Well, then, if we must abide in the word, then — (1.) Be sure to cherish good motions if they come upon your hearts : you are to abide therein : though the Spirit break in upon the soul of a sudden, let it not go so. Usually our religious pangs are but like a sudden flash of lightning into a dark place. (2.) Be careful to observe the first decays and languishments of your spirits, that you may 'strengthen the things that are ready to die,' Kev. iii. 2. If the candle of the Lord doth not shine as it was wont to do, complain of the first dimness and decay.
Ohs. 6. From that heing not a foi'cjetful hearer. That hearers must take heed that they do not forget the good things dispensed to them. Helps to memory are these : — (1.) Attention ; men remember what they heed and regard : Pro v. iv. 21, ' Attend to my sayings ; keep them in the midst of thine heart : ' that is, in such a place where nothing can come to take them away. Where there is attention, there will be retention : the memory is the chest and ark of divine truths, and a man should see them carefully locked up : Isa. xlii. 23, ' Who will hearken and hear for the time to come?' Hearkening noteth rever- ence and seriousness ; as it is said, Isa. xxxii. 3, ' The ears of them that hear shall hearken.' Now reverence in the admission of the word helpeth us in the keeping of it : truths are lost by slight hearing. (2.) Affection, that is a great friend to memory ; men remember what they care for : an old man will not forget where he laid his bag of gold : delight and love are always renewing and reviving the object upon our thoughts, Ps. cxix. David often asserteth his delight in the law, and therefore it was always in his thoughts : ver. 97, ' Oh how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the day.' (3.) Application and appropriation of truths ; we will remember that which con- cerneth ourselves : in a public edict, a man will be sure to carry away that which is proper to his case and tenure : Job v. 27, ' Hear this,
^'Sic Ecebolius de ipso ; IXar^o-aTe fik to dXas to dvaiaOrjTov.' — Socrat. Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 2.
1()8 AN EXPOSITION, AVITH NOTE.S, [JaS. I. 25.
and know it for thy .c^ood ;' there he spake to me ; this I must re- member for my comfort. So Prov. ix. ] 2, ' Be wise for tliyself ;' this is for your souls, and concerneth you nearl}'. (4.) Meditation, and holy care to cover the word, that it be not snatched from us by vain thoughts ; that the fowls of the air do not peck up the gootl seed, Mat. xiii. 4. You should often revolve and revive it upon the thoughts : as an apple, when it is tossed in the hand, leaveth the odour and smell of it behind when it is gone : Luke ii. 19, ' Mary kept these sayings, and pondered them in her heart ;' she kept them, because she pondered them. (5.) Observation of the accomplishment of truths: you will remember things spoken long since, when you see them veri- fied : John ii. 19, ' Then they remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.' Such occasions observed will make old truths come to mind afresh. So ver. 22, ' Then they remembered he had spoken' of destroying the temple in three days. So God saith, Hosea vii. 12, ' I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.' When the prophets are dead and gone, they may remember they were taught such things along time since. (6.) Practise what thou hearest : you will remember the good you get by it : ' I will re- member thy precepts, for by them thou hast quickened me,' Ps. cxix. 93. Christians can discourse of the circumstances of that sermon by which they have received profit. (7.) Commit it to the Spirit's keeping and charge : John xiv. 2G, The Comforter, dva/xv7]a€t, shall bring things to your remembrance.' Christ chargeth the Holy Ghost with his own sermons ; the disciples' memories w^ere too slii)pery : and truly this is the great advantage which they have tliat have interest in the promise of the Spirit, that truths are brought freshly to mind in the very season wherein they do concern them.
Ohs. 7. From that he being not a forgetful hearer, hut a doer. Sin Cometh for want of remembering : forgetful hearers are negligent: Ps. ciii. 18, ' Them that remember his commandments to do them.' A godly man hath an afiective memory; he remembereth to do. Wicked men are often expressed and set out by their bad memories ; as Job viii. 13, ' They forget God ;' so Ps. cxix. 139, ' Mine enemies have forgotten thy word;' that is, they do not practise it ; yea, the sins of God's people are usually sins of forgetfulness and incogitancy ; as Peter would never have been so bold and daring upon the danger, and done what he did, if he had i-emembered. The text saith, ' When he remembered, he wept bitterly,' Luke xxii. Gl. So when they fainted under affliction : Hcb. xii. 5, ' Ye have forgotten the consola- tion whch speaketh to you as children.' A bad memory is the cause of a great deal of mischief in the soul. So for distrust: Mark viii. 18, ' Ye see and hear, but do not lemember ;' they did not actually consider the former experience of the loaves and fishes, and so distrusted. So for murmuring and impatience: David nuniuured till he 'remem- bered the years of the right hand of the Most High,' Ps. Ixxvii. 10 We find that seasonable trutlis give a great deal of relief and ease to the mind in a temptation : Lam. iii. 21, * This I recall to mind, and therefore I have hope;' whereas others are troubled with every event of providence, because they do not remember the comforts the scrip- ture hath provided in such a case. They that came to the sepulchre