420 SERMONS upox PSALM cxix. [Ser. XCVII.
[2.] Obedience to his commanding will. All creatures do serve God as his word hath ordained ; so should we do. We have law and ordinances too. Shall man only be eccentric and exorbitant and trans- gress his bounds ? Winds and sea serve him, only man, made after his image, disobeyeth him : they serve God for our benefit; the heavens continue their motion to convey light, heat, and influence to us, and the air to give us breath and motion, and the earth to be a sure fixed dwelling-place. When all things are created and continued for our use, shall not we serve our bountiful creator ? We are sensible of the disturbance of the course of nature when these confederances are dis- solved, when the floods increase, or rains fall in abundance. Oh, be- moan rather thy own irregular actions, which are a greater deforma- tion of the beauty of the universe !
In short, no creatures are sul juris ; they are subject to God, by whose word and commandment they must rule their actions. Surely none of us are too great or too good to submit to God. Angels enjoy immunities, yet are not exempted from service. The creatures have acted contrary to their common nature for God's honour ; let us obey God, though contrary to our own wills and inclinations.
SEEMON XCVII.
Unless thy laiv had been my delights, I should then have 'perished in mine ajfiiction. — Ver. 92.
In the verses before the text, David meditateth upon the constancy of the course of nature, whereby is represented God's constant fidelity in performing all his promises to his people. Now he produceth his own experience, and showeth that all this had been matter of most pleasant meditation to support him under his afflictions ; when all other com- forts failed, he found sufficient consolation in the word of God, unless thy laio had been, &c.
In which words observe —
1. David's condition ; he was afflicted.
2. His bitter sense of that condition ; he was ready to perish in his affliction.
3. His remedy ; the word of God.
4. The way of application ; it was his delights.
1. For his condition. Though he was a man after God's own heart, yet he had his troubles : Ps. cxxxii. 1, ' Kemember David, Lord, and all his afilictions.'
2. For his sense and apprehension, ' I should then have perished.' Then ; that is, long since. If you suppose him now under trouble, probai)ly he should have sunk under the weight of it ; or if out of trouble, he remembereth from experience Avhat did comfort him when he w^as ready to perish. But how perished ? It may be understood —
[1.] Either as given over to the will of his enemies, if he had not confided in God ; foi- all human help and comfort was cut off, and then did divine help appear.
VeR. 92.] SERBIONS UPON TSALM CXIX. 421
[2.] Died for sorrow ; for ' worldly sorrow worketli death,' 2 Cor. vii. 10. We are apt to despond and despair in great and sore troubles. Affliction worketh heaviness, 1 Peter i. 6, and heaviness drietii the bones and wasteth our strength. What kept him ?
3. His remedy was the word of God ; for he saith, * Unless thy law had been ray delights.' Some take the word laia strictly, for the pre- cepts of the law, which keepeth us from sin, which doth involve us in danger. But rather it is taken for the whole word of God, and chiefly for the promises of support and deliverance. I had despaired if I had not consulted with thy word. He doth not here speak of direction, but of support ; elsewhere he found nothing but sorrow, but in the word of God joy and comfort.
4. The way of application, my delights. The word is plural, and increaseth the sense, in what way soever it may be interpreted. Now it may be interpreted passively or activel3^
[1.] Passively, that the word of God refreshed him, and afforded him matter of delight, and so renewed his strength. David had many sorrows, but here he found delights, as many comforts as troubles. The word of God yieldeth comfort for every state of life ; if there be many sorrows, there are many delights ; but with advantage, heavenly comforts for earthly afflictions, eternal comforts for temporal sorrows.
[2.] Actively. He delighted in the word of God, yea, counted it his delights. It increaseth the sense.
(1.) It was his chief delight. Other things might be thankfully accepted and acknowledged, but this was the solace and delight of his soul.
(2.) His continual delight and comfort, to which he retreated upon all occasions.
(3.) His whole, or only delight ; when deprived of all other things, this was instead of all delights to him : all Avhich show his high esteem of the word.
Doct. That the afflicted man's true consolation is in the word of God.
I will pursue the point in the method that I have laid forth in the pai'ts of the text.
First, A man after God's own heart, such as David was, may be afflicted. Why ?
1. Because God hath chosen another way of expressing his love to his people than by outward things ; for he will govern the spiritual part of the world by faith, and not by sense: therefore 'None shall know love and hatred by things that are before him,' Eccles. ix. 1 ; that is, by mere outward events, or things obvious to outward sense ; the significations of his love are more hidden. Prov. iii. 31, 32, Solomon supposeth that the oppressor may be in a flourishing condition, yet all this while the Lord hates him ; his secret is with the righteous. We know his fatherly love to us, not by things without us, but things within us, Kom. viii. 16 ; 1 John iii. 2, 4, 'Hereby Ave know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us ; ' Gal. iv. 6, ' He hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.' Outward things would soon be overvalued, and we should take them as our whole felicity and portion, if, besides their suitableness to our present needs