1. Observe this, that which David speaketh of himself was a secret duty. Those duties which we perform in secret, and wherein we avoid the applause of men, are most sincere, and by, them many times we ob- tain most blessing : Mat. vi. 6, ' Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee ope'nly.' David was the same in secret that he was in the light. Other witnesses of our respect to God we need not than God himself : it is enough that he seeth us and approveth us. Our desire and scope should be to please him, not to appear devout to men, or to be esteemed as such by them. Therefore, besides public ordi- nances, we should give ourselves to spiritual exercises in secret.
2. This was a spiritual duty transacted in the heart by his thoughts. The darkness of the night doth not hinder the delight of the soul ; it is day within though night without. When a child of God shall see God, and be seen of him, though the sun shineth not upon the world, it is enough, their hearts are enlightened with God's Spirit.
3. It was a duty done aKaipw^, unseasonably to a vulgar eye. When others were buried in sleep, David would awaken sometimes to re- member God. It is tlieir solace ; and spiritual affections and heroical grace must not be limited to the ordinary dull way of expressing duty to God. They have special affections and special dispensations : Ps. Ixiii. 6, ' My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, when I remember thee on my bed, and meditate of thee in the night- watches.'
4. It is not unseasonable. In the night, without disti'action, we can more freely command our thoughts, for the senses being exercised,
VeR. 56.] SERMONS UPON TSALIM CXIX. 95
scatter the mind to severcal objects : Job xsxv. 10, ' None saith, Where is God, my maker, who giveth songs in the night ?' That is matter of rejoicing and comfort to poor oppressed creatures. So Ps. xlii. 8, ' I will sing of his loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with mo/ Day and night he was filled with a sense of God's love. The reasons are —
[1.] They are fitted for it, having knowledge and a deep impres- sion of the majesty of God upon their hearts : ' My reins instruct me in the night-season/ Ps. xvi. 7. These things that make a deep im- pression in the day, the thoughts will return upon in tlie night ; now God and his words are impressed upon them.
[2.] They delight in it : Ps. civ. 34, ' ]My meditation of him shall be sweet ; I will be glad in the Lord.' They delight themselves in beholding the face of God, though not by immediate vision, yet by meditation. They are so affected with thoughts of his excellency, goodness, kindness, that it is their solace to draw their hearts off from all things and persons in the world to that divine object.
[3.] They profit by it. (1.) As to comfort, it easeth us of many sor- rowful, troublesome, and weary tlioughts. We must fetch our comforts from God ; the divine nature is the first fountain of them, therefore called ' the God of all comfort,' 2 Cor. i. 3. (2.) As to duty and obedience. The reasons of our duty and subjection are most enforced from the nature of God; therefore the more we remember the nature of God, the more we are quickened to obedience: there we see his infinite power, supreme authority, exact holiness, tender love : ' Let the pot- sherds of the earth contend with one another,' Isa. xlv. 9. Our busi- ness is to keep God our friend. He hath two properties that make him most comfortable or most terrible, according as he is at peace or war with us — eternity and omnipotency.
Use. Let us take more occasions to think of God, and that witli admiration. ]\Lany take no more notice of him than if he were not at all ; but let us take all occasions : Ps. iv. 4, ' Commune with your own hearts upon your bed.' All the time we can spare from our necessary, civil, and natural actions should be employed in calling to mind what we have seen, or heard, or felt of God. A loathness and backwardness to this duty is an ill sign.
sek:mon lxiil
This I had, because I hept iliy precc'pts. — Ver. Z^.
In this psalm the dependence of the verses is neither to be neglected, nor too curiously sought after. Many of the sentences have no other connection than pearls upon the same string, though some are as links in the same chain, fastened one to the other by an apt method and order. The design of the penman was to cast all his experiences into the order of the Hebrew alphabet ; and as there are in the Hebrew twenty-two letters, so twenty-two parts or octonaries. Each octonary beginneth with the same letter. This sentence which I have read
96 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXIII.
seemetli to be independent of the preceding verse, and is tlie sudden effusion or eruption of a gracious heart engaged in the meditation of the fruit of obedience : ' This I had, because I kept thy precepts/ In the words you have —