84 SEEMON UPON PSALM L. 5.
known sin, or do not resolve against it, God will say, ' What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth,' Ps. 1. 16. If there be any insincerity, the covenant is marred in the making: Ps. Ixxviii. 37, ' Their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.' If there be any partial reserve, the heart is not right. All former vanities must actually be renounced.
4. Having made covenant with him, you must be exact in keeping it : Ps. XXV. 10, ' All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.' Therefore be ever mindful of it : 1 Chron. xvi. 15, * Be ye mindful always of his covenant ; ' Deut. iv. 23, ' Take heed to yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God.' Do not deal falsely in it, upon any temptation whatsoever : Ps. xliv. 17, ' All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.'
5. Take heed of an unmortified heart. For an unmortified professor will never be faithful with God : ' Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt,' Mark ix. 49. Remember God's judgments upon those that have broken his covenant : Lev. xxvi. 25, ' I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant ; ' Isa. xiv. 5, ' The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have trans- gressed the laws, they have broken the everlasting covenant.' Entering into covenant is called entering into a curse : Neh. x. 29, ' They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath to walk in God's law, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgments, and his statutes.'
SERMON UPON PSALM CXXVII. 3.
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. — Ps. cxxvii. 3.
This psalm bearetli title, * A song of degrees for Solomon.' In the margin it is ' of Solomon/ or concerning Solomon , that is, spoken in the spirit of prophecy concerning him. Indeed, the passages are in their intrinsic meaning applicable to him. He was a builder of the temple, and an enlarger of the state and dominion of the Jews. There is a plain allusion to his name, Jedidiah, and Solomon, in the latter end of the second verse : ' For so he giveth his beloved sleep.' For Jedidiah, see 2 Sam. xii. 24, 25, ' She bare a son, and he called his name Solomon ; and the Lord loved him : and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord,' i.e., beloved of the Lord. And for his other name, Solomon, see
1 Chron. xxii. 9, 10, ' Behold a son shall be born to thee, and he shall be a man of rest ; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about ; for his name shall be Solomon' {i.e., peaceable), ' and I will give peace and quietness in his days. He shall build an house for my name, and I will be his father, and he shall be my son ; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.' Well, now, it is in vain for you, Absalom and Adonijah, to set your wits on the rack, to torture your- selves with your own ambition. God will give Jedidiah the kingdom, and he shall be Solomon, have rest and peace. We read in the history,
2 Sam. XV. 2, ' Absalom rose early in the morning, and stood in the gate, to salute every one that passed by.' Adonijah made a great bustle. But God's will concerning Jedidiah shall stand. He was to be the builder, he was to be the son by whom the succession of the regal line was to be continued. Upon this David comforteth himself, and acknowledgeth God's mercy : ' Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.'
In the words, children are represented as a blessing. In which are two things — (1.) The author from whom children come, ' From the Lord ; ' (2.) The qiiality in which we receive this blessing, set forth by a double notion — (1st.) As an ' heritage ; ' (2d,) As a 'reward.'
The word ' heritage' is often, by an Hebraism, put for a man's por- tion, be it good or bad. It is used in a bad sense, as Job xx. 29, * This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed
86 SERMON UPON PSALM CXXVII. 3.
unto him by God.' In the good sense, Isa. liv. 17, ' This is the heri- tage of the servants of the Lord.'
' Reward' is put for any gift that cometh by promise, or with respect unto obedience ; because in a promise there is a contract implied ; if we will do so and so, God will do so and so for us.
Doct. It is a blessing that we have from God, and so it should be accounted, that we have children born of our loins.