1. Certainly there is a faith in the commandments, as well as in the promises, as I shall fully prove by and by.
2. The one is as necessary as the other ; for as the promises are not esteemed, embraced, and improved, unless they are believed to be of God, so neither are the precepts ; they do not sway the conscience as the other do, nor incline the affections, but as they are believed to be divine.
3. The faith of the one must be as lively as the other. As the promises are not believed with a lively faith unless they draw off
VeR. 66.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 213
the heart from carnal vanities to seek tliat happiness which they offer to us, so the precepts are not believed rightly unless we be fully resolved to acquiesce in them as the only rule to guide us in the obtaining that happiness, and to adhere to them and obey them. As the king's laws are not kept as soon as they are believed to be the king's laws, unless also upon the consideration of his authority and power we subject ourselves to them, so this believing notetli a roady alacrity to hear God's voice and obey it, and to govern our hearts and actions according to his counsel and direction in the word.
Doct. That the commandments of God must be believed as well as his promises ; or, The precepts of sanctity and holiness bind the con- science to obey God, as well as the promises bind us to trust in God.
1. What we must believe concerning the commandments.
2. The necessity of believing them if we would be happy. 8. The utility and profit.
1, What we must believe concerning the commandments.
[1.] That they have God for their author, that we may take our duty immediately out of his hand, that these commands are his com- mands. The expressions of his commanding and legislative will, ■whereby our duty is determined and bound upon us, that is a matter of faith, not a matter of sense. We were not present at the giving of the law as being past, but we ought to be affected with it as if we were present, or had heard the thunderings of Mount Sinai, or had them now delivered to us by oracle or immediate voice from heaven. God doth once for all give the world sensible and sufficient satisfaction, and then he requireth faith. See Heb. ii. 2-4, ' For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience ob- tained a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will ?' The apostle compareth the first promulgation of the law and the first publication of the gospel. After ages did not hear the sounding of the dreadful trumpet, nor see the flaming smoking mountain, were not conscious to all those circumstances of terror and majestj^ with which the law -was given ; yet it was \6709 ^i^aio<i, a steadfast word. God owned it in his providence : the punishment of transgressors is proof of God's authorising the doctrine. So we were not present when the miracles by which the gospel law was confirmed were wrought; yet there is a constant evidence that these things were once done ; and God still owneth it in his providence, therefore we must receive the gospel law as the sovereign will and pleasure of our lawgiver, as if w^e had seen him in person doing these wonders, heard him with our own ears. It is not only those that were present at Mount Sinai that were bound, but all their posterity. God givelli arguments of sense once for all. This belief is the more required of us as to precepts and commandments, because they are more evident by natural light : Eom. ii. 14, 15, ' For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things con- tained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts.' There is
214 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SePv. LXXV.
Veritas naturalis and Veritas mystica. Some objects of faith depend upon mere revelation, but the commands of the moral law are clearer than the doctrines of faith ; they are of duties and things present, not of privileges to be enjoyed hereafter, such as the promises offer to us. Now, it is easier to be convinced of present duties than to be assured of some future things promised.
[2.] That these commandments be received with that reverence that becometh the sovereign will and pleasure of so great a lord and law- giver. It is the work of faith to acquaint us with the nature of God and his attributes, and work the sense of them into our hearts. The great governor of the world is invisible, and we do not see him that is invisible but by faith : Heb. xi. 27, ' By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.' It is eXey^o'i ov ^XeTrofievwv, ' the evidence of things not seen,' Heb. xi. 1. Temporal potentates are before 3'our eyes, their majesty may be seen, and their terrors and rewards are matter of sense. That there is an infinite, eternal, and all-wise Spirit, who made all things, and therefore hath right to command and give laws to all things, reason will in part tell us ; but faith doth more assure the soul of it, and impresseth the dread and awe of God upon our souls, as if we did see him with bodily eyes. By faith we believe his being : Heb. xi. 6, ' He that cometh to God must believe that he is.' His power, so as to oppose it to things visible and sensible : Eom. iv. 21, ' Being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform/ That there is no standing out against him who with one beck of his will can ruin us everlastingly, and throw the transgressor of his laws into eternal fire : a frown of his face is enough to undo us ; he is not a God to be neglected, or dallied with, or provoked by the wilful breaking of his laws. He hath truly potestatem vitoi et necis — the power of life and death : James iv. 12, ' There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.' These considerations are best en- forced by faith, without which our notions of these things are weak and languid. You are to charge the heart with God's authority, as you will answer it to him another day, not to neglect or despise the duty you owe to such a God. No terror comparable to his frowns, no comforts comparable to his promises or the sense of his favour.