PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Manton — Volume 7
Thomas Manton · 317,571 words · 317 reading sections
Section 61
1. David's assertion of his integrity, / have kept thy precepts. 2. The gain of this course indefinitely proposed, this I had. 3. The Knk between both in the causal particle, because. David doth not here tell you what he had, but this and that : this hope, this comfort, this quickening, this deliverance ; all this I …
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2. Let me now show the good that cometh to us thereby. David saith indefinitely, ' This I had ;' not telling us what good or privilege it was, only in the general it was some benefit that accrued to him in this life. He doth not say. This I hope for, but. This I had. And therefore I shall not speak of the full reward i…
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[2.] Kext to peace of conscience there is joy in the Holy Ghost; this is the fruit of peace, as peace is the fruit of righteousness : Rom. xiv. 17, ' The kingdom of God consisteth not in meat and drink, but in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' First right- eousness, and then peace, and then joy in th…
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VeR. 56.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 101 [5.] Protection in their work. They are under the special care and conduct of his providence while they keep his precepts : ' He keepeth them as in a paviUon ; thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy pre- sence from the pride of men,' Ps. xxxi. 20. And who are they that are kep…
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3. The next thing is to show you what connection there is between these two, obedience and this good, or the reason of the Lord's deal- ing thus. [1.] God doth it partly out of his general justice, as he is gover- nor of the world : his holy nature doth delight in holiness, and there- fore it is requisite, ut bonis be…
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Object But is this safe, to ascribe the comfort and blessings that we have to our own obedience ? Is it not expressly forbidden, Deut. ix. 4, ' Say not in thy heart, For my righteousness hath the Lord brought me to possess the laud ' ? Ans. 1. David doth not boast of his merits, but observeth God's mercy and faithfuln…
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SERMON LXIV. Tliou art my 'portion, 0 Lord : I have said that I looidd keep thy icords. — Yer. 57. David doth in this place make out his right and title, ' Thou art my portion, 0 Lord,' &c. Here is — 1. David's protestation, thou art my portion, 0 Lord. 2. David's resolution, L have said that Liuoidd keep thy ivord…
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2. For the matter, ' I will keep thy words.' Keeping God's word notes an exact and tender respect, when a man keeps it as a jewel, as YeR.' 57.] SERMONS UPON FSALM CXIX. 107 a precious treasure, that it may not be hazarded ; or keeps it ' as the apple of his eye/ Prov. vii. 2. The eye is soon offended with the least …
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(3.) He is infinitely good. In this portion one hath not the less because another enjoys it with him. Here is a sharing without division, a partaking without prejudice of a co-partner, for every man hatli his portion whole and entire ; it is no less to us because otiiers enjoy it too. We straiten others in worldly thin…
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110 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXlV. things to bestow upon tliem, ' But he hath provided for them a city,' a heavenly kingdom. Not only given them that which they enjoyed in houses, their flocks and herds, which were multiplied ; these were slender things to take up the whole significancy of that expression, I wil…
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[4.] That which a man would make his portion, it must be sufficient to t-upply all his wants, that he may have enough to live upon. Now, saith the Lord, ' I am God all-sufficient,' Gen. xvii. 1 ; sufficient for the necessities of this life, and that which is to come. He is the fountain of all blessings, spiritual, temp…
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VeR. 57.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 113 himself, and it is liis hcappiness to enjoy himself, there needs no more; there is enough in God to satisfy. If our desires run out after other things, they are desires not to be satisfied, but to be mortified. If we hunger after other contentments, they are like feverish desires…
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Use 1. To reprove them that do not take God for their portion. Godly men must have God himself ; they prefer him above all, and saving grace above other benefits, Ps. iv. 6, 7. There is the disposi- tions of the godly and the carnal. ' The many say, Who will show us any good ? ' But, ' Lord, lift up the light of thy co…
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116 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXIV. made to live in dependence. Now, of all portions in the world, there is none worth the having but God himself ; nothing else can make you completely blessed, and satisfy all the necessities and all the capacities of soul and body. When you have outward things, what have you for…
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3. By your behaviour under trouble when other things fail : Lam. iii. 24, ' The Lord is my portion, saith my soul ; therefore I will hope in him.' When they were driven from their other portions (for that is spoken of), when all manner of calamities did befall them, and they were cast out, and their inheritance turned …
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5. Again, out of gratitude, when God doth all for us, can we deny him anything ? Dost thou love God as the chief est good, and wilt not thou fear to oftend him ? Whoever chooseth God for his portion will have David's disposition, ' I have said I will keep thy words ;' he will be exact and punctual to keep in with God. …
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[2.] They thus painfully entreat the favour of God when they have lost it by sin ; for then they are afflicted with a double evil — want of so great a comfort, and a sense of their own folly. A sense of God's favour may be withheld out of mere sovereignty, yet even then God's children will be earnest ; but when it is w…
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(3d.) They entreat the favour of God with all their hearts, because their business lies mainly with God. Their work is to walk closely 122 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXV. with God, and keep up a strict communion with him. A carnal man's business lies with God sometimes in his trouble ; but when he licks himself w…
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[2.] A man prays but with a piece of his heart when he prays rather ■with his conscience than with his affections. Will you distinguish this, a dictate of conscience must be distinguished from a purpose of heart. Conscience may tell us what is to be done, yet the heart have no liking to it. Austin saith when he was a c…
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YeE, 59.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 125 SEKMON LXVI. I tlwught on my iccujs, and ivroied my feet unio tliy testimonies. — Ver. 59. In these words we have — 1. David's exercise, I tlwugld on my imys. 2; The effect of it, / turned my feet unto thy testimonies. In the former verse he beggeth mercy and the favour of …
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2. Partly by afHictions ; as the prodigal, when he was reduced to husks and rags, then he came to himself and was brought to his right mind. Again, 1 Kings viii. 47, ' If in the land of their affliction, they shall bethink themselves and repent ;' the Hebrew is, ' bring it back to their hearts.' Affliction is sanctifie…
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128 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXVI. 1. An examination of our past course, or a looking into our own estate. 2. A careful watch over future actions. 3. A consideration of the issue and event of things. I have viewed my life past. I have been wrong, and I see it will be bitterness in the issue ; therefore I purpo…
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3. How little you have answered this end ! God complaineth of our backwardness to this work : Jer. viii. 6, ' No man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? ' God, upon a review, found every day's work good, very good in themselves, and their correspond- ence and frame. Gen. i. 31 ; but when we consider …
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7. How ):appy it will be for you when once you cliange your course ! The prodigal remembered the plenty in liis father's house ; you will find a manifest difference : Eom. vi, 21, 22, ' What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death : but now, being made free f…
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Now it concerneth us to make sure work of it. [1.] Because convictions lost occasion the greater hardness of heart. No iron so hard as that which has been often heated and often quenched ; and no heart so bad as theirs that seemed to have some serious and anxious thoughts about their eternal condition. The devil is th…
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[2.] When God appeareth against you in a course of judgments, cutting off one comfort after another, now taking away a child, then blasting the estate : ' Now consider your ways ; ' Eccles. vii. 14, ' In the day of adversity consider ; ' then is the duty in season. Affliction doth not rise out of the dust ; God hath so…
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136 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXVII. this upon our spirits, then all excuses and delays are laid aside, and we come off readily and kindly in the way of compliance with God's call. This is doctrinally spoken of. Cant. i. 4, ' Draw me, and we will run after thee.' Running is an earnest and speedy motion. From when…
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Then advantages in point of service. What honour might we have brought to God, what good done to others, if we had begun sooner ! Oh, saith one, had I but the time to spend again which I trifled away in the devil's service ! What use might I have made of the vigour and freshness of my youth, and quickness of my parts f…
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great uncertainties ; the hand of providence may soon crop 5^011 off, long before you come to your flower. None are nearer to destruction than those that promise themselves a longer time in sin : Luke xii. 19, * Thou hast goods laid up for many years,' but ' Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.' Go…
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2. We provide the more discomfort for ourselves. Always the pro- portion of our sorrow is according to the measure of our sins. Whether it be godly sorrow, the sorrow of repentance, or despairing sorrow, those horrors which are impressed upon us as a punishment of our rebellion and impenitency, in both senses you still…
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is the bottom reason, this is, that which sways them. I will not speak to this plea as it lies against conversion itself, but only as it makes men to delay. If I were to plead for conversion itself, I would tell these carnalists of higher pleasure ; that their delights shall not be abrogated, but preserved ; their deli…
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2. We cannot be happy soon enough, for the state we make after is the arms of God, the bosom of Jesus, the hope of eternal life; we can- not soon enough get within the compass of such privileges. Oh ! shall Christ lie by as a dead commodity or breaded ^ ware ? It shows we know not the gift of God, John iv. If we had a …
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4. The love of the world rooted in us, the love of present delights and present contentments. This is so deeply rooted in our nature that here we stick, and are loath to come off kindly to the work of God. In Mat. xxii., when they were invited to the marriage-feast of the king's son, that is, to the privileges of the g…
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5. It is great injustice and injury to God, who hath been too long kept out of his right already. Oh, look back ! How ungratefully have you spent all your former time ! Too much time hath been spent already, and you would delay longer : 1 Peter iv. 3, ' The time past may more than suffice to have wrought the will of th…
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148 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXVIII. seek the Lord's favour ? ready to fell flat, and beg terms of grace in and through Christ Jesus ? Eahab, when the Lord had by his mes- sengers threatened destruction to Jericho, only Eahab's house was to be safe. She hanged out a scarlet thread ere the spies were departed, Jo…
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[3.] Consult not with the flesh, as a friend in the case, when your heart begins to work towards God: Gal. i. 16, ' Immediately I con- sulted not with flesh and blood.' It is notable the word signifies to lay down a burden, to lay down our cares and difficulties in a friend's bosom. When a man hath any trouble upon him…
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VeR. 60.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 151 to : Eph. V. 14, ' Awake, thou that sleepest,' <fcc. When Christ hath awakened thee, and thou hcginnest to he startled in the sleep of thy security, rouse up thyself and be serious. [3.] Actuate thy thoughts by a sound belief and application of eternity, that you may not lose yo…
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[2.] The evil done him, they 'have robbed me.' A man may suffer in his name by slander, in his dwelling by his exile, in his liberty by imprisonment, in limbs or life by torture and execution, in his estate by fine and confiscation. IMany are the troubles of the righteous ; this last is here intended. There are the dep…
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[2.] When he loseth his comfort and confidence in God, for that is a sign we live upon the creature, and cannot trust God without the creature. Man knoweth how to put a cheat upon his own heart. When he hath all things at full, then he talketh of living by faith ; as those women who ' would eat their own bread, and wea…
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156 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXIX. [3.] Our gain in Christ is more than our loss in tho world, both here and hereafter. So his promise : Mark s. 29, 30, ' Verily I say unto you., there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or ffither, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and …
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2. That where men make conscience of their ways, they are not apt to be reduced by penalties, for they are guided b}^ a higher principle than the interests of the flesh. Conscience looks to the obligation of duty, what w^e must do or not do ; not to the course of our interests — not what is safe, but wdiat is duty. Oh …
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[3.] A well-grounded resolution in the truth : 1 Thes. v. 21, ' Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.' When we take up the ways of God upon fashion, or half conviction, or probable reasons, and VeR. 61.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 159 do not resolve upon sound evidence, we are in danger to be shaken when it i…
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2. The adjunct, ' righteous,' or the judgments of thy righteousness ; so called because they are holy, just, and full of equity. Doct. 1. One special duty wherein the people of God should be much ■exercised is thanksgiving. Doct. 2. That, God's providence rightly considered, we shall in the worst times find much more…
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[2.] The great respect it hath to love. Praise and thanksgiving is an act of love, and then it cherisheth and feedeth love. It is an act of love to God, for if we love God we will praise him. Prayer is a work of necessity, but praise a mere work of duty and respect to God. AVe would exalt him more in our own hearts and…
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164 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXX. necessity so great as spiritual necessity, because our eternal well-being or ill-being dependeth on it ; and beggary is nothing to being found naked in the great day. No profit so great as spiiitual ; that is not to be measured by the good things of this world, or a little pelf,…
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3. God either takes away or blasts the mercies which we are not thankful for. Sometimes he taketh them from us : Hosea ii. 8, 9, 'I will take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and I will recover my wool and flax.' Why ? ' She doth not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and …
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VeR. 62.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 167 2 Cor. i. 9, 10, ' We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we shoukl not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we trust, that he will yet deliver us.' Consider the end and fruit of his me…
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[3.] God is yet worthy of praise and thanksgiving for choicer mercies yet continued, notwithstanding all the afilictions laid upon us. That we have his Spirit supporting us under our trials, and enabling us to bear them: 1 Peter iv. 13, 14, 'Kejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; that when his g…
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170 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. LXX. 3. As for rising up at midnight, we can neither enforce it as a duty upon you, nor yet can we condemn it. It was an act of heroical zeal in David, who employed his time waking to the honour of God, which others spent in sleeping ; and we read that Paul and Silas ' sang praises …
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[5.] The reverence to be used in secret adoration, David did not only raise up his spuits to praise God, but rise up out of his bed to bow the knee to him. Secret duties should be performed with some solemnity, not slubbered over. Praise, a special act of adoration, re- quireth the worship of body and soul. Use. Let D…
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(2.) The fear of caution is also called the fear of God, when we carry on the business of salvation with all possible solicitude and care. For it is no easy thing to please God and save our souls : Phil. ii. 12, * Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.' In the time of our sojourning here we meet with many tem…
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(od.) It breedeth zeal and diligence in the great and general busi- ness of our salvation, and maketh us more careful to approve ourselves unto God in our whole course, that we may be accepted of him : 2 Cor. vii. 1, ' Perfecting holiness in the fear of God." God is a great God, and will not be put off with anything, o…
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2. It presseth us to keep his precepts ; that is the only evidence that the fear of God is rooted in our hearts. The heart must be pre- pared to keep all ; they are all equally good, and they are all equally necessary ; not one of them is in vain ; and they are all joined together, like rings in a chain, and we are not…
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[4.] To be a companion with them is to own them in all conditions, and to take part and lot with them : Rev. i. 9, ' I, John, who am a brother and companion in tribulation, and the kingdom and patience VOL. vn. * M 178 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXXI. of Jesus Christ.' We must have a fellowship with them not onl…
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[3.] Gratitude to Christ maketh us to prize all that belong to him, and to own them, and to be companions with them in all conditions : 1 John iii. 16-18, ' Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, a…
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VeR. 63.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 181 p.] If they be not like, intimacy and converse will make them like : eveiy man is wrought upon by his company. We imitate those whom we love, and with whom we often converse : Prov. xiii. 20, ' He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroy…
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[4.] In religious friendship we owe a love to all that fear God : Acts iv. 32, ' The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul.' Love is called avvhecr fjio<i Ti)<i reXeiOTT/ro?, * the bond of perfectness,' Col. iii. 14. All things are bound together by a holy society, and preserved by it.' There i…
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2. It is a singular favour to them on whom God bestowetli this heavenly wisdom, and so puts a difference between them and others. It is a greater sign of friendship and respect to them than if God had given them all the world : Mark xiii. 11, ' To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to othe…
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3. The valtie of the benefit itself. Saving knowledge, or the light of the Spirit, keepeth alive the work of grace in our hearts. Habitual graces will soon wither and decay without a continual influence. The increase of sanctification cometh into the soul by the increase of saving knowledge : 2 Peter i. 2, ' Grace be m…
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Prop. 4. The universal experience of the world possesseth all men's minds with this apprehension, that God is a merciful God : ' The earth, 0 Lord, is full of thy mercy ; ' the world and everything therein sets forth his goodness to us. The same is said in other places : Ps. xxxiii. 5, ' The earth is full of the goodne…
1,053 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1870); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.