118 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SER. CLXX.
do not think that he will alter the ordinances of his wisdom and jus- tice for your sakes : Ps. cxix. G6, ' Teach rue good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments.'
2. To the promises of it. They are founded for ever, whatever carnal reason suggests to the contrary iu the hour of temptation. To this end consider what promises are. They are declarations of the purposes of God. Both confirm you. As they are purposes of God, they imply immutability : Heb. vi. 17, ' Wherein God, willing to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, con- firmed it with an oath.' God's counsel is immutable, for God being an intelligent agent, of most perfect knowledge and profound wisdom, can will and determine nothing but according to the best and most exact understanding. There can be no cause of revocation, either for want of wisdom or justice, for he is absolutely both wise and just ; nor from inconstancy of will, for ' the strength of Israel is not as man that he should repent ; ' nor can his will be frustrated for want of power, for he is almighty. But now when this purpose is declared, that draweth on a further obligation : Ps. Ixxxix. 34, ' I will not alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' There is a debt ariseth, and a right established of the creatures. To change counsel would imply weakness ; to alter a promise, wickedness and unfaithfulness, which were the highest blasphemy to imagine in God, especially when this declaration is made with such emphatic averment, confirmed by an oath : Heb. vi. 18, ' That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have strong consolation ; ' which is such a sacred assurance, yea, by seals and signs. Yet, again, your very believing bindeth it the faster: Ps. cxix. 49, 'Kemember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.' Would God invite a trust, and then decline it? The more you believe, the sooner you see the effects of the promise. This is the difference between promises and threatenings. Christ saith, ' Be it unto thee according to thy faith.' God's threatenings are fulfilled whether man will or no ; let him believe or not believe, God will throw the ungodly into hell. But in promises it is otherwise ; then they do good to us when by faith we embrace them ; believe, and thou shalt be established. Besides God's two immutable things, faith is an anchor sure and steadfast, Heb. vi. 19 ; therefore let us not entertain the promises of the gospel with a loose heart ; you may know it by your slightness and carelessness about them, if you do not esteem them as great : 2 Peter i. 4, ' To you are given exceeding great and precious promises ; ' they contain spiritual and eternal riches, and deserve to be greatly esteemed. By your addictedness to sense and to present things you seem to declare that you think a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, happiness to come but conjectural and uncer- tain. It is a fancy to live by faith, if it doth not support us in diffi- culties and afflictions : Ps. cxix. 40, ' This is my comfort in my affliction, thy word hath quickened me ; ' when you look on all the promises as a dry stick, or as words and wind ; if they do not engage us to the earnest pursuit of heavenly happiness, and the blessedness which they contain and offer : Heb. xi. 13, ' These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and
VER. 152.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 119
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth/
Boot. 2. That this unchangeable certainty and everlasting verity of God's testimonies should be known by us, that so a sure word should be entertained by a pure faith. David acknowledgeth here his own certainty.
1. What it is to know this. To know signifieth three things — to understand, to consider, to believe ; all have place in this point. There must be a clear apprehension, a deep and serious consideration, and a firm assent and sound belief of this truth.
[1.] It is needful we should understand the unchangeable and ever- lasting verity of the scriptures ; for how shall we believe what we do not know, and venture our souls upon what we are ignorant of ? 2 Tim. i. 12, ' I know whom I have believed ; ' John ix. 36, ' Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? And he said, Who is he, that I might be- lieve on him ? ' True faith is not content to go on implicit grounds, but seeks for clear knowledge of the ground it goeth upon. Nor can there be solid faith without knowledge of that which we do believe. Who will venture his soul on the bottom of the scriptures till he knoweth they are of God, and unchangeably fixed as the rule of life and charter of his happiness, especially since they require us to crucify our lusts, and sacrifice our interests, and perform those duties which are unpleasing to nature, upon the hopes which they offer, and bid us with confidence and joyfulness to wait upon God for his salva- tion in the midst of all pressures and afilictions. If we build hand- over-head we build on the sand, not on the rock.