0 Lord, hespeaksthus to God, 'Behold I have longedafter thy precepts.' Now this is spoken here, either as a reason of his own asking, Behold,
1 seek it not out of custom, or to speak words of course, my soul is in this matter ; or as a reason of God's granting ; he urgetli his sincere affection to obedience as an argument likely to prevail with God : Lord, I have an ardent desire to serve thee; and certainly this is a great argument with God, for he delights to crown his own work ; when he hath given the affection, he will give the deed, and give the perfor- mance. Look, as Paul urgeth others to pray for him, ' Pray for me, for I have a good conscience, willing to live honestly,' Heb. xiii. 18, so David here speaks of himself to God, ' Lord, I have longed after thy precepts ; ' it is my desire that I may be put into the readiest, fullest way of compliance with thy will.
Secondly, Here is his request. There we have— (1.) The thing prayed for, quicken me ; he prays for renewing, exciting grace. (2.) The ground of confidence. In thy rirjhteousness. He had argued before from the disposition of the subject, now he argues from the quality of the donor, ' In thy righteousness.' The law of God is sometimes called righteousness, and so some expound it in that sense, ' Quicken me in thy righteousness ; ' that is, in the way wherein thou wonkiest have me to walk. I think rather it is to be applied not to the righteousness he hath required, but the righteousness that is in God himself. So Ps. V. 8, ' Lead me, 0 Lord, in thy righteousness.' Now the righteousness of God is put for the whole perfection of the divine essence ; for his justice, in rendering every one their due, according to his covenant; or for his holiness, for his requiring, approving, delighting in the obedience of the creature ; and for his mercy, for giving out grace to men ; and for his veracity and faithfulness, in making good his pro- mise, which is a branch of his gos})el justice or righteousness ; as thou
424 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. XLV..
art faithful in making good tliy promises, and never wanting to tliose that make use of thy word, so, Lord, quicken me. Three points : —
1. To love and long for a holy and perfect and entire subjection to the will of God is a good frame of heart.
2. Those that do indeed long for holiness will see a need of new quickening.
3. Those that would have quickening must seek to God, who hath promised to satisfy them that desire grace to walk with him.
Doct. 1. To love and long for a holy and perfect and entire subjec- tion to the will of God is a good frame of heart. This may be confirmed by these considerations : —
1. All natures have a propension unto their perfect estate ; as fire to go upward, where its place is ; and heavy bodies to move downward, where is their seat and rest. Plants have a virtue in their seed which is ever working to produce their flower ; beasts have an appetite by which their nature is nourished and preserved ; and man hath a desire to prepare and fit him for that which is good and proper for him. The Psalmist tells us that God ' openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing,' Ps. cxlv. 16. There is an instinct in every living thing which leads them towards the sustaining and per- fecting of that nature which they have. That which is called inclina- tion in the creatures without life, attraction of nourishment in plants, and appetite in the beasts, is in man desire. And so now proportion- ably the new creature, the saints, they have an appetite suitable to their nature : 1 Peter ii. 2, ' As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby.' Appetite still followeth life, and prepares men for receiving things good for them : Ps. X. 17, ' Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble ; thou hast prepared their heart ; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.' A desire of relief vented in prayer prepares and fits us to receive those blessings which are good for us. And therefore, as all natures have a propen- sion to their perfect estate, so those that are new creatures long and vehemently tend towards holiness.
2. Desires set upon holiness are an affection properly exercised, and upon its due object. Desire it is an earnest reaching forth of the soul after good absent and not yet attained. The object of it is something good, and the more truly good it is the more is our desire justified. There are certain bastard goods of a base and transitory nature, as pleasure, profit: we may easily overlash and exceed in these things. But on holiness, which is more high and noble, and is truly good, and of greater vicinity and nearness to our chiefest good than those other things are, we cannot exceed ; there the faculty is rightly placed. When we are hasty and passionate for these other things, the heart is corrupted, it is hard to escape sin : Prov. xxviii. 20, ' He that makes haste to be rich cannot be innocent ; ' and he that loves pleasure is in danger of not loving God, or loving it more than God, 2 Tim. iii. 4. But now in holiness there is no such snare : a man cannot be holy enough, nor like enough to God ; and therefore here we may freely let out our affections to the full. AVhen our desires are freely let out to other things, they are like a member out of joint, as when the arms