where, we should endeavour to extinguish the fire, and not, by countenancing it, add fuel to the flame. The evil of contention is so great that no one who possesses heavenly wisdom will engage in it Himself, or encourage it in others. If we fear the Lord indeed, our constant labour will be to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”]

Whilst explaining thus wherein the fear of the Lord consists, the Psalmist points out,

  II.      The importance of cultivating it in our own hearts—

As for those who had no concern about their souls, he did not expect them to hearken to such self-denying lessons as he endeavoured to inculcate: but to those who desired true happiness in this world and the next, he gave the advice which we have already considered. To enforce his advice, he assured them of,

  1.      God’s favour to them that fear him—

[“The eyes of the Lord,” says he, “are upon the righteous, and his ear is open to their cry.” Not a moment are they out of his sight, nor for a moment is he inattentive to their prayers. Are they in danger? He will protect them, and cause his angel to encamp around them, that no enemy may approach to hurt them — — — Are they in want? He will supply them with all that is needful for them. “The lions that could prey upon them shall want and suffer hunger; but they shall want no manner of thing that is good,” for body or for soul, for time or for eternity — — — Are they in trouble? He will assuredly in due time interpose to deliver them. They may have many troubles: but he will deliver them from all, the very instant they have accomplished their destined officef. He sends the trials to purify them from their dross: and he sits by the furnace, ready to bring them out, in the proper season, “purified as gold.” Are they longing for his presence here, and his glory hereafter? He will “be nigh unto their souls” in this world, and will save them in the Lord Jesus Christ with an everlasting salvation in the world to come. In a word, there shall be an infinite distance between them and others: for they shall enjoy all the richest blessings of redemption, whilst those who cast off the fear of God shall be left inconsolably and for ever desolate. What inducements are here to seek that holy disposition of mind inculcated in our text!]

  2.      His indignation against those who fear him not—

[God does not merely withhold his blessings from these persons, but actually becomes their enemy: he does not only turn his face from them, but sets his face against them: “he walks contrary to them who thus walk contrary to him.” Hear how indignantly he speaks to those who profess to reverence him, but in fact dishonour him by their conduct: “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Yea, he declares that whatever profession of religion they may make, they shall never enter into his kingdom: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom or heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” He intimates, that in the day of judgment there will be many who will confidently claim heaven, as it were, on account of their zeal and success in his service: but that, forasmuch as they were destitute of all these holy dispositions, he will not acknowledge them as his, but bid them to depart accursed into everlasting fire. In a word, he declares that by their fruits only shall they be known either in this world or the nextm.

It must however be remembered, that though the exercise of these holy dispositions is pleasing and acceptable to God, it is not meritorious in itself; nor can it found a claim for our justification before God. A reward, it is true, will be given us; but it is “a reward of grace, and not of debt.” It is in Christ only that we can have a justifying righteousness; nevertheless our works will be regarded as the evidences of our faith: if our faith operate in the way above mentioned, we shall be acknowledged as Christ’s redeemed people; but if it do not, it will be considered as dead; and we shall be cast out as hypocrites and self-deceivers.]

  Suffer now a word of EXHORTATION. Two things we entreat of you;

  1.      To labour for practical religion—

[There are many professors of religion who love to hear of the privileges of the Lord’s people, but not to hear of their duties; and they call such subjects as the foregoing, legal: but they who do so, understand neither what legality is, nor what the Gospel is. Legality is a leaning, either in whole or in part, to the works of the law to justify us before God: and if we encouraged that, we might justly be regarded as abandoning and subverting the Gospel of Christ. But, when we teach persons to fear the Lord, and, from a desire of his favour m Christ, and from a dread of his displeasure, to approve themselves to God in the whole of their life and conversation, we do only what the Apostles of our Lord also did: for St. Peter quotes the very words of our text in the precise way in which we have insisted upon them: and therefore we are sure that an attention to them becomes us under the Gospel. We further say, that the people who set themselves up for judges in this way, are ignorant also of the Gospel. The Gospel consists of two parts, doctrine and practice, just as a house consists of a foundation and a superstructure. But who would choose a place for his habitation that has a foundation indeed, but neither walls nor roof? or who would call such a structure a house? So doctrines, however sound, will not answer the ends of the Gospel, nor can they be properly called the Gospel, unless they stand connected with good works as issuing from them and built upon them. The doctrines are the foundation; the good works are the superstructure: and then only are the doctrines available for our salvation, when they operate to the production of universal holiness. This is the account which our blessed Lord himself gives of his Gospel: and he alone is truly wise, who embraces and builds upon it in this view.]

  2.      To cultivate a child-like spirit—

[We have addressed you as “children:” though there may be many present who are “young men and fathers,” yet must we say, that an advance towards Christian perfection will always be manifested by a proportionate growth in humility. Our blessed Lord told his Apostles, that whoever amongst them most fully attained the tempers and dispositions of a “little child, the same would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Let your growth then be seen in this way: then, whatever be taught you, it will be “received with meekness, as an engrafted word, able and effectual to save your souls.” Indeed without this disposition of mind no man can have that “honest and good heart,” which alone will nourish the seed that is sown in it, and enable it to “bring forth fruit unto perfection.”

To those who are really but young in age, a teachable spirit is indispensable to their improvement. O let such listen to the voice of their teachers with humility and gratitude! let them especially also look unto the Holy Spirit of God, to apply the word unto their hearts: and let them “not be hearers only of the Gospel, but doers of it also,” lest the privileges they enjoy lead only to the deceiving and ruining of their own souls.]

DLIV

THE BROKEN AND CONTRITE IN HEART ENCOURAGED

  Ps. 34:18.

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

THE objects of God’s favour are very frequently designated by the exalted title of “The righteous:” “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous:” “Many are the afflictions of the righteous:” “They that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” But, a person of an humble spirit finds it difficult to assume to himself this character, because of the innumerable imperfections of which he is conscious; and, consequently, he is backward to claim the promises assigned to it. But the terms whereby the Lord’s people are characterized in our text are such as the most humble may appropriate to themselves without vanity: and whatever is promised to them under that character, they may regard as their legitimate and assured portion.

The words before us will naturally lead me to shew,

  I.      What is that spirit which the Lord approves—

There is a brokenness of heart which God does not approve, because it proceeds altogether from worldly sorrow: but that which is associated with contrition is truly pleasing in his sight.

Let us more distinctly see what the spirit here designated is—

[It is called “a broken heart, and a contrite spirit.” It is founded altogether in a sense of sin, and in a consciousness of deserving God’s wrath on account of sin. It is, however, no light sense of sin, but such an one as David had, when he said, “Mine iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burthen, they are too heavy for me:” “Mine iniquities have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth med.” Nor is it merely on account of the penalty annexed to transgression that they are so oppressed, but on account of its hateful nature, as defiling and debasing their souls. Hence they “lothe themselves,” as vile, and base, and filthy, and abominable: yea, to their dying hour do they retain this humiliating sense of their own corruptions, notwithstanding they have a hope that God is pacified towards them; and even the more on account of that very mercy which they have experienced at his hands.

Shall it be thought that such a sense of sin can become those only who have been guilty of some flagrant enormities? I answer, It befits the most moral person upon earth, no less than the most abandoned sinner. I say not that the moral and the immoral are upon a perfect level, either in the sight of God or man; for, beyond all doubt, all are hateful in proportion to the greatness and multitude of their iniquities: but there is no person so virtuous, but that he needs to be humbled before God in dust and ashes. Let any man, however virtuous, look back upon his past life, and see how far he has been from God, and how entirely he has lived to himself. Let him consider how little sense he has had of his obligations to God, especially for all the wonders of redeeming love — — — and how often he has “done despite to the Holy Spirit,” in resisting his sacred motions, and in deferring that great work which he knew to be necessary for the salvation of his soul. We quite mistake, if we think that guilt attaches only to flagrant immoralities: the living without God in the world is the summit and consummation of all guilt: and where is the man who must not plead guilty to that charge? I suppose that no one will be found to arrogate to himself a higher character than that of Job, who, according to the testimony of God himself, was “a perfect and upright man:” yet did even Job, when led into just views of himself, exclaim, “Behold, I am vile!” “I repent therefore, and abhor myself in dust and ashes.”]

This is the spirit which God approves—

[This, how unamiable soever it may appear in the eyes of men, is most pleasing in the sight of God. And well it may be so: for it honours God’s Law. The man who is not thus abased before God, declares, in effect, that there is no great evil in disregarding God’s Law, and that there is no occasion for those who have transgressed it to be ashamed. But the truly contrite person who lothes himself for his iniquities, acknowledges that “the Law is holy, and just, and good,” and that every transgression of it is a just ground for the deepest humiliation.

Moreover, the contrition here spoken of justifies God’s denunciations against sin. The unhumbled sinner says, in effect, God will not execute judgment: nor have I any cause to tremble for his displeasure: and if he were to consign me over to perdition on account of my sins, he would be unmerciful and unjust. On the contrary, the man whose heart is broken bears a very different testimony. He acknowledges that he deserves God’s wrath and indignation; and that, whatever sentence the Judge shall pass upon him, he will be fully justified as not inflicting more than his iniquities have deserved.

Above all, the contrite person manifests a state of mind duly prepared for the reception of the Gospel. “What shall I do to be saved?” is his cry from day to day: and, when he finds that the Gospel makes known to him a Saviour, O! how gladly does he embrace the proffered mercy! how thankfully does he renounce all hope in himself, and put on him the unspotted robe of Christ’s righteousness! The unhumbled sinner can hear the glad tidings of salvation without feeling any deep interest in them: but the truly contrite person regards the Saviour, as the man who had accidentally slain a neighbour regarded the city of refuge: he knows that in Christ alone he can find safety; and he has no rest in his soul till he has fled for refuge to the hope set before him.

Thus, whilst the person that is “whole feels no need of the physician, the sick” and dying patient commits himself entirely to his care, and thankfully follows the regimen he prescribes. Well, therefore, may God approve of him, since he, and he alone, appreciates aright the gift of God’s only dear Son to be the Saviour of the world.]

But it will be proper to inquire,

  II.      In what way he will testify his approbation of it—

A person bowed down with a sense of sin is ready to fear that God will never shew mercy to one so undeserving of it. But God promises, in our text, that,

  1.      “He will be nigh unto them that are of a broken heart”—

[God, being everywhere present, may be supposed to be as near to one person as another. And so he is, if we regard his essence. But there are manifestations of the Divine presence, which the world at large have no conception of, but which are experienced by all who follow after God in the exercise of prayer and faith. The Apostle spoke not in his own person only, but in the person of believers generally, when he said, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” We are taught to expect, that if we “draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to us:” he will “lift up the light of his countenance upon us:” he will “shed abroad his love in our hearts:” he will enable us to cry with holy confidence, “Abba, Father;” and will “witness with our spirits that we are his.”

Is any one disposed to ask, “How can these things be?” “How u it that God will manifest himself to his people, and not unto the world?” This is the very question which one of the Apostles put to our Lord; who, in reply, confirmed the truth he had asserted; saying, “If any man love me, ho will keep my words: and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”]

  2.      “He will save those that be of a contrite spirit”—

[Many are their fears in relation to their final happiness: but “God will never suffer so much as one of his little ones to perish.” The contrite in particular he will save: for “he looketh upon men; and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” Their temptations maybe many; but “He will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able; but will with the temptation make also for them a way to escape, that they may be able to bear it.” However numerous or potent their enemies may be, “he will deliver them out of the hands of all,” and “make them more than conquerors over allo.” In a word, “He will save them with an everlasting salvation; nor shall they be ashamed or confounded world without end.”]

But the text leads me rather to shew you,

  III.      What present encouragement the very existence of it affords to those in whom it is found—

The contrition which has been before described is the fruit and effect of God’s love to the soul—

[“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” There is no work of divine grace more difficult than this. The taking away of the stony heart, and the giving a heart of flesh, is a new creation; and discovers as clearly the operation of Omnipotence as the universe itself. It is the very beginning of salvation in the soul. A person under a deep sense of sin is apt to imagine that God will not have mercy upon him: but his very contrition is a proof and evidence that God has already imparted to him his grace. What a reviving consideration is this to the humble penitent! God is nigh thee: he is in the very act of saving thee. Why, then, art thou cast down? Why art thou “saying, The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten me?” Does the greatness of thy guilt appal thee? Who shewed to thee thy sins? Who opened thine eyes? Who softened thy heart? Who disposed thee to condemn thyself, and to justify thy God? Is this thine own work, or the work of any enemy? Does not the very nature of the work itself constrain thee to say, “He that hath wrought me to this self-same thing, is God?”]

It is also the earnest and foretaste of your eternal inheritance—

[Would God have done such things for thee, if he had designed ultimately to destroy thee? These are only as the first-fruits, which sanctified and assured the whole harvest. He has expressly told us, that the gift of his “Spirit is an earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession.” You are aware what an earnest is: it is not only a pledge of future blessings, but the actual commencement of them in the soul. And, if you will survey the heavenly hosts, you will find that this very abasement of their souls before God is a striking feature in their character, and a grand constituent of their bliss. They all, with lowhest self-abasement, fall on their faces before the throne of God, whilst, with devoutest acclamations, they ascribe salvation to God and to the Lamb. Learn, then, to view all your feelings in their proper light; so shall you “from the eater bring forth meat, and from the strong shall bring forth sweet.”]

Let me not, however, CONCLUDE without addressing a few words,

  1.      To those in whom this spirit is not found—

[You, alas! have no part or lot in the blessedness which is prepared for the broken in heart. Look at the Pharisee and the Publican: the one was filled with self-complacency, on account of his own fancied goodness; whilst the other dared not even to lift up his eyes to heaven, on account of his own conscious unworthiness. But it was the latter, and not the former, who found acceptance with God: and in all similar characters shall the same event be realized, as long as the world shall stand. Humble yourselves, therefore, whoever ye be; for in that way only have ye any hope that God shall lift you up.]

  2.      To those who are dejected by reason of it—

[Forget not, I beseech you, for what end the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world: Was it not to bind up the broken heart; and to give to those who “mourn in Zion, to give,” I say, “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness?” And, if the greatness of your past sins appear an obstacle in your way, has he not told you, that “where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound?” Yield not, then, to desponding thoughts, nor limit the mercy of your God: but know assuredly, that he will “heal the broken in hearty,” and that all who come unto the Saviour heavy-laden with their sins shall be partakers of his promised rest.]

DLV

THE SINNER’S HOPE

             Ps. 35:3.

Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

SUSPENSE is extremely painful to the human mind, and the more so in proportion to the danger to which we are exposed. David experienced this in a very high degree. In the psalm before us he appears to have been greatly agitated with fear on account of the number and malignity of the enemies who sought his ruin, and were exulting in the expectation of his speedy fall. Seeing no hope for himself in the efforts of his adherents, he betook himself to prayer, and with most earnest importunity implored that help from his Creator which the creature was unable to afford. And as it was with an armed host that he was beset, he addressed the Lord under the character of a mighty warrior, to stand forth in his defence: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight thou against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.”

This last petition I propose to consider,

  I.      As offered by him—

Nothing could exceed the bitterness of David’s enemies—

[If we mark the diversified expressions in this psalm, we shall have some idea of the danger to which he was exposed. Saul having determined if possible to destroy him, his subjects of every description leagued together to execute his will. “False witnesses rose up, and laid to David’s charge things which he knew not;” and, in confirmation of their accusations, declared that they were eye-witnesses of the acts imputed to him. Among the number of these were many on whom he had conferred the greatest obligationsb, and to whom he had given no just occasion of offence. “They devised deceitful matters against himd:” “they hid a net for him, and digged a pit for his soul.” To encourage one another in their odious work, “they winked with their eyef;” and, when they thought they had prevailed against him, “they rejoiced in his adversity;” and “magnified themselves against himh,” and “said in their hearts, Ah! so would we have it: we have swallowed him up.” The very abjects, encouraged by the example of their superiors, gathered themselves together against him, and tare him incessantly; whilst hypocritical mockers in their feasts, (pretending to more humanity,) yet “gnashed upon him with their teeth.” In a word, all classes of the commmunity lay in wait for his soull, and, like lions prowhng for their prey, sought to destroy and to devour him.]

Under these circumstances he cried to God for help—

[The particular expression in our text is worthy of notice, especially as shewing what thoughts the Psalmist entertained of God. He believed that God was able to deliver him, how powerful soever his enemies might be. He knew, that if God was for him, “no weapon that was formed against him could prosper.” Nor did he doubt the goodness of God, as willing to hear and answer his petitions, and to afford him the protection which he so earnestly desired. But that which chiefly demands our attention is, his persuasion of the condescension of the Most High, in that he prayed, nor merely for deliverance, but for such an assurance of it to his soul, as should calm all the tumult of his mind, and fill him with perfect peace.

Now this was the sure way to succeed in prayer. Nothing so secures the interposition of God in our behalf, as the magnifying of him in our hearts: “Them that honour him, he will honour.” If we limit his mercies, he will limit his gifts, If we doubt his power or willingness to help, he will withhold such displays of his mercy as he would otherwise have vouchsafed. On the other hand, if we be steadfast in believing expectations of his mercy, we shall have such discoveries of his glory as an unbelieving heart has no conception ofo. We should never forget, that there is nothing too great to ask of God. We never can “open our mouth, so wide, but he will fill it:” nor can we ever be more enlarged in our petitions towards him, than he will be in his communications towards usq.]

But the petition in our text is still more deserving of attention—

  II.      As suited to us—

Imminent as David’s dangers were, they were not to be compared with those to which we are exposed—

[David’s enemies might be eluded, intimidated, vanquished: but those with which the soul of every sinner is encompassed can never be eluded, never be overcome.

Sin is a deadly foe, that seeks to destroy every child of man. It lies in wait for us, to allure, to deceive, to ruin us. It clothes itself in specious array: it comes with a friendly aspect: it bids us fear no harm: it tells us, “We shall have peace, though we yield to its fascinations.” But it is no sooner committed, than it is registered in the book of God’s remembrance, and will come forth at a future period as a swift witness against all whom it has deceived. From man it may be hidden: and even by those who have committed it, it may be forgotten: but “it hunts the wicked man to overthrow him;” and though it do not immediately seize the sinner as its prey, “it will be sure to find him out,” and, like a millstone about his neck, to sink him into everlasting perditionu.

The law of God also follows with its curses all who have transgressed its commands. It is inexorable. It is a creditor that cannot be satisfied, or appeased. It will take the sinner by the throat, saying, “Pay me that thou owest:” and, when we cannot discharge our debt, “it will listen to no entreaties, but will cast us into prison, till we have paid the uttermost farthing.” God himself appealed to his people of old respecting this: “My words, and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned, and said, Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” Of the six hundred thousand men who came out of Egypt, how many entered into Canaan? None, except Joshua and Caleb; who “had followed the Lord fully.” Against all the rest a sentence of death was denounced in the very first year of their sojourning in the wilderness: and at the close of the forty years a minute inquiry was instituted; and not one was found alive. So it will be found in the last day, that of all the threatenings in the book of God not one has fallen to the ground; and that, of all who mourned not over their transgressions of the law, not one escaped the vengeance of his God. God has said, “Their foot shall slide in due time:” he has declared that “they shall all be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget himb:” that “he will rain upon them snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; and that this shall be the portion of their cup:” he has declared it, I say; and, whether we will believe it or not, his law shall be thus honoured, and his justice shall be thus magnified, on every impenitent transgressor: for already is he “whetting his sword for the execution of his vengeance upon them; and soon will he make his arrows drunk with their blood.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall diee.”

There is yet another adversary, who is lying in wait for our souls, and, like a roaring lion, going about, seeking to devour us; and that is Satan: nor can we have any conception of the wiles and devices to which he has recourse, in order to accomplish his malignant purpose. Even in Paradise he prevailed to ensnare and ruin our first parents: and the same temptations he puts in our way, assuring us, that, in following his counsel, we shall have unqualified pleasure, and happiness without alloy. He is in Scripture compared to “a fowler; and, like a fowler, he spreads his nets, and allures us by temptations suited to our appetites, and by the example of sinners whom he has already ensnared, and whom he makes use of to decoy us. We see nothing but the promised gratification; and whilst one or another invites us to participate his supposed joys, we flock to him, “without considering that it is for our life.” Thus it is the drunkard, the whoremonger, the adulterer is ensnared: he thinks of nothing but his pleasure: but the fowler who lays the snare, foresees and prognosticates the end. Having succeeded in “taking us alive,” he “keeps us in peacei,” and does all he can to hide from us our bondage: but he knows, that they who now yield to his solicitations as a tempter, will soon experience his power as a tormentor.

Another enemy also that is confederate against us, is death. He is waiting every moment to execute his commission against us; well knowing, that the instant he can inflict the stroke he meditates, all hope of our deliverance is at an end for ever. He has his eye steadily fixed on persons of every age and station: and the instruments he has at his command are as numerous as the sands upon the sea-shore. When he comes in his more visible and gradual assaults, he contrives to hide his ultimate designs, and to divert the minds of the sufferers from the thoughts of an hereafter. As the avenger of sin he entered into the world: and in the same character he is daily sweeping millions from the earth, and bearing in malignant triumph his unhappy victims to the tribunal of their God.

Hell too combines with all the rest, and is opening wide its jaws to receive its destined prey. What the prophet said respecting the king of Babylon, may be said to every impenitent sinner under heaven: “Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming.” As in that instance “it stirred up the chief ones of the earth, and raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations” to exult over the fallen monarch, so those persons who were once our partners in sin, or whom by our example we hardened in their iniquities, will all come forth to meet us, that they may in the midst of all their own torments have the malignant pleasure of beholding and of aggravating ours. It is said, that in the last day “the angels will bind up sinners in bundles to burn them;” and for this end, no doubt, that they who have been associates in wickedness may, by their mutual execrations, augment each other’s misery to all eternity. For this all hell is waiting. We are told indeed respecting the Rich Man, who lifting up his eyes in torments, desired that a messenger might be sent to his five surviving brethren, to “warn them, lest they also should come into the same place of torment:” but this was not from any love to them, but from self-love; knowing as he did by bitter experience, how greatly his own sufferings would be increased by the reproaches of those whom by his influence and example he had so contributed to destroy.

Know ye then, Beloved, that if David was in danger from the thousands who sought his life, so are ye ten thousand times more in danger from sin, which deceives you; from the law, which denounces its curse against you; from Satan, who arms against you all the hosts of hell; from death, that is ever waiting to cut you down: and from hell, that is already yawning to swallow you up.]

Say then whether David’s petition be not altogether suited to our state?

[To whom will you go for salvation, if not to the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you look to any efforts of your own? Can you ever cancel the guilt of sin? Can you ever satisfy the demands of God’s law? Can you ever vanquish Satan and all the powers of darkness? Can you ever overcome death and hell, so that they shall lose all their terrors, and have no power over you? The hope of any such thing were vain: it is impossible: and if the whole world were combined to aid you, they could effect nothing. “Though hand joined in hand” throughout the globe, “no sinner in the universe could go unpunished.” None can ever blot out one single sin, but He who made atonement for sin by the blood of his cross. None can silence the demands of God’s law, but He who endured its penalties, and obeyed its precepts, in order that he might “bring in an everlasting righteousness,” and “make us the righteousness of God in him.” None can “bruise Satan under our feet,” but He who “triumphed over him upon the cross,” and in his ascension “led captivity itself captive.” None can divest death and hell of their terrors, but “He who has the keys of both, and openeth so that none can shut, and shutteth so that none can open.”

Go then to him for it in David’s words; “Lord, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” Offer this petition humbly: offer it earnestly: offer it in faith — — — Never, from the foundation of the world, did he cast out one who came to him in sincerity and truth. If you plead with him in faith, all these enemies shall be subdued before you; and all your sorrows be turned into joy. See, in the prophecies of Isaiah, what your state shall then be: “In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Here you see that he will not only give you the deliverance you desire, but the assurance of it also, saving to your soul, “I am thy salvation.” Beloved Brethren, think what blessedness you will then enjoy. See it in David: “My soul, wait thou only upon God: for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” He then encourages you to follow his example: “Trust in him at all times, ye people: pour out your hearts before him: God is a refuge for us.” This is the very advice which I would give also: “Pour out your hearts before him, and trust in him.” For what happiness can you possess in this world, whilst your soul, your immortal soul, is in such imminent danger? If you were only, like David, encompassed with armed hosts that were seeking to destroy you, you would be full of alarm and terror: and can you enjoy a moment’s ease, while it is doubtful whether in the space of a few days you shall not lie down in everlasting burnings? I pray you to awake from your security: and “give neither sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids,” till you have a good and well-founded hope, that Jesus is your Saviour, and till you are enabled to say with Paul, “He has loved me, and given himself for me.” ]

DLVI

COMPASSION TO THE SICK

  Ps. 35:13, 14.

As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

THE precepts of Christianity appear to be so pure and exalted, that all attempt to obey them must be vain. This is particularly the case with respect to the conduct which is to be observed towards those who injure us. To forgive them, is not sufficient. We must not only forbear to avenge ourselves upon them, but must do them good, and act towards them with most unbounded benevolence: “I say unto you,” says our Lord, “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.” But this duty is by no means impracticable: for even under the Law it was practised to an astonishing extent by David, who laboured to the uttermost, not only “not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.”

Scarcely any thing could exceed the bitterness of Saul towards his servant David: yet when David had him altogether, and as it should seem by a special intervention of Providence, in his power, he would neither hurt him himself, nor suffer him to be hurt by others: nay more, when either Saul, or any of those who joined with him in his relentless persecution of an unoffending servant, were stricken with any disease by God himself, so far from rejoicing at it, or even being unconcerned about it, he laid it to heart, and set himself by fasting and prayer to obtain for them a removal, or at least a sanctified improvement of their sufferings: in a word, he felt for them as if they had been his dearest friends, or his most honoured relatives.

Whilst this conduct of David evinced the height of his attainments in relation to a forgiving spirit, it shewed how justly he estimated the condition of a man oppressed with sickness, and at the same time destitute of the consolations of religion, and unprepared to meet his God. This is a subject deserving of peculiar attention: for, in truth, it is very seldom viewed as it ought to be, even by religious characters. Slighter feelings of sympathy are common enough: but such as are described in our text are rarely experienced. To excite them in all our hearts, we shall shew,

  I.      How much the sick stand in need of our compassion—

Ungodly men, whether in health or sickness, are in a truly pitiable condition; for “they are walking in darkness, and ignorant whither they are going,” whilst they are on the very brink and precipice of the bottomless abyss of hell. But in sickness they are peculiar objects of our compassion: for,

They are then bereft of all that they before enjoyed—

[The pleasures of society, the sports of the field, the amusements of the theatre or the ball, and even the researches of science, have now lost their relish — — — They have neither strength nor spirits for such employments. Even the light itself, which is so cheering to those in health, is almost excluded from their chamber, because of their inability to endure its splendour.]

Nor have they any substitute to repair their loss—

[Those who were their companions in pleasure, have no taste for those things which alone would administer comfort in this trying hour. They may make from time to time their complimentary inquiries, but they cannot sympathize with the afflicted, and, by participation, lighten their burthens. If they come to visit their friend, they have nothing to speak of but vanity, nothing that can strengthen his weak hands, or sustain his troubled mind. “Miserable comforters are they all, and physicians of no value.” Nor does the sick person himself find it so easy to turn his mind to heavenly things as he once imagined. When immersed in the world, he supposed that it would be time enough to think of eternity when he should be laid aside by sickness; and he concluded that m that season he should feel no difficulty in turning his mind to heavenly contemplations: but he now finds that this is a very unfavourable season for such employment, and that pain or lassitude unfit him for them. He cannot collect his mind; he cannot fix it with any energy on things to which it has been a stranger: and the feelings of the body almost incapacitate him from attending to the concerns of the soul. Thus, however he may abound in worldly wealth and honour, he is a poor, destitute, unhappy being — — —]

But the distress of the sick is greatly aggravated, if poverty be added to all their other trials—

[A poor man in a state of health is as happy as his richer neighbours: but when he falls into sickness, his condition is very pitiable. He is unable to procure the aid which his disorders call for: yea, he cannot provide even the necessaries of life. His family, deprived of his earnings, fall into the extremest want. The little comforts which they have hitherto had for clothing by day and for rest by night, now are sold one after another to supply food for the body, or are pledged never more to be redeemed. Cold, hunger, and nakedness greatly aggravate the pressure of their disorders; and the miseries of a dependent family are an overwhelming addition to the weight already insupportable. The resources which might somewhat alleviate the sorrows of one in opulence, are wholly wanting to the poor: so that, if they have not the consolations of religion to support them in their sickness, they are objects of the deepest commiseration.]

Let us then consider,

  II.      What is that measure of compassion which we ought to exercise towards them—

If we consider only the temporal distress of the sick, our sympathy with them should be deep—

[It is not sufficient to express a few words of commiseration, and to send a little relief; we should feel for them as for ourselves; and bear a part of their burthens on our spirit, no less than in our purse. It was in this way that Job exercised this amiable disposition: “Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?” And it is in this way that we also must fulfil the law of Christb — — —]

But more especially should we feel this from a regard for their souls—

[Pious as David was, we can have no doubt but that in his griefs for Saul and Doeg, he had respect to their spiritual, as well as their temporal, condition. And this accounts for the strong feelings expressed in our text. He knew in what a fearful state they would be found, if they should die impenitent: and therefore, to obtain for them, if possible, a deliverance from such a heavy judgment, he fasted, and prayed, and clothed himself with sackcloth, and pleaded with God in their behalf, just as if they had been his dearest friends or relatives. He forgat all the injuries which they had done him, and were daily heaping upon him, from a persuasion that they did infinitely greater injury to their own souls, than it was possible for them to do to him. The thought of the danger in which they were of perishing for ever, quite overwhelmed him, so that he was bowed down, and as it were inconsolable, on their account. Now this is precisely the state in which our minds should be towards persons on a bed of sickness, whether they be rich or poor, friends or enemies. Their souls should be precious in our eyes: and we should exercise towards them that very same love which filled the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.” Nor let it be thought that this is proper for ministers only, or for those who have nothing else to occupy their time. David was accustomed to scenes of blood, and occupied day and night with the laborious duties of a General; yet he blended the feelings of sympathy and compassion with the intrepidity and ardour of a man of war. In like manner should we, however high our station, or numerous our engagements, find time and inclination for all the offices of Christian love.]

That we may be stirred up to such benevolence, let us contemplate,

  III.      The benefit that will accrue from it to our own souls—

Our exertions, however great, may not always prosper in the way we could wish—

[We fear that Saul and Doeg were but little profited by the sympathy of David. And we also may abound in visiting the sick, and see but little fruit of our labour. Indeed, much of the fruit which we think we see, proves only like the blossom that is soon nipped by the frost, and disappoints our expectations. Not that our labour shall be altogether in vain. We are persuaded, that if we labour with assiduity and tenderness to benefit the souls of men, God will make some use of us. Like Isaiah, we may have occasion to say, “Who hath believed our report?” yet, like him, we shall have in the last day some to present to the Lord, saying, “Here am I, and the children thou hast given me.” “The bread that we have cast upon the waters shall, in part at least, be found after many days.” ]

But our labour shall surely be recompensed into our own bosom—

[So David found it: his fastings and prayers, if lost to others, were not lost to himself: “they returned into his own bosom.” And thus it will be with us. The very exercise of love, like the incense which regales the offerer with its odours, is a rich recompence to itself. Moreover, every exercise of love strengthens the habit of love in our souls, and thereby transforms us more and more into the Divine image. And may we not say, that exercises of love will bring God himself down into the soul? We appeal to those who are in the habit of visiting the chambers of the sick, whether they have not often found God more present with them on such occasions than at any other time or place? Have they not often, when they have gone with coldness, and even with reluctance, to visit the sick, received such tokens of God’s acceptance, as have filled them with shame and self-abhorrence, for not delighting more in such offices of love?

But, if even here so rich a recompence is given, what shall we receive hereafter, when every act of love will be recorded, acknowledged, recompensed; and not even a cup of cold water given for the sake of Christ, shall lose its reward? Little as we think of such actions, (and little we ought to think of them as done by ourselves) our God and Saviour regards them with infinite delight, and will accept every one of them as done unto himself: “I was sick and in prison, and ye visited ME.” Let all then know, if they thus invite the sick, the lame, the blind, to participate with them in their temporal and spiritual advantages, “they shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      The poor—

[We have represented you as in some respects under great disadvantages in a time of sickness: but in other respects the advantage is altogether on your side. The friends of the rich are almost uniformly bent on keeping from them all those who would seek to benefit their souls: and, if one get access to them, one scarcely dares to speak, except in gentle hints and dark insinuations; whilst their friends in general are doing all they can to divert their minds from all serious religion. But such friends as these give themselves no trouble about you; whilst the benevolent Christian who visits you begins at once to instruct you in the things that belong to your everlasting peace. Thus all the treasures of redeeming love are opened to you, whilst they are studiously withheld from the rich; and all the consolations of the Gospel are poured into your souls, whilst even a taste of them is denied to thousands, either through their own contempt of Christ, or through the blindness and prejudice of ungodly friends. Know ye then, that if on account of your want of temporal comforts we compassionate your state, we rather congratulate you on the advantages you enjoy for your immortal souls. God has said, that “he has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom;” and therefore we call upon you to take this into your estimate of your condition, and to adore God for having chosen better for you than you would have chosen for yourselves.]

  2.      Those who engage in visiting the poor—

[This is a good and blessed office, in the conscientious discharge of which, religion in no small degree consists. Abound then, as far as your situation and circumstances will admit of it, in this holy work: but take especial care that you perform it in a proper spirit. If you would have those whom you visit to weep, you yourself must be filled with compassion, and weep over them. This is a state of mind which an angel might envy. Never did Jesus himself appear more glorious, not even on Mount Tabor, than when he wept at the grave of Lazarus. Nor does God ever delight in his people more than when he sees them abounding in acts of love to men for their Redeemer’s sakeh. Only see to it that you “draw out not your purse only, but “your souls” also to the afflicted, and God will recompense it into your bosom an hundred-fold.]

  3.      The congregation at large—

[In order to administer relief to any extent, considerable funds are necessary: and where any measure of benevolence exists, it will be a pleasure to contribute towards the carrying on a work of such incalculable importance. When St. Paul went up to confer with the Apostles at Jerusalem, they added nothing to his knowledge of the Gospel; “only they would that he should remember the poor: the same which I also (says he) was forward to do.” To you then would we recommend the same benevolent disposition; and we pray God that there may be in you the same readiness to cultivate it to the uttermost. All may not have time or ability to do much in instructing and comforting the poor: but all, even the widow with a single mite, may testify their love to the poor, and their desire to advance the good work in which a select number are engaged. Even those who are “in deep poverty may abound unto the riches of liberality.” Let all then “prove the sincerity of their love to Christ” by their compassion to his poor membersm; and let them know, that “even a cup of cold water given for his sake shall in no wise lose its reward.”]

DLVII

AWFUL STATE OF UNGODLY MEN

             Ps. 36:1.

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

WHEN we speak of the wickedness of mankind, that command of our Lord is frequently cast in our teeth, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” But this command refers to an uncharitable ascribing of good actions to a bad principle; which, as we cannot see the heart, we are by no means authorized to do. But, if it do not authorize us to “call good evil,” it assuredly does not require us to “call evil good.” If we see sin, it is no uncharitableness to pronounce it sin: and, if the sin be habitual, it is no uncharitableness to say, that the heart from which it proceeds is bad and depraved. We are told by our Lord, that “the tree is to be judged of by its fruit; and that as a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so neither can a good tree habitually bring forth evil fruit.” An error, and even a fault may be committed, without detracting from a person’s general character: but a sinful course of life involves in it, of necessity, a corruption of heart, and carries with it, to any dispassionate mind, a conviction that the person who pursues that course has not within him the fear of God. This was the impression made on David’s mind, when he said, “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.”

In confirmation of this sentiment, I will shew,

  I.      How God interprets sin—

God views sin not merely as contained in overt acts, but as existing in the soul: and he judges of its malignity, not according to its aspect upon social happiness, but as it bears on himself, and affects his honour. Throughout the whole Sacred Volume, God speaks of it in this view. He represents sin as striking at the relation which subsists between him and his creatures:

  1.      As adultery—

[He is the Husband of his Church, and claims our entire and exclusive regardsc. When these are alienated from him, and fixed on the creature, he calls it adultery: and hence St. James, speaking of those who sought the friendship of the world, addresses them as “adulterers and adulteressese;” because, as the Spouse of Christ, they have placed on another the affections due to him alone.]

  2.      As rebellion—

[God, as the Governor of the universe, requires us to obey his laws. But sin is an opposition to his will, and a violation of his laws: and therefore God says respecting it, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Here, let it be observed, it is not the overt act, but the disposition only, that is so characterised: and, consequently, if the very disposition as existing in the soul is an equivocal proof of the wickedness of the heart, much more must the outward act, and especially the constant habit of the life, be considered as a decisive evidence that the soul itself is corrupt.]

  3.      As idolatry—

[God alone is to be worshipped: and to put any thing in competition with him is to make it an idol. Hence the love of money is called idolatry: and the indulgence of a sensual appetite is to “make our belly our god.” And hence St. John, having set forth “the Lord Jesus as the true God and eternal life,” guards us against any alienation of our hearts from him, in these memorable words: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” And here let me again observe, it is the disposition, and not any outward act, that has this construction put upon it.]

  4.      As downright atheism—

[It is represented as a denial of all God’s attributes and perfections. It denies his omnipresence and omniscience; since men, in committing it, say, “How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of the heaven,” and is at no leisure to attend to what is done on earth. It denies his justice and his holiness: it says, “I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my heart.” “God will never require at my hands what I dom.” “He will not do good; neither will he do evil.” So far from having any thing to fear from God, “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in themo.” Sin denies yet further the right of God to control us: “We are Lords; we will come no more to thee:” “Our lips are our own; who is Lord over usq?” “What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit is there, that we should pray unto him?” It even denies the very existence of God: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Hence St. Paul calls us “Atheists in the worldt.” Men will not say all this with their lips; but it is the language of their lives, and therefore of their hearts.]

Having seen how God interprets sin, and what construction he puts upon it, we are prepared to see,

  II.      What interpretation we also should put upon it—

No inference was ever more legitimately drawn from the plainest premises, than that which forced itself upon David’s mind, from a view of the ungodly world. And the same conclusion must we also arrive at, from all that we see around us: “The transgression of the wicked saith within our hearts that there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

  1.      There is no sense of God’s presence—

[A thief would not steal, if he knew that the eyes of the proprietor were fastened on him: yea, even the presence of a child would be sufficient to keep the adulterer from the perpetration of his intended crimes. But he regards not the presence of Almighty God. If he be out of the sight of any fellow-creature, he saith in his heart, “No eye seeth me:” never reflecting, that “the darkness is no darkness with God, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to him are both alikex.”]

  2.      There is no regard to his authority—

[Men will stand in awe of the civil magistrate, who he knows to be “an avenger of evil, and that he does not bear the sword in vain.” To see to what an extent men stand in awe of earthly governors, conceive in what a state of confusion even this Christian land would be, if only for one single week the laws were suspended, and no restraint were imposed on men beyond that which they feel from a regard to the authority of God: we should not dare to venture out of our houses, or scarcely be safe in our houses, by reason of the flood of iniquity which would deluge the land. And though it is true that every one would not avail himself of the licence to commit all manner of abominations, it is equally true, that it is not God’s authority that would restrain them: for the same authority that says, “Do not kill or commit adultery,” says, Thou shalt “live not unto thyself, but unto Him that died for thee and rose again.” And if we be not influenced by it in every thing, we regard it truly in nothing.]

  3.      There is no concern about his approbation—

[If we be lowered in the estimation of our fellow-creatures, how mortified are we, insomuch that we can scarcely bear to abide in the place where we are so degraded. An exile to the remotest solitude would be preferable to the presence or those whose good opinion we have forfeited, But who inquires whether God be pleased or displeased? Who lays to heart the disapprobation which he has excited in his mind, or the record that is kept concerning him in the book of his remembrance? If we preserve our outward conduct correct, so as to secure the approbation of our fellow-creatures, we are satisfied, and care little what God sees within, or what estimate he forms of our character.]

  4.      There is no fear of his displeasure—

[One would think it impossible that men should believe in a future state of retribution, and yet be altogether careless about the doom that shall be awarded to them. They think that God is merciful, too merciful to punish any one, unless it be, perhaps, some extraordinarily flagrant transgressor. Hence, though they know they are sinners, they never think of repenting, or of changing that course of life which, if the Scriptures be true, must lead them to perdition. Only see the state of the first converts, or of any who have felt their danger of God’s wrath; and then tell me whether that be the experience of the world at large? Where do we see the weeping penitents smiting on their breast, and crying for mercy? Where do we see persons flying to Christ for refuge, as the manslayer fled from the sword of the avenger, that was pursuing him? In the world at large we see nothing of this; nothing, in fact, but supineness and security: so true is the judgment of the Psalmist respecting them, that “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” The same testimony St. Paul also bears: and we know that his record is true.]

If, then, David’s views be indeed correct, SEE,

  1.      How marvellous is the forbearance of our God!

[He sees the state of every living man: he sees, not our actions only, but our very thoughts: for “he trieth the heart and reins.” What evils, then, does he behold in every quarter of the globe! Not a country, a town, a village, a family, no, nor a single soul, exempt from the common malady! all fallen; all “enemies in their hearts to God by wicked works!” Take but a single city, our own metropolis for instance, and what a mass of iniquity does God behold in it, even in the short space of twenty-four hours! Is it not astonishing that God’s wrath does not break forth against us, even as against Sodom and Gomorrha, to consume us by fire; or that another deluge does not come, to sweep us away from the face of the earth? Dear Brethren, “account this long-suffering of our God to be salvation,” and “let it lead every one of you to repentanceb.”]

  2.      How unbounded is the love of God, that has provided a Saviour for us!—

[Behold, instead of destroying the world by one stroke of his indignation, he has sent us his co-equal and co-eternal Son to effect a reconciliation between him and us, by the sacrifice of himself! Yes, “he has so loved the world, as to have given his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “He sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,” as we might rather have expected; “but that the world through him might be savedd.” What, then, my beloved Brethren, “shall your transgressions say to you?” Shall they not say, “Avail yourselves of the proffered mercy? Delay not an hour to seek an interest in that Saviour, that so your sins may be blotted out, and your souls be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus?” Let this love of God constrain you to surrender up yourselves to him as his redeemed people; and so to walk before him in newness of heart and life, that “Christ may be magnified in you, whether by life or death.”]

DLVIII

THE SELF-FLATTERING DELUSIONS OF SINNERS EXPOSED

             Ps. 36:2.

He flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

IT may well astonish us to see how careless and indifferent men are about the favour of God. But the Psalmist assigns the true reason for it. Every one cherishes in his mind some delusion, whereby he lulls his conscience asleep; and thus, notwithstanding his guilt and danger, rests satisfied with his state, till God himself interpose, in a way of mercy or of judgment, to undeceive him.

To elucidate his words, we shall,

  I.      Point out some of the self-flattering delusions which are commonly entertained—

We shall notice some which obtain,

  1.      Among the careless world—

[They imagine that God does not regard the conduct of his creatures — — — Or, that he is too merciful to consign them over to everlasting perditionb — — — Or that, at least, a little repentance will suffice — — — Or that, at all events, it is time enough yet to think of turning seriously to God — — —]

  2.      Among those who profess some regard for religion—

[They judge that a moral conduct, with a regular observance of the outward forms of religion, is all that is required — — — Or, that the embracing of the truths of the Gospel, and joining themselves to the Lord’s people, is a true and scriptural conversion — — — Or, that the having, at some former period, had their affections strongly exercised about religious things, is a proof of their present acceptance with Godg — — — Or, that a present pleasure in religious duties. with a partial mortification of sin, is a sufficient evidence of their sincerity — — —]

But the vanity of these delusions will appear, while we,

  II.      Shew when and how they shall be removed—

The eyes of all will sooner or later be opened, and their vain conceits be dissipated—

  1.      Some will have their errors rectified in conversion—

[When the Spirit of God enlightens the mind of man, he scatters the clouds of ignorance and error; and, as far at least as respects the foregoing delusions, guides them into the knowledge of the truth. He shews us, not only that our sins are known to God, but that we are in danger of condemnation on account of them, and that we ought to turn to God instantly, and with our whole hearts — — — He discovers to us also, that no form of godliness, no change of sentiment, no moving of the affections, no partial reformation of the life, will suffice; but that, if we will serve the Lord in truth, we must give up ourselves wholly to him and without reserve — — — Particularly he makes us to see “the hatefulness” of the most refined hypocrisy, and even of the remains of sin, which, in spite of our most earnest endeavours to destroy it, yet war in our members — — —]

  2.      Others will have their misapprehensions removed in condemnation—

[Too many, alas! hold fast their delusions in spite of God’s word, and all the merciful or afflictive dispensations of his providence. But, as soon as ever they come into the eternal world, they will be undeceived. The sight of a holy God, together with the hearing of that sentence which their once compassionate, but now indignant Judge will pass upon them; and, above all, the feeling of the torments of hell, will convince them of their mistakes, and leave them no room to doubt, but that the care of the soul was “the one thing needful,” and that every word of God shall be fulfilled in its season — — —]

  ADVICE—

  1.      Confer not with flesh and blood in the concerns of religion—

[All unregenerate men endeavour to bring down the word of God to some standard of their own; and consequently will discourage in us every thing that goes beyond the line which they have drawn for themselves. But, if they deceive us, they cannot afford us any remedy in the eternal world. The word of God is the only standard of right and wrong; and by that we shall be judged in the last day. Let us therefore regulate our sentiments and conduct, not according to the opinions of fallible men, but according to the unerring declarations of God himself. And instead of endeavouring to lower the demands of God to our wishes or attainments, let us labour to raise our practice to the strictest requisitions of God’s law.]

  2.      Pray for the teaching of God’s Spirit—

[With deceitful hearts, a subtle adversary, and a tempting world, we are continually in danger: nor can we hope to be guided aright but by the Spirit of the living God. Even the Scriptures themselves will be “a dead letter,” and “a sealed book” to us, unless the Spirit of God open our understandings to understand them. He has promised to lead us into all truth; and if we be really disposed to embrace the truth, he will discover it to us. But if, through our hatred of the light, we shut our eyes against it, God will give us over to our delusions, that we may believe a lie. Let us therefore guard against self-deception, and submit ourselves to the guidance of God’s Spirit. Then, though our capacities be ever so small, we shall be kept from every fundamental error, and be “made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ.”]

  3.      Seek above all to know the hatefulness of sin—

[Nothing but a discovery of the evil of sin will effectually preserve us from self-deceit. To produce this, is the first saving work of the Spirit: and the more this is wrought in the heart, the more shall we be on our guard against all self-flattering delusions.]

DLIX

SIN TO BE ABHORRED

             Ps. 36:4.

He abhorreth not evil.

THE standard of morals in the Christian world is far below that which is established in the Sacred Records: and hence arises that self-justifying spirit which prevails in every place. Gross iniquities, which affect the welfare of society, are condemned: but less flagrant offences are regarded as venial, and justified as unavoidable in this state of human existence. The person immediately referred to in my text was Saul, who, amidst all his professions of penitence, still entertained evil designs against the life of David. But we need not limit the words to him. They are, like many similar passages cited by St. Paul in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, expressive of the state of our fallen nature, and universally applicable to every child of man. To elucidate them, I will shew,

  I.      How great an evil sin is—

There is scarcely any thing which is vile and lothesome to which sin is not compared. Let us instance this in leprosy; which may be considered as the most spreading, the most defiling, the most incurable of all disorders. In reference to this does the Prophet Isaiah speak of himself and all around him as utterly undone: “Woe is me! I am undone: I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” But, not to lay an undue stress on figures like these, I will consider sin,

  1.      As a violation of God’s holy Law—

[The Law of God is said to be “holy, and just, and good.” It is holy, as being a perfect transcript of God’s mind and will: it is just, as requiring nothing which does not necessarily arise out of our relation to him and to each other: and it is good, as tending, in every instance, to the happiness of the creature, and to the honour of our Creator. Now “sin is a transgression of this Law:” and that very circumstance it is which renders it “so exceeding sinfule.” Were the Law itself less excellent, a departure from it would be less odious: but to rebel against it, is to prefer the mind of Satan to the mind of God, and the service of the devil to the service of our God. If we would see in what light God views it, let us go back to the time of Adam, on whose heart this Law was completely written, and see what one single transgression of it brought on him: and not on him only, but on the whole creation: and then we shall say indeed, that the evil of sin far exceeds all that language can express, or that any finite intelligence can conceive.]

  2.      As a contradiction to his blessed Gospel—

[To obviate the effects of sin, God sent his only dear Son into the world; that he might “put away the guilt of it by the sacrifice of himself;” and that by the operations of his Holy Spirit he might repress its power, and “destroy the works of the devil.” But sin contravenes all his merciful intentions. and defeats all his gracious purposes. Now, let us suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ were now at this time to come into this assembly; and that, instead of receiving him with all that admiring and adoring gratitude that would become us, we were to rise up against him, and beat him down, and trample him under foot; and that, on his exhibiting the wounds once made for us on Calvary, and yet bleeding for us, we were to regard his blood as an accursed thing, and seize upon him, and nail him to a cross, and load him with our execrations till we saw him dead before our eyes: What would be thought of us? Yea, in a moment of reflection, what should we think of ourselves? Yet that is what sin does, and what all of us do whenever we commit sin: for so has the Apostle said, that “we tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, and do despite to the Spirit of his grace;” yea, “we crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” V No wonder, then, that God, when dissuading us from the commission of sin, addresses us m those pungent terms, “O, do not that abominable thing which I hatek.”]

But instead of our regarding it with the abhorrence it deserves, I am constrained to shew you,

  II.      What sad indulgence it meets with at our hands—

View the generality of men—

[So far from abhorring sin, they love it, they delight in it, and, to use the strong expression of Scripture, “they wallow in it, even as a sow wallows in the mire.” In fact, it is the very element in which men live. Look all around you: I speak not of those who “run into every excess of riot;” though they, alas! are very numerous, and, for the most part, “glory in their shame:” but I speak of the great mass of the community, the rich, the poor, the old, the young: Whom amongst them do you find regulating themselves according to God’s holy Law? Who has not a standard of his own, such as use and fashion have prescribed? and who is not satisfied with conforming to that, without ever once thinking of God’s Law, or so much as desiring to approve himself to him? Verily, “the whole world lieth in wickedness,” and under the dominion of the Wicked one.]

But, passing by these, behold the more decent part of the community—

[Doubtless there are many who are more decorous in their conduct, and more observant of a form of godliness. But I ask, even in reference to them, How many of them do really view sin as God views it? That some enormous evils are abhorred, I readily acknowledge: but they are such only as, by a kind of common consent, are stamped with general reprobation. As for sin, as sin, and as a departure from God’s holy Law, who hates it? Who lothes it? Who abhors it? Yea, I ask, Who does not hear it, without offence? and sec it, without disgust? and harbour it, without remorse? Let these questions sink down into your ears: carry them home with you, as tests of your real state: put them home to your conscience, and give an answer to them as before God. You well know, that if any one loaded our parents with deep and unmerited disgrace, he would soon excite our indignation. You know, also, that the sight and smell of a putrid carcase would create in us a lothing which we could scarce endure. Nor need you be told, what feelings of remorse would follow the commission of murder. But sin, whether heard or seen or felt, begets in us no such painful emotions. To abhor it, and “abhor ourselves” for the hidden workings of it in our souls, as holy Job did, we know not: to “lothe ourselves” as hateful and abominable on account of ito, so as to “blush and be confounded before God,” and scarcely to “dare to lift up our eyes to heaven” on account of our conscious vileness, is a state of mind to which we are utter strangers, unless on account of some great iniquity, which, if known, would expose us to indelible disgrace. To abhor evil merely on account of its intrinsic hatefulness, and its offensiveness to God, is an attainment very rare, and even in the best of men very weak and imperfect. I think, then, that every one of us may consider himself as condemned in my text, and may take shame to himself as bearing that humiliating character, “He abhorreth not evil.”]

  SEE, then,

  1.      How little there is of true sanctity amongst us—

[Of the saints of old it was said, “They could not bear those who were evil:” whereas we can “find pleasure in their society,” and, provided they wrap up their jests in elegant allusions and witty turnss,” can join with them in laughing at thoughts, which, if delivered in coarser language, we should condemn: we even “set ourselves in a way that is not good,” shewing no aversion to “have fellowship in the works of darkness, which we ought rather with decided boldness to reprove.” How unlike are we to David, who says, “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy Lawu!” Indeed, Brethren, we should see and mourn over our great defects; and, instead of indulging self-complacent thoughts on account of our not being so bad as others, should rather smite on our breasts with conscious guilt, and humble ourselves before God as “the very chief of sinners.”]

  2.      How greatly we need the provisions of the Gospel—

[I have before said, that, to remedy the evils which sin has brought into the world, God has sent his only dear Son to make atonement for us, and his Holy Spirit to renew us after the divine image. And now I ask you, Whether any thing less than this would have sufficed? What could you have done to expiate your own guilt? Or how could you ever, with such polluted hearts as yours, have attained a meetness for heaven? You might as easily have built a world, as have effected either of these things. Nor is there any difference between one man and another in these respects. One may differ from another in respect of outward sin: but in respect of alienation of heart from the holy Law of God, and an utter incapacity to restore ourselves to his favour, all are on a perfect level. I entreat you, then, all of you without exception, to “wash in the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,” and to cry mightily to God for the renewing influences of his Holy Spirit, that so you may have your past iniquities forgiven, and be “created anew after the divine image in righteousness and true holiness.” Then will you be brought to that state which every true Christian must attain, “abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is goodz;” and then will God be glorified in you, both in this world and in the world to come.]

DLX

GOD’S WORD AND WORKS MYSTERIOUS

             Ps. 36:6.

Thy judgments are a great deep.

WE little think how highly privileged the meanest Christian is above all the sages of antiquity. The greatest philosophers of Greece and Rome were un able to account for the existence of moral evil upon earth, or to see through the disorder and confusion which it has produced throughout the world. But the servant of the Lord is instructed to trace every thing to an All-wise and Almighty Power, who brings light out of darkness and order from confusion, and overrules every thing for the glory of his own name. To this Divine Being, the child of God has recourse in all his difficulties, and in the contemplation of Him finds comfort under the sorest trials. David, under the persecutions of Saul, was reduced to the greatest extremities: but, after complaining of the subtlety of his implacable enemy, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” who was able to accomplish his own gracious designs, not only in opposition to this powerful adversary, but by the very means which Saul was using to defeat them.

The word “judgments” has, in Scripture, many different significations. As used in my text, we may consider it as comprehending both the word and the works of God. In illustration, therefore, of our text, we may observe that “God’s judgments are a great deep,”

  I].      As displayed in his word—

The whole of Revelation is a mystery. But, that we may not be led over too wide a field, we will confine our attention to two points:

  1.      Our fall in Adam—

[This is a fact to which the whole Scripture bears witness: “In Adam all died;” and “by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnationb.” Now, that he should himself be drawn into sin, circumstanced as he was, perfect in his nature, and supplied with every thing which his soul could desire, is wonderful. But it is a fact, that he did commit sin, and brought upon himself God’s righteous indignation. That in his sin all his posterity should be involved, is a yet deeper mystery; for which it would be impossible for us to account, if God had not plainly and unequivocally revealed it. That the whole world is full of sin, is obvious to the most superficial observer. That the very nature of man is corrupt, is also evident. No one who has ever marked the dispositions of an infant can entertain a doubt of it. But was man first created in such a state? Can we conceive of a holy Being forming, in the first instance, such unholy creatures ? Human wisdom is altogether lost, and confounded, whilst occupied on this mysterious subject. But God has explained it to us in his word. He has told us, what, when revealed, is a self-evident truth, that “no man can bring a clean thing out of an unclean.” He has told us, also, what we could never have imagined or conceived, that the very guilt of Adam is transmitted to us, because he was not a private and isolated individual, but the head and representative of all his descendants: so that we come into the world, not only corrupt creatures, but “children of wrath.”

Now say, whether this be not “a great deep.” Who can comprehend it? Who is not lost in wonder at the contemplation of it?]

  2.      Our recovery by Jesus Christ—

[That there should be a possibility of restoring man to the divine favour, is what no finite intelligence could ever have conceived. Not one of the fallen angels ever was restored: nor could the restoration of man, it might be thought, have ever been compatible with the honour of our offended God. But God contrived a way, wherein he might be “just, and yet the justifier of sinful men.” For this end he gave his onlybegotten Son, to stand in our place, to bear our sins, to “make reconciliation for our iniquities, and to bring m an everlasting righteousness,” wherein we might stand accepted before our God.

Well might the Apostle say, “Great is the mystery of godliness.” Who can contemplate “God manifest in human flesh,” and dying in the place of his own sinful and rebellious creatures, and not stand amazed at this stupendous effort of love and mercy? Truly, it far “surpasses all the knowledge” whether of men or angels. And, if it were not confirmed to us by testimony that is absolutely unquestionable, we could not but regard it altogether as “a cunningly-devised fable;” so unfathomable are the depths contained in it, and so incomprehensible the love.]

But let us contemplate God’s judgments,

  II.      As manifested in his works—

Let us notice them in his works,

  1.      Of providence—

[These also are as inscrutable as redemption itself. Who, that surveyed Joseph in all his different scenes of woe, could ever imagine whither they were conducting him, or to what they would lead? Truly there is “a wheel within a wheel;” and whilst all appears uncertainty around us, every thing is working to a fixed end, even to accomplish what God himself has predicted in his word. The smallest incidents that can be imagined are often productive of the most wonderful events: the casting of a lot, the sleepless restlessness of Ahasuerus, the casual turning to a particular record, to a common observer would appear as matters of trifling moment: yet on them depended the preservation of the whole Jewish people. And we too, if we look back upon our past lives, may find many minute occurrences, which seemed to be of no account at the time, but which contributed in the most essential manner to influence and fix our future destinies; so that at this hour there is not one amongst us whose life would not serve for the illustrating of this point, and constrain him with the profoundest admiration to exclaim, “How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out!”]

  2.      Of grace—

[Who, that had seen Paul in his unconverted state, would ever have supposed that God had designs of love towards him ? Yet, when he had well nigh filled up the measure of his iniquities, God arrested him in his career, and made him a most distinguished monument of his mercy; insomuch that all future ages were to regard him as “a pattern,” by which the extent of God’s mercy might be estimated, and the hopes of penitents be encouraged. Certainly the conduct of Onesimus towards his master Philemon must appear a very strange link in the purposes of heaven, relative to his salvation: yet were his dishonesty and flight made use of by God as means to bring him under the ministry of St. Paul, and, through that, to a conversion of soul to God, and to the everlasting possession of happiness and glory. Not that God’s designs of mercy towards him lessened in any degree the guilt which he contracted: nor is sin of any kind the less sinful on account of the use which God may make of it for the accomplishment of his own designs: for then the murderers of our blessed Lord must have been accounted the best, rather than the most guilty, of mankind. No: sin is a deadly evil, by whomsoever it is committed, and whatsoever it may effect: but this I say, that God both does and will accomplish his own eternal counsels, in ways which no finite wisdom could have contrived, nor any finite power have brought to a successful issue. “Verily,” says the prophet, “thou art a God that hidest thyself.” And so, indeed, we may all say. For who can look back upon the way in which he has been brought from his youth up even to this present moment, and especially upon the way in which he has been led to the knowledge of the Saviour, and not stand amazed at “the goodness and mercy that have followed him,” and at the wisdom and power that have effected so great things for him? Yes: we must all fully acquiesce in that sentiment of Zophar: “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? it is deeper than hell; what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.”]

Let us, then, LEARN from hence,

  1.      Submission to God’s will—

[We may have been brought into circumstances of the most afflictive nature: but we should remember who it is that ordereth all things, even to the falling of a sparrow upon the ground. Men and devils may be labouring for our destruction: and God may suffer them to proceed to the very utmost extremity, till, like the murderers of our Lord, they may exult in, what appears to them, the full attainment of their purpose; but God says to all of them, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.” True it is that “His way is in the sea, and his footsteps are not known:” but you must never forget, that though “clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are the basis of his throner.” “What he does, you may not at present know: but you shall know hereafter:” and you may be sure that at the last you shall add your testimony to that of all his saints, “He hath done all things well.” Your way may be circuitous, and attended with great difficulties: but you will find, at last, that it was “the right way,” the way most conducive to your best interests, and most calculated to advance his glory. Let us, then, wait to “see the end of the Lordx;” and, under all circumstances, say, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”]

  2.      Affiance in his word—

[There is light sufficient: there we see what God will most assuredly accomplish. There may appear to be a discordance between the word and works of God; but they will be found to harmonize at last: “nor shall one jot or tittle of his word ever fail.” Lay hold, then, on the promises of God: rest on them: plead them at the throne of his grace: and expect the accomplishment of them in due season. But be not impatient under any delays: “If the vision tarry, wait for it;” assured that “it will not tarry” beyond the appointed time. Never, under any circumstances, say, “All these things are against me;” because God has promised that “they shall all work together for your goodz.” But, conceive of a soul just liberated from the body, and from the throne of God looking back upon the way in which it has been brought thither; with what admiration will it then be filled! and what praises will it pour forth on account of the dispensations which till now it was not able to unravel! This should now be the posture of your soul. Most safely may you trust in God, to the full extent of his promises: for, whatever difficulties may lie in his way, “His counsel shall stand; and He will do all his will.”]

DLXI

THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD

  Ps. 36:7, 8.

How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

THE more we know of man, the more shall we see the folly of trusting in an arm of flesh: but, the more we are acquainted with God, the more enlarged will be our expectations from him, and the more unreserved our confidence in his power and grace. David had found by bitter experience, that no dependence could be placed on the protestations of Saul. But he had a friend, in whose protection he could trust; and in the contemplation of whose character he could find the richest consolation, while his views of man filled him with nothing but grief and anguish. Having expatiated upon his perfections, as contrasted with the deceitfulness and depravity of man, he bursts forth into a rapturous admiration of his love.

His words furnish us with an occasion to consider the loving-kindness of God, in the precise view in which it is exhibited in our text,

  I.      As a subject for adoring gratitude—

[Wherever we turn our eyes, we behold the most astonishing displays of God’s love. Every work of creation, every dispensation of providence, every effort of Grace, exhibits him to us in the most endearing view. But most of all must we admire the wonders of redemption. This is the work whereby God commends his love to us. This is the one subject of adoration to all the saints in gloryb. No sooner was it declared in the incarnation of Christ, than multitudes of the heavenly host began a new song, singing “Glory to God in the highest.” Yea, from that moment have they been occupied in exploring its mysteriesd. But so unsearchable are its heights and depths, that no finite understanding can fuily comprehend, nor will eternity suffice to unfold, all the wonders contained in it. “How excellent then is thy loving-kindness, O God!”]

  II.      As a ground for implicit confidence—

[This is not a speculative subject, but is influential in the hearts of all that give it a due measure of their attention. It is this which encourages sinners to approach their God with confidence. In the view of this, no guilt appals, no strait depresses, no grief dejects. Whatever we want of pardon, peace, or strength, one thought suffices to support the soul; “he who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things!” This is the genuine and legitimate use which we are to make of the loving-kindness of Godg. We are to go to him as to a Father, confessing our faults; to follow him as our Guide in all our ways; and to commit ourselves to him without fear, knowing that he will either extricate us from all troublek, or overrule it for our good.]

  III.      As a pledge of all imaginable blessings at his hands—

[There is nothing which can conduce to our happiness either in time or eternity, which we are not warranted to expect at God’s hands, provided we contemplate, and be suitably impressed with, the excellencies of his love.

The priests of old feasted their families with the offerings which belonged to them by virtue of their office. Now to our great High-Priest belong all the glory and blessedness of heaven: and every member of his family is privileged to partake with him. In his house he spreads his feastn, and says to his dear children, Come, out and drink abundantly, O beloved, and let your souls delight themselves with fatnessp. And who can declare what “abundant satisfaction” their souls feel while feeding on the promises of his word, and the communications of his love; or how enviable is the state of those who are thus highly privileged? Surely if we taste this promised blessingr, we may well desire rather to be door-keepers in his house, than to enjoy the splendour of an earthly court.

But there are still sweeter fruits of God’s love to be enjoyed in heaven. There flows a river, which gladdens that holy city, the new Jerusalem, and fills with unspeakable delight every inhabitant of those blissful mansions. There is a fulness of joy, emanating from the fountain of the Deity, and filling with God’s own blessedness every soul according to its capacity. Of this shall every one be “made to drink;” and, drinking of it, shall thirst no more for everx.]

  APPLICATION—

[Let the love of God in Christ Jesus be our meditation all the day — — — Let it lead us to trust in him both for body and soul — — — And let a sense of it shed abroad in our hearts, be the one object of our desire and delightz — — —]

DLXII

CHRIST THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE AND LIGHT

             Ps. 36:9.

With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.

BY a sober consideration of Scripture metaphors we obtain a more full and comprehensive knowledge of divine truth, than could easily be obtained from the most laboured discussions. Besides, the ideas suggested by them strike the mind so forcibly, that they cannot fail of making a deep and lasting im pression. Let us but notice the rich variety of figures whereby the Deity is set forth in the passage before us, and we shall be filled with admiring and adoring thoughts of his goodness. The Psalmist, illustrating the loving-kindness of his God, represents him first under the image of a hen gathering her chickens; then as an opulent host feasting his guests with the richest dainties; and then, in a beautiful climax, he compares him to the sun.

In our text there is no confusion of metaphor, as there would be if the former part referred to a fountain, and the latter to the sun. It is the sun alone that is spoken of: for that is the fountain both of light and life: and in discoursing upon it, we observe, that,

  I.      Christ is an inexhaustible source of all spiritual good—

Christ may be considered as peculiarly referred to in the metaphor before us—

[It is in Christ only that the perfections mentioned in the foregoing verses are combined. It is in him only that God unites justice with mercyb, or adheres, in faithfulness, to his covenant engagements. Besides, it is in this view that Christ is set forth throughout all the sacred oracles, by prophets, by Apostlese, and more especially by himself — — — We may well therefore apply to him the comparison before us: and we shall find it admirably deseriptive of his real character.]

He is to the spiritual, what the sun is to the material, world—

[The sun is “the fountain of light and life” to this lower world. When that is withdrawn, the earth is left in darkness, the vegetable world decays, and myriads of animals are secluded in a state of torpor. But when it returns m its brightness, it both dispels the darkness, and restores to nature her suspended powers — — —

Thus, where Christ has not shined, universal darkness and death prevail. But when he arises on the soul, he enlightens it, and infuses into it a principle of life, whereby its faculties are made capable of spiritual exertions; and it is rendered “fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness to God’s praise and glory” — — —]

We have abundant encouragement to seek his influence, since,

  II.      They who live in communion with him shall surely participate his blessings—

As the sun shines in vain to him who secludes himself in a dungeon, so, unless we come forth to “Christ’s light, we cannot possibly behold his light.” But if we view him as we ought, we shall then attain the light of knowledge, the light of comfort, the light of holiness, the light of glory.

  1.      Our minds shall be enlightened with divine knowledge—

[By the light of the sun we behold the objects around us; and by the light of Christ we discern the things belonging to our peace. In his face all the glory of the Godhead shines, insomuch that he who has seen him, has seen the Father alsoi. Nor is there any one subject relating to salvation which does not receive its clearest illustration from him—]

  2.      Our souls shall be enriched with heavenly comfort—

[The consolation we derive from other sources is light and unsubstantial: and the things which promise us most happiness, often prove only a fleeting meteor, or a delusive vapour. But a sight of Christ, of his fulness, his suitableness, his all-sufficiency, affords a ground of comfort, firm as the rocks, and lasting as eternity—]

  3.      Our hearts shall be “renewed in righteousness and true holiness”—

[Nothing produces such effects as a sight of Christ. We may hear the law proclaimed in all its terrors, and yet experience no abiding change. But a view of Christ as crucified for us, will break the most obdurate heart—raise the most desponding soulm—inspire the selfish with unbounded love—and fill the mourner with unutterable joyo: In a word, it will change a sinful man into the very image of his God and Saviour.]

  4.      The light of glory itself shall also be enjoyed by us—

[Christ is the one source of happiness to all the hosts of heaven. To behold his beauty, to taste his love, to celebrate his praises, this is their employment, this their supreme felicityr. Such too is the occupation, such the happiness of every true believer: he has an earnest of heaven in his soul; and this earnest is a pledge that, in due season, he shall receive the consummation of all his wishes in the immediate vision of his Saviour’s glory, and the everlasting fruition of his love—]

  INFER,

  1.      How great is the folly of seeking happiness in the creature !

[Created things, in comparison of Christ, are no more than a broken cistern to a fountain, or than a star in comparison of the meridian sun. Let us then seek our happiness in Christ, and in him alone. In him, as in the sun, there is a fulness and a sufficiency for allu. And to him all may have access, if they will not obstinately immure themselves in impenitence and unbelief. Let us not then “kindle sparks for ourselves, or walk in the light of our own firesy,” but “come forth to his light,” and “walk in it” to the latest hour of our lives.]

  2.      How unspeakable is the blessedness of knowing Christ !

[If we could conceive ourselves in a region where a winter’s midnight was perpetuated; and then be transported in idea to a climate, where noontide light, and vernal beauty, were uninterruptedly enjoyed, we might have some faint image of the change effected by the knowledge of Christ, Truly the Christian is in Goshenb: or if, for a little moment he be in darkness, there ariseth up a light unto him in the midst of it, and his darkness becomes as the noon-dayd. And, in a little time “his sun shall no more go down; but his Lord shall be unto him an everlasting light, and his God his glory.” O that this may be the constant pursuit, and the happy attainment of us all!]

DLXIII

GOD’S CONTINUED CARE IMPLORED

  Ps. 36:10.

O continue thou thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart!

DAVID, in all his troubles, “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” He was in great trouble at the time he wrote this psalm; but whether from the persecutions of Saul, or the rebellion of Absalom, is not certain. But his views of the Deity were exceeding grand: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” To this God he commits his cause; and, in behalf of himself and all his persecuted associates, prays, “O continue thou thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness unto the upright in heart!” The same petition will every faithful minister urge in behalf of himself and his people, under a full assurance that “all their fresh springs are in God;” and that God himself, if ever they be saved at all, must “work all their works in them.” In this view, I will endeavour to shew you,

  I.      What need we all have of the blessing here implored—

The term “righteousness,” in the Old Testament, is of very extensive meaning. In my text it imports “goodness,” and, as joined with “loving-kindness,” must be understood to mean, a continuance of God’s tender and watchful care even to the end. And

Of this, all, whatever be their attainments, stand in need—

[Of the ignorant and ungodly I am not at present called to speak; but rather of “those who know God, and are upright before him.” Now all of these, without any exception, “offend God in many things,” and, “if God were extreme to mark what is done amiss, must perish.” From gross and wilful transgressions they may be free: but “who can say, His heart is clean?” How many sins are committed there, which no eye but God’s beholds! — — — But, waving sins of commission, how greatly do we offend in a way of omission! See how “exceeding broad are the demands of God’s Law.” Our duties to God, our neighbour, and ourselves, who can be said perfectly to know them all; and much less to do them — — — But, waving these also, let us mark only our sins of defect. Be it so: We do really love God: but do we love him “with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength?” We love our neighbour, too: but do we love him with the same intenseness, and constancy, and activity “as ourselves?” We believe in Christ also: but is our habit of dependence on him, and communion with him, like that of “a branch united to the vine?” We devote ourselves to his service: but are all our faculties and powers, both of mind and body, put forth into action, as if we were running a race, or fighting for our lives? Let us look at our very best services, whether in public or in private; our prayers, for instance: Are our confessions accompanied with that brokenness of heart which we ought to feel? or our petitions urged with that importunity which God requires? or our thanksgivings presented with that ardent gratitude which God’s mercies, and especially the great blessings of redemption, call for at our hands? I must say, that the grossest iniquities of the ungodly do not, in my apprehension, more strongly mark our alienation from God, than do the very prayers and praises of the godly; so exceeding cold are they, and unsuited to our state as redeemed sinners.

We need, therefore, the continuance of God’s tender mercies to us yet daily, as much as ever we did in our carnal and unregenerate state.]

And what should we do, if God should withdraw his loving-kindness from us?

[What would our “knowledge of God” avail us, or even our own “integrity?” Satan prevailed over our first parents, even in Paradise: how, then, could we withstand his power, if God should deliver us up into his hands? In point of knowledge and integrity, David was as eminent as any of the Scripture saints: yet you all know how he felt, when once he was left to the workings of his own heart. Hezekiah was perhaps not inferior to him: yet, when “God left him, to try him, that he might see all that was in his heart,” he also fell, and brought upon himself and his posterity the sorest judgments. Who then amongst us could hope to stand, if God should withhold his loving-kindness from us, or suspend for a moment the communications of his grace?

We need, then, all of us to entreat of God to “continue his loving-kindness to us,” or, as it is translated in the margin of our Bibles, to “draw it out at length.” You all know how a rope, or line, or thread, is formed, by adding fresh materials continually, till it shall have attained its destined length. In reference to this, the prophet represents the ungodly as “drawing out iniquity as cords of vanity, and sin as a cart-rope,” that is, by constant additions even to their dying hour. And precisely thus we need, that God, who has begun a good work in us, should carry it on even to the end, by drawing out, and imparting to us, such communications of his grace as our necessities require, till we have attained that measure which in his eternal counsels he has ordained, and we be fully “meet for our Master’s use.”]

Seeing, then, that we all need this blessing, let me shew you,

  II.      On what grounds all “who know God, and are upright before him,” are authorized to expect it—

The petition in my text was offered under a full assurance that it should be granted: for he had scarcely uttered it before he saw, by faith, the answer given: “There,” says he, “are the workers of iniquity fallen; they are cast down, and shall not be able to stand.” And we also may expect that it shall be answered to all who offer it in faith. We may expect God’s continued care, since it is assured to us,

  1.      By the promises of God—

[Numberless are the promises which God has made to us respecting the continuance of his love towards all whom, according to his sovereign will, he has chosen to be the objects of it. David, in another psalm, says, “The Lord will not cast off his People, neither will he forsake his inheritance.” And again, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children’s children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” In fact, the whole Scripture testifies that God will perfect that which concerneth his peopleg; and that, having loved them, he will love them to the end. Taking, therefore, these promises, we may spread them before the Lord, in full assurance that they shall be fulfilled; and in the language of David may say to God, “Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness!”]

  2.      By the intercession of Christ—

[St. John has said, “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” Yes, were it not that the Lord Jesus Christ lives to intercede for us in heaven, it could not be but that God’s displeasure must break forth against us on ten thousand occasions: but he prevails for us, as Aaron prevailed for Israel of old, through his unwearied intercessions. To this Peter was indebted, when he denied his Lord with oaths and curses. Had not our blessed Lord interceded for him, that his faith might not fail, he, in all probability, would have perished as Judas did. In this view, a greater stress is laid on the intercession of Christ than even on his death: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right-hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” And we are encouraged to believe that “Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Put then your cause into the Saviour’s hands; and beg of him to “pray the Father for youo,” and you cannot but succeed: “for him the Father heareth always.”]

  3.      By the honour of God himself—

[God from all eternity entered into covenant with his dear Son in our behalf, engaging, that “if he should make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, and should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands.” This covenant our blessed Lord has fulfilled on his part, having taken our nature, and “borne our sins in his own body on the tree.” And whilst yet he was upon earth, he made this a ground of his petitions, and a ground also of his expectations, in behalf of his people: “I pray for them,” says he: “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine: and all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world: but these are in the world; and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Whilst I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that .thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things speak I in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” Then he adds, what insures to us the completion of his desires, “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.” Now I ask, Is not here abundant ground to expect God’s continued care of his people? May we not from hence “be confident, that He who hath begun a good work in us will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christt?” Yes, surely: and therefore when David, under the influence of unbelief, had entertained a fear, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” he corrected himself, and with conscious shame exclaimed, “This is my infirmity.” We may be sure that God’s covenant shall stand. In the 89th Psalm it is declared, again, and again, and again, in terms the most express that can be imaginedx — — — and therefore we may be assured that for his own name and honour sake “he will keep his people by his own power through faith unto salvation:” as it was said by Samuel, “The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it hath pleased him to make you his people.” “He is a God that changeth not; and therefore we neither are, nor shall be, consumeda.” We shall be living witnesses for him to all eternity, that “his gifts and calling are without repentance.”]

  APPLICATION—

  1.      Seek to answer to the character here described—

[If you “know not God,” you can have no claim upon him: nor, “unless you be upright in heart,” have you any reason to hope that he will ever look upon you with satisfaction. You must “have your hearts right with God,” if ever you would be approved of God. Seek, then, to know God as reconciled to you in Christ Jesus — — — and beg of him so to “put truth in your inward parts,” that he may acknowledge and commend you as “Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.”]

  2.      Implore of God the blessing you so greatly need—

[You need it, all of you, and will need it to your dying hour. It is from God that you have received all that you possess. Never would you have known him, if he had not opened the eyes of your understanding, and revealed himself to you. And never would your heart have been upright before him, if he, of his own sovereign grace, had not “given you a new heart, and renewed a right spirit within you.” It is to Him, then, you must look to carry on the work within you. “No hands but His, who laid the foundation of his spiritual temple within you, can ever finish it.” “He alone who has been the author of your faith, can ever complete ite.”]

  3.      Whilst you seek this blessing for yourselves, implore it earnestly for others also—

[So did David, under all his trials; and so should you. It is our privilege and our duty to intercede one for another; parents for their children, and children for their parents; ministers for their people, and people for their ministers. And, O! what happiness should we enjoy in our respective families, and in the Church of God, if we were all partakers of these blessings! It is said, in the very words before my text, “With thee is the fountain of life; and in Thy light shall we see light:” and no doubt, in proportion as the blessings of salvation flow down into our souls, we shall be blessed in ourselves, and blessings to all around us.]

DLXIV

CONFIDENCE IN GOD RECOMMENDED

  Ps.37:3–6.

Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.

IT might be supposed that God, the righteous Governor of the universe, would in this world distinguish his people from his enemies by his visible dispensations towards them: but he does not: he suffers “all things to come alike to all; so that none can discern either love or hatred by all that is before them.” This is often a stumbling-block to the righteous, who are apt to be discouraged, when they see the prosperity of the wicked, and are themselves suffering all manner of adversity. David was at one time greatly dejected, or rather, I should say, offended, at this very thing; and was led to imagine that he had served God for nought. To guard us against such mistaken views of providence, and against the feelings which they are wont to excite in the breast, he wrote this psalm. That we may not repine at the success of evil-doers, he teaches us to consider, how short their triumph is, and how awful will be their end. He then, in the words of our text, instructs us,

  I.      What we are to do for God—

It is here taken for granted that we have many difficulties to contend with. But instead of being discouraged by them, our duty to God is,

  1.      To go on steadily in his service—

[“Trust thou in the Lord, and do good.” It should be an established principle in our hearts, that duty is ours, and events are God’s; and that we should attend to our own concerns, and leave God to his. Now beyond all doubt our great concern is, to prosecute and “finish the work which God has given us to do.” We should not merely attend to good works in general, but consider what is that particular “good” which God is calling us to do: perhaps it is to exercise meekness and patience; or perhaps to put forth fortitude and firmness. In the event of persecution for righteousness’ sake, these graces must be cultivated with more than ordinary attention, and be called into action in a more than ordinary degree. We are not to be perplexing our minds with inquiries how we may avert the storm which is gathering around us, but be solely careful not to be shaken either in our principles or conduct, or in any respect to dishonour that God whom we profess to serve. Without this fidelity in the path of duty, all trust in God will be a delusion: but, combined with it, our trust in him is a most pleasing and acceptable service.]

  2.      To seek our happiness in his presence—

[Fidelity itself would not be acceptable, if it proceeded from a principle of slavish fear: we must regard God as a Father, and “delight ourselves in him.” It is not a low measure of spirituality that we should aim at: we should aspire after such an enjoyment of God as David himself spake of, when he said, “I will go unto God, my exceeding joy.” In order to this, we should meditate upon all his glorious perfections, and especially on those perfections as displayed and magnified in the work of redemption. O! what wonders of love and mercy may we see in our incarnate, our redeeming God! In the contemplation of these we should exercise ourselves day and night, till the fire kindle in our bosoms, and we burst forth in acclamations and hosannahs to our adorable Emmanuel. Say, ye who have ever been so occupied, whether such “meditations be not sweet;” and whether “your souls have not been satisfied as with marrow and fatness,” when you have been so employed?]

  3.      To commit our every concern to his disposal—

[Our duty in this respect may not unfitly be illustrated by the confidence which passengers in a ship place in a skilful pilot and an able commander. They trust their persons and their property to the pilot without any anxious cares or painful apprehensions. Conscious of their own incapacity to navigate the ship, they presume not to interfere in the management of the vessel, but leave the whole concern to those whose province it is to conduct it. Whatever storms may arise, they look to him who is at the helm to steer the vessel to its destined port. Thus does the believer commit his way unto the Lord. To God he looks as ordering every thing for his good, yea, as having, if we may so speak, a community of interest with him, and as pledged to bring him in safety to the harbour where he would be. If any anxious thought arise, he checks it; and “casts all his care on Him, who careth for him.” This we should do in reference to every concern whatever. In relation to temporal things, we should have no more anxiety than the fowls of the air, which subsist from day to day on the bounty of their Creator: and even in reference to the soul, the same entire confidence must be placed in God, who has engaged to carry on and perfect in his people the work he has begune. Let us not however be misunderstood to say, that we are to put away a jealous fear of ourselves: that we must retain even to the end of our lives: but an unbelieving fear of God, as either unable or unwilling to save us, we must cast it off with abhorrence, and “be strong in faith, giving glory to God.”]

The promises annexed to these several injunctions shew,

  II.      What God will do for us—

Truly he will do exceeding abundantly for us above all that we can ask or think—

  1.      He will supply our wants—

[Great and urgent they may be, even like those with which Israel was oppressed on different occasions in the land of Canaan: but God will interpose for us in the hour of need, so that “verily we shall be fed.” Under the pressure of their troubles, many Jews deserted their own land, and sought for security or plenty among their heathen neighbours: thus they rather fled from trouble, than looked to God, as they should have done, to relieve them from it. We must not act thus: we must not desert our post because of difficulties which we meet with in it; but must expect from God all those supplies of grace and strength which we stand in need of. “He that believeth, will not make haste:” he will not presently despond, because he sees not how his wants are to be supplied; but will remember, that, as “the earth, and the fulness thereof, is the Lord’s,” so there is all fulness of spiritual blessings also treasured up for him in Christ, and he will look to Christ for daily communications, according as his necessities may require. The Lord did not give to Elijah a store of provision that should suffice for months to come, but sent him bread and meat twice a day by the ministration of ravens, and afterwards a daily supply from the widow’s cruse. In the same manner will he impart a sufficiency of temporal and spiritual blessings to all who trust in him; and “according to their day, so their strength shall be.” “The soul that trusts in Him shall want no manner of thing that is good.”]

  2.      He will fulfil our desires—

[If our desires were after the things of time and sense, we might expect to have them withheld from us: but if they be, as the believer’s are, after God himself, we shall never be disappointed: on the contrary, the more earnest and enlarged our desire is, the more certain we are that God will fulfil and satisfy it. The more “wide we open our mouth,” the more assured we are that “he will fill it.” “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will help them.” Do we desire increasing “views of his glory? He will put us into the cleft of the rock, and make all his goodness to pass before our eyes.” Do we desire a more intimate and abiding communion with him? He will “come and dwell in us, and walk in us, and be altogether our Godg.” Do we desire a more entire conformity to him? He will “transform us into his image from glory to glory,” by the sanctifying influence of his Holy Spirit. There shall not be a thing that we can ask, but he will give it us, if only it will be conducive to our spiritual and eternal welfarei.]

  3.      He will give a happy issue to all our concerns—

[There may be many difficulties in our way, and such as shall be to all appearance insurmountable; but He who made a path through the Red Sea, will remove them all in due time. Whatever in his wisdom he sees to be best for us, “he will bring it to pass.” We may labour under many discouragements by reason of calumnies which are circulated respecting us: the world may represent us as enthusiasts that “turn the world upside down,” as deceivers that are seeking some base ends of our own, as abettors of sedition, and enemies to civil government; in a word, they may speak of us as “the filth of the earth, and the off-scouring of all things;” but God will not leave us to sink under these reproaches: he will sooner or later appear for us, and “make our righteousness to shine forth as the noon-day.” We shall have “good report to pass through, as well as evil report;” and our very demeanour under our persecutions shall carry conviction to the minds of many, that we are indeed the sons of God. At all events, if not before, at least at the day of judgment, our reproach shall be rolled away, and “we shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Fatherl.”]

  REFLECTIONS. See from hence,

  1.      What they lose who are ignorant of God—.

[All that is implied either in the precepts or the promises of our text is altogether unknown to those who experience not the power of religion in their hearts. Whatever burthens they have, are borne upon their own shoulders: they know not what it is to cast them upon the Lord. Hence, when oppressed with heavy trials, they faint and sink under them; and for want of the consolations and supports of religion, they not unfrequently meditate, and sometimes also carry into execution, the awful act of suicide. O that men did but know what provision there is made for them in the Gospel of Christ! In, and with Christ, there is all that we can want, for body or for soul, for time or for eternity — — — Only let us seek to be washed in his blood, to be renewed by his Spirit, and to live altogether by faith on him; and we shall find such rich supplies, such heavenly consolations, such a fulness of all spiritual and eternal blessings, as shall far surpass all that the carnal eye has ever seen, and all that the carnal imagination has ever conceived.]

  2.      What they enjoy who live nigh to God—

[Contemplate the state of those who are now in heaven; how free from care, and how completely happy in the fruition of their God! Such in a measure may our state be even in this present world. Those who believe in Christ are privileged to rejoice in him, yea, and many do “rejoice in him, with joy unspeakable and glorified.” By committing themselves, and all their concerns, to him, “their very thoughts, which are naturally as fluctuating as the wind, are established.” O Believers, live not below your privileges: carry every thing to your adorable Saviour, and expect from him all that infinite love can give, and all that Omnipotence can effect. “All things are yours, if ye are Christ’s;” even “death itself, as well as life, is among your treasures:” and soon shall all the glory and felicity of heaven be your unalienable and everlasting possession.]

DLXV

GOD’S INTEREST IN HIS PEOPLE

  Ps.37:23, 24.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

THAT Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, should regard one rather than another amongst the sinners of mankind, appears incredible; and for any one to imagine himself to be amongst those who are pre-eminently favoured by him, would be judged a height of arrogance, to which scarcely any one of a sound mind could be supposed to have attained. But the Holy Scriptures are extremely clear, and full, and definite upon this point. God does condescend to notice with peculiar kindness those who walk uprightly before him: whilst he beholds with indignation and abhorrence those who, whether openly or in secret, rebel against him. To establish this is the great scope of this psalm, wherein the states of the godly and of the ungodly are contrasted with each other in this respect. From the words which I have just read, we shall necessarily be led to notice,

  I.      The interest which God takes in his people—

“He orders their steps”—

[In the marginal translation it is said that a good man’s steps are “established” by the Lord. The fact is, the Lord so orders them, that they may be established. The very first work of the Lord in his people, is, to bring them to Christ, and to “establish them in Christ.” Till this is done, they never take any step that can effectually bring them to heaven — — — When that is done, then they are enabled to “walk in Christ,” and, by strength derived from him, to advance in righteousness and true holiness — — —]

“He delights in their ways”—

[True, their ways are far from perfect: and, if God were to be “extreme to mark what is done amiss,” no man living could stand before him. But God looks rather at the principle from whence their actions proceed, and at the end for which they are done, than at the perfection of the actions themselves; and when he sees that their actions proceed from love, and are done for the glory of his name, he cannot but feel delight, both in the persons themselves, and in the works they perform; even as a parent delights in the services of a loving and duteous child, not considering so much the excellence of the act as the disposition manifested in the performance of it. On another ground, too, Jehovah delights in the ways of his people, namely, because they are “the fruits of his Spirit” working in them. In this view there is not an act this they perform, which is “not pleasing and acceptable in his sightd” — — —]

“He upholds them with his hand”—

[Notwithstanding the grace given unto them, they are yet weak and frail, so that “still in many things they offend;” and, if left to themselves, they would eternally perish. “There is not a just man on earth that liveth and sinneth notf.” But in this the righteous differ from the wicked, that, notwithstanding they fall, yea, and “fall seven times, they rise again; whilst the wicked, in their falls, are left to perish.” The Lord Jesus Christ has engaged for them that “none shall ever pluck them out of his handsh.” And this is fulfilled to every one of them, insomuch, that “of those whom the Father in his everlasting covenant gave unto his Son, not one ever was, or shall be, lost.” They all, in their respective generations, are “kept by the power of God through faith unto everlasting salvationk” — — —]

These truths can never be abused, if we consider, on the other hand,

  II.      What return he looks for at their hands—

Doubtless it is God who alone can give men “either to will or to do that which is good:” but, as the Articles of our Church express it, “He worketh in us, that we may will; and then worketh with us, when we have that good will.” Though all good proceeds from him, yet he expects a reciprocity on our part.

  1.      We must cheerfully obey his will—

[We take no step by constraint. We are free agents in all that we do. True it is that God draws us; but he draws us, not as stocks and stones, but “with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love.” If we would have our ways pleasing to God, we must seek to please him; and if we would have our “steps ordered and established by him,” we must consult his revealed will, and commit ourselves to the guidance of his Holy Spirit. He has promised, that, in circumstances of difficulty, “we shall hear a word behind us, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it: when we should otherwise be turning to the right hand or to the left:” and this promise we must plead in prayer, until, by some way which God shall devise, we see, as it were, the pillar and the cloud going before us, and experience that direction which our necessities require — — —]

  2.      We must simply depend on his care—

[”It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” A little infant does not more need to be carried in its mother’s arms than we need the continual support of God. But he promises that “his everlasting arms shall be underneath us,” and that we shall be “carried as lambs in the bosom of our Lordp.” But in order to this, we must renounce all confidence in our own powers, and say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” If, like Peter, we depend on ourselves, we shall fall: but, if we cry habitually to him, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safer,” we shall be strengthened with might by his Spirit in our inward man, and be enabled to “do all things through Christ strengthening us.” The weaker we are in ourselves, the stronger we shall be in himt; and, though we be “sifted by Satan” with his utmost efforts, “not so much as the smallest grain shall ever fall upon the earthx.” For “it is not the will of our Father that one of his little ones should perish.”]

  ADDRESS,

  1.      The self-confident and secure—

[Where do you find in the Holy Scriptures any one of these promises made to you? Where has God engaged to “order your steps,” or declared himself “delighted with your ways?” Or where has he assured you that your falls shall not be unto death? Not one word is there in all the inspired volume that can serve as a foundation of hope to you, whilst you are leaning to your own understanding, or depending on an arm of flesh. On the contrary, there is nothing but perdition denounced against you. Beloved Brethren, do but contrast with your condition the states of God’s believing and obedient people; and you will see, that they alone are blessed, whose hearts are upright, and “whose God is the Lord.”]

  2.      The fearful and disconsolate—

[Many, under a sense of their great infirmities, are ready to fear, that, notwithstanding all that God has spoken for their encouragement, they shall come short at last. But, if only you really desire to please and serve God, see how full and suitable are the promises of God to you: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Are you weak? God says, “I will strengthen you.” Are you apprehensive that nothing less than Omnipotence can administer sufficient aid? God adds, “I will help you.” Are you still alarmed because there is something yet left for you to do? God adds, I will take the whole matter into my own hands, and “altogether uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.” “Be strong, then, in faith, giving glory to God;” and “you shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end.”]

DLXVI

THE SECURITY OF THE UPRIGHT SOUL

             Ps. 37:31.

The law of his God is in his heart: none of his steps shall slide.

THE blessedness of the righteous is a favourite subject with the sweet singer of Israel: several of his psalms are occupied with it throughout; and often in a way of immediate contrast with the state of the ungodly. As far as respects the outward appearance indeed, the advantage is often on the side of the wicked: but on a fuller view of their respective states, there will be found the most abundant cause to congratulate the saints even in their lowest condition, so infinitely superior is their lot to that of the most prosperous of ungodly menb. The ungodly, walking after the imagination of their own hearts, have “their way dark and slippery,” so that, sooner or later, they are sure to “fall” and “perish:” but the “righteous,” having their minds intent upon true wisdom, “are preserved, whilst the seed of the wicked are cut offd.” “The law of God is in his heart: none of his steps shall slide.”

From these words we shall be led to shew,

  I.      The character of the righteous—

“The law of God is in his heart.” It was not there by nature; for though it was originally inscribed on the heart of Adam in Paradise, and traces of it are yet to be found on the hearts even of the benighted heathenf, yet is it so far effaced from the heart of the natural man, that he neither does nor will yield any subjection to it. But,

God has engraven it on his heart—

[The express promise of God to all who embrace the new covenant is, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” And this promise he fulfils, through the all-powerful operation of his Holy Spirit upon their souls. As he caused Moses to come up to him on Mount Horeb with tables of stone, on which with his own finger he wrote the law, so he causes the believing penitent to come up to him with his heart of stone; and then, exchanging it for a heart of flesh, he inscribes upon it his law, even,, as the Apostle says, upon the fleshy tables of his heart. We are told respecting all the Lord’s people, that they are “predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christk:” and in this their conformity to him pre-eminently appears: that, as He could say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God. yea, thy law is within my heart,” and as he was typically represented by the ark in which the law was depositedm, so these have the law treasured up in their souls; and they delight in it, as their ever-faithful monitor, and infallible directory. From the time that it is deposited there, they regard it solely, constantly, and without reserve. Formerly the opinions of men, or the dictates of flesh and blood, formed their rule of action: now no inquiry is made, but, “What saith the Lord?” — — — Nor is it on great emergencies only that this inquiry is instituted, but at all times and on all occasions — — — Nor are consequences any longer regarded. If a furnace or den of lions be prepared as the recompense of fidelity, he says, “None of these things move me:” I shall “hearken unto none but God” himself — — —]

This forms his distinguishing character—

[Others have the law of God in their head, and not unfrequently in their mouth also: but he alone has it in his heart. There may be amongst the ungodly as comprehensive a knowledge of theology as of any other science, if taken in a mere speculative view: but this is widely different from a spiritual apprehension of God’s law, and a conformity of mind and will to it: this pertains to him only who has it written on his heart by the Spirit of God: for so the prophet informs us: “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.” To know, in a speculative way, how a sinner is to be made righteous before God, will consist with the grossest impiety: but the having of God’s law in the heart infallibly designates, and proves, us the people of the Lord. There is in this respect the same difference between the nominal and the real Christian as there was formerly between different adherents to the Mosaic law. “All were not Israel who were of Israel.” The proudest Pharisees would “bind the law of God upon their hands, and wear it as frontlets between their eyes:” but the godly alone fulfilled the true intent of that ordinance, by “laying up God’s words in their heart and in their soulq.” So now “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart; in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of man, but of God.” In other words, he only is truly righteous, who can say with Paul, “I delight in the law of God after my inward man;” and amidst all the temptations of the flesh, “with my mind I serve the law of Gods.”]

In connexion with their character, we are led to contemplate,

  II.      Their security—

“None of their steps shall slide.” Of this they may be assured: for a stability is, and shall be, given them, that shall preserve them amidst all temptations; a stability arising,

  1.      Partly, from the very character which they possess—

[“The law of God being in their hearts,” they will not unnecessarily venture themselves in slippery places. How many fall a prey to the tempter by presuming upon their strength, when, like Joseph, they should rather have fled from the scene of temptation! It is by going fearlessly to the utmost verge of what is lawful, that thousands perish. The inquiry of a truly pious soul will be, not, “Is this thing lawful?” but, “Is it expedient also?” and, if the place, or scene, or gratification be calculated, either in itself or in its circumstances, to ensnare his soul, he will keep at a distance from it: for, whilst he is praying daily to God, “Lead us not into temptation,” he accounts it folly and impiety to rush unnecessarily into temptation of his own accord. This cautious deportment tends greatly to the preservation of the godly, and to “keep them from defiling their garments” in this polluted world.

Moreover, they are looking to this law to direct their steps. They “have hid it within their hearts, on purpose that they may not sin against God:” but to what purpose have they deposited it there, if they do not consult it? or “wherewith shall they cleanse their way, but by taking heed thereto according to God’s word?” Whatever then they are solicited to do, they bring it to this touchstone, and try it “by the law and the testimony.” If they find not the precept clear, they hesitate: and, if they find not the footsteps of Christ and his Apostles, they pause. They know, that “whatsoever is not of faith is sinz:” and, till they can see their way clear, and be “thoroughly persuaded in their own mind,” they will not proceed; lest they lay a stumbling-block in the way of others, and bring guilt upon their own soulsb.

I may add further, that they will pray unto God to guide them. They know their privilege: they know that God has said, that, if they call upon him for direction, “they shall hear a word behind them,” saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it;” when without such a direction “they would have turned to the right hand or to the left.” They therefore in every difficulty betake themselves to prayer; and experience the truth of that promise, “The meek he will guide in judgment; the meek he will teach his wayd.”]

  2.      Principally, from the care and fidelity of God—

[God has promised that “he will keep the feet of his aints,” and that “none of their steps shall slide:” and this promise he does, and will, fulfil. He fulfils it to them in a variety of ways. He “takes them, as a mother does her little child, by their hand, and guides them in their wayf:” and, when they are weak, “he strengthens them with might in their inward man:” and, when they would otherwise fall, he upholds them with his own almighty arms; agreeably to that express promise which he has given them; “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Thus is fulfilled that promise which is contained within a few verses of our text, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,: though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his handi.” We may wonder whence it is that the people of God in all ages have been enabled to maintain their steadfastness in such trying circumstances: but the true reason is to be found in that inviolable engagement which God has entered into, that “they shall hold on their way, and that their hands shall wax stronger and stronger:” and this promise he has fulfilled to them, giving them “strength according to their day,” and enabling them “to do all things through his strength communicated to themm.”]

Hence then we may SEE,

  1.      Whence it is that so many professors of religion dishonour their high and holy calling—

[It is a melancholy fact, that many who profess godliness are a disgrace to their profession — — — And by their falls they bring the very truth of God into disrepute. But whence is it that their walk is so inconsistent? Is it from any want of power or fidelity in God to keep them? No: it arises from this; that they have taken up a profession upon false and insufficient grounds: they have got the law in their heads, and in their mouths, but have never truly received it into their hearts. None will shew more zeal for the tenets they have embraced than they, or talk more fluently respecting them: but they have never been “cast into the mould of the Gospel.” Their sentiments have been altered; but their hearts are unchanged; or, if changed at all, it is only in that they have adopted the spiritual lusts of pride and conceit, and false confidence, in the place of the carnal lusts of worldliness and uncleanness; or, it may be, they have added the former to the latter, affecting only the concealment of former evils, and not the utter extirpation of them. What then is to be expected from such persons, but that they will dishonour their profession? From such roots nothing can be hoped for, but bitter fruits. But let not the blame be cast upon religion. “They have a name to live, but they are dead.” If ever they had received the law of God into their hearts, it would have produced its due effect upon their lives; and not upon the outward deportment only, but on every temper and disposition of their minds. Religion is, and must be, the same in all ages: if it transformed the saints of other days into the image of their God in righteousness and true holiness, it will do so still: and, if the conduct of any who profess it be unworthy of their high calling, let the blame attach where it ought, not on religion, but on those who make a hypocritical profession of it. Only let the law be in the heart, and we have no fear of the fruits that will appear in the life.]

  2.      How inseparable is the union between duty and privilege—

[The self-depending formalist who dreads the mention of privilege, and the Antinomian professor who hates the mention of duty, are equally remote from the truth of God. Depend on God we must; for it is He who must work all our works in us. And obey his law we must: for “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Neither can supersede the other. To the Antinomian then I say, “Let the word of God abide in you; and let it dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” And to the formalist I say, Look unto God to begin, and carry on, the whole work of grace in your hearts; for without Him you can do nothing. Let both of you know, that both confidence in God, and obedience to Him, are necessary: it is only by a reliance on Him that you can obtain strength for obedience; and it is only by obedience that you can prove the sincerity of your faith and love. But whilst to those who would lean to either extreme I would say, “What God has joined, let no man put asunder,” I would most affectionately encourage the true Christian to expect all that God has promised. Your difficulties may be great, and your conflicts severe; but “your Redeemer is mighty;” and He who bought you with his blood, regards you as his purchased possession, and will suffer “none to pluck you out of his hands.” He has promised to carry on and perfect his work in your hearts; and what he has promised, he is able also to perform. Only be careful to know and do his will; and He will bear you up in his everlasting arms, and “preserve you blameless to his heavenly kingdom.”]

DLXVII

DAVID’S DISTRESS AND CONSOLATION

  Ps. 38:1–9.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure: for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease; and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble, and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

IT will be of great use to us through life to treasure up in our minds the dealings of God with us on some particular occasions. As his care over us in our difficulties may well call for “a stone of remembrance, which shall be called our Eben-ezer,” so his merciful attention to us at the first commencement of our humiliation before him may well be written in indelible characters upon our hearts. The Prophet Jeremiah, looking back to some season of peculiar distress, records his experience in terms of lively gratitude: and, in like manner, David opens to us all his views and feelings when he sought the Lord after a season of darkness and distress; and he tells us that this psalm was written by him “to bring to remembrance” the troubles he then endured, and the tender mercies of God towards him.

From the part we have just read, we shall be led to consider,

  I.      His distress—

This was exceeding great.—Let us notice,

  1.      The source and cause of it—

[He traces it to sin as its proper cause: and sin is the true and only source of all trouble — — — Sin is an object of God’s abhorrence; and wherever it exists unlamented and dominant, he will visit it according to its desert. In whomsoever it be found, whether he be a king on his throne, or a beggar on a dunghill, he will make no difference, except indeed to punish it in proportion to the light that has been resisted, and the aggravations with which it has been committed. Doubtless the sins of David were of most transcendent enormity, and therefore might well be visited with peculiar severity: but we must not imagine that his are the only crimes that deserve punishment: disobedience to God, whether against the first or second table of the Law, is hateful in his sight, and will surely subject us to his “hot displeasure” — — —]

  2.      The extent and depth of it—

[His soul was overwhelmed with a sense of God’s wrath. “God’s arrows” pierced his inmost soul: and his hand was heavy upon him, and “pressed him sore.” His iniquities, which, when they were yet only committed in desire and purpose, appeared light, now were an insupportable burthen to his soul; insomuch that “he roared by reason of the disquietness of his heart.” Here then we see what sinners may expect in this life. Verily such experience as this is little else than a foretaste of hell itself — — —

But his body also was afflicted with a grievous disease, which had been sent of God as an additional mark of his righteous indignation. And no doubt, if we could certainly discover the reasons of the Divine procedure, we should often see diseases and death inflicted as the chastisement of sin. David viewed his disorders in this light: and those, without any additional load, were heavy to be borne; but, when added to the overwhelming troubles of his soul, they almost sunk him to despair. Let those who think lightly of sin, view this monarch in the state above described, and say, whether sin, however “sweet in the mouth, be not at lust the gall of asps within us:” yes, assuredly, it will sooner or later “bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder.”]

But in the midst of all this trouble, he makes mention of,

  II.      His consolation—

Whilst deeply bemoaning his sin, he was assured that God was privy to all the workings of his soul, beholding his desires, and hearing all his groans. Now this was a great consolation to him, because he well knew,

  1.      That God, in the groanings of a penitent, recognizes the voice of his own eternal Spirit—

[Groans are the natural expressions of inward pain and anguish; and when they arise from a sense of sin, they are indications of a penitent heart. But no pious disposition is found in man till it is planted there by the Holy Ghost. God is “the Author of every good and perfect gift,” and must “give us to will, no less than to do” whatever is acceptable in his sight. As for groanings on account of sin, they are more especially said to be the fruits of the Spirit, who thus “helpeth our infirmities, and enables us to express those feelings which are too big for utterance.” To man such inarticulate sounds would convey no distinct idea; but God understands them perfectly, because “he knoweth the mind of the Spirit:” and he delights in them, because it is in this way that “the Spirit maketh intercession for us,” and because these very intercessions are “according to the will of God.”

What a consolatory thought is this to one that is overwhelmed with a sense of sin! “He knows not what to pray for as he ought;” and perhaps the load upon his spirit disables him for uttering what his unembarrassed judgment would dictate: but he recollects that God needeth not any one to interpret to him our desires: he understands a sigh, a tear, a look, with infallible certainty: he sees all the self-lothing and self-abhorrence that is contained in such expressions of the penitent’s feelings; and in answer to them, he will “do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.”]

  2.      That to such expressions of penitence all the promises of God are made—

[It is not to the fluent tongue, but to the contrite heart, that pardon and peace are promised. “To this man will I look,” says God, “even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” “to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” “He will fulfil, not the requests only, but the desire also, of them that fear him,” and “of them that hope in his mercy.” If only we look unto him we shall be lightened,“ yea, we shall be saved with an everlasting salvation.” The publican who dared not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote on his breast, and cried, God be merciful to me a sinner! went down to his house justified, when the self-applauding Pharisee was dismissed under the guilt of all his sins.

Now this is an unspeakable consolation to the weary and heavy-laden sinner. Had he to look for grounds of worthiness, or even for any considerable attainments, in himself, he would be discouraged; but finding that the invitations of God are made to him as wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and that the promises are suited to him in that state, he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and finds rest and peace unto his soul.]

  From this view of the Psalmist’s experience we SEE,

  1.      What an evil and bitter thing sin is—

[”Fools will make a mock at sin,” and represent it as a light and venial thing: but let any one look at David in the midst of all the splendour of a court, and say, what sin is, which could so rob him of all earthly pleasure, and bring such torment upon his soul. Was that a light matter? If we will not be convinced by such a sight as this, we shall learn it by sad experience in the eternal world, where the worm that will prey upon our consciences shall never die, and the fire that shall torment our bodies shall never be quenched. O that we might be instructed, ere it be too late!]

  2.      What an enviable character is the true Christian, even when viewed under the greatest disadvantages—

[We cannot conceive a Christian in circumstances less enviable than those of David in the passage before us: yet compare him with an ungodly or impenitent man under the most favourable circumstances that can be imagined, and ask, Whose views are most just? — — — Whose feelings most rational? — — — Whose prospects most happy? — — — With the one “God is angry every day;” on the other he looks with complacency and delight: the joys of the one will soon terminate in inconceivable and everlasting misery; and the sorrows of the other in endless and unspeakable felicity. The sinner in the midst of all his revellings has an inward witness of the truth of our Lord’s assertion; “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”]

  3.      Of what importance it is to attain just views of the character of God—

[If God be viewed merely as a God of all mercy, we shall never repent us of our sins: and if he be viewed as an inexorable Judge, we shall be equally kept from penitence by despair. But let him be seen as he is in Christ Jesus, a “God reconciling the world unto himself, and not imputing their trespasses unto them,” let him be acknowledged as “a just God and yet a Saviour,” and instantly will a holy fear spring up in the place of presumption, and hope dispel the baneful influence of despondency.

Know then, Beloved, that this is the very character of God as he is revealed in his Gospel: he is “just, and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus:” he is to the impenitent indeed “a consuming fire:” but, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let the groaning penitent then look up to him with cheerful hope; yea, with assured confidence, that God will not despise even the lowest expressions of penitential sorrow: however “bruised the reed may be, the Lord Jesus will not break it; nor will he quench the smoking flax,” though there be in it but one spark of grace, and a whole cloud of corruption: never did he yet “despise the day of small things;” “nor will he ever cast out the least or meanest that come unto him.” Only come to him in faith, and “according to your faith it shall be done unto you.”]

DLXVIII

THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN LIFE

  Ps. 39:4, 5.

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee! verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

THERE is nothing more painful to a pious mind than to see how generally religion is neglected and despised. A godly man delights to speak of the things which are nearest to his heart: but he is often constrained to be silent, lest he should only induce the persons whose welfare he would promote, to blaspheme God, and to increase thereby their own guilt and condemnation. Gladly would he benefit all around him: but in many cases he perceives, that the very attempt to do so would be to “cast pearls before swine.” In tenderness to them therefore, as well as from a regard to his own feelings, he imposes a restraint upon himself in their presence, and “refrains even from good words,” though it is a pain and a grief to him to do so. Such was David’s situation when he penned this psalm. He was grieved to think that rational and immortal beings, standing on the very verge of eternity, should act so irrational a part: and not finding vent for his feelings amongst men, he poured them out before God in the words which we have just read; and intreated, that, however careless others were about the concerns of eternity, he might be more deeply and abidingly impressed with them.

Wishing that your minds may be suitably affected with this all-important subject, I will set before you,

  I.      David’s estimate of man’s present state—

He acknowledges that he himself could form but a very inadequate notion respecting it—

[Speculatively indeed he knew well enough, that man’s days are but few at all events, and quite uncertain as to their continuance: but the deep, and practical, and influential sense of it he had not in any degree equal to its importance; nor could he impress it on his own soul, without the powerful assistance of God’s Holy Spirit. Hence he poured forth this earnest petition to his God, “Lord, make me to know my end! make me to know how frail I am!”

It is thus with us also. Speculatively, the most ignorant amongst us has as perfect a knowledge of the subject as the most learned: but, practically, no one knows it, unless he have been taught of God: and even those who have “heard and learned it of the Father,” need to be taught it more deeply from day to day.

That children do not reflect upon it, we do not wonder, because of the vanity of their minds, and their almost entire want of serious consideration. But when persons are grown to maturity, we might well expect them to feel so obvious a truth. They see that multitudes are cut off at their age; and they know that with the termination of the present life all opportunities of preparing for eternity must cease: yet they not only do not lay these considerations to heart, but they will not hear of them, or endure to have them presented to their view. Nor are those who are more advanced in life at all more thoughtful on this subject. Engaged in worldly business, and occupied in providing for their families, they put the thoughts of eternity as far from them as they did amidst the more pleasurable pursuits of youth. And even when they attain to old age, they are as far from realizing the expectations of death and judgment as ever. They know, in a speculative way, that they are nearer to the grave than they were in early life, and that they may at no distant period expect a change. But still these views are no more influential on their minds than they were at any former period of their lives. A condemned criminal, who has but a few days to live, feels that every hour brings him nearer to the time appointed for his execution: but not so the man who is bowed down with years: the very habit of living puts at an indefinite distance the hour of death; and days and months pass on without ever bringing at all nearer to his apprehensions the time of his dissolution. Even the sick labour under the same mental blindness. They attend to the fluctuations of their disorder; and one single symptom of convalescence does more to remove the expectation of death from them, than many proofs of augmented debility do to bring it home to their feelings with suitable apprehensions: they are still buoyed up with hopes from the skill of their medical attendant, when all around them see that they are sinking fast into the grave. Whatever be a man’s age or state, it is God, and God alone, that can “make him thoroughly to know and feel how frail he is.”]

Nevertheless the view here given us is truly just—

[The life of man is so short, as to be really “nothing before God.” The comparison of it to “an hand-breadth” is peculiarly deserving of our attention; because by that image every man has, placed as it were before his eyes, “the measure of his days:” he cannot look upon his hand without calling to mind how frail he is, and how soon his present state of existence must come to an end. Let him divide his life into the periods of youth, manhood, and old age; and let him in his own apprehension divide his measure also; and it will bring to his imagination, in a very forcible way, the truth which he is so backward to contemplate. A great variety of other images are used in Scripture to convey this truth: life is compared to a shuttle which flies quickly through the loom: to a ship, which soon passes away, and leaves no trace behind it: to an eagle, which, with the rapidity of lightning, hasteth to its prey: but the image in our text is more striking than them all; because, whilst it is peculiarly simple, it is also practical, embodied, portable. Not that any image is sufficient to paint the shortness and uncertainty of life in its true colours; for “before God, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” it is absolutely “as nothing.”

As far as words can describe the state of man, truly the Psalmist has done it in our text. “Man is vanity;” not only vain, but vanity itself. “Every man” is so: not only the poor and ignorant, but the rich and learned: as it is said, “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.” And this they are “in their best state;” even in the vigour of youth, and in the midst of all the pleasures and honours that their hearts can wish. And they are so “altogether,” both in mind and body; for their body is “crushed before the moth;” and in respect of mind, they are, as far as spiritual things are concerned, “like the wild ass’s colt.” This description may appear exaggerated: but it is true: yes, “verily,” things are so, whether we will believe it or not: and if any deny it, our answer is, “Let God be true; but every man a liar.”]

Such being the real state of man, I will endeavour to shew you,

  II.      The vast importance of being duly impressed with it—

It was the want of this knowledge that made the adversaries of David so proud and contemptuous: and it was from a conviction of these truths that David was led so deeply to bewail their infatuation. A due consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of life would be of infinite service,

  1.      To diminish our anxieties about the things of time—

[We should think but little of our pleasures, or riches, or honours, if we considered how short a time they would continue, and that they may all vanish, together with life itself, the very next hour. Examples in abundance there are, in every age and place, to shew the extreme vanity of all that the world calls good and great. It is not in the Bible only that we see those who promised themselves years wherein to enjoy their newly-acquired wealth, cut short, and called in an instant to their great account: we see it continually before our eyes: the messenger of death is sent to many, who think of their end as little as any of us can do; and the sentence, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee,” is executed without any previous notice or expectation. If it be thought that still, if not in their own persons, yet in their heirs, they enjoy the things for which they have laboured; I answer, that they are often deprived of those very heirs, on whose aggrandizement they had set their hearts; and are constrained to leave their wealth to others who are comparatively strangers to them. Moreover, supposing their destined heir to succeed to their wealth, they little know what effect it may have upon him, and whether he may not dissipate it all in a tenth part of the time that it took them to amass it. Solomon mentions this as a very great drawback upon human happiness: “I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun; because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me; and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewn myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.” It is probable that Solomon saw how weak his son Rehoboam was: and certainly, of all the instances that ever occurred of the vanity of human grandeur, this is the greatest: for Solomon’s head was scarcely laid in the grave, before ten of the tribes out of the twelve revolted from his son, and, instead of being his subjects, became his rivals and enemies: and in the space of fire years afterwards, all the treasures, with which Solomon had enriched both his own house and the temple of the Lord, were taken away by an invading enemy; and brazen shields were made by his son to replace the golden shields with which the temple had been adorned. How strongly does this illustrate those words of David which immediately follow my text! “Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.” Assuredly, all our feelings, whether of hope or fear, whether of joy or sorrow, whether for ourselves or others, would be moderated, if only the thought of the transitoriness and uncertainty of human affairs were once duly impressed upon our minds: “those who have wives, would be as though they had none; those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; those who buy, as though they bought not: and those who use this world, as not abusing it:” the one thought, I say, how “transient every thing in this world is,” would produce in us, if not an indifference to the concerns of time, yet at least a moderation in our regard for them.]

  2.      To augment our diligence in preparing for eternity—

[Who that considered the uncertainty of life, would defer the concerns of his soul, which are of more importance than ten thousand worlds! It were rather to be expected that such an one would give neither sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids, till he should have secured, beyond a possibility of doubt, the favour of his God. One would think that every hour spent in any other pursuit should be grudged by him; and that, whatever efforts were made to divert his attention to any other subject, he should say with Nehemiah, “I am doing a great work, and cannot come down.” With what care, under such impressions, would a person read the word of God! With what humility would he attend divine ordinances! With what strong crying and tears would he present his supplications at the throne of grace! How, in all that he did, would he resemble those who contended in the Olympic games, running, wresthng, fighting as for their very life! The man with the avenger of blood close at his heels would not exert himself more to reach the city of refuge, than such a one would in “fleeing from the wrath to come.” It is only those who promise themselves days and months to come, that can sleep at their post, and dream of more convenient seasons, which may never arrive — — —

In this view then I cannot too earnestly entreat you to offer, each of you for yourselves, the prayer of David, “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am!” — — — And I beseech you to get his estimate of human life so graven on your hearts, that you may walk under the influence of it to the latest hour of your lives. In a word, My heart’s desire and prayer to God for every one of you is, that you may be so “wise as to redeem your time,” and be so taught to number your days as to apply your hearts unto wisdom.”]

DLXIX

DAVID’S SUCCESS IN PRAYER AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO US

  Ps. 40:1–3.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

THIS psalm undoubtedly refers to Christ, being expressly applied to him by an inspired Apostle; and so applied, as to have the whole weight of the Apostle’s argument depending on the truth and propriety of his citation. Yet it certainly refers to David also, who, in some parts of it, speaks in his own person, and, in others, in the person of the Messiah. It is in this way that the prophetic writings generally speak: there will be found in them a primary or historical sense, and a secondary or mystical sense; the two senses being sometimes more blended, and sometimes more distinct. Here, as in several other psalms, some parts of the psalm are more applicable to David, and others to the Messiah. To David, we conceive, the words which we have just read more immediately belong: and, as spoken by him in his own name, they will lead me to set before you,

  I.      His conduct in a season of deep distress—

What the particular distress was, we are not informed. Sometimes the language which he here uses has respect to sufferings under persecution. Thus in the 69th Psalm he says, “I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.” Again, in the 142d Psalm; “Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I: bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.” But in the psalm before us, he speaks more particularly as under the pressure of sin: “Innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth me.” On this account I understand his distress to have arisen chiefly on account of sin, under a sense of which,

  1.      He “waited patiently upon the Lord”—

[He betook himself to prayer. And where should a weary and heavy-laden sinner go, but unto his God; or how should he approach his God, but in a way of humble, fervent, and continual supplication? In what manner he prayed, he tells us in another psalm: “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice; let thine ear be attentive to the voice of my supplication! If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait; and in his word do I hope.” He was not like those who “pour out a prayer only when God’s chastening is upon them:” he would call upon his God day and night; and never cease to wrestle with him, till he had prevailedf.]

  2.      He “waited patiently for the Lord”—

[He well knew how often he had turned a deaf ear to the voice of God; and therefore, how justly God might turn a deaf ear to him. Yet he hoped in the multitude of God’s tender mercies. He came not pleading any merits of his own, nor trusting in any outward services whatever: he knew that God required not the sacrifice of bulls and of goats to expiate sin, but faith in that better sacrifice which should in due time be offered for the sins of the whole world; and he came pleading the merit of that sacrifice, and trusting that through it he should ultimately find acceptance. However long therefore God should withhold an answer of peace, he would wait, and patiently too, without murmuring; satisfied, if, after ever so many years of continued supplication, God should at last say to him, “Fear not; thy sins, which are many, are forgiven thee.”]

The wisdom of this conduct may be seen in,

  II.      The benefit he derived from it—

God “inclined his ear to him, and heard his cry;” and, in answer to his supplications, vouchsafed to him,

  1.      Liberty—

[The image under which David depicts his unpardoned state is very beautiful and just. He was as one in “an horrible pit, and sunk in miry clay.” Say, ye who know what it is to be shut up, as it were, under a sense of guilt, and an apprehension of God’s wrath, whether any words can adequately describe the darkness, the misery, and the bondage of a soul so circumstanced? The state of Jeremiah, when cast into a dungeon, and sunk in the mire, and ready to perish with hunger, was distressing to flesh and blood: but what was that to a sinner shut up in hourly expectation of the wrath of an offended God? Oh! it is inexpressibly tremendous: no tongue can tell how a soul trembles, and sinks, and faints under such appalling apprehensions, as are called by the Apostle, “a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume it” — — — But from this state David was delivered by means of fervent and persevering prayer. Who will say that he was not well repaid for waiting, for waiting patiently upon the Lord, and for the Lord? Had his supplications been unintermitted for ten thousand years, they would have been well compensated by such an answer as this at last. And, if a promise of such an answer after such a period were given to any one that is now gone beyond redemption, we may well conceive with what ardour he would commence, and prosecute his labour through the appointed time: the very hope of deliverance at last would more than half annihilate the anguish with which despair has already overwhelmed his soul.]

  2.      Holiness—

[When God, by a sense of pardoning love, “brought David up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay,” he at the same time “set his feet upon a rock, and established his goings.” What that rock was, we are at no loss to determine: it was no other than “the Rock of Ages,” the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “a sure foundation” to all who stand upon him, and who will impart of his own stability to all who put their trust in him. “On this Rock the whole Church is built; nor shall the gates of hell prevail against it.” It is not pardon only that we obtain by union with the Lord Jesus Christ, but strength also, to walk steadfastly in the ways of God. Separate from him, we can do nothing: united to him by faith, we can do all thingsm: and so established shall our hearts be by his grace, that we may defy all the powers of darkness, and already, by anticipation, enjoy our final triumph.” What a fruit then was here of persevering prayer! Yet so shall all who wait patiently upon their God be favoured: they shall be “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”]

  3.      Joy—

[“A new song was now put into the mouth of David, even praise unto his God.” And praise is indeed a “new” song to one who is but just brought to peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: the unconverted man knows it not: he has not a heart attuned to it. He may feel somewhat of gratitude for temporal mercies; but for the communication of spiritual blessings he cannot render any cordial thanks, because he never has received them, nor ever felt his need of them. Jeremiah might be sensible of his obligations to Ebed-melech for deliverance from the dungeon, because he had a deep consciousness of the peril and misery from which he had been rescued: but without that consciousness all professions of gratitude for such a deliverance would have been absurd. And so, till we are sensible what a horrible pit we have been taken out of, we can never have our mouth filled with praises and thanksgivings to our redeeming God. But this ardent love to God and holy delight in him invariably spring out of a manifestation of God’s mercy to the soul. David would praise his God every day, and all the day long: and it should seem that the greatness and the multitude of the deliverances vouchsafed to him, disposed him, beyond all other of the sons of men, to pour out his soul in acclamations and hosannahs to his God.]

What then is,

  III.      The improvement we should make of his experience—

St. Paul tells us, that the mercy vouchsafed to him was intended by God for the instruction and encouragement of others; for their instruction—that they might know how great was the long-suffering of God; and for their encouragement—that they, from so glorious an example of mercy, might learn to expect the same. Thus David, speaking of this experience of his, says, “Many shall see it, and fear, and shall put their trust in the Lord.” From his experience then we may learn,

  1.      To use the same means—

[We are not to say, David found mercy of the Lord, therefore I may expect the same at all events; but, therefore I may expect the same in a diligent use of the same means. David feared; and therefore I must “fear:” I must fear the displeasure of my God: I must fear lest I be left in the horrible pit, and sink for ever in the mire of unforgiven sin. My fear also must be operative, stirring me up to earnest prayer, and stimulating me to “flee for refuge to the hope that is set before me.” The use we are apt to make of any extraordinary displays of mercy, and which many make of the mercy vouchsafed to the penitent thief upon the cross, is to say within ourselves, God is too merciful to punish men in the eternal world: if I in a dying hour do but ask forgiveness, I also shall obtain mercy: and therefore I will not trouble myself about turning unto God, till I find, or think I find, that death is coming upon me. But let not any of us be guilty of so perverting the mercies of our God: let us “not so despise his goodness and patience and long-suffering; but let his goodness lead us to repentance.” Let us say, David found deliverance by waiting patiently. I then will wait patiently also. But it was with strong crying and tears that David sought for mercy: and in that way I will seek it also. It was in these holy exercises too that he was so constant: and in them also will I be constant, and persevere unto the end, assured, that it is only by patient continuance in well-doing I can ever hope to obtain the desired benefits.]

  2.      To expect the same end—

[We should never imagine ourselves to be in so low a state, but that God is able to deliver us from it. If, like Jonah, we were, as to our own apprehensions, “in the belly of hell,” yet from thence we should cry to him, assured that he would hear our voice, and “bring up our souls from the pit of corruption.” The state of David was as desperate as it could well be; yet from thence was he rescued, to his unutterable joy. Hezekiah also seems to have been in a similar state, and to have experienced a similar deliverance: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Thus shall it be with all who will seek God in sincerity and truth, especially when, like David, they seek him through the sacrifice and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their feet shall then be extricated from the mire, and set upon the Rock, where “their feet shall not slide,” and from whence “they shall never be moved.” And though their lives hitherto may have been spent in sighing and mourning, yet shall there be given to them “the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” In a word, let them only pray in faith; and however “wide they open their mouth, it shall be filled.”]

DLXX

CHRIST A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

  Ps. 40:9, 10.

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart: I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I hare not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

SOME of the most important prophecies are introduced in such a way as clearly to shew, that the writers of them were overruled, as it were, by a divine impulse, to speak things which they themselves did not understand. This was certainly the case with Caiaphas, who, being the High Priest, was moved by God to utter words, of the true import of which he had not the slightest conception. I think it highly probable, also, that David in this psalm had no just comprehension of the prophecy before us The beginning of the psalm and the end of it seem to belong to David only: but here is a passage which can have no reference to him, and can be interpreted of Christ alone. To him it is applied in the Epistle to the Hebrews; the writer of which, shewing the utter inefficacy of the legal sacrifices to take away sin, refers to this psalm in confirmation of his statement; and argues from it, that God in this very passage had declared his determination to “remove” the shadowy institutions of the law, and to “establish” that which was revealed in the Gospel, even “that one offering of Christ Jesus, whereby the whole world may be sanctified and saved.”

The words of my text stand in immediate connexion with those cited by the Apostle: and they declare what Christ should do in his prophetic office: that as, in the capacity of our great High Priest, he should offer himself a sacrifice for our sins, so, in the capacity of a Prophet to his Church, he should “preach righteousness and salvation” to the whole world.

In this view of the passage, I shall be led to consider it as fulfilled,

  I.      In the ministry of Christ himself—

Our blessed Lord did not, indeed, open the truths of the Gospel so fully as his Apostles did after his resurrection: for, till after his death and resurrection, the people were not prepared to receive a full Communication of all which he was commissioned to reveal. He told his hearers, that “he had many things to say unto them; but that they could not bear them then.” Yet did he so far unfold the mystery of godliness to his hearers, that all future revelations of it should evidently appear to be only a continuation and enlargement of the same divine testimony.

  1.      He traced salvation to its source, the love of God the Father — — —

  2.      He referred to his own sufferings as the means whereby it was to be accomplished — — —

  3.      He displayed it in all its glorious effects, the glory of God, and the salvation of man — — —

Nor could any consideration whatever induce him to conceal within his own bosom any one truth which he was commissioned to declare.

[He could appeal to the heart-searching God, “I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.” In every part of his ministry “he witnessed a good confession:” and, at the close of it, gave the most explicit directions relative to the truths that should be proclaimed by all the ministers of his wordh.]

This passage is fulfilled yet further,

  II.      In the ministry of all his faithful servants—

St. Peter unfolded this great salvation both to Jews and Gentilesk — — — St. Paul determined to know nothing amongst his people, “save Jesus Christ and him crucified” — — —

And we also can appeal to God that we, according to our ability, have followed his steps, “not shunning to declare unto you all the counsel of God — — —

Let me then INQUIRE,

  1.      What know you of this subject?

[It is surprising how ignorant of this great salvation many are, even after it has been preached to them faithfully for many years. But the truth is, men do not meditate on what they hear, or pray to God to impress it on their minds by his Holy Spirit: and hence, the word, like seed sown by the way-side, is taken away from their hearts, and either never springs up at all, or springs only to wither immediately for want of either root or moisture. But, my dear Brethren, you must give account to God of all that you hear, as I also must of all that I preach: and I pray God, that I may so speak, and you hear, that we may “give up our account together, with joy, and not with grief” — — —]

  2.      What effect has it produced upon you?

[The use of the Gospel is to bring us unto Christ, and to assimilate us to his divine image. If, then, we receive it aright, we shall be able to say with Christ, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy Law is within my heart.” And, as Christ hid not God’s righteousness within his heart, but proclaimed it boldly “to the great congregation,” so must you, Brethren, before the whole world be ready to confess Christ, and to follow him faithfully, even unto death. You must not only “cleave to him with full purpose of heart,” but must “glory in his cross, and by means of it be crucified unto the world, and have the world crucified unto youp.” Let me then ask, Is it thus with your souls? Oh, “let there be in you the mind that was in Christ Jesus!” So shall you partake with him in all the glory and felicity which the Father has conferred upon himr, and which he also is empowered to bestow on all his faithful followers.]

DLXXI

CONSOLATION TO THE DISTRESSED

             Ps. 40:17.

I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

THAT part of the Holy Scriptures which most fully opens the exercises of the heart is the book of Psalms. There we see a man of God unbosoming himself before his Maker, and declaring all his hopes and fears, his griefs and consolations. Sometimes he speaks in the person of the Messiah, and sometimes in his own person: sometimes his words are applicable both to the one and the other. These varieties often appear in the very same psalm; some parts of which exclusively relate to the type, or to the antitype; and other parts are common to both. It is thus in the psalm before us. That it refers to the Messiah, there can be no doubt; because it is applied to him by God himself. Yet there are in it some expressions, which should rather be explained in reference to David only. The twelfth verse in particular must be understood in this way: and the circumstance of all the following verses being repeated in another place, and formed into a distinct psalm by themselves, is a strong reason for referring them also to him principally, or perhaps to him alone. In the words of our text we notice,

  I.      His complaint—

David on some occasions was reduced to great straits and difficulties with respect to his temporal concerns: but he was also much tried in his spirit: and the complaint before us seems to have arisen from,

  1.      A sense of his guilt—

[In ver. 12, he speaks of “his iniquities having taken such hold upon him, that he was not able to look up; that they were more than the hairs of his head, so that his heart failed him.” It is very probable that he alluded in some measure to those dreadful enormities which he had committed in the matter of Uriah. But he would not consider those actions merely as insulated and detached, but rather as indications of the extreme depravity of his heart: and in reference to that he might well say of himself, “I am poor and needy.” Indeed, who that knows any thing of the spirituality of God’s law, or of his own immediate departures from it, can use any other language than that in the text? Was Adam poor when despoiled of the Divine image through the commission of one sin; and are not we, whose iniquities are more in number than the hairs of our head? Was he needy, when banished from Paradise, and doomed to eternal death; and are not we, who from our very birth have been “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath?” Though God has forgiven us, it does not become us to forget what we are in ourselves, but to go softly before him all our days, repenting in dust and ashes.]

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