(4.) Such desires as are constant, and not easily controlled by other desires. Idle, lazy wishes, ineffectual glances, sudden motions, while their hearts are detained in the speculation of holiness, are like chil- dren's desires, soon put out of the humour. There may be vehement and sudden lustings in an unregenerated person ; free-will hath its pangs of devotion. But the apostle declares: Rom. vii. 18, 'To will is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not.' It is a constant habitual will, not a volatile devotion, that cometh upon us now and then ; but such a will as is present, as sin is present. He had said before, 'When I would do good, evil is present with me.' Whithersoever you go, you carry a sinning nature about with you. It is present, urging the heart to vanity, folly, lust ; so should this will be present with you, urging the heart to good.
(5.) Such desires are joined Avitli serious groans and sorrow for our defects. He cannot be so good as he would, but desireth and com- plaineth ; therefore God accepteth of the will for the deed : Eom. vii. 24, ' 0 wretched man that I am, wdio shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ' Though an unrenewed man seem to desire grace, yet he feeleth no grief in the want of grace, it never troubleth him ; his desires do not break out into groans and bitter complaints, because of indwelling corruption. Now, by these things may you try your hearts.
3. The third thing observable from hence, is the necessity of direct- ing grace, ' Oh that my ways were directed ! '
I shall first premise some distinctions —
[1.] There is a general direction, and a particular direction. (1.) The general direction is in the word ; there God hath declared his mind in his statutes : ' He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good,' Micah vi. 8. (2.) A particular direction by his Spirit, who doth order and direct us how to apply the rule to all our ways: Isa. Iviii. 11, ' The Lord shall guide thee continually.' Now, this particular direction is either to our general choice : Ps. xvi. 7, ' I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel.' It is the work of God only to teach us how
52 SEKMOXS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. VI.
to apply the rule so as to choose him for our portion. Or secondly, as to acts and orderly exercise of any particular grace ; so 2 Thes. iii. 5, ' The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.' Or thirdly, as to the management of our civil actions; as the pillar of the cloud went before the Israeliteis iu their journeys, so doth God still guide his people in all their affairs, both as to duty and success. As to duty: Prov. iii. 6, ' In all ihy ways acknow- ledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.' Ask his counsel, leave, and blessing : in doubtful things ask his counsel ; in clear cases ask his leave, ' Shall I go up or not?' and then ask his blessing. As to success: Prov. xvi. 9, ' A man's heart deviseth his way ; but the Lord direct- eth his steps.' Events cross expectation ; we cannot foresee the event of things in the course of a man's life, what is expedient, and what not : Prov. xx. 24, ' Man's goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then understand his own way ? ' We purpose and determine many things rightly, and according to rule, but God disposeth of all events : Eom. i. 10, ' Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God, to come unto you.' God brought Paul to Eome by a way he little thought of. Therefore we need to call God to counsel, and to inquire of the oracle in all matters that concern family, commonwealth, or church. We need a guide : Jer. X. 23, ' 0 Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself ; neither is it in man that walketh to direct his steps.' Affairs do not depend on our policy or integrity, but on the divine providence, who ordereth every step, to give such success as he pleaseth.
[2.] Distinction. There is a literal direction, and an effectual direc- tion. (1.) The literal direction is by that speculative knowledge that we get by the word : Ps. cxix. 105, ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,' sufficient not only for general courses, but particular actions. (2.) The effectual direction is by the Holy Ghost applying the word, and bending the heart to the obedience of it : Isa, Ixi. 8, ' I will direct their woik in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them,' — that is, I will so show them their way, as to work their hearts to the sincere obedience of it.
Kow, to give you the reasons for the necessity of this direction, three things prove it —
(1.) The blindness of our minds. We are wise in generals, but know not how to apply the rule to particular cases. The heathens were ' vain iv Tol<; StaXojta/j.ol<;, in their imaginations,' Eom. i. 21. And the same is true of us Christians : though we have a clearer knowledge of God, and the way how he will be served and glorified ; yet to suit it to particular cases, how dark are we ! A dial may be well set, yet, if the sun shine not upon it, we cannot tell the time of the day. The scriptures are sufficient to make us wise ; but without the light of the Spirit, how do we grope at noonday ! ,