Verses 89–96
89. For ever, 0 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven, 90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. 91. They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants.
THE Christian extends his survey far beyond the limits of his individual sphere. His view of the operations of God in creation enlarges his apprehensions of the Divine attributes, and especially that of unchanging faithfulness. Indeed, the very fact of a creation in ruins — a world in rebellion against its Maker, failing of the grand end of existence, and yet still continued in existence — manifests “his faithfulness unto all generations.” y How different is the contemplation of the Christian from the philosopher! His is not a mere cold, speculative admiration, but the establishment of his faith upon a clear discovery of the faithfulness of God. Thus he stays his soul upon the assured unchangeableness of the Divine word — “Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever. Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endurethfor ever.”2 How striking is the contrast between the transient glory of man’s goodliness, and the solid foundation of all the promises, hopes, and prospects of the children of God! — “The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”3 “Unbelief” is the cha-
1 Genesis viii. 22. 2 Verses 152, 160.
3 Isaiah xl. 6 — 8. Compare 1 Peter i. 24, 25.
M racter of our “evil hearts.”1 Man chooses his own measure and objects of faith; he believes no more than he pleases. But it is a fearful prospect, that the threatenings of God rest upon the same solid foundation with his promises. “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”2
Need we any further proof of his faithfulness? Look at the earth established by his word of power.3 See how “he hangeth it upon nothing,” 4 as if it might fall at any moment; — and yet it is immoveably fixed5 — it abideth6 — and with all its furniture continueth according to his ordinances. This — though the scoff of the infidel7 — is the encouragement to Christian faith; it is at once a token of his covenant with nature, that “while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease; “8 and an emblem of his covenant with the seed of David, that he “will not cast them off for all that they have done.” 9 Thus every view of the heavens — yea — every time we set our foot on the earth10 — shows the unchangeableness of his everlasting covenant, and the security of the salvation of his own people.
In this vast universe, “all are his servants.” “The stars in their courses” — “fire and hail, snow and vapours, stormy winds — fulfil his word. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.”11 Man — the child of his Maker12 — “created in his image” 13 — destined for his glory14 — is the only
I Hebrews iii. 12. 2 Compare Luke xxi. 28 — 33.
* Psalm xxxiii. 9. Heb. i. 3. 4 Job xxvi. 7.
5 Psalm xxiv. 2; civ. 5; cxlviii. 6. 8 Eccles. i. 4.
7 2 Peter iii. 4. 8 Genesis viii. 22.
9 Jer. xxxi. 35, 36; xxxiii. 20, 21, 25, 26. J0 Isaiah liv. 9, 10.
II Judges v. 20. Psa. cxlviii. 8; cxlvii. 15. Compare Job xxxvii. 12. Isaiah xlviii. 13. 12 Deut. xxxii. 6.
13 Genesis i. 27; v. 1. 14 Isaiah xliii. 7.
rebel and revolter. Most affecting is the appeal, that his own Father and God is constrained to make concerning him, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled agaimst me!” l
Is not then the universe of nature a parable of grace — setting out on every side — in every view — a cheering display of the faithfulness of God?2 If his providence fails not, will the promise of his covenant disappoint us? Why should he change? Does he see or know anything now, that he has not foreseen and foreknown from eternity? What more sure ground of salvation than the unchangeableness of God ?3 If I can prove a word to have been spoken by God, I must no more question it than his own being. It may seem to fail on earth; but it is for ever settled in heaven. The decrees of the kings of the earth, “settled” on earth, are exposed to all the variations and weakness of a changing world. They may be revoked by themselves or their successors, or they may die away. The empty sound of the “law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not,“4 has long since been swept away into oblivion. But while” the word settled” on earth has “waxed old like a garment, and perished:” the word settled in heaven” — is raised above all the revolutions of the universe, and remaineth as the throne of God — unshaken and eternal; exhibiting the foundation of the believer’s hope and of the unbe liever’s terror, to be alike unalterably fixed.
But we also remark the foreknowledge as well as the faithfulness of God. From the eternity that is past, as well as for the eternity that is to come, “thy word is settled in heaven.” Before this fair creation was marred, yea, before it was called into existence, its ruin was
1 Isaiah i. 2. 2 Psalm lxxxix. 2.
3 Mai. iii. 6. Heb. vi. 17, 18; vii. 21 — 25. 4 Daniel vi. 8. M 2 foreseen, and a remedy provided. “The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world,” l and fore ordained before 2 that sera. Coeval with this period, a people were “chosen in him,” 3 and “for ever the word was settled in heaven.” — “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.”4 For the establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom upon earth, “the decree is declared;” however earth and hell may combine against it — “Yet have I set my king upon my holy will of Sion.” 5 And what a blessed encouragement in the grand work of bringing back “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” 6 and those “other sheep” with them, “which are not of this fold” 7 is it, that we do not depend upon the earnestness of our prayers, the wisdom of our plans, and the diligence of our endeavours; but upon “the word,” which “is for ever settled in heaven /” — “The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them saith the Lord — My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.” “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, — That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”8
92. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
THE support of the word is as sure as its basis — and that in the time when other supports sink — in affliction.
1 Rev. xiii. 8. - 1 Peter i. 20. s Eph.i. 4.
4 John vi. 37. 6 Psalm ii. 6 — 8. 6 Matt. xv. 24.
7 John x. 16. 8 Isa. lix. 20, 21; xlv. 23.
David — like his great prototype — was a man of affliction ’ — sometimes ready to perish — always kept up by the law of his God. How many a false professor has been tried and cast by this hour of “affliction!” But he who has been sifted by temptation — who has “endured the hardness” of persecution, as a “good soldier of Jesus Christ” 2 — and who is ready rather to be “consumed upon earth,” 3 than to shrink from his profession — this is he whom his Master “will lift up, and not make his foes to rejoice over him.” 4 It is the established rule of the kingdom — “Them that honour me I will honeur.” •’ “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” 6
The law of God opens to us a clear interest in every perfection of his Godhead — every engagement of his covenant. What wonder then, that it brings delights which the world can never conceive, when bowed down with accumulated affliction? However the believer’s real character may be hidden from the world, the hour of trial abundantly proves, both what the law can do for him, and what a lost creature he would have been with out it. In affliction, friends mean well; but of them selves they can do nothing. They can only look on, feel, and pray. They cannot “speak to the heart.” This is God’s prerogative: 7 and his law is his voice.
But for this support, Jonah probably would have “perished in his affliction.” In the belly of the fish, as “in the belly of hell,” he appears to have recollected the experience of David under deep and awful desertion; and in taking his language out of his mouth, as descrip-
1 Psalm cxxxii. 1. 2 2 Tim. ii. 3. 8 Verse 87.
* Psalm xxx. 1. 5 1 Sam. ii. 30. 6 Rev. iii. 10.
7 Isaiah xl. 2. Hosea ii. 14. Margin.
five of his own dark and terrific condition, a ray of light and hope darted upon his dungeon walls. Indeed it is a mystery, how a sinner, destitute of the support and comfort of the word of God, can ever uphold himself in his trials. We marvel not, that often, “his soul should choose strangling, and death, rather than his life.” 2
But in order to derive support from the law, it must be “our delights” 3 — yea — that it may be our delights it must be the matter of our faith. For what solid delight can we have in what we do not believe? 4 Must it not also be our joy in prosperity, if we would realize its support in affliction? For this how ineffectual is the mere formal service! Who ever tasted its tried consolations in the bare performance of the outward duty? It must be read as a reality; it will then be taken as a cordial. Let it be simply received, diligently searched, and earnestly prayed over; and it will guide the heavy-laden to Him, who is their present and eternal rest.5 The tempest-tossed soul will cast anchor upon it —
1 Jonah ii. 3, with Psalm xlii. 7. The phraseology in the LXX. is identical, as if it were a clear and distinct recollection of the Psalmist’s expressions, when describing his own state of desertion.
2 Job vii. 15. Compare 2 Cor. vii. 10.
3 ‘Delights ’ — instar omnium — instead of all manner of delights.
4 Psalm xxvii. 13.
5 Matt. xi. 28. It was the speech of a holy man — after God had made this precious text the messenger to open his dungeon of spiritual distress, and bring him into the light of inward joy — that he had better be without meat, drink, light, air, earth, life, and all, than with out this one comfortable Scripture. ‘If one single promise ’ — as Gurnal sweetly remarks in giving this story — ’ like an ear of corn rubbed in the hand of faith, and applied by the Spirit of Christ — can afford such a full satisfying meal of joy to the hunger-bitten, pining soul; oh what price can we set upon the whole field of Scripture, which stands so thick with promises every way as cordial as this! ’ — Gurnal on Ephesians vi. 17. Well might Luther say — ‘I have covenanted with my Lord, that he should not send me visions, or dreams, or even angels. I am content with this one gift of the Scriptures, which abundantly teaches and supplies all that is necessary both for this life and that which is to come.’ “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou /tost caused me to hope.” l One promise applied by the Spirit of God is worth ten thousand worlds. And each promise is a staff — if we have but faith to lean upon it — able to bear our whole weight of sin, care, and trial.
Is then affliction our appointed lot? If “man is born” — and the child of God twice born — “to trouble, as the sparks fly upward”2 — how important is it to lay in a store of supply from this inexhaustible treasury against the time when all human support will fail! Supplied hence with heavenly strength, we shall be borne up above the weakness and weariness of the flesh. And as the riches of this store-house are “the riches of Christ,”3 let those parts be most familiar to us,4 which mark his person,5 his character,6 offices,7 life,8 sufferings,9 and death,10 resurrection and glory,11 together with the promises, encouragements, and prospects directly flowing from this blessed subject — and oh! what a treasure-house shall we find richly furnished with every source of delight, and every ground of support!
93. I will never forget thy precepts; for with them thou hast quickened me.
An admirable resolution! the blessed fruit of the quickening power of the word in his deep affliction. He had before acknowledged this supernatural efficacy — “Thy word hath quickened me.” 12 Now he more distinctly mentions it, as the instrumental only — not the
1 Verse 49. 8 Job v. 7. 3 Eph. iii. 8. John v. 39.
4 Such as Isaiah liii. which, in the compass of a single chapter sketches out his whole history. See below.
5 Isaiah liii. 1,2. 6 Ib. ver. 9. 7 Ib. ver. 4, 5, 12. 8 Ib. ver. 3. 9 Ib. ver. 7, 8. 10 Ib. ver. 9.
11 Ib. ver. 10 — 12. 18 Verse 50.
efficient cause — “With them thou hast quickened me.” Had the power been in the word, the same effect would have immediately and invariably followed. Nor should we have been constrained to lament the limited extent of its influence. How many, Christian, shared with you in the outward privileges; but perhaps unto none was the life-giving blessing vouchsafed, save unto your self — the most unlikely — the most unworthy of all! l Thus does “God work in us both to will and do” — not according to any prescribed law, but “of his own good pleasure.”* The grace therefore is not from, but through, the means. Almighty God is the source of the life. The word is the instrument — yet so “quick,” 3 so melting,4 so attractive,5 that we might ask, out of what rock was that heart hewn, that is proof against its power 1 Yet while the precepts work nothing without the agent,6 they are the ordinary course, by which the Lord quickeneth whom he will.7
And do not we find them still lively channels of refreshment? Surely, then, we will hold to our purpose of not forgetting the precepts. The leaves of the word of God are the leaves of the tree of life, as well as of the tree of knowledge. They not only enlighten the path, but they supply life for daily walk and progress.
“The words thatl speak unto you” — said Jesus — “they are spirit, and they are life;” 8 so that the times when we have been most diligent in our meditation and obedience to the precepts, have been uniformly the seasons of our most holy consolation.
Men of the world, however, with accurate recollections of all matters connected with their temporal advantage, are remarkably slow in retaining the truths
1 Comp. Luke iv. 25, 26. 2 Phil. ii. 13. 3 Heb. iv. 12.
4 Jer. xxiii. 29. 5 Matt. xi. 28. 6 1 Cor. iii. 7.
John v. 21. Rom. x. 17. 8 John vi. 63.
of God. They plead their short memories, although conscious that this infirmity does not extend to their important secular engagements. But what wonder that they forget the precepts, when they have never been quickened with them — never received any benefit from them? The word of God is not precious to them: they acknowledge no obligation to it: they have no acquaintance with it. It has no place in their affections, and therefore but little abode in their remembrance.
But this resolution is the language of sincerity, not of perfection. The child of God is humbled in the conscious “forgetfulness of the Lord’s precepts.” And this consciousness keeps his eye fixed upon Jesus for pardon and acceptance: while every fresh sense of acceptance strengthens his more habitual remembrance. Then as for his natural inability to preserve an accurate recollection of Divine things — let him not estimate the benefit of the word by the results in the memory, so much as by the impressions upon the heart. The word may have darted through the mind, as a flash of lightning, that strikes and is gone; and yet the heart may have been melted, and the passing flash may have shed a heavenly ray upon a dubious path. If the heart retains the quickening power — “The precepts are not forgotten” even though the memory should have failed to preserve them.
But whatever word of conviction, direction, or encouragement, may have come to us, affix this seal to it — ’ / will never forget thy precepts.’’ It may be of signal use in some hour of temptation. The same Spirit that breathed before upon it, may breathe again; if not with the same present sensible power, yet with a seasonable and refreshing recollection of past support.
M 5
94. / am thine; save me; for I have sought thy precepts.
WHAT a high and honourable character is stamped upon the meanest believer! He is the Saviour’s unalienable property,1 his portion,2 the “workmanship“3 of his hand, the purchase of his blood,4 the triumph of his conquering love.5 He is given to him by his Father6 — “preserved in him, and called.” 7 The evidence of his character is found in “seeking the Lord’s precepts.” “Whom we serve” will prove “whose we are.” 8 “His servants ye are, to whom ye obey.” s “Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.” 10 “The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh “cannot seek the Lord” s precepts.11 A new and spiritual bias, therefore, is the visible stamp and seal of the Lord’s interest in us.
True it is, that our Divine Saviour can never be robbed of his property — that his people are saved in him, beyond the reach of earth and hell to touch them. Yet are they dependent still — always sinners — every day’s provocation making them more sinners than before; needing, therefore, from day to day, fresh power, fresh keeping, and above all, fresh cleansing and acceptance. But what a powerful plea for mercy may we draw from the Lord’s interest in us! Will not a man be careful of his children, his treasure, his jewels? Such am I.12 Thy sovereign love hath bought me —
I 1 Cor. iii. 23. 2 Deut. xxxii. 9. 3 Eph. ii. 10. * Psalm lxxiv. 2. Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.
3 Isaiah liii. 10 — 12. Luke xi. 21, 22.
“• John vi. 37; x. 29; xvii. 6, 11. 7 Jude 1.
8 Acts xxvii. 23. 9 Rom. vi. 16. 10 Psalm iv. 3.
II Rom. viii. 7, 8. 12 Heb. ii. 13. Exodus xix. 5. Mai. iii. 17.
made me thine ’ — / am thine; save me. Thou hast saved me; “thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling?” 2 Save me from the love of sin, from the daily guilt and power of sin; from the treachery of my own foolish heart; from all this, and all besides, which thou seest ensnaring to my soul. If I am not thine, whence this desire, this endeavour to “seek thy precepts?” What mean my privileged moments of communion with thee? What mean the yet unsatisfied desires after a conformity to thine image? Lord, I would humbly plead thine own act, thy free and sovereign act, that made me thine. Save me, because thou hast brought thy salvation near to me, and sealed me thine. I need mercy to begin with me; mercy to accompany me; mercy to abide with me for ever. “/ am thine; save me.”
And what irresistible energy does it give to our pleading, that this was the sole purpose, that brought down the Son of God from heaven! “I came down” — said he — “from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father a will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing” 3 Of this purpose he was enabled to testify at the conclusion of his work — “Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.” 4
But some cry for salvation, who neglect duty, and thus make void their plea. Can we make our interest good, by seeking his precepts? Is it the way in which we love to walk? Then let us not desist from our plea before God, until our heart listens to the voice of love, center ing every blessing of creation, redemption, and heavenly calling, in the privilege of adoption —” Thus saith the
1 Isaiah xliii. 3, 4. 2 Psalm lvi. 13.
8 John vi. 38, 39.” jbp xvii- 12. xviij. y.
Lord, that created Thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee: I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. Thou art my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions; and as a cloud, thy sins.” 1 I have regarded this thy plea. I have heard this thy prayer — “/ am thine; save me” 2
95. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me; but I will consider thy testimonies.
AM I, as a believer, safe as the Lord’s property, and in the Lord’s keeping? Yet must I expect that the wicked, the ungodly, as the instruments of Satan, will not cease to distress me. The Psalmist had before alluded to this trial, as driving him to his refuge.3 And, indeed, this is the constant character of the believer’s walk — enduring the enmity of the ungodly, and seeking his refuge in the word of God — in that hiding-place of safety to which the word directs him. How striking is the proof of the irreconcilable variance between God and the world — the world encouraging all that is contrary to God, and persecuting his image in his people! Yet the word opens to us a sure defence. If our “soul is among lions,” 4 cannot we testify to the astonishment of the world — “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me?” 5 We hear indeed the roaring of
1 Isaiahxliii. 1; xliv. 21,22.
2 The same plea is urged in prayer, Psalm cxliii. 12; lxxxvi. 2. Margin. Compare also verse 125.
3 Verses 78, 87. Comp. ver. 114, 115. 4 Psalm lvii. 4.
5 Daniel vi. 22.
the winds and waves; but we hear also the voice hushing the storm to rest — “Peace, be still.” l
The experience of this trial and support beautifully illustrates the promise — “He that believeth shall not make haste.”2 He whose hope is firmly fixed on that “tried corner-stone,” which God himself hath “laid in Zion as a sure foundation” — “shall not be greatly moved;” nay, he “shall not be moved” 3 at all, by “the wicked waiting for him to destroy him.” In the hour of difficulty, instead of perplexing himself with successive expedients for his safety (sought more from human contrivance, than from asking counsel at the mouth of God), he “possesses his soul in patience,” and calmly commits all events to the Lord. Such a man “shall not be afraid of evil tidings! his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”4 ‘This trust is grounded on the word of God, revealing his power and all-sufficiency, and withall his goodness, his offer of himself to be the stay of the soul, commanding us to rest upon him. People wait on I know not what persuasions and assurances: but I know no other to build faith on, but the word of promise. The truth and faithfulness of God opened up his wisdom and power and goodness, as the stay of all those that, renouncing all other props, will venture on it, and lay all upon him. “He that believes, sets to his seal that God is true:” and so he is sealed for God; his portion and interest secured. “If you will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” ’ 5
But it is the “considering of the Lord’s testimonies,” that draws out their staying support. The soul must
1 Mark iv. 39. * Isaiah xxviii. 16.
3 Psalm lxii. 2, 6. His confidence increased in the recollection of his support —” I shall not be greatly moved — I shall not be moved.’’’’
4 Psalm cxii. 7. 5 Leighton’s Works, iii. 256, 257.
be fixed upon them, as “tried words, purified seven times in the fire.” 1 And in this frame, “/ will” under all distresses, all circumstances of trial, or even of dismay, “consider thy testimonies” “I will consider” the faithfulness of those blessed declarations — “There shall not an hair of your head perish. Touch not mine anointed.” 2 “He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye.” 3 “With this armour of defence, I shall not be afraid, even should I hear the “evil tidings,” that “the wicked have waited for me to destroy me.” Or even should I be destroyed, I know that thy testimonies cannot fail — that my rock is perfect — “that there is no unrighteousness in him;” 4 and therefore, “though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.” 5 Whether, then, I am delivered from the wicked, and “live — I live unto the Lord;” or whether I fall into their snare, and “die — I die unto the Lord;” 6 for “/ will consider thy testimonies,” assured that all thy purposes shall be accom plished concerning me, as thou hast said — “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” 7 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” 8
96. / have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
A DEEPER insight in the Lord’s “testimonies” is the sure result of “considering” them. Weigh them in the balances against this world’s excellency; the
1 Psalm xii. 7, P. B. Trans. 2 Luke xxi. 18. Psalm cv. 15. 3 Zech. ii. 8. * Psalm xcii. 15. 5 Ib. xxvii. 3.
6 Rom. xiv. 8. 7 Heb. xiii. 5. 8 Isaiah xxvi. 3.
world and the word — each with all its fulness. Of the one perfection we see an end — of the other — none. This world is a matter of experience and observation. We have seen it — an end — not of some — but of all its perfection. It wants sufficiency. It stands us in no stead in the great emergencies of affliction — death — judgment — eternity. It wants solidity in its best substance. “In its wisdom is grief!” l All its delicacies and indulgences — after having, like the King of Jerusalem, “not withheld the heart from any joy” — all ends in the verdict of disappointement — “Behold! all was vanity and vexation of spirit!” 2 Its continuance is but for a moment. The soul is born for eternity. Therefore it must have a portion to last as long as itself. But the world, with its lusts and fashion, passeth away.3 All that it can offer is a bubble — a shadow. In its best riches, honours, and pleasures — in the utmost that its perfection can yield — in its height and prime of enjoyment — what it is in itself — what it is able to do for us? “All is vanity.” 4 And yet such is the alienation of the heart from God, that it is first tried to the very uttermost, before any desire to return homeward is felt or expressed. And even then, nothing but the Almighty power of God can bring the sinner back. He would rather perish in his misery, than “return to his rest.”
Now contrast with the emptiness of the world the fulness of “the commandment of God.” Our whole duty to our God, our neighbour, and ourselves, is here laid open before us — commanding without abatement, and forbidding without allowance — making no excuse for ignorance — frailty — or forgetfulness — reaching not only to every species of crime, but to every thing tend-
1 Eccl. i. 18. - Ib. ii. 10, 11.
3 Ib. i. 2. * 1 John ii. 17. 1 Cor. vii. 31.
ing to it. This is “perfection” of which we never “see an end” Every fresh view opens — not the extent — but the immensity of the field; and compels us at length to shut up our inquiries with the adoring acknowledgment — Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Its various parts form one seamless piece; so that no particle can be separated without injury to the whole. As all the curtains of the tabernacle, connected by taches and loops, made but one covering for the ark, and the loosening or disjunction of the smallest point disannulled the fitness of the whole; so it belongs to the perfection of the commandment, that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” l The spirituality of its requirements equally illustrates its Divine “perfection.” An angry look is murder; - an unchaste desire is adultery; 3 the “stumbling-block of iniquity”4 — “covetousness” 5 in the heart is idolatry; the thought 6 as well as the act — the first conception of sin, as well as the after commission — brings in the verdict — Guilty — Death.
Can we then endure the sight of its “exceeding breadth?” Yes — for the commandment of the gospel 7 is equally broad, and covers all.8 We know who hath stood in our place — who hath satisfied Sinai’s unalterable requirements, and borne its awful curse.9 Broad as it may be, the love which hath fulfilled it is immeasurable. As a covenant, therefore, it has now lost its terrors. As a rule, we love it for its extent, and for its purity; for the comprehensiveness of its obligations, and for the narrowness of its liberty for indulgence;
1 James ii. 10, 11. 2 Matt. v. 21, 22. Comp. 1 John iii. 15.
5 Matt. v. 27. 4 Ezek. xiv. 7. 5 Ephes. v. 5.
6 Prov. xxiv. 9. Compare xxiii. 7.
7 John vi. 28, 29. 1 John iii. 23. 8 Rom. iii. 22.
9 Gal. iv. 4, 5; iii. 13.
nor would we wish to be subject to a less severe scrutiny, or a more lenient administration.
Reader! if you have learnt “the exceeding breadth” and spirituality of the law (the first lesson that is taught and learnt in the school of Christ,) your views of your self and your state before God will be totally changed. Before, you were “thanking God” in your heart, “that you were not as other men are.” Now you will be “smiting upon your breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner!”1 Before, perhaps, you might have thought yourself, “touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless.” Now you will glory in your new and more enlightened choice — “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” 2 Once you considered yourself “alive,” when you were really dead. Now that “the commandment is come” in its heart-searching spirituality and conviction to your soul, you “die” 3 that you may live. Blessed change from the law to the gospel — “from death to life!” “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” 4
Such is the effect of the transition from a legal to an evangelical ground. Before, we were reckless of sin, and therefore reckless of the gospel. As the one fell lightly upon our conscience, the other held a light estimation in our judgment. While we had no disturbance from the law, we had no delight in the gospel. But now that we see through the true mirror, we are at once alarmed and enlightened.- Praised be God! — we now take the true estimate — we degrade to the uttermost righteousness by works — we exalt to the uttermost righteousness by faith. In the one we see pollution — in the other perfection.
1 Luke xviii. 9 — 13. 2 Phil. iii. 6, 7.
3 Romans vii. 9. 4 Gal. ii. 19.