and revive the object upon our thoughts. Here in the text we have this truth asserted, "I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word." Affection to truths cometh from the application. In a public edict a man will be sure to carry away what is proper to his case.

3. Meditation. We must be often viewing and meditating of what we have laid up in the memory. It availeth not to the health of the body to eat much, but to digest what is eaten. Tumultuary reading and hearing, without meditation, is like greedily swallowing much meat. When little is thought on, it doth not turn to profit. This concocteth and digesteth what we have heard. The more a thing is revolved in the mind, the deeper impression it maketh.

4. Beware of inuring the mind to vain thoughts; for this distracts it, and hindereth the impression of things upon it. The face is not seen in running waters; nor can things be written in the memory, unless the mind be close and fixed. Lead is capable of engraving, because it is firm and solid; but quicksilver, because it is fluid, will not admit it. An inconsistent, wandering mind reapeth little fruit from what is read or heard.

5. Order is a help to memory. Heads of doctrine are as cells wherein to bestow all the things that are heard from the word. He that is well instructed in the principles of religion, will most easily and firmly remember divine truths. Methodus est catena memoriæ; to link truths one to another, that we may consider them in their proportion.

6. Get a lively sense of what you hear or read, and you will remember it by a good token: "I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me" (Psalm cxix. 93). They that are quickened by a sermon, will never forget such a sermon.

7. Holy conference; the speaking often of good things, keeps them in the heart; and the keeping them there, causeth us to speak to those that are about us.

8. Get the memory sanctified, as well as other faculties; and pray for the Spirit; for that faculty is corrupted as well as others.

SERMON XVIII.

VERSE 17.-Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

In the former part we hear of the virtue and excellency of the word, and therefore how much the saints desire to understand it, meditate of it, speak of it, and transfer it into their practice. Now whosoever will resolve upon such a course, will necessarily be put upon prayer: for mark how David's purposes and prayers are intermingled, "I will," and "I will ;" and then presently he prayeth again, “Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word."

In this request observe, 1st, It is generally expressed, together with his own relation to God," Deal bountifully with thy servant."

2ndly, It is particularly explained wherein he would have this bounty expressed :

1. In the prorogation of his life, "that I may live."

2. In the continuance of his grace, "and keep thy word." The one in order to the other. David doth not simply pray for live, but in order

to such an end; and the general request concerneth both parts, yea rather the latter than the former : "That whilst I live I may keep thy word" as counting that to be the greatest benefit or argument of God's bounty, to have a heart framed to the obedience of his will.

I might observe many things; as, 1. What a great honour it is to be God's servant. David, a great king, giveth himself this title, "Thy servant." And Constantine counted it a greater honour to be a Christian, than to be head of the empire. 2. That all we have or expect, cometh from God's bounty to us. So doth David express himself, “Deal bountifully with thy servant;" as intimating not only the measure, but the rise and source of what he expected from God. 3. That among all the benefits which we expect from the bounty of God, this is one of the greatest,-To have a heart to keep his word. 4. God's word must not only be understood, but obeyed; for this is the meaning of keeping the word: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them," &c. (John xiv. 21); hath implieth knowledge; we must have them before we can keep them; but when we have them, we must keep them, and do what we know. But omitting all these points, which will be more fitly discussed elsewhere, I shall only point out two lessons.

I. The cause of life,—and that is God's bounty.
II. The end and scope of life,-God's servive.
First, The cause of life," Deal bountifully with thy servant,

that I

may

The prorogation of our lives is not the fruit of our merits, but the free grace of God.

1. Long life is in itself a blessing, and so promised, though more in the Old Testament than in the New, when eternity was more sparingly revealed. That it is promised as a blessing, is evident: "He that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days" (Prov. xxviii. 16). And in the fifth commandment, "That thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exod. xx. 12). So, "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation" (Psalm xci. 16.); not only Heaven hereafter, but long life here. It is in itself a benefit, a mercy to the godly and the wicked. To the godly, that they may not be gathered till ripe; for God hath set a mark upon it: "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness" (Prov. xvi. 31). It is some kind of resemblance of God, who is the ancient of days. It was a title of honour, "Paul the aged." It giveth many advantages of glorifying God, and doing good to others. It is no small benefit to those that employ it well. To those that are in a state of sin, the continuance of life is a mercy, as it affords them time to repent and reconcile themselves to God. And the contrary is threatened as a curse, "He shall not prolong his days, because he feareth not God" (Eccl. viii. 13). For wicked men to have the sun go down at noon-day, and to be cut off before their preparations or expectations, and so thrown headlong into Hell by a speedy death, is a great misery.

2. It is such a mercy as we have by God's gift. He is interested in it upon a double account.

(1.) There is a constant providential influence and supportation, by which we are maintained in life, and without which all creatures vanish into nothing. As the beams of the sun are no longer continued in the air, than the sun shineth; or as the impress is retained no longer upon the

waters, than the seal is kept on. When God suspendeth his providential influence and supportation, all doth vanish and disappear: "He upholdeth all things by the word of his power" (Heb. i. 3); as a weighty thing is held up in the air by the hand that sustaineth it; or the vessels of the house hang upon a nail in a sure place. God that made all things by his word, upholdeth all things by the same word. A word made the world, and can undo the world. So, “In him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts xvii. 28). We cannot draw breath without him for a moment: as the pipe hath no breath but what the musician puts into it. We can neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor drink, without this intimate support and influence from him. The Scripture sets it out by a man's holding a thing in his hand," In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind" (Job xii. 10). Now if God do but loosen his hand, his Almighty grasp, all cometh to nothing: "Let him loose his hand, and cut me off" (Job vi. 9). Life, and the comforts of life, depend upon God in every kind.

(2.) There is a watchful eye and care of his providence over his people, whereby their life is preserved against all the dangers wherewith it is assaulted. God taketh care of all his creatures, he preserveth "man and beast" (Psalm xxxvi. 6); but man much more: "Doth God take care of oxen?" (1 Cor. xi. 9.) He dealeth bountifully with his enemies, but much more doth he preserve the feet of his saints (1 Sam. ii. 9). The care of his providence hath its degrees; it is more intensively exercised about things of worth and value, and most of all about the life of his saints. When Satan had a commission to exercise Job, first his person was exempted, Upon himself put not forth thy hand" (Job i. 12). Next, his life, “Behold he is in thy hand, but save his life" (Job ii. 6). A godly man hath an invisible guard and hedge round about him; we are not sensible of it; but Satan who is our enemy, he is sensible of it; when he would make his assault, he cannot find a gap and breach, till God open it to him. Both these notions are sufficient to possess us how much God is interested in prolonging our lives.

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(3.) The next thing is, That we have it by the mere bounty and free grace of God. It is not from his strict remunerative justice, but his kind love and tender mercy. The air we breathe in, we have it not by merit, but by grace: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not" (Lam. iii. 22). The reasons are two :1st, We deserve nothing at his hand.

2ndly, We deserve the contrary.

1. We cannot merit of God. "Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?" (Job xxii. 2.) "If thou be

righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand ?" (Job xxxv. 7.) Whatever God doth for creatures, he doth it freely, because he cannot be obliged or preëngaged by us. In innocency, Adam could impetrare, but not mereri; obtain it by covenant, not challenge by desert. Therefore God conferreth as freely as he createth.

2. If God would deal with us upon terms of merit, we cannot give him a valuable compensation for temporal life: "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies" (Gen. xxxii. 10). None of God's mercies can simply be said to be little; whatever cometh from the great God, should be great in our value and esteem; as a small remembrance from a great king. Yet in comparison between the blessings, one may be said to be least, the other

greatest. Temporal life with its appendages, compared with spiritual and eternal, is the rank of his least mercies. God giveth life to the plants, to the trees, to the beasts of the field; and yet when we and our deservings, come into the balance, we are found wanting; "I am not worthy," &c.; all our righteousness doth not deserve the air we breathe in. It is so defective, if a man were to pay for his life, it could not merit the continu-. ance of it.

2ndly, We have deserved the contrary; we have put ourselves out of God's protection, by sin; death way-laid us when we were in our mother's womb; and as soon as we were born, there was a sentence in force against us; "death came upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. v. 12); and still we continue the forfeiture, and every day provoke God to cut us off; so that it is a kind of pardoning mercy that continueth us every moment. Of this we are most sensible in case of danger and sickness, when there is but a step between us and death: for then the old bond beginneth to be put in suit, and God cometh to execute the sentence of the law, and deliverance in such a case is called forgiveness and remission, and that even to the wicked and impenitent; as, "And he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not" (Psalm lxxviii. 28); it is called a remission improperly, because it was a reprieve for the time from the temporal judgment, it was not an executing the sentence, or a destroying the sinner presently; and that not from anything in the sinner, but from God's pity over him as his creature. But now a godly man hath a true pardon renewed at such time, and he is "loved from the grave," for so it is in the Hebrew, "Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption" (Isa. xxxviii. 17). To be loved out of a danger, and loved out of a sickness, Oh, that is a blessed thing!

USE.-1. To acknowledge the Lord's goodness in these common mercies. We did not give life to ourselves, and we cannot keep it in ourselves. God made us, and God keepeth us. It was not our parents that fashioned us in the womb; they could not tell what the child would prove, male or female, beautiful or deformed. They could not tell the number or posture of the veins, or bones, or muscles; it was all the curious workmanship of a wise God and it is the same God that hath kept us hitherto: "By me ye are born from the belly, and carried from the womb, even to old age; I am he, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you," &c. (Isa. xlvi. 3, 4). We have been supported and tenderly handled by God, as parents and nurses carry their younglings in their arms. Many times wanton children are ready to scratch the faces of those that carry them; so have we put many affronts upon him, yet to the very last doth he carry us in the arms of his providence. In infancy we were not in a capacity to know the God of our mercies, and to look after him; but nevertheless he looked after us. Afterwards we knew how to grieve him and offend him, long before how to love and serve him. Oh, how early did our naughty hearts appear! and all along how little have we done for God, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being!" He is not far from us, in the effects of his care and providence; but we are far from him by the distance of our thoughts and affections, by the carnal bent of our hearts. It is a good morning's exercise for us humbly and thankfully to consider of his continual mercies. For God's compassions are new every morning" (Lam. iii. 23), as fresh as if never tired with former acts of grace, nor wearied with former offences. It is some recompence for the time of sleep; half our time

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passeth away, and we do not show one act of love and kindness unto God; therefore as soon as we are awakened, we should be with God (Psalm cxxxix. 18). How many are gone down to the chambers of death since the last night!

2. It quickeneth us to love and serve God, who is the strength of our lives, and the length of our days (Deut. xxx. 20). Thy life is wholly in God's hands. Man cannot add a cubit to his stature, nor make one hair white or black at his own pleasure. It is the Lord's providential influence that keepeth thee alive; in point of gratitude thou shouldst serve him: "Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live." But I may urge also in point of hope, God's servants can best recommend themselves to his care and keeping by prayer, and expect to walk continually under divine protection. Those that provoke God continually, they may be continued by the bounty and indulgence of his providence; but yet they can look for no such thing; and in the issue it proveth to be in wrath, for their sins are more, and judgments greater: it is but to treasure up "wrath against the day of wrath."

3. If life temporal be the fruit of God's bounty, much more life eternal: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" (Rom. vi. 23). One is wages, the other a gift.

4. It informeth us, that we may lawfully pray for life with submission to the will of God; and that death may not come upon us suddenly, contrary to the ordinary course of nature. I was loath to make a distinct doctrine of it, yet I could not decline the giving out of this truth.

How will this stand with our desires of dissolution, and willingness to depart and to be with Christ, which certainly all Christians that believe eternity, should cherish in their hearts?

To this I answer: (1.) By concession. That we are to train up ourselves in an expectation of our dissolution, that we may be willing when the time is come, and God hath no more work for us to do in the world; we are to awaken our desires after the presence of Christ in Heaven, to show both our faith in him, and love to him. Since Christ was willing to come down to us, though it were to meet with shame and pain; why should we be loath to return to him? Jacob's spirit revied when he saw the waggons which Joseph sent to carry him. Death is the charriot to carry you to Christ, and therefore it should not be unwelcome to us.

(2.) By correction; though it be lawful and expedient to desire death, yet we are not anxiously to long after it till the time come; there may be sin in desiring death, as when we grow weary of life out of desperation, and the tiresomeness of the cross; and there may be grace in desiring life," that we may keep his word;" longer express our gratitude to him here in the world, to mourn for sin, to promote his glory. More fully to make this evident to you, I shall show how we may desire death, how not. To answer in several propositions.

1st, There is a great deal of difference between serious desires, and passionate expressions. The desires of the children of God are deliberate and resolved, conceived upon good grounds, after much struggling with flesh and blood to bring their hearts to it. Carnal men are loath that God should take them at their word; as he in the fable that called for death, and when he came, desired him to help him up with his burden. Alas! they do not consider what it is to be in the state of the dead, and to come unprovided and unfurnished into God's presence. We often wish

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