(3.) It abideth for ever as to the effects — (1.) In the execution of wrath on the wicked, it is the word of God that keeps them for ever in hell : Mark xvi. 16, ' He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.' (2.) As to the enjoy- ment of everlasting blessedness : John vi. 40, ' And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' It is the charter and grant by which we hold heaven to all eternity.
[2.] Look out still for the influence of the Spirit. Doth it come in power ? You want a notable argument against atheism and scepticism in religion till you feel it. Some deny the power, shut it out, will not let it break in upon their hearts : 2 Tim. iii. 5, ' Having a form of god- liness, but denying the power thereof.' They have a map of truth, but never look after the power in changing the heart. Others do not look after the power of the word, and then want a testimony : 1 John v. 8, ' There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood.' Oh, therefore say, what power of the word of life have we felt in our own souls ? There are usually three effects of the word upon the heart — humbling, changing, and strengthening or comforting the heart.
(1.) It humbleth. Those that feel least feel this work many times. Felix trembled when Paul was discoursing of judgment to come, Acts xxiv. 24. What startlings of heart do you feel ? Lose not that work: Acts ii. 37, ' They were pricked in their hearts.' There is such a power in the word ; will you only be a stranger to it ? Jer. xxiii. 29, ' Is not my word as fire, and as an hammer to break the rock in pieces ?' To break, melt, and make it capable of any form.
(2.) To change the heart from sin to holiness. Is the temper and frame of your heart altered ? John xv. 3, ' Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you.' Doth it set you a-purging and work- ing out sin ? Ps. cxix. 9, ' Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way ? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.' Doth it work in you an hearty subjection to God ?
3. Doth it comfort you? Did it ever revive thy distressed and wounded spirit ? Rom. xv. 4, ' That we, through comfort of the scrip- ture, might have hope ; ' Job xxxiii. 25, ' His flesh shall be fresher than a child's ; he shall return to the days of his youth.'
SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13.
SERMON I.
Keep hack thy servant also from pi'esicmptumis sins ; let them not have dominion over me : then shall I be upright, and I shall he innocent from the great transgression. — Ps. xix. 13.
In this psalm David first admireth the brightness of the sun, and then the purity of the law. The joining of both these meditations showeth that man can as ill be without the word of God as without the light of the sun. What would this inferior world be without the sun, but a great cave or obscure dungeon, wherein men would live like worms in a pit. Now the light of the word is as necessary for the blessedness of our souls as the sun's light is comfortable to our bodies. Again, the comparing of both these showeth that there are two books wherein we shall do well to study, and both made by God himself — the book of nature and the book of scripture ; and both discover God to us, as every- thing that hath passed his hand discovereth the author. You cannot look well upon the book of the creatures, but in every page and line of it you will find this truth presented to your eyes, that there is an in- finite eternal power that made all things ; this is enough to leave the world without excuse. But in the book of the word you may see more of God, and the way how to enjoy him. This doth more powerfully convince man of his misery, and show him his remedy. The use which the psalmist maketh of these two books is notable ; of the first, to ad- mire the glory of God by the beauty of the heavens ; of the second, to humble man by the purity and strictness of the law ; as all religion lieth in the knowledge of God and ourselves. The text is a branch of the latter use, namely, that which arise th from this consideration of the power and purity of the law, as converting the soul, and reaching to the very thoughts and inward workings of the heart. The holy man of God maketh a double use of it — for humiliation and caution. Humiliation and desire of pardon of what is past : ' Who can under- stand his errors ? Cleanse me from secret faults.' And then grace to prevent future enormities.