pinion wicked men are fools, and righteous men wise: and so it will evidently appear at the last day; when the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. SER SERMON II. Meditation on GOD's Word a preservative against sin. PSALM CXIX. 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not fin against thee. SN this psalm we are not to expect a very strict connexion I of one part with the other. Many verses seem to me to be intirely independent on thofe which go before and follow after: and most of them I believe will make very good sense by themselves, tho we should confider them without any relation to the context. Nor need we wonder at it; fince it was not David's design in penning this psalm to present us with a piece of close argument and reasoning, but only to fet down some pia ous and devout thoughts, just as they occurred to his mind, without taking pains to digest them into any nice order and method. It abounds in encomiums of God's word, in expressions of affection for it, in desires and refolutions of conformity to it. In the text the psalmist declares his conduct with regard to God's word; thy word I have hid in my heart: and the reason of his doing so; that I might not fin against tbee. By the word of God possibly David might mean no more than the five books of Moses. But that should not hinder us from including more under this character, who are favour'd with a more perfect revelation of God's will than David was, and have a much larger volume of the sacred writings. We have a great many prophets who lived after David's time: and, which crowns all, we have Chrift and his apostles. Therefore if the hiding D of of the word of God in the heart was so excellent a preservative from fin in David's time, when it was comprized in so narrow a compass; much more is it now, when it is so much enlarged. Let us next confider the meaning of this phrafe, to hide the word of God in the heart. I think it can fignify nothing less than to have a high esteem of, and a strong affection for it, and to take delight in reading and meditating upon it. That the pfalmist intends thus much by this phrafe, may be collected from the 16th, 24th, 72d, and 97th verses of this pfalm: I will delight mySelf in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word. Thy teftimonies are my delight and my counsellors. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and filver. Oh how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day. From these passages it appears, that he accounted the word of God a rich and invaluable treafure, and made it the frequent fubject of his study and meditation: and it seems to me as if by hiding it in his heart he meant to express the fame thing. It now remains that we confider the reason of this practice; which was, that be might be kept from finning against God. God. Let us therefore see what connexion there is between the study of God's word, and not finning against him; or what tendency such a practice has to the producing of so glorious an effect. For this purpose it will be proper to examine what it is that our bibles contain, and what they instruct us in. I. Our bibles give us great and noble thoughts of God. They declare to us his nature and properties, and the various relations wherein he stands to us. They inform us that he is a spiritual being, eternal and omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. They teach us that he is holy and true, merciful and just. They represent him as our creator and governor, our preferver and bountiful benefactor. In a word, they paint him as a being full of majesty and full of mercy. All that is great, and all that is good, enter into the idea of God. No wonder therefore that the man who cherishes such notions as these, and frequently meditates upon the attributes and perfections of God, as he must necessarily do, if he makes it his business to study the word of God; no wonder, I fay, that such a man dares not allow himself in |