388 SERMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. CXLVII.
enjoyment of him ? Oh ! here they have an infallible direction that they cannot miscarry in so great an afTiiir as this is, as the getting home to God. Surely that is a great blessing. I remember David saith, Ps. Ixxiii. 24, ' Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and after- wards receive me unto glory.' They that wait upon God's direction are sure to be received into his heavenly glory ; their steps are directed for the present, and they may be confident that at length they shall get home to God ; for God will accept of what he hath ordered. You are sure Grod will take pleasure in you when you walk according to his direction. So you see the need from the value of this blessing.
5. Consideration, that the children of God are sensible of their need of it, that they cannot choose but pray for it. I take this from the very form of the words : ' Lord, order my steps.' It is a prayer from the man of God. They seek it humbly and earnestly, therefore they shall find it. They that make their bosom their oracle, and wit their counsellor, God is disengaged from being their guide ; they need him not, but the snares they run into will soon show how much they need him. But the children of God need him, therefore they shall find it : Prov. iii. 6, ' In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.' You should ever go to God for the direction of your way, then God will not disappoint you, nor defeat your expectations : Ps. Ixxxv, 13, ' Eigliteousness shall go before him ; and shall set us in the way of his steps.' Sometimes we wander, turn aside, and walk out of the right way ; at other times we fall and stumble in the right way ; but the Lord will set us in the paths of his steps.
Use. To press us to seek this great privilege of God, beg of the Lord continually to order your steps according to his word. Alas ! evil may surprise you before you are aware. Little did David think dan- ger was so near him when he walked upon his terrace ; he gave leave to his eye to wander, and his eye fired his heart. Every morning be with God about this business: Ps. v. 3, ' 0 Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.' You need not only protection against dangers, but direction against evils and snares. As we seek for protection in the night, so in the morning, prayer is for the direction of the day. Nay, we need not go to God in the morning, but all the day long : Ps. xxv. 5, ' On thee do I wait all the day.' Beg of him that you may not miscarry, but carry yourselves humbly and prudentl}^ and may do nothing that is contrary to the will of God and his grace, but that the Lord would support and guide you con- tinually. There is one argument that may mightily encourage you in praying. Consider your covenant interest in God doth establish this blessing, as the saints always plead the relation : Ps. xxv. 5, ' Lead me in thy truth, and teach me ; for thou art the God of my salvation;' Ps. cxliii. 10, ' Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God;' Ps. xlviii. 14, ' For this God is our God for ever and ever ; he will be our guide even unto death.' To be a God to any is to be a guide; for to a people in covenant, God makes over his whole self Now in God there are considerable these three great attributes — his wisdom, power, and goodness. Look, as God by virtue of his power is all-sufficient against all dangers, and by virtue of his goodness is a fountain of ever-
VeR. 133.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 389
lasting happiness, so also by his wisdom is a fountain of all goodness to guide and direct us. Now as God hath engaged all his goodness to make us as happy as heart can wish, and his power to defend and maintain us, so all his wisdom to guide and direct us.
SEEMON CXLVIII.
And let not any iniquity have dominion over me. — Ver. 133.
For the second branch of the prayer I observe —
Doct 2. That the dominion of sin is a great evil, and ought ear- nestly to be deprecated, even by the children of God,
1. What is the dominion of sin.
2. That it is a great evil.
3. Why the saints should deprecate this evil.
First, What is the dominion of sin ? It may be known by some distinctions.
1. There is a dominion of sin that is gross and sensible, and a domi- nion of sin that is more secret and close.
[1.] More gross and sensible. For though sin do reign in every one by nature, yet this dominion more sensibly appears in some than others, who are given up to be visibly under the dominion of sin, as the just fruit of their voluntary living under that yoke ; and usually these are set forth as a warning to the rest of the world ; God hangs them up in chains of darkness in the sight of men, as an instance of this woful slavery, that every man that seeth them, and is acquainted with their course of life, may say without breach of charity, There goes one that declares himself to be a servant of sin. This is either to sin in general, or to some particular sin.