Sermon 51
Psalm 119:45. And I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts.
The copulative in the front of the text shows some dependence which the words have upon the former. His last request was, verse 43, for an opportunity and heart to own the ways of God. His arguments are: 1. His present hope, in the end of that verse. 2. His perseverance in obedience, verse 44. Now, 3. The freedom of his heart in that continued course of obedience. A free and open confession of the truth may seem to cast us into bonds and straits; but yet it gives us liberty. The truth sets free (John 8:32). If it bring the body under fetters, yet it enlarges the heart. We never have greater freedom than when we are pleasing God, though at our bitter cost. I will walk at liberty, non in angustiis timoris, sed in latitudine dilectionis, not straitened by fear, but set at large by love. I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts. In the words observe: 1. David's privilege — And I will walk at liberty. 2. The ground of it — For I seek your precepts.
The points are two. First doctrine: To walk in the way of God's precepts is to walk at liberty. Second doctrine: The more we take care to do so, the more we find this liberty. I seek — that notes an earnest diligence. Both these points will be made good by these three considerations: 1. The way of God's precepts is in itself liberty. 2. There is a liberty given to walk in that way. 3. Upon walking in that way, we find it liberty.
1. The way of God's precepts is liberty. Therefore his law is called a law of liberty (James 1:25). No such freedom as in God's service; and, on the contrary, no such bondage as to be held with the cords of our own sin. (2 Peter 2:19) While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. A liberty to do all we please is the greatest bondage. There are three pairs of notions in which men are extremely mistaken: in misery and happiness, wisdom and folly, liberty and bondage. Men think none miserable but the afflicted, and none happy but the prosperous; because they judge by the present ease and commodity of the flesh. Therefore Christ in his Sermon on the Mount makes it his drift to undeceive the world, to show that the mourners and the persecuted, the pure and the meek, they are the happy men (Matthew 5). So in the notions of wisdom and folly the world are mistaken. Man, that is an intelligent creature, affects the reputation of wisdom, and would rather be accounted wicked than weak. But how do they mistake? He is the wise man in their account, that can carry on his worldly business with success. They judge of wisdom and folly not by the concerns of the other world, but by present interests. Therefore the whole drift of the Scripture is to make us wise to salvation (2 Timothy 3:15), to call us off from secular wisdom, and to teach us to become fools that we may be wise. So they are out in the notions of liberty and bondage. All men desire liberty, especially from tyranny and base servitude; and so far they do well in the general. But then they think that is only liberty, to do what they please; and so the more they think to be, and labor to be free in a carnal way, the more slaves they are. The service of God, and strict walking with him, they count a very prison and thraldom; and therefore cry out of bonds and yokes and cords (Psalm 2:3): Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us; and are impatient of any restraint. Whereas on the other side, to do what we please without check or control, and to speak what we please, and think what we please, this they think the only freedom. Our tongues are our own, who is Lord over us? Whereas indeed he lives the freest life, that lies under the bonds of duty, that makes conscience of praying and praising God, and conversing and walking with him in a course of holiness; and the true liberty is in walking in God's statutes. So that true bondage and liberty is little or nothing at all known and discerned in the world. To make this evident to you: 1. I shall prove that carnal liberty is but thraldom. 2. That the true liberty is in the ways of God.
1. That [reconstructed: carnal] liberty [reconstructed: is] but thraldom. To understand this, I must lay down one proposition, that conduces to cure the great mistake about liberty and bondage: that liberty is not potestas vivendi ut velis, a power to live as we please; no, it is to live as we ought, potestas volendi quod lex divina jubet. The life and spirit of liberty lies in that, a power to do what we ought, not a power to do what we will. Ever since we drank in that poison, You shall be as Gods (Genesis 3:5), man affects a dominion over himself, and would be Lord of his own actions, sui juris, at his own dispose do what he pleases. Indeed if we had a perfect holy understanding to guide us, the danger would not be so great; but now it is the greatest misery that can befall a man to be at his own dispose, to do lawlessly what he will. Therefore God's fearful and dreadful judgment, after all other courses tried, is to give up men to the sway of their own hearts, to do what they please (Psalm 81:12): So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels; to be left to our brutish affections. But to prove it.
1. That which infringes a man's liberty, that hinders and disables him from prosecuting his great end, which is to be truly happy: Now thus does the carnal life; and therefore this is true and perfect bondage. Though men live in their bonds with as much delight as fishes in their own element, yet that does not alter the case, they are slaves for all that; They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh (Romans 8:5). They seem to live at large, but indeed they are in a spiritual prison, they cannot use the means that should make them happy. They employ their whole time in the remote subservient helps to a happy life, in pleasures, and honors, and profits; as dissolute and carnal factors and servants, who finding contentment at the first inn they come at, spend most of their time and money there, which should be spent at the fairs and mart for which they are bound. Pleasure, and delight, and contentment of mind and body, is a remote subservient help; so competency of wealth, and some place wherein we may glorify God: these things are not to be desired for themselves, nor in any great measure; but subordinately, in order to our great end. Now when they entice and detain our affections, and we cannot look after our great end, they break our liberty; for the less power we have to do that which we should desire to do, the more slaves are we.
2. That which disorders the constitution of the soul, and puts reason out of dominion, that certainly is spiritual bondage and thraldom. Now when the base prevail above the honorable, it is a sign a country is enthralled; where beggars are on horseback, and princes walk on foot. Or as it is monstrous in the body, if the head be there where the feet should be, and the feet where the head should be; such a deordination is there in the soul, when the affections carry it, and lust takes the throne instead of reason (Titus 3:3) — serving various lusts and pleasures. When a man yields up himself to his own desires, he becomes a proper servant (Romans 6:16): Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? Now man rightly constituted, his actions are thus governed: The understanding and conscience prescribe to the will; the will, according to right reason and conscience, moves the affections; the affections, according to the command and counsel of the will, move the bodily spirits and members of the body. But by corruption there is a manifest inversion and change; pleasures affect the senses, the senses corrupt the phantasy, phantasy moves the bodily spirits, they the affections; and by their violence the will is carried captive, man blinded, and so man goes on headlong to his own destruction. The corrupt passions are like wild horses, that do not obey the driver, but draw to precipices for his destruction: Therefore Basil of Seleucia calls a carnal man a slave, that runs after the chariots of his own passions and corrupt affections.
3. Consider the great tyranny and power of sin; it leaves us no right and power to dispose of ourselves and our actions, and so men cannot help themselves when they would; as is sensible in them that are convinced of better, and do worse: they see what they should do, but do not do it, being drawn away by their own lusts. Video meliora, proboque, Deteriora sequor. Sin has gotten such a deep interest in their actions, and command over their affections, that they cannot leave what they know to be naught, or follow that which they conceive to be good. And this bondage is more sensible in them that have some kind of remorse and trouble with their convictions, either from temporal inconvenience, shame, or loss; and yet cannot leave their lusts, and so in despair resolve to go on, and make the best of it (Jeremiah 18:12): And they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. (Jeremiah 2:25) You have said, there is no hope; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. Indeed further, that have a kindly remorse from the conviction of the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:18): I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, thus, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. And so Paul (Romans 7:14): I am carnal, sold under sin.
4. Consider how this bondage is always increased by custom, which is a second nature, or an inveterate disease not easily cured (Jeremiah 13:23): Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. The more he continues in this course, the less able to help himself; the more he sins, the more he is enthralled to sin; as a nail, the more it is knocked, the more it is fastened in the wood. First a man yields up himself to sin as a servant by covenant (Romans 6:16): Know you not, to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; that is, gives up his principal time, actions, and employments. Then a servant by conquest (2 Peter 2:19): While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. A sinner is under the dominion of sin as an hired servant and a captive: We first willingly, and by our own default, run into it, and after cannot rid ourselves of it. Ligatus eram non ferro alieno, sed mea ferrea voluntate; velle meum tenebat inimicus, & me mihi catenam fecerat, & constrinxerat me: Lord, I am bound, not with iron, but with an obstinate will; I gave my will to my enemy, and he made a chain of it to bind me, and keep me from you. Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est libido, & dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo, & dum consuetudo non resistitur facta est necessitas. Augustine, Confessions, book 8, chapter 5. A perverse will gave way to lustings, and lustings made way for a custom, and a custom let alone brought a necessity upon me, that I can do nothing but sin against you. And after that, Reformidam quasi mortem consuetudinis mutationem. Augustine, Confessions, book 8, chapter 7. Thus are we by little and little enslaved, brought under the power of every toy. Things are lawful, as subordinate helps; but we, contrary to the law of reason, and the inclinations to true happiness, immoderately desire them; and these desires being excessive, get a complete victory over our souls: and at length we are brought under the power of every creature (1 Corinthians 6:12): All things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
5. There is one thing more that makes the carnal life to be a mere slavery; and that is, the fear and terror which does arise from the consciousness of sin; the fear of death, and damnation, and wrath to come, which dogs sin at the heels. When Adam sinned, he was afraid (Genesis 3:7). And carnal men are all their lifetime subject to bondage, through the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). There is a fire smothering in the bosom of a sinner, and sometimes it flashes out in actual gripes and horrors, they have grievous damps of heart; so that sinners are so far bondmen, that they dare not seriously call themselves to an account for the expence of their time and employments, which every one should do; nor think seriously of death, or God's judgment, or Hell. He that is always under the check of a cruel master, cannot be said to be a freeman: Now so is every man that is not in Christ, let him be however great, and mighty, and powerful, he is [in non-Latin alphabet], subject to bondage, in danger of hidden fears easily awakened in his heart. Well then, call you this a free life? As jolly and jocund as wicked men seem to be, or as great as they are, it is a liberty of the flesh taken by men, not given by God; the quietness of the flesh, but bane of the soul.
2. On the contrary, the true liberty is in the ways of God.
1. There we are directed how to attain to our great end, which is true blessedness (Matthew 7:14): Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to life, and few there be that find it. A way of sin seems broad and easy to the flesh, but it is strait and hard to the spirit; and the way of duty strait and narrow to the flesh, but, because it is to life, it is broad to the spirit, or new nature. I shall walk at liberty. To a renewed heart the divine commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3), for by this means they come to enjoy God, and walk to their own happiness, and attain to the end for which they were made. A poor heart goes home cheerfully.
2. In loving, fearing, praising, serving God, the noblest faculties are exercised, in the noblest and most regular way of operation: the soul is in the right temper and constitution; they are the highest actions of the highest faculties, elevated by the highest principles, about the highest objects. The objects are God, Christ, Heaven, the great things of eternity. The principles are the love and fear of God, the faculties, understanding, and will, not sensitive appetite; these exercised in thinking of God, and choosing of God.
2. The second part of the demonstration is, that there is liberty given to walk in that way. Ever since Adam's Fall every man is a spiritual slave, under the dominion and power of sin and Satan, and the curse of the law: but now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17), true Christian liberty, or a power given us to walk familiarly with God, and cheerfully and comfortably in his service. By grace a man is freed, 1. From the yoke of oppressing fears: And, 2. The tyranny of commanding lusts.
1. We are freed from the bondage of sin (Romans 8:2): The law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, has made us free from the law of sin and death. John 8:36: If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. There is a liberty in that which is good (Psalm 119:32): I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge my heart.
2. We are freed from those doubts and fears and terrors which accompanied the state of sin (Job 36:8): If they be bound in fetters, and be held in the cords of afflictions. Job 13:27: You put my feet also in the stocks. Lamentations 3:7: He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out; he has made my chain heavy: so that the meaning is, I shall walk at liberty, be cheerful and enlarged in heart; for I seek your precepts.
3. There is liberty in that walking: It is the fruit of strictness. There is a twofold liberty.
1. Outward Deliverances out of Straits and Afflictions (Psalm 118:5): I called upon the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place: And (Psalm 18:19): He brought me forth also into a large place, he delivered me because he delighted in me. So (Psalm 4:1): You have enlarged me when I was in distress. Affliction is compared to a prison, where the poor afflicted creature is as it were confined, committed by God, and must not break prison, come out by the window, but the door. When we are let out by God upon submission and supplication, urging the satisfaction of Christ; as we are sent there by God's authority, so we come out by God's love. Now God does this for those that obey him, as all those places manifest.
2. Inward Confidence. [illegible], says Chrysostom on the text; an holy life is the ground of liberty, and holy boldness. (1 John 3:9): If our hearts condemn us not, then have we liberty towards God: we have delight, and pleasure, and contentment. Till we defile conscience, we have a great deal of boldness and courage against opposition, indeed, a boldness to go to God himself, who otherwise is a consuming fire.
Use 1. Is to take off that prejudice that we have against the ways of God, as if they were strait and hard, and not to be endured. Oh no, all God's ways are for our good. (Deuteronomy 6:24): The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always. And the duties that he requires of us are honorable, and comfortable; we never walk more at large, than when we have a conscience of them. Man acts like himself, when he is holy, just, temperate, sober, humble. Grace puts all things in the right frame and posture again: it puts reason in dominion, and makes us kings in governing our own hearts; and this breeds sweetness and peace. Pax est tranquillitas ordinis; when all things keep their place, then is there peace. As when the humors of the body are in order, and the spirits move tunably, there is a cheerfulness that follows; so the fruit of righteousness is peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. If a man had no rule to guide him, and God had left him without a law, yet if he were well in his wits, he would prefer the duties which he has enjoined before liberty, and of his own accord choose to live according to such an institution; there is such a suitableness in all those things to the reasonable nature. What do men aim at, pleasure, honor, or profit? For pleasure, (Proverbs 3:17): Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. None have such a sweet life, as they that live virtuously, and as God has commanded. All the sensualists in the world have not such a dainty dish to feed on, as they that have a good conscience: they have a continual feast, that never cloys: you never come away from your sports with such a merry heart, as they come away from the throne of grace. If men would consider their experiences after the discharge of their duties, and when straying to carnal delights, after saddest duties there is a serenity in the conscience. Who ever repented of his repentance? (1 Samuel 1:18): Hannah went her way, and did eat and drink, and her spirit was no more sad. Prayer gives ease, but sensual pleasures leave remorse, and a sting. If you count liberty to consist in hunting after honors, and great places, can there be a greater honor than to serve God? Who has the better service, he that attends on the uncertain will of men, indeed of the greatest princes, or he that waits on the Lord? Your work is more noble, (Proverbs 12:26): The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor. What an unprofitable drudgery is the service of the greatest prince in the world, in comparison of the work of a poor Christian, that lives in communion with God? We serve a greater Prince, and on surer terms. Then for profit, where is there more gain, as to our benefits and wages, than in God's service? Well then, he that lives holily has much the sweeter and happier life, than they that serve covetousness, ambition, or any other lust. Certainly this should persuade us to put our neck under Christ's yoke; it is [illegible] (Matthew 11:29): His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. If it be grievous, it is to the flesh; and we have no reason to indulge the flesh, (Romans 8:7): The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. The command to an unsound conscience, is as a light burden laid on a sore back. Men that are soaked in pleasures, are incompetent judges of the sweetness of the heavenly life. On the other side, what a miserable servitude is there in sin? How disabled for their great end, for which they were created? Corruption is an imperious master, it will not suffer us to hear good things, to be there where good things are spoken, to accompany them that are good: it has them in so strait a custody, they hate the means of their recovery. They have many masters, Quot habet Dominos qui unum habere non vult? (Titus 3:3): For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, serving diverse lusts and pleasures. And (James 4:1): From where come wars and fightings among you? Come they not from here, even of your lusts, that war in your members? One lust draws one way, another another way; covetousness, voluptuousness, ambition, uncleanness; as when two seas meet. We have little reason to envy them for their free life, pity them rather. How do their brutish affections hurry them? What pains, aches in the body, wounds in the conscience, how many secret gripes and scourges? No such subjection, no slave so subject to the will of his lord, as a man to his lusts and sinful desires, will speak, think nothing but what sin commands. It is a besotting slavery; wicked men remain in this bondage with a kind of pleasure. Galley-slaves would fain be free, wish for liberty: Israel was in bondage in Egypt, but they groaned under it; the cry of the children of Israel is come up to me. Here men loathe to come out of their slavery, and are enemies to those that would help them out. Their work is hard and oppressive, loss of name, health, estate: they tire their spirits, rack their brains, and after all their drudging are cast into Hell.
Use 2. Do we walk at liberty?
1. There was a time when we served sin; but being converted, we change masters (Romans 6:18): "Being made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness." If there be such a change, it will discover itself. 1. You will do as little service for sin, as formerly for righteousness (Romans 6:20): "When you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness" — righteousness had no share in your time, thoughts, cares; you made no conscience of doing good, took no care of it: so now you do as little for sin. 2. Positively do as much for grace, as formerly for sin (verse 19): "As you yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, to iniquity; so now yield your members servants to righteousness, to holiness" — as watchful, as earnest, as industrious to perfect holiness, as formerly to commit sin. It is but equal. He that has been servant to a hard and cruel master, is thereby fitted to be diligent and faithful in the service of a loving, gentle, and bountiful master. You can judge what a tyrant sin was; shall not grace have as much power over you now, and will you not do as much for God as for your lusts?
2. What do you complain of as the task and yoke, the strictness of the law, or the relics of corruption? (Romans 8:7) "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be" — compared with (1 John 5:3): "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." What is a bondage, sin or duty? Is the commandment grievous, or indwelling sin? The apostle was complaining, but of what? The purity of the law? No, but the power of indwelling corruption, the body of death (Romans 7:24): "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" Which do your hearts rise against?
3. What freedom? (Luke 1:74-75) "That you being delivered out of the hands of your enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of your lives." If you are enslaved to any one lust, you cannot walk at large. Are your [reconstructed: shackles] and fetters knocked off? Have you that free spirit? (Psalm 51:11-12) "Do not cast me away from your presence, do not take your holy Spirit from me; restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your free spirit."
