Imatges de pàgina
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Our outward acts must proceed from the heart. As the law of commandments was written upon tables of stone, so is the law of Christ written on the fleshly tables of the Christian's heart, by the Spirit of the living God. As workers under the Spirit, we are required to write the law of kindness and of truth upon the tables of our heart, by maintaining deep impressions of it, by meditating upon the peaceful motives that should excite us to that virtue, and by endeavouring, through the grace of Christ, to have our hearts habitually disposed to all those duties which are the natural fruits of love and integrity.

Ver. 4. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

God is well pleased, not only with the reverence and love which his people shew to himself, but with that generosity and mercy, that sincerity and faithfulness, which they evince to their fellow-men. Mercy and truth are glorious perfections in the Deity,-perfections which shall be for ever praised as the springs of our felicity. Of these, the mercy and truth found in wisdom's disciples, are to be regarded as a faint imitation. To find in his children this his true, though imperfect image, the Deity is greatly delighted. To the merciful he will shew himself merciful, and they that deal truly are his delight. He not only smiles upon them with the light of his countenance, but gives them favour in the sight of men also. Kindness and truth are qualities so amiable as to engage the esteem even of those who are too selfish to practise them. They attract the good-will of men. They procure that good name which is better than precious ointment. For a good man some have even dared to die.

That understanding which is good in the sight of God and man, is another fruit of the constant practice of mercy and truth. A good understanding appears

already in this behaviour, but it is also promoted by it; for the practice of what we know, tends greatly to render our knowledge more clear, and certain, and extensive *.

The next precept is, to depend on God, and not on our own understanding.

Ver. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.

To trust in God, is to depend on him for bestowing on us every needful blessing, and preserving us from all evil.

Faith in Christ for eternal life is included in this dependence on God, for by him we believe in God. But we are commanded to trust in God for every thing necessary for us in this life also; for the Lord God is a sun and shield, he will give grace and glory, and every good thing. O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee!

This dependence on God is to be exercised with all our hearts, our judgments being persuaded that God is the only and the all-sufficient object of confidence, and our souls resting with full satisfaction in his power and faithfulness. This holy exercise is fully and clearly exemplified to us in many of the psalms of David +.

Whilst we trust in the Lord, our hearts must cleave to him, and renounce every sublunary dependance. To divide our confidence between God and the creature, is to lean with one hand upon a rock, and with the other hand upon a broken reed. David charges his soul to wait upon God only, for his expectation was from him, and from none else.

We must not make our own understanding a staff to our hearts.-Dependance on our own wisdom, will

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lead us from trusting in God, to make lies our refuge, and to adopt unhallowed means for the attainment of our wishes. When men reject the testimony of God concerning Christ, when they depend on their own righteousness and strength instead of Christ, or on creatures rather than on God for help in difficulty, or when they expect to obtain pleasure or profit by sinful means, it is evident that they are departing from God, through an evil heart of unbelief, and trusting for the direction of their behaviour to their own corrupted minds.

Do we trust in God, and not in ourselves? It will then give us much pleasure to know that we are directed and encouraged to make known all our affairs to God, according to the following words of the wise king, Ver. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God is well acquainted with all our affairs, and yet he graciously requires us to present them to him in prayer, and to ask from him direction in the management of them, that we may be guided by his providence and Spirit, according to his word. The saints have found much relief in their perplexities, by spreading their case before him, and petitioning his interposition for their help *. But times of distress are not the only seasons in which we ought to apply to him. "Be careful for nothing, (says Paul,) but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make known your requests unto him." We are every day to pray that our steps may be so ordered, as that we may not be led into temptation. Joshua in the midst of his prosperity erred, by neglecting to ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord, because he thought

Psal. xiv. 2, 3,

the matter so clear, as that he might safely trust to his own understanding.

Our encouragement to this duty is a promise that our path shall be directed. Having shewed to God our way, we must wait on God for direction, not by a voice from heaven, or by a new inspiration, but by his Spirit enabling us to understand his word, and apply it to particular affairs, and by his providence making the way where we should walk clear before us. Thus will our path be so directed, as that we shall be preserved from falling into sin, from meeting with temptations that might prove too hard for us, and from being subjected to more than needful calamity.

What a pleasure is it to have a wise and kind friend to consult with in all our affairs! but how much sweeter the pleasure, that we know where to find God, that we are invited to go even to his seat, and to utter all our words before him! When we interest God in our affairs by prayer, we may cast away every care, and walk on cheerfully, believing that he will guide every step of our journey; for his eyes are not only upon the way of his people, but upon every step of it *.

But when we acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, let us be sure to do it with self-diffidence, and with sincere resolutions to adhere to that way that will be pleasing to God.

Ver. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Vain man would be wise, although man is born like the wild ass's colt. The world is full of wise men, or of men that would be thought wise. But we cannot be truly wise unless we become fools, renouncing all dependance on our own wisdom, and depending with humility upon the Lord, for those supplies of wisdom that

*Psal. xxxvii. 23. 31.

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are necessary for enlightening our minds and directing our paths. When we pretend to ask counsel from God, whilst we have a secret dependance upon ourselves, and a reserved determination to pay no regard to his word or providence if it should cross our own humours, we play the hypocrite with God, and cover over that self-confidence which he abhors, with false professions of faith and resignation to the will of God. Johanan and his proud companions were terribly threatened for this dissimulation by the prophet Jeremiah *.

A high opinion of men's own wisdom is so dangerous, that Isaiah pronounces a heavy woe upon it. We are not indeed to pull out our own eyes, to renounce our own understandings, or to believe contradictions; but we ought certainly to keep our rational powers in subjection to the word of God, to be sensible of our great liableness to err, and of our absolute need of the divine direction, especially in those matters that concern religion †.

That we may have our paths made straight, we must also fear the Lord and depart from evil. To them that fear the Lord is addressed a promise of divine teaching. This religious affection has a native tendency to prevent men from turning out of the way of truth: By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. It acts as a sentinel to the soul, which keeps temptation from entering. God makes use of the grace of fear, as well as that of faith, in repelling temptation, and in subduing corruption. "I will put my fear," says he, "into their hearts, and they shall not depart from me." Abraham displayed his fear of God, as well as his unconquerable faith, when nothing could for one moment

Jer. xlii. 19.-22.

Jer. x. 23. 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15.

Psal. xxv. 12.-14.'

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