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1. That the commandment, and the word, are so called by way of excellency and pre-eminence to all written commandments or words.

2. That this commandment or word is nigh, even in the heart of man itself: none need or ought to plead distance or ignorance, to excufe their disobedience.

3. That the fetting of life and good, death and evil before them, was and could only be, in and through the Shinings of the light within; elfe how could they have feen good and evil set before them? and that it was in their hearts the Lord fet those states before them, the verse immediately follows that wherein the word is by Mofes argumentatively proved, as well as affirmed, to be in the heart of man. Now, I hope, it shall not be charged upon me as a fault, and I know who will bear me out, if I fay, this commandment is that which David fpoke of, when he faid, "The com"mandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the

eyes;" and this holy word the fame with that which he faid was a "Lamp unto his feet, and a light "unto his path, which he hid in his heart; and by "hearkening to which the young man cleanseth his "way: "" and not another word than what Paul called the word of faith," which he preached, by which the juft live; confequently a faving commandment, word, and light, it was and is, to fuch as believe and obey it.

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III. The next fcripture I will urge fhall be this: "For thou art my lamp, O Lord; for the Lord will lighten my darkness." Now if God was the light and lamp of that day, as certainly, then, they had a light, and fuch an one as was faving too; unless we should blafphemously deny God to be light, or faving, who is moft certainly both. And if it fhould be faid, This was a metaphorical way of speaking in the royal prophet; I answer be it fo; it was to fhew that they

Pfal. xix. 8.

• Pfal. cxix. 105, cxix. 11. cxix. 9.
x. 8.
Sam. ix. 22, 29.

X 4

d Rom.

had

had fomething to manifeft to them the way God would have them to walk in, or a discovering power that attended them, by which to walk uprightly, and safely, to glory; and this is what we say.

IV. Wicked men were not without light to condemn them, as good men ever had light to preferve them. "They are of thofe that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof," faid Job. In which paffage it is very obvious, that wicked men have light, otherwife it would have been utterly impoffible for them to have rebelled against it: nay, "against the light," implies, that it is the fame light in nature with that which righteous men are guided by; anfwerable to another emphatical paffage in the fame book of Job, "Is there any number of his armies, and upon whom "doth not his light arife?" Certainly, this univerfality ftrongly pleads on the behalf of our belief of the light and if people would but venture to let it come close to their confciences, I cannot be fo uncharitable as to think they would not make some acknowledgment to its univerfality antecedent to the coming of Chrift. I fhall omit to fay much of its efficaciousness at that time (though one would think that light always fhews us a good way from a bad one) referring it to another place: only I fhall obferve how Job expreffed himself, when he was in his deep troubles of spirit: "O that I were as in months past, in the days when "God preserved me, when his candle fbined upon my "head, and when by his light I walked through dark"nefs" where it is most apparent, that Job attributes his falvation from the darkness (which stands both for fin and affliction) unto the light wherewith God had enlightened him. And certainly, it had been utterly impoffible for divers weighty things, that are delivered in that book of Job, to have been known, and said fo lively, had they not been feen by the light and candle of the Lord for in the whole book I find not one verse

f Job. xxiv. 13.

· Job. xxv. 3.

Job. xxix. 3.

cited out of any other scripture. It seems an original, and doubtless very early.

V. To this doctrine David was no ftranger, who fo very often commemorates the light, and the divine excellencies of it: fome few places I fhall mention of those many that I might offer.

"The Lord is my light and my falvation, whom "fhall I fear? The Lord is the ftrength of my life, "of whom shall I be afraid?i”

This weighty paffage of the prophet is a lively teftimony to the true light; wherein David confeffeth to what the beloved difciple called his evangelical mesfage, viz. that God is light. Next, that not only God is light, but (which doubtlefs was moft of all to his comfort) his light; the Lord is my light, and my falvation as much as if he had said, Because the 'Lord is become my light, I have known him to be my falvation, or him by whom my falvation hath • been wrought.'

In fhort thus, That God is my falvation, as he is my light; or, because I have obeyed him, and made him my light, I have witneffed his falvation. O! that such profeffors of religion, in whom there is any moderation, would but be pleafed to weigh what was David's light, and what was his falvation; who made it his rule at that time of the world: of which he farther speaks:

"God is the Lord, who hath fhewed us light. Thy "WORD is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my " paths. I have not departed from thy judgments, "for thou haft taught me." This made him far wifer than his teachers in the hidden life and mystery of things, whereby David had long feen beyond all types and fhadows of the good things to come, even to the very substance itself, from whence came his excellent prophecies: agreeing with that famous paffage, "The path of the juft is as the fhining light, that fhines

Pfal. xxvii. I. * Pfal. cxviii. 27. cxix. 105, 102.

more

cr more and more unto the perfect day."" This strongly implies, that David, and not he alone, but the juft of all ages, were attended with the difcoveries and leadings of a divine light; which, through the obedience of faith, made just men, and always led them the way of falvation; unless the just way was not the saving way but if it was, certainly it is fo ftill; for it is the LORD HIMSELF that David calls a lamp, as he here doth the word, which Mofes faid was "nigh in the "heart, that men fhould obey it and do it." This was the word of reconciliation in every generation, whose holy water washed their confciences from fin, that heard and obeyed it.

Again, That this light was not confined to David, or fuch good men, take these two paffages:

"Thou giveft thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue " frameth deceit: thou fitteft and fpeakeft against thy "brother, thou flandereft thine own mother's fon: "these things haft thou done, and I kept filence; "thou thoughteft that I was altogether fuch an one "as thyfelf; but I will reprove thee, and fet them in "order before thine eyes;" faid the Lord. Again, "His lightnings enlightened the world; the earth "faw, and trembled."" In which two places it will appear, upon impartial confideration, that God hath enlightened the world; and that by his light, which discovers the works and workers of darkness, he doth reprove the inhabitants of the world, fet their fins in order before them, and caufe fuch guilty ones to tremble at his fo appearing; which is exprefsly confirmed in that notable paffage of the prophet; "For lo! he "that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, "that makes the morning darkness, and treadeth upon "the high places of the earth, and declares unto man "what is his thought; the Lord, the God of hosts, " is his name.""

1 Prov. iv. 18. Pfal. 1. 19, 20, 21. IV. 13.

■ Ib. xcvii. 4. • Amos

.

This the Pfalmift was well acquainted with himself, when he uttered thefe words, "Whither fhall I go "from thy Spirit, or whither fhall I flee from thy pre"fence?" Which plainly fhews to us, that the Spirit of the Lord and his prefence were every where; and that the light thereof difcovered darkness to mankind for the queftion was not, whether God by his Spirit was not every where? for that all must grant, or he could not be God: but whether it was poffible for David to withdraw himself into any place, where the. Eternal Spirit and prefence of God (who is light itfelf) were not prefent with him, in fome fort or other, to his inftruction; as the foregoing words intimate? Again, "O Lord, thou haft searched me, and known

me:-thou understandeft my thought afar off:"thou art acquainted with all my ways." Which, though God knew them, it stands firm that David could not have known God or them, or that God had known them, but by the light of the Spirit; of which he fays in the feventh verfe following, which I have already cited, "Whither fhall I go from thy "Spirit?"

In short, It must needs be evident to all unprejudiced readers, David meant that he had the light of God's Holy Spirit prefent with him, as a reprover, informer, or comforter; fince he makes it impoffible for him to be any where without it. Which may prove to us, that however he lived above a thousand years before the apoftle Paul, he very well knew the meaning of that doctrine he preached to the Athenians, "God is not far away," or at a distance," from every "one of us," Which, truly known and experimentally witnessed in the foul, and that not only as a reprover, but, by an humble and holy reception of him into the heart, as a Comforter, Shepherd, Bishop, King, and Lord, is the glory of the evangelical difpenfation, where "God dwells in his holy temple, and taberna• Acts xvii. 27.

? Pfal. cxxxix. 7.

a Ib. ver. 1, 2, 3.

❝cles

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