1 have written the great things of my Law

I have written the great things of my Law.

By Law here we are to understand the whole Word of God, and not in way of distinction of Law and Gospel, but the whole Word of God, and so the word signifies, it comes from one signifying teaching; the Law is a Doctrine that is taught, and so though sometimes it may be distinguished from some other parts of Scripture, yet now we are to understand the whole mind of God in his Word; when you read in Psalm 119 how David loved God's Law, it is not the ten Commandments, but the mind of God revealed in his Word.

The great things of my Law] The Old Latin has it the many Laws, and the words in the Hebrew seems a little to favor, the multiplicity of my Laws. And then it should argue these two things.

First, that the Word is full and perfect; that we have rules for every thing that concerns the ordination of our lives to God in his Word, there's a multiplicity of Laws and Rules for all our ways.

Secondly, that there are manifold excellencies in God's Law; as the manifold wisdom of God is in Christ, so the manifold excellencies of God are kept up together in the Word of God. The Seventy translates the word, the Fulness, or Multitude, and according to that Tertullian has an expression, I adore the fulness of the Scripture; Oh the multitude of excellent things there are there! and the fulness that there is there! I find divers turn this word by many words that have excellent significations in them, and indeed the Hebrew word will bear many expressions of it. Some the Precious thing, the Magnificent thing; the Excellent thing; the Honorable things of my Law; as in Acts 2:11, they spake the wonderful things of God, it is more than the great things, the magnificent great things of God. Now the things of the Word they are glorious and honorable and very great, they are to be looked upon as great things, the things of God's Word; that's the first.

And then especially, the things that concern God's worship are to be looked upon as great things, for so it has reference to them, but the expression aims at that which is more general, the great things of my Law, the honorable, magnificent, and glorious things. Now the things of the Law are great things.

First, because they are from the great God, and they have the stamp of the authority of the great God upon them, there is a dreadful authority in every truth, in every thing that is written in God's Law, (I say) there is a dreadful authority of the great God, that binds Kings and Princes in chains, that lays bonds upon the conscience that no created power can, yet this does; when we come to hear the Word, we come either as to a sovereign to receive Laws from, or as to a Judge to receive the sentence of death, it has the dreadful authority of the great God in it, and therefore every thing that is in the Word is to be looked upon as a great thing; a piece of Parchment and a little Wax, and a few Lines in it what are they? but having the authority of the great Seal of England, such a piece is to be looked upon as a great thing: the things of God's Law are great things, for they have great authority which goes along with them.

And secondly, they are great things because of the lustre of the great God that shines in them. Take all the creatures that ever God made in Heaven and Earth, and (I say) there is not so much glory of God in Sun, Moon, Stars, Sea, and Plants, and all things in the world, as there is in some few sentences of holy Scripture, therefore they are great things (Psalm 138:2). You have magnified your Word above all your Name. The Name of God appears in his great work of Creation, and of Providence. We are to look upon God's Name as very great; yet you have magnified your Word above all your Name; it's more than all God's Names besides. It may be when there are some extraordinary works of God in the world, Thundring, and Lightning &c. we are ready to be afraid, and oh! the great God that does appear in these great works! Were our hearts [illegible] they ought to be when we read the Word, we would tremble at that more than at any manifestation of God since the world began in all his Works; and if so be you do not see more glory of God in his Word than in his Works, it is because you have little light in you; and therefore let the world think of the things of God's Law that are written, as they will, yet they are the great things of his Law.

Thirdly, they are the great mysteries of God's will, the great counsels of God about the souls of men, about his way to honor himself, and to bring mankind to himself, to eternal life; the great counsels, great mysteries that are contained in the Word of God, such as the Angels themselves do desire to pry into; as in Proverbs 8:6, it is said of Wisdom, Hear, and I will speak of excellent things. The Word of God speaks of excellent things, right excellent things, such great mysteries of God's wisdom as should take up our thoughts, yes, and does take up the Angels, and shall take up the Angels and Saints to all Eternity, to be prying into the great things which are revealed in God's Word (Psalm 119:27). Make me to understand the way of your precepts, so shall I talk of your wondrous Works. Mark how these are joined together: Make me to understand the way of your precepts, so shall I talk of your wondrous works: Why David, could you not see the wondrous works of God in the book of the creature, in Heaven and Earth? Oh no, Make me to understand the way of your precepts, and then shall I talk of your wondrous Works. We many times talk about vain and slight things, because we have nothing else to talk of; but did we understand the way of God's precepts, we should be furnished with discourse of the wondrous works of God.

And then, it's a great WORD, because that they are of great concernment; the things of God's law are of great concernment for all our present good or evil depends upon the things of God's law (Proverbs 3:22). They are life to your soul, and grace to your neck. So says Moses in (Deuteronomy 32:46): Set your hearts to all the words which I testify to you this day, for it is not a vain thing, it is your life. They are of great concernment; there's a curse annexed to the breach of every thing in God's law: Cursed be every one that abides not in every thing that is written in the book of the law. Is it not a great matter then? Certainly there is nothing in the law that is to be looked upon as a little matter, because the curse of God is annexed to the breach of every thing that is written in God's law, and there we have the casting of our souls for eternity, and is not that a great matter? Did we come to hear the Word, or did we read the Word as the Word by which we must be cast for our eternal estates, we would look upon it as a great Word.

Again, the things are great things in God's law, in regard of the great power and efficacy that they have upon the hearts and consciences of men; when God sets home the things of his law they will bring down the proudest heart and the stoutest stomach that is, they will enlighten the blindest mind, and convert the hardest heart that is in the world, the law has a mighty power upon the soul, and therefore it is great.

Further, they are great things, because they make all those great that do receive them; they make them great even because they have but the keeping of them, much more than if they receive them. In (Deuteronomy 4:8): What nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law that I set before you this day? What nation so great as you are? Why, wherein are we greater than other people? Wherein? In this: What nation is so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? This was that which made the people of Israel a great nation beyond all the nations in the world; they were not great in multitude, but in that they had the law of God, and the great things of his law revealed to them, in this they became a great nation. The Lord honors a nation highly but to reveal the things of his law to them; but how great then does a soul come to be, that does embrace those things, that has all those great and good things revealed in the law made to it as its own privilege? Surely that soul is in a high and honorable condition indeed.

Further, the things of God's Law are great in God's esteem; they are great because the great God thinks them so. That is to be accounted great that the most judicious and wise men in the world judge so to be; indeed that which a child thinks to be a great thing is no great thing, a child may think a bauble to be a great thing; so we may think things great indeed, we think the things of the world are great; for a man to have an estate, it's a great matter; to have riches, and honors, and to be some-body in the world, we think these to be great things. But what are these in God's eyes? God despises all these things. But that which the great God will think to be a great thing, certainly that's great indeed. Now mark what a high esteem God has of his Word in that place where Christ says, Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of my Word shall pass away. As if Christ should say, The Lord will rather withdraw his power from the upholding of Heaven and Earth, than from making good any one jot or tittle of his Law; you may think it a little matter to break God's Law, but God thinks it a great matter, and God would have us to make a great matter of every thing that is written in God's Law. I am the willinger to enlarge my self in this, because I know it is the ground of all the wickedness in men's hearts and lives, because they look upon the Law as a little matter, well though they dare sin against God's Law for the getting of a groat or six pence, but God says I will rather lose Heaven and Earth than one jot or tittle of my Law shall fall, and he will make it appear one day that the things of his Law are great things, in (Isaiah 42:21). He will magnify the Law and make it honorable. You may vilify it; a company of wanton spirits we have that consider not what they say, or what they do, running away with the very word of the Law, they think to vilify it, What have we to do with the Law? And under that word (not understanding what they mean) they think to cast a vile esteem upon the Law; let them do what they will, yet God will magnify his Law; and as it is great in the thoughts of God, so it is and shall be for ever great in the thoughts of the Saints, the Lord will have his people to the end of the world have high thoughts of his Law. The Saints they look upon the Law of God so great, as they had rather suffer all the miseries and torments that any man in the world, any tyrant can devise, than willingly to break the Law in any one thing; surely they account it a great matter, when a man shall be willing rather to lose his estate, and liberty, yes, and life, to suffer tortures and torments, and all because he will not offend the Law of God in any one thing, though he might escape all if he would. No, says a gracious heart, Let all go rather than I will venture to break the Law of God in any one thing, surely he looks upon the Law of God as very great. Men of the world think them to be fools, and why will you be content to suffer so much, lose all your friends? What, venture to lose your estates which have such a fair way of living as you have? What venture a prison, and venture your life? The world thinks they are but little things and trifles, and men are more precise than wise, and they need not trouble themselves so much. If God would but show to you how great a thing his Law is, and all the threatenings which are revealed therein, you would account your estates, and lives and all your comforts as little and poor in comparison of that Law. Hence in (Revelation 6:9), I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. Therefore were they slain? Surely it was for some great matter that they would venture their lives, it was for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And thus the Saints of God have ever accounted the Law of God a great thing. I have written to them the great things of my Law.

Hence from what has been said we may have these notes for observation.

Here are objects in the Word for men of the greatest spirits to exercise themselves about. Many men's spirits are raised up and cannot endure to spend their thoughts and time about small matters; and you shall have some men's spirits are so low that they think it happiness enough if they can be employed in a gutter and get six pence or twelve pence a day to find them bread at night; but others have great spirits. Oh! let all those who have aspiring spirits, and great spirits, let them exercise themselves much in the Law of God, here are objects fit for great spirits, that will greaten our spirits. And indeed there are no men in the world have great spirits, but the Saints they have great spirits, for they exercise themselves in the great counsels of God. We account those men to be men of the greatest spirits that are employed in state-affairs: now the Saints they are lifted up above all things in the world, and they look at all these things as little and mean, and they are exercised in the great affairs of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Hence it is that the Lord would have Kings to have the book of the Law written, and the Judges; and it is reported of Alphonsus King of Arragon that in the midst of all his great affairs of his Kingdom, he read over the Scriptures fourteen times with commentaries upon them. How many have we, men of great estates, and seem to be of great spirits that scarce mind the Law of God, they look upon the Law of God as under them; it may be if they can have a book of history and wars, they will be reading over that, but for the Scripture it is a thing that has little in it.

Another note, it is a special means of obedience to have high thoughts of God's law, to convince and humble them for their disobedience: for that's the reason why the Prophet here speaks thus: I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were accounted as a strange thing. As if he should say, If they had had the things of my law to have been high in their thoughts, they would never have done as they have done (Psalm 119:129). Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore does my soul keep them: I have high thoughts of your testimonies, I look upon them as glorious things, I see much of your self in your testimonies, and therefore does my soul keep them. He does not say, therefore do I keep them; but therefore does my soul keep them, Oh my very soul is in this, in keeping your testimonies, for I look upon them as wonderful things. It's a good sign of the Spirit of the great God in a man when it does raise him above other things, to look upon the things of his Word as the only great things that are in the world. All flesh is grass (says the Scripture) but the Word of God endures for ever; there is a vanity in all things of the world, but in that which the Word reveals, Oh! there is an eternity there; we should therefore admire at nothing so as at the Word, and we should greatly delight in God's commandments, an ordinary admiration is not sufficient for the commands of God, for the law of God, nor an ordinary delight is not sufficient, but great admiration, and great delight there should be in the law of God. And all things that are taken from God's law should be great arguments to prevail with you: it may be there comes such and such temptations to draw you to such and such evils, and you say, they are strong temptations. But that which is in the law, that should be a greater argument, there is that which is greater in God's law than there can be in any temptation whatever. Therefore know, it is a dangerous thing for men and women to look at any thing in God's law as a little thing, so as to despise it, and to think it is no great matter though we do such and such things, though we should go from the rule of the Word a little, what great matter is it? Are we not all sinners? (Proverbs 13:13) Whoever despises the Word, shall be destroyed. That is: looks upon any thing in God's Word as a light thing. It was a speech of one that should say when he was convinced of a thing that was evil, That he must make bold with God Almighty sometimes. Do not you make bold with God's Word and secretly jeer at those that are so nice they cannot venture a little? Remember this text in Proverbs 13:13: whoever despises the Word shall be destroyed; take the least thing that you think so despicable in God's law, and you will venture upon it, but God will make it a great matter, for when you have broke the law in the least thing all the angels in heaven and men in the world cannot satisfy God for that wrong; if they should come and say, Lord, here's a poor creature that has broken your law but in this one thing that he thought to be a little matter, we are content to be ten thousand years in torments to satisfy for your law. No, says God, this will not do it. Therefore take heed of despising God's law, or despising any thing that is revealed by him, for certainly it will prove a great matter, and when the law has been broken let us not think it is a little matter, that it is but a Lord have mercy upon me at the last.

Again, the Prophet is convincing them of false worship, and upon this ground, because they would venture to make altars to worship God in another way than God revealed in his law: from there note,

That the worship of God is a great matter; every thing in God's worship is to be looked at as a great matter: they may think it a matter of indifference whether they do it or no, at least in some things; my brethren, let us learn to know that every thing in the worship of God is a great matter, God looks much upon it, God does not say, that he is jealous for any thing, but for his worship. Uzzah he thought it a little matter for him to go and catch the Ark, and especially having a good intention: it's true, the law of God is, that it should be carried upon men's shoulders, but may it not as well be carried in a cart? He thought it but a little matter, but it proved a great matter. So, that which we think little in God's worship is a great matter. So Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26, no question he thought it no great matter to go into the temple and offer sacrifice, Is it not as good that a king offer it as a priest? It was in the temple, and the true worship, and Uzziah because he was a great man he thought he might venture, for there you find that he had an army of three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred soldiers; a great captain. And Nadab and Abihu no question they thought it no great matter to go and offer strange fire, and it has not been forbidden in God's Word, this fire; but it was a great matter before God, for God came with fire from heaven to destroy them. Hence it is that God in his Word would set out the glory of his worship, to that end that he might take off men's hearts from all false worship, he would have them to think the matters of his worship great things that so they might not have their hearts taken with any false worship (Ezekiel 7:20). The beauty of his ornament he set in majesty, (and hereby God aggravates their sin of idolatry, Oh my worship and service I made it as beautiful and glorious as could be) but they worshiped their images, their detestable things. So in Jeremiah 17:12, a glorious high throne from the beginning of our sanctuary. Mark what follows, All that forsake you, shall be ashamed, and they that depart from you shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. As if God should say, Oh vile hearts of men when there is such a glorious worship of mine that I present to them, yet they turn even to their own vile inventions, and not regard that glorious worship of mine. I beseech you brethren labor to look upon God's worship as a glorious thing. But now the reprehension that follows.