works of darkness" but to "reprove them," while "fornication, un cleanness, and covetousness, which is idolatry, are not to be so much as named among them, as becometh saints."* Every fibre of corruption is, if possible, to be extirpated, every part of the old man to be laid aside, "old things" universally renounced, and "all things to become new." Hostilities are never to cease till the enemy perishes out of the land.

V. Though God could easily have destroyed the Canaanites at once, though he could have crowned [his people] with immediate and decisive victory; yet he chose rather to do it, as he informs them by Moses, "by little and little."

He adopted this method to exercise more fully their faith and patience. "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little will I drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land."+

For wise and mysterious ends, in like manner, he permits his church to attain but a gradual victory. It is by slow degrees, and by a long succession of conflicts, that conquest is achieved: the force of the enemy is gradually weakened, and it is long ere the church is permitted completely to rest from its toils.

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VI. To suffer our spiritual enemies to remain unsubdued is uniformly productive of effects analogous to those which the Israelites were warned to expect from sparing the Canaanitish nations. They shall be as pricks in your eyes, and goads in your sides, because you. will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you. Then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be as pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them." It is one thing to suffer our enemies to remain unmolested, and another to commiserate their existence.

There are seasons when the Christian, overdone with continual opposition, is ready to yield himself to the love of ease, and, relaxing in his opposition and vigilance, permits the enemy to gain some advantages; but if he hopes thereby to procure lasting tranquillity, he is greatly mistaken. There is that irreconcilable hatred between the principle of grace and the principle of corruption, between the new and the old man, Christ and Satan, that nothing is gained by an attempt to compromise their differences, or amicably to adjust their claims.

Our spiritual enemies are never capable of being softened by indulgence, of becoming neutral, much less of being converted into friends. They will be incessantly plotting our destruction, and watching for our unguarded moments, in order to catch every possible advantage of us; and the only safe way is [for us also] to be always on the watch, always distrustful of them, and hostile.

The people of Israel might have rid themselves much more

⚫ Eph. v. 3.

† Exod. xxiii. 29, 30.

Num. xxxiii. 55, 56, &e

completely of their enemies, had they availed themselves more dili gently of their first advantages. Afterward their enemies were suf fered to remain for their trial.*

VII. The people were dismayed at the report of the spies: a lively resemblance to the conduct of too many who set out towards the heavenly Canaan, but in the contest suffer themselves to be dismayed.

XXI.

ON THE LAW OF GOD IN THE HEART.

PSALM XXXVii. 31.-The law of God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

THE temporary prosperity of the wicked has in every age afforded a trial to the faith and patience of the righteous. Often are they doomed to behold the contemner of God "flourishing like a green baytree," abounding in sensual pleasures and luxurious enjoyments, and elated with pride, as though the world were made only for them; while such as fear his name are crushed under the rod of power, and subjected to the greatest privations and sufferings. Such is the scene of providence, a scene which appears to have given birth to the composition of this psalm, in which the impatience and discontent which such a spectacle is apt to occasion is corrected, the brevity of the worldly prosperity of the wicked is foretold, and the final happiness and triumph of the righteous is asserted. The [righteous] are assured of the powerful protection of the Supreme Being, whose favour they at present enjoy; whose wisdom is continually, though invisibly, operating in securing their future good. "The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever."t

In opposition to the transient prosperity and the fugitive pleasures enjoyed by the wicked, the righteous are distinguished by the possession of permanent principles and unfading prospects. He is upheld by an invisible but abiding power, and his character and conduct partake of the unchangeableness which belongs to his interior principles: "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."

By "the law," in this passage, it is probable we are to understand the word of God in general, with a particular reference to the preceptive part, in the same sense as it must undoubtedly be taken throughout the 119th Psalm. The preceptive part forms so essential a branch of

every system of revelation, that it may with great propriety impart its peculiar name to the whole, agreeably to which even the gospel is denominated "the law of faith."*

These words present us, first, with a view of the internal principle which actuates a good man," the law of God is in his heart;" next, with its effects on his external character and conduct,-" none of his steps shall slide.”

I. The inward principle which actuates him: "the law of God is in his heart." This implies,

1. An acquaintance with the law, considered as the standard of holiness, as the rule of action. A precept may be known which is not obeyed; but it is impossible it should be obeyed when it is not known. Nor will ignorance of the will of God excuse the disobedient; since such ignorance must be voluntary, the consequence of "loving darkness rather than light." The time is long past when such a pretence might have been urged with some plausibility. That period is elapsed when it was necessary for men "to feel after God." like persons who grope in search of an object in the dark. "The day hath dawned, the day-star hath risen," the light of revelation shines with a brilliant effulgence, and the path of duty [is] made so plain, that the "wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." When ignorance of the will of the Great Supreme arises from inattention, from carnal security, from a passive indifference whether he be pleased or displeased; instead of mitigating, it aggravates the guilt of disobedience. "They are a people," saith the prophet, "of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, he that formed them will show them no favour." How different is it with the good man! "As the eyes of servants look unto their masters, and the eyes of a maiden into the hand of her mistress; so his eyes wait upon the Lord;" that he may attend to his directions and receive his orders. Conscious that he is made for God, he carefully explores his will, and he "meditates on his law day and night."

By a careful perusal of the sacred volume, by diligently weighing and pondering the precepts of revelation, he is constantly enlarging his conceptions of duty, and arriving nearer and nearer to a full and perfect comprehension of the spirit and import of its sacred injunctions. His fear of God is not taught by the commandments of men, stands not in human observances and will-worship, but in a solid acquaintance with the dictates of inspiration. Hence the service he presents is a reasonable one, the offspring of an enlightened faith, such as it is becoming man to offer, and God to accept.

By seriously applying the mind to the exhortations and injunctions of the sacred page, a good man arrives at a "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," and his senses are "exercised to discern between good and evil.”

2. The man of God is distinguished by an habitual [reference] to his mind and will. He is not merely acquainted with it as a branch

* Rom. iii. 27.

VOL. III.-H

† Isaiah xxxv. 8.

+ Isaiah xxvii. 11.

of speculation, which serves to extend his knowledge, and to recommend itself to his understanding, while it seldom mingles with the ordinary current of his thoughts; it is not merely deposited in that department of his mind which seems a cabinet for the preservation of what is curious, ather than the reception of that which he has daily occasion to use. The precepts of God occupy much of his thoughts, and engage much of his attention. The knowledge of them is continually revived, the remembrance of them refreshed, by daily mental recollections, by reiterated acts of attention, such as it becomes us to exert towards the counsels and ordinances of the Great Eternal. It is thus, and thus only, that knowledge becomes practical and influential; that the light which first pervades the intellect descends into the heart, and diffuses itself through all the faculties of the soul.

"And these words," said Moses, "which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liést down, and when thou risest up."*

The original word is extremely expressive," thou shalt whet them on thy children," [or whet thy children upon them,] in allusion to the practice of giving the necessary edge to certain instruments, by con tinual friction with hard substance. Thus a good man whets the word of God on his own mind [so as to sharpen it] by successive acts of serious attention, [and thus acquires] an aptitude in applying it to its proper purpose. In the most busy and tumultuous scenes of life, it naturally occurs to his recollections, it instantaneously presents itself to his thoughts; while to the wicked the "judgments of the Lord are far above out of his sight," and it is with great difficulty that he raises his mind to such high and holy meditations, and, after all, it is a painful and short-lived effort.

3. The good man is impressed with a deep sense of the obligation of the law of God, accompanied with a sincere resolution of implicit and unreserved obedience. He is not only acquainted with the rules of duty, he does not merely make them the object of his serious and habitual attention: he accedes to the justice of their claims; his conscience is enlightened to discern their equity and their obligation; and he humbly but firmly resolves, in the strength of divine grace, to yield a practical compliance. Far from arraigning the precepts of God as too strict, too extended, or too spiritual, he entirely acquiesces in their justice and propriety, and turns the edge of his censure and reproaches on himself only. "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!" He is perfectly satisfied that, however he may be "carnal, sold under sin," "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." He blames himself only, not the strictness of the precept; he laments the weakness and corruption of the flesh, not the purity of the divine command. Although he perfectly despairs of yielding such an obedience to its requisitions as shall justify him in the sight of God, he maintains a steady and conscientious respect to

all his commandments. "Thy word," saith David, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments."*

Holy resolutions are essential to a sincere obedience: they may become abortive by being framed in our own strength, and without "counting the cost; but, notwithstanding, they are a necessary preparation to the conscientious performance of duty. Nothing is more certain than that real religion is a reasonable and voluntary service: he will never truly serve God who is not deliberately resolved to do so. Good resolutions bear the same relation to [upright conduct] as the seed bears to the fruit.

All this, however, of itself, is indeed sufficient to form a slave, not a child to produce a constrained and reluctant obedience, not the cheerful homage of a heart flowing with gratitude and love. The understanding may be enlightened, conscience awakened, and the external conduct reputable; while the service of God is felt as an insupportable lead, with difficulty sustained, though impossible to be shaken off.

Something more is requisite to render religion a delight, to convert wisdom's ways into "ways of pleasantness," and her paths into " paths of peace."

4. To put the finishing stroke, then, to the character of a good man, let me add, once more, that his heart is inspired with a love to the law of God after the "inner man." Considered as a transcript of the divine perfections, as an expression of [God's] immaculate holiness, as the instrument of his sanctification, it is the object of his devoted attachment. The dispositions which it enforces are wrought into his heart; the inward bias of his mind is directed towards the holiness which it prescribes; and so intense is his approbation of all its requisitions, that the least alteration in it would give him pain. He longs not to have the standard of duty reduced to his level, but to have his own heart raised to its elevation. He would not wish for a law which connived at impurity, which commanded any thing short of moral perfection. [Its] immaculate holiness to him forms its principal

attraction.

It is also entitled to our warmest attachment on account of its beneficial tendency; it is adapted, in the highest degree, to correct every moral irregularity, and to diffuse order and happiness throughout the whole creation. In proportion as it is obeyed, it never fails to ensure the "peaceable fruits of righteousness."

Hence those passionate expressions of attachment to the holy precepts of God which abound in the writings of David, and particularly in the 119th Psalm. "O how love I thy law!" My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times." "I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed: and I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on thy statutes."

Psalm cxix. 105, 106.