454 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SkR. CLV.
his daughter-in-law dies, he liimself breaks his neck. Oh ! the wonderful tragedies that sin works in the houses of the children of God. And ])avid, when he intermeddled with forbidden fruit, was driven from his ])alace, his concubines defiled, his own son slain, a great many calamities did light upon him. Tlierefore the children of God have cause to fear, for the Lord is a just God, and they will find it so; here upon earth he hath reserved liberty to visit their iniquity with rods, and their transgression with scoui-ges. I might press yo\i to imitate God's righteousness : 1 John ii. 29, 'If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of God.' You have a righteous God, and here is the thing you should copy out.
SERMON CLV.
Thy testimonies, which thou hast commanded, are righieoits and very faithful— Yer. 138.
In the former verse the prophet had spoken of the righteousness of God ; now God is essentially righteous, and therefore all that pro- ceedeth from him is righteous. A carpenter, that hath a rule without him, and a line to measure his work by, may sometimes hit and sometimes miss ; but if you could suppose a carpenter, the motion of whose hand were his rule, he could never chop amiss. So must we conceive of God ; his act is his rule, holiness is his essence, not a superadded quality, his righteousness is himself ; there- fore from this righteous God there proceedeth nothing but righteous- ness, and from this faithful God nothing but faith. He discovereth his nature both in the acts of his providence and the institutions of his word. We cannot reason so concerning men, that because they are righteous nothing cometh from them but what is righteous ; because righteousness is not their nature, but an adventitious quality : there- fore good men may make ill laws, for though they be meant for good, they may be deceived ; and sometimes wicked men may make good laws, to ingratiate themselves, and for the interest of their affaii-s ; but God being essentially, necessarily good, holy, and righteous, his laws are also good, holy, and true : ' Thy testimonies, which thou hast commanded, are righteous and very faithful.' In the words observe —
1. That there is a revelation of God's will in his word : Thy testi- monies.
2. The authority wherewith his revelation is backed : Which thou Jiast commanded.
3. The intrinsic worth and excellency of these testimonies ; it is double — they are {1) Itirjhteous ; (2.) Very faithful.
In the Hebrew, righteousness and faithfuluuss ; that is, very right, and very faithful ; the one word is referred to the agenda in religion, the other to the credenda ; they are worthy to be obeyed, worthy to be believed. The sum is, God hath his testimonies
VeR. 138.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 455
extant, their authority is inviolable, and their justice and truth immutable.
Some read, prcecepisti justitiam testimoniorum tuorum et Jidevi valde — thou hast highly charged and earnestly commanded the right- eousness and faithfulness of thy testimonies, as referring to our duty. But most translations agree with ours. Our duty indeed may be in- ferred ; but I shall not make it the formal interpretation of the place. In the texture of the words in the Hebrew these attributes are given to the word itself.
Doct. They that would profit by the word or rule of faith and .manners which God hath commanded them to observe, should look upon it as righteous and very faithful.
So did David here and elsewhere : Ps. xix. 9, ' The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.' I shall make good the point by these considerations : —
Prop. 1. That our faith and obedience must be well grounded, or ■else they will have no firmness and stability. The want of a founda- tion is the cause of many a ruinous building. Men carry on a fair and lofty structure of profession, but when the winds of boisterous temptations are let loose upon them, all is blown down, because they build upon the sand, and not upon the rock. They take up this profession without sound evidence and conviction in their consciences ; and so they are not ' grounded or settled in the faith,' Col. i. 23 ; ' not rooted and grounded in love,' Eph. iii. 7. They take up religion slightly, not looking into the reasons of it, upon tradition or vulgar esteem, they are not undoubtedly persuaded that it is the very truth of God. The good seed withered that fell upon the stony ground, because there was no depth of earth, Mat. xiii. 5, no considerable strength of soil to feed faith.
Prop. 2. Faith and obedience cannot be well grounded but on such a doctrine as is true and righteous; for who can depend on that which is not true, or who can obey that which is not righteous ? Truth is the only sure foundation for faith to build upon, and righteousness for practice. Faith considereth truth : Eph. i. 13, * In whom ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.' And that righteousness is that which bindeth to practice, we may gather from Ps. cxix. 128, ' Therefore I esteem all thy precepts con- cerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.' The word commandeth nothing but what is just and righteous.