How shall we get it ?
1. Get a suitableness to the word. Every man's delights are as his principles : Rom. viii. 5, ' They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.' A man is much discovered by his savour and relish of things. AH creatures must have suitable food. There must be a suitableness between the faculty and the object ; spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
2. Be in a condition to delight in the word. A guilty soul readeth its own doom there ; it revealeth themselves to themselves, accuseth and condemneth them. As Ahab said of Micaiah, ' He prophesieth evil against me/^and therefore could not endure to hear him: John iii. 20, ' Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh he to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.'
3. Purge the heart from carnal distempers, lust, envy, covetousness, love of pleasures; these are diseases that need other diet than the word. Such persons must have other solaces ; they cater for the flesh, to please the senses. An earthly heart will not delight in spiritual things.
Doct. It standeth God's children upon to see that they do not forget the word.
1. What is it to forget the word ? A man may remember or forget two ways — notionally and affectively.
[1.] Notionally, when the notions of things formerly known are either altogether or in part worn out : James i. 25, ' He is like one that looks at his natural face in a glass, but goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of person he Avas.'
Ver. 1G.] sermons upon tsalm cxix. 153
[2.] Affectively, when, though he still retain the notions, 3'-et he is not answerably affected, nor doth act according thereunto. Thus the butler did not remember Joseph ; that is, did not pity him. Thus God is said not to remember the sins of them that repent, when he doth not punish them, and to forget the afflictions of his people, when he doth not deliver them ; and we are said to forget God, Ps. cvi. 21, when we do not obey him, and to forget his word when we do not 'remember his commandments to do them,' Ps. ciii. 18. In this place both are intended, the notional and practical remembrance.
2. The reasons why we should not forget his word.
[1.] Meditation will fail else. A barren, lean soul is unfit to enlarge itself in holy thoughts, shall never grow rich in the spiritual under- standing: Col. iii. IG, ' Let the word of God dwell in you richly, in all knowledge,' &c. Men of small substance grow rich by continual saving, and holding together what they have gotten ; but if they spend it as fast as they get it, they cannot be rich : Luke ii. 19, ' Mary kept all these sayings, and pondered them in her heart.'
[2.] Delectation will grow cold, unless the memory be rubbed up ever and anon. When they fainted under affliction, the cause is in- timated : Heb. xii. 5, ' Have ye forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children ? ' Distrust in straits is from the same source : Mark viii. 17, * They remembered not the miracle of the loaves, for their hearts Avere hardened. Ye see and hear, and do not remember. David was under great discomfort till he ' remembered the years of the right hand of the Most High,' Ps. Ixxvii. 10 ; Lam. iii. 21, ' This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope.'
[3.] Practice and conscience of obedience will grow more remiss. Nothing keepeth the heart in a holy tenderness so much as a presence of the truth ; and when we can bring our knowledge to act, and have it for our use upon all occasions, it urgeth us to practice : James i. 25, being ' not a forgetful hearer, but a doer.' Most of our sins are sins of forgetfulness and incogitancy. Peter would never have been so bold and daring, and done what he did, if he had remembered Christ's pre- diction. The text saith, Luke xxii. 61, ' When he remembered, he wept bitterly.' A bad memory is the occasion of much mischief to the soul, when we do not call truths to mind in their season, and when fit occasion and opportunity is offered. Memory is a handmaid to understanding and conscience, and keeps truths, and brings them forth when called for.
Use'is to press us to caution. Let us not forget the word. Helps to memory are : —
1. Attention. Men remember what they heed and regard : Prov. iv. 21, 'Attend to my sayings ; keep them in the midst of thy heart.' Where there is, attention, there will be retention. Oh ! lay up truths with much earnestness and care. Sensitive memory is seated in the hinder part of the head, as one would say in a chamber backward, from the noise of the street. Now, oh ! lay up truth safe, and lay it out when- ever you have need. But rational memory lieth near tlie understanding and conscience, in the midst of thine heart. Reverence in the admis- sion of the word helps us in the keeping of it : Heb. ii. 1, ' Let us take heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time they slip from