° Deut. xxxiii. 27. p Isai. xl. 11. ^ Isai. xlv. 24.
r Ps. cxix. 117. ^ Phil. iv. 13. * 2 Cor. xii. 10.
u Luke xxii. 31. ^ Amos ix. 0. > Matt, xviii. 14.
z Jer. xvii. 5, 6. ^ Isai. xli. 10.
God adds, I will take the whole matter into my own hands, and " altogether uphold you with the right hand of my right- eousness." " Be strong, then, in faith, giving glory to God;" and " you shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end."]
Ps. xxxvii. 31. The laio of his God is in his heart: nojie of
his steps shall slide.
THE blessedness of the righteous is a favourite subject with the sweet singer of Israel : several of his psalms are occupied with it throughout ; and often in a way of immediate contrast with the state of the ungodly. As far as respects the outward ap- pearance indeed, the advantage is often on the side of the wicked "" : but on a fuller view of their respec- tive states, there will be found the most abundant cause to congratulate the saints even in their lowest condition, so infinitely superior is their lot to that of the most prosperous of ungodly men*". The ungodly, walking after the imagination of their own hearts, have " their way dark and shppery," so that, sooner or later, they are sure to "fall" and **^ perish '^ :" but the " righteous," having their minds intent upon true wisdom, " are preserved, whilst the seed of the wicked are cut ofF*^." '' The law of God is in his heart : none of his steps shall slide."
From these words we shall be led to shew,
I. The character of the righteous —
" The law of God is in his heart." It was not there by nature ; for though it was originally inscribed on the heart of Adam in Paradise % and traces of it are yet to be found on the hearts even of the be- nighted heathen^, yet is it so far effaced from the heart of the natural man, that he neither does nor will yield any subjection to it^. But,
God has engraven it on his heart—
a ver, 1. t. ver. 16. " Ps. xxxv. 6—8. with ver. 13— 15, 20. ^ ver. 28, 30. ^ Gen. i. 27. ^ Rom. ii. 15. s Rom. viii. 7.