Affliction And for this Reafon he adds, and nothing fhall offend them; which would have been very improperly added, had he fpoken of temporal Peace before, in which there is nothing apt to offend any Man; and therefore not to be offended at it is no peculiar Prerogative, or just Distinction of the righteous Man's Tranquillity. But to enjoy a Peace which fets us above the Power of Evil; which places us out of the Reach of Fortune; which infpires us with Courage in the midst of Danger; which opens our Eyes to look through the gloomiest Scenes of Sorrow to the bleffed Hope of future Glory; which establishes our Hearts in a patient Expectation of God's Deliverance, fo that nothing can terrify or dismay us; is that which the World can never give, and which can only proceed from the bleffed Spirit of God, whofe Province it is to confirm the Faithful to the End, and fo to arm their Faith, that nothing can offend them.

This is that Peace of which the 'falmift fpeaks, and which is the peculiar Lot and Inheritance of the Righteous, of him who loveth the Law of God. Great is the Gift, and happy is the Man who can attain to it: But it requires Pains and Labour, and a conftant

a conftant Watchfulness over ourselves, to prepare our Hearts to receive fo noble a Guest For, as long as we carry this Flesh and Blood about us, and have the Affections and Appetites of it to incite us to Evil, the Solicitations of Pleasure to move us to worldly Enjoyments, the Temptations of Honour and Interest to shake our Integrity, fo long it must be difficult to us to refign our Wills to the Conduct of the Law of God, and intirely to love what intirely thwarts the Bent and Inclination of our corrupted Nature: For it is not enough fo only to love the Law as to approve and admire it, and to purfue the Righteousness of it with faint Defires and distant Wishes, which is fuch a Love as every felf-condemned Sinner has for it; but our Love must be active and fruitful in the Works of the Law, and satisfied with nothing less than the Poffeffion and Enjoyment of the Holinefs and Righteousness which the Law prefcribes. And this will more fully appear under the Second Head; which was,

To confider who they are who may be faid to love the Law of God.

In this Pfalm we often find holy David declaring how much he loved the Law of VOL. IV.

R.

God;

God: In thy Law, fays he, is my Delight: I have chofen thy Precepts: My Soul hath kept thy Teftimonies, and I love them exceedingly : I love thy Commandments above Gold, yea, above fine Gold: I truft in thy Word: I have hoped in thy Judgments: And many other like Expreffions full of Regard and Affection to the Laws of God occur frequently. David then loved the Law of God: May we therefore, from his Character, fafely draw the Picture of a Man who loves the Law of God? By no Means; for though at the Time of penning this Pfalm his Heart was right with God, yet at other Times he had highly provoked and grievoufly offended him: David was a different Man at different Times; and, when he was a Lover of the Law of God, he heartily condemned and lamented what he was before, and bleffed God for visiting him with fuch Afflictions as ferved to awaken his Confcience, and make him fee and forfake the Errors of his Ways. Thus, in this very Pfalm, he confeffes, Before I was afflicted I went aftray; and immediately after, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes: And foon after he acknowledges the Mercy and Goodnefs of God to him in afflicting him, I know,

O Lord,

O Lord, that thy Judgments are right, and that thou in Faithfulness haft afflicted me. What therefore David in himself condemned when he loved the Law of God, cannot be thought to be confiftent with the Character of one who loves the Law of God. It is a vain and imaginary Comfort therefore which Sinners raise to themselves, out of the worst Part of the Character of David, and other holy Men; endeavouring, by their Example, partly to defend, and partly to excuse their Sins. There is a Comfort, indeed, which Sinners may draw from hence: Thefe Examples are a great Encouragement to Repentance and the Forfaking of Sin; fince here they may fee how readily God embraced the returning Prodigal. From hence they may hope, that though their Sins be red as Scarlet, yet fhall they be washed white as Snow; though they, like David, are grievous Sinners, yet, like him, may they become Lovers and beloved of God, if, like him, they repent and condemn their Iniquities. This is the Inftruction which the Scripture holds forth to us in thefe Examples: But as long as Men make use of them to footh and flatter their Confciences in the quiet Enjoyment of Sin, fo long do R 2 they

they abuse the Goodness and Mercy of God in fetting forth to us these Instances of his Patience and Long-fuffering towards Sinners.

But though the Example of David in all Parts of it is no fafe Direction to us, yet his infpired Writings are; and we need go no further than this Pfalm for the righteous Man's Character: In the very beginning of it he describes him to be a Man undefiled in the Way, who walks in the Law of the Lord, who keeps his Teftimonies, and feeks him with the whole Heart, who does no Iniquity. In speaking of himself, the first good Thing he found to fay was his Repentance: This was his first Step towards becoming a Lover of God: I thought, fays he, on my Ways, and turned my Feet unto thy Teftimonies: I made Hafle, and delayed not to keep thy Commandments. His next Step was to forfake his wicked Companions, and to affociate with fuch as feared the Lord: I am a Companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy Precepts. The Refolutions he had formed of perfevering in Holiness he thus expreffes: Thy Teflimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever: I have inclined mine Heart to perform thy Statutes always to the End. In the Verfes before the Text, and where he is defcribing