My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
I make no interruption through the whole of this paragraph, because the whole forms but one and the same sermon. The binding those graces upon the heart, and wearing them about the neck, is similar to what Moses commanded the Israelites concerning the law. Deuteronomy 6:6-9. And Reader! doth it not suggest to the recollection Aaron, in his typifying the Lord Jesus, going in before the mercy-seat with the names of the twelve tribes on his breast? And doth not Jesus bind his people to him now in all his priestly office. Exodus 28:29; Revelation 8:3. What a relief would the recollection of this be to a poor believer in every trying hour, could he but steadily by faith look within the veil, whither our forerunner is for us entered, and behold him thus engaged? And what a blessed work would it be of God the Spirit upon the heart, if the believer could also by faith take to him, and bind to him, everything that concerns the enjoyment of Jesus and his great salvation, to lead him when he went forth; to keep him when he slept, and to talk with him when he was awake.