what God requires : Ps. cxix. 4,5,' Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! ' As soon as God lays a command upon a Christian, he looks up to heaven for power to turn that precept into practice.! Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! Oh that I were as holy as God would have me to be ! Oh that I were as humble and lowly as God would have me to be ! Oh that I were as heavenly and spiritual as God would have me to be ! Oh that I were as pure and perfect as God would have me to be ! So ver. 48, * My hands will I lift up to thy commandments, which I have loved.' Many there be which thrust away with all their might thy commandments, but I lift up my hands to thy commandments. Many there be that will strain themselves to take a comfort, but I strain myself to lift up thy commandments. 2 Many there are who will stretch out their hands to take a reward, but I stretch out my hands to take hold on thy commandments. To give a little more light into these words: Sometimes the lifting up of hands betokens admiration ; when men are astonished and ravished they lift up their hands : ' I will lift up my hands to thy commandments,' that is, I will admire the goodness, the holiness, the righteousness, the purity and excellency of thy com- mandments. Again, we lift up our hands when we betake ourselves to refuge : why ! God's commands are the saint's refuge. When they house and shelter themselves under the wings of God's commands they are safe. Again, men lift up their hands when they take hold on a thing. Now gracious souls do take hold on God's commandments to do them, to practise them, and to express the life and power of them. Again, men hft up their hands to those things that are high and above them. Now the commands of God are high, they are sublime, they are above us. They are sublime and high in regard of their original, they come down from God ; they are sublime and high in regard of the matter of them, they are heavenly oracles, they are dictates of divine wisdom ; they are sublime and high in regard of the difficulty of keeping of them, they exceeding all human strength; and they are sublime and high in regard of their situation, they are situ- ated in heaven : * Thy word,' says David, * endures for ever in heaven.' But yet as sublime and as high as they are, a man that hath his eye upon divine glory will lift up his hands unto them ; he will do all he can to express the pleasure that he takes in them, and the readiness of his soul to a holy compliance with them. A man that hath his eye upon divine glory, he will keep close to his work, to his hearing work, to his praying work, to his mourning work, to his repenting work, to his believing work, to his waiting work ; though nothing comes on it, though he make no earnings of it, though comfort doth not come, though joy and peace doth not come, though assurance doth not come, though enlargements do not come, though answers and returns from heaven do not come, though good days do not come, though deliverance doth not come, yet such will keep close to their work that have their
' Tola vita honi Chriatiani sanctum desiderium eat : The whole life of a good Chris- tian is a holy wish. — Augustine. mi. u- e
^ Prior est autoritas imperantis quam utilitas servientis : The chief reason of obe- dience is the authority of the lord, not the utility of the servant.— Ttr^ttZKon.
14^ THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RA.RITY, [HeB. XII. 14
eye upon divine glory. But now such who eye not the glory of God in what they do, they quickly grow weary of their work ; if they can make no earnings of their seekings and fastings and prayings they are presently ready to throw up all, and to quarrel with God himselt, as if God had done them an injury, Isa. Iviii. 1-4.1
[5.] Fifthly and lastly, A man that really aims at the glory of God in this or that duty, he cannot he satisfied nor contented with Hie per- formance of duties, without some enjoyments of God in duties. With- out some converse and communion with God in duties, his soul cannot be satisfied ; his soul thirsts and longs to see the beauty and the glory of the Lord in his sanctuary, Ps. Ixiii. 1-3 ; and without this sight he cannot be quieted. Here is the ordinance, but where is the God of the ordinance? Here is prayer, but where is the God of prayer? Here is the duty, but where is the God of duty ? Here is enlarge- ments, but where is the God of enlargements ? Here are meltings and breakings of spirit, but where is the God of these meltings and breakings ? Ps. Ixxxiv. 2, ' My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.' The courts of the Lord, without spiritual converses with the living God, could not satisfy his soul : Oh, saith he, here be the courts of the Lord, the courts of the Lord, but where is the living God ? where is the living God ? where is that God that makes men to live, and that makes ordinances to be living and lively ordinances to his children's souls ? Oh, the courts of the Lord are very desirable, but the living God is much more desirable ! The courts of the Lord are precious and glorious, but the living God is infinitely more precious and glorious ! Here is the mantle of Ehjah, but where is the God of Elijah? 2 Kings ii. 12-14. Here are the courts of the Lord, but where is the Lord of these courts ? It was the speech of holy Mr Bradford,2 ' that he could not leave a duty till he had found com- munion with Christ in the duty ; he could not give off a duty till his heart was brought into a duty frame ; he could not leave confession till he had found his heart humbled and melted under the sense of his sin ; he could not give over petitioning till he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired, and strongly carried out after the enjoyment of them. Neither could he leave thanksgiving till he had found his spirit enlarged, and his soul quickened in the return of praises.' And so it was with holy Bernard, who was wont to say, ' O Lord, I never come to thee but by thee ; I never go from thee without thee.' 3 A man that hath his eye upon the glory of Christ, he cannot put off his soul with anything below communion with Christ, in those religious services and duties that he offers up to Christ. Though the breasts of duty are sweet, yet those breasts will not satisfy the soul, except Christ lies betwixt them. Cant. i. 13. But now men that have base, poor, low, and by-ends in what they do, they can come off easily from their duties ; though they find no spirit, no life, no warmth in duty, yet they can come off with content from duty. Though they
^ Compare these scriptures together : Ps. xliv. 12, 20; Cant. iii. 1-3 ; Isa. xxvi. 8, 9, and lix. 8-11 ; Hab. ii. 1-3 ; Micah vii. 7-9 ; Lam. iii. 8, 44, compared with ver. 24-26, 31, 32, 40, 41, 55.
* Mr Foxe, Acts and Mon. [5«6 nomine. — G.]