Doct. 2, It is God alone that can keep us from wandering.
Reas. There is in man's heart a mighty proneness thereto : Jer. xiv. 10, you have hearts that ' love to wander.' Man is a restless creature, that loveth shifts and changes. For weakness they are com- pared to children, Hosea xi. 3, and for wandering compared to sheep, Isa. liii. 6. There is no creature so apt to go astray as sheep, and so unable to return. This is the disposition of men by nature. And mark, much of the old nature remains still with the saints. Have they not this wandering property to the last ? David acknowledgeth it, though there Avere some good in him : Ps. cxix. 176, 'I have gone astray like a lost sheep.' Consider the saints; thongh they have sin- cerity, yet not perfection ; and sometimes they wander through in- advertency ; they are overtaken, Gal. vi. 1, as Noah Avas — they do not run of their own accord. And sometimes we err through the dark- ness that is in us. Though a child of God be ' light in the Lord,' yet he hath a great deal of darkness still. It may be he is wise in. gene- rals, but ignorant in particulars, as the heathen ; in general they had good notions of an infinite and eternal power, but they were ' vain in their imaginations,' Rom. i, 21, in their practical inferences and dis- courses, when they came to rest upon this God. So a child of God may have a general sense of his duty, but as to particulars he is apt to miscarry ; the mind may be blinded by lust and prejudice.
Sometimes they errthrougli frowardness of their own lust : thei'e is 'a law in their members which wars against the law of their minds,' Eom. vii. There are boisterous lusts, and a man hath, much ado to keep his path : Ps. Ixxiii., ' My foot had well-nigh slipped.' Therefore we had need God should keep us continually. And the Lord hath undertaken to guide us : Isa. Iviii. 11, ' The Lord shall guide thee continually; ' and Ps. xlviii. 14, * He will be our guide even unto death ; ' and Ps. Ixxiii. 24, ' Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and afterward receive me to thy glory.' We need this constant guidance and direction from God, that he mny still lead us, and keep us from wandering and turning aside.
VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 99
Use. You see, then, what need we have of a guide and shepherd, and of constant dependence upon God, Of all titles, this is the title given to the saints ; they are a ' flock, and the sheep of God's pasture ; ' and Christ is called ' the shepherd of souls/ 1 l!*cter ii. 25. There is no creature of such a dependence as sheep. Dogs and swine can roam abroad all the day, and find their way home again at night, but sheep must have a guide to keep them in the fold, and to reduce them when gone astray, Luke xv. The good shepherd brought him home upon his shoulders. Lord, saith Austin, I can go astray of myself, but I cannot come back of myself. We need often io put up this request, ' Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments.'
SEEMON XIL
Tliy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. — Ver. 11.
In this verse you have David's practice, and the aim and end of it.
1. His practice, / have Jiid thy word in my heart.
2. The aim and end of it, that I might not sin against thee. In the first; his practice, observe these circumstances —
1. The object or matter, the loord.
2. The act of duty, I have hid.
3. The subject, tlte heart.
I shall open these circumstances.
1. The object, the luord. The revelation of God's mind to his people is called his lav/, his testimonies, his ways, his precepts, his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and now his word ; whereby is meant God's expounding his mind as if he himself did speak to us. The expression is general, and compriseth promises, threatenings, doc- trines, counsels, precepts. All these must be hid in the heart.
2. The act of duty, I have hid. A thing may be hidden two ways, either to conceal it, or else to cherish and keep it.
[1.] To conceal it ; hid so as the unprofitable servant did hide his talent in a napkin, Mat. xxv. So David, typifying Christ, saith, ' I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart ; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation ; I have not concealed thy loving-kind- ness and truth from the great congregation.'
[2.] To be kept as things of price, as" jewels and treasures are hid- den in chests and secret places, that they may not be embezzled or pur- loined. And herein there may be an allusion to the law, which was kept in a chest or ark, Exod. xxv. 21. Thus the word is hidden, not in order to concealment, but safety. As to the conceit of hiding our knowledge, that we may not lose it by vainglory, which Chrysostom and Theodoret mention on the place, it is a conceit so foreign, that it need not to be mentioned. What we value most preciously we save most carefully.