170 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. LXX.
3. As for rising up at midnight, we can neither enforce it as a duty upon you, nor yet can we condemn it. It was an act of heroical zeal in David, who employed his time waking to the honour of God, which others spent in sleeping ; and we read that Paul and Silas ' sang praises at midnight,' Acts xvi. 25, though then in the stocks, and they had heen scourged the day before. And it is said, Job xxxv. 10, ' None saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night ? ' that is, giveth matter of praise if we wake in the night. And David saith elsewhere, Ps. xlii. 8, ' The Lord will command his loving- kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with me ; ' day and night he would be filled with a sense of God's love, and with songs of praise. Therefore we cannot condemn this, but must highly commend it. Let men praise God at any time, and the more they deny themselves to do it, the more commendable is the action ; yet we cannot enforce it upon you as a necessary duty, as the Papists build their nocturnal devotions upon it. That which we disapprove in them is, that those hours instituted by men they make necessary ; that they direct their prayers to saints and angels which should only be to God, tliat they might mingle them with superstitious ceremonies and, observances ; that they pray and sing in an unknown tongue without devotion, appropriating it to a certain sort of men, to clerks for their gain, with an opinion of merit. The primitive Christians had their iiymnos antelucanos, but in persecution, their aXcKrpocpcovLa'i, saith Clem. Alexandrinus ; but what is this to superstitious night-services ?
4. Though we cannot enforce the particular observance upon you, yet there are many notable lessons to be drawn from David's practice.
[1.] The ardency of his devotion, or his earnest desire to praise God, ' at midnight ; ' then, when sleep doth most invade us, then he would rise up. His heart was so set upon the praising of God, and •the sense of his righteous providence did so affect him, and urge him, or excite him to this duty, that he would not only employ himself in this work in the day-time, and so show his love to God, but he would rise out of his bed to worship God and celebrate his praise. That which hindereth the sleep of ordinary men is either the cares of this world, the impatient resentment of injuries, or the sting of an evil con- science : these keep others waking, but David was awaked by a desire to praise God ; no hour is unseasonable to a gracious heart ; he is ex- pressing his affection to God when others take their rest. Thus we read of our Lord Christ, that he spent whole nights in prayer, Luke vi. 12. It is said of the glorified saints in heaven, that they praise God continually : Eev. vii. 17, ' They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.' Now, holy men, though much hin- dered by their bodily necessities, yet they will come as near as present frailty will permit ; we oftentimes begin the day with some fervency of prayer and praise, but we faint ere even.
[2.] His sincerity, seen in his secrecy. David would profess his faith in God when he had no witness by him, at midnight, then no liazard of ostentation. It was a secret cheerfulness and delighting in God when alone ; he could have no respect to the applause of men, but only to approve himself to God who seeth in secret. See Christ's
Yer. G3.] sermons upon psalm cxix. 171
direction, Mat. vi. 6, ' But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly ; ' his own practice : Mark i. 35, ' Eising early in the morning, he went into a desert to pray.' Both time and place implied secrecy.
[3.] We learn hence the preciousness of time. It was so to David. See how he spendeth the time of his life. We read of David, when he lay down at night, he ' watered his couch with his tears,' after the ex- amination of his heart ; Ps. cxix, 62 ; at midnight he rose to give thanks ; in the morning he prevented the morning-watches, seven times a-day praising God, morning, noon, night. These are all acts of eminent piety. We should not content ourselves with so much grace as will merely serve to save us. Alas ! we have much idle time hanging upon our hands ; if we would give that to God it were well.
[4.] The value of godly exercises ahove our natural refreshings ; the word is sweeter than appointed food : Job xxiii. 12, ' I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.' David prefer- reth his praises of God before his sleep and rest in the night. Surely this should shame us for our sensuality. We can dispense with other things for our vain pleasures ; we have done as much for sin, for vain sports, broken our rest for sin. Some monsters of mankind turn night into day, and day into night for their drunkenness, gaming, vain sports, &c., and shall we not deny ourselves for God ?