Verses 113–120

113. hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.

THE fall of man has misplaced his affections. Love was originally made for God and his law — hatred for sin. Now man loves what he ought to hate,1 and hates what he ought to love.2 The work of Divine grace is to restore the disordered affections to their proper centre, and to hestow them on their right object — hating vain thoughts, and loving the law of God. Few think of the responsibility of their thoughts; as if they were too trifling to be connected with any solemn account. The enlightened soul however learns to make a conscience of his thoughts. Here is the seminal principle of sin.8 How must a radical remedy be applied.

Vain thoughts are the natural produce of the unrenewed heart, and of the yet unrenewed part of the believer’s heart. Who that “knows the plague of his own heart,” and the spirituality of the Christian walk with God, does not constantly complain of their baneful influence! The child of God longs that his “every thought may be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 4 But he “sees another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind; “so that when he would” do good, evil is present with him.” 5 When he would” attend upon the Lord without dis-

1 John iii. 19. Rom. i. 32; vi. 12.

- Job xxi. 14. Psalm xiv. 1. Rom. viii. 7.

3 Gen. vi. 5. Prov. xxiii. 7; xxiv. 9.

4 2 Cor. x. 5. 3 Rom. vii. 21, 23.

traction; “many times, even in a single exercise, does he forget his sacred employment. Sin seems to enter into every pore of his soul; and a cloud of vain thoughts darkens every avenue to communion with God. He would gladly say, “My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed;” 2 but he finds his affections wandering, as “the eyes of the fool, in the ends of the earth,” 3 as if there were no object of Divine attraction to his soul. We do not hear the worldling, or indeed the servant of God in his worldly employments, complaining of this burden. He can bring to deep, important, and anxious concerns of this world, all that intensity and fixedness of attention which the emergency may demand. Indeed the wily adversary would rather assist than hinder this concentration of mind, as diverting the soul from the far more momentous and interesting subjects of eternity. But never do the “sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord,” except “Satan comes also among them.” 4

“Vain thoughts” are his ceaseless hinderances to our spiritual communion with God. Are we aware of the subtilty, and therefore the peculiar danger, of this temptation? We should instinctively start from an enticement to open transgression. The incursion of defiling or blasphemous thoughts would be such a burden, that we should “have no rest in our spirit,” while they remain undisturbed within us. But perhaps neither of these temptations are so formidable as the crowd of thoughts of every kind, incessantly running to and fro in the mind; the indulgence of which, though not actually sinful in itself, yet as effectually restrains the soul from intercourse with God, as the most hateful injections. These are” the little foxes, that spoil the

1 1 Cor. vii. 35. 2 Psalm lvii. 7.

3 Prov. xvii. 24. 4 Job i. 6.

tender grapes.” l Nay — the “thoughts” may be even spiritual in their nature, and yet “vain” in their tendency; because unsuitable to the present frame, and calculated, and indeed intended by the great enemy, to divert the mind from some positive duty. Who has not felt a serious thought upon an unseasonable subject, and at an unseasonable time, to be in its consequences a “vain thought” — the secret impulse of the false “angel of light,” 2 dividing the attention between two things, so that neither of them may be wholly done, done to any purpose, done at all? 3 If at any time “iniquity has been regarded in the heart;” if the world in any of its thousand forms has regained a temporary ascendancy: or if lusting imaginations are not constantly “held in” as “with bit and bridle;” these “vain thoughts,” ever ready to force their entrance, will at such seasons, “get an advantage of us.” Restless in their workings, they keep no Sabbaths: and can only be successfully met by a watchful and unceasing warfare.

1 Cant. ii. 15. 2 2 Cor. xi. 14.

3 Greenham (one of the most valuable of the Puritan writers upon experimental subjects) used to bring his distractions of mind to this test — If they brought any past sin to mind for his humiliation, or any comfort to excite his thankfulness, or any instruction suitable to the present moment — he took them to be of God. But if they drew off his mind from present duty to rove after other objects, he suspected their source, and girded himself to prayer for increasing steadiness of application to the matter in hand. See his works, folio, p. 23. Being asked to account for distractions in holy meditations, he said — It was either want of preparation and sanctifying the heart by prayer before we set upon so holy an exercise, and therefore a rebuke from the Lord for our ’ presumption in being bold to work upon holy matters in our own strength’ — or else a dependence upon a general purpose of thinking good, or restraining evil, without fastening our minds upon some particular object, but rather “ranging up and down,” leaving some part of our mind and meditation void for other matters, without wholly and seriously setting on a thing propounded. When any complained to him of blasphemous thoughts, he would say — ‘Do not fear them, but abhor them.’

It may indeed be sometimes difficult, in the midst of this continued trial, to maintain a clear sense of adoption. But this is the distinctive mark of Christian sincerity. Do we cordially “hate” them, as exceeding sinful in the sight of God,1 hurtful to our own souls,2 and contrary to our new nature?3 If we cannot altogether prevent their entrance, or eject them from their settlement, are we careful not to invite them, not to entertain them, not to suffer them to “lodge within”4 us? This active hatred is a satisfactory proof that they are not so much the natural suggestion of the heart, as the injections of the enemy of our peace. They are at least so directly opposed to our better will and dominant bias, that we may say, “If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin, that dwelleth in me.”5 Our affliction and conflict with them prove that they dwell with us — not as welcome guests, or as the family of the house — but as “thieves and robbers.” Their indulgence constitutes our sin. Their indwelling may be considered only as our temptation. They supply indeed continual matter for watchfulness, humiliation, and resistance; yet so far as they are abhorred and resisted, they are rather our infirmities than our iniquities, and leave no stain of actual guilt upon the conscience. An increasing sense of the sinfulness of sin, and of the extent of duty, will indeed show their deeper aggravations and more persevering opposition. Still, however, even while we groan under their defiling, distracting influence in our best services, we may assure our confidence in him, who “spareth us, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,”6 and who will ever gather

1 Prov. xxiv. 9. 2 Cant. ii. 15, and Scott, in loco.

8 Romans vii. 22. 4 Compare Jer. iv. 14.

6 Romans vii. 20. 6 Malachi iii. 17.

up the broken parts of our prayers with merciful acceptance.

But the subjugation of this evil — even though we be secured from its condemnation — is a matter of the deepest concern. Forget not — oh, may the impression be indelible! — that it was for these vain thoughts that the Saviour was nailed to the cross. Here lies the ground of self-loathing — the quickening principle of conflict and exertion. Let the heart — the seat of this evil disease — be daily washed in the cleansing blood of Calvary; for until the corrupt fountain be cleansed, it must ever “send forth bitter waters.“1 Let it be diligently “kept,“2 and carefully filled, so that it may be a” good treasure bringing forth good things.” 3 Let there be the continued exercise of that “watch fulness” “which is unto prayer,“4 combined with an unflinching adherence to plain and obvious duty. Let the temptation to desist awhile from sendees so polluted, that they appear rather to mock God than to worship him, be met on the onset with the most determined opposition. Once admit this suggestion, and our active enemy will pour in successive incursions of vain thoughts into our perplexed and yielding minds, to turn us back step by step in our attempts to approach to God. If, therefore, we cannot advance as we could wish, let us advance as we can. If a connected train of thought or expression fails us, let us only change — not surrender — our posture of resistance; substituting sighs, desires, tears, and groaning for words, and casting ourselves upon our God in the simple confidence of faith,” Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee. Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my

1 Compare 2 Kings ii. 19 — 22. Jer. iv. 14.

2 Proverbs iv. 23. 3 Matthew xii. 35.

4 Ib. xxvi. 41.

tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” l It is far better to wander in duty than from it. For if any duty be neglected on account of the defilement that is mingled with it, for the same reason we must neglect every other duty: and, as the final consequence, the worship of God would be abolished from the earth.

Much of our successful warfare, however, depends upon an accurate and well-digested acquaintance with our own hearts — upon a discovery of the bias of the mind in our unoccupied moments, and of the peculiar seasons and circumstances that give most power to temptation. This once known, set a double watch against those doors, by which the enemy has been accustomed to find his most convenient and unobstructed entrance.

But we must not forget the effective means suggested by David’s experience — the love of God’s law. Here rises the native enmity against God — not as the Creator, but the Law-giver — and therefore against his law as the dictate of his will.2 Here then is the power of grace subduing this enmity. Not only I fear, and therefore through fear I keep, but / love, thy law. And ‘He that loves a holy law,’ remarks an excellent old writer, ’ can not but hate a vain thought.’3 For if the law be the transcript of the image of God, the thoughts affectionately drawn out towards him must naturally fix the image of the beloved friend upon the mind, and by a sweet constraint fasten down the thoughts to Divine contemplation. Are we then ever winged with an elevating love to the Saviour? And do not we find our hearts start out from their worldly employments with frequent glances and flights towards the object of our desire? And will not this communion of love

1 Psalm xxxviii. 9; lvi. 8. 2 Romans viii. 7.

3 Steele’e Antidote against Distractions.

gradually mould the soul into a fixed delight, exciting our hatred, and strengthening our resistance of every sinful affection? Thus, as love to the law stirs up the powers of the renewed man, “spiritual wickedness” will be abhorred, conflicted with, and overcome.

Yet these defilements will remain to die with the last breathings of the old man; which though crucified in deed, and expiring, will struggle with fearful strength and unabated enmity to the end. And let them remain as humbling mementos of our unclean nature, “shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin;”1 and as enlivening our anticipations of that blessed place, where “shall in no wise enter anything that defileth;”2 where “vain thoughts” and whatever beside might “separate between us and our God,” will be unknown for ever. Meanwhile let them endear to us the free justification of the Gospel; let them lead us daily and hourly to “the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness;” 3 and enhance in our view that heavenly intercession, which provides for the perfect cleansing and acceptance of services even such as ours.

Blessed contemplation! Jesus prays not for us as we do for ourselves. His intercession is without distraction — without interruption. If we are then so dead, that we cannot, and so guilty that we dare not, pray, and so wandering in our “vain thoughts” that our prayers appear to be scattered to the winds, rather than to ascend to heaven — if on these accounts combined, we “are so troubled that we cannot speak;”4 yet always is there one to speak for us, of whom “a voice from heaven” testified for our encouragement, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”6 With such hopes, motives, and encouragements, let us

1 Psalm li. 5. s Rev. xxi. 27. 8 Zech. xiii. 1.

4 Psa. kxvii, 4. 6 Matt. iii. 17.

“continue instant in prayer,”1 until we pray, and that we may pray. Let us supplicate our Lord with restless importunity, that his omnipotent love would take hold of these hearts, which every moment sin and Satan seem ready to seize. At the same time, conscious of our hatred of every interruption to his service, and of the simplicity of our affection to his holy law, let us hold fast that confidence before him, which will issue in perfect peace and established consolation.

114. Thou art my hiding-place, and my shield; I hope in thy word.

WE have seen the unremitting vigilance of the enemy pursuing the man of God in his secret retirement with painful distraction. See how he runs to his hiding-place. Here is our main principle of safety — not our strivings, or our watchfulness, but our faith. Flee instantly to Jesus.2 He is the sinner’s hiding-place, “the man,” that wondrous man, “in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” 3 Yes, Jesus exposed himself to the fury of “the tempest,” that he might provide “a hiding-place” for us. The broken law pursued with its relentless curse — ‘The sinner ought to die ’ — But “thou art my hiding-place” who hast “redeemed me from the curse of the law, being made a curse for me.” 4 “The fiery darts” pour in on every side; but the recollection of past security awakens my song of acknowledgment, “Thou hast been a strength to the poor, totheneedy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”5 Our hiding-place covers us from the power

1 Rom. xii. 12. 2 Psalm cxliii. 9. Prov. xviii. 10.

3 Isaiah xxxii. 2. Col. ii. 9. 4 Gal. iii. 10, 13. * Isaiah xxv. 4.

of the world. “In me,” saith our Saviour, “ye shall have peace. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” l Helpless to resist the great enemy, our Lord brings us to his wounded side, and hides us there. We “overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.” 2 To all accusations from every quarter, our challenge is ready, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” 3 From the fear of death, our hiding-place still covers us. “Jesus through death hath destroyed him that had the power of death.” 4 Against the sting of this last enemy, a song of thanksgiving is put into our mouth, “O death! where is thy sting? O grave; where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 5 Thus is “the smoking flax,” which the malice of Satan strives to extinguish, not “quenched;” nor is “the bruised reed,” which seems beyond the hope of restoration, “broken.”

But the completeness of our security is graphically portrayed — Thou art my hiding place, to cover from danger — my shield? also to protect me in it. Either I shall be kept/rowi trouble, that it shall not come; or in trouble, that it shall not hurt me. The hiding-place alone would be imperfect security, as being limited to one place. But my shield is moveable, wherever be the point of danger or assault. lean “quench the dart” that is aimed at my soul.

But a hiding-place implies also secrecy. 7 And truly the believer’s is a “hidden life,” 8 beyond the comprehension of the world. He mixes with them in the common intercourse of life. But while seen of man,

1 Johnxvi. 33. 2 Rev. xii. 11. 3 Rom. viii. 33, 34.

* Heb. ii. 14, 15. 5 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57.

6 Gen. xv. 1. Psalm iii. 3; v. 12. Comp. Eph. vi. 17.

7 Psalm xxxi. 20. 8 Col. iii. 3.

he is dwelling “in the secret of the Lord’s tabernacle,” J safe in the midst of surrounding danger, guarded by invincible strength.2 Often, indeed, must the world be surprised at his constancy, amidst all their varied efforts to shake his stedfastness. They know not “the secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear him.” 3 And never could he have had a just conception of the all-sufficiency of his God, until he finds it above him, around him, underneath him, in all the fulness of everlasting love — his hiding-place, and his shield. Thus in the heart of the enemy’s country “he dwelleth on high, and his place of defence is the munitions of rocks.” 4

But are we acquainted with this hiding-place? How have we discovered it? Are we found in it, and careful to abide in it? Within its walls “that wicked one toucheth us not.” 5 Yet never shall we venture outside the walls unprotected, but his assault will give us some painful remembrance of our unwatchfulness. And then do we prize our shield, and run behind it for constant security. Remember, every other hiding-place “the waters will overflow.” 6 Every other shield is a powerless defence. Surely then the word, which has discovered this security to us, is a firm warrant for our “hope.” And therefore every sinner, enclosed in the covert of love, will be ready to declare, “/ hope in thy word.”

1 Psalm xx vii. 5. 2 Isaiah xxvi. 1.

3 Psalm xxv. 14. 4 Isaiah xxxiii. 16.

5 1 John v. 18. Isaiah xxviii. 16, 17.

115. Depart from me, ye evil-doers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

SAFE and quiet in his “hiding-place, and behind his shield,” David deprecates all attempts to disturb his peace, “Depart from me, ye evil doers.” He had found them to be opposed to his best interests; and he dreaded their influence in shaking his resolution for his God. Indeed such society must always hinder alike the enjoyment and the service of God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” l And can we be “agreed,” and walk in fellowship with God, except we be at variance with the principles, the standard, and conduct of a world that is “enmity against him?” 2 Not more needful was the exhortation to the first Christians than to ourselves, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” 3 True fellow ship with God implies therefore a resolute separation from the ungodly. Secure in the “hiding-place,” and covered with the “shield” of our covenant God, let us meet their malice, and resist their enticements, with the undaunted front of “a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 4

Not that we would indulge morose or ascetic seclusion. We are expressly enjoined to courtesy and kindness; 3 to that wise and considerate “walk towards them that are without,” 6 which “adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour,” 7 and indeed in some instances has been more powerful even than the word itself,8 to “win souls to Christ.” But when they would tempt us to a

1 Amos iii. 3. 2 Comp. Matt. vi. 24. James iv. 4.

3 Acts ii. 40. * 2 Timothy ii. 3.

5 1 Peter iii. 8. 6 Col. iv. 5.

7 Titus ii. 10. 8 Compare 1 Peter iii. 1.

devious or backsliding step — when our connection with them entices us to a single act of conformity to their standard, dishonourable to God, and inconsistent with our profession — then must we take a bold and unflinching stand, “Depart from me, ye evil doers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.”

This resolution gives no countenance to the self-delusive notion of maintaining an intimate connection with professed “evil doers” for the kind purpose of recommending our religion to their acceptance — a scheme, which requires a rare degree of caution and simplicity to attempt without entangling the conscience; and which, for the most part at least, it is to be feared, is only a specious covering for the indulgence of a worldly spirit. If the men of the world are to be met, and their society invited, for the accomplishment of this benevolent intention, let it be upon the principle of the Lord’s command to his prophet, “Let them return unto thee; but return not thou to them”1 The amiable desire to “please our neighbour” is limited to the single end, that it should be “for his good to edification”* And whenever this end and restriction has been overlooked, it is sufficiently evident that self-gratification has been the moving principle; and that the distinctive mark of the Christian character — bearing the cross, and confessing the name of our Divine Master — has been obscured.

Sometimes, however, in the struggle of conscience, an apprehension of danger is not altogether forgotten; and the question is asked, with some trembling of spirit, “How far may I conform to the world, without endangering the loss of my religion?” But, not to speak of the insincerity and self-deception of such a question, it would be better answered by substituting another in its

1 Jer. xv. 19. 2 Compare Romans xv. 2.

place. “How far may I be separate from the world, and yet be destitute of the vital principle?” Scrutinize, in every advancing step toward the world, the workings of your own heart. Suspect its reasonings. Listen to the first awakened conviction of conscience. Though it be only a whisper, or a hint, it is probably the indication of the Divine will. And never forget, that this experiment of worldly conformity, often as it has been tried, has never answered the desired end. How ever this compromise may have recommended ourselves, no progress has been made in recommending our Master; since his name — whether from unwatchfulness or cowardice on our part, or from the overpowering flow of the world on the other side — has probably in such society scarcely passed over our lips with any refreshment or attentiveuess. Indeed, so far from commending our religion by this accommodation, we have succeeded in ingratiating ourselves in their favour, only so far as we have been content to keep it out of sight; while at the same time, our yielding conformity to their taste, and habits, and conversation, has virtually sanctioned their erroneous standard of conduct; and tended to deceive them with the self-complacent conviction, that it approaches as near to the Scriptural elevation, as is absolutely required. The final result, therefore, of this attempt to conciliate the gospel to those who “have no heart to it,” is — that now our own consciences have been ensnared, while they retain all their principles unaltered. It must surely be obvious, that such a course is plainly opposed to the revealed declarations of Scripture, and bears the decisive character of unfaithfulness to our Great Master. We might also ask, whether our love to the Lord can be in fervent exercise, while we” love them that hate him?’M — whether our hatred of sin can

1 2 Chron. six. 2.

be active and powerful, while we can find pleasure in the society of those, whose life, “without God in the world,“1 is an habitual wilful course of rebellion against him?”2 — whether we can have any deep and experimental sense of our own weakness, when thus venturing into temptation 1 — whether by unnecessary contact with the world, we can expect to “go upon hot coals,” and our “feet not be burned?”3 — or, in fact, whether AVC are not forgetting the dictates of common prudence in forsaking the path of safety for a slippery, but more congenial, path 1 Is no harm to be anticipated from a wilful, self-pleasing association? Is it likely to be less dangerous to us than it was to an Apostle? 4 or because we conceive ourselves to have more strength, shall we use less watchfulness, and show more presumption?

But, supposing Scripture not to determine the path of duty with infallible certainty; let this line of conduct be subjected to the impartial scrutiny of our own hearts, and of the effects, whether neutral or positively detrimental, which have resulted from it to ourselves, or to the church. Have we not felt this fellowship with “evil doers” to be an hindrance in “keeping the com mandments of our God?” If it has not always ended in open conformity to their maxims; or if, contrary to our apprehensions, it does not appear to sanction their principles, yet have we realized no deadening unfavourable influence? Has the spirit of prayer sustained no injury in this atmosphere? Have we never felt the danger of imbibing their taste, the spirit of their conversation and general conduct; which, without fixing any blot upon our external profession, must insensibly estrange our best affections from God? And have we

1 Eph. ii. 12.

2 Who are the wicked, but those that forget God? Psa. ix. 17; x. 4.

3 Prov. vi. 28. 4 Matt. xxvi. 58, 69 — 75.

never considered the injury of this worldly association to the gospel in weakening by an apparent want of decision “on the Lord’s side,“1 the sacred cause which we are pledged to support; and obscuring the Scriptural character of the people of God as a distinct and separate people? 2 In a providential connection with evil doers, we go safely in the spirit of humility, watchfulness, and prayer; and this connection, felt to be a cross, is not likely to prove a snare.3 But does not union of spirit with them, to whom David says, with holy determination,” depart from me,” — and to whom David’s Lord will one day say, “depart“4 — prove a want of fellow ship with his spirit, and an essential unfitness for communion with the society of heaven? The children of this world can have no more real communion with the children of light, than darkness has with light.5 As great is the difference between the Christian and the world, as between heaven and hell — as between the sounds,” Come, ye blessed,” and, “Depart, ye cursed.“6 The difference, which at that solemn day will be made for eternity, must therefore be visibly made now. They must depart from us, or we from God. “We cannot walk with them both. ‘Defilement,’ as Mr. Cecil remarks, ‘is inseparable from the world.’7 We cannot hold communion with God, in the spirit of the world; and, therefore, separation from the world, or separation from God, is the alternative. Which way — which company — is most congenial to our taste? Fellowship will be a component part of our heavenly happiness.8 Shall we not then walk on earth

1 Compare Exodus xxxii. 26. Judges v. 23. Matthew xii. 30.

2 Comp. Numb, xxiii. 9. John xvii. 16. 3 Psa. cxx. 5, 6.

4 Matthew xxv. 41. 6 2 Corinthians vi. 14.

6 Matthew xxv. 34, 41. 7 Cecil’s Remains.

8 Hebrews xii. 22 — 24.

with those with whom we hope to spend our eternity, that our removal hence may be a change of place only, not of company? May we have grace to listen to our Father’s voice of love, “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord; and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty!” l

116. Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

LEST the Psalmist should seem to have been self-confident in his rejection of the society of the ungodly, and determination to adhere to his God; here, as on former occasions, 2 mindful of his own weakness, he commits himself to the upholding grace of God. He does not content himself with commanding the evil doer to depart. He pleads for his God to come to him. He wants not only the hindrances to be removed, but the vouchsafement of present supporting grace. Such is our urgent continual view! Every circumstance has its temptation. Every change of condition is specially trying — and what is he in himself? unstable as water! Indeed the highest Archangel before the throne stands only as he is upheld by the Lord, and may unite with the weakest child in the Lord’s family in the acknowledgment, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

1 2 Corinthians vi. 17, 18.

2 Verses 8, 31. The same frame is marked — Psalm xvii. 4, 5.

3 1 Cor. xv. 10. Compare 2 Peter ii. 4.

‘Man’s wisdom is to seek

His strength in God alone;
And e’en an angel would be weak,

Who trusted in his own.’ — Cou’per.
P

Much more, therefore, must I, pressed on every side with daily conflict and temptation, and conscious of my own weakness and liability to fall, “come to the throne of grace” for “grace to help in time of need.” l My plea is the word of promise, “according to thy word” — “as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” 2 “Fear thou not,” is the language of my upholding God — “For I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 3 Blessed be the goodness that made the promise, and that guides the hand of my faith, as it were, to fasten upon it!

But why do I need the promise? why do I plead it? but “that I may live” — that I may know that life which is found and enjoyed “in the favour” of God? 4 Nothing seems worth a serious thought beside; nothing else deserves the name. And therefore new life — “life more abundantly” 5 — let it be the burden of every prayer — the cry of every moment. Thus upheld by the Lord’s grace, and living in his presence, I hope to feel the increasing support of my Christian hope. Though I have just before expressed it in God’s word, — though I have “made my boast in the Lord,” as “my hiding-place and my shield,” 6 yet conscious helplessness leads me earnestly to pray, “Let me not be ashamed of my hope.”

Yes — Jesus is the sinner’s hope — “the hope set before” his people, to which they “flee for the refuge” of their souls. And well may our “hope” in him be called “an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast.” 7 How does the distressed church plead with The hope of

1 Heb. iv. 16. 2 Deut. xxxiii. 25. 3 Isaiah xli. 10.

4 Psalm xxx. 5. 5 John x. 10.

* Verse 114. 7 Heb. vi, 18, 19.

Israel, and put her God in rememberance of this his own name,1 that she might not be ashamed of her hope! And how does she — with every member of her body — eventually learn by this pleading, to say in the confidence of faith, “/ know whom I have believed /” 2 And is there not a solid ground for this confidence? Is not the “stone that is laid in Zion for a foundation,” a “tried stone?” Has it not been tried by thousands and millions of sinners — nay, more, tried by God him self, and found to be “a sure foundation?” 3 Yet still, that I may “hold fast the beginning of my confidence,” and “the rejoicing of my hope, firm unto the end,” 4 I must persevere in prayer, “Uphold me according unto thy word.”

David, when left to his own weakness, was “ashamed of his hope” — “I said in my haste, I am cut oif from before thine eyes.” 5 At another time, when upheld in a season of accumulated trial, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” 6 Thus I see “wherein my great strength lieth,” and how impotent I am, when left to myself. What a mercy, that my salvation will never for a single moment be in my own keeping! what need have I to pray to be saved from myself! How delightful is the exercise of faith in going to the Strong for strength! The issue of my spiritual conflicts is certain. He who is the author will ever be the upholder, of the “hidden life” in his people. It is a part of his own life, and therefore can never perish. The tempter himself will flee, when he marks the poor, feeble, fainting soul, “upheld according to the word of his God,” and placed in safety beyond the reach of his malice.7 Not, however, that, as I once supposed, my

1 Jer. xiv. 8. 2 2 Tim. i. 12. 3 Isaiah xxviiii. 16.

4 Hebrews iii. 6, 14. 5 Psalm xxxi. 22.

6 1 Samuel xxx. 6. ‘See 1 Peter i. 5. P 2 weakness will ever be made strong; but that I shall daily grow more sensible of it, shall stay myself more simply upon infinite everlasting strength; and “most gladly shall I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” ]

117. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

SUCH is my sense of need and peril, that my only refuge lies in “continuing instant in prayer.” 2 I must send up one cry after another into my Father’s ear for the support of his upholding grace. For not only the consciouness of my weakness, but the danger of the slippery path before me, reminds me, that the safety of every moment depends upon my upholding faithful God. The ways of temptation are so many and imperceptible — the influence of it so appalling — the entrance into it so deceitful, so specious, so insensible — my own weakness and unwatchfulness so unspeakable — that I can do nothing but go on my way, praying at every step, “Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.” Often indeed can I remember, when “my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped: 3 that I have been enabled to record, “Thy mercy, 0 Lord, held me up.” 4

How beautiful is the picture given of the church of old, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” 5 This state of dependence was familiar to the Psalmist, and aptly delineates his affectionate, though conflicting, confidence. “My soul iblloweth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.” 6 The recollection of the care of his God, from

1 2 Cor. xii. 9. 2 Rom. xii. 12. 3 Psalm lxxiii. 2.

“Ib. xciv. 18. 5 Cant. viii. 5. 6 Psalm lxiii. 8.

his earliest life, supplied encouragement for his present faith, and matter for unceasing praise, “By thee have I been holden up from the womb; thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.” * We cannot wonder, then, that this confidence should sustain his soul in the contemplation of the remaining steps of his pilgrimage, and his pro spects for eternity. “Nevertheless,” saith he, “lam continually with thee: thou hast holden me by thy right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after wards receive me to glory.” 2 And indeed the more lively my spiritual apprehensions are, the more I shall realize the Lord by the operations of his grace as well as of his providence, “compassing my path and my lying down;” 3 “lest any hurt me, keeping me night and day.” 4

It is inquired — how the Lord “holds up” his people in this slippery path? “Of the fulness of Jesus they all receive, and grace for grace;” 5 so that “the life which they now live in the flesh, they live by the faith of the Son of God.” 6 And therefore if I am upheld, it is by the indwelling of the Spirit, who supplies from his infinite fountain of life all the strength and support I need throughout my dangerous way. By his Divine influence the dispensations of providence also become the appointed means of drawing and keeping me near to my God. If, therefore, prosperity is endangering my Soul, and strengthening my worldly bonds, may I not trust to the ever-watchful kindness of the Lord, to keep me low, and not to suffer me to be at ease in my forgetfulness? If the pleasures of sense, if the esteem of the world, or the good report of the church, are

1 Psalm lxxi. 6. 2 Ib. lxxiii. 23, 24.

3 Ib. cxxxix. 3. 4 Isaiah xxvii. 3.

5 John i. 16. e Gal. ii. 20.

bringing a bewitching snare upon my soul, my God will lead me into the pathway of the cross — in the ’ valley of humiliation.’

Here, then, is the secret of an unsteady walk — the neglect of leaning upon an Almighty arm! How fearfully is the danger of self-confidence unveiled! Stand ing by my own strength, very soon shall I be made to feel, that I cannot stand at all. No “mountain” seemed to “stand stronger” than Solomon’s: yet when he became the very “fool” that he describes — “trusting in his own heart” — how quickly was it moved! l

Peter thought in the foolishness of his heart, that he could have walked upon the water unsupported by the arm of his Lord: but a moment’s sense of weakness and danger brought him to his right mind: “and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying — Lord, save me” 2 Well would it have been for him, if his deliverance at that moment of peril had effectually rebuked his presumption. We should not then have heard from the same lips that language of most unwarranted self-confidence: — “Although all shall be offended, yet will not I: — If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.” 3 Poor deluded disciple! thou art on the brink of a grievous fall! 4 Yet was he “held up “from utterly sinking.” / have prayed for thee,” said the gracious Saviour, “that thy faith fail not.” 5 And thus “held up “by the same faithful intercession of my powerful friend (whose prayers are not weak as mine,” nor will he failr be discouraged “6 by my continual backslidings,) ‘/I” too — though in the atmosphere of danger, in the slippery path of temptation, “shall be safe” — safe from an ensnaring world — safe from a treacherous heart — safe in

1 Comp. Psalm xxx. 6, 7. i Kings xi. 1 — 10. Prov. xxviii. 26.

2 Matt. xiv. 28 — 30. 3 Mark xiv. 29, 31.” Prov. xvi. 18. 5 Lukexxii. 31, 32. 6 Isaiah xlii.4.

life — sate in death — safe in eternity. Thus does an interest in the covenant encourage — not presumption — but faith, in all its exercises of humility, watchfulness, diligence, and prayer; and in this appointed way does the Lord securely “keep the feet of his saints.”

Let me not, then, forget, either my continual liability to fall if left to myse; or the faithful engagements of my covenant God, to “keep me from falling.” While I recollect for my comfort, that I “stand by faith,” still is the exhortation most needful, “Be not high-minded, but fear.” l “By faith I stand,” as it concerns God; by fear, as regards myself. As light is composed of neither brilliant nor sombre rays, but of the combination of both in simultaneous action so is every Christian grace combined with its opposite, “that it may be per feet and entire, lacking nothing.” Hope, therefore, combined with fear, issues in that genuine, evangelical confidence, in which alone I can walk safely and closely with God. Let, then, the self-confident learn to distrust themselves, and the fearful be encouraged to trust their Saviour; and in each let the recollection of grace and help vouchsafed “in time of need,” lead to the stedfast resolution, “I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.” However self-denying they may be in their requirements: however opposed in their tendency to “the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” I take my God as the surety of my performance of them; and I desire to love them as the rule of my daily conduct, and as the very element of heavenly happiness to my soul.

1 Romans xi. 20.

1 1 8. Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. 119. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love thy testimonies.

THE Psalmist’s determination to keep the statutes of God was strengthened by marking his judgment on those that erred from them. And thus the Lord expects us to learn at their cost. The cheerful, grateful respect to his statutes marks also a difference of character indicative of a difference of state. “His saints are in his hand, or sitting down at his feet; 2 his enemies are trodden down under his feet “in full conquest,3 and disgraceful punishment.4 His own people he has exalted to be” heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” 5 Even now “he hath made them to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; “and shortly will they” be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of their God; 6 while the ungodly “are put away like dross” from the precious gold. “Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” 7 The same difference he makes even in chastening — upholding his own children under the scourging rod, lest they faint; but “breaking the wicked with a rod of iron, and dashing them in pieces.” 8

This separation has been from the beginning; in his conduct to the two first children of men; 9 and in his

1 Psalm lviii. 10. Isaiah xxvi. 9. Zeph. iii. 6, 7.

2 Deut. xxxiii. 3. 3 Psalm ex. 1. Comp. Joshua x. 24. 4 2 Kings ix. 33. Mic. vii. 10. Mai. iv. 3. 5 Rom. viii. 17. G Eph. ii. 6. Isaiah lxii. 3. Compare Matt. xiii. 43.

7 Jer. vi. 30. 8 Isaiah lvii. 16 — 18, with Psalm ii. 9.

9 Gen. iv. 4, 5. Heb. xi. 4.

selection of Enoch,1 Noah,2 and Abraham3 from the world of the ungodly, “as vessels of honour meet for the Master’s use.” 4 In after ages, he made Egypt “know, that he put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” 5 They were his own people, that should dwell alone, and not “be reckoned among the nations” 6 — a people, whom he had “formed for himself, that they should show forth his praise.” 7 And the same difference he has made ever since, between his people and the world — in their character 8 — their way 9 — their exercises of mind10 — their services11 — their privileges12 — and their prospects.13 At the day of judgment the separation will be complete — final — everlasting. “When the Son of in an shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” 14

But mark the character — They “err from God’s statutes” — not in their minds, through ignorance; but “in their hearts” 15 through obstinacy. They do not say, ‘Lord, we know not,’ but “we desire not the know ledge of thy ways.” 1<5 It is not frailty, but unbelief; not want of knowledge, but love of sin — wilful, damnable. Justly, therefore, are they stamped as the “wicked of the earth,” and marked out as objects of the Lord’s

1 Gen. v. 22 — 24. Heb. xi. 5. 2 Ib. vii. I.

3 Ib. xii. 1 — 3. * 2 Tim. ii. 21. Exod. xi. 7.

6 Numb, xxiii. 9. 7 Isa. xliii. 21. 8 1 John v. 19.

3 Prov. xv. 9. 10 Rom. viii. 5. n Prov. xv. 8.

12 Ib. iii. 32, 33. 13 Daniel xii. 2.

14 Matt. xxv. 31 — 33,46. Comp. iii. 12.; xiii. 30. Mai. iii. 16 — 18,

15 Psalm xcv. 10. Comp. ver. 21. ‘« Job xxi. 14.

P 5 eternal frown — expectants of “the vengeance of eternal fire.”

And is not this a solemn warning to those “that forget God” — that “they shall be turned into hell” l — to “the proud” — that in “the day that shall burn as an oven, they shall be as stubble” 2 — to the worldly — that in some “night” of forgetfulness, their “souls will be required of them”3 — to the “hypocrites in heart” — that they “are heaping up wrath?” 4 Thus does the eye of faith discern through the apparent disorder of a world in ruins, the just, holy, and wise, government of God. “Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” 5 If the wicked seem to triumph, and the righteous to be trodden down under their feet, it shall not be always so. “The end” 6 and “wages of sin is death.” 7 “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” *

How awful, then, and almost desperate their condition! “Their deceit is falsehood;” “deceiving and being deceived” 9 — perhaps giving up to believe their own lie — perhaps one or another “blessing themselves in their own heart,” saying, “‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my own heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.’” 10 What then is our duty? Carnal selfishness says, ‘Be quiet — let them alone ‘- that is, “Destroy them by our” indolence and unfaithfulness, “for whom Christ died.” n But what does Scripture, conscience, nay more — what does common humanity say? “Cry aloud, spare not.” 12 Awake

1 Psalm ix. 17. 2 Malachi iv. 1.

3 Luke xii. 19, 20. Dan. v. SO.” Job xxxvi. 13.

5 Psalm xcvii. 2. G Rom. vi. 21. 7 Ib. 23.

8 Psalm i. 5. 9 2 Tim. iii. 13. 10 Deut. xxix. 19.

11 Compare Romans xiv. 15. l- Isaiah lviii. ].

the sleepers — sound the alarm, “Now is the accepted time — the day of salvation,” l the moment to lift up the prayer and stretch forth the hand for plucking the brands out of the fire.2 “To-morrow the door may be shut, never to be opened more.” 3

How awful the judgment of being “put away like dross!” Look at Saul, 4 when “put away” — going out, to harden himself in the sullen pride of despondency. Hear the fearful doom of Israel, “Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore saith the Lord God — Because ye are all become dross, behold, there fore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnaces to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury; and I will leave you there, and melt you.” 6 But how should this justice of the Lord’s proceedings endear his statutes to us! It is such a sensible demonstration of their truth, bringing with it such a close conviction of sovereign mercy to ourselves — not less guilty than they! Add to this — If he were less observant of sin — less strict in its punishment as a transgression of his word — we should lose that awful display of the holiness of the word, which commends it supremely to our love, “Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.” 6

1 2 Corinthians vi. 2. - Zech. iii. 2. Jude 23.

3 Matthew xxv. 10. 4 1 Sam. xxviii. 5 — 25.

5 Ezek. xxii. 18 — 20. 6 Verse 140.

120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

THE justice of God is a tremendously awful subject of contemplation, even to those who are safely shielded from its terrors. The believer, in the act of witnessing its righteous stroke upon “the wicked of the earth,”” cannot forbear to cry out, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee.” ‘Thus did the holy men of old tremble even with a frame approaching horror in the presence of the Divine judgments — David trembled at the stroke of Uzzah — as if it came very near to himself,2 “Destruction from God” saith holy Job, “was a terror to me: and by reason of his highness I could not endure” 3 Such also was the Prophet’s strong sensation, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones.” 4 And thus, when God comes to “tread down and put away” his enemies for the display of the holiness of his character, and to excite the “love “of his people — those that stand by, secure under the covert of their hiding-place — cannot but” take up their parable and say — Alas! who shall live, when God doeth this! “6 The children of God reverence their Father’s anger. They cannot see it (such is his “terrible Majesty!” “) without an awful fear; and this trembling at his judgments upon the ungodly covers them from the heavy stroke. Those that refuse to tremble shall be made to feel, while those that are

1 ‘A thrilling horror curdles my skin, The thing cannot be poetically expressed without periphrasis. — Bislwp Horsley. 8 2 Sam. vi. 6 — 9. 3 Job xxxi. 23.

* Hab. iii. 16. Compare Jer. iv. 19. Dan. iv. 19. 5 Verse 114. 6 Numb. xxiv. 23. 7 Job xxxvii. 22.

“afraid of his judgments” shall be secure, “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked.” l “I trembled in myself,” said the prophet, “that I might rest in the day of trouble.” ‘• Even the manifestations of his coming “for the salvation of his people” are attended with all the marks of the most fearful terror — as if his voice would shake the earth to its very foundation, “Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven — the earth feared, and was still; when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.” 3

To mark this trembling as the character of the child of God, we need only contrast it with the ungodly scoffing, “Where is the God of judgment? Where is the promise of his coming? The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.” 4 Thus do men dare to “run upon the thick bosses of his buckler,“5 instead of “trembling for fear of him! “This” stoutness against the Lord,” 6 excites the astonishment of the hosts of heaven; so discordant is it to their notes of humble praise, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name; for thy judgments are made manifest! “7 Such is the special acceptance of this trembling spirit, that some shadow of it obtained a respite even for wicked Ahab,8 and a pardon for the penitent Ninevites; 9 while its genuine” tenderness of heart “screened Josiah from the doom of his people,10 and will ever be regarded with the tokens of the favour of this terrible God.” To this man,” saith he,” I will look, even to

1 Psalm xci. 8. 2 Hab. iii. 16’.

3 Psalm lxxvi. 7 — 9. See the effect of a manifestation of the glory of the Saviour to the Evangelist for the purpose of special consolation and support. Rev. i. 17, 18. Compare also Daniel x. 8 — 17.

4 Mai. ii. 17. 2 Peter iii. 4. Zeph. i. 12. 5 Job xv. 26.

6 Mai. iii. 13. 7 Rev. xv. 4. 8 1 Kings xxi. 27 — 29.

9 Jonah iii. 5 — 10. 10 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27.

him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.” J

Believers in Christ! Rejoice in your deliverance from that “fear which hath torment.” 2 Yet cherish that holy reverential fear of the character and judgments of God, which will form your most effectual safeguard “from presumptuous sins.” 3 The very supposition, that, if God had not engaged himself to you by an unchangeable covenant, his eternal judgments would have been your eternal portion, is of itself sufficient to mingle the wholesome ingredient of fear into the most established assurance. What! Can you look down into the burning bottomless gulf beneath your feet, without the recollection — If I were not immoveably fastened to “the Rock of Ages” by the strong chain of everlasting love, there must have been my abode through the countless ages of eternity. If I had not been thus upheld by the grace, as well as by the providence, of God, I might have dropped out of his hand, as one and another not more rebellious than I have fallen, into this intolerable perdition? O God? “my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.” 4

Thus the dread of the judgments of God is not necessarily of a slavish and tormenting character. “His saints are called to fear him;” 5 and their fear, so far from “gendering unto bondage,” is consistent with the strongest assurance ;6 nay even, is its fruit and

1 Isaiah lxvi. 2, 5. 2 1 John iv. 18. 3 Psalm xix. 13.

4 How striking was H. Martyn’s experimental apprehensions of this subject! ‘In prayer in the evening I had such near and terrific views of GocTs judgments upon sinners in hell, that my flesh trembled for fear of them. The passages of God’s holy word, that proved the certainty of hell torments, were brought to me in such a way as I never before felt. I flew trembling to Jesus Christ, as if the flame were taking hold of me! Oh! Christ will indeed save me, or else I perish.’ — Journals, vol. i. 382.

5 Psalm xxxiv. 9. 6 Compare Hab. iii. 16, with 17, 18.

effect. It is at once the principle of present obedience,2 and of final perseverance.3 It is the confession of weakness, unworthiness, and sinfulness, laying us low before our God. It is our most valuable discipline. It is the “bit and bridle” that curbs the frowardness of the flesh, and enables us to “serve God acceptably,” in the remembrance, that, though in love he is a reconciled Father, yet in holiness he is “a consuming fire.” 4

Now, if we are under the influence of this reverential awe and seriousness of spirit, we shall learn to attach a supreme authority and consideration to the least of his commands. We shall dread the thought of wilfully offending him. The fear of grieving him will be far more operative now, than was the fear of hell in our unconverted state. Those who presume upon their gospel liberty, will not, probably, understand this language. But the humble believer well knows how intimately “the fear of the Lord” is connected with “the comfort of the Holy Ghost,” 5 and with his own steady progress in holiness, and preparation for heaven.

1 Heb. xii.28. 2 Ib. xi. 7.

3 Ib. iv. 1. * Ib. xii. 29, with 28.

5 Acts ix. 3]. Compare Matthew xxviii. 8.