Psalms 14

So that there is a necessity of having God for our God, unless we intend to be eternally espoused to misery. Use 1. If we must have one God, and the Lord Jehovah for our God, it condemns the atheist who has no God (Psalm 14:1): The fool has said in his heart there is no God. The…

He that says there is no God, is the wickedest creature that is, he is worse than a thief, who does but take away our goods from us, but the atheist would take away our God from us: (John 20) They have taken away my Lord. So we may say of atheists, they would take away our God f…

When a man commits a sin he is the Devil's lackey, and runs on his errand, they who serve Satan have such a bad master, that they will be afraid to receive their wages. 7. Sin is an unsavory thing (Psalm 14:3). They are altogether become filthy, in the Hebrew, neelachu — they ar…

Q. What may be thought of those accusations, and terrors of conscience, that sometimes are found in men, upon the committing of heinous sins, though known to no man living, but to the sinner himself? A. This also is another testimony that there is a God, before whose judgment se…

(1) A full purpose of heart for the relinquishment of every sin. This is cleaving to the Lord with purpose of heart (Acts 11:23; Psalm 14:3). To manifest the stability and steadfastness which is required herein, David confirmed it with an oath (Psalm 119:106).

And this is the commendation of it, that it makes no delays but brings forth in its proper time and season, when its owners and tillers have just ground and reason to expect and look for it. And it is an especial commendation of any thing that bears fruit; and what is out of sea…

1 Corinthians 1:2. To them that are sanctified by Jesus Christ, saints by calling, with all that call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And contrariwise, Psalms 14:4. it is made one of the properties of an Atheist, Never to call on the name of God. And such persons as neithe…

Nothing is more conducible to beget a trust, than distinct thoughts and conceptions of God's Mercy. Let us take notice of some places where 'tis set forth: See Psalm 103:8, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy: the expression is diversified; a…

The mariners in Jonah implored his mercy in their distress at sea, yet they generally attributed affairs to blind chance, and worshipped Fortune as a deity. For this vain conceit, the Psalmist calls the atheist fool (Psalm 14:1): "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.…

(Acts 9:14) He has authority to bind all that call on your name; (1 Corinthians 1:2) to them that are sanctified by Jesus Christ, saints by calling, with all that call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And contrariwise, (Psalm 14:4) it is made one of the properties of an ath…

'Tis abundantly represented in Scripture as the spirit and character of all true saints, that they set their hearts upon, love, long, wait and pray for the promised glory of that day; they are spoken of as those that prefer Jerusalem to their chief joy (Psalm 137:6), that take p…

It is thus from age to age and generation to generation, which shows God's goodness on his part, and the enmity on man's part. See to this purpose (Psalm 14 and 53), the beginning of each. 3. Consider the forbearance of God towards you, while you are continually at mercy.

In this we should delight and grow as the chiefest knowledge (Jeremiah 9:23, 24). Here is forbidden, first atheism, to persuade our heart there is no such true God in heaven (Psalm 14:1; Exodus 5:2); mockers of him and his works (2 Peter 3:4, 5, etc.); those that oppose themselv…

Indeed, the law was a severer teacher to awe the saints, in regard of the outward dispensation of ceremonies and legal strictness, keeping men as criminals in close prison until Christ should come. But imputation of Christ's righteousness, and blessedness in the pardon of sin, a…

(Genesis 21:6) All that hear shall laugh with me — Sarah means the laughter of faith; then must all that hear of Sarah's bearing of Isaac in her old age, believe in Christ, as Sarah did? (Psalm 65:2) O you that hears prayer, to you shall all flesh come — a figure there must be i…

When he looked on it altogether, behold it was exceeding good; but afterwards man, the ungrateful part of the creation, though the masterpiece of it, in this visible and lower world, fell from God his Creator, and preferred the creature before him, to his loss and ruin; then God…

They that have no worship, are as if they had no God. The Psalmist proves atheism by that (Psalm 14:1): The fool has said in his heart there is no God, and verse 4, They call not upon God. The acknowledgement of a king does imply subjection to his laws; so does the acknowledgmen…

Thirdly, here we see that true and spiritual invocation of God, is a mark of the Church of God: because it is a fruit of the spirit of God in them that are the children of God. And by this the people of God are noted (Acts 9:14; 1 Corinthians 1:2), and on the contrary, it is the…

For the word way, is taken for their estate or reasons; and hidden, is taken for contemned or unknown: because if God withholds his help but a little, we straightway think that his providence reaches not to us. Some expound it otherwise; to wit, that the people are here reproved…

Now in the next place the Prophet adds joy and gladness, whereby he signifies, that there shall be such a wonderful change, that the Church shall mourn nor lament no more: for while she was oppressed under so heavy a bondage, there was nothing heard but sighs and groans, but bei…

Thus then the Prophet shows in what estate we are, till we be regenerated by Christ: for all are wrapped up in the same condemnation: there is none righteous, no not one: there is none that understands, there is none that seeks God. They have all gone out of the way, they are al…

Those who are ill at ease, who have an inward struggle, whether God is favorable or hostile to them, whether he accepts or rejects their services,—in a word, who fluctuate in uncertainty between hope and fear, will sometimes labor anxiously in the worship of God, but never will…

It's true, if God have a purpose to destroy a man, he may for a time suffer him to succeed and prosper in his sin, for his greater hardening, Job 12:6 But it is not so with those whom the Lord loves; their sinful shits shall never thrive with them. The world prohibits your trust…

Such was he (1 Samuel 25:25): Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; that proper name is the same with the Appellative here, that's the Masculine, this the Feminine, You speak like a Nabalesse. We find the word often used elsewhere to signify wicked, worthless and vile person…

There is a vast difference between (thus says the Prophet by the Lord) and (thus says the man) and therefore where are we when our righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees? The devils believe there is one God, and they do well (James 2:19), an…

John 6:44, No man can come to me, except the Father draw him; and that is a most wicked shift of him who married a wife (Luke 14:20), therefore I cannot come; we excuse such wicked weakness with this, God help us, we cannot without his grace do better. 3. The very sinful habit a…

2. When a soul can live contentedly and joyfully and wants God, and lives fat and rejoicingly 60 or 70 years without Christ, and never missed Christ; how few know this sickness? Especially 1. The pain of hunger and thirst which is destructive to life; the fruitful earth's diseas…

He who shows mercy on whom he will, and hardens whom he will, and that by a strong mighty will which no man can resist, he can find fault with no man, though he sin and harden his own heart; for his absolute sovereign will is far above me and my strength; but so does the Lord, s…

The glorious and blessed God the great Creator and benefactor of the universe, that does good to all, and whose tender mercies are over all his works, even he is everywhere spoken against. Some deny his being: though his existence be so necessary, so evident, that if he be not,…

What those previous dispositions are and how far they go, and where is the boundary, or point of difference between them and the infusion of spiritual life, I conceive not so easily determinable. If naturalists and physicians cannot agree upon the order of [reconstructed: format…

There is a kind of being, a life that the soul has by a peculiar union with God, and therefore in that sense the soul without God is dead, as the body is without the soul (Ephesians 2:1). Indeed as the body separated from the soul is not only a lifeless lump, but putrefies, and…

Now thus to live in sin, is called to be dead in it, because in that condition man is indeed dead in respect of that divine life of the soul, that happy being which it should have in union with God, for which it was made, and without which it had better not be at all: for that l…

Christ sacrificed for us, and that only powerful to take away sin; but our gratulatory sacrifices, praise and alms are as incense burnt to God, of which as the bystanders find the sweet smell so the holy life of a Christian, smell sweet to those with whom they live, but the wick…

The Apostle, when he would describe the Ephesians by their unconverted state, describes it thus; (Ephesians 2:12). That they lived without God in the world, when God is not owned and called upon; and unless the restraints of men, the law of common education, and custom of nation…

It is one of the accusations brought against natural men, and is an aggravation of their sin. (Psalm 14:1) They do not call upon God. (Romans 3:10) it is applied to natural men.

Jeremiah 10:15. Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not upon your name, for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, &c. Psalm 14:4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as the…

Though the Wicked are high in dignity and worldly grandure, yet God slights them. A dunghil may be higher than other ground, but it sends forth noisom Vapours: Psalm 14:3. They are altogether become filthy.

When men restrain prayer, they cast off the Fear of God. It is the brand set upon a Reprobate, Psalm 14:4. He calls not upon God.

O the Mischief of Thoughts! A man may Deny God in his Thoughts, Psalm 14:1. The Fool has said in his Heart there is no God.

So long as men lie unconverted, they are wholly neglectful of him, and think they do not want God. Psalm 14:2. There is none that understands and seeks after God. They have no affection or desire of communion with God.

God is the cause of all things, and nature cannot be satisfied without him. We were made for God, and can never enjoy satisfaction until we come to enjoy him, therefore the Psalmist says (Psalm 14:2), We are all gone aside, and altogether become filthy. Nature is out of joint, w…

Doctrine 2. Divine teaching is necessary for all those that would walk in the way of God's statutes. 1. We have lost our way to true happiness, Adam lost it, and all mankind in him, ever since we have been wandering up and down (Psalm 14:3): They are all gone aside, that is, gon…

Man has reason, but to guide it to a spiritual use, that is above his power. The Psalmist complains of all natural men, There is none that understands, none that does good, to no one (Psalm 14:2) and (Romans 3:11): There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after G…

It is not enough to grant the doctrine, own the opinions that are sound and orthodox concerning God, but we must have a reverential and superlative esteem of him. All men confess a God with their mouth, and think they believe in him, but the fool has said in his heart there is n…

The beasts were made to glorify him in their kind, but man to enjoy him. This is my end, to seek after God, to please him, to serve him; (Psalm 14:2) the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. God that ha…

Proverbs 3:34: He scorns the scorners: but gives grace to the lowly. Psalm 14:6: You have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge; that is, mocked at a man, because he is resolved to trust in the Lord, laughed at those that made conscience of their duty; t…

1 Sin has darkened man's understanding: poor man is wise to do evil, but to do good has no knowledge (Jeremiah 4:22); indeed there is none that understands (namely, as, and what he ought) (Romans 3:11). All the workers of iniquity have no knowledge (Psalm 14:4). Poor man is cove…

If they think it evil, why do they but think it so? It is only because they are ashamed of it, that any body should know what they think, as (Psalm 14:1) the fool has said in his heart, there is no God: It seems he had not the hardiness nor heart to say it with his mouth; he whi…

1. Then the sinfulness of sin not only appears by, but consists in this, that it is contrary to God, yes, contrariety and enmity itself in the very abstract: Carnal men, or sinners, are called by the name of enemies to God (Romans 5:8, 10; Colossians 1:21), but the carnal mind o…

Many persons that seem to be modest and sparing as to evil words and deeds, will yet make bold with thoughts, and (as the saying is) pay it with thinking; such as are speculative, contemplative sinners. There are some who are so wise as not to say with their tongues, yet such fo…