VeR. 97.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 4()3
SERMON CI.
Oil, how love I ill]) laio! it is my meditation all the day. — Ver. 97.
In this psalm you have a perfect character of a regenerate man, what he is, and what he ought to be, in his meditations, his exercises, his affections ; and all this recommended to us from the frame of David's heart and example, and course of his way. Men of spiritual experience can best judge of these affections ; for ' as face answereth face in a glass,' so doth the heart of one believer to another.
In these words you have — (1.) His love asserted; (2.) Demon- strated from the effect.
1. His love asserted, oli, how love I thy laiu !
2. Demonstrated from the effect of it, it is my meditation all the day. This is an effect, for we are wont to muse upon what we love ;
therefore David, loving the law of God, is always thinking of it.
First, For the assertion. Observe the matter asserted, and the vehemency of the assertion. The matter asserted is love to the law ; the vehemency of the assertion, ' Oh, hoio I love thy law ! ' It is an admiration with an exclamation. David is not contented with a naked affirmation, ' I love thy law ;' but useth a pathetical protestation of it, ' How love I thy law ! ' The interrogation expresseth wonder, ' How I love thy law ! ' And the exclamation, ' oh, how ! ' that gives vent to strong affection, as if he had said. It is more than I am able to express. The laio is taken for the whole scripture, as often in this psalm.
Secondly, For the demonstration of this affection, ' It is my medita- tion all the day ; ' that is, I do often meditate thereof, and can spend whole days therein. The words may signify frequency of sucli thoughts ; they were not such as did come now and then, but all the day his heart was working on holy things, as the blessed man is described, Ps. i. 2 ; that is, every day he is working something out of the word of God. Or, * it is my meditation all the day,' may note the depth and ponder- ousness of these thoughts ; his mind did not run out upon the law with flighty sallies, but he had such thoughts as were solid and serious, and did abide with him.
The points from hence are two : —
1. That God's people have a great love to his word; yea, such a hearty affection as cannot easily be expressed.
2. They that love the word will be meditating therein continually, * It is my meditation all the day.'
Doct. 1. That God's people have a great love to his word ; yea, such a hearty affection as cannot easily be expressed.
I will evidence that by two considerations— (1.) The word deserves this love ; (2.) The saints are ready to yield it.
First, The word deserves it in respect of the author, the matter, and the use ; in all these respects is the word of God lovely.
First, For the author ; it is God's word, and they love it for the author's sake, the signification of his mind, as a letter from a beloved friend is very welcome to us. Aristotle, in his Rhetorics, mentioning the cause of delight, saith thus. They that love much, when they are
464 srcRMONS upon psalm cxix. [Ser. CI.
speaking of what tliey love, or when they hear anything of the party beloved, or receive anything from them, it is a mighty delight and pleasure to them. So it is in this spiritual love. The word is God's epistle and love-letter to our souls, therefore for his sake it is the more welcome to us. And upon this ground God complains of it that when he had ' written the great things of his law ' to a people, they were neglected and slighted and ' counted a strange thing,' Hosea viii. 12. I have loritien; God is the author, whosoever is the penman. The scriptures are a writing from him to us. Kow for us to be strangers to it, and little conversant about it, argues some contempt of God ; as to slight a letter of a friend shows little esteem of the writer. The saints they put it into their bosoms, and it gains upon their hearts. Why ? It is God's epistle, it is my best friend's letter. This is cer- tain, love God and you love his law ; for the author's sake it wdll be dear and precious to you.
Secondly, The saints have such a strong love to the word of God, because of' the matter in it revealed, for it hath all the properties of a thing to be beloved ; it is true, good, profound, and full of depth and mysteries. What would you desire in a doctrine to draw your hearts to it ? Truth, goodness, and profoundness of knowledge.
1. If certainty of truth will draw love, it is be found in the holy scriptures, for they are vouched by God himself to be true : Ps. xix. 9, ' The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' And the gospel is called 'the word of truth,' Eph. i. 13, ' After ye had received the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation ; ' and John xvii. 17, ' Sanctify them by thy truth ; thy word is truth.] To improve these places thus. Truth is the good of the understanding, and with- out the knowledge of which we can have no tranquillity of mind. Now of all truths this is the chiefest ; it is not human, natural, or inferior truth, but a supreme divine truth, ratified by God's authority, such as nature could never have found out ; yea, such a truth as carries its own evidence with it, and shows how it comes from God, and discovers itself to be of God. As the sun is seen by its own beams, so the word of God needs no other testimony than itself to commend it to the con- sciences of men. Certainly it is such a truth as doth sufficiently evidence itself to be of God ; all God's works discover their author, and carry about with them their own demonstration ; not only his greater works, upon which he hath impressed most of his wisdom and power, but even his lesser works : every worm and pile of grass shows who made it. To an attentive and discerning eye, a man cannot look upon a worm, or consider a gnat or any contemptible creature, but he shall see this was made by a wise God. God hath left his stamp upon every one of his works, and certainly upon his word much more ; for ' he hath magnified his word above all his name,' Ps. cxxxviii. 2. There is a more clear discovery of the goodness, wisdom, and power of God than can be in any of his works ; for upon this he hath laid forth all the riches of his wisdom and goodness. Therefore, if there be in all creatures and works of God a self-evidencing light to discover their author, and that invisible Godhead and power by which they were made, certainly there is somewhat in the word of God to discover its author ; because of this objective evidence which it hath in itself it is