Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

II.

MANIFOLD BENEFITS

FLOWING OUT ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD,

THROUGH CHRIST,

IN SEVENFOLD FULNESS AND PERFECTION.

THE LORD IS (1) MERCIFUL, AND (2) GRACIOUS,
(3) SLOW TO ANGER, AND (4) PLENTEOUS IN MERCY,
THE LORD (5) DOTH NOT ALWAYS CHIDE,

(6) NOR KEEP HIS ANGER FOR EVER,

(7) NOR DEAL WITH SINNERS AS THEY DESERVE, v. 8, 9, 10

THESE TRUTHS AMPLIFIED AND PICTORIALLY EXHIBITED

IN THE 11TH, 12TH, AND 13TH VERSES, BY

III.

IMMEASURABLE BENEFITS

SURPASSING COMPREHENSION IN HEIGHTH

AND BREADTH, IN DEPTH AND LENGTH: THEREFORE

INDESCRIBABLE; AND ONLY ATTEMPTED TO BE ILLUSTRATED BY COMPARISON WITH NATURAL EMBLEMS :--

THE HEIGHTH OF GOD'S MERCY-IMMEASURABLE, v. 11. ITS EMBLEM-THE HEIGHTH OF HEAVEN ABOVE THE EARTH. THE BREADTH OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS-INCOMPREHENSIBLE, V. 12 ITS EMBLEM-THE DISTANCE OF THE EAST FROM THE WEST.

THE DEPTH OF GOD'S PITY-UNFATHOMABLE, v. 13.

ITS EMBLEM-THE PITY OF A FATHER TO HIS CHIDDREN.
THE LENGTH OF GOD'S LOVE-EVERLASTING.

ITS EMBLEM-NOT TO BE FOUND ON EARTH: COMPARISON
FAILS; THEREFORE CONTRAST IS EMPLOYED TO
EXHIBIT.

IV.

EVERLASTING BENEFITS

CONTRASTED WITH THE BREVITY

OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, V. 12 to 19.
EVERLASTING MERCY, v. 17.

EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, v. 17.

THE EVERLASTING AND PREPARED THRONE, v. 19. THE EVERLASTING AND UNIVERSAL KINGDOM, v. 19.

PART III.

CONCLUDING ADDRESSES.

CALL TO UNIVERSAL GRATITUDE

UPON ANGELS, v. 20.

ALL THE HOSTS OF THE LORD, v. 21.

ALL THE WORKS OF THE LORD, v. 22.

THE PSALMIST'S OWN SOUL, v. 22.

I.

Call to Personal Gratitude.

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.— Verses 1, 2.

[ocr errors]

THE hundred and third Psalm is an exquisite song of thanksgiving. It is the outpouring of a heaven-taught gratitude. It is the "spiritual hymn" of a redeemed sinner, singing and making melody in his heart to the Lord." It is the inspired address of the Royal Psalmist to his own soul, which so powerfully affects also the souls of others, that multitudes in every succeeding age have felt its appropriate and inspiriting words to be addressed to themselves.

The hundred and third Psalm is an universal song. It is suited for all ages, appropriate to all persons, and applicable to all conditions. Every nation under heaven may equally adopt its language. With the single exception of the seventh verse, it might have been written by the first Adam, to be sung by him and by all his descendants to the days of David, by whom it was written with that verse, to be sung by the second Adam and all His posterity to the end of Time. Jesus used this Psalm in the days of His flesh. The Spirit of God inspired

it, and the Son of God employed it, to express the gratitude of the whole family of the redeemed. The Head of that family is the chief singer on this well-tuned instrument. He leads the prayers, He leads also the praises, of His household. The only pure and perfect thanksgivings, ever uttered in our fallen world, issued from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth. His human heart beat high with holy gratitude. He was the High Priest of the Church, not only to intercede, but also to offer thanks. He has acknowledged in our name, all the known and unknown mercies for which we stand indebted to the God of love. Our debt of sin, He has not more surely paid, than our debt of gratitude. Christ abounded in thanksgivings. We read that He "gave thanks," Matt. xxvi. 27, and that He "sang an hymn," v. 30. Such we believe was His constant habit. In solitude, we doubt not, He spake often "to Himself," and in company with His disciples, He and they would speak often "one to another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," Eph. v. 19. This joyous Psalm, we cannot but conceive, would be specially delighted in by Christ and His disciples, as it is, and has been, by all true Christians. Jesus thanked God for the forgiveness, not of personal, but of imputed sin. As Luther, to this effect, remarks on similar expressions in other psalms, "The Lord Jesus so identifies Himself with His bride, taking all her debts upon His own head, that He speaks of her sins as if they were His own, confesses them, bewails them, entreats for their forgiveness, and gives thanks for their full remission." The hundred and third Psalm becomes hereby consecrated to every disciple, because his

« IndietroContinua »