2. Except we obey because we love, our obedience is not sincere and acceptable : 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, 'Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding- brass, or a tinkling cymbal : and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though 1 have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing,' ovBev el/xi. Many are flighted into a course of religion, and go on from duty to duty, out of fear of being damned ; this is not true obedience, that is done servilely and by constraint, these
234 sermons upon psalm cxix. [Ser. CLXXXII.
unwilling services which we perform to Christ, out of urging of conscience and fear of wrath : Jer. ii. 27, ' Which have turned the back unto me, and not their face : but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us.' They come to God, not out of delight and choice, but out of necessity, and only then, Hosea. v. 6. They that did not care for God at other times will then come with their flocks and their herds. The spirit of bondage is clamorous for duty, as the spirit of adoption sweetly inclineth to it. Many obey God no further than they are forced, as slaves, whom nothing but fear in- duceth to perform their master's commands; and so do not love the work, nor do it for the work's sake.
3. The next object to God, fit for our love, is God's law. It is clear that God is primum amabile, the first thing that is to be loved ; but what is the second ? Surely that which hath most of God in it ; next after God, his word. There is vestigium in the creature, there is imago in his testimonies: 2 Cor. iii. 18, 'For we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord/ The fairest draught and print of God that can be taken. His people have his image, but it is overshadowed with weakness ; it is but the a7ro0at- vurfia, the off-set of his word. It is the word that maketh saints, there is the liveliest stamp and print of God. His testimonies lead not only to the knowledge of God, but also the fruition of him. What- soever leadeth us to the fruition of God is incomparably better than any other thing ; therefore, if we love God, we must love his precepts, love them so as to keep them ; it is the greatest testification of that love we can show to God.
Use 1. To show us the reason why so many miscarry in the pro- fession of godliness. Many walk in the ways of God for a while, but have no sound love to them ; either by-ends, or slavish fears forced them into some profession ; but they did not love godliness as godli- ness, and therefore cannot hold out with God. When a man is biassed and poised by his heart to a thing, you cannot easily divert and break his inclination, that is a rooted thing ; others were but forced, and forced subjection will not always hold. Men are hoping they shall shake off an unpleasing task, and where they obey from constraint, and the iron yoke of terror, they will not long obey.
Use 2. To press us not only to keep God's testimonies, but to love them.
Let me use some arguments.
1. From its excellency. To love is more than to do, as to love sin is a greater evil than to commit it. Gravius est peccatum diligere, quam facere. A man may commit sin out of infirmity, but he that loves it, sin reigneth in him. Practice may be overruled ; a man may do evil that hateth it, being overborne by the violence of a temptation ; as Paul saith of himself, ' The evil that I hate, that I do.' So a man may do good that hateth it, being influenced by by-ends ; but our love is our own, the genuine offspring of the soul.
2. The necessity of it. Unless we love our work, we shall never be the more earnest in the performance of it. Nature of itself is unwilling, the heart hangeth off till it be poised by love : reasons and motives will not do it : Rom. viii. 7, ' The carnal mind is enmity
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against God, for it is not subject to the law/ The commandments of God cross our will, profit, and pleasure ; therefore we need not only reasons with us, but a strong inclination of heart to hold us to it, else we shall be off and on with God : Neh. iv. 6, ' The building went on, because the people had a mind to the work.' Nothing else will do it but this.
3. The utility. We shall have more comfort in the sincerity of our affections than we can ever have in the perfection of our actions. The people of God, that cannot plead the perfection of what they do, plead the reality of their love : John xxi. 17, ' Lord, thou knowest all things, and knowest that I love thee.'