[2.] There is an awe of the word, not that maketh us shy of it, but tender of violating it, or doing anything contrary to it. This is not the fruit of slavish fear, but holy love ; it is not afraid of the word, but delighteth in it, as it discovereth the mind of God to us, as in the next verse. This is called by a proper name, reverence, or godly fear ; when we consider whose word it is, God's ; who is our God, and hath right to command what he pleaseth ; to whose will and word we have already yielded obedience, and devoted ourselves to walk worthy of him in all well-pleasing ; who can find us out in all our failings, as knowing our very thoughts afar off, Ps. cxxxix. 2 ; and having all our ways before him, and being one who will not forgive our wilful trans- gressions : Josh. xxiv. 19, ' He is a holy and jealous God ; he will not forgive your transgressions and your sins,' that would impenitently continue in them ; and so we receive the word with that trembling of heart which God so much respects.
3. The object, ' thy word ; ' that is, the whole word of God — the precept with its double sanction, the threatening and the promise ; the precept is the rule of our duty ; the sanction, of God's proceeding. We are to stand in awe not only of the threatening, but the precept itself ; for love to God hath a great influence in producing this awe of the word. It is in angels and heavenly creatures, whose happiness is absolutely secured to them, Jude 4. The great ground of it is God's authority ; and that is seen in the precept as much as in the sanction. God's will is the reason of our duty, and his will declared in his word is the rule of it ; and the saints obey intuitu voluntatis — a bare sight of his, though no inconvenience should follow of it : 1 Thes. iv. 3, ' For this is the will of God ;' 1 Thes. v. 18, ' For this is the will of God concerning you in Jesus Christ ; ' 1 Peter ii. 15, ' For so is the will of
172 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLXXV.
God,' &c. But yet I would not exclude the sanction ; no, not the sad part of it; neither the threatening, nor the promise ; because I dare not contradict any of the Holy Ghost's methods ; nor exclude his argument from having an influence upon our obedience, as he telleth us of Moses, who had an eye to the recompense of reward, Heb. xi. 2G. So of Job, who was tender of doing anything contrary to the will of God, because destruction from God was a terror to him, Job. xxxi. 23. To be afraid of God's judgments in a holy manner is not sin, but a grace, a great point of our duty ; yea, a matter of faith to apprehend that destruction which God in his word threateneth to sinners. Unbelief of the threatening had a great predominancy in the first sin : ' Ye shall not surely die,' Gen. iii. 4 ; and still it is a main ingredient. Men embolden themselves to rebellion because they look upon God's wrath as a vain scarecrow, and that he doth only frighten us with a deceitful terror and a flash of false fire. But yet reflection upon the threatening must not be alone, that breedeth legalism ; nor yet upon the promises alone ; but a deep awe and reverence of God's authority must be the main thing that swayeth the conscience. A Christian should have no more to move or stop him, than to know what God will have him do or not do. That terror that doth arise from a mere slavish fear of God as a judge and avenger is not right ; but such an awe as doth at once arise from looking upon God at once as a wise lawgiver, a gracious father, and righteous judge. A son, a child, if lie take liberty to break the bonds of duty, shall smart for it : though a believer obeyeth and keepeth off from sin upon higher and nobler terms than wrath, yet he maketh a good improvement of these terrors also ; for godly fear is influenced by God's being a consuming fire : Heb. xii. 29, 30, ' Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear ; for our God is a consuming fire.'
Secondly, We come to the reasons why we should stand in awe of the word of God.
1. From the author of it ; it is God's word, not the word of a weak man, but of the great and mighty God. His authority is supreme, his power infinite, his knowledge exact, his truth unquestionable, his holiness immaculate, his justice impartial. The same reasons which move us to fear God do move us also to reverence his word ; and add this above all the rest, that therein his truth is impawned to us, and by it he obligeth himself to make good both his threatenings and his promises. Three things I shall take notice of, which showeth God's stamp and impress upon the word : —