Intent of the Psalmist here we find it elsewhere that when the Life of this very person had been obnoxious to an extraordinary Danger 't is thus deciphered in 1 Sam. 19.5 He did put his Life in his Hand And hence the never enough Regarded and Commended French Translation so renders the passage we are now upon Ma Vie a este continuellement en Hazard my Life has been continually in Hazard A Souldier must continually look to be Hazarding of his Life Secondly the Affection of a good Souldier 'T is Yet I do not forget thy Law. A Souldier must indeed Forget all things but Gods Law and his own Sword. For the Object which he is to be Affected with 't is Gods Law. That is one of the Ten Words one of which is used in almost every verse of this glorious Hymn to denote The ways and means by which the blessed God reveals His Will unto the Children of Men and the Will it self revealed in those ways and means And then for the Respect which he is to place upon this Object it is Not Forgetting But we are to bear in mind That according to the Received Rule of Expounding Scripture Phrases to Remember denotes also to Know to Love to Do. All That is intended here And hence the Doctrine here provided for you is That the Remembrance of Gods Law is a Thing of no small Importance to them that have their Lives continually in their Hands As the little time given me for Preparation will not allow me to be very Accurate and Pertinent in improving my present opportunity which until too late yesterday I knew nothing of so the little strength left me by the excessive Labours of this morning supervening upon the Languors of a late Illness will not permit me to be long in this Discourse I have only two Propositions to entertain you with Proposition I. To have their Lives in their Hands is a Condition which the Children of Men are liable unto There is indeed a Threefold Condition which brings the Lives of Men into the Hands of Men with a Gradual Descent from Generals to Specials it may be set before you The first Condition of this kind is that of All Men Accordingly our Observation is 1. Men have their Lives brought into their their Hands in point of Mortality Our Lives are come out from our Hearts unto our Hands and they are in a sort ready to shake Hands with us Our Lives do as it were take us by our Hands and say Well I am going Fare you well Our Lives are come into our Hands for the Brevity of them Once indeed there was a Longevity in Fallen Man that seem'd almos◠Aemulous of that Immortality which Uprigh◠man should have had experience of The Antediluvian Patriarchs might have broke up Company with probable Agreements to have met again in the same Place and Form an Hundred Years afterwards But that LONG LIFE i◠by our Vice and Gods Curse now terribly Abbreviated Our own Corruption has Enfeebled the principles of Life in our Successive Generations and Gods just Malediction has confirm'd that Feebleness whereby we Dy before our Time for being wicked overmuch The Sacred Law of God has now Abridged our Lives into Seventy Years and the Common Law of Man into Seven Our Lives are now IN our Hands and we have not an Handful thereof The psalmist could say in Psal. 39.5 Behold Thou hast made my Days as an Hands Breadth In an Hands Breadth may be grasped the whole of the Lives which we have in our Hands Our Lives are likewise come into our Hands for the Uncertainty of them What is in our Hands is Extra nos 't is uncertain whether we shall keep it or no. Our Lives are so in our Hands that we know not whether they will stay with us They may be wrested out of our Hands and in a Turn of an Hand they are gone before we are aware 'T is said in James 4.14 What is your Life It is even a vapour It is as a Vapour or a Candle that we bear not in Horns but in Hands 'T is liable to be Extinguished by every puss of Wind. The Second Condition of this kind is that of Old Men. And so our Observation is 2. Men have their Lives brought into their Hands in point of Infirmity Aged persons Lean with their Hands and on their Staves they carry their Lives The Life may be put for the whole Man with the Old Man 't is come into the Hands his Feet cannot now support him 'T is said of him in Eccles 12.3 The strong men i. e. his Legs bow themselves and so the Trembling Hands must be the Keepers of the House All the strength left him and all his Life is in his Hands He does all things with a Staff in Hand and so with a Life in Hand as 't is noted of the Gray-headed and Decrepit Iacob in Heb. 11.21 He Worshipped leaning on the Top of his Staff When he rose off his Couch to worship God he could not rise without a Staff his Life was relieved and exerted mostly by his Aged palsey Hand The third Condition of this kind is that of Confessors and that of Souldiers And our Observation upon it is 3 Men have their Lives brought into their Hands in point of Danger to Loose their Lives 'T is the Chaldee Paraphrase upon this place Anima mea periclitatur ac si esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in super ficie manus meae Our Lives are sometimes by Dangers placed as t' were on the Back of our Hands We have no hold of them but they will take wing and be gone in the Twinkling of an Eye We are sometimes to venture our Lives and when we do so We may say as in 1 Sam. 28.21 Behold I have put my Life in my Hand That which is in our Hands is easy to be Taken away yea What is ready to be Given away we take in our Hands In both respects our God often calls us to have our Lives in our Hands We are sometimes to engage in those things wherein 't is but a Peradventure whether we shall ever come off Alive Yea we are sometimes not only to Expose our Lives but also to Resign them and let them go out of our Hands and pour them forth as a Drink-offering before the Lord. This is the case of Confessors They Dy Often they are as 't is said in 2 Cor. 11.23 In Deaths often Yea they Dy Daily they can say as in 1 Cor. 15.31 I Dy Daily That is They are Often they are Daily in Danger in Dying and so they have their Lives in their Hands There is a Number of people in the World who profess the Truths and Ways of God and serve Him according to His Word This people are a sort of Army under the Colours and Commands of the Lord Jesus Christ but the Ancient Legend pardon me that I call it so of the Thebaean Legion is verifyed in the
usage that they meet withal They have so many Hands against them that their Lives are in their Hands and from that Flock of Slaughter now one and then another is made a prey to Wolvish Persecutors before whole Rabid Violence they say Lord For thy sake We are killed all the Day Long. And this is the case of Souldiers too It was remarked by a notable man of that Character 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 11.25 The Sword Devoureth One as Well as another The Hebrews call War by a Name that signifies A Devourer And Souldiers carry in their Hands what the Monster feeds upon the Leviathan devours the Lives of them who do Encounter him The Lives of Souldiers are where their Arms are even in their Hands for they know not whether they shall return Alive out of the Battels which they are push'd upon And it is for a double Reason that our God carves out such a condition for us First It is to check our Worldly-mindedness It was said unto that good man in Jer. 45.5 Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not for thy Life will I give unto thee for a prey When our Life is for a prey our Life is then in our Hand we have it by a meer snatch as it were This now prohibits our seeking of great things for our selves in as much as we cannot secure to our selves the Enjoyment of That which alone makes us capable of Enjoying all other Sublunary Things By bringing our Lives into our Hands our Hands are knock'd away from too fast a gripe or grasp after Secular Objects When our Life is in our Hand God has a voice in His Mouth to this purpose Dream not of mighty Things no nor of any Things in this Transitory World until thou hast better Assurance of thy continuance here The blessed God thus inviteth us and obligeth us to look after the glorious Crowns and Ioyes in another VVorld He Inviteth us and obligeth us To set our Affections upon the Things which are above and To Look at the Things which are not seen and are Eternal and to make sure of an Hope in Christ without which we see when we have Life in Hand our selves to be of all men most miserable Secondly It is to cure our Creature-Confidence It was said by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 1.9 We had a Sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raises the Dead A Condemned Malefactor carries his Life in his Hand from the Bar. VVe are sometimes in as perilous a Likelihood of Dying as a condemned Malefactor and we are hereby called upon to Trust in God alone for the Reversing and Repealing of the Sentence By having our Lives in our Hands we are under a Necessity of Reliance upon God alone to keep them there VVhen we have our Life in our Hand we have also that call in our Ear Do not Lean upon any Temporal Visible Interest for the preservation of thy Life let all thy Expectations be as all thy Salvations are from God alone The Lord breaks down the Hedge on every side of us and we Ly open to Death every way 't is that we may reserve our Dependance for all support and all succour to be placed upon God alone 't is that we may learn the Song of him that returned with his Life in his Hand from the maw of the great Shark Salvation is of the Lord. Proposition II. The Direction proper for them that have their Lives in their Hands is to Remember the Law of God. VVhen you have considered a few Conclusions your thoughts will rightly apprehend the Intent and Extent of this Assertion Conclusion I. Their Memories being Fraighted and Stored with Divine Truths do marvellously assist those that have their Lives in their Hands Our Souls have an admirable Faculty of laying up in themselves the Images of Things which have made their Impressions on us This is our Memory VVe have both a Retaining Memory which is more Sensitive and a Regaining Memory which is more Rational a Memory that can both keep Safe and fetch Back what Idaeas we have been Entertained with This Memory is a Treasury to be replenished with such Things as the Law of God affords unto us 'T is Required in Prov. 3.1 My Son forget not my Law. 'T is Resolved in Psal. 119.16 I will not Forget thy Word The Law of God contains Commandments every one of which are Holy and Iust and Good it contains Promises every one of which are Great and Precious it contains Threatnings every one of which are Quick and Powerful and these are all to be Treasured up in our Memories VVhen they have been communicated unto us we are to take heed that Menasseh or Forgetfulness be not the Name of our Souls The Distillations of Gods Law like Manna fall about our Tents from Day to Day our Duty now is that in 2 Pet. 1.15 To have these Things always in Remembrance and Gods Law will not like Manna corrupt but rather sweeten by being Reposited until To morrow The Law of our God is both Written and Preached among us now 't is declared in Heb. 2.1 We ought to give earnest heed unto the Things lest at any time we let them slip or Lest we be like Leaky Vessels thereunto The Truths couched in the Law of God are to be like Nails fastned in our Souls never to be removâ—d never to be displaced After we have been sitting under the Dispensations of Gods Law He will ask of uâ— as in Heb. 12.5 Have you forgotten the Exhortation To which we should be able to Reply as the Psalmist of old Lord I have not forgotten thy Law. And hence we should Receive the Truths therein offered unto us with that Affectionate and Agreeable Ejaculation Lord keep it for ever in the Imagination of the Thought of my Heart Now those of you that carry your Lives in your Hands will have this peculiar Benefit by having of Gods Laws thus in your Minds First your Memory will suggest Necessary Truths unto you You cannot always come at those Ordinances which are the Wells of Salvation being driven to wander in the Dry paths of a Solitary Wilderness But your well-furnished Memories will supply you with the words whereby you may be saved bring a Little Sanctuary to you when you are Banished from the Great Ones They will render you the Instructed Scribes which will not want Things New and Old for the Repast of your Souls in the Desert which you range forth into Salvation was to come unto you by your Hearing while you were here it may now come unto you by your Remembring for the Apostle said in 1 Cor. 15.2 Ye are savÌ„ed if you keep in Memory What I Preached unto you And Secondly Your Memories will suggest Seasonable Truths unto you You are going into a Warfare wherein you will often have occasion for some Advice from God. While you were among us you could seldom labour under any
Doubt or Snare but you would have it met withal in the Ordinances that you conscientiously repair'd unto you might say with him I went into the Sanctuary of God then I understood But your Memories must now be your Monitors if they be not Empty they will not be Silent It was said by some that were hurried away from the place where the Institutions of the most High did use to be maintained in Lam. 3.21 I Recal to mind therefore I have Hope So you may quickly have cause to say I Recal to mind and I have Life and I Recal to mind and I have light and I Recal to mind and I know what I have to do Conclusion 2. 'T is a Practical Remembrance of Divine Truths which they that have their Lives in their Hands are to be most concerned for Let Remembring and Practising go Hand in Hand since you have your Life in your Hand It is said in Numb 15.39 Remember all the Commandments of the Lord and Do them Behold God has joined these two and what God has join'd Let no man put asunder The Best Remembrance is that which produces Repentance 'T was said in Matth. 26.75 Peter Remembred the words of the Lord Iesus and he went out and wept bitterly Thus we should so Remember the Law of God as to weep for all our violations of it weep and Mourn and Bleed at the Thoughts of our own Unanswerableness thereunto And the Best Remembrance is that which produces Obedience 'T was said in Psal. 22.27 They shall Remember and Turn unto the Lord. Thus we should so Remember the Law of God as to Turn from all our own Behaviours that are contrary thereunto to Turn from all Sin to God in Christ for ever A little of this Remembring will go further than the Largest and Longest Repetition else A Pious Person being asked What do you Remember of the last Sermon Reply'd I don't Remember much but so much I do Remember that I shall Endeavour to mend a miscarriage that the Sermon convinc'd me of That was Well Remembred Tho' your Memories may serve you like a Sieve that seem'd full while it was in the Water but has nothing in it immediately on its Taking out yet therein however let them be like the Sieve that they shall be made pure and clean by the Waters of Life that are passing thorough them This is the Remembrance which you are to be most ambitious of Conclusion 3. Our having our Lives in our Hands ought not to Affright us from any thing that the Law of God makes incumbent on us This is I suppose the principal Intendment of the Psalmist here q. d. Tho' I have my Life in my Hand yet I will do no Indirect Thing to keep it there We should never Warp never Sin to avoid any peril whatsoever When we have our Lives in our Hands we are then Try'd whether we will put forth our Hands unto Iniquity to secure what is in them But having a clear Call to your Service you should say as the Martyr once If every Hair of my Head were a man I would have the Lives of them all sacrificed rather than desert the cause I am engaged in You should be above all carnal motions or passions or Impressions that may discourage you in the work which you are to attend with your Lives in your Hands 'T was said by that wise man in Gal. 6.14 I am Crucified unto the World. A crucified man has his Life in his Hands with a witness when his Hands are Nailed and Hanging on the Tree You should have no more Carnal Joyes and Griefs no more Carnal Hopes and Fears then a man whose Life is going out at his Hands Gratify not any Enemy by a Sinful Compliance to Escape Danger for God can Restrain your Adversary 'T is said in Proverb 16.7 When a mans ways please the Lord his Enemies shall be at peace with him Oftentimes to prevent mischiefs from Enemies our Way does Displease the Lord but we then take a Wrong Way God can make Pharoah afraid of Moses and Herod afraid of Iohn The Lord has Hornets to buz and sting Terrors into those whom we may be too much terrified withal And Gratify not any Corruption upon such a score for God will Reward your Fidelity Said he in Matth. 19.27 Behold we have Forsaken All and what shall we have Therefore Good Sir All What Why All a Net All a Boat All a small Craft which they had some Subsistence on This was All yet it follows Iesus said Ye that have followed me shall in the Regeneration When the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory then also sit upon Twelve Thrones You cannot Receive the Exposition of it but surely then they that will forsake their very Lives rather than do amiss will not miss a most glorious Recompence Conclusion 4. Some people that have their Lives in their Hands are more prone to Forget the Law of God then others that undergo less Dangers are This may seem an Intimation or Insinuation of the Psalmist here q. d. l. I been't like other people who carry their Lives in their Hands I extreamly Value the Law which they commonly Forget 'T is very strange and very sad but also very True That there is often least Grace in the Hearts of those that most have their Life in their Hands How it comes to pass I don't know but so it is That they whose nearest and oftnest Approaches unto Eternity should awaken them to be the Best people in the World are frequently the worst of all We see it in Sailors and in Souldiers As for them that follow the Sea 't is said of them in Psal. 107.22 They Reel to and fro and Stagger like a Drunken Man and are at their Wits Ends Thus 't is with them in regard of Storm and when that is over 't is thus again with them in regard of Sin too even after they come a Shore still and upon a sadder Account they will many of them Reel to and fro and Stagger not like a Drunken man but thro' being really so They make deeper Descents towards Hell by their Vice than in their Ship and no Sea-sickness will turn into a Sin-sickness with them Tho they may pray in a Tempest how horribly will they Swear and Curse and how filthily will they Talk when they are out of their Amazements It has been doubted Whether they were to be reckoned among the Living or the Dead But the sense of this keeps few of them from thâ—se Remarkable Extravagancies which quickly plunge them down into the Congregation of those that Roar under the Waters for evermore And as for them that follow the Field Forgive the plain Dealing my Fellow-Souldiers if I tell you That Wickedness Impiety Profanity is one of the Things that has made their Character Extraordinary in the World. Their Names are up for an Acquaintance with an Excess of Rudeness and Lewdness and all manner of