We now come to the second clause, ' Thy law is my delight,' Boot. 2. That we should not only long for salvation, but delight in the way which leadeth to it.
Here I shall speak to two things : —
1. That we must take the way that leadeth to it.
2. That we must delight in the way.
First, That we must take the way that leadeth to it.
1. Partly because of the nature of God's covenant, which is con- ditional. There is in it ratio dati et accepti, something required and something promised : Isa. lvi. 4, ' For thus saifch the Lord unto the
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eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant ; ' Heb. x. 22, ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water ; ' Exod. xxiv. 4, ' And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel : and he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people, and they said, All that the Lord hath said we will do, and be obedient.' Surely in the covenant of grace God requireth conditions ; it is not made up all of promises. Now a condition is this, when one promiseth any good, or threateneth any ill, not simply, but upon covenant ; if the thing required be performed, or the thing forbidden be com- mitted ; the performance of the thing required is the condition of the promise, the doing a thing forbidden the condition of the threatening : 1 Sam. xi. 1, 2, ' And all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee : and Nahash the Am- monite answered them, On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel ; ' and Luke xiv. 32, ' While the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, and desireth conditions of peace.' Now these conditions are twofold — making covenant and keeping covenant.
[1.] The conditions as to making the covenant arise from the law of grace, or the lex remedians, faith and repentance. Faith performed or omitted : John iii. 36, ' He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- ing life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.' So repentance performed : Ezek. xviii. 30, ' Kepent ye, and turn from your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.' Omitted : Lukexiii. 5, 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.'
[2.] Then conditions of keeping covenant, which is conformity to the law of God, or new obedience performed : Ps. lxxxiv. 11, ' No good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly.' Omitted : Heb. xii. 14, ' Without holiness no man shall see the'_Lord.' Well, then, upon the whole we thus judge, that it is not enough to desire God's salvation, but we must also delight in his law ; that is to say, we must repent and believe, and so begin our acquaintance with God in Christ ; and we must also walk in the ways of God's precepts, if we mean at length to be saved, and to enjoy the vision of the blessed God. That which is propounded conditionally we must not presume of abso- lutely, and so make reckoning to go to heaven as in some whirlwind, or as passengers at sea are brought into the harbour sleeping, or to be crowned without striving.
2. From the nature of this longing and desire, which must be regular and according to the tenor of the covenant of holiness as well as happiness ; and it must be strong, so as to overmaster contrary difficulties, lusts, and desires. Let us instance in Balaam. He said, Num. xxiii. 10, ' Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my latter end be like his.' He saw that the state of a righteous man at the end of it is a blessed estate, and this he longed for. But there was
292 sermons upon psalm cxix. [Ser. CLXXXIX.
a double defect in his desire ; it was not regular. Balaam desired to be saved, but he did not delight in God's law. He would be at the journey's end, but was loath to take the way ; there was a complacency and Avell-pleasedness in the end, but a refusing of the means. Again, this desire was but a flash, a sudden motion, occasioned by con- templation of the blessedness of God's people, but no operative trans- forming desire ; a desire which the love of the wages of unrighteousness prevailed over. All men will long for salvation, but all men will not take a right course to obtain it ; and so it is a wish rather than a desire, if we long for salvation but have not a heart to use the means appointed thereunto. Where there is a true longing there will be a using the means, and a using the means with delight. They that will not submit to these conditions, or snuff at these conditions as troublesome, they do not long for his salvation, nor delight in his law. Secondly. That we must delight in the way that leadeth to glory ; but this argument being handled in other verses of this psalm, it is omitted here.