YeE, 59.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 125
SEKMON LXVI.
I tlwught on my iccujs, and ivroied my feet unio tliy testimonies. —
Ver. 59.
In these words we have —
1. David's exercise, I tlwugld on my imys.
2; The effect of it, / turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
In the former verse he beggeth mercy and the favour of God. Now "those that beg mercy must be in a capacity to receive mercy. God is ready to show mercy, but to whom ? To the ]">enitent, that humbly seek it, and turn from the evil of their ways. AVe cannot expect God should be favourable to us while we continue in a course of sin. Therefore David showeth that he entreated God's mercy and favour upon God's terms, that he was one of those converted by grace : ' I thought on my ways,' &c. Some copies of the Septuagint have it Ta<i oSovf; aov 8ieXor/iadf/,i]v, ' I considered thy ways,' much to the same purpose ; for a serious consideration of the excellency of God's ways is of use, as well as of the naughtiness of our own. But other copies read better, according to the original Hebrew, ' I thought on my ways,' our omissions, commissions, purposes, practices, the course of our thoughts, words, deeds.
In the other part, when we are said to turn our feet unto God's tes- timonies, it is meant of the conversion of the whole soul, evidenced by the course of our feet or practices. So Eccles. v. 1, ' Keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God ; ' the meaning is, look to thy heart and affections. We are sometimes said to turn to God, and sometimes to the testimonies or commands of God. We turn to God as the object or last end ; to his testimonies as the rule of our conver- sation to lead us thither. So that by it is meant an effectual conver- sion of the whole man, to walk according to the rule of God's word.
The text issueth itself into this one point : —
Doct. That serious consideration of our own ways maketh way for sound conversion to God.
In the managing of this doctrine I shall discuss two things : —
1. The necessity of serious consideration in order to repentance.
2. How much it concerneth us after we have considered effectually to turn to the Lord.
First, The necessity of serious consideration in order to repentance. And there —
1. What is consideration.
2. The objects of it, or the things that must be considered.
3. I shall argue the necessity of this.
First, What is this consideration or thinking upon our ways ? In the general, it is a returning upon our hearts, or a serious and anxious debating with ourselves concerning our eternal condition. For the understanding whereof, consider that a carnal man is mindless and altogether careless of his eternal interests, like a fool or madman, or one out of his wits. We were ' sometimes foolish,' dvorjTOL. Titus iii. 3, like men asleep or distracted ; they do not know what they are doing,
126 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXVI.
nor what will be the issue of things, till God awaken their hearts to think of their condition, and then they begin to act like men again, and to be sensible of their case. Thus it is said of the prodigal, Luke XV. 17, ek eavrov ijkOev, that 'he came to himself;' as a man when he is drunk, we say he is not himself, he doth not consider what he doth, nor consider the danger of his actions. And the Psalmist, speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles, saith, Ps. xxii. 27, ' The ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord ;' that is, shall recollect themselves, and consider of the end of their lives, whence they are, whither they are going, and what shall become of them to all eternity, as if all this while they had forgotten the purpose for which they were sent into the world, who was their master, what was their business. Alas ! before this serious consideration, men in seeing see not, and in hearing hear not, as a man that is musing of another matter is not aftected with what you tell him ; he heareth and doth not hear. It is the awakening of the heart which is God's first work, before he giveth other grace : Eph. v. 14, ' Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' First awake, and then arise from the dead, before which men have but such languid notions of God and Christ and salvation by him as men have in a dream ; but when we come to weigh and scan things with affection and appli- cation, then the soul is awakened. Now God bringeth us to this —
1. Partly by his word, which showeth our natural face, James i. 23, 24, or natural estate and condition before God. It is appointed for this purpose, to be the instrument to awaken men, to discover them to themselves. Now, because this may make but a weak impression, such as may soon be blotted out, avhpl TrapaKvyjravTi, they forget and fall asleep again ; therefore to this God joineth his rod. Thcrafore —