Psalms 119

Quest. How Christ teaches? Resp. 1. Externally, by his word (Psalm 119:105): Your word is a lamp to my feet. Such as pretend to have a light or revelation above the word, or contrary to it, never had their teaching from Christ (Isaiah 8:20).

In affliction there is aliquid boni, some good. In this lion there is some honey to be found (Psalm 119:71). It is good for me that I was afflicted.

2. True child-like obedience is uniform: A child of God makes conscience of one command as well as another: Quicquid propter Deum fit aequaliter fit. All God's commands have the same stamp of divine authority upon them; and if I obey one precept because my heavenly Father comman…

Is it any injustice in God by afflicting his people, to make them partakers of his holiness (Hebrews 12:10)? What does more proclaim God's faithfulness, than to take such a course with them as may make them better (Psalm 119:75)? In faithfulness you have corrected me.

3. The third visible sign: He who loves God, hates that which would separate between him and God, and that is sin: Sin makes God hide his face; it is like an incendiary which parts chief friends. Therefore the keenness of a Christian's hatred is set against sin (Psalm 119:128):…

Elijah's prayer fetched fire from heaven, because being fervent it carried fire up to heaven: Quicquid decorum ex Fide proficiscitur, Augustine. 3. Obedience must be extensive; it must reach to all God's commands (Psalm 119:6). Then shall I not be ashamed — or as it is in the He…

You worship you know not what: They were ignorant of the true God; let your knowledge of God be clear, and serve him purely out of choice, and then you will persevere. (Psalm 119:30) I have chosen the way of truth, I have stuck to your testimonies. Secondly, Get a real work of g…

Eve gave more credit to the devil when he spoke, than she did to God. 5. If God spoke all these words, then love the commandments (Psalm 119:97). O how I love your law!

2. Wherein our choosing of God consists: It is an act of mature deliberation; a Christian having viewed the superlative excellencies in God, and being stricken into a holy admiration of his perfections, he singles out God from all other objects to set his heart upon: He says as…

Though it is true, there is nothing in an image to tempt; for if we pray to an image, it cannot hear, and if we pray to God by an image, he will not hear; I say there is nothing to tempt; yet we know not our own hearts, or how soon we may be drawn to vanity, if God leave us; the…

In Paul, we might see both the picture and pattern of a mortified man. He that loves God, uses the world, but chooses God; the world is his pension, but God is his portion (Psalm 119:57). The world does busy him, but God does delight and satisfy him.

2. Our keeping the Commandments must be uniform. We must make conscience of one Commandment as well as another (Psalm 119:6): Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all your Commandments. Every Commandment has a Ius divinum, the same stamp of divine authority upon i…

1. He is holy in his nature; his very being is made up of holiness, as light is of the essence of the sun. 2. He is holy in his Word; the Word bears a stamp of his holiness upon it, as the wax bears an impression of the seal (Psalm 119:140): "Your word is very pure;" it is compa…

All laws and edicts of men have had their corruptions, but the Word of God has not the least tincture, it is of a meridian splendor. (Psalm 119:140) Your word is very pure, like wine that comes from the grape, which is not mixed or adulterated. It is so pure, that it purifies ev…

The Apostle says, All Scripture is of divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16). God's Word is compared to a lamp, for its enlightening quality (Psalm 119:105), and to silver refined, for its enriching quality (Psalm 12:6). Among other parts of sacred writ, this in the text is not the…

Quest. 6. Wherein lies the dignity of such as have God for their Father? Resp. They have greater honor than is conferred on the princes of the earth; They are precious in God's esteem; (Isaiah 43:4) Since you were precious in my eyes, you have been honorable; the wicked are dros…

He who is sanctified has the influence of the Spirit, though not the essence. Third sign of sanctification is an antipathy against sin (Psalm 119:104). A hypocrite may leave sin, yet love it; as a serpent casts its coat but keeps its sting: but a sanctified person can say, he no…

(Jeremiah 15:16) Your words were found and I ate them, they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. (Psalm 119:103) How sweet are your words to my taste, indeed, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Indeed, love that word which comes most home to the conscience.

Thirdly, God supplies our wants, and shall not we supply the wants of others? We could not live without mercy. God makes every creature helpful to us. The sun does enrich us with its golden beams: The earth yields us its increase, veins of gold, crops of corn, store of flowers.…

(14.) Get a delight in the Word of God. Psalms 119:123: How sweet is your Word to my taste! St. Chrysostom compares God's Word to a garden.

Gr. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], I take pleasure in it. O how love I your law! (Psalm 119:97). Though a Christian cannot keep God's law, yet he loves his law.

The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy: mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness (Psalm 33:5; Psalm 119:64). So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy.

13. We obtain the kingdom of heaven by uniform and cheerful obedience; obedience is the road through which we travel to heaven; many say they love God, but refuse to obey him; does he love the prince's person who slights his commands? (1.) Obedience must be uniform (Psalm 119:6)…

1. When we mourn that we can do God's will no better, when we fail we weep (Romans 7:24). 2. When it is the desire of our soul to do God's whole will (Psalm 119:5): O that my ways were directed to keep your precepts. What a child of God wants in strength, he makes up in desire,…

2. In the new creature there must be a detestation of old things; as one would detest a garment in which is the plague. It is not enough to be angry with sin; but we must hate it (Psalm 119:163). I hate and abhor lying.

Though he was a man after God's own heart, yet we meet with him often complaining as one who was frequently in these desertions. Among other times, once in Psalm 119:25, 28 where his soul clings to the dust and is at death's door — for he says, 'Quicken me,' meaning in regard to…

Abraham's faith justified him before God, but his obedience justified his faith: obedience, saith Samuel, 1 Samuel 25:22-23, is better than sacrifice: but disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft. Therefore let all Christians approve their faith by their obedience, hanging on Go…

Yea, when men wander from God by an evil way, these afflictions are means to call them home to GOD. Psalm 119:67: Before I was afflicted I went astray. And they that forsake their sin and return to GOD in the time of affliction, are certainly God's people: for, the wicked man fr…

But especially, the Judgments of God have been always entertained of God's children with much reverence and admiration. Blessed David says, My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Judgments, Psalm 119:120. How would this noble King have trembled and been afra…

David knew this well, and therefore he prays, Oh, knit my heart unto thee, that I may fear thy name, Psalm 86.11. And again, he prays that the Lord would not forsake him overlong, Psalm 119.8; as if he should say, if it be thy pleasure to try me by leaving me to myself: yet, O L…

Judah's captivity in Babylon, was for their good. Psalm 119.71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Which Text, like Moses his Tree, cast into the bitter waters of affliction, may make them sweet and wholesome to drink of.

6. Sin puts the soul upon self-reforming. A child of God does not only find out sin, but drive out sin; one foot he sets upon the neck of his sins, and the other foot he turns to God's Testimonies, Psalm 119.59. Thus the sins of the Godly work for good; God makes the Saints' Mal…

Put a match to a heap of gunpowder, on a sudden it will be all on a flame; and as long as we add matter to the fire, it burns: so by nature we are most ready to sin, so soon as the least occasion is given. David had experience of this when he prayed, Knit my heart to you, O Lord…

4. The fourth is the ungodliness and the innumerable wants that be in our lives, and the sins committed in the world. Psalm 119:136. My eyes (says David) gush out with rivers of water, because men keep not your laws. The reason is, because he which lives in sin, reproaches God's…

This desire is insatiable, and men that have enough would still have more. Wherefore he which shall use this petition must be grieved for this sin, and pray with David (Psalm 119:36): Incline my heart to your commandments, and not to covetousness. And he must sorrow, not so much…

Lastly, those which have been impenitent sinners through all their life past, must not only learn to repent for their sins; but also endeavor to perform obedience to God's word. God is a creator, and the thing created should in all respects be conformable to his will: for David…

Question 4: What is the time appointed for prayer? Answer: Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), that is, upon all occasions: or when a man begins any business, whether it be in word or deed (Colossians 3:17): or as Daniel, who prayed three times every day (Daniel 6:11): or a…

A swine may see an acorn under the tree, but it cannot see a star. David being divinely illuminated, grew wiser than his teachers (Psalm 119:99). A righteous man is wise:

Secondly, this uprightness stands in a constant purpose, endeavor, and care to keep not some few but all and every commandment of the law of God. As David says in Psalm 119:6: Then should I not be confounded, when I have respect to all your commandments. And this endeavor is a f…

The Scripture says in sundry places, that men are blessed which do good works. (Psalm 119:1) Blessed is the man that is upright in heart, and walks in the law of the Lord. Answer: The man is blessed that endeavors to keep God's commandments.

He that is bound may further bind himself, so it be to help his dulness for want of zeal, and to make himself more forward in duties of love to men and the worship of God. To this end David swore to keep the law of God in Psalm 119:106, though he was bound to it by nature and by…

In Romans 1:21, it is put for the understanding: their foolish heart — that is, their foolish understanding — was darkened. And in Psalm 119:11, it is put for the memory: 'Your word have I hid in my heart.' And in 1 John 3:20, it is put for the conscience, which has in it both t…

Whatever God does with us or ours, still we should maintain good thoughts of him. A gracious heart cleaves nearer and nearer to God in affliction, and can justify God in his severest strokes, acknowledging them to be all just and holy (Psalm 119:75), I know also that your judgme…

The last word of his prayer is, Turn me and I shall be turned, or convert me, and I shall be converted; he sees that when all is done, he must cleanse his hands and leave the matter to God, I cannot, but you can work the work, and it ends sweetly in words of faith, for you are t…

Because, as John says, there is not a consistency between the love of God, and the love of the world in the heart, and therefore it is the watchful care of a poor believer, to keep out inordinate love of the world, and of these things that the heart is given to go a-whoring afte…

Which is as necessary to the soul, as food is to the belly. How often has David such a suit to God, when he says (Psalm 119): Open my eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of your law; teach me your statutes, etc. He thought no shame to pray for knowledge; sure if we prayed m…

If it should here be said, why may not saints pray for afflictions, since they seem to be promised in the Covenant of Grace, as (Psalm 89:30-32), (Hosea 2:6-7 and verse 14); And since God has graciously promised to bless all the afflictions of his people, and to make them turn t…

Third, in urging this doctrine more hardly upon the people, to cause them not to rest on the letter of the law, but seek to the promised Messiah, in whom only was their righteousness — as young heirs and minors are kept under tutors while their minority expires. But, first, who…

Position 1. Drawing is relative to running and walking (Song of Solomon 1:4). Now this is rather in acts of Sanctification, and in running in the ways of God's commandments (Psalm 119:32), than in Justification, though coming goes for an act of believing and approaching to Chris…

He does all, in inviting sick sinners to come and drink life and salvation at Christ the Fountain of life, which expresses with men who speak as they think, their sincere intention, but he intends no such thing. Answer. Make the comparison run as it should do, and it makes more…