2. In regard of its own excellency, in three respects ; it is— [1.] Their direction.
[2.] Their support.
[3.] Their charter.
[] .] It is their direction ; it is ' a light that shines in a dark place,' 2 Peter i. 19. The world is a dark place, beset with dangers, and ever and anon we are apt to stumble into the pit of destruction, with- out taking heed to this light. The word discovereth to them evils, that they may see them, repent of them, forsake them: and showeth us our ready way to heaven, that Ave may walk therein. It discovereth the greatest dangers, and pointeth out the surest way to safety and peace. They are called true laws and good statutes, Xeh. ix. 13, to show the full proportion that they bear to the soul. Verum and bonum, — truth and goodness, are proper for our most eminent faculties, the understanding and will. It doth a man's heart good to study these statutes. A child of God, that seeth others stumble and fall, how may he stand and bless God for the direction of the word, that God hath given him counsel in his reins, that he hath a clue to lead him out of those labyrinths in which others have lost their way, and know not know to escape !
[2.] It is their support. The word is koIvov laTpelov, as Basil expresseth it. It is God's shop, from whence they fetch all their cordials in a time of fainting, and so are freed from those fears and discontents and despairing thoughts under which others languish: Ps. cxix. 50, ' This is my comfort in my afiliction, thy word hath
150 SERMONS uroN PSALM cxix. [Ser. XVIL
quickened me.' When a believer is damped with trouLle, and even dead at lieart, a promise will revive him again : ver. 92, ' Unless thy law had been my delight, I had perished in my affliction.' And many such like experiences the saints liave had. The worth of the word is best known in an evil time. One promise in the word of God doth bear up the heart more than all the arguings and discourses of men, though never so excellent. In time of temptation, in the hour of death, oh, what a reviving is one word of God's mouth !
[3.] It is their charter, that which they have to show for their ever- lasting hopes. There we have promises of eternal joy and blessedness under the greatest assurance, and this makes way for strong con- solation, Heb. vi. 18. A man that hath a clear evidence to show for a fair inheritance, it is not ii'ksome to hear it read, or to look over it now and then, as a covetous man is pleased to look into his bills and bonds which he has under hand and seal.
Secondly, This delight will be of great use to them.
1. To draw us off from carnal vanities. We have another delight, and the strength of the soul runneth out in another way ; there will not be such room for worldly affections. As fear is cured with fear, the fear of men with the fear of God, so is delight by delight ; delight in God's statutes is the cure of delight in worldly things. Love cannot lie idle, it must be occupied one way or another ; either carried out to the contentments of the flesh, or else to holy things. Now, if you can find a more noble delight, there is a check upon that which is carnal : Ps. cxix. 37, ' Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way.' The enlargement of the lieart straitens the flesh.
2. It wi]l take off the tediousness of religious exercises. What we delight in is not irksome. In hunting, fowling, and fishing, though there be as much labour as in our ordinary employments, yet we count the toil nothing because of the delight in them. We are very apt to be weary of well-doing, and to tire in a holy course ; but now, when it is our delight, it goetli on the more easily. In one sense we must make religion our business, in another, our recreation ; our work to pre- vent slackness, our recreation to prevent tediousness ; it is not a task, but a pleasure.
Use 1. This informeth us of the ill choice that many men make of theii- delights and recreations; they must have cards and dice and foolish mirth to pass away the time, or else idle stories and vain romances. _ A Christian is everywhere like himself ; he showeth him- self^ a Christian in his recreations as well as his business. Castce delicicv mecc simt scripturce tucc, saith Austin— Lord, ray chaste delights are thy Holy Scriptures. If we were as we should be, it would be our recreation to understand our duty, to contemplate the way of reconciliation to God by Christ, and to take a view of our everlasting hopes. Were we seriously persuaded of the benefits which men have by the word, that there is a sure direction to resolve our doubts and our scruples, and the offers of a pardon and a glorious estate by Christ, what need a Christian any other recreation ? Will not the sense of God's love and the hopes of heaven make us merry enough ? Indeed, because of the weariness of the flesh, we need temporal refreshments ;