SERMON CLXXVII.
i" hate and abhor lying : but thy laiv do I love. — Ver. 163.
In this verse the man of God showeth his affection to the word by the hatred of those things which are contrary to the word. Observe here —
1. Affection set against affection.,
2. Object against object.
•First, Affection against affection, hatred against love. Love and hatred are natural affections, which are good or evil according to the objects to which they are applied. Place love on the world, sin, and vanity, and nothing worse ; place hatred on God, religion, holiness, and it soon proveth a hellish thing. But now, set them upon their proper objects, and they express a gracious constitution of soul ; let us hate evil, and love good, Amos v. 15, and all is well. Man needeth affec- tions of aversation as wetl as choice and pursuit. Hatred hath its use as well as love. Love was made for God, and things that belong to God, and hatred for sin. It was put into us that, at the first ap- pearance, sense, or imagination of evil, we might retire ourselves and fly from it ; and is anything so evil as sin, so contrary to God, so bane-
VER. 163.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 181
ful to the soul ? The office of love is to adhere and cleave to God, and whatever will bring us to the enjoyment of him ; and the office of hatred is that we may truly and sincerely turn from all evil with detestation, according to the nature and degree of evil that is in it. The emphasis of the text is notable, ' I hate and abhor ; ' it must be a thorough hatred, which David, Ps. cxxxix. 22, calleth a ' perfect hatred.'
Secondly, Here is object set against object. As love is opposed to hatred, so the law to lying ; for the word of God is truth, and requireth truth of all that submit to it ; pure sincerity and simplicity. Some render the word more generally. The Septuagint dSifclav eixia^aa /cal i(38eX.v^dfxev, ' I hate and abominate iniquity.' Other translations render it not so ; they expound it so that one kind is put for all the rest, and fitly ; for every sin is a falsehood, and often called in this psalm, ' A false way, and a lie,' and will fail and beguile all them who are delighted with it. And the purport and drift is, that we should admit, omit, commit nothing which is contrary to the word of God, which is the great object of a holy man's love. The points are three : —
Boct. 1. They that love the word of God must hate sin. Boct. 2. That a slight hatred of a sinful course is not enough, but we must hate and abhor it.
Boct. 3. That among other sins, we must hate falsehood and lying, and all kind of frauds and deceits. For the first point.
Boct. 1. They that love the word of God must hate sin. This implieth four things : —
1. That our love must be demonstrated by such effects, otherwise it is but pretended, if we do not avoid what it forbiddeth ; for our love to God and his word is mostly seen in obedience and dutiful subjection to him and it ; for God's love is a love of bounty, our love is a love of duty. He is said to love us when he blesseth us, and bestoweth on us the effects of his special grace and favour ; we are said to love him when we obey him. These propositions are clear in scripture, that our love to God is tried by our love to the word, and our love to the word by our hatred of sin : John xiv. 21, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; ' and ver. 23, ' If any man love me he will keep my words.' On the contrary, our enmity to God and his word is determined by our love to sin. Enmity to God : Col. i. 21, ' Enemies in your minds by evil works.' To his word : Rom. viii. 7, ' The carnal mind is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be.' Habitual sin argueth a malice or hatred of God and his holy law ; and actual sin, an actual hatred. It is finis operis, if not opcrantis; whether a man thinketh so or no, it is the intent of the action ; a rebellion or an act of disloyalty against God. Yea, there is not only a virtual hatred in sin, but a formal hatred ; not only implied, but expressed : they wish there were not a God to punish them and call them to an account, such a law to forbid such practices as they affect, or that such things were not sin. Well, then, it is not some kind of pleasure in the study of the word will show our love to the word, but an impartial, entire, and uniform obedience, strictly abstaining from
182 sermons upon psalm cxix. [Ser. OLXXVII.
such thing's as it forbiddeth, and carefully practising what it requireth at our hands.
2. That our hatred of sin must flow from such a principle. A man may hate sin upon foreign and accidental reasons, and so that abstain- ing from sin is not a true hatred, but a casual dislike ; as when we forbear some sins, but retain others that suit better with our condition, callings, employment, temper, or because of some difficulty in compass- ing, shame in practising, or repugnant to our natural temper. No ; it must be out of a principle of love to God ; Ps. xcvii. 10, ' Ye that love the Lord hate evil.' So Ps. cxix. 113, 'I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.' A hatred of sin arising from love to God and his word is the only true hatred ; that is hatred of sin as sin, as it is avofxia, 1 John iii. 4, ' A transgression of the law ; ' as it is ingratitude to God, contrary to our obligations to him, not only as destructive to our- selves ; not principally timore pamce, but amove virtutis. The word of God furnisheth us with divers reasons and arguments to move us to hate sin. They all have their place, but some are more noble and excellent than others ; as when a man hateth sin because God hath forbidden it. True hatred cometh from a love of the contrary ; therefore he that hath a vehement love to the law hateth all things which are contrary to it : Mat. vi. 20, ' He will hate the one, and love the other.' There is no serving two masters ; love to the one enforceth hatred of the other. To love the good and hate the evil are inseparable.