2. God will accept of no other, for he looketh for the heart, and knoweth whether we give it him, yea or no. Men care not for fawning and the obsequiousness of empty courtships, but look for reality, if they could discern it : 2 Kings x. 15, ' Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?' It was Jehu's question to Jonadab, the son of Kechab. Dost thou as really affect me, as I do thee ? And men do not look to the matter of the gift, but the mind of the giver; and will God, think you, who can infallibly judge, and will one day bring the hidden thoughts of the heart to light, 1 Cor. iv. 5, will he be put off with shows and empty formalities? Well, then, see that your souls be in it, otherwise he will not accept of rivers of oil and thousands of rams. All your pomp and cost upon outside services is lost. But it is not every soul that will keep God's testimonies. When the people said, ' All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do it,' Deut. v. 29, ' Oh, that they had such an heart ! ' It must be such an heart, for man is naturally averse from God ; sin sets up its throne in the heart, and thence diffuseth its venom into his actions, Gen. vi. 5. It must be — (1.) A broken heart ; (2.) A renewed heart; (3.) A heart purified by faith ; (4.) And acted by love.
[1.] A broken heart it must be, Ps. li. 11, for before that, all that we do is forced and superficial. We are never serious till acquainted with brokenness of heart, but serve God in a slight careless fashion. That bruising is to cast into a new mould ; it is a preparative to the new heart. Wheat is not bread till it be grinded, and a cracked vessel cannot be renewed till it be melted in the furnace, nor we formed anew till we be first melted, humbled, and broken for sin.
[2.] The heart must be renewed by grace, for it is a renewed soul only that keepeth the commandments: Ezek. xxxvi. 20, 'A new heart also will I give unto you, and a new spirit will I put into you ; and then I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments to do them.' The hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil, till God change them, and renew a right spirit within them: Prov. x. 20, 'The heart of the wicked is nothing worth.' A vain, sottish, sensual, careless heart will never do God any service ; there must be life before there can be action, a supernatural principle before there can be supernatural operation, for all things act according to their form; all that we do else is but like adulterating coin, gild- ing over copper or brass.
[3.] A heart purified by faith, Acts xv. 9. There are fleshly lusts in us which must be mortified more and more, and deadened to the
VER. 167.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CX1X. 233
pleasures and profits and honours of this world, by remembering our great obligations and expectations from Christ's death and eternal life ; for while any fleshly or worldly lust prevaileth with us, and is the chief principle in our hearts, we cannot heartily serve God.
[4.] A heart acted by love: 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, 'For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.' This is the active principle which sets us a-work with cheerfulness. Christ often intimateth that keeping the commandments is the fruit of love, John xiv. 15. All the expres- sion of our love to him is turned into that channel.
Secondly, I come now to the second evidence and testimony of his sincerity, his love to the word, ' I have loved them exceedingly.' Mark—
1. His affection, i" love thy testimonies.
2. The degree, in the word exceedingly. First, From his affection. Note —
Boot, That it is not enough to keep the commandments, but we must love them, and that obedience they require from us.
This love to the law is often spoken of in this psalm ; therefore there needeth the less to be said now. Paul speaketh of this love as well as David : Eom. vii. 22, ' I delight in the law of God after the inward man.'
The reasons of the point.
1. We can never thoroughly and constantly keep the law with- out love to it. It is no easy thing to keep the law of God ; there needeth much labour and striving. Now where there is a sincere love of the law of God planted in the heart, there will be this striving and endeavouring to perform it. None so sensible of the weight of sin, none so active for God's glory : there is nothing so difficult, but love maketh easy : nihil amarum. In a word, labour and toil prove a pleasure, and pain a matter of delight, where we love. The careful mother bringeth forth the child with pain, and nurseth it up with toil and trouble, is well enough pleased with her work, and cheerful in it, because of the love she hath to the fruit of her womb, and her child is dear to her. Jacob's seven years' labour seemed to be a few days for the love he had to Eachel, Gen. xxix. 29. So God will have us serve him out of love, because nothing is grievous to love, 1 John v. 3. It beareth all things, suffereth all things, poverty, naked- ness, bonds, injuries, labours, never tireth or groweth weary, 1 Cor. xiii. 7.