Doct. 3. That the law is granted to us or written upon our hearts out of God's mere grace. Grant it graciously, saith David. I will do it, saith God ; and God will do it upon his own reasons. The condi- tions of the covenant are conditions in the covenant, and the articles that bind us are also promises wherein God is bound to bestow so great a benefit upon poor creatures ; which doth encourage us to wait for this work with the more confidence. We are sensible we have not the law so intimately, so closely applied as we should have. Lord, grant it graciously. It is his work to give us a greater sense and care of it.
SEEMOX XXXI.
I have cJiosen the icay of truth : iliy judgments have I laid before
me. — Ver. 30.
David asserts his sincerity here in two things : —
1. In the rightness of his choice, / have chosen the luay of thy truth.
2. In the accurateness of his prosecution, thy judgments have I laid hefore me.
First, For his choice, ' I have chosen the way of thy truth.' God having granted him his law, he did reject all false ways of religion, and continued in the profession of the truth of God, and the strict observance thereof. There are many controversies and doubtful thoughts among the sons of men about religion, all being varnished with specious })re- tences, so that a man knows not which way to choose, till by the Spirit he be enabled to take the direction of the word ; that resolveth all his scruples, and makes him sit down in the way which God hath pointed for him. Thus David, as an effect of God's grace, avoucheth his own choosing the way of truth.
By the way of truth is meant true religion; as 2 Peter ii. 2, 'By whom the way of truth is evil spoken of.' It is elsewhere called ' the
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good wa\' wherein we should walk/ 1 Kir)gs viii. 3G ; aud ' the way of God,' Ps. xxvii. 11; and ' the way of understanding,' Prov. ix. 6 ; and * the way of holiness,' Isa. xxxv. 8 ; and ' the way of righteousness/ 2 Peter ii. 21, ' Better they had not known the way of righteousness/ tliat is, never to have known the gospel, which is called the way of right- t^ousness. It is called also ' the way of life,' Prov. vi. 23, 'And reproofs of instruction are the way of life ; ' and ' the way of salvation/ as Acts xvi. 17, the Pythoness gave this testimony to the apostles, ' These are the servants of God, which show unto us the way of salvation.' Now all these expressions have their use and significancy ; for the way of truth, or the true way to happiness, is a good way, showed us by God, who can only discover it ; and therefore called ' the way of the Lord/ or ' the way of God,' in the place before quoted ; and Acts xxviii. 25, 26, it is manifested by God, and leadeth us to God. The Christian doctrine was that way of truth revealed by him who is prima Veritas, the first truth. The ways wherein God cometh to us are his mercy and truth ; and the way wherein we come to God is the way of true I'eligion prescribed by him ; it is the way of understanding, because it maketh us wise as to the great affairs of our souls, and unto the end of our lives and beings ; and the way of holiness and righteousness, as directing us in all duties to God and man ; and the way of life and salvation, because it brings us to everlasting happiness. This way David chose by the direction of God's word and Spirit.
Secondly^ There follows the evidence of his sincerity, the accurate prosecution of his choice, ' Thy judgments have I laid before me.' The Septuagint reads it, 'I have not forgotten thy judgments.^ By judgments is meant God's word, according to the sentence of which every man shall receive his doom. He that walketh in a way con- demned by the word shall not prosper; for God's word is judgment, and execution shall surely follow ; and by this word David got his direction how to choose this way of truth, and this he laid before him as his line. His desire was to follow what was right and true, not only as to his general course and way of profession, but in all his actions ; and so it notetli his fixed purpose to live according to this blessed rule which God hath given him. To have a holy rule and an unholy life is unconsonant, inconsistent. A Christian should be a lively tran- script of that religion he doth profess. If the way be a way of truth, he must always set it before him, aud walk exactly.
The points are two : —
1. That there being many crooked paths in the world, it concerns us to choose the way of truth.
2. That when we have chosen the way of truth, or taken up the profession of the true religion, the rules and institutions of it should ever be before us.