need of the stream, but the stream hath need of the fountain; the sun fills the lap of the earth with blessings, and the earth returns nothing but vapours that obscure its beams, rather than add anything to its brightness. God, he filleth every living thing, especially his saints, with blessing, and receiveth nothing from us again.

II. Though God stand in no need of us, yet he is willing to communicate his blessedness, and to make us happy in the enjoyment of himself.

There is a threefold consideration which doth advance the bounty of God. That to us; that himself to us; and that so readily and freely.

1. That to us, who can neither hurt him, nor help him: "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm viii. 4). What a poor sorry creature is man? wilt thou set thine eyes upon such a one? What would God lose if we were all damned? or what would he gain if all were saved? He would lose no more by us than a bounteous man doth by the death of a company of beggars or maimed persons, who live upon his expense and charge. Wherein can we be useful to God?

2. Herein lieth the bounty of God, to give us such a blessing as the enjoyment of himself: "When he had no greater thing to swear by" (saith the Apostle) "he sware by himself." When God hath no greater thing to give us, he gives us himself, "I am thy God." He scatters and sheds abroad some common influences upon all creatures; but to us he gives not only that which is his, but gives us himself, that when our happiness is at the highest, we may immediately enjoy him.

For the opening of this blessedness in giving us the fruition of himself, consider, we enjoy God two ways, mediately and immediately; one proper to this world, the other to the next.

(1.) Mediately, we enjoy God, when he communicateth himself to us by secondary means, or the interposition of the creature between him and us. Thus in common mercies, when he feeds us by his meat and drink, and enlighteneth us with his sun. Here in the world we have blessings at second or third hand, "I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth," &c. (Hos. ii. 21, 22). Whatever one creature affordeth to another, it hath it first from God. The creature is but an empty, hollow pipe through which the blessing runs, and it passeth from pipe to pipe. God poureth out his influences to the heavens, and the heavens pour out their influences upon the earth; and the strength of the earth runneth up into corn, wine, and oil; and by corn, wine, and oil, Israel hath his refreshments. So still from pipe to pipe is the blessing conveyed to the creature. So for special mercies, we have them by degrees; life, comfort, grace by the word and seals. But the Lord will not only supply us at second and third hand, but,

(2.) Immediately, when God communicates himself to us without any other thing between us and him, when we are immediately present with God, and have immediate influences from God, this is the happiness of Heaven. In the heavenly state God shall be "all in all" (1 Cor. xv. 28). He shall be both the dispenser and the dispensation. There we see him face to face, and in his face and presence there is fulness of joy (Psalm xvi. 11). That is our happiness in the next world where immediate influences and virtue doth pass out from him. In Heaven were is no temple, but the Lamb is the temple of it. (Rev. xxi. 22).

There is a service of God, and constant influences in that God supplieth all immediately from himself.

3. This is upon free terms, grace for grace" (John i. 16).

"Of his fulness have we all received, and

III. The word of God, especially the Gospel part, doth only teach us the way how we may be blessed in the enjoyment of God.

That is a notable place to this purpose, "The glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust" (1 Tim. i. 11). Mark there, first he calls it the "glorious Gospel." When he speaks of the law in that place he saith, "We know that the law is good," (compare it with verse 8,) but when he comes to speak of the Gospel, he calls it the "glorious Gospel;" the law is "good," but the Gospel "glorious," because more of the glory of God is displayed and discovered to the creature. And then "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." Titles are always suited to the case in hand, therefore it is called "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God," because there God is discovered as ready to bless us; there is the way how we may come to be blessed in God; how he may with respect to us be a fountain of blessedness; there we have the highest discoveries of this mystery; the most moving arguments to persuade us to look after it; and with this Gospel there is a grace, a virtue dispensed to enable us to walk in this way. So that if we would enjoy the blessed God we must consult with his statutes, and especially the Gospel.

IV. If we would profit by the word of God, we must go to God, and desire the light and strength of his grace.

If we would enjoy the blessed God, according to the direction of his word, we must not only consult with the word, but with God; nothing else can draw us off from the world, and persuade us to look after heavenly things; nothing else will teach us the vanity of the creature, the reality of spiritual privileges. Until we see these things in a divine light, the heart hangs off from God; and therefore saith David, "I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel" (Psalm xvi. 7). He had chosen God for his portion, "and then I will bless the Lord," &c. We shall still run after lying vanities, until God doth open our eyes to see the mysteries of the word, and to be affected with the way. Those that are drawn to God, must first be taught of God, "No man cometh to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him" (John vi. 44). For Christ adds presently, "They shall be all taught of God." Our hearts can never be drawn unto God until he takes us into his own hands.

V. The more we are brought to attend upon the word, and the more influence the word hath upon us, the nearer the blessing.

Christians! we are not far from the kingdom of God. There is some blessedness when we begin to look after the directions of the word, and to wait upon the teachings of God: "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors" (Prov. viii. 34). Then you are in a hopeful way to true blessedness, when you begin to be careful to attend upon God's teaching; much more when you have the fruits of it, when you know him so as to love him, so as to have your hearts drawn off from sin and folly : "Him hath God sent to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts iii. 26). The great business of Jesus Christ is to make us blessed in the enjoyment of God. But how is it? only by bare

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knowledge? No, it is by turning every one from his iniquity. So the more this teaching of God prevails upon the heart, the more blessed we are "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord" (Psalm cxix. 1). Otherwise, to have a golden head, and feet of clay, that is monstrous, as in Nebuchadnezzar's image; to have a naked knowledge of God, and not be brought under the power of it. You read of the Heathens when they sacrificed to their gods, they were wont to hang a garland upon the heads of the beasts, and to crown them with roses, so they were led on to sacrifice. Many may have garlands upon their heads, ornaments of knowledge, yet are they going on to destruction; therefore that light and teaching which conveyeth blessedness is such as prevaileth upon the heart, and doth effectually turn us to God.

VI. It is not only an affront put upon God, but also a great wrong, to neglect the word of God, and the way he prescribes, and to seek blessedness in temporal things.

Here you have the true way to blessedness set down in God's statutes, but in outward things there wants fulness, sincerity, eternity.

1. There wants fulness. That which makes us blessed, it must fill-up the heart of man. As a vessel is never full until it have as much as it can hold; so we can never be said to have a full happiness and contentment, until we have as much as we can hold. That which fills must be greater than the thing filled. Now man's heart is such a chaos of desires, that it can never be filled up but in God: "In thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm xvi. 11). Therefore of the joy and happiness we have in God, it is said, "Enter into thy Master's joy" (Matt. xxv.). When we speak of a cup of water, that enters into the man, that is taken down into the man; but if we speak of a river of water, or a tub of water, that is greater than the man is capable of, or can receive, the man enters into it; so this joy and happiness which is truly and genuinely such, it must exceed our capacity, be greater than we can receive, that we may enter into it; it is only the infinite God can satisfy the heart of man. In temporal things there is no kind of fulness; you have not one worldly comfort, but you desire more of it. Ahab was a king, yet still he wants something,-Naboth's vineyard. A man is not satisfied with abundance, neither is his soul filled with increase of worldly things, yet he may desire more. And if we have one thing to the full, yet we shall need another. If a man be strong, he may need learning; it may be though he hath some kind of learning and knowledge, yet he hath not wisdom. Naaman was rich, wise, valiant, and honourable, "but he was a leper." There is a but upon all worldly happiness; therefore there is no fulness in these things.

2. There is no sincerity in them. All that is in the world, it is but a semblance and an appearance, that which tickles the senses, it doth not go to the heart. You would have thought Belshazzar was merry at the heart when he was quaffing and carousing in the cups of the temple, but how soon is the edge of his bravery taken off (Dan. v. 5, 6). Haman in the midst of his honours was troubled at the heart for want of Mordecai's knee. Those things which seem to affect us so much cannot allay one unquiet passion, certainly cannot still and pacify the least storm of the conscience; and therefore whatever face men put upon temporal enjoyments, if they cannot see God's special love in them, they want sincere joy. There is many a smart lash they feel when the world hears

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not the stroke: "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness" (Prov. xiv. 13). All the laughter and merriment which men seem to receive from the creature, it is but a little appearance, not such as will go to the conscience, that will indeed and thoroughly rejoice and comfort a man, and give him solid joy.

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3. There wants eternity. An immortal soul must have an eternal good, pleasures for evermore" (Psalm xvi. 11). In this world we have but a poor changeable happiness. It was said to the rich fool, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke xii. 20).

Thus much for the first branch, "Blessed art thou, O Lord."

Secondly. I come from the compellation to the supplication, "Teach me thy statutes." And here observe (1.) The person teaching, he speaks to God, 'Do thou, O God, teach.' (2.) We may consider the person taught, "Teach me;" I that have hid the word in my heart. David who was a prophet is willing to become a disciple. Those that teach others have need that God should teach them: the Prophet saith, "Teach me, O Lord." David a grown Christian, he desires more understanding of God's will. Certainly we should still "follow on to know the Lord" (Hos. vi. 3). Heathens that only knew natural and moral things, yet they saw a need of growth; and the more they knew the more they discovered their ignorance; and always as they grew older they grew wiser. How much more sensible would they have been of their defects in the knowledge of spiritual things, if they had in a little measure been acquainted with the mysteries of godliness, that pass all understanding, and are so much from human sense, and above the capacities of our reason? Agur said, "I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy" (Prov. xxx. 3). There is very much yet to be learned of God, and of his ways. Many think they know all that can be taught them. David, a great Prophet, a man after God's own heart, is yet earnest that God would teach him his statutes. (3.) The lesson, or matter to be taught, "Thy statutes;" so he calls the word, because the doctines of it have the force of a law published, they do unalterably bind, and that the soul and conscience, and therefore the precepts, counsels, and doctrines of the word, are called "statutes."

DOCTRINE.-If we would know God's statutes so as to keep them, we must be taught of God.

Here I shall inquire,

1. What it is, or how doth God teach us.

2. The necessity of this teaching.

3. The benefit and utility of it.

1st, How doth God teach us?

1. Outwardly; by his ordinance, by the ministry of man.

2. Inwardly; by the inspiration and work of the Holy Ghost.

1. The outward teaching is God's teaching, because it is an ordinance which is appointed by him; now both these must ever go together, external and internal teaching. "Despise not prophecy, quench not the Spirit." If you would have any enlightening and quickening of the Spirit, you must not despise prophecy. We teach you here, and God blesseth. Jesus Christ, when he came to teach his disciples, first, he opened the Scripture, (Luke xxiv. 3); and then (verse 45.) "he opened their understandings." Of Lydia it is said, "God opened her heart in attending to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts xvi. 14). She

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was attending, and then God openeth her heart. When the Eunuch was reading, then God sent an interpreter. The outward means are necessary, they are God's teaching in part, but the inward grace especially. Both these must go together, for it is said, "Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (John vi. 45). There must be a hearing of the word, and so there is a teaching from God. But, 2. The inward teaching which is the work of the Spirit, that needs most to be opened. What is that? It consists in two things. (1.) When God infuseth light into the understanding, so as we come to apprehend the things of God in a spiritual manner: "In thy light shall we see light" (Psalm xxxvi. 9). There is no discerning spiritual things spiritually, but in God's light. There may be a literal instruction which one man may give to another, but "in thy light," only, "shall we see light;" such a lively, affective knowledge as disposeth the heart for the enjoyment of God. There is a seeing, and a seeing in seeing, "Lest in seeing they shall see" (Isa. vi. 10). A man may see a truth rationally, that doth not see it spiritually; now, when we have the Spirit's light, then in seeing we see; or as the Apostle calls it, a knowing of the grace of God in truth" (Col. i. 6). Since you did not only take up the report, but feel it, and had some experience of it in your hearts. Again, (2.) God's teaching, it consisteth not only in enlightening the understanding, but in moving and inclining the heart and the will; for God's teaching is always accompanied with drawing: "No man cometh to me except the Father draw him" (John vi. 44); which Christ proves, (verse 45,) because "they shall be all taught of God." The Spirit's light is not only directive, but persuasive; it is effectual to alter and to change the affections, and to carry them out to Christ and to his ways; he works powerfully where he teacheth. When the Holy Ghost was first poured out upon the apostles, there was a notable effect of it, it came in the appearance of "cloven tongues, like as of fire" (Acts ii. 3), to show the manner of the Spirit's operation by the ministry; not only as light, but as fire; it is a burning and shining light, that is, such a light as is seasoned with zeal and love, that affects the heart, that burns up our corruptions. And therefore you know when Christ would put forth a divine effect, in his conference with his two disciples, it is said, "Their hearts burned within them, while he talked with them" (Luke xxiv. 32). There is a warmth and heat conveyed to the soul. Thus for the nature of this teaching.

"The

2ndly, The necessity of this teaching will appear in several things. 1. If we consider the weakness of a natural understanding, natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,—because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. ii. 14). They must be spiritually understood. There must be a cognation and proportion between the object and the faculty. Divine things cannot be seen but by a divine light; and spiritual things by a spiritual light, else they shall have no savour and relish. Can sense (which is the light of beasts) trace the workings, or the flights of reason? Can you see a soul, or an angel, by the light of a candle? There is no proportion between them. So, can a natural man receive the things of the Spirit? He receives them not. Why? Because spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.

2. There is not only blindness, but obstinacy and prejudice. When we come to judge by sense and reason, the whole business of Christianity