Secondly, Here is his affection to God's word, notwithstanding this condition, ' Yet do I not forget thy law.' There is a twofold remem- brance of things — notional and affective ; and so there is a twofold forgetfulness : —
1. Notional. We forget the word, when the notion of things writ- ten therein has either wholly or in part vanished out of our minds.
2. Affectively. We are said to forget the word of God wdien, though we still retain the notion, yet we are not answerably affected, do not act according thereunto, and this is that which is understood here, ' I do not forget thy law.' Law is taken generally for any part of the word of God, and implies the word of promise, as well as the word of command. As for instance : —
[1.] If we interpret it of the promise, the sense will be this : I do not forget thy law ; that is, 1 take no discouragements from my dan- gers to let fall my trust, as if there were no providence, no God to take care of those that walk closely with him. Heb. xii. 5, when they fainted, they are said to have forgotten the consolation which spake unto them as unto children.
[2.] If we interpret this word ' law ' of the commandments and directions of the word, and so I do not forget it ; that is either by way of omission, I do not slacken my diligence in thy service for all this ; or by way of commission, I do not act contrary to conscience ; and the effect of the whole verse is this : Though I walk in the midst of dangers and a thousand deaths continually, yet at such a time, when a man would think he should not stand upon nice points, even then he
116 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXIX.
sliould keep up a dear and tender respect to God's law. And lie doth the rather express himself thus, I do not forget it, because great temp- tations blind and divert the mind from the thought of our duty. Our minds arc so surprised with the dangers before us, that God's law is quite forgotten as a thing out of mind, and we act as if we had no such comfort and direction given us. The points are two : —
1. That such things may befall God's children that they may carry their lives in their hands from day to day.
2. When we carry our lives in our hands, no kind of danger should make us Avarp and turn aside from the direction of God's word.
Doct. 1. That such things may befall God's children that they may carry their lives in their hands from day to day.
That this is often the lot of God's people, we may prove: 1 Cor. xv. 31, ' I protest, by our rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.' How can that be, I die daily, since we die but once ? The meaning is, I go still in danger of my life. Such times may come when we run hazards for Christ every day, so that in the morning we do not know what may fall out before night : 2 Cor. xi. 23, ' In deaths often;' that is, in danger of death. So 1 Peter iv. 19, ' Let those that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.' Let them commit their souls, that is, their lives ; the soul is sometimes put for life, for life spiritual or life eternal, but there it is put for life natural ; so let them commit their souls to God, that is, in times of danger and hazard. Let them go on in well-doing cheerfully, and though there be no visible means of safety and defence, let them commit their lives to God in Avell-doing ; when they carry their lives in their own hands, let them be careful to put them into the hands of God. Let God do what he pleaseth, for he is a faithful Creator ; that is, as once he created them out of nothing, so he is able to preserve them when there is nothing visible, nothing to trust to. Often this may be the case of God's people, that they carry their lives in their hands from day to day. That you may take the force of the expres- sion, consider when the ])eople of God are in the midst of their enemies, then they carry their lives in their hands : Mat. x. 16, ' Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves ; ' when they are among men no better affected to them than wolves to sheep, and when men have them in their power, and there is no outward restraint of laws and government ; for whatever enmity they have or act against them, laws and government are a great restraint ; as Gen. xxvii. 41, ' The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will I slay my brother Jacob.' Till Isaac Avas dead, there was a check upon him ; but sometimes it is in the power of their hands to do them mischief : Micah ii. 1, ' They practise iniquity, because it is in the power of their hand.* When men are ill affected, no restraint upon them, no im- pediment in their way, yea, when they begin to persecute and rage against the servants of God, and we know not when our turn comes, then we are said to have our lives in our hand ; as Rom. viii. 36, ' For thy sake are we killed all the day long;' that is, some of that body killed, now one picked up, then another ; in these cases they are said to carry their lives in their hands, when they are in the power