Thomas Watson
The Ten Commandments
File 9
(... continued from file 8)
(9) God shows his mercy in sanctifying us. 'I am the Lord which
sanctify you.' Lev 20: 8. This is the partaking of the divine
nature. 2 Pet 1: 4. God's Spirit is a spirit of consecration; though
it sanctify us but in part, yet it is in every part. 1 Thess 5: 23.
It is such a mercy that God cannot give it in anger. If we are
sanctified, we are elected. 'God has chosen you to salvation through
sanctification.' 2 Thess 2: 13. This prepares for happiness, as the
seed prepares for harvest. When the virgins had been anointed and
perfumed, they were to stand before the king (Esth 2: 12); SO, when
we have had the anointing of God, we shall stand before the King of
heaven.
(10) God shows mercy in hearing our prayers. 'Have mercy upon
me, and hear my prayer.' Psa 4: 1. Is it not a favour, when a man
puts up a petition to the king, to have it granted? So when we pray
for pardon, adoption, and the sense of God's love, it is a signal
mercy to have a gracious answer. God may delay an answer, and yet
not deny. You do not throw a musician money at once, because you
love to hear his music. God loves the music of prayer, but does not
always let us hear from him at once; but in due season gives an
answer of peace. 'Blessed be God, which has not turned away my
prayer, nor his mercy from me.' Psa 66: 20. If God does not turn
away our prayer, he does not turn away his mercy.
(11) God shows mercy in saving us. 'According to his mercy he
saved us.' Titus 3: 5. This is the top-stone of mercy, and it is
laid in heaven. Here mercy displays itself in all its orient
colours. Mercy is mercy indeed, when God perfectly refines us from
all the lees and dregs of corruption; when our bodies are made like
Christ's glorious body, and our souls like the angels. Saving mercy
is crowning mercy. It is not merely to be freed from hell, but
enthroned in a kingdom. In this life we desire God, rather than
enjoy him; but what rich mercy will it be to be fully possessed of
him, to see his smiling face, and to lay us in his bosom! This will
fill us with 'joy unspeakable and full of glory.' 1 Peter 1: 8. 'I
shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.' Psa 17: 15.
Use one. Let us not despair. What an encouragement we have here
to serve God. He shows mercy to thousands. Who would not be willing
to serve a prince who is given to mercy and clemency? God is
represented with a rainbow round about him, as an emblem of his
mercy. Rev 4: 3. Acts of severity are forced from God; judgement is
his strange work. Isa 28: 21. The disciples, who are not said to
wonder at the other miracles of Christ, did wonder when the fig-tree
was cursed and withered, because it was not his manner to put forth
acts of severity. God is said to delight in mercy. Mic 7: 18.
Justice is God's left hand: mercy is his right hand. He uses his
right hand most; he is more used to mercy than to justice. Pronior
est Deus ad parcendum quam ad puniendum [God is more inclined to
mercy than to punishment]. God is said to be slow to anger (Psa 103:
8), but ready to forgive. Psa 86: 5. This may encourage us to serve
him. What argument will prevail, if mercy will not? Were God all
justice, it might frighten us from him, but his mercy is a loadstone
to draw us to him.
Use two. Hope in God's mercies. 'The Lord taketh pleasure in
them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.' Psa 147: 11.
He counts it his glory to scatter pardons among men.
But I have been a great sinner and sure there is no mercy for
me!
Not if thou goest on in sin, and art so resolved; but, if thou
wilt break off thy sins, the golden sceptre of mercy shall be held
forth to thee. 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him.' Isa 55: 7. Christ's
blood is 'a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.' Zech 13:
1. Mercy more overflows in God, than sin in us. His mercy can drown
great sins, as the sea covers great rocks. Some of the Jews who had
their hands imbrued in Christ's blood, were saved by that blood. God
loves to magnify his goodness, to display the trophies of free
grace, and to set up his mercy in spite of sin. Therefore, hope in
his mercy.
Use three. Labour to know that God's mercy is for you. He is
'the God of my mercy.' Psa. 59: 17. A man who was being drowned,
seeing a rainbow, said, 'What am I the better, though God will not
drown the world, if I am drowned?' So, what are we the better,
though God is merciful, if we perish? Let us labour to know God's
special mercy is for us.
How shall we know it belongs to us?
(1) If we put a high value and estimate upon it. He will not
throw away his mercy on them that slight it. We prize health, but we
prize adopting mercy more. This is the diamond ring; it outshines
all other comforts.
(2) If we fear God, if we have a reverend awe upon us, if we
tremble at sin, and flee from it, as Moses did from his rod turned
into a serpent. 'His mercy is on them that fear him.' Luke 1: 50.
(3) If we take sanctuary in God's mercy, we trust in it as a
man saved by catching hold of a cable. God's mercy to us is a cable
let down from heaven. By taking fast hold of this by faith, we are
saved. 'I trust in the mercy of God for ever.' Psa 52: 8. As a man
trusts his life and goods in a garrison, so we trust our souls in
God's mercy.
How shall we get a share in God's special mercy?
(1) If we would have mercy, it must be through Christ. Out of
Christ no mercy is to be had. We read in the old law, that none
might come unto the holy of holies, where the mercy-seat stood, but
the high-priest: to signify that we have nothing to do with mercy
but through Christ our High-priest; that the high-priest might not
come near the mercy-seat without blood, to show that we have no
right to mercy, but through the expiatory sacrifice of Christ's
blood, Lev 16: 14; that the high-priest might not, upon pain of
death, come near the mercy-seat without incense, Lev 16: 13, to show
that there is no mercy from God without the incense of Christ's
intercession. If we would have mercy, we must get a part in Christ.
Mercy swims to us through Christ's blood.
(2) If we would have mercy, we must pray for it. 'Show us thy
mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.' Psa 85: 7. 'Turn thee
unto me, and have mercy upon me.' Psa 25: 16. Lord, put me not off
with common mercy; give me not only mercy to feed and clothe me, but
mercy to pardon me; not only sparing mercy, but saving mercy. Lord,
give me the cream of thy mercies; let me have mercy and loving
kindness. 'Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender
mercies.' Psa 103: 4. Be earnest suitors for mercy; let your wants
quicken your importunity. We pray most fervently when we pray most
feelingly.
VI. Of them that love me.
God's mercy is for them that love him. Love is a grace that
shines and sparkles in his eye, as the precious stone upon Aaron's
breastplate. Love is a holy expansion or enlargement of soul, by
which it is carried with delight after God, as the chief good.
Aquinas defines love - Complacentia amantis in amato; a complacent
delight in God, as our treasure. Love is the soul of religion; it is
a momentous grace. If we had knowledge as the angels, or faith of
miracles, yet without love it would profit nothing. 1 Cor 13: 2.
Love is 'the first and great commandment.' Matt. 22: 38. It is so,
because, if it be wanting, there can be no religion in the heart;
there can be no faith, for faith works by love. Gal 5: 6. All else
is but pageantry, or a devout compliment. It meliorates and sweetens
all the duties of religion, it makes them savoury meat, without
which God cares not to taste them. It is the first and great
commandment, in respect of the excellence of this grace. Love is the
queen of graces; it outshines all others, as the sun the lesser
planets. In some respects it is more excellent than faith; though in
one sense faith is more excellent, virtute unionis, as it unites us
to Christ. It puts upon us the embroidered robe of Christ's
righteousness, which is brighter than any the angels wear. In
another sense it is more excellent, respectu durationis, in respect
of the continuance of it: it is the most durable grace; as faith and
hope will shortly cease, but love will remain. When all other
graces, like Rachel, shall die in travail, love shall revive. The
other graces are in the nature of a lease, for the term of life
only; but love is a freehold that continues for ever. Thus love
carries away the garland from all other graces, it is the most
long-lived grace, it is a bud of eternity. This grace alone will
accompany us in heaven.
How must our love to God be characterised?
(1) Love to God must be pure and genuine. He must be loved
chiefly for himself; which the schoolmen call amor amicitiae. We
must love God, not only for his benefits, but for those intrinsic
excellencies with which he is crowned. We must love God not only for
the good which flows from him, but for the good which is in him.
True love is not mercenary, he who is deeply in love with God, needs
not be hired with rewards, he cannot but love God for the beauty of
his holiness; though it is not unlawful to look for benefits. Moses
had an eye to the recompense of reward (Heb 11: 26); but we must not
love God for his benefits only, for then it is not love of God, but
self-love.
(2) Love to God must be with all the heart. 'Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart.' Mark 12: 30. We must not love
God a little, give him a drop or two of our love; but the main
stream must flow to him. The mind must think of God, the will choose
him, the affections pant after him. The true mother would not have
the child divided, nor will God have the heart divided. We must love
him with our whole heart. Though we may love the creature, yet it
must be a subordinate love. Love to God must be highest, as oil
swims above the water.
(3) Love to God must be flaming. To love coldly is the same as
not to love. The spouse is said to be amore perculsa, 'sick of
love.' Cant 2: 5. The seraphim are so called from their burning
love. Love turns saints into seraphim; it makes them burn in holy
love to God. Many waters cannot quench this love.
How may we know whether we love God?
(1) He who loves God desires his presence. Lovers cannot be
long asunder, they soon have their fainting fits, for want of a
sight of the object of their love. A soul deeply in love with God
desires the enjoyment of him in his ordinances, in word, prayer, and
sacraments. David was ready to faint away and die when he had not a
sight of God. 'My soul fainteth for God.' Psa 84: 2. Such as care
not for ordinances, but say, When will the Sabbath be over? plainly
discover want of love to God.
(2) He who loves God, does not love sin. 'Ye that love the
Lord, hate evil.' Psa 97: 10. The love of God, and the love of sin,
can no more mix together than iron and clay. Every sin loved,
strikes at the being of God; but he who loves God, has an antipathy
against sin. He who would part two lovers is a hateful person. God
and the believing soul are two lovers; sin parts between them,
therefore the soul is implacably set against it. By this try your
love to God. How could Delilah say she loved Samson, when she
entertained correspondence with the Philistine, who were his mortal
enemies? How can he say he loves God who loves sin, which is God's
enemy?
(3) He who loves God is not much in love with anything else.
His love is very cool to worldly things. His love to God moves
swiftly, as the sun in the firmament; to the world it moves slowly,
as the sun on the dial. The love of the world eats out the heart of
religion; it chokes good affections, as earth puts out the fire. The
world was a dead thing to Paul. 'The world is crucified unto me and
I to the world.' Gal 6: 14. In Paul we may see both the picture and
pattern of a mortified man. He that loves God, uses the world but
chooses God. The world is his pension, but God is his portion. Psa
119: 57. The world engages him, but God delights and satisfies him.
He says as David, 'God my exceeding joy,' the gladness or cream of
my joy. Psa 43: 4.
(4) He who loves God cannot live without him. Things we love we
cannot be without. A man can do without music or flowers, but not
food; so a soul deeply in love with God looks upon himself as undone
without him. 'Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like them that go
down into the pit.' Psa 143: 7. He says as Job, 'I went mourning
without the sun;' chap. 30: 28. I have starlight, I want the Sun of
Righteousness; I enjoy not the sweet presence of my God. Is God our
chief good, and we cannot live without him? Alas! how do they show
they have no love to God who can do well enough without him! Let
them have but corn and oil, and you shall never hear them complain
of the want of God.
(5) He who loves God will be at any pains to get him. What
pains the merchant takes, what hazards he runs, to have a rich
return from the Indies! Extremos currit mercator ad Indos [The
merchant races to the farthest Indies]. Jacob loved Rachel, and he
could endure the heat by day, and the frost by night, that he might
enjoy her. A soul that loves God will take any pains for the
fruition of him. 'My soul followeth hard after thee.' Psa 63: 8.
Love is pondus animae [the pendulum of the soul]. Augustine. It is
as the weight which sets the clock going. It is much in prayer,
weeping, fasting; it strives as in agony, that he may obtain him
whom his soul loves. Plutarch reports of the Gauls, an ancient
people of France, that after they had tasted the sweet wine of
Italy, they never rested till they had arrived at that country. He
who is in love with God, never rests till he has a part in him. 'I
will seek him whom my soul loveth.' Cant 3: 2. How can they say they
love God, who are not industrious in the use of means to obtain him?
'A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom.' Prov 19: 24. He is
not in agony, but lethargy. If Christ and salvation would drop as a
ripe fig into his mouth, he would be content to have them; but he is
loath to put himself to too much trouble. Does he love his friend,
who will not undertake a journey to see him?
(6) He who loves God, prefers him before estate and life. [1]
Before estate. 'For whom I have suffered the loss of all things.'
Phil 3: 8. Who that loves a rich jewel would not part with a flower
for it? Galeacius, marquis of Vico, parted with a fair estate to
enjoy God in his pure ordinances. When a Jesuit persuaded him to
return to his popish religion in Italy, promising him a large sum of
money, he said, 'Let their money perish with them who esteem all the
gold in the world worth one day's communion with Jesus Christ and
his Holy Spirit.' [2] Before life. 'They loved not their lives unto
the death.' Rev 12: 2: Love to God carries the soul above the love
of life and the fear of death.
(7) He who loves God loves his favourites, the saints. 1 John
5: 1. Idem est motus animi in imaginem et rem [The mind reacts to
the likeness of an object just as it does to the object itself]. To
love a man for his grace, and the more we see of God in him, the
more we love him, is an infallible sign of love to God. The wicked
pretend to love God, but hate and persecute his image. Does he love
his prince who abuses his statue, or tears his picture? They seem
indeed to show great reverence to saints departed; they have great
reverence for St. Paul, and St. Stephen, and St. Luke; they canonise
dead saints, but persecute living saints; and do they love God? Can
it be imagined that he loves God who hates his children because they
are like him? If Christ were alive again, he would not escape a
second persecution.
(8) If we love God we cannot but be fearful of dishonouring
him, as the more a child loves his father the more he is afraid to
displease him, and we weep and mourn when we have offended him.
'Peter went out and wept bitterly.' Matt 26: 75. Peter might well
think that Christ dearly loved him when he took him up to the mount
where he was transfigured, and showed him the glory of heaven in a
vision. That he should deny Christ after he had received such signal
tokens of his love, broke his heart with grief 'He wept bitterly.'
Are our eyes dropping tears of grief for sin against God? It is a
blessed evidence of our love to God; and such shall find mercy. 'He
shows mercy to thousands of them that love him.
Use. Let us be lovers of God. We love our food, and shall we
not love him that gives it? All the joy we hope for in heaven is in
God; and shall not he who shall be our joy then, be our love now? It
is a saying of Augustine, Annon poena satis magna est non amare te?
'Is it not punishment enough, Lord, not to love thee?' And again,
Animam meam in odio haberem. 'I would hate my own soul if I did not
find it loving God.'
What are the incentives to provoke and inflame our love to God?
(1) God's benefits bestowed on us. If a prince bestows
continual favours on a subject, and that subject has any ingenuity,
he cannot but love his prince. God is constantly heaping benefits
upon us, 'filling our hearts with food and gladness.' Acts 14: 17.
As streams of water out of the rock followed Israel whithersoever
they went, so God's blessings follow us every day. We swim in a sea
of mercy. That heart is hard that is not prevailed with by all God's
blessings to love him. Magnes amoris amor [Love attracts love].
Kindness works even on a brute: the ox knows his owner.
(2) Love to God would make duties of religion facile and
pleasant. I confess that to him who has no love to God, religion
must needs be a burden; and I wonder not to hear him say, 'What a
weariness is it to serve the Lord!' It is like rowing against the
tide. But love oils the wheels, it makes duty a pleasure. Why are
the angels so swift and winged in God's service, but because they
love him? Jacob thought seven years but little for the love he bare
to Rachel. Love is never weary. He who loves money is not weary of
telling it: and he who loves God is not weary of serving him.
(3) It is advantageous. There is nothing lost by love to God.
'Eye has not seen, &c., the things which God has prepared for them
that love him.' 1 Cor 2: 9. Such glorious rewards are laid up for
them that love God, that as Augustine says, 'they not only transcend
our reason, but faith itself is not able to comprehend them.' A
crown is the highest ensign of worldly glory; but God has promised a
'crown of life to them that love him,' and a never-fading crown.
James 1: 12. 1 Pet 5: 4.
(4) By loving God we know that he loves us. 'We love him
because he first loved us.' 1 John 5: 19. If ice melts, it is
because the sun has shone upon it; so if the frozen heart melts in
love, it is because the Sun of Righteousness has shone upon it.
What means should be used to excite our love to God?
(1) Labour to know God aright. The schoolmen say truly, Bonum
non amatur quod non cognoscitur; 'we cannot love that which we do
not know.' God is the most eligible good; all excellencies which lie
scattered in the creature are united in him; he is Optimus maximus.
Wisdom, beauty, riches, love, all concentrate in him. How fair was
that tulip which had the colours of all tulips in it! All
perfections and sweetnesses are eminently in God. Did we know God
more, and by the eye of faith see his orient beauty, our hearts
would be fired with love to him.
(2) Make the Scriptures familiar to you. Augustine says that
before his conversion he took no pleasure in Scripture, but
afterwards it was his chief delight. The book of God discovers God
to us, in his holiness, wisdom, veracity, and truth; it represents
him as rich in mercy, and encircled with promises. Augustine calls
the Scripture a golden epistle, or love-letter, sent from God to us.
By reading this love-letter we become more enamoured with God; as by
reading lascivious books, comedies, romances, &c., lust is excited.
(3) Meditate much upon God, and this will promote love to him.
'While I was musing, the fire burned.' Psa 39: 3. Meditation is as
bellows to the affections. Meditate on God's love in the gift of
Christ. 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,'
&c. John 3: 16. That God should give Christ to us, and not to angels
that fell, that the Sun of Righteousness should shine in our
horizon, that he is revealed to us, and not to others; what
wonderful love is this! 'Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not
be burned?' Prov 6: 28. Who can meditate on God's love, who can
tread on these hot coals, and his heart not burn in love? Beg a
heart to love God. The affection of love is natural, but not the
grace of love. Gal 5: 22. This fire of love is kindled from heaven;
beg that it may burn upon the altar of your heart. Surely the
request is pleasing to God, and he will not deny such a prayer as
'Lord, give me a heart to love thee.'
VII. And keep my commandments.
Love and obedience, like two sisters, must go hand and hand.
'If ye love me, keep my commandments.' John 14: 15. Probatio
delectionis est exhibitio operis [We show our love by performing the
work]. The son that loves his father will obey him. Obedience
pleases God. 'To obey is better than sacrifice.' 1 Sam 15: 22. In
sacrifice, a dead beast only is offered; in obedience, a living
soul; in sacrifice, only a part of the fruit is offered; in
obedience, fruit and tree and all; man offers himself up to God.
'Keep my commandments.' It is not said, God shows mercy to thousands
that know his commandments, but that keep them. Knowing his
commandments, without keeping them, does not entitle any to mercy.
The commandment is not only a rule of knowledge, but of duty. God
gives us his commandments, not only as a landscape to look upon, but
as his will and testament, which we are to perform. A good
Christian, like the sun, not only sends forth light, but makes a
circuit round the world. He has not only the light of knowledge; but
moves in a sphere of obedience.
[1] We should keep the commandments from faith. Our obedience
ought, profluere a fide 'to spring from faith.' It is called,
therefore, 'the obedience of faith.' Rom 16: 26. Abel, by faith,
offered up a better sacrifice than Cain. Heb 11: 4. Faith is a vital
principle, without which all our services are opera mortua, dead
works. Heb 6: 1. It meliorates and sweetens obedience, and makes it
come off with a better relish.
But why must faith be mixed with obedience to the commandments?
Because faith eyes Christ in every duty, in whom both the
person and offering are accepted. The high-priest under the law laid
his hand upon the head of the slain beast, which pointed to the
Messiah. Exod 29: 10. So faith in every duty lays its hand upon the
head of Christ. His blood expiates their guilt, and the sweet odour
of his intercession perfumes our works of obedience. 'He has made us
accepted in the beloved.' Eph 1: 6.
[2] Keeping the commandments must be uniform. We must make
conscience of one commandment as well as of another. 'Then shall I
not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.' Psa
119: 6. Every commandment has jus divinum, the same stamp of divine
authority upon it; and if I obey one precept because God commands,
by the same reason I must obey all. Some obey the commands of the
first table, but are careless of the duties of the second: some of
the second and not of the first. Physicians have a rule that when
the body sweats in one part, and is cold in another, it is a sign of
a distemper; so when men seem zealous in some duties of religion,
but are cold and frozen in others, it is a sign of hypocrisy. We
must have respect to all God's commandments.
But who can keep all his commandments?
There is a fulfilling God's commands, and a keeping of them.
Though we cannot fulfil all, yet we may be said to keep them in an
evangelical sense. We may facere, though not perficere [build,
though not complete]. We keep the commandments evangelically: (1)
When we make conscience of every command, when, though we come short
in every duty, we dare not neglect any. (2) When our desire is to
keep every commandment. 'O that my ways were directed to keep thy
statutes!' Psa 119: 5. What we want in strength we make up in will.
(3) When we grieve that we can do no better; weep when we fail;
prefer bills of complaint against ourselves; and judge ourselves for
our failings. Rom 7: 24. (4) When we endeavour to obey every
commandment, elicere conatum. 'I press toward the mark.' Phil 3: 14.
We strive as in agony; and, if it lay in our power, we would fully
comport with every commandment. (5) When, falling short, and unable
to come up to the full latitude of the law, we look to Christ's
blood to sprinkle our imperfect obedience, and, with the grains of
his merits cast into the scales, to make it pass current. This, in
an evangelical sense, is to keep all the commandments; and though it
be not to satisfaction, yet it is to acceptation.
[3] Keeping God's commandments must be voluntary. 'If ye be
willing and obedient.' Isa 1: 19. God required a free-will offering.
Deut 16: 10. David will run the way of God's commandments, that is
freely and cheerfully. Psa 119: 32. Lawyers have a rule that adverbs
are better than adjectives; that it is not the bonum, but the bene;
not the doing much, but the doing well. A musician is not commended
for playing long, but for playing well. Obeying God willingly is
accepted. Virtus nolentium nulla est [Righteous deeds done
unwillingly are worthless]. The Lord hates that which is forced;
which is paying a tax rather than an offering. Cain served God
grudgingly; he brought his sacrifice, not his heart. To obey God's
commandments unwillingly, is like the devils who came out of the men
possessed, at Christ's command, but with reluctance, and against
their will. Matt 8: 29. Obedientia praest and adest non timore
poenae, sed amore Dei [Obedience is the chief thing, and this not
through fear of punishment, but for love of God]. God duties must
not be pressed nor beaten out of us, as the waters came from the
rock, when Moses smote it with his rod, but must drop freely from us
as myrrh from the tree, or honey from the comb. If a willing mind be
wanting, the flower is wanting to perfume our obedience, and to make
it a sweet-smelling savour to God.
That we may keep God's commandments willingly, let these things
be well weighed: (1) Our willingness is more esteemed than our
service. David counsels Solomon not only to serve God, but with a
willing mind. 1 Chron 28: 9. The will makes sin to be worse, and
duty to be better. To obey willingly shows we do it with love; and
this crowns all our services.
(2) There is that in the law-giver which may make us willing to
obey the commandments, which is God's indulgence to us. [1] God does
not require the summum jus as absolutely necessary to salvation; he
expects not perfect obedience, he requires sincerity only. Do but
act from a principle of love, and aim at honouring God in your
obedience, and it is accepted. [2] In the gospel a surety is
admitted. The law would not favour us so far; but now God so
indulges us, that what we cannot do of ourselves we may do by proxy.
Jesus Christ is 'a Surety of a better testament.' Heb 7: 22. We fall
short in everything, but God looks upon us in our Surety; and Christ
having fulfilled all righteousness, it is as if we had fulfilled the
law in our own persons. [3] God gives strength to do what he
requires. The law called for obedience, but though it required
brick, it gave no straw; but in the gospel, God, with his commands,
gives power. 'Make ye a new heart.' Ezek 18: 31. Alas! it is above
our strength, we may as well make a new world. 'A new heart also
will I give you.' Ezek 36: 26. God commands us to cleanse ourselves.
'Wash you, make you clean.' Isa 1: 16. But 'who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean?' Job 14: 4. Therefore the precept is turned
into a promise. 'From all your filthiness will I cleanse you.' Ezek
36: 25. When the child cannot go, the nurse takes it by the hand. 'I
taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms.' Hos 11: 3.
(3) There is that in God's commandments which may make us
willing. They are not burdensome.
[1] A Christian, so far as he is regenerate, consents to God's
commands. 'I consent to the law that it is good.' Rom 7: 16. What is
done with consent is no burden. If a virgin gives her consent, the
match goes on cheerfully; if a subject consents to his prince's laws
because he sees the equity and reasonableness of them they are not
irksome. A regenerate person in his judgement approves, and in his
will consents, to God's commandments and therefore they are not
burdensome.
[2] God's commandments are sweetened with joy and peace. Cicero
questions whether that can properly be called a burden which is
carried with delight and pleasure. Utrum onus appellatur quod
laetitia fertur [Is a task performed with joy rightly so called]? If
a man carries a bag of money that has been given him, it is heavy,
but the delight takes off the burden. When God gives inward joy, it
makes the commandments delightful. 'I will make them joyful in my
house of prayer.' Isa 56: 7. Joy is like oil to the wheels, which
makes a Christian run in the way of God's commandments, so that it
is not burdensome.
[3] God's commandments are advantageous. They are preventive of
evil; a curb-bit to check us from sin. What mischiefs should we not
run into if we had not afflictions to humble us, and the
commandments to restrain us! God's commandments keep us within
bounds, as the yoke keeps the beast from straggling. We should be
thankful to God for precepts. Had he not set his commandments as a
hedge or bar in our way, we might have run to hell and never
stopped. There is nothing in the commandments but what is for our
good. 'To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which
I command thee for thy good.' Deut 10: 13. God commands us to read
his word; and what hurt is in this? He bespangles the word with
promises; as if a father should bid his son read his last will and
testament, wherein he makes over a fair estate to him. He bids us
pray and tells us if we 'ask, it shall be given.' Matt 7: 7. Ask
power against sin, ask salvation, and it shall be given. If you had
a friend who should say, 'Come when you will to me, I will supply
you with money,' would you think it a trouble to visit that friend
often? God commands us to fear him. 'But fear thy God.' Lev 25: 43.
There is honey in the mouth of this command. 'His mercy is on them
that fear him.' Luke 1: 50. God commands us to believe, and why so?
'Believe, and thou shalt be saved.' Acts 16: 31. Salvation is the
crown set upon the head of faith. Good reason then have we to obey
God's commands willingly, since they are for our good, and are not
so much our duty as our privilege.
[4] God's commandments are ornamental. Omnia quae praestari
jubet Deus, non onerant nos sed ornant. Salvianus. 'God's
commandments do not burden us, but adorn us.' It is an honour to be
employed in a king's service; and much more to be employed in his
'by whom kings reign.' To walk in God's commandments proves us to be
wise. 'Behold, I have taught you statutes: keep, therefore, and do
them; for this your wisdom.' Deut 4: 5, 6. To be wise is a great
honour. We may say of every commandment of God, as Prov 4: 9: It
'shall give to thy head an ornament of grace.'
[5] The commands of God are infinitely better than the commands
of sin, which are intolerable. Let a man be under the command of any
lust, and how he tires himself! What hazards he runs to endangering
his health and soul, that he may satisfy his lust! 'They weary
themselves to commit iniquity.' Jer 9: 5. And are not God's
commandments more equal, facile, pleasant, than the commands of sin?
Chrysostom says true, 'To act virtue is easier than to act vice.'
Temperance is less troublesome than drunkenness; meekness is less
troublesome than passion and envy. There is more difficulty in the
contrivance and pursuit of a wicked design than in obeying the
commands of God. Hence a sinner is said to travail with iniquity.
Psa 7: 14. A woman while she is in travail is in pain - to show what
pain and trouble a wicked man has in bringing forth sin. Many have
gone with more pains to hell, than others have to heaven. This may
make us obey the commandments willingly.
[6] Willingness in obedience makes us resemble the angels. The
cherubim, types representing the angels, are described with wings
displayed, to show how ready the angels are to serve God. God no
sooner speaks the word, but they are ambitious to obey. How are they
ravished with joy while praising God! In heaven we shall be as the
angels, and by our willingness to obey God's commands, we should be
like them here. We pray that God's will may be done by us on earth
as it is in heaven; and is it not done willingly there? It is also
done constantly. 'Blessed is he who does righteousness at all
times.' Psa 106: 3. Our obedience to the command must be as the fire
of the altar, which never went out. Lev 6: 13. It must be as the
motion of the pulse, always beating. The wind blows off the fruit;
but the fruits of our obedience must not be blown off by any wind of
persecution. 'I have chosen you that ye should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit should remain.' John 15: 16.
Use. They are reproved who live in a wilful breach of God's
commandments, in malice, uncleanness, intemperance; and walk
antipodes to the commandments. To live in a wilful breach of the
commandment is:
(1) Against reason. Are we able to stand out against God? 'Do
we provoke the Lord, are we stronger than he?' 1 Cor 10: 22. Can we
measure arms with God? Can impotence stand against omnipotence? A
sinner acts against reason.
(2) It is against equity. We have our being from God; and is it
not just that we should obey him who gives us our being? We have all
our subsistence from him; and is it not fitting, that as he gives us
our allowance, we should give him our allegiance? If a general gives
his soldiers pay, he expects them to march at his command; so for us
to live in violation of the divine commands, is manifestly unjust.
(3) It is against nature. Every creature in its kind obeys
God's law. [1] Animate creatures obey him. God spake to the fish,
and it set Jonah ashore. Jonah 2: 10. [2] Inanimate creatures. The
wind and the sea obey him. Mark 4: 41, The very stones, if God give
them a commission, will cry out against the sins of men. 'The stone
shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall
answer it.' Hab 2: 11. None disobey God but wicked men and devils;
and can we find no better companions?
(4) It is against kindness. How many mercies have we to allure
us to obey! We have miracles of mercy; the apostle therefore joins
these two together, disobedient and unthankful, which dyes sin with
a crimson colour. 2 Tim 3: 2. As the sin is great, for it is a
contempt of God, a hanging out of the flag of defiance against him,
and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, so the punishment will be
great. It cuts off from mercy. God's mercy is for them that keep his
commandments, but there is no mercy for them that live in a wilful
breach of them. All God's judgements set themselves in battle array
against the disobedient: temporal judgements and eternal. Lev 26:
15, 16. Christ comes in flames of fire, to take vengeance on them
that obey not God. 2 Thess 1: 8. God has iron chains to hold those
who break the golden chain of his commands; chains of darkness by
which the devils are held ever. Jude 6. God has time enough, as long
as eternity, to reckon with all the wilful breakers of his
commandments.
How shall we keep God's commandments?
Pray for the Spirit of God. We cannot do it in our strength.
The Spirit must work in us both to will and to do. Phil 2: 13. When
the loadstone draws, the iron moves; so, when God's Spirit draws, we
run in the way of his commandments.
Watson, The Ten Commandments
(continued in file 10...)
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