Thirdly, Life everlasting, or our blessed estate in heaven. So it is said of the saints departed, they all live to God, Luke xx. 38 ; and this is called water of life, the tree of life, the crown of life ; pro- perly this is life. What is the present life in comparison of everlast- ing life ? The present life, it is mors vitalis, a living death, or mor- talis vita, a dying life, a kind of death ; it is always in fiuxu, like a stream ; it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us : Job xiv. 2, ' He flieth as a shadow, and continueth not/ We die as fast as we live ; it differeth but as the point from the line where it terminateth. It is not one and the same, no permanent thing ; it is like the shadow of a star in a flowing stream ; its contentments are base and low, Isa. lvii. 10, called ' the life of thy hands ; ' it is patched up, of several crea- tures, fain to ransack the storehouses of nature to support a ruinous fabric. And compare it with a life of grace here ; it doth not exempt us from sin, nor miseries. Our capacities are narrow, we are full of fears and doubts and dangers ; but in the life of glory we shall not sin or sorrow more. This is meant here, ' The righteousness of God's testimonies is everlasting : give me understanding, and I shall live.' It is chiefly meant of the life of glory ; this is the fruit of saving knowledge, John xvii. 3, when we so know God and Christ as to come to God by him.
Use. Let us seek the saving knowledge of God, that we may live, first spiritually here, and gloriously here. But few mind it ; all desire sharpness of wit, and to be as knowing as others ; no man would be a fool, but would own a wickedness in morals rather than a weakness in
36 SERMONS UPON PSALM CX1X. [SeR. CLXII.
intellectuals ; but who thinketh of being wiser for heaven, of being seasoned with the fear of God ? Most men choke all the motions and inclinations they have in that kind with worldly delights and worldly businesses, being alive to the world and dead to God, thronging their hearts with carnal vanities, but leaving no room for higher and serious thoughts.
But at length be persuaded ; what do men desire but life ? If you know God and Christ with a saving knowledge, you shall have it. (1.) We were made for this end, to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, 1 Tim. ii. 4. We do not live merely to live, but to make provision for a better life ; not to satisfy our bodies out of God's store- house, but to furnish our souls with grace, and exercise ourselves in his law day and night, that we may know his will concerning us, and pro- vide for a better life, and live according to the directions of his word. (2.) No creature is so bad as man when he degenerateth from his end for which he was created : it is not so much for the sea to break its bounds, or to have a defect in the course of nature, as the degenera- tion of man. (3.) You live not properly when destitute of the life of God and heavenly wisdom : he doth not live the life of a man, nor pre- serve the rectitude of his nature.
SEEMON CLXII.
/ cried with my ivhole heart; hear me, 0 Lord: I will keep thy statutes. — Ver. 145.
In these words are —
1. An allegation, I cried with my whole heart.
2. A petition, hear me.
3. A promise of obedience, I will keep thy statutes.
1. In the allegation we have a description of prayer, by the two adjuncts of it : —
[1.] Intension and fervency, ' I cried.'
[2.] The sincerity and integrity of it, ' With my whole heart.'
2. The petition is for audience ; only, what we translate ' hear me,' is in the Hebrew ' answer me.' Now this being a general, it is un- certain what he prayed for : it may be for deliverance out of trouble ; for in the 146th verse it is ' save me,' but in the 149th verse it is ' quicken me,' which implieth the vigour of the spiritual life, or grace to keep God's statutes. Whether for the one or the other, David would be heard.
3. Here is a promise of obedience, ' I will keep thy statutes ;' which is mentioned either as the end and scope of his prayer, c That I may kce\) thy statutes ; ' or as a holy vow and promise which the saints are wont to mingle with their prayers, ' I will,' &c. He would diligently serve God if the Lord would hear him.
First, I begin with the allegation or description of David's carriage in prayer. David devoured not his grief, nor nourished his unbelief, but opened his heart unto God, and that in an affectionate manner :
VER. 145.] SEUMONS UPON PSALM CX1X. 37